On Labor Day our family staged a 50-mile bicycle ride to support my 12-year-old sons in their quest to earn the cycling merit badge. The ride was particularly rough on one of the boys, who had a mountain bike. (The other had the foresight to borrow his friend's road bike, and he was fine.) In an effort to distract my suffering son, I offered my iPod. Unfortunately, I have no music on my iPod, except whatever theme songs accompany my podcasts.
No music!? [That was my oldest daughter, who was incredulous.] Why have an iPod at all if you don't listen to music on it?
I listen to podcasts, I told her. Notice that this product is made expressly for iPods.
Anyway, I turned on a funny story from The Moth, and that seemed to work for a little while. What worked even better was when I realized that we were pedaling into the wind, I suggested that we turn around. Who cares where we end up, as long as we have the Suburban to pick us up? So we did turn around, and everyone made it safely to the end.
By the way, if you were interested, in addition to The Moth, the podcasts on my iPod include:
- Marketplace, Marketplace Morning Report, and Marketplace Money. I should get some sort of prize from Marketplace for being their biggest groupie.
- Grammar Girl -- part of "Quick and Dirty Tips." I am relatively new to Grammar Girl, but I am a former writing tutor, so I enjoy this immensely, even if I violate many of her suggestions on this blog. I am starting to explore some of the other Q&D Tips, but I am not too impressed with the others, yet.
- This American Life is a great radio show, if you were in the market for a bit longer podcast.
- Hearsay Culture sounds less professional in terms of production values than TAL, but David Levine is substantively sound, and the topics and guests are excellent.
- Schlaflos in München is low on substance, but I love Annik Rubens' voice.
- A few news shows, like The Economist, the BBC, and Fokus Europa.
- Stanford's Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders is awesome, but they have been on a break.
- A few other shows I never seem to get around to, like Fresh Air, New Yorker Fiction, and Stuff You Should Know.
So what must-hear podcasts am I missing?
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1. Posted by DavidAK on September 10, 2008 @ 22:44 | Permalink
Some of my favorites are 'Econ Talk' and 'A Way With Words.'
2. Posted by David Zaring on September 11, 2008 @ 9:08 | Permalink
I quite like EconTalk as well. Conservations of about an hour, and good guests. And UChannel is a foundation of interesting podcasts - just got through a good one about the rise of India.
I'm a devoted podcast listener, I admit. Not afraid of an audio book or two either, if you really want to spend some time.
3. Posted by David Zaring on September 11, 2008 @ 9:11 | Permalink
Oops, tried to post earlier and failed. I like Econ Talk too - great guests, an hour of conversation. I like U Channel for a massive variety of talks - just listened to a good one on the emergence of India.
And the occasional audiobook works pretty well on the iPod....
4. Posted by Steve Bainbridge on September 11, 2008 @ 11:18 | Permalink
I have to confess that I'm with your daughter on this one. But, as I explain over on my blog, I guess I'm just a pagan!
5. Posted by Peter Spiro on September 12, 2008 @ 5:55 | Permalink
The Leonard Lopate Show.
6. Posted by Susan Franck on September 12, 2008 @ 20:47 | Permalink
I would also encourage you to consider Deutsche-Welle Asia Compact. It's available from iTunes. Basically, it's news about Asia, in English, told from the German perspective by Asian reporters. It's an amazing perspective on international, economic and political issues.
7. Posted by Laura on September 13, 2008 @ 21:52 | Permalink
I still don't understand that, by the way. I like podcasts but EXCLUSIVELY?? And especially when biking - sometimes you just need a solid beat and some jive.
haha, anway:
WNYC Radio Lab is a good one. And The Animation Podcast.
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