Pages

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

So You Are Over Listening to the News!

Maybe the news and Facebook have you feeling a little bit overdrawn and underwhelmed. Well, I implore you to give podcasts a try! If you have an Apple product, you can download the podcast app for free. If you have any other kind of phone, I'm sure you can search podcast and some apps will pop up.  While I understand a great many of you know what a podcast is and already listen to them, I know there are some of y'all out there who don't really know what they are.  Well, they're a broad range of things, but the simplest way to think about it is a radio show that you get to pick when you listen to it. You simply subscribe to the podcast and it will automatically download new episodes OR you can individually download episodes from their archives.

Pro-tip - download them while on wifi so you then have access to them without sucking up your data. You can find a podcast about just about any interest you could have which makes it really fun to discover new ones that you love! I listen to them while I'm getting ready in the morning, going on a walk by myself, or driving in the car. When I had a desk job where I stared at a computer all day, I basically listened to podcasts all day.

Here are a few of my favorites to potentially get you started and feel free to report back with your current favorites or new ones you discover.

The one that started it all - This American Life


I had a psych professor that would assign episodes of TAL as homework and once it made its way to being a podcast I jumped right on it. Each week they have a theme and tell one or more stories that are based around that theme.  Storytelling at its finest. They can make you care about the weirdest of things, but in a good way.




There are two seasons of Serial so far and if I'm being honest, season two didn't really do a whole lot for me. But, season one? Holy cow. Binge listen.  Now. You will never care more about cell phone records and their validity as you will after listening.  You'll also walk away with the knowledge of what a trunk pop in and a weird desire to visit Leakin Park.

Stuff You Should Know


Chuck and Josh pick a topic and then you learn all about it.  I love scouring their archives to learn about super random topics (like tupperware or mosquitos).  If anyone has ever wondered how I have so many weird facts stored up, it's partially due to this podcast.  They can make the most mundane things ridiculously fascinating. 



In a similar vein as Stuff You Should Know, this podcast is similar in that it takes a singular topic and then you learn about it, this one of course all being in a historical context.  I highly recommend looking through the archives for topics you are interested in.  Their Laura Ingalls Wilder episode is top notch.

Casefile


I'm going to be super honest here - this one isn't for the faint of heart.  And, I can only listen in broad daylight, preferably not when I'm home alone.  It's super creepy in that it covers murder mysteries from all over the world from all different time periods. But, it's also really well done and very fascinating. 



I was really sad when John and Sherry stepped away from their blog so imagine my excitement when they started blogging again (although, not as frequently) and then went on to announce their podcast! It's like a verbalized version of their blog which, to me, is pretty fun. Lots of good DIY tips and tricks. 



I love Judah Smith's books and I love having discovered his sermons in podcast form. I highly recommend the Church Like Home series. If you are having a travel day on a Sunday or are under the weather, but you still want some church time, I recommend checking for podcast sermons! 

Hamilton the Podcast 


Warning - there are some swears in this one.  But, if you've listened to the Hamilton soundtrack, then it isn't any more offensive than you would find the music. This podcast probably really shows how nerdy I can get. Each episode dissects a song from the soundtrack and then breaks down the actual musical components as well as the actual history that is covered in the song. If you're obsessed with Hamilton and a music nerd, you may enjoy this one. 

Honorable mentions: The Moth, Wait Wait Don't Tell me, and RadioLab 




No comments:

Post a Comment

 
Images by Freepik