Podcast Proclivities

A few years ago I finally grew up and started to care about news, events, and general goings on in the world.  This was due in part to discovering NPR, which made these goings-on interesting and digestible.  I mostly listened while in the car, and eventually the 15 minute commute would often leave me hanging and wanting more.  Which of course led me to what has become a growing addiction and essentially a personal education program...my podcasts.  Brilliant idea, podcasts.

It all started with The Diane Rehm Show, broadcast out of Washington D.C.  Hers was the program that started after the 9:00am news break, so it was invariably the program I would hear as I rolled on into work.  When I first started listening, I was rather perplexed and struggled to get past her voice - it is slow and kind of strained.  My initial, rather ungenerous thought was essentially something like - Who is this 200 year old woman hosting a radio show of all things?  But I kept listening, and it's lucky I did - both she and her program are fabulous.  She is intelligent, thought-provoking, asks hard questions, doesn't put up with shit from people, and covers a really great wide-range of topics that are right up my alley. So I looked her up to find out her story: Diane is a classy woman who's been in the radio industry for over 30 years, interviewed presidents, won a Peabody, oh, and just happens to suffer from spasmodic dysphonia - a neurological voice disorder that came on later in her career.  Diane's tenacity and success in overcoming such an obstacle is so impressive to me!  So once I got tired of missing out on the other 45 minutes of her show, I subscribed to her podcast and I've been listening to her now familiar, pleasant voice ever since.

Radio West with Doug Fabrizio came along after.  He was the show that I got snippets of on my evening drive home, so essentially the same thing happened.  It is similar to The Diane Rehm show, covering similar topics, but broadcast out of Salt Lake City.  The thing that I love most about Radio West is Doug Fabrizio's skill with interviewing his guests.  He is so insightful, prepared, thoughtful, and really guides his interviews in such a way as to make his guests feel appreciated and understood.  I have heard several guests comment that his is the best show they have been on, or it's the best interview they've ever had.  

These two programs are my podcast mainstays - my staples and standard curriculum for news and current events, politics (when I can bear it), classic literature, art history, religion, science, the economy, architecture, music, book reviews, and so on and so forth.  

Since then, and mostly this year, I have added some real gems to my collection...shows that completely solidified my podcast passion.  These radio programs made me finally realize that there are MUCH more time available for listening than just my car.  They have literally filled all of the mental space that exists while I am doing simple tasks - getting ready in the morning, cooking, exercising, trimming the hedges, laying down carpet pad, you name it...they make the most mundane chore bearable and even enjoyable.

The first gem was added earlier this year when I finally tried the weekly program This American Life, after hearing about it for years.  At the time I subscribed, iTunes  graciously downloaded almost every episode since 2006, and once I started, I really started - listening to over 100 episodes in a row.  My life was so filled with This American Life that I felt a genuine loss when I was all caught up, just waiting for the weekly show.  It was a source of inspiration and interest unlike anything I have experienced before.  If you haven't ever listened to this, do it.  Now.  It is such an amazing way to peek into the lives of all kinds of people and topics, and Ira Glass and his producers spin story straw into gold.  To give you an idea of the breadth of the topics they cover, here are some of my favorite episodes:  Toxie: where a few people bought one of the toxic assets that took us down in 2008, and followed it all the way through until it's final demise.  Tough Room: how the comedy writers at The Onion do their thing.   The Psychopath Test:  The stories, considerations and pitfalls associated with using a test to determine if you're a psycho - Ira and all the producers took it themselves - really funny.  When Patents Attack - patent trolls.  Act V: About a group of inmates at a high-security prison as they rehearsed and staged a production of the last act of Hamlet.  Amazing.  And I could go on and on.  They don't all have the same impact, some are light hearted, some serious, some just interesting, but they all are really, really good.  

My brother, who rarely steers me wrong, recommended Dan Carlin's Hardcore History.  It took a while to get used to his sort of know-it-all tone of voice, but I really, really enjoy his his program - he has an unusual way of looking at the past, and makes history utterly compelling.  His Blitz episodes are fascinating and my favorite - Old School Toughness, Suffer the Children, Globalization Unto Death, and Addicted to Bondage.  His longer series of shows are also more than worthy - my favorite being the epic series about the Eastern Front of WWII - Ghosts of the Osfront.  Absolutely remarkable.  Death Throes of the  Republic was really good too, though a little long.  HH is a perfect addition to my curriculum of continual learning, filling the history slot nicely.

Rounding the science part of my curriculum out nicely is Radiolab - my current podcast obsession.  Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, Radiolab is addicting, phenomenal, and I can't get enough of it.  They let you download all of their seasons and interim short podcasts, and I've made it through nearly all, with only one and a half seasons left, and loving almost every episode.  The description from their website describes it better than I could: 

"Radiolab believes your ears are a portal to another world. Where sound illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and human experience. Big questions are investigated, tinkered with, and encouraged to grow. Bring your curiosity, and we'll feed it with possibility."

You'll sort of get an idea of what kinds of things they talk about by the titles of some of my very favorite episodes:  Who Am I?, Sleep, Memory and Forgetting, Laughter, New Normal, The Ring and I (about Wagner's Ring Cycle Opera - where Tolkien got the idea for an all-powerful ring!), Zoos, Numbers, Detective Stories, Animal Minds, Words, and Wild Talk.   A few of these have been so touching or amazing they deserve (and may yet get) a blog post all their own - let's just say a couple of them led to tears.  I can't recommend this program enough!  I am already sad that my Radiolab-fest is almost at an end, but I will then settle in and just look forward to their next fascinating episode.

Another honorable mention is On Being, with Krista Tippett - formerly known as Speaking of Faith. A beautiful program with really amazing topics on religion, beliefs, ideas, and covers a lot of ground my other podcasts don't really touch on.  I haven't listened in a while since I've been playing catchup on the others, but On Being is next.  

As you can tell, I love my podcasts. I am so grateful to have found a way to keep learning, growing, and enriching my life, and best of all finding a way that allows squeezes into my life so easily without having to sit down and read for hours on end.  Thank you NPR and all my favorite programs for all you do (I'll pay you back soon)!