[Swprograms] Podding Along - Issue 334

[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 “power walking” (most) every morning in what sometimes seems like a vain attempt to diminish the results of sitting behind a desk for 35 years.  The act of putting one foot in front of the other can be pretty monotonous and by “podding along” while plodding along the mind also gets something useful to do.  So it is with the time spent gardening, washing dishes, preparing meals and many other day to day activities.

Podcasting has grown to the point that it can justly be considered a medium all its own.  Therefore, the attempt here has to be to highlight only a small portion of it, just one corner where excellence reigns.

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 program’s 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. Here’s another in a continuing series of small samplings, offered in a 90 minute scope (more or less):

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“Should Joe Biden Stay in the Basement”
THE INQUIRY - BBC World Service
The presidential opposition candidate Joe Biden has barely emerged from his home since America’s lockdown at the end of March. But polls suggest that the low-key strategy is working in his favour – as his rival President Donald Trump comes under increasing pressure over his handling of the coronavirus and a resurgence of racial tension. With four months to go until the election, is staying in the basement Joe Biden’s best option? What are the risks if he does? And how could Donald Trump turn things around? Contributors: 
. Jason Zengerle, writer at large for the New York Times Magazine
. Rachel Bitecofer, Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center and host of the Election Whisperer. 
. Niambi Carter, Associate Professor of Political Science at Howard University and author of “American While Black”.
. Whit Ayres, Republican pollster at North Star Opinion Research. (23”)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszl3p

“The Rikers Debate Project, and Isabel Wilkerson”
THE NEW YORKER RADIO HOUR - WNYC New York Public Radio
The journalist and historian Isabel Wilkerson talks with David Remnick about how America’s racial hierarchy should be thought of as a caste system, not unlike the one that dominated in India. Plus, Jonathan Blitzer talks with the filmmakers behind Netflix’s new docuseries “Immigration Nation.” And we’ll meet some of the volunteers and the former inmates who make up the Rikers Debate Project. (50”)
https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/tnyradiohour/episodes/rikers-debate-project-and-isabel-wilkerson

[Ed. Note:  I find that I inadvertently neglected to give you one of the links of the last edition’s podcasts.  Here it is now:
“The Bomb”
THE DOCUMENTARY - BBC World Service
In a moment of terrible inspiration, a little-known Hungarian scientist called Leo Szilard uncovers the destructive possibilities of an atomic bomb. Fearing the Nazis would figure out how to produce the bomb first, Szilard turns to his friend Albert Einstein to help convince the US President to invest in a uranium research programme. That programme becomes the Manhattan Project, and as America tries to end World War Two, Szilard fears his vision is about to become reality. Recruiting other scientists from across the Manhattan Project he launches a campaign to save the world from the horror of a nuclear bomb. A campaign that will fail on 6 August 1945, when the United States drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.  For Emily Strasser this is a personal story. Her grandfather worked on the Manhattan Project. All her life she has been grappling with what her grandfather was a part of, and how she is meant to feel about it today. (53”)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct0wzh

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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 Guide”
NEW! 184 page 9th EDITION available NOW from Universal Radio [universal-radio.com], Amazon [amazon.com], Ham Radio Outlet [hamradio.com]
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