Love at first listen

beavers, children in a climate crisis, jeopardy, night walking, comfort food, parking struggles, food stories by AI, motherly memories

Have you ever experienced love at first listen? When you know within a few minutes of hitting play on an episode that you’re going to love that episode. Maybe it’s a really great opening quote. Maybe it’s the perfect balance of music and script. Maybe the host is eluding to questions you need to know the answers to.

I don’t think every thing you listen to needs to inspire this feeling though. Sometimes you need something to cheer you up. Sometimes you need an escape. Sometimes you need comforting voices in the background. That’s why I’m glad there’s so many different podcasts out there.

But when you come across something in your queue that hits so right it feels like it was made for you, that’s love at first listen. If you haven’t heard it yet, let’s find one for you!

This week’s podstack

Bioneers - Beaver Believers

When I saw that two shows released episodes about beavers in the same week, I had to know what the hype was about. It turns out beavers are the unsung heroes we might need now more than ever. Because of the ways their work and habitats help support water systems and surrounding vegetation, areas with beavers in them or nearby are more likely to be thriving these days. Science Vs’ episode on beavers introduces these superheroes and how important their existence is, especially in times of climate change. Then Bioneers’ episode is the perfect extension of it! If you think you won’t want to listen to both episodes, think again. Bioneers goes a bit deeper and talks about the history of beavers, how they’ve been treated, and how they came to inhabit the areas they do. Together these episodes will give you the full extent of how cool beavers are. That’s right, I think they’re pretty dam cool now. (transcript)

Expectant - The North

Have you ever listened to something so powerful that it makes you actually say “holy shit” out loud as you’re listening? There’s a moment in the second episode of Expectant that made me do that. I said it several times. Because the emotions, the music, and the sound design are all coming together in this storm of beautiful audio. It feels so visceral that it reminded me of watching heartbreaking moments in TV shows and movies. That kind of impact from visual media feels more familiar, but for audio to hit just as hard is a little more rare and maybe even stronger. The show follows a woman as she grapples with the decision of whether or not to have a child in the midst of the climate crisis. The honesty of her words and everyone she speaks to leave you on the edge of your seat as you wonder how she’ll ever make what seems like an impossible decision. I was kinda pleasantly surprised that the first two episodes are under 20 minutes. I’d definitely listen to longer ones, but because the episodes are shorter, every second is used purposefully to build on the impact. It’s considered a mix of fiction and non-fiction, but it reflects very personal storytelling from creator Pippa Johnstone. There are six episodes total and I can’t wait to hear the rest of this rich sonic storytelling. Seriously, the entire team behind this show has outdone themselves.

This Is Jeopardy - Back to the Beginning

In the 60s it became a federal crime to rig a game show. Why? Because it was becoming all too common to do and the integrity of these game shows was in shambles. As part of making changes to these shows and saving the genre from completely disappearing, Jeopardy’s trademark format was proposed – give the answers, require the questions. In the first episode of this series, you hear from game show fanatics and the son of Merv Griffin to get a sense of what those early days were like and why Jeopardy stood out at the time. I love the history of the name, the iconic countdown music, and the almost too ruthless rule of deducting money for wrong answers. What does the rest of this series explore? I’m still just getting started with it, but there’s lots to be learned about the end of Jeopardy, the relaunch, and how it became a cultural staple. Learning about Alex Trebek’s detailed dedication to being the best host he could be got me so invested! (transcript)

Constellation Prize - Nightwalking 1: A Call from Terry

Sometimes you know before you listen that something is going to be exactly your jam. That’s how I feel about Constellation Prize’s new mini series. It’s the search for meaning and believing in what life has planned for you. It ponders how a religious perspective might approach these questions, but takes a different path instead. It’s about loneliness and searching for companionship. By taking a series of walks in the dark night, Bianca is seeking to understand how to find peace with where her life is, how to believe in the one she wants and how to pursue it. By exchanging letters with writer Terry Tempest Williams, the series becomes a sonic correspondence. The rich sound of their walks, soft music, and the scripting all bring it together beautifully. I feel myself wanting to write more poetically, the same way Bianca tries to after listening to Terry’s effortlessly rhythmic words. There’s something familiar in the personal style of the show, but also completely unique. I want to go on a night walk now.

Smart Mouth - Comfort Food with Niccole Thurman

What’s a comfort food anyways? When Katherine Spiers and Niccole Thurman debate the term, they end up talking about all the ways we treat comfort and food. Is comfort food just a way for people to justify eating something they like or want? Instead of something they have to eat? Technically any food can be a comfort food, but there are probably some more stereotypical foods you’re picturing when you hear this term. I really enjoyed the way their casual conversation reaches so many angles, including some research, some personal experiences, and some historical references dating back to the 60s.

Decoder Ring - Why You Can’t Find a Damn Parking Spot

Parking is deceptively complicated for everyone involved. Cities, suburbs, drivers, and businesses all seem to struggle with finding the right balance of availability and excessiveness. In an episode that feels like something 99% Invisible would cover, I loved hearing from Willa Paskin and her guest host Henry Grabar about America’s struggle with parking. The battle between the fact that there’s more parking spots than we could ever need and the fact that it can be impossible to find a spot sometimes feels like such a headache to solve. But they do a great job of illustrating the different approaches to trying to improve it, the good, the bad, and the messy. It made me realize how complex the problem is and how we underestimate what the actual solution could be. If you haven’t listened to Decoder Ring before, I highly recommend scrolling through the archives. It’s exceptionally good an analyzing all kinds of things that have had a cultural impact on our society and it makes you think about them differently than before. (transcript)

The Sporkful - Can ChatGPT Write An Episode Of The Sporkful?

There’s still so much AI content in my queue. Since it is kinda everywhere right now, everyone’s wondering how it’ll impact their area of expertise or work. For Dan Pashman, that means figuring out how ChatGPT holds up when it comes to writing an episode of The Sporkful. It does a pretty entertaining job of pulling together a script for an episode, but that doesn’t mean it could create something that really stands out from the rest. As Dan and food writer Bettina Makalintal discuss, there’s a lot of nuance and creativity that can’t be automated. It leads to conversation around what the human elements of writing about food are that make it so much more compelling. Bettina is motivated by the feeling that she and others “must do better and they must do more creative and more interesting work than this thing that’s coming for our jobs”. (transcript)

I Swear on My Mother’s Grave - Rachel

This is a heavy one. Rachel Matlow made an incredible audio piece that centers around a conversation between them and their mother that they put together after their mother had passed. It’s funny, it’s honest, and it’s sad. But it’s a powerful example of the ways we try to immortalize moments with those we love. And that’s part of what Rachel discusses with host Dana Black. The show is all about bold, funny, vulnerable conversations about the loss of our complex mothers, and not just in death. As someone who loves the way audio opens up opportunities to share uniquely intimate stories, I loved hearing them discuss how they created this piece, how others could try to document their own loved ones they don’t want to forget, and what it’s like to relisten to those moments after they’re gone. There’s a lot more to say about Rachel and their mom’s relationship, especially towards the end of her life, and Dana balances the humour and emotion of the conversation so perfectly. (transcript)

More sweet treats

• How a tweet shot a book to the top of the charts.

• Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s won a Peabody and a Pulitzer prize this week, add it to your queue.

• These shoes are a work of art.

• Hilarious way to tease a future episode using ChatGPT.

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!