Month: September 2019

Murder stories have always intrigued me. Therefore, I was naturally drawn to the podcast: Today in True Crime. However, I am not an avid podcast listener. I enjoy watching visuals, and I was apprehensive I would not thoroughly enjoy simply listening to a podcast as I would watching a documentary, show, etc.

The about goes as follows: “Crime never takes a day off, and neither do we. Every day, we flip back the calendar and examine a true crime event from the same date years ago. It might be the anniversary of an important case being solved, the end of a landmark trail, or a serial killer’s birthday — whatever the date, there’s no ordinary day in true crime history. In each daily episode, we present a short true crime story, then analyze the impact on that historic day’s events.” 

This podcast is intended for those who enjoy a good break down of a crime event that occurred at some point in history. TITC (Today in True Crime) takes each murder and does a play by play (so to speak,) of what occurred that day. The style and/or format the podcast is done in is scripted. In addition, what makes this podcast different from other podcasts, is the length of each podcast. Some podcasts can be up to an hour long. However, because this podcast is done everyday, each episode is a little under fifteen minutes. Personally, I enjoy this. It gives me an opportunity to truly tune in, rather than spacing out from time to time and/or having to stop in the middle of a podcast.

Currently, TITC is distributed via Spotify, iTunes and Parcast. Though, because of the growing popularity with true crime podcasts, I do not think this is as well known as others. I did not see any advertising on it, however, it seems as though this podcast is fairly new – just having started in August 2019. A good episode to start with would be August 21st 2019: Mona Lisa Stolen. This was the episode that had me craving to hear more. It is wonderfully descriptive and the host examines a crime that has oddly bewildered me. (I had no idea the Mona Lisa was stolen?). The host did a fantastic job in setting the scene and allowing the listener to believe they are there with them.

 

 

The podcast that I decided to focus on is “The Breakdown” by social justice activist Shaun King. Although King started the podcast earlier this year, he already has over 80 episodes. This podcast is intended for people who are interested in King’s opinion on today’s politics, issues that plague minority communities, and his fervent push to encourage voters to “flip the senate” in next year’s elections. The podcast episodes are recorded where King simply “breaks down” top stories from the week and gives his two cents and reactions on certain issues. The podcast is distributed on popular sites like Spotify and iTunes. The episodes that I decided to focus on was the episode titled “when you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression” and “Jay Z was wrong”. The first episode focuses on the Eric Garner case and the recent firing of NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo, who was responsible for the death of Garner in 2014. The second episode focuses on the recent “social justice” partnership between Jay Z’s Roc Nation and the NFL. This podcast is very popular amongst King’s followers and supporters and he frequently posts snippets of his podcast episodes on his social media pages to inform them of a new episode. A good episode to start with is probably the first one because it introduces the podcast, what it’ll be about, and what Shaun King’s work consists of.

Foundr Podcast is a podcast intended for entrepreneurs and people who have founded or intend on starting a business. The host, Nathan Chan, interviews different Entrepreneurs in various industries in order to get tips and advice for Entrepreneurs in their respective fields. The host often asks them questions about their journey as Entrepreneurs and how to tackle different problems they may face when conducting business or even starting a business. There isn’t much advertising but at the end of the last few episodes, the podcast promotes the print version of their publication, Foundr Magazine. There are 2,758 followers on Foundr Magazine’s SoundCloud profile, while the episode that had the highest amount of listening had 1,191 plays. The show has received 506 ratings on Apple Podcasts with 4.9/5 as the average rating. A good episode to start with is Richard Branson’s, Founder of a magazine called Student, because in the episode they covered his whole journey from the beginning of his career as an entrepreneur. He shared a bunch of struggles he had with starting out and a few failures he had to overcome. He is also a very chill and laidback person and it was fascinating to hear him speak.

The No Chill Podcast is a sports podcast that focuses on basketball-related discussions. The basketball media around NBA circles mainly focuses on creating click bait, and in turn, creating false narratives of the players leading to poor player and journalist relationships, and an improper representation of the athlete. The No Chill Podcast, on the other hand, provides real authentic content that analyzes the nature of basketball and deep down conversations with people in the basketball world.

The No Chill Podcast is a conversational podcast. Occasionally the hosts Mike Botticello and former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas engage in dialogue with current or former NBA players. For the most part, the podcasts are centered around hot topics or intriguing debates where Gilbert Arenas provides a perspective about the game not seen on typical sports shows because of his extensive experience with basketball. Usually, the episodes range from an hour to approximately two hours in length and are unedited. Several sponsors include the Himalaya Podcast app, Manscape, and ZipRecruiter. With a selection of 52 episodes, the No Chill Podcast has provided an extensive amount of basketball discussion. There is no particular episode to start with as each episode is a brand new, unique topic. Several of their most popular episodes include “Episode 38 Skill Always Wins with Lou Williams” in which Gilbert Arenas and Lou Williams speak on how to distinguish yourself as a player. Their latest “Episode 52  Point of View with Ball Don’t Stop Founder Ekam Nagra” provides a passionate conversation about the role of media in sports and never before heard stories of the influence of athletes, especially Kobe Bryant.

The No Chill Podcast has absolutely made waves in the podcasting world. Along with much support from elite NBA athletes they have nearly 70k subscribers on YouTube, and thousands through iTunes and the Himalaya App. The podcast has featured many elite athletes and is featured on TV outlets such as ESPN for their intriguing takes and player soundbites.

 

The podcast that I found very interesting and listened to is called First Take.  It’s a television show on ESPN and what they cover is put into the podcast that can be found on Spotify. This podcast is intended for people who are interested in sports and want to listen to the co-hosts debate on the hottest takes out right now in the sports world. The style of this podcast is mainly a host with a small panel of experts. Sometimes, there could be a celebrity making a surprise appearance as well on the podcast. I would say this podcast is very popular because the two experts, Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman are very popular and their debates are a must listen and laughable  sometimes. It has definitely made positive waves in terms of their popularity because of how deep the panel debates on some of these topics and it’s fun for all people to hear on what they think. Sometimes before the podcast starts, they start with a quick advertisement or two about a company or a website. However, I don’t know how advertisements are distributed for this podcast. You can start from any episode because there isn’t a specific order of topics that they talk about. They just talk about the biggest headlines that have been happening the day before or from the past week itself.

Backstory is a long-form history-based podcast which focuses on a particular topic relevant to current events and expands upon that topic in their weekly hour. The show is by no means new to the scene, having debuted in 2008 when podcasting was still in its infancy. The show is largely scripted but features interview sessions, testimonials, archival audio, and much more, depending on the topic being covered. The July 19^th episode covering the more nuance details of the Apollo 11 flight in 1969 featured lengthy interviews with members of mission control and their families, including NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz, one of the more notable figures involved with the lunar landing.

Several hosts are involved with the production, including veterans Ed Ayer and Brian Balogh, with Joanne Freeman and Nathan Connolly having joined later on. One or more of them will be present for various episodes, riffing off each other, or tackling a particular angle of the topic at hand. Due to both the pedigree of the show and length of the episodes, the podcast has amassed a variety of sponsors, with ads interlaced 2-3 times during the course of the episode. Notable sponsors include none other than the History Channel, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, along with personal donors such as John Grisham and Edward L. Ayers.

There are quite literally hundreds of episodes to choose from to start, ranging from coverage on the infancy and subsequent growth of Silicon Valley, a lengthy interview with Karl Rove, a short biography of Alexander Hamilton, or the history of American Censorship. The topics range far and wide and can appeal to anyone from history buffs to the average listener looking for a deeper dive into an unfamiliar topic. Some of the episodes can get quite heady but others are more general analyses of an interesting topic.

The podcast is available on most outlets, such as iTunes, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, and is consistently featured in the top recommended podcasts for News or History. Despite its high ratings however, it does not boast particularly high subscription rates, though its longevity speaks for itself. The hosts cover topics very thoroughly and do a decent job at maintaining political neutrality despite the subject matter. Some of the more interesting episodes to start off with, regardless of interests are the aforementioned Hamilton: A History episode, Nixon Beyond Watergate, Lincoln the Lawyer, and In the Shadow the Mushroom Cloud.

http://songexploder.net

The podcast I decided to listen to is Song Exploder. This Podcast works so well because it is intended for everyone who likes music. You may not be a fan of all of the artists that are brought onto the show but there is someone for everyone as the guest span a variety of genres and age demographics. The format is that of a host interview with the host interview portions taken out so it reads as mostly the artist just talking to the audience. The ad structure is annoying in my opinion because before you even get into the the podcast there are two ads. I could deal with one, but two before we get into things is a little off putting. The show also ends with another add which I don’t mind too much because you can just click out of the podcast at that point. The time that you get to talk to the actual hosts of the podcast isn’t until the last sponsored section after the chunk of the podcast is done and by then I don’t care to get to know the hosts.

 

This is a very popular podcast that has won many awards and has been raved about. I think the best way to get into this podcast is by looking for an artist and or song that you really like and starting there. For example, the two that I listened to were Grimes and Cat Power who are two of my favorite artists. If you start with someone you care about you will easily fall for this podcast and the more you listen to the more you might even branch out into songs and artists, you don’t know just because you are intrigued by how songs work and how they are built.

The podcast that I decided to listen to for this assignment is called Six Minutes. Six Minutes is a fiction storytelling podcast. There’s 100 episodes in season 2 and each episode is told in six minutes.
This podcast is about an eleven year old girl named Holiday that was found in Alaska with no memory on how she got there by people that claim to be her family while her real family is trying to find her.
I think that the music in the beginning and throughout the episode really brings a sense of the tone of the podcast. Just from the background music the listener can tell that the theme of the podcast is mystery.