Podcast Recommendations: Falling in Love With Podcasts
Five podcast episodes on a theme, each week curated by a different person
Cast of Creators is a podcast about the business of content creation. It's perfect for emerging creators navigating this complicated space.
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Falling in Love With Podcasts
From Blush.Design
Curator
Emma Reynolds
Why did you choose this theme?
Earlier this year, I fell in love with podcasting. It was a swift, certain love — the kind I had been waiting for. I just graduated from the Salt Institute for Audio Documentary Studies and have been reflecting on the shows that laid the foundation for this career.
PODCAST PICKS:
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The Shadows
Sweater
This is the first series I listened to and thought, “Wow, this is unlike anything I’ve ever heard.” It’s a complicated love story featuring two puppeteers, a train ride, investigations into polyamory, and a mermaid costume. This episode in particular captures the creative intimacy that Kaitlin Prest is known for: it’s told from the point of view of a sweater as it is given from its owner to a woman he loves.
Millennial
Nothing to Lose
Once I decided to pursue podcasting, I started listening to Millenial, which captures Megan Tan’s life as she enters the audio world. This episode focuses on how Tan first convinced herself to produce her own podcast. Along the way, she explores why we avoid pursuing that which we love.
Still Processing
Best of the Archives: Whiteness in America
The friendship and honesty of the two hosts make their cultural critiques more approachable as if reminding the audience, “You, too, can question something, be angered by someone, or wonder why you love something.” This reminded me not to avoid controversial topics, but to tread boldly toward them with curiosity. This message feels particularly important as we engage regularly with topics ranging from race and gender to forgiveness and mansplaining.
The Anthropocene Reviewed
Capacity for Wonder and Sunsets
When I need a pep talk about the world, I turn to John Green’s podcast. This episode reminds me of the poetry in everyday occurrences, such as reading an old book and watching the sun disappear behind the clouds. Green’s researched critiques and poignant reflections continually remind me that the best way to write is to embrace your natural ways of thinking.
Life Sentence
Ocean
The acclaimed playwright Tabitha Mortiboy has shown me how to take a global problem and turn it into a performance — part drama, part poem, and part soundscape. This podcast is a portrait of the climate crisis through characters—this episode focuses on Nep, the ocean, and her zesty niece, Coral. The series takes the information and facts about global warming and creates a powerful portrait that serves as both a warning and a battle cry.
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Cast of Creators
Cast of Creators is a podcast about the business of content creation, and the lives of creators behind successful blogs and brands. Each week, guests join the cast for a conversation about their lives, content creation, and business.
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The Zen(ish) Mommy
A place where moms can slow down, be authentic, and take their time without guilt.
Host Jessica Gershman understands what it feels like to know that every time you walk into a room, someone needs something from you. As a mom of four, zen is often the last place she ended up until she made a change.
Advertise your podcast or business here starting at $75/week.
FEEDBACK WITH EARBUDS:
This week on our podcast...
(Click on Emma to listen)
Learn about EarBuds curator Emma Reynolds's podcast recommendations and her love of audio storytelling.
ALSO: a voice clip from one of the creators of this week's Spotlight pick, My Mother Made Me from Radiotopia Presents, information about Podcast Movement in Dallas, resources for folks seeking jobs in the podcast industry, and more.
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COMMUNITY:
This week in Podcast The Newsletter, Lauren Passell writes, "If you’ve been following along my podcast-listening ride, you know I am overly invested in In Your Hands, the show where comedian Lizzy Cooperman lets her listeners (her Sourcerers) choose her next life decision, like getting a piercing or taking a job as a guide for the This Is Us tour in LA."
Sounds Profitable presents After These Messages, a live presentation of a study that will test the assumptions and received wisdom in the podcasting space. Attend in person at Podcast Movement or on Zoom.
Have you created a trailer for a podcast? Has it since become a show? Or is it stuck in the trailer phase? Either way, submit to the Trailer Park Podcast for a chance to be featured.
ON THE BLOG: Best Book Podcasts for Literary Fans and #BookTok Followers. Read it.
Send your updates for us to include in our Community section. Submit!
CLASSIFIEDS:
Thorn in the U.S.A is an absurdist political satire, within a satire, within a satire that is our government. We’re all in this together, and sometimes you simply gotta laugh to keep from crying!
Premiering on August 23, Le Monstre takes a look at a real-life monster: serial killer, pedophile, and kidnapper Marc Dutroux, who later became known as “Le Monstre.” During the '80s-'90s, Dutroux terrorized Belgians, abducting and murdering several young girls. Yet, the country’s local and federal authorities did little to help.
Advertise your podcast or business here starting at $35/week.
PODCAST SPOTLIGHT:
"My Mother Made Me" is a four-episode series from Radiotopia Presents in which writer Jason Reynolds and his mother, Isabell, explore their shared history, how she raised him, and what they’re teaching each other.
They go deep — birth, death, spirituality — but they also keep it light: pushing a cart through Costco, birthday lunches, and hitting the casino together. That’s just how they do.
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