Is it happiness you seek?😶
plus a Signal Award Winner & sounds of the earth, +Just Added and Weekly Charts!
Hey Poddy People!
A full newsletter awaits us below. Let’s get to it.
In this week’s edition:
Updates
3 Recs
Just Added - 18 pods
Weekly Top 5
Updates:
Do you know about OpenAI’s ChatGPT that’s supposedly the rage? I asked it for podcast recommendations based on critic reviews. This is what I got:
A lot of public radio podcasts on that list. I just left more confident that no matter what, human curation is still powerful, but also an AI combo may be useful to complement each other.
Early data looks: The new podcast, Frosted Tips w/ Lance Bass is getting some early traction on the site this week, even though we have no critic reviews yet. The first episode is with his former *NSYNC bandmate, JC Chasez.
Superbowl-winning QB Peyton Manning, has a production company? Yup. In Audio too? Yup. Partnered with ESPN and Caeser’s Sportsbook. The newest one that made the press rounds is with NBA’s Golden State Warriors General Manager, Bob Myers. Read about it here. Listen to the trailer here.
On the fiction front, the Indie pod, Digital Folklore will be released next week. As you will notice in one of the picks below, audio sound scaping is really cool to me, and Digital Folklore mentions being fully immersive. Let’s try it out! Listen to the trailer here.
SoCal Podcast Meetup: We’ll be sending out an email early next week on a survey for SoCalPodcastMeetup.com. Sign up!
Mentions: PodNews, the daily podcast industry newsletter, picked up a story I sent for the Top 22 Podcast Critics of 2022. Nice. If you like more daily industry news, check them out and the newsletter we were in here.
Personal: I’m running the LA Marathon (Full) this year and supporting the K9 Youth Alliance for a second year. It’s my first full marathon. Hey, do me a favor and donate to this youth and puppy charity on my page! Click here.
On to my picks this week…
Podcast: The Cost of Happiness: Tony Hsieh
Genre: Documentary
Publisher: Imperative Entertainment, Vespucci Group
About: Billionaire Zappos founder and tech CEO Tony Hsieh was obsessed with happiness and helping people achieve it. After running “the world’s happiest company” for two decades, Hsieh created his experimental community — The Downtown Project — dedicated to pursuing happiness. But what do Tony's life and death reveal about Silicon Valley’s obsession with re-imagining how society functions? Reported and hosted by Nastaran Tavakoli-Far
Vegas Baby. Through various tools at her disposal, Nastaran, comes at you again (Teamistry), with Tony’s audiobook clips, interviews of previous employees, startup culture in Vegas, rehabilitating a downtown, and culture. As I build the Great Pods startup, there are cautionary tales to learn from, but also Tony’s mindset. Fascinating.
Miranda Sawyer • The Guardian
“...covers a familiar area of podcast investigation. A gripping tale that will no doubt end far away from happiness.”
Previous Nastaran Tavakoli-Far pod mentioned in newsletter past: Teamistry
Previous Imperative/Vespucci pod mentioned in newsletter past: Operation Morning Light
Podcast: Emergence Magazine Podcast
Episode: When the Earth Started to Sing – David G. Haskell
Genre: Science, Society, Sound
Publisher: Emergence Magazine
About Episode: This sonic journey written and narrated by David G. Haskell brings us to the beginning of sound and song on planet Earth. The experience is made entirely of tiny trembling waves in air, the fugitive, ephemeral energy that we call sound. Spoken words combined with terrestrial sounds invite our senses and imaginations to go outward into an experience of the living Earth and its history. How did the vast and varied chorus of modern sounds—from forest to oceans to human music—emerge from life’s community? When did the living Earth first start to sing? We invite you on a journey into deep time and deep sound that will open your ears and your imagination.
The Signal Award winners were announced. You can read about the podcasts and episodes here. With multiple winners, one episode title stuck out to me, When the Earth Started to Sing. You’ll need to sit back in your chair, put on your headphones, and just listen. No chores, no distractions. This episode did not disappoint.
The soundscaping is really good with the music of nature giving us a “sonic connection.”
Calen Cross • Bello Collective
“The ever-constant march of time brings many new wonders and opportunities…a sonic delight.”
Podcast: America’s Girls
Genre: Sports, History, NFL
Publisher: Texas Monthly
About: For 50 years, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders have been a global phenomenon, endlessly photographed, televised and commercialized. They began as an experiment and became America’s sweethearts, a very Texas hybrid of pageant beauty, good-girl etiquette, and come-hither slink. But what’s always been missing from their story is the voices of the cheerleaders themselves—until now. Bestselling author Sarah Hepola hosts this journey through the wild and glamorous saga of a sideline spectacle that changed sports, fashion, entertainment, and countless childhoods of boys and girls like her.
In current news, the NFL Playoffs start this weekend and the Cowboys are playing Monday night. How relevant for this podcast to get on my radar? The editing, sound, interviews (old & new), and previous TV appearances pieced together in a great historical share. Do you remember writing fan mail as a kid? Host, Sarah Hepola, tracks down one of those kids, who is now an adult, of course, all in good fun. But also, cheerleaders got paid $14 a game?! GET OUT.
Jillian Capewell • Huff Post
“This illuminating show, peppered with charming interviews, is one worth cheering for.”
Previous Texas Monthly pod mentioned in newsletters’ past: One By Willie
Just Added:
Died and Survived
Please Tell Me A Story
Absolutely Not
Sleep Sound with Sienna Miller
Perfect 10 With Carol Vorderman
The Memory Palace
Missing in Alaska
Making
Emergence Magazine
Mothers of Invention
For What It’s Earth
Reasons to be Cheerful with Ed Miliband and Geoff Lloyd
High Low with EmRata
The Statue
Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian
After the Whistle with Brendan Hunt and Rebecca Lowe
Infamous America
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
2023 Weekly Top 5 (1/2-1/8):
1. Rachel Maddow’s Ultra
2. Archetypes
3. Case 63
4. Bone Valley
5. Sold A Story
Stay safe in the rain, call that friend, and be kind!
Listening with you,
Captain Ron
Great Pods is your best friend in podcast discovery. Get immersed in engaging critic reviews and ratings to make finding your next podcast fun. Tell a friend!
More Star Wars gifs
More Star Wars gifs