I had the opposite issue. Bought WD Black for my first PC build. It died within ~3 weeks. Bought another to replace it. Again dead within a month. Have about 8 Seagate drives now and have not had an issue at all. Will avoid WD at all costs now.
I think another early podcasting success was Bill Simmons from ESPN. In my opinion, his podcasting success helped build his brand even further and allowed him to launch Grantland.
A more recent podcast to big deals success is Men in Blazers. The two soccer commentators spun their podcast into a 10pm Monday show on NBCSN.
I think that sports podcasting in general is quite a mature format. Though, this probably isn't all too surprising as it is basically a more dedicated form of sports radio.