Feeding on Podcasts
- ricoquita
- May 3, 2016
- 3 min read
I moved from NYC to Germany in 2006 as an avid listener of talk and music radio from WNYC - world music, news and lazy weekends with Jonathan Schwartz and Garrison Keillor. I'd lost my taste for television many years before, catching up now and again with a streaming show online.
Since arriving in Germany there has been a definitive change in my listening habits. I recall sometime soon after I'd arrived, I was searching for WNYC live online and discovered the channel's podcast channel. I was immediately hooked on Leonard Lopate, Terry Gross, Brian Lehrer and John Schaefer podcasts. Things escalated rather quickly as I explored the ITunes podcast channel and found This American Life, Radiolab and Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. The podcasts while stimulating my brain helped to ease my transition to Germany and kept me connected to NYC.
Ten years later I'm still a podcast junkie. Part of my daily morning ritual, besides vocalizing and stretching, is catching up on some of my favorite podcasts. Here is a short list:
* Perhaps you're a fan of this podcast already or have heard it on public radio. If you haven't take a listen. The production of their stories and the investigation of each program's theme has had me hooked for years. The show's host, Ira Glass, has great style and humor and the journalism has a colorful and diverse range of topics and perspectives. Love this show!
* This is another terrific program covering a range of thematic stories - well produced and a compelling point of view. Glynn Washington is a great host and amazingly prolific.
* This is basically "This American Life" in Spanish and covering stories from various Spanish speaking regions. Great journalism and storytelling!
* Although this program is an offshoot of This American Life, it's become a podcast sensation for it's thorough investigation of a singular subject over the course of the season. That first season may have had it's dissenters but it was unforgettable storytelling and journalism.
* How on earth did I find this podcast and how did I get hooked? I don't remember how I found it. I guess just browsing the ITunes favorites list. I got hooked because in the beginning, before Marc became a big hit and then interviewed Obama, because of his excellent interviews with comedians. He's so genuine and disarming that his questions and the time he gives the interviewee to riff reveal the artist and the journey of the artist. That's my favorite thing about these interviews is getting to the process and craft of the artist. Some of these interviews are stamped in my memory and I recall them as inspiration when I'm questioning myself or learning to embrace my unique journey.
To get to The Moth, my first stop was StoryCorps, an organization dedicated to archiving a library of recordings by people living in the United States from all walks of life. It's a phenomenal project and worth listening to for it's reach and depth. I've had a life-long mission of helping to make the stories of invisible individuals visible. So, I love stories and storytellers, which brought me to The Moth, which are publicly performed storytelling events in which a winner is sometimes named at the end of the program. I've been to a Moth event live in Brooklyn and it was a treat. This podcast and the stories truly inspire me.
* These guys, Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, have done an amazing thing with Radiolab. It's not just that they've made science fun and sexy. It's so much more. They've created a forum in which two individuals share their naked wonder of scientific questions and their passion for process and investigation. It's simply captivating. Their programs open up my mind and give me food for thought like no other.
* What can I say? I'm a stan for Rupaul's Drag Race. It's fierce, it's funny, it's trashy. This is my tribe.
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