a column by Colleen O’Brien
The word podcast [CC1] has been around about 15 years. It’s not science fiction chat or a mob of whales in the ocean but a name for transmitting information via electronic gadget software so we can download readings, discussions, interviews, opinion, informational audios of 15 minutes or so up to an hour or more.
Often the podcasts that you will be attaching to your phone or computer or tablet are merely an entertainment or a series – every day, once a week, now and then – or of something so one-time thoroughly interesting – politics, short stories, science, music, exercise, diet, design, travel, cooking. I listen to podcasts of so many kinds, it’s like being read to from the Britannica, that compendium from another century containing all the information of all the world.
In this case, the podcast case, the spoken word of someone’s world interesting to irresistible is a relief from the day’s news because I’m choosing what I’m learning. And it doesn’t have to be awful, like the daily news usually is.
I live alone. I don’t like TV. I read a lot but my eyes weary. So, I listen on my phone to podcasts. Going to sleep, cooking, cleaning, walking, I use a phone. I could sit down and use a computer or a tablet. In the solitude of an introvert stuck in a pandemic, podcasts are my new friends.
When they first started, podcasts were a relatively underground happening. USA Today got hold of the story on them in 2004, and within weeks, because of the newspaper’s wide circulation broadcast of the information, the numbers of people reading the article, investigating and then signing up and listening to podcasts grew exponentially. Now, a mere decade and a half later, there are more than 750,000 podcasts available across the globe. By the time you read this, it could be 800 thou, a million.
Podcasts I’ve learned to like include Hilary Clinton interviewing interesting people, women and men of value and productivity. She is one of the best interviewers I listen to, including Terry Gross of NPR, because Hillary asks maybe one question and lets the interviewee talk. Most interviewers seem to drop their own lives and ideas into the conversation; Hillary simply allows the interesting person to go ahead and tell us listeners what she or he has to say.
I also listen to different meditation podcasts – relaxation directions, mindfulness, being in the moment – so far, I haven’t come across a bad one, and I like the variety.
I discovered a podcast about language – “Linguistics from the University of Chicago” – that turned out to be a history of a Chicago icon called The Chicago Manual of Style. This is the thick tome writers use as a guide to consistency, style and correctness, info not only important but fascinating to them. Chicago, which is how it’s known to its users, has been one of my go-to’s since college, and now I have access to a podcast where I can listen to people talk about how precise and perfect it has been for more than a hundred years.
I listen to a podcast called “Ologies” (as in anth-“ology”, anthro-“pology,”) etc. One of my favorites is “oology” (eggs); another, “fanthropology” (being a fan of something, i.e., – fandom); I tried “Nephrology”: (kidneys) – and listened only for a minute or two, my interest in kidneys not paramount. I signed up for the podcast because of Mr Rogers talking about “ologies” such as “snow-ology,” a joke my son and his friends used to make about their kindly TV pal.
“The Old Soul Movie Podcast” contains a long list of long talks (at least an hour) by hosts Emma and Jack about movies that each time alters my perceptions of flicks I saw years ago. Their discussion of “On the Waterfront” is fascinating because the hosts explain the influence of the times on the movie. It was the era of the unjust hunting down Communists in our midst – Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy in charge of the House Un-American Activities Committee ferreting out Communists among Hollywood actors and directors – one of them “Waterfront” director, Elia Kazan, who fingered others as Communists to save himself. Marlon Brando (in the final draw, he won out as lead over Frank Sinatra) and Eva Marie Saint, in 1954, acted in the movie that won nine Academy Awards out of 12 nominations. “A big one for so many reasons,” said host Emma. Listen and find out why. Then you can try “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Gaslight,” “Vertigo,” “Rebel Without a Cause.” There are at least half a dozen other old-movie podcasts to choose from, as well.
There are book discussions of all kinds – On the Road by Jack Kerouac is one I listened to recently and discovered things I did not perceive from simply having read the book. And there are podcasts that tell me, in my slight interest, how to perhaps understand a famous book I know I’ll never read but might like to know enough to talk about, or at any rate, understand. The Prince (1513) by Machiavelli and Leviathan (1651) by Thomas Hobbes are podcasts I keep returning to, hoping for something – they are part of my Western Civilization DNA, after all. If not for understanding, I’m not sure why I keep returning to them – something about the language they used maybe?
A new podcast features eight episodes of Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen discussing the future.
There are a great number of brain science podcasts from research scientists all over the world –– for students, for the most advanced interests, for us laypersons. Brain podcasts are plentiful – the plasticity of the brain, the regeneration of the brain, the busyness of the brain, the brain versus the mind – I’ve found these all worth my time.
The science podcasts boggle my mind – pick a subject, from the sex life of the cardamom seed to interstellar travel.
Mind and body fitness are all over the podcast scene, along with music, dance, piano, guitar (name an instrument), horseback riding, hiking Kilimanjaro and Mount Everest as well as diving the deep seas and the just-under-the-surface rivers of Florida.
There are podcasts for preschoolers, grade schoolers, teens, retirees, singles – all of us of whatever ages and interests, proclivities, talents, wannabes.
To become a podcast listener, I acquired a “podcast” app on my phone and then searched and browsed and made my own library of podcasts. Each day, I browse a bit more and find more enticing podcasts – history, both predictable and weird; ridiculous everything (pick a subject); hilarity; seriousness; religion; manufacturing (reports, organization of, state of, future of, production-conquering-connections-global). Really, if you’re looking for a podcast subject and can’t find it, let me know.
A friend told me she merely asked her Alexa to “play a podcast,” and Alexa chose one about honor killings, which turned out to be so interesting, my friend told her husband to listen to it. He did, and he also was fascinated. There’s something about a podcast that doesn’t make me feel guilty, like watching Netflix does, for example. It might be that podcasts don’t seem to be compelling me against my will but complying with it.
I’ve found podcasts that are thorough, inciteful, widely varied, entertaining, up to date – Mrs. Google in comparison looks like a stodgy schoolmarm of the 20th century with a list of things for me to memorize or look up on my own. Her suggestions might be helpful, but her depth has plunged nowhere near as daringly far as many a podcast I’ve come across.
