A. sent me an email a few weeks ago saying that he was a bit late to the game but had recently discovered podcasts and thought I'd like them too, if I didn't subscribe to some already. I wrote back saying I had come fairly late to the game too, and that he was right - I did/do love them!
My love of podcasts is tied to my love of the subject matter of the podcasts I subscribe to. For a very long time, until really only this past fall, I had no idea there was a whole world of interesting podcasts out there, just waiting for me to discover! It all started just under a year and a half ago when (a different) A. told me that I needed to subscribe to the 'This American Life' podcast since she was sure I'd love it. She was right. Learning about/listening to/reading other people's stories and finding out about other people's lives have long been some of my favourite things, and 'This American Life' combines all that in one perfect podcast hour.
Almost all of the podcasts I currently subscribe to are connected to each other. The 'This American Life' podcast led to me 'The Moth' podcast (where people tell true stories to a live audience, without notes) as they sometimes featured Moth speakers. 'The Moth' podcast is great because, as I said above personal stories are the best, and also because it's usually about 17 minutes long, which makes listening to it all in one go much easier than with hour long podcasts. In November I was telling L. about 'The Moth', and she in turn introduced me to the 'Story Corps' podcast, which is where regular people record themselves having a 1 minute conversation and then submit it to 'Story Corps'. This is a great podcast to subscribe to if you don't have much time because they're super short, but also usually quite poignant and thought-provoking.
Early last fall I decided to search for podcasts about history, another interest of mine. Some googling brought up the BBC History Magazine's podcast, which I promptly subscribed to and now enjoy. It's only once a month, which seems just right, and features interviews with historians who have published articles in that month's edition of the magazine. The topics are a good mix of recent & much older history. For example, one episode (I think October's?) had a feature on Mussolini's mistress whose diaries have recently been released. Another featured an interview about an English Queen from the 1500 or 1600s, which reminded me a bit of a Philippa Gregory book. The 'BBC History Magazine' podcast also led me, from their December episode where they had a special, short feature on it, to subscribe to the BBC's 'Witness' - a podcast released by the BBC World Service. 'Witness' is one of my favourite podcasts! Each day, there is a new episode which contains an interview with a living person who 'witnessed' an actual event in (usually fairly recent) world history. A few times they've broken with this and just interviewed a historian who did not actually witness the event his/herself, but usually they are from real events that took place over the last 50 years. The one I listened to today was actually an interview with the founder of Wikipedia, in honour of the 10th anniversary of the founding of Wikipedia in January 2001. There have also been super interesting ones on the Taliban, on the Iraq War, on the US invasion of Panama in 1989, and all sorts of other things. Since my time at Berkeley I have been really into oral history, and I love having the opportunity to now get a daily dose of it on fascinating topics!
The last two podcasts I subscribe to are also connected. My homepage on Firefox is the BBC International News and one Sunday in November one of the featured articles was a column I'd never noticed before called 'From Our Own Correspondent' which consisted of a series of vignettes written by BBC foreign correspondents stationed all over the world. The bottom of the article mentioned the podcast which I then subscribed to, and now like listening to every week. It's really cool because I love travelling and hearing about what life is like in other places and this podcast does exactly that! After of a few episodes of this though, it occurred to me that there must be a Canadian equivalent. So I searched CBC (kind of like a Canadian NPR) and found 'Dispatches'. It's also excellent - subtly different from the BBC show in that the host has more of a role, and often interviews historians/economists etc, which the BBC one doesn't do. In any event, it, like the BBC one, provides great stories/events/insights on things happening around the world.
The thing about podcasts are that there are just so many (an endless amount really) to choose from. The ones A. just recently discovered are ones I don't subscribe to, and other friends subscribe to other ones that sound equally good but right now I feel like I'm good with the seven I have. I'm sure I will eventually start subscribing to more in the future though because I really adore podcasts. They make things so easy, since though there's technically nothing stopping me from listening to 'Dispatches' on my own radio it's just much simpler to listen when I want, instead of at the exact time it's being aired on the radio. Plus, I don't get 'This American Life' or
'The Moth' or the BBC programs on the radio in Montreal. Additionally, thanks to my ipod, all my podcasts are transportable! My daily walks to and from school have this past fall become times where I'm transported to other people's lives in far flung countries of the earth. Listening to Witness, in particular, on my walk every morning is a great and, cheesy as it sounds, enriching way to start the day.
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