[Swprograms] Podding Along - Issue 216

[John Figliozzi <jfiglio1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Most radio listening takes place in the car or while doing other things that allow freedom for the ear, but not the eyes and hands.  Podcasts permit a shift of listening time from a set appointment to virtually any convenient occasion.  I do it while âpower walkingâ (most) every morning.  The act of putting one foot in front of the other can be pretty monotonous and by âpodding alongâ while plodding along the mind also gets something useful to do.  So it is with the time spent commuting to work day after day.

Some of the best radio comes from the public networks of the UK, Australia, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and the U.S.  Apart from the originating programâs web site, most programs are made available through any number of other amalgamation sources such as iTunes and TuneIn. 

Admittedly, these are thoroughly subjective recommendations, but my interests and tolerance for incompatible views are pretty wide-ranging. Hereâs another in a continuing series of small samplings, offered in a 90 minute scope (more of less):

ââ

âJuan Gabriel VÃsquez on how Colombia's violent past has shaped his fiction and his lifeâ
WRITERS AND COMPANY - CBC Radio One
Acclaimed author Juan Gabriel VÃsquez tells political stories about his country, Colombia, set in the context of personal drama. In his new novel, 'The Shape of the Ruins', he probes real-life political assassinations â starting with the 1948 murder of populist leader Jorge EliÃcer GaitÃn â through the obsessions and conspiracy theories that preoccupy his characters.  VÃsquez's earlier novel 'The Sound of Things Falling' won the Spanish-language Alfaguara Fiction Prize in 2011, worth $230,000 CAD. Inspired by Colombia's narco-terrorism, it went on to win the 2014 Impac Dublin Literary Award and sold more than a quarter of a million copies worldwide.  Born in Bogotà in 1973, VÃsquez came of age during the height of Colombia's violent drug wars. He moved to Paris in his early 20s, and lived in Barcelona for 13 years before returning to Colombia in 2012. (53â)
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/writersandcompany/juan-gabriel-v-squez-on-how-colombia-s-violent-past-has-shaped-his-fiction-and-his-life-1.5002418

âMaastricht: The Birth of the European Union"  
WITNESS HISTORY - BBC World Service
In February 1992, European ministers from 12 countries signed a treaty that would lead towards greater economic and political unity. The European Union would become the biggest free trading bloc in the world, but over the years it has survived several rocky moments as individual countries have questioned whether they want to be included. Senior EU Official Jim Cloos was one of those involved in drafting the Maastricht Treaty, and he explained to Rebecca Kesby how exciting it was to be involved in the project in those early days.  (11â)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cswsgr

âSmart Speakersâ
THE WHY FACTOR - BBC World Service
The number of smart speakers in US households has increased by 78% year-over-year, from 66 million in December 2017 to 118 million in December 2018. About ten million people in the UK now use one and, on average, one in 10 people in the world now own a smart speaker. And it does not seem like the rise is stopping any time soon.  Presenter Paul Bakibinga investigates the current possibilities of a smart home and voice design. Together with experts he explores how owning a virtual assistant - always on and always listening - introduces a whole host of issues to consider - from privacy through to child development and rampant consumerism. But, using your voice for browsing the internet, playing music or ordering groceries has proved to be a lifeline for disabled and elderly users.  We hear from child psychologist Rachel Severson, online privacy expert Florian Schaub, computer voice expert and psychologist Jonathan Gratch, Googleâs Cathy Pearl and the author of Radical Technologies Adam Greenfield.  We are also invited to a multi-generational home of smart speaker users who donât all agree whether these machines are a force for good or another way of surrendering our privacy. (24â)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cswrl7

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A monthly (well, mostly monthly) compendium of these newsletters, plus on occasion additional pertinent material, is now published in The CIDX Messenger, the monthly e-newsletter of the Canadian International DX Club (CIDX).  For further information, go to www.cidx.ca

John Figliozzi
Editor, "The Worldwide Listening Guideâ
192 page 8th edition available from Universal Radio [universal-radio.com] and Amazon [amazon.com]
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