{"id":2503,"date":"2018-01-06T16:53:48","date_gmt":"2018-01-07T00:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/?p=2503"},"modified":"2018-01-06T16:53:48","modified_gmt":"2018-01-07T00:53:48","slug":"listening-list-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/?p=2503","title":{"rendered":"Listening List 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As a companion to my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/?p=2501\">2017 reading list<\/a>, here&#8217;s the podcasts I listen to and why.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/podcasts\/510318\/up-first\">NPR&#8217;s Up First<\/a>: This is basically the day&#8217;s headlines from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/programs\/morning-edition\/\">Morning Edition<\/a>.\u00a0 When I bike to work, it gives me the lay of the news land.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/espnradio\/podcast\/archive\/_\/id\/2445552\">Golic and Wingo<\/a>: The sports equivalent of Up First. This used to be the Mike and Mike feed before ESPN retired that show.\u00a0 I get a kick out of the younger Golic and the easy jock interactions.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/espnradio\/podcast\/archive\/_\/id\/8898044\">His &amp; Hers\/SC6<\/a>: I listen to this solely to get my Jemele Hill and Michael Smith fix.\u00a0 They have great personal chemistry and they comment so widely on the world within the framework of sports.\u00a0 Lately they&#8217;ve been openly poking their employer&#8217;s manipulation of viewers to my great delight.\u00a0 They were given the wheel of ESPN&#8217;s flagship SportsCenter time and they&#8217;re driving it like they stole it.\u00a0 Good fun.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/money\/\">Planet Money<\/a>: I&#8217;ve been listening to Planet Money since they began putting them out.\u00a0 It is consistently a great explanation of economic issues in concrete circumstances, and I recommend it unreservedly.\u00a0 Even if you don&#8217;t generally care about economics, give it a try.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/podcast\">This American Life<\/a>: One of the most respected radio shows\/podcasts out there. For me, it earns that respect with every show.\u00a0 Their investigative reporting is excellent and enlightening.\u00a0 Beyond recommended; a must.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/podcasts\/344098539\/wait-wait-don-t-tell-me\">Wait, Wait&#8230; Don&#8217;t Tell Me<\/a>: Peter Sagal and his talent riff on the news with panache every week.\u00a0 Their guests are from a broad range and interesting.\u00a0 I like the political ones best.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.welcometonightvale.com\/listen\/\">Welcome To Night Vale<\/a>: A fiction podcast that combines humor, spookiness, and great characters.\u00a0 Worth it for the throw-aways alone and\u00a0 the story sneaks up to capture you.\u00a0 It&#8217;s felt a little more aimless recently as the creators are doing more things, but still has many great moments.\u00a0 Even if you don&#8217;t follow it, it&#8217;s worth hearing old stories.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/emilypost.com\/awesome-etiquette-podcast\/\">Awesome Etiquette<\/a>: I am an etiquette nerd, but I find that the Emily Post folks who produce this (Lizzie and Dan) are much less concerned with the fish fork rules than the relationships that underly the rituals we perform.\u00a0 It&#8217;s a principled approach to etiquette that&#8217;s often more an advice column.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dinnerpartydownload.org\/\">Dinner Party Download<\/a>: This was a quirky take on pop culture that spent a lot of time on food, drink, history(!?), and terrible, terrible, terrible jokes.\u00a0 Rico and Brendan had great chemistry and a great take on the world.\u00a0 Sadly, this is in the past tense: they&#8217;ve moved on to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Brunch-Hell-World-Throwing-Dinner\/dp\/0316338958\">other projects<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.waywordradio.org\/\">A Way With Words<\/a>: A cool show about (English) word usage and origins.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/gimletmedia.com\/reply-all\/\">Reply All<\/a>: Reply All is a show about the Internet.\u00a0 But, really, it&#8217;s about many many things that touch the Internet in some way.\u00a0 The reporting is outstanding and the hosts are charismatic.\u00a0 This is on a par with <em>This American Life<\/em>.\u00a0 A must.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/gimletmedia.com\/science-vs\/\">ScienceVs<\/a>: Each episode reviews the scientific studies about some public policy or personal issue.\u00a0 The host is delightful and the topics are compelling.\u00a0 Great fun.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lapl.org\/collections-resources\/e-media\/podcasts\/aloud\">LA Public Library&#8217;s Aloud Series<\/a>: The <a href=\"http:\/\/lapl.org\">Los Angeles Public Library<\/a> hosts a series of talks from authors, artists, and thinkers (including Q&amp;A) and records them.\u00a0 The talks cover a fantastic range of topics\u00a0 from cephalopod intelligence to modern poetry.\u00a0 I&#8217;ve never heard one I didn&#8217;t learn something from.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thememorypalace.us\/\">The Memory Palace<\/a>: This is Nate DiMeo&#8217;s poetic and indescribable podcast.\u00a0 There&#8217;s some history, some poetry, and some reflection.\u00a0 Try a few and you&#8217;ll see if you like it.\u00a0 I don&#8217;t miss an episode.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hbmpodcast.com\/\">Here Be Monsters<\/a>: HBM is another basically indescribable podcast.\u00a0 It is eerie and enlightening.\u00a0 Another one where you really have to look for yourself, because it&#8217;s beyond my powers.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketplace.org\/topics\/make-me-smart\">Make Me Smart<\/a>: This is an extension of Minnesota Public Radio&#8217;s excellent Marketplace radio show.\u00a0 It began pointed at economics and politics &#8211; and those still figure prominently &#8211; but had branched into its own ongoing conversation.\u00a0\u00a0 It is a conversation shared by two world-class journalists (Molly Wood and Kai Ryssdal), so it&#8217;s not your run-of-the-mill chat. As all great conversations do, the discussion has developed its own in-jokes and themes (and a book club, that not all great conversations spawn). As with any conversation, it may or may not interest you.\u00a0 Try enough to get the vibe if you&#8217;re interested.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/wondery.com\/wondery\/shows\/found\/\">Found<\/a>: Davy Rothbart publishes a zine of objects that people gather from the streets and send him.\u00a0 The zine is quite a quirky collection of oddments and Rothbart&#8217;s live shows have a lo-fi vibe with real entertainment in there.\u00a0 He uses the podcast to dig deeper into the stories behind the objects and explore longer form performance.\u00a0 Perhaps my favorite parts are the songs based on the found objects &#8211; mostly the texts lists and letters &#8211; from the Found Musical.\u00a0 Yeah, there&#8217;s a <a href=\"http:\/\/foundthemusical.com\/\">musical<\/a>.\u00a0 It&#8217;s a thing.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youmustrememberthispodcast.com\/\">You Must Remember This<\/a>: Karina Longworth&#8217;s exploration of Hollywood&#8217;s history is one of the real gems in the podcast world.\u00a0 She balances diligent research and insightful modern analysis to not only tell a story but help the listener think about its place in the past and future.\u00a0 I can find her delivery a bit dry, but the content is fantastic. After a few episodes I began hearing more subtle elements of her style.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.radiolab.org\/series\/podcasts\/\">RadioLab<\/a>: Another blue chip podcast.\u00a0 I listen to it primarily because it makes me yell at the speakers in ways that make me think.\u00a0 When it&#8217;s good, it&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.radiolab.org\/story\/nukes\/\">great<\/a>. When it&#8217;s not, there&#8217;s usually something to think about.\u00a0 And it&#8217;s often great.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/gimletmedia.com\/startup\/\">StartUp<\/a>: This began as a near-real-time history of Alex Blumberg founding <a href=\"https:\/\/gimletmedia.com\/\">Gimlet Media<\/a>.\u00a0 That was gripping and exciting, but since then it&#8217;s seemed a bit aimless.\u00a0 I do think that their <a href=\"https:\/\/gimletmedia.com\/episode\/part-1-labels-season-4-episode-4\/\">series on American Apparel&#8217;s troubled CEO<\/a> is top-notch.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kcrw.com\/news-culture\/shows\/below-the-ten-life-in-south-la\">Below The Ten<\/a>: Stories from life in South LA.\u00a0 These are interesting and compelling.\u00a0 Does not update often.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/espnradio\/podcast\/archive\/_\/id\/2386164\">Baseball Tonight<\/a>: I use this to just keep up with major league baseball.\u00a0 I let a lot of it wash over me, but that&#8217;s possible because of the easy charisma and camaraderie of the hosts and guests.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nightvalepresents.com\/withinthewires\/\">Within The Wires<\/a>: This is one of the other projects that Night Vale creators are spending time on.\u00a0 It&#8217;s brilliant, funny, creepy, innovative storytelling and I don&#8217;t want to spoil it.\u00a0 A must.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nightvalepresents.com\/aliceisntdead\/\">Alice Isn&#8217;t Dead<\/a>: Another Night Vale creator&#8217;s project.\u00a0 I find it a more straight-ahead thriller than <em>Within The Wires<\/em>, but it is very strong.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hiddenhistoryla.com\/\">The Hidden History of LA<\/a>: Short snippets of LA history.\u00a0 Great if you live in LA.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/gimletmedia.com\/thepitch\/\">The Pitch<\/a>: Here&#8217;s the pitch: young investors pitch their startup ideas to a set of real investors and these folks report on it.\u00a0 I thought I&#8217;d listen to one or two of these and stop, but it hooked me.\u00a0 I enjoy assessing the presentation quality and I&#8217;ve come to like the repeating investors.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/gimletmedia.com\/the-nod\/\">The Nod<\/a>: Gimlet&#8217;s stab at exploring Black culture.\u00a0 I listen to it primarily because I got hooked by host Brittany Luce when she did Sampler.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/podcasts\/510322\/live-from-the-poundstone-institute\">Live From The Poundstone Institute<\/a>: I picked this up to listen to Paula Poundstone.\u00a0 Adam Felber was just a bonus. The early few episodes were clunky as the two of them felt their way through the form.\u00a0 As the show progressed, they developed a chemistry and rhythm that I quite like.\u00a0 It&#8217;s solid and expect it will get stronger; I&#8217;ll keep watching.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/podcasts\/510312\/codeswitch\">NPR&#8217;s Code Switch<\/a>: NPR&#8217;s swing at exploring the crenelations of a multi-ethnic culture.\u00a0 The show can feel stilted at times, but the reporting and commentary are top notch.\u00a0 It&#8217;s grown on me considerably.\u00a0 If its niche appeals to you, it is very good.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dylanmarron.com\/podcast\/\">Conversations With People Who Hate Me<\/a>: The pitch for <em>Conversations<\/em> is simple: Dylan Marron calls people who screamed hateful things in his YouTube comments section and tries to figure out what ticked them off.\u00a0 Marron&#8217;s execution is unbelievably strong: simultaneously professional, vulnerable, analytic, and compassionate.\u00a0 And many other adjectives that apply to a bold person experiencing genuine emotion. I can imagine listeners rejecting Marron as the stereotype of an <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Social_justice_warrior\">SJW<\/a> &#8211; an observation he might well confirm &#8211; but I think he&#8217;s much more interesting than any stereotype.\u00a0 A must.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.desertoracle.com\/radio\/\">Desert Oracle Radio<\/a>: I may never know <a href=\"http:\/\/warrenellis.com\">Warren Ellis<\/a> found this lunatic poet, conspiracy nut, nature conservator, and svengali who broadcasts from the middle of the Mojave, but thank heaven he mentioned it in <a href=\"http:\/\/orbitaloperations.com\/\">his newsletter<\/a>. Listen to one episode and you&#8217;ll know if it&#8217;s for you.\u00a0 It&#8217;s for me.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theliminal.co\/\">The Liminal<\/a>: Another <a href=\"http:\/\/warrenellis.com\">Ellis<\/a> recommendation.\u00a0 This is another podcast that I listen to because of the host.\u00a0 He&#8217;s talking about <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Charles_Fort\">fortean<\/a> topics with a perspective somewhere between skeptical and accepting.\u00a0 I&#8217;ve heard a lot of the topics and I admire the perspective.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/player.fm\/series\/deep-state-radio\">Deep State Radio<\/a>: One more from <a href=\"https:\/\/player.fm\/series\/deep-state-radio\">Ellis<\/a>. This is a revolving set of foreign policy heavyweights weighing in on the state of the world.\u00a0 I enjoy the tone and content.\u00a0 Beyond that, they pay careful attention to gender balance &#8211; there are basically always half women foreign policy experts in the conversation. The group&#8217;s perspective is strong.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theallusionist.org\/\">The Allusionist<\/a>: This is another words and language podcast, but with a somewhat wider ambit than <em>A Way With Words<\/em>. I haven&#8217;t been listening to it that long, but I find that she casts an interesting net.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/uncivil.show\/\">Uncivil<\/a>: Jack Hitt and Chenjerai Kumanyika report on some of the corners of the Civil War story that you won&#8217;t hear from Ken Burns.\u00a0 It&#8217;s well-researched and takes no prisoners with its pro-equality perspective.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/uncivil.show\/episode-the-spin.html\">The Spin episode <\/a>will give you a feel for the tone and quality.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/podcasts\/555340969\/there-goes-the-neighborhood\">There Goes The Neighborhood<\/a>: Collaborative reporting by WNYC and KCRW on gentrification in Brooklyn and Santa Monica.\u00a0 I learned a bunch, though it&#8217;s currently on hiatus.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wnyc.org\/shows\/radiolabmoreperfect\/\">More Perfect<\/a>: This is the guys from WNYC\/RadioLab coming at the US Supreme Court from excellent perspectives.\u00a0 I probably like it more than RadioLab itself.\u00a0 Recommended.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/art19.com\/shows\/the-breakfast-club\">The Breakfast Club<\/a>: This is the best of the non-music parts of an NYC-based morning show.\u00a0 I enjoy hearing the rhythm and perspective of NYC.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-sisterhood\/id1321350029?mt=2\">The Sisterhood<\/a>: Laurie Penny and her sister talk about feminist issues.\u00a0 Still finding their feet, but shows promise.\u00a0 I found their commentary on our robot masters particularly insightful.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As a companion to my 2017 reading list, here&#8217;s the podcasts I listen to and why. NPR&#8217;s Up First: This is basically the day&#8217;s headlines from Morning Edition.\u00a0 When I bike to work, it gives me the lay of the news land. Golic and Wingo: The sports equivalent of Up First. This used to be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-rants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2503"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2516,"href":"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2503\/revisions\/2516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lunabase.org\/~faber\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}