Podcasts that share the story behind the story

5 podcast episodes on a theme, each week curated by a different person

Story Behind the Story

Curated by...
Mark Simon (he/him)

Why did you choose this theme?
In every area of my life, I find myself fascinated by "the story behind the story."

But that's a vague phrase — there are so many ways to learn the story behind the story, and I thought I'd use this theme to illustrate them.

PODCAST PICKS:

Click on the podcast art to listen 

Rachel Maddow Presents: Déjà News
Florida's First War on Woke

History Repeating: Rachel Maddow and Isaac-Davy Aronson tell the story of how Florida lawmakers went after the NAACP, suspected communists, and gay people in the 1950s and 1960s. The story behind the story is the eeriness of history that is repeating itself in the present day.

KILLED
The Quarterback

Host Justine Harman explores stories that get killed before going to print or the airwaves.

In this episode, she tells the story of how Glamour "punted" a story about a Black football player being mysteriously cut by an NFL team — with the suspected reason being he had a white girlfriend. 

Local News Matters
Flourishing when everything’s against you: Serving border communities with Maritza Félix of Conecta Arizona

Journalist Maritza Félix explains how she created Conecta Arizona, a way of using WhatsApp to communicate news to people on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border. The story behind the story here is the challenge of getting the story out there.

Longform
Mitchell S. Jackson

Mitchell S. Jackson won a Pulitzer Prize for his profile of Ahmaud Arbery in Runner's World. But he did it in a way that you didn't see in most news stories.

Jackson's profile tells the story of both Arbery the person, and how running fails Black America. The story behind the story is why he told the story in a different way.

The Journalism Salute
Em Espey, Education Reporter, Moco360

This is EarBuds curator Mark's interview with education reporter, Em Espey. Em is transgender and has been covering an ongoing story in Montgomery County, Maryland about parents trying to opt their children out of an LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum.

Mark learned a lot from their recounting of what covering that story has been like — and also gained insight into the importance of covering stories of trans joy. Em has an amazing backstory about going from transcribing court proceedings to becoming a journalist. There's so much story behind the story in this episode.

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SPONSOR:

Brand Podcast Virtual Summit '24

The first Brand Podcast Virtual Summit organized by Lower Street will be hosted on January 24. This event brings business thought leaders and podcasting experts together to give you all the tools you need to make your brand podcast a success.

Presentations include:

  • How to Understand - and then Reach - Your Target Listeners, by Rand Fishkin

  • How to Grow Your Podcast: Paid and Free Strategies to Find New Followers, by Hannah Southern & Shannon Martin

  • AI and Podcasting: The Tools and Tactics to Improve Your Podcast Workflows (Speakers announced soon)

The summit is free and open to all. All registered participants will get the chance to win a microphone and a pair of headphones worth $500!

ADVERTISE YOUR PODCAST OR BUSINESS HERE STARTING AT $85/WEEK.

COMMUNITY:

🎤This week in Podcast The Newsletter: Lauren Passell writes: "One of my favorite shows of all time, Imaginary Advice, has been dormant for awhile because…Ross had a baby! My spirits LIFTED when I saw a new episode in the feed. Ross tells two stories about a) gas poisoning and b) losing the boundary between real-life and imagination, which is exactly what Ross does best in this show. The piece is technically about the birth of his son and the path he and his wife took to conceive, but really, it’s a story about hallucinations and what happens when we lose our sense of what is real."

🐦‍⬛On January 31, 2000, hours after Super Bowl XXXIV in Atlanta, Baltimore Ravens star linebacker Ray Lewis and a group of friends got into an altercation with a group of men outside of a club. Within minutes, two men — Richard Lollar and Jacinth Baker — were dead in the street, both stabbed multiple times. Ray Lewis was immediately the prime suspect in the double murder. To this day, questions surround that night in Atlanta, and the murders have remained a cloud over Lewis’ otherwise remarkable career. Did one of sports’ biggest stars get away with a heinous crime, or was he falsely accused in a tragic misunderstanding? Did the NFL or law enforcement participate in a cover up? Most importantly, who was actually responsible for the murders? Over 20 years later, sports journalist Tim Livingston provides answers to these lingering questions in The Raven. 

🎙️All episodes of the limited fiction series Wyrd Woman are now available! From author Amy Lee Lillard, the show combines literary fiction with audio drama for something certifiably weird. When an isolated woman starts recording her dreams of strange women, things get weird. Over nine nights, reality becomes fantasy, past and future meld, and fate binds and beckons. Why are these women — old, broken, unnatural, mad, and ugly — appearing in her dreams? Why must difference always mean danger? And what happens when these women come together, connecting across time and space as worlds die? 

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SPOTLIGHT:

Trailer Park: The Podcast Trailer Podcast

Season 2 has officially pulled up and opened its sunroof to some more podcast trailers. On this show, hosts Arielle Nissenblatt and Tim Villegas hit play on a podcast trailer and then analyze it; what worked, what didn't, what did the creators get right, and what did they miss? Then, we hear from the maker(s) of that episode’s trailer for some more context on their creative thinking.

The goal of Trailer Park is to expose sonic creators to examples of short audio teasers to help better their game, and to help podcast listeners find their next favorite show. This season is sponsored by Fanlist and Ausha.

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