Revealed: My Love Affair with Podcasts

The good kind of voices in my head, and my five favorites

I first fell in love with listening to informative audio broadcasts when I got my pesky RadioShack crystal radio kit to work. The only station I could get was something called newstalk radio and they jabbered and I listened and learned. This was different from TV. It was just a voice coming through that single small earpiece, I had to provide the images. A few years later, we moved to Europe, and I got a short-wave radio and discovered the BBC. I spent hours listening to other people talk. Then, as an adult, I had NPR on my car radio far more often than music.

But that was broadcast. You had to follow their schedule and listen to what was on when it was on. I could not choose or go back. Then, in 2000, people made a way for you to “subscribe” to a “feed” and get episodes! It was glorious. So glorious that a journalist called it podcasting – broadcasting to the ubiquitous audio device of the day, the iPod. I’ve been subscribing and listening ever since, and I have to say, it still gives me joy similar to that morning with my little earpiece when I was 13.

Another aspect I have fallen in love with is that it’s a medium that anyone can use. I even have three podcasts. Not a lot of people listen to them, but they are something I created that turns into voices in someone else’s head.

My Five Favorite Podcasts

My tastes have changed over time. Not really. A lot of PBS and BBC. I listen to StarTrek podcasts, history podcasts, and I even got on the true crime bandwagon for a while. But five series get downloaded and listened to every week:

This American Life

There are a lot of great NPR shows that are published as podcasts, but This American Life is my favorite. It’s great storytelling that is often informative and usually moving.

In Our Time

I LOVE this show, and after listening to over one thousand older episodes, I wait for a new one every week. It’s a host talking to three professors on a single topic for the whole episode. Heaven.

Philosophize This!

I don’t know the back story but this guy, Stephen West, has created 229 episodes, and counting, episodes about philosophy that are fun, easy to follow, and thought-provoking.

Grammer Girl

It’s ironic that I love this podcast, because I really struggle with grammar. If you love the English language, enjoy anguishing over its peculiarities, and want to be a better writer, this is your podcast.

Valley 101

The least polished of my favorites, it answers questions AZ Republic readers ask about Arizona and has taught me so much about the place I call home.

The Tip of the Audio Iceberg

Those are my key listens, but there are plenty of others, like two that are made by friends of mine, In Her Orbit and Age Blind. I’m a regular Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me listener and swap in American Story Tellers and a whole slew of Star Trek content.

I learn, I laugh, and sometimes I may cry a little. These are good voices in my head, and I’m happy to have them as constant companions.