This Week in Podcasts #1 – My go-to recommendations
This is a very old post!
This post was migrated from my old blog - ben-evans.co.nz - which I wrote between 2012-2015 as a young twenty something.
To the best of my knowledge the content is presented in its original form - cringe and all - with only minor formatting updates, and link updates. However, I backed up these posts in 2017 and sub-editing may have taken place at that time - I genuinely can't remember - as I already found some of the earlier posts challenging to read.
Beliefs or views I expressed may not be the same as the ones I have now.
So as some of you may or may not know, I’m big into my podcasts, I listen to podcasts the way I wish I could listen to music, i.e. almost always listening to new content, and from a constantly growing array of sources.
For a few months now I’ve had a go-to list of podcast episodes for people I know haven’t really given them a go before. While there’s probably a couple of episodes I could update, the below are still absolutely fantastic – so even if you are already into podcasts, make sure you check out the below.
This American Life – #502 – This Call May Be Recorded… To Save Your Life
This is a really really heavy episode of This American Life, a journalist in the states receives a phone number belonging to some hostages in Africa, they’re allowed to have a phone so that they can plead for money & release from their captors.
This American Life – #534 – A Not-So-Simple Majority
This would definitely be in my top 5 episodes of This American Life if I was forced to make a list.
An incredibly powerful and moving episode.
Basically some hasidic jews take over a local school board even though their children don’t attend, as they want to control the funding derived from the property taxes that they do have to pay.
This American Life – #487 & #488 – Harper High School, Parts 1 & 2
A very interesting two-part series on Harper High School which in the year prior to the episode had 29 current & recent students shot. So many different stories in this one, fairly sure I teared up a few times in these two episodes.
99% Invisible – #83 – Heyoon
Some teenagers find a magical hideaway in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 99% Invisible will be your next challenge!n The episodes are really good, and average about 10 minutes, so it’s basically snack size podcasting.
Radiolab – Season 9 Episode 1 – The Good Show
Quite a sweet episode, which delves into the sweeter things in life (opposed to the misery of my first five episodes listed).
Anyway, there’s six for you to enjoy. If you’d like more suggestions, feel free to ask – I’ve tried to cherry pick some of the more accessible or emotional episodes, but between the above three podcasts, they all produce consistently brilliant material.
The ones above just happen to make my mouth lie agape whenever I listen to them.
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