Podcasts — the power of a well-told story
I love stories and storytelling. No surprise there — I make high school students talk to me about books, plays and short stories for a living.
But lately my lifelong love for words and stories has found a new outlet: podcasts.
People are hard-wired to make and seek stories, in one form or another. We respond to narratives that have interesting, relatable characters, loads of conflict and universal themes applicable to our lives. And we are living in the golden age of storytelling.
Podcasts fit into this moment like a well-timed punchline.
A podcast is a serialized radio show that lives on the internet. It can be an amateur offering or a well-produced show complete with theme music, corporate sponsors and celebrity guests. You can listen to podcasts using iTunes, Google Play or subscription pod-catchers such as Pocketcast or Overcast.
My interest in this form of storytelling started with Serial in 2014. There was something so compelling and intimate about listening to a complicated story narrated to me as I went about my regular routine. I listened as I cooked dinner, drove to work, folded laundry. I was hooked and wanted more.
Which is when I discovered that podcasts have been around for a very long time. Also, there are a lot of them.
There are podcasts about politics and history; neuroscience and true crime. There are podcasts devoted to a TV genre or even a single show, about fashion, relationships, economics.
Podcasts can be general or incredibly specific, like the popular Denzel Washington is the Greatest Actor of All Time Period. In short, there is a podcast for every flavour and interest, and more are being produced every day.
The podcasts I am obsessed with reflect my interests:
Code Switch, a compelling, fascinating podcast about identity and race in the U.S. The Globe and Mail produced a Canadian version in 2016, Colour Code.
Planet Money and Freakonomics Radio, both of which examine money, the economy and “the hidden side of everything.”
I keep returning to Ira Glass and This American Life, sometimes called the granddaddy of podcasts, as it was instrumental in popularizing this intimate form of long-form storytelling.
Revisionist History was released last year by Malcolm Gladwell, Serial, author of bestselling David and Goliath. He has a genius for connecting historical facts with current events.
The CBC also has many amazing podcasts, such as the true crime series Someone Knows Something.
I also love See Something Say Something, the entertaining Buzzfeed podcast about being Muslim in America.
I know why podcasts appeal to me: it’s a way to indulge my inner nerd and learn something new. I have become a podcast evangelist and try to recruit listeners for my favourite shows. I need someone to fangirl with me and discuss episodes.
I try to get my kids tuned in, dreaming about quiet car rides as we listen to a podcast, a family gathered around an old radio. But I have to be subtle about it.
I decide to start with some homegrown talent — the CBC radio documentary series The Current. In the car with 9-year-old Ibrahim, we listen to a story about David Sneddon, the 24-year-old American student who disappeared in 2004 while backpacking through southern China, believed kidnapped by North Korean agents. I knew Ibrahim was hooked when he stayed in the car long after we returned home. He doesn’t care about politics, but the personal story of Sneddon touched him.
His interest in a stranger turned into empathy and compassion: that’s the power of a well-told story.
I know I’m biased. I am a writer after all, and before any of that, a reader. But the older I get, the more I realize the really powerful stories stay with me long after the podcast (or book, or movie) ends. I hope they help change me for the better, too.
In the meantime, try a podcast or three. I guarantee there’s one out there made just for you. Uzma Jalaluddin is a high school teacher in the York Region. She writes about parenting and other life adventures. Reach her at ujalaluddin@outlook.com.