Easy On The Ears

Last week I launched a podcast for Emerson College, where I work. It's called the Emersonian and it will feature interviews and profiles of current faculty, students and alumni. I host the show, and act as an executive producer of sorts. I'm really excited to have another podcast running as it has been years since my first show went "off the net".

The term "podcast" dates back to early 2004. It was only a year later that my friends Brian, Peter, and I created the Boston Sports Massacre. We produced weekly episodes for a few months and it was a true blast. We had local news come in to Peter's bedroom to film us taping an episode, and we reached Boston Sports fans across the country and around the world. We even did a live episode at a Red Sox game that ended with a David Ortiz walk off home run that landed not far from us.

Though the show died out rather quickly, my love for podcasts has never waned. Today I listen to a nice array of informative and fun shows during my commute and occasionally on long road trips. My current stable of subscriptions includes 14 shows that vary in length from less than 5 minutes to over an hour. I think of them in four major categories;

INFORMATIVE: These are shows that I listen to in an effort to actually become smarter. They include tips or stories about things I know very little of. I don't listen to  each episode of these shows religiously, if time is tight they are the first to go. Still, they are always enjoyable when I do listen. Examples of these shows are: Grammar Girl, and Get-It-Done Guy

COMEDY: No mystery here, these shows are just funny as hell! It helps that several of them feature old friends, but even if I didn't know the people they would still be worth a listen. I grew up listening to comedy albums and they were great, but the fact that we live in an age where gobs of fresh comedy are available for free on a weekly basis is something to really be thankful for. My comedy shows are: Judge John Hodgman, I Seem Fun (Jen Kirkman), Uhh Yeah Dude

NPR: As a podcast purist, I don't actually consider these shows Podcasts. They are simply great NPR (or CBC) programs that are available via podcast format, which allows me to listen when I want as opposed to when they are actually broadcast. I mention this because I know lots of people who have their podcasts ranked against these kinds of NPR shows, which doesn't quite seem fair to me. It's a bit like bringing a moped to a bicycle race in y opinion. Anyway, the outstanding shows I listen to via podcast are: This American Life, Radiolab, The Moth Radio Hour and Spark from the CBC

THE GOOD STUFF: These are the shows that really get me excited when they pop up in my Podcast app. These are innovative, compelling shows with extremely high production values. These shows are really a kind of entertainment that you can't really get elsewhere. If you get in to any of these shows, I highly recommend starting at the beginning and catching up to where they are now. You will not be disappointed. They include: 99% Invisible, The Memory Palace, and Decode DC

What shows do you listen to? What am I missing? 

Enjoy the game tonight folks. I'll be watching Sherlock and dreading the wait for Season 4.

Shhhh: Go Seahawks!