📚Scholarships and pageantry ⛰️touching grass for real 🧪weird science
🌵IM ROOTING FOR YOU ARIZONA the contestant not the state🌵
Hi hello!
It’s-a me, Wil Williams, back from the GRAVE! Okay just kidding I’ve been alive. OR HAVE I? Yes I have. I’ve been writing some Podcast Marketing Magic. But I’m back at Podcast the Newsletter this week as Lauren and I recover from what is sure to be a wild and amazing TED Conference in Vancouver.
We’re going to have a shorter edition this week, but with plenty of recommendations on podcasts we know you’re gonna love.
xoxo ww
🚨If u only have time for 1 thing🚨
This is going to be a recommendation ⏱️FROM THE PAST⏱️ but it’s something I think you absolutely must listen to regardless. Do you ever remember something you listened to years ago, only to find that you cannot for the life of you remember which podcast it was on? That was me with this episode, but I dug and dug until I found it again because I remembered just how incredible it was. Hi-Phi Nation’s “Vampires” is about so much more than vampires. The episode is actually about transformative experiences: experiences that absolutely, by necessity, will change your life — but you won’t know how until after you’ve taken the leap. I’ve heard vampires as metaphors for plenty of things before, most notably Dracula as a metaphor for the predatory wealthy ruling class, but this was a new one for me. It explains vampires from a romantic, exciting, sexy perspective, the way we see vampires in more modern times. This episode argues that what makes vampires, and becoming a vampire, so appealing is the way it allows us to explore transformative experiences. There’s no denying that in any lore when you become a vampire your life will change, and you will not know the full extent until after it’s done. You can use that fictional transformative experience to practice for real life transformative experiences like having a baby or pursuing transition. It’s SO GOOD. This episode is SO GOOD. I’m so, so, so glad I found it again so I can make you all listen to it. Astarian hive, I see you. I see you.
hell yeah
⭐Podcast!⭐Group!⭐Therapy!⭐is scheduled for Friday, April 26th, and it’s going to be all about our beloved promo swaps! Not sure what a promo swap is? Sign up here to find out. Move fast! Spots are filling up!
✨Over at PMM, I’ve been doing a series on how badly nonfiction podcasts and audio dramas need each other!
✨I’ve also been syndicating some posts about podcasting best practices and podcasting interviews from a now-dead site (shh!) over on my blog!
How Welcome to Night Vale Went from Podcast to Live Show and Novels (interview with Jeffrey Cranor!)
and more! 🎉
💎BTW💎
🎙️From me!: The most recent episode of Decoder Ring as of writing this edition was such a delight. It dives into the world of “Bookazines,” big ol’ single-topic thick and pricey magazines that have taken over the newsstands. I’m not gonna lie, when I saw this topic, I thought I was in for yet another story about how hard journalism is dying. As a former journalist, there’s only so much emotionally masochistic catharsis even I can handle. What the episode actually gave, though, was something so much lovelier and more inspiring. I went in thinking Id have a good scoff about bookazines; I left thinking about how much I wanted to contribute to one. Maybe there really is still some hope left between these and indie publications like Aftermath and Defector! Now, who’s gonna pay us to make a big podcast bookazine?
🎙️From Aakshi of the Tink team: “I spent most of my childhood in a boarding school in the mountains of South India. We didn’t have access to the internet except for 30 minutes a week and had no phones. At 26, surrounded by screens, I often feel trapped online, unable to feel the expansive sense of time on the mountains that inspired so much creativity. Recently, I’ve been looking back at that time and feeling grateful that I had so many instances of feeling bored as a child. So I’ve been listening to podcasts like The Plodcast and Folk on Foot to fill that space. Both these podcasts transport you outdoors; you hear the wind, trees, waterfalls, insects, and birds in the background as the hosts walk around and describe the views of the different landscapes they are exploring. On a recent favorite Folk on Foot episode, artist Malin Lewis, who grew up in Eilean Shona, an island off the West coast of Scotland, walks around the island with host Mathew Bannister, playing songs on their bagpipe and fiddle in different locations from their childhood while they reflect on their life and music. Malin’s songs and words described a sense of nostalgia I couldn’t articulate about my childhood. These two shows gave me time back. After listening to their episodes, I want to remove my headphones and listen to the sounds around me.” 🥹
🎙️From me!: The Competition is an upcoming Wondery production that I’m deeply obsessed with. As an ex-cheerleader and lover of Drop Dead Gorgeous (well. mostly), when I saw this podcast was about a scholarship program meets pageant style competition, I lost my damn marbles and immediately asked for some early episodes. As soon as I got them, I devoured them so fast. I love that the host of the podcast is a former contestant and current judge, and the way the podcast gets reporting on the contestants done while keeping the judging fair. I think this may be my new favorite limited series nonfiction, no joke. It’s shockingly profound, lovely, well reported, well edited, and it’s just so FUN. 🎉 You can listen on Wondery+ now, or in your podcatcher on April 29th.
🎙️From Tonia at Tink: “I am a nerd. A nerd to end all nerds. So I love anything that gets into the details of how things work, debunking myths, and weird science. Ologies is my must-listen podcast, and the only ‘big’ podcast I listen to regularly. I try to focus my attention more on indies like Inside the Morgue where 2 autopsy techs debunk bad death science in TV shows and films. I also love Inside the Morgue because I’m a horror writer, and it’s interesting to see where writers and showrunners just messed up, and where they chose to bend the rules for the sake of the story. And for fiction, I love listening to old time radio. The Horror is one of my favorites. I think audio drama creators like myself can learn a lot from listening to old time radio–they are the OG’s of audio storytelling, and had far less tech to work with to create compelling tales.”
🎙️From me!: Audacy’s Who Killed the Video Star: The Story of MTV is scratching a really specific itch for me. I grew up on MTV, VH1, and my very very favorite, Fuse, learning these histories that largely came just before my time has been great. It’s wild to see how deep the impact of MTV was in its early days, not just with music but with teen and youth culture overall, before becoming a full out joke when I was growing up (hence me flocking to Fuse). It’s a great sort of double feature listening experience with the goofy Who Replaced Avril Lavigne? Joanne McNally Investigates or the delightful Main Accounts: The Story of MySpace.
🎙️I love you!