Finding the podcast you can't wait to listen to
good vibes, internet lore, diversifying archives, staying creative, art and fashion in audio, film food, your TV guides, life without flavour, serpents in the queue
Hello! Thank you so much for being here! I hope you found some great things to listen to over the past week and if not, I’ve got some goodies to help.
The more I read about podcasts and work to support their growth, the more I think think about how to improve discovery. Helping existing listeners find new shows and helping non-listeners find the shows they didn’t know they needed feels like such a pressing mission. Especially that second one. I know not everyone will listen to as many podcasts as I do, but I do think there is something out there for everyone to enjoy and helping them find that show can only grow this industry more. There was a piece in Hot Pod this week that mentioned the difficulties that new shows have with finding an audience and it honestly got me even more fired up about improving that pain point! I know podcast creators are already swamped with so many other things, so I’m hoping I can take on some of that work for them. It’s a big part of why I started this newsletter, why I’m so eager to learn about new shows, and why I like hearing what people have enjoyed about the shows they’ve listened to.
I hope this inspires you to share a podcast with someone you think will love it or send them this newsletter for more recommendations! Every listener counts.
From my regular rotation: Vibe Check
Ever since it launched last year, I’ve never missed an episode of Vibe Check. Sam, Saeed, and Zach are my favourite people to learn from about what’s making news in the world. They cover everything from politics to pop culture and they’re so talented at breaking things down because they all bring a slightly different perspective. Their chemistry and friendship always makes me happy. Even when they’re covering serious and really hard topics, they still make time for what’s bringing them joy. Plus, every time I start an episode the intro song makes me do a little dance. From a production view, they’re great at keeping the segments focused and just the perfect length. I would listen to episodes as long as they want to make, but I can tell they are thoughtful about the content. I always look forward to hearing what they have to say about what’s going on in the world and I hit play as soon as I see a new episode is out.
This week I also want to share another newsletter with you. As someone who uses a small closet to do podcast recordings, you could say this one is aspirational…
Meet: The Podcast Setup
Learn, share, and discover new podcast setups every Friday. Part interview, part geeky podcast stuff. Promote your podcast for free.
More for your queue!
Digital Folklore - The Internet is The New Woods
Digital Folklore is genre-bending at its best! It’s this captivating mix of a deep-diving investigative format, with the sound design and character play of audio fiction, and wild stories from the internet as the inspiration. Put your good headphones on for this one if you can. It’s an immersive take on analyzing internet culture, stories, and phenomenons that takes you on an audio adventure. I can’t emphasize this enough – it’s an adventure, a performance, it’s whatever the audio version of a cinematic experience is. The first episode is about how Slenderman took hold of the internet and what happens when something transcends all forms of media. You’ll learn about the internet and pop culture, but you’ll also learn a lot about how folklore works. I kinda like that they launched with Slenderman, a topic that’s been covered by internet and culture writers or podcasts before, because it gave them an opportunity to prove that with their unique approach, this story can still be analyzed in a new way. You think you know what happened, but you haven’t heard it like this and it makes you want to hear what else they’ll reveal about the digital world in future episodes. (transcript)
Lost Voices - We're all archivists, if you think about it
This four episode series takes a millennial approach to archiving from a South Asian perspective. By contrasting it with historical archives, host Alisha Sawhney investigates what it means to collect, preserve, and share these stories. I love the storytelling, the different perspectives of all her guests, and the documentary style format that weaves it all together. There’s this bigger story about archiving stories and histories and decolonizing the existing archives. And that story is complimented by the comparison of how the use of social media by current millennials, specifically from the South Asian diaspora, can be a new form of archiving. They talk about why it’s important and who is leading the way (social media accounts, podcasts, media outlets) in documenting these stories. I’m halfway through the series and really enjoying the pace of the 25-30min episodes. Alisha is able to cover so much in each episode and I love the personal stories from her own family that she mixes in.
Rumble Strip - Fishing with Jay
There’s no better way to introduce this episode of Rumble Strip than with this quote from host Erica Heilman: “That’s the kind of radio that made me want to do radio. It isn’t news and it doesn’t really have a beginning, middle, or an end. But it’s personal and it’s surprising and you get to fall in love with strangers. That’s what I wanted to do”. It captures the inspiration for her discussion with Jay Allison, who she credits with being the reason she started telling the stories she does and how she learned to do it so well. Even if you don’t make podcasts, their conversation is much bigger than just creativity expressed through audio. It’s about storytelling, creative pursuits, maintaining those things as we age, and what makes that difficult to do. Erica asks her classic introspective questions while fishing with Jay and I love the rawness of the interview simply because it’s not in a studio. The way she mixes in pieces of Jay’s work and some music from Jay’s son at the end all tie the episode together beautifully.
At the end of the Rumble Strip episode, Erica shared a lovely promo for The Lonely Palette so I checked it out! No surprise, I went to the episode with Avery Trufelman first. “You can’t talk about things that are expressly visual,” a quote from Avery near the beginning of the episode describes what both of their work goes against. For Avery it’s fashion with Articles of Interest, for host Tamar Avishai it’s art. I think this also demonstrates the power of the right gateway episode and why it’s great for hosts to go on different shows that might attract new listeners in less linear ways. I’m not that into art or art history discussions, so I might not have listened to this show if I hadn’t seen Avery was on it, but because I did and because Tamar is such a lovely host and the production is really well done, I want other people to find it. Whether it’s through the right gateway episode or because this subject is your jam, you might find a new favourite here.
The Sporkful - What ‘The Bear’ And ‘The Menu’ Say About Restaurant Culture
Dan Pashman and Ashley Ray give an excellent recap of what happened with food and film and TV this year! They cover what was good, what was bad, and what didn’t quite reach its potential. I haven’t seen The Menu yet (it’s on my list), but hearing behind the scenes of what food they chose for the movie and the fact that they covered all the logistics needed for it to be real food that the actors were cooking and eating blew my mind. Ashley and Dan’s critique of The Bear was really helpful too! I loved the show for the all the food and cooking scenes but they discussed things beyond that that helped me understand it even better. (transcript)
TV, I Say w/ Ashley Ray - 2022’s Underrated TV Hits w/ Jason Mantzoukas (Part 1 of 2)
And for the TV lovers who don’t just want food-themed shows, Ashley Ray and Jason Mantzoukas are the TV guides you need! They bond over their relationship with TV and their rare egg allergies. Between these two they’ve watched A LOT. I love that they even surprised each other with picks that they hadn’t heard of. And this is only part one! The second episode of their discussion includes even more TV to watch. I didn’t think I’d end up recommending this episode, but I think they do such a good and sometimes perfectly concise job of explaining what they liked or disliked about a show. Plus, it’s really fun listening to people talk about something they enjoy so much!
Downside Up - What would the world look like without flavor?
I’m gonna mention food again but stay with me! It’s kinda food adjacent. The flavour episode of Downside Up actually wasn’t the first one I listened to but it is my favourite so far. This show deeply and critically explores “what if” scenarios. In some cases, there’s a hint of possibility that we could face these scenarios but it’s not a huge part of the show. In the flavour episode they talk about what it actually means to experience a flavour (or not), how taste is different from flavour, and the history of the essential elements of flavour- spices! It’s thorough, fun, and not too long. With various expert interviews, quiz segments, and lots of creative pondering it’s an interesting way to think about our world. The other episodes I listened to were the plastic one and the one about cities built around people instead of cars. They’ve all been great listens! (transcript)
Feed The Queue - Alabama Astronaut
Feed The Queue is back!! As “the ultimate podcast discovery podcast”, this show features different episodes from various podcasts that hosts Lauren Passell and Adela Mizrachi are loving. It’s a place for them to showcase things that they believe need to reach more listeners. The first episode of the new season is one from Lauren called Alabama Astronaut. You’re along for the ride with Ferrill Gibbs as he follows Abe Partridge and learns about a set of undocumented songs from serpent handlers in the hills of the Appalachians. You can tell it’s a show Lauren genuinely loves because she pitches it so well. Her enthusiasm and description of the story are hard to beat! She mentioned this show to me a few months ago and I started it but made the mistake of playing it in the background while I was working and realized this was not a show for that. This was a show I needed to listen to more carefully. That’s how you’ll be able to appreciate the setup of these unique characters, settings, and activities.
Thank you for reading! If you listened to something this week that made your heart sing, your imagination wander, or your brain ponder, I’d love to hear about it!
I enjoyed listening to an episode from The Happiness Lab about letting children try and fail and how it can help parents be happier.