Help Me Please?

I was drawn to the advice columns in magazines and newspapers, even though they almost never helped me solve any personal issues. For starters, their obvious voyeuristic nature is entertaining, and I usually read them in the name of research. I imagine conflicted and tortured beings roll out of bed in the middle of the night when haunted by their individual problems. They carefully craft their issues into a longwinded email, and edited over and over until it had covered every aspect before clicking the send button.
But what interest me the most are the advisors. Who are those people? What make them qualified to solve others' problems?
Take Cosmo for example, it is known for inviting either celebrities or experts (‘sexperts’ most of the time) to answer the readers’ questions. The experts seem like sane choices for the columns since they have "seen it all", dealing with patients way more diverse than the readers of the magazine. It is the celebrities that made it interesting - they usually gave answers with the least bit of sincerity, and their responses are always manifestation of their own personality: Some are a bit over the top, and some are overwhelmingly hilarious. (Chelsea Handler being an obvious example). Almost none of the advices was helpful.
The magazines I read rarely did follow-ups on the people who asked questions. I wonder if any of the issues listed were successfully solved. If not, what are their motives behind writing to the magazines, instead of asking your friends and family, who might know them better, or the shrinks, who are trained to make them feel better. Why on earth do they reveal their personal issues to people who don't even take them seriously?
Then I bumped into some podcasts which have people calling in and talking about their issues live on the show. Those programs brought ‘advice column’ to the next level. Not only did real people express vocally of their issues, which feels more realistic, but the hosts or sometimes celebrities have changed the way they gave advice. They listen and ponder, they hiss and sigh, they seem truly care about the callers, and they provided their most genuine answers out of their own experience. There was no space for bias, banter, or judgement, and the programs even do follow-ups. Frankly, it gave a better light to the celebrities, and it held more powerful PR value than the Cosmo advice columns. Take Anna Farris(star of Mom, The Dictator) for example, she and her assistance Sim adore the callers. Whoever was invited as guest hosts on that podcast were charactered as the friendly neighbors/big sisters/brothers/mother or father figures instead of the distant celebrities. The hosts did research, listened hard and even sent gifts to callers. Plus Anna was humble enough to name her program Anna Farris Unqualified. It was very hard not to develop a girl crush on her.
In real life, when we have problems we turn to friends who are not necessarily great at giving advice, or have been in enough quagmires to know the solutions. If the advice columns or podcasts had taught us anything, it’s that what people expect is no more than a good listener, someone they feel safe with. That's someone who might not be as experienced as an expert, or as efficient as a trained professional, but are able to give creative feedbacks, sympathize without being the least bit of judgmental.