Podcasts are the only thing I’ll admit to being addicted to. The last time I counted, I had about 126 podcasts in my podcast feed. These are all the podcasts I’ve listened to over the years. Some of them are still ongoing and are updated weekly. From time to time, I’ll make a note of the really special shows here.
The Never-Ending Love Story Award
The only podcast that falls into this category and the podcast that occupies the #1 spot in my podcast feed is Dateline NBC. Let me just say that this is the only podcast that I listen to and take notes. Yes, real notes that I write down about what I learned.
You can learn a lot about people and life by listening to the Dateline NBC podcast. It is not just about crime.
Now, I’ll explain why I call it a never-ending love story. About 14 years ago I went to a Valentine’s Day party. People were wearing red t-shirts, having a good time, and at one point we played a very loving game where people had to hold hands or tell someone in the room something they loved about them or something like that. In the middle of all of this, I thought to myself, “I should get home. Dateline’s going to start soon.” It occurred to me, pretty soon after I said it that I was in a room dedicated to celebrating love, and I wanted to go home and watch Dateline. I thought, “This is wrong.” I felt so guilty about this that I didn’t watch Dateline for 11 years!
One day around 2019 I was going through my podcast player and noticed, “Oh Dateline has a podcast.” Then I proceeded to pretty much eat Dateline for breakfast lunch and dinner and made up for the lost 11 years in a very short period of time.” I came back with a vengeance!
So, Dateline is back in my life and I’m glad. No separating us again. I think Keith Morrison may be my favourite Canadian.
The World I didn’t know about Award.
I’m giving this award to the Lazarus Heist. When I listened to this podcast, I thought, “This is the best podcast I’ve ever listened to in my life. It’s because it taught me things that I had no clue about. It truly blew me away. You hear about North Korea in the news from time to time.
But this podcast provided an in-depth look into what goes on in North Korea that was truly eye opening for me.
People listen to podcasts for all sorts of reasons. But what made this podcast stand out for me is learning, specifically learning brand new information that I had no experience with and knowledge of prior to the podcast.
Listen to the Lazarus Heist here.
The quiet dignity and grace Award
I have to give this award to Ear Hustle, which occupies the #2 spot in my podcast feed. It gives a lot of dignity to a segment of the population that we’ve been trained to condemn or forget about; incarcerated men.
I heard about Ear Hustle from Alan Alda’s podcast. He said, “This is either the best podcast out there or the second best. He was right. It is pretty terrific.
So now I’ll explain why I also see grace here. In almost every episode of Ear Hustle there is an example of grace at work. The grace that is at work is the grace that allows someone to lead a meaningful life, even from behind bars.
Listen to Ear Hustle here.
The Thank you for telling this story Award
I’m giving this award to Africville forever. It has the distinction of being the only podcast (to date) that I’ve ever listened to the entire series in less than 24 hours.
It tells the story of the Africville community in Halifax that was bulldozed.
In one episode there was a warning about triggering.
They did the right thing when you put that warning in because it was most definitely triggering.
For a while now I have believed that racism is sometimes about skin color but there is a second type of racism which is more about holding down a powerful group of people known as the Black race.
This is an example of type 2 racism.
This story sheds light on the generational side effects of oppression. It also makes you ask the question, why was it so important to destroy this community?
Listen to Africville forever here.
The Outstanding Theme Song that makes me dance award
On Story of the Week, “journalist” Joel Stein chooses an article that fascinates him, and convinces the writer to tell him about it in an in-depth conversation.
A few weeks ago, while listening, I noticed something. This theme song is really good for doing the Carleton Dance. I mentioned this to the host of the show and told him thank you. He wondered if I had a demo. The demo is pasted below. Soon you’ll be dancing and hopefully listening to this great podcast too.
The Why Journalism Matters Award
The Podcast “The Teacher’s Pet” is an example “that everybody probably already knows about” of investigative journalism at its best.
On January 8th, 1982 Lynette Dawson, a loving mother and wife disappeared. Her husband told people she had probably run off with a religious group or decided to take some time to herself. Two days later he moved the family’s babysitter into her bed. The shocking part of it is that nothing happened. And then Hedley Thomas decided to do a podcast called The Teacher’s Pet.
Listen to The Teacher’s Pet here.
Thank you Hedley for doing this for Lynette.
The Must Listen Podcast for Caribbean People
The empty Grave of Comrade Bishop
Reporter Martine Powers of the Washington Post does an amazing job of telling this story. I’m so glad she decided to tell this story because it is one of those things I heard a little about out of the corner of my ear 30 years ago but didn’t really know the details. Thank you Martine!
The Podcast every parent needs to listen to.
The retreat
Every parent who has a child who says, “I’m going on a silent meditation retreat” needs to listen to this podcast from the financial times. The financial times decided to create an investigative unit and thankfully, the first podcast they did was this podcast that has nothing to do with finances. It is a must listen. For the sake of your child’s mental health I encourage all parents to listen to this podcast. It covers the often unreported psychological effects of extended meditation. Listen here.
https://castbox.fm/channel/Untold%3A-The-Retreat-id5751721?country=us
The admitting what tech is doing to us award.
Better Offline
Coarse language warning.
If you’ve ever laid in bed at night wondering, “Is Google still living up to its original “Don’t be evil” slogan, then this is the podcast for you. It is a deep dive into the effect mega tech companies are really having on our lives.
Link: https://castbox.fm/channel/Better-Offline-id6019928?country=us