Deep-dive conversations exploring the zeitgeist
If you’re looking for a new podcast, these episodes will hook you
Now is the wild west of podcasting. There is a good chance your neighbour is recording a podcast detailing an alternate final season to “Game of Thrones” as you read this.
More than ever before we are subscribing to podcasts and recommending them to our friends. And, as of this past May, they are also winning Pulitzers.
“This American Life” was awarded the prize for an episode produced in partnership with the Los Angeles Times and Vice News called “The Out Crowd,” a front-line account of U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” asylum policy.
The first Pulitzer Prize for audio journalism not only recognized outstanding reporting but also the power of a single podcast episode.
At their best, podcasts make their own rules — they’re not overly produced, nor do they prescribe to a formula. Even with ads, they are a relatively unfettered transmission from podcast producers to their listeners. Aside from covering all things feasible and conceivable, podcasts keep us plugged in to the zeitgeist. And now, as we shelter-in-place, it’s where most of us can access the deepdive conversations we want to be having. But, where to start? From the stalwarts to the new series, here are eight 2020 episodes that will get you going.
“Code Switch” (Air date: Jan. 22) Hosted by Gene Demby and Shereen Marisol Meraji “Ask Code Switch: What About Your Friends?”
“Code Switch” started the year with a frank conversation about cross-racial friendships in America. Even though America is becoming more diverse, people still have homogenous social networks. Experts attempt to make sense of why and first-person stories are shared to underlie some hard-to-swallow statistics. A good primer to get us through any awkward and uncomfortable real-life conversations happening in our personal lives.
“Dead Eyes” (Air date: Jan. 30) Hosted by Connor Ratliff Episode 2 “Tristesse”
Twenty years ago, Connor Ratliff was cast to play a bit part on an episode of “Band of Brothers,” only to be nixed by Tom Hanks the day before shooting his scenes. Why? Hanks saw his audition tape and thought he had dead eyes. What does that mean? Ratliff means to find out, in this completely true and unimportant story. Though somehow, you will care about it so much. Episode 2 finds Ratliff commiserating with Jon Hamm, whom he had shared the stage with previously. Part nuts and bolts of casting and part confessional, the two recount audition room tribulations — Hamm even discloses what major network exec said that he would never be a star.
“The Joe Rogan Experience” (Air date: Jan. 30) Hosted by
Joe Rogan “#1419—Daryl Davis”
Aside from the waves generated by his recent Spotify deal, media outlets on the left and right have their belly in knots at the mention of Joe Rogan’s probable-improbable support for one political candidate or another. All that aside, the nature of topics he explores and the type of guests he hosts are as vast as the internet itself. His interview with Daryl Davis, musician, activist, and author of “Klan-destine Relationships: A Black Man’s Odyssey in the Ku Klux Klan,” is nearly three hours long. In it, you hear Davis tell his story of meeting and conversing with Klansmen about race, befriending them, and eventually inspiring 200 of them to give up their robes.
“The Daily,” (Air Date: Feb. 7) Hosted by Michael Barbaro “The Woman Defending Harvey Weinstein”
Listeners of “The Daily” know they are getting the on-theground news straight from the journalists covering the story. Each day host Michael Barbaro talks to his colleagues to catchup on their coverage. In this special episode, investigative reporter Megan Twohey interviews the woman behind Harvey Weinstein’s legal strategy: Donna Rotunno. What unfolds is an insightful interview that doesn’t pull any punches. It culminates in a jaw-dropping moment as the interview is wrapping up and Twohey asks one last question, and the answer seems to catch both parties off their guard.
“Floodlines” (Air date: March 11) Hosted by Vann R. Newkirk “Part 3: Through the Looking Glass“
The March 11 drop date of this entire eight-episode series is somewhat prescient in light of a global pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement. “Floodlines” examines how the disaster of Katrina encompassed so much more than the hurricane itself. The structures in place before and the response in its aftermath tell the complete story. Episode 3 revisits how the media covered Katrina. Host Vann R. Newkirk explains that misinformation in a disaster is not uncommon. There’s even a term for it: disaster myth. But, the brand of disaster mythmaking after Katrina was especially extreme.
“It’s Been A Minute,” March 17 Hosted by Sam Sanders “Obama’s Historic Race Speech—12 Years Later”
Exactly 12 years to the week of what was coined Barack Obama’s “race speech” Sam Sanders asks if the speech still holds up today. Speaking with the professor that edited a book about the speech, Tracy Sharpley-Whiting, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Movement, Alicia Garza, and former Obama speech writer, Jon Favreau, Sanders goes back to the events leading up to the speech and the behind-the-scenes of how it was written to question whether something that was so profound then is still seen as favourable now.
“Ologies,” (Air Date: April 22) Hosted by Alie Ward
“Philematology (Kissing) with Robin Dunbar”
If you are dating in quarantine and have yet to circumvent the gaping six-feet of distance between you and your potential love, this is a must listen. “Ologies” is a humorous and human take on scientific study — its episode on kissing makes the case for a 10-second in-person, microbial exchange to find out if the relationship is meant to be, in accordance with nature. Host Alie Ward interviews philematologist Robin Dunbar, who theorized Dunbar’s number.
“Wind of Change,” May 11 Hosted by Patrick Radden Keefe Episode 2 “You Call It An Operation, We Call It A Performance”
Uncovering secrets has been Patrick Radden Keefe’s life’s work. After he stumbles upon a rumour about how the CIA may have been the author of the Scorpions song, “Wind of Change,” the metal-band anthem that you can whistle and that rang through the Eastern Bloc as the Berlin Wall fell, he becomes obsessed with discovering if it is, in fact, true. Episode 2 takes him to a Scorpion concert in Ukraine, where he chats with diehard fans and we learn how to properly pronounce Kyiv. And, on the secret agent side, we learn about the Office of Technical Service, or Q, in Bond terms. The candid conversation he has with ex-CIA Jonna Mendez, widow of Tony Mendez, will make you believe that all the espionage movies you are watching are not that far from the truth.
And don’t miss the Toronto Star’s daily news podcast, “This Matters,” and the six-part series on the gig economy, “Hustled,” both available at thestar.com/podcasts