✨18 Podcasts I Never Miss🤸♀️
💌Podcast The Newsletter is your weekly love letter to podcasts and the people who make them.💌
Bonjour!
Today is Monday, August 16. There are 282 days until I go on my next Disney cruise.
This week we’re getting to peek into the listening life of Chris Colbert, the CEO and Founder of DCP Entertainment, a media platform for underrepresented voices, including people of color, women, the LGBTQ+ community, and other overlooked communities. Having worked with names like Jamie Foxx, Joy-Ann Reid, Zak Levitt, Andrew Jenks, ESSENCE, PEOPLE, Crooked Media, Sports Illustrated, the United Negro College Fund, and The White House, Chris specializes in documentaries, media partnerships and content development. He is also the Executive Producer of the Webby Award winning podcast series, "Say Their Name."
The app I use: I jump around a lot to better understand our audience’s experience on the various apps, but I tend to use Apple Podcasts to listen to our DCP Entertainment shows, and I use Spotify for my personal podcast exploration.
Listening time per week: Listening time really fluctuates for me. There are literally entire months where I don’t have time to listen to a podcast. But on average I’d say I listen to about 5 hours of podcasts per week.
When I listen: I’m an immersive listener, so I can’t listen to podcasts while I’m working, or working out. My podcast listening tends to be at night as I’m winding down for the day, which sometimes backfires when I get really into a true crime or documentary series and end up staying up way too late!
How I discover: I discover a lot of my podcasts from our DCP team and our newsletters where we help promote BIPOC creators and networks. I also discover them through other newsletters like, Podcast the Newsletter, Podcasting Seriously, Hot Pod (and 1.5x Speed), Podnews, and others.
Anything else? Check out our incredible lineup of podcasts and video series at DCP Entertainment. And if you need help starting a podcast or taking it to the next level, I just opened up a podcast consulting program and I’d love to work with you.
xoxo lp
ps If you are pleased with Podcast The Newsletter, please spread the word.
👋q & a & q & a & q & a👋
Matthew Shifrin
Matthew Shifrin is the host of Blind Guy Travels.
Can you tell us about LEGO for the Blind?
Lego For The Blind is a website my friend and I created where we uploaded text-based building instructions that we wrote so blind kids can build Lego sets independently. There’s a whole episode of Blind Guy Travels about it, called Brick By Brick, so take a listen!
How is podcasting different for someone who is blind?
Though recording software like ProTools or Reaper is accessible for blind users, recording is a much lengthier process for me—things that take me three hours to edit, take a sighted engineer three seconds to fix. Thankfully Ian Coss, Blind Guy Travels’ Producer and Sound-Designer, did all of the editing and working with him was a blast! I could focus on interviewing people and getting the best takes while recording, and know that he’d be checking our levels, holding the mic at the right distance, and editing everything together.
Why was doing the music for Blind Guy Travels important?
I’m a Counter-tenor, composer, and accordionist, but I’d never scored anything before, so thought it would be cool to try. Though some podcasts use music libraries for their scores to great effect, I wanted to make sure that Blind Guy Travels had its own musical flavor. Jeff Emtman, creator of Hear Be Monsters, creates minimalistic and evocative scores that don’t overshadow the story, but provide tension in the background, keeping the listener focused and engaged. I’m a big fan of his show, and was inspired by his approach to scoring. I also write musicals, so stick around till after the credits for some musical easter-eggs.
What kinds of podcasts do you like the most?
Conversational ones, sound-rich experiences, things that teach lessons. It depends on what mood I’m in. Sometimes I’ll listen to a language-learning podcast, like Coffee Break French, or a linguistics show like A Way With Words, other times, I’ll go for a sound-rich science show like Radiolab or the TED Radio Hour, or a story-telling show like The Moth.
What steps should podcast festivals (and other sorts of festivals) be taking to make sure blind people are included? Do they do a good job?
I’ve been to Third Coast, and found it very accessible, (the festival program was readable by my screen-reader, and the website was accessible.) The hosts of the various panels were very thorough and described their slides, (though maybe that’s because I’d always ask to be seated as conspicuously as possible in the front row.) When attending festivals, I usually go with friends who can help me get around and describe things. If blind people are going to a podcasting festival alone, it would be useful to have docents stationed at various strategic points, (lobbies, major hotel thoroughfares, etc) who could assist blind participants if they get lost. Alternatively, festivals could find volunteers who could act as guides and describers for blind attendees. It would be great if film festivals could include Audio Description, (narration tracks describing what’s happening in a movie) that blind attendees could listen to via a headset or smartphone.
Which episode are you most proud of?
The last episode was very daunting to make, since it’s about the gap between college/grad school and adulthood— an uncertain time period which I’m only just entering now. There was a vulnerability in that episode which had to be present, but I had to wrap it around a narrative for it to work emotionally. So, crafting that episode was a grueling process, but I’m glad we did it!
🚨If u only have time for 1 thing🚨
Bridget Todd started There Are No Girls on the Internet shining a light on the people who have shaped the internet, but have been overlooked. I have listened to #DisabledandCute (an interview with Keah Brown) more than once—it forces you to envision how different your online experience would be if you were disabled, and it changed the way I look at nearly everything on my screen. After a slate of mind-blowing episodes she started a series called Disinformed, which was like your hot-off-the-press update on the most pressing news in digital marginalization and gatekeeping. When Disinformed was running, I raced to listen to each episode as it dropped. (It won a Shorty Award.) Bridget Todd is the bearer of often terrible news, but she delivers it in a positive and constructive way. I feel light just hearing her speak. She’s funny and smart and checks every box for a perfect podcast host. I would be down for her hosting every single podcast, but Black women are already doing all the good things and they need a break. So while I’m glad that TANGOTI is on hiatus, I can’t wait to see it in my feed again, hopefully later this summer.
💎BTW💎
The other day I was telling my dad about my newsletter and he said, “Jesus, Lauren. Give us a fucking break.” (This is the same person who was the only person to select “too much content” when I surveyed my readers about their satisfaction of Podcast the Newsletter.) So this week, I’m giving you a fucking break. There are so many shows that I listen to on a regular basis but rarely write about. I take them for granted, they are like my air, my steady friends through my podcast listening life. This week I’m shining light on some of the shows that I don’t always write about, but that I’m always listening to. Here, an incomplete list. (If you like this issue, I’ll do it again with more.)
🎙️Each week on Crime Writers On…, Rebecca Lavoie, Kevin Flynn, Lara Bricker and Toby Ball have a roundtable discussion on two crime stories recently released in media. They cover a lot of podcasts, and I almost never listen to a true-crime show or movie unless they recommend it. Rebecca is a podcast tastemaker and I would listen to literally anything she spoke highly of. The feeling of the show is fun, you really get to know the hosts, who feel like your good friends. (Rebecca and Kevin are married.) I really just have fun listening to this show, and it drives my true-crime media diet.
🎙️The Best Advice Show has become my morning minute of meditation every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Zak Rosen interviews someone cool about a tiny piece of advice they have. My favorite kinds of advice are weirdly specific (going on a bird-watching scavenger hunt in your neighborhood, writing joyful lists, and sending cookies through the mail.) But there’s lots of general advice that stands as a good reminder. (Stop yucking my yum! Says June Thomas. Customize rituals. Repurpose food.) The episodes are like three minutes long, listening to Zak talk feels like a massage for my brain, and I always leave with either a piece of advice or a reason to be happier about the world.
🎙️I’m not getting into it again—Follow Friday makes me excited to wake up on Friday mornings and listening it makes my social media experience better.
🎙️In 1977, NASA sent the Voyager into space with two records known as the “Golden Records” that contained recordings of music, nature sounds, and captures of life, so that if an unidentified flying object of some kind were to find it, they would understand us. On Keeping Records, Caleb Hearon and Shelby Wolsteinand are rebuilding the Golden Records with guest, using sounds and story from today. I like it because a) it’s a brilliant idea and b) Caleb and Shelby. Justin and I listen together and spend half the time repeating things they say to each other. They have the best chemistry in podcasting and spend just enough time putting their friendship on display—and you want to be in on it—and a lot of time hilariously going through the picks by the guests. If I got to be on Keeping Records, one of my picks would be Keeping Records. I want the aliens to know how funny and flawed humans can be, and the weird things we are putting on the internet and on TV.
🎙️I have been in love with Chelsea Devantez’s Celebrity Book Club since day one. Chelsea invites her funny friends to go over a celebrity memoir, shining light onto the moments that mattered and giving context and the story of these women (they have all been women) we think we know. If you love You’re Wrong About, you might be interested in how women’s stories get written and often erased. Chelsea has provided a space to look at women who are often maligned or mocked with empathy and understanding. She looks at the books at a near-academic level and even gives insight into the ghostwriters of the books. (She interviewed one!) This review for the show doesn’t make it sound very funny, but it is very, very funny. One of my favorite episodes was the one where Chelsea told her own story. The one about Casey Wilson’s The Wreckage of My Presence (with Casey Wilson) was amazing, too.
🎙️By now you know that I listen to The Daily Zeitgeist every morning with my husband, and we catch their trends episode every night while we’re getting ready for bed. This means I listen to approximately 8 hours of Jack O’Brien and Miles Gray a week, which should be more time than I spend talking to my parents, but it is not. (I still call my mom for advice when I want advice on buying a new pair of boots.) I recommend this show to everyone and from afar people think it’s like shock jock radio or a bro-fest, but it’s really a smart, left-leaning news show that brings on a comedian to go over whatever is in the zeitgeist that day. (Or at night, what is trending on Twitter.) The more you listen, the more you will like. Give the show time—there are lots of inside jokes you need to become a part of. I challenge you to listen to it every day (just start with the morning one) for a week and TELL me you aren’t obsessed. The only other person I know that loves this show as much as I do is Arielle Nissenblatt. Does that have you convinced?
🎙️The Constant is a history show about “getting things wrong,” and host Mark Chrisler is here to tell you the histories you didn’t know you needed to know. (And sometimes, maybe you don’t need to. But it’s always fun.) Mark could be a professor and I would sign up for his cult in a second—his storytelling style is passionate and endlessly knowledgable. Sometimes it feels like he is uncovering the histories right along with you. I was hooked by listening to The Fool Killer (a 5-part series about a submarine found at the bottom of the Chicago River) but if you want something lighter try the one on the worst Olympic event of all time, or this one about a talking mongoose. The style of this show is so top-notch it almost feels like an audio drama, and some of the stories Mark tells feel like fiction, too.
🎙️The other day I randomly texted Chelsey Weber-Smith, “what kind of weird stuff are you into these days?” And they texted back this:
I knew it’d be good. Chelsey’s brain is always in some sort of dark and twisted land, and their show American Hysteria is a look inside fantastical thinking like the gay agenda, killer clowns, and cults. Lots of people podcast about these things but nobody does a better job connecting them to current events or can explain how they have shaped our culture. The writing is fantastic. Chelsey is a poet and it’s amazing how lyrical the Satanic Panic can sound as described by Chelsey. They manage to strike a balance between dark and funny and loving and bright all at once. I always know to buckle up for these babies.
🎙️Burn It All Down is the feminist sports podcast that in my eyes, is the only sports podcast. The hosts, Shireen Ahmed, Amira Rose Davis, Brenda Elsey, Lindsay Gibbs, and Jessica Luther are all writers and educators, and they’re able to go deep inside the week’s news in athletics so we’re not just getting headlines, but the history, context, and importance of each story. They give the background behind the drama—my favorite part of sports. The casual banter they kick off every episode with is funny and eases you into the bad shit they are about to cover. (It’s almost always bad shit.) At the end, they go through the Burn Pile, the stuff that is really pissing them off. And then together they say in a guttural voice, “burrrrrrrn!” And I always say it aloud right along with them.
🎙️I go back and listen to one of the first episodes of Unhappy Hour with Matt Bellassai on a regular basis. It kicks off the idea of celebrating complaining by reading an online review of a vegan restaurant that includes the phrase “baby butthole” more times than I could count. I think I have tears in my eyes each time I listen. Matt and co-host Bari Finkel are hilarious and find things to complain about in an interesting way (complaining is interesting!) and always interview someone about things they hate, too. I also just love the way Matt says anything—his vocal performance deserves a trophy.
🎙️Endless Thread dives deep into the world of Reddit to uncover the internet’s most intriguing stories and mysteries. Before I listened, I assumed this show was for Redditors—but you just need to be someone interested in human stories to enjoy. Reddit is launching point into what you hear. Hosted by Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson, Endless Thread is a weird look at our world and the power of internet communities. Don’t skip their Snacktime episodes (like this one, a favorite.) They are tiny but mighty.
🎙️The intro to The Alarmist makes me laugh every time I hear it. Host Rebecca Delgado “was born with a special gift—the ability to mentally transform any situation into the worst case scenario—in her own brain. Her therapist calls her gift catastrophizing and that’s why she’s uniquely qualified to scrutinize and analyze history’s greatest disasters and find out who’s to blame. They say history repeats itself—not on her watch.” Each episode Rebecca, along with producer Amanda Lund, fact-checker Chris Smith, and a guest, take a moment in history that went wrong to determine who’s to blame. The beauty of this show is its ability to balance tragedy and humor. The episodes are laugh out loud funny but are also important history lessons—they could be taught in school. But they weren’t! The Alarmist offers a different way to look at the world’s most horrific (and sometimes less so) events, and also a different person (or sometimes concept) to put in the Alarmist jail.
🎙️Tea with Queen and J are “two womanist race nerds talking liberation, politics, and pop cultures over tea—dismantling white supremacist patriarchal capitalism one episode at a time.” I would describe the show as a hard-ass yet soft hug. They are tough on the news that needs to be picked apart but loving to their listeners and the people most vulnerable. Each week I get my attention turned to something happening on Instagram that I missed, or a side-story of something in the news, in a way I never would have found myself. They’re laugh-out-loud funny. Listen to them and give them money so they can keep talking.
🎙️Short Cuts often offer the most beautiful pieces I listen to every week. Host Josie Long presents tiny audio documentaries that capture the human experience. One of my favorite things I’ve ever listened to ever is the Short Cuts piece by Arlie Adlington called The Toilets at Home are All Gender Neutral. (When I learned about the podcast discovery app Hark, this was the first thing I clipped.) The stories are real but they give me the same feeling I get when I’ve read good fiction. Perhaps they are too beautiful to be true. This is one of those shows that demands a 1x speed listen.
🎙️When I press play on an episode of Imaginary Advice, I never know what to expect. Ross Sutherland is producing wildly creative “audio experiments” that expand the definition of what a podcast can be. Every episode feels like a journey into Ross’ dreams. Some of Ross’ series, The Golden House (an interactive podcast drama) and his mash-up of Sex and the City and Sleep No More, are ambitious projects that deliver. These pieces are funny and trippy, the writing is great, and the sound production is top-notch.
🎙️Each week on Song Exploder, Hrishikesh Hirway walks us through songs with the musicians who wrote them—and it’s often the last song you’d think they’d opt to explore. These are short, sweet treats. Even if you don’t like the song or aren’t a fan of the musician, you’ll enjoy the show. Hrishikesh is an emotional listener and interviewer and always makes every song and artist shine. Try listening to this Harklist that Hrishikesh made of his favorite moments from the show. I think it’s hard to listen to this and not get hooked.
🎙️I often say that I wish I had a program in my brain so that every time I heard a song, I had Charlie Harding and Nate Sloan available to do some sort of “pop up video” explainer about what I’m hearing. Switched On Pop gets me interested in songs and genres I never thought I’d be interested in. They are able to talk about why a song is important—technically and from a cultural standpoint, taking a big step back. I particularly loved their anthem series—get a break down of Missy Elliot’s Work It and Queen’s We Are the Champions.
🎙️I love you!