Nigerian storyteller and TV host Edgar Eriakha, known as Check Edgar, has announced Why Am I Still Awake?, a late-night storytelling podcast. He says the first episode is due later this October. The announcement follows what he says was 250,000 downloads for his first show.
Edgar Eriakha announced the new show in a LinkedIn post published on 6 October. "Allow me to introduce Why Am I Still Awake? It is a late night storytelling podcast for people who cannot sleep," he wrote. "Every episode starts with a dream I actually had, and drifts into a strange, funny, sometimes ridiculous story."
A promise tied to a download figure
Eriakha says the second show was planned as a milestone reward. "In August 2024, I made a promise to myself. If my podcast, Why Am I Still Single?, ever hit 250,000 downloads, I would start a second one," he wrote. He says the figure arrived by email from his hosting company: "In September this year, an email from Buzzsprout landed in my inbox. 250,000 downloads."
The figure is self-reported; Buzzsprout has not published it. For comparison, a May 2026 profile on Ghanamma described Why Am I Still Single? as "a podcast with over 130,000 downloads".
The format
The new show is designed for listeners to fall asleep to. "No arguments. No breaking news. No reason to stay awake. Just a good story, told slowly enough for your mind to wander," Eriakha wrote. He credits the format to another bedtime show: "The format is inspired by Kathryn Nicolai and her beautiful show, Nothing Much Happens. I just added dreams, Lagos, and a baritone."
He also argues that podcasters should not be tied to a single title. "If artistes can release different albums and different bodies of work, podcasters should not be stuck doing one show forever," he wrote. He says Why Am I Still Single? "ends the day I get married".
Where and when
According to the post, "The first episode comes out later this October first on my website www.Checkedgar.com then on Spotify and everywhere else you listen, with Buzzsprout as its new home." No exact release date is given. On 11 October the Check Edgar podcasts page still listed only Why Am I Still Single?.
Eriakha says he will talk about both shows "live with Radio Workshop and @Resonate Podcast Festival on Thursday 29 October this year". He has also set a further target: "When Why Am I Still Awake? hits 100,000 downloads, I will release a third podcast: Why Am I Still Broke? A show about building wealth in Nigeria."
Who he is
The Check Edgar website describes Eriakha as a "Nigerian storyteller, TV host and podcaster". Ghanamma's profile says he joined the presenting team of TVC Entertainment's Wake Up Nigeria in November 2024.
Why it matters
This story rests largely on one creator's own post. It shows an independent Nigerian podcaster using an established show to launch a second one in a different format, publishing first on his own website. Whether listeners follow him from comedy dating stories to bedtime storytelling is not yet known.