Sure, if we just forget about the "tune in at any time and hear whatever podcast episode is on right now" concept it makes more sense. It becomes just a list.

In the same sense that a smartphone is just a small computer and dropbox is just a file folder.

If you strip all the interesting parts of a concept (here curation, the dj personality, easy instant access, centralization, community, ...) it's going to sound lackluster.

Though personally I'd enforce synchronous listening if I ran that kind of service myself. Lots of radios have talk shows and listeners do just fine joining in the middle of a conversation.

All those interesting aspects which are not about synchronous listening are not stripped out when you have a personality-curated centralized list with a community and instant access. The problematic part is the “tune in and see what’s on”. Which is why many radio talk shows are also available as podcasts!