What On Your Playlist?
Five Years Ago, I was a radio girl. Not music, though: I listened to talk shows in the morning and NPR in the afternoons. Early in the pandemic, though, I came to a point where I had to turn it all off. It was a major contributor to my anxiety, and cutting it cold turkey helped more than probably any other one thing.
But I still want to listen to content rather than music when I'm in the car, so I've been slowly curating a list of podcasts that will fill the miles with educational, compelling, or uplifting content.
My commutes are mostly to dance practice and last around 30 minutes. Usually there is at least one kid in the car, and podcasts are obviously chosen with that audience in mind.
Here are my candid reviews of the podcasts on my "followed" list. Give them a read: maybe you'll find a gem yourself.
The TL;DR
1. I routinely listen to "Thru the Bible" and "The Economics of Everyday Things," and frequently listen to "Top 3 from Not The Bee." I've recently and tentatively added "The Pour Over."
2. I respect the production values of and often appreciate the content of "Radiolab," "This American Life," and "Memory Palace," but the leftward bias sometimes gets in the way and I end up being pretty selective.
3. I want to love "Our American Stories," which has values more aligned with my own, but the presentation and production values are mediocre to the point of distraction. I also eliminated "Stuff You Should Know" from my list for similar reasons.
4. "The Way I Heard It" and "Atlas Obscura" get selective listens, as do a few others.
Category One : Consistently Listen
Thru the Bible with Dr. J Vernon McGee
Subject Matter: Systematic Bible Study
Production Values: Excellent
Frequency: Daily, 25 mn episodes
Bias: Unabashedly Christian (apolitical)
I've
listened to Dr. McGee off and on since I was 5 years old. He's long
since gone to his reward, but Thru the Bible continues to play his Bible
studies (and Sunday Sermons and Saturday Q&A) exactly as he
recorded them back in the 70's or 80's. Each episode is prefaced with a
few minutes of news about the ministry or letters from listeners from
one of the over 200 languages the program is currently broadcast in. I
find this content as personally inspiring, educational, and useful as
anything in my life and do make a concerted effort to listen daily - although I honestly probably only average 3 times a week.
Note: I do not follow any other explicitly Christian podcasts or Bible studies. If you have one that you love, let me know about it.
Stars: 5/5
The Economics of Everyday Things
Subject Matter: Economics
Production Values: Excellent
Frequency: Weekly (~20 minute episodes)
Bias: As close to neutral as anything I listen to
One of the very few podcasts I listen to with the kids, we have learned together about the economics of everything from the greeting card industry to prison labor to porta-potties. The host thoroughly researches each topic and interviews industry leaders. The production values are excellent, and everyone's interest is typically engaged. There are about 3 minutes of ads mid-episode, but if I have someone with me they can fast-forward away.
Top 3 from Not The Bee
Subject Matter: Current Events, Politics
Production Values: Excellent
Frequency: 4/week, 6-8 minutes
Bias: Right.
A fairly new podcast to me personally and the world at large. Just now it's the only truly current-events centered program I'm following, this podcast is pretty much exactly what you would expect from "The Babylon Bee's" sister-publication, "Not The Bee." The host covers three current (real, not parody) headlines in rapid fire, humorous, style usually with some pretty good insight. Funny, and just about as much current events as I need in my day.
Stars: 4/5
The Pour Over
Subject Matter: Current Events, Christian Perspective
Production Values: Moderate
Frequency: 3/week, 10 minutes
Bias: Christian
As previously mentioned I am selectively allowing some current event coverage back into my life after a long hiatus. The Pour Over bills itself as a politically neutral, easy to understand news source that interprets stories through a lens of Christianity. (Tag line: Your politically neutral, Christ-first news source.) Their news digest are published on their website, emailed to their extensive subscriber base, and - as far as I can tell - read verbatim for their podcast.
As far as political neutrality goes, I will say that they seem to be doing a much better job of it than anyone else I've recently followed. Stories are presented in a compact, factual style in - as promised - nice, simple language. Each issue is introduced with an inspirational quote, and nearly every story is wrapped up with a Bible verse and short suggestion of how to process the information through a Christian lens. Thus far I have found no grave theological concerns or obvious political bias in the commentary.
What's not to love? Well, the presentation style is not fantastic. The presenter (is he also the author? Don't know) is not unprofessional, but he would certainly not be hired as a newsreader by a commercial radio station. It's also a difficult for me not to find the Bible verses and mini homilies a bit forced or contrived. Again, I've identified nothing Wrong theologically with anything I've heard or read so far. But - well, it's the difference between Jonathan Park and Adventures in Odyssey. It's just not entirely natural.
For me, this one works better in print, but since I don't have a habit of reading anything from my email box consistently, I will probably leave it on my playlist.
Stars: 3.5/5
Category Two : Listen selectively
Our American Stories (Lee Habib)
Subject Matter: History, American stories, human interest
Production Values: Mediocre
Frequency: Very. Sometimes several episodes a day, varying in length from 10 mn to an hour.
Bias: Conservative, right
This is a podcast I wanted to love. There's tons of content released each week, and I often find the stories educational, intriguing, and even edifying. They're almost always from a perspective that is at odds with mainstream media and school textbooks, but are rarely if ever overtly religious. There are plenty of war stories, for sure, but also human interest stories about women running successful businesses after major life trauma, portraits of historical figures from Billy the Kid to Columbus, kids learning about life in their first summer jobs - everything.
I Want it to be The Right's answer to This American Life.
But the production values - and the ads - are killing
me. Some of their presenters are great story tellers, and others merely
OK. But regardless of what the story is about, there's always a
soundtrack of mostly patriotic / vaguely military music in the
background played just a little too loud, and not in any way synced in
either mood or content with the speaker. Occasional sound effects (pens
scratching when reading a letter, etc.) tend to stick out rather than
enhance the atmosphere. And then there are the interruptions: every few
minutes the host breaks in, gives an unnecessary and overly enthusiastic
review of what we just heard, and promises up more after what is often a
2-3 minute commercial break. If I am not in traffic that allows me to
hit the fast-forward button, I simply won't listen to one of these
episodes in the first place.
In the end I don't find myself listening to most of these.
Stars: 3 out of 5
Radiolab
Subject matter: Science, politics, human interest
Production Values: Excellent
Frequency: Weekly (~1 hour episodes)
Bias: Decidedly to the left
I first listened to Radiolab on NPR in my radio days. When it's good, it is very very good. I truly enjoy their highly professional science reporting and have learned all sorts of things from the role of horseshoe crabs in modern medicine to the amazing mechanism by which the heart is engineered to start beating at the moment of birth. The information is presented conversationally, transitioning smoothly from host to interviewer to interviewee. Sound effects and sound track are subtle, well mixed, and always enhance the story. However, their strong leftward bias is enough that I have learned to preview and curate episodes, avoiding the ones that are focused on current events.
Stars: 4 out of 5
This American Life (Ira Glass)
Subject Matter: American Stories, human interest
Production Values: Excellent
Frequency: Weekly (~1 hour episodes)
Bias: Definitely to the left
Another (very) long running public radio program, Ira Glass's "This American Life" has some amazing content that is always beautifully produced, edited, and presented. I have thoroughly enjoyed most episodes. This is not one I will listen to with the kids unless I have thoroughly previewed it. The political bias is decidedly leftward. I have learned a lot about individuals, cultures, and groups that I do not meet in my personal life, and appreciated the perspective. But you will find no celebration of anything even vaguely conservative here.
Stars: 4 out of 5
The Way I Heard It (Mike Rowe)
Subject Matter: Stories, economics, current events
Production Values: Excellent
Frequency: Weekly (~60+ minute episodes)
Bias: Right / Libertarian
This podcast has evolved a lot over the years. Mike Rowe (of Dirty Jobs fame) started it as short-form stories presented as a deliberate homage to Paul Harvey's "The Rest of the Story." He still throws one of these out from time to time, but most of his content now days consists of conversational interviews with people he finds interesting or inspiring. Many times I find them interesting and inspiring as well, but my commutes are rarely long enough to listen to entire episodes, which do tend to ramble. I'm also not super likely to listen to one with the kids, both because of length and because he makes no real attempt to stay "on color." Even his sweet little mom - a frequent guest - isn't necessarily kid safe!
This is one podcast where I never bother trying to skip ads: Rowe usually sings them himself, often in 4-part Barbershop harmony.
Stars: 4/5, but I don't listen all that often.
Atlas Obscura
Subject Matter : History, obscure stories
Production Values : Excellent
Frequency: daily ? ~20 minute episodes
Bias: Haven't listened enough to know
This is a new-to-me podcast I am relatively excited about as the first few episodes I've heard (diving horses of Atlantic City, William Buckley of Australia 1880) have been quirky, obscure, and interesting.
Too soon to say if I'll be following carefully or just occasionally, but the overall quality seems to be pretty professional.
Memory Palace (Nate DiMeo)
Subject: history and stories
Production Values: Excellent
Frequency: Not quite weekly? ~10-15 mn.
Bias: Left
Memory Palace has a highly unique and recognizable storytelling style I find difficult to describe. Atmospheric, painterly, emotional, compelling... The subject matter is stories drawn from various eras of mostly American history and you could imagine Paul Harvey, Mike Rowe, or Our American Stories choosing from a similar pool. Some stories are very affecting. Others, the author / storyteller's ax to grind is distracting enough that I don't end up wanting to listen. I like to have an idea of what I am in for, and because DiMeo deliberately gives no overview of the episodes, I don't end up prioritizing them in my feed.
Stars: 4/5
Category 3: No Longer On the Playlist
Inside the Breakthrough
Subject: Science history
Production Values: Excellent
Frequency: 2, 10 episode seasons, ~30 mn ea. (Finished a year or two ago)
Bias: Neutral / Left
I mention this one because my son and I really enjoyed it, short as it's run was. The episodes were well crafted, informative and insightful histories of major scientific advances. The entire podcast was bought and paid for by the Canadian company SciMar which is in the process of trying to bring a Type II Diabetes drug to market. They're very up front about this, and rather than a jarring, Orphan Annie-esque plug for Ovaltine, the host ties each story more or less naturally into part of the drug research, development, and testing that SciMar was doing. I found myself interested in both the history and the current events. Worth a listen if science is your thing.
Stars: 4/5Stuff You Should Know
Subject: Science, history, and quirky stuff'
Production Values: Poor
Frequency: 2-3 times a week?
Bias: Left, minor
I wanted to like this podcast, which comes up on all my auto-generated recommendations, much more than I do. It has a loyal following and much of the subject matter Looks interesting. In the end, though, the hosts are simply too amateurish, unpolished, and rambling in research and presentation to hold my interest.
Stars: 2/5
Real Cool History for Kids with Angela O'Dell
Subject: History told for kids
Production Values : Medium
Frequency : Weekly, ~20 mn
Bias: Right (intentional Biblical worldview)
I used to listen pretty routinely with the kids, but it's really aimed at ages 6-12, and we've gotten a little too big for it. It's a one-woman show, done reasonably well: good writing and research, no distracting sound effects or music, no advertising. We learned a lot about a wide variety of historical subject. Engaging, sometimes a little heavy handed, and I often wished it went deeper - I know, I'm not between the ages of 6 and 12!
Stars: 3.5/5
Closing Thoughts
In fact, this is awfully hard to do - and I would say that for those of us who align more closely with the right than the left politically, it's well nigh impossible. Even if you listen only to talk radio and Fox News. But I digress.
If I somehow found myself in a place to create a podcast (with plenty of budget), I would love to do take something like "Our American Stories" and make it really good. Story-telling done well is so powerful.
PS: I use the Android App "Player FM" to download and play my
podcasts. The free version is constantly badgering you to upgrade and
also constantly pushing podcasts at you that have nothing to do with
your interests, but it has one major selling point: it will play
downloaded content when you do not have an active connection. This means
that I can keep listening all the way to the beach - even in the dead
zone! Most major podcast apps freak out when they can't contact their
own ad servers and refuse to serve up the next episode, downloaded or
not. The second selling point is that, unlike many of its competitors,
this app is podcast-centric. I find it difficult to convince either
Amazon or Spotify that I want podcasts, not music, when searching for
content and quickly tire of the battle.
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