The Audiophile Picks the Pods ✍️

Fiction delights, iHeart Podcasts live tonight (link in email), New Top 5

Hey Poddy People!

Wow, what a time in Brooklyn last week at On Air Fest. Some of my hot takes are below. In this edition, Sam MacDonald who writes fiction podcast reviews for The Audiophile, is taking over the recommendations list. Hope you enjoy it!

Let’s GOOOO!!!

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The Round-Up

• Hot Takes from On Air Fest - Brooklyn

  • High energy from the festival. I believe the location, while great, may have been a little too compact for the amount of people. If there’s an opportunity to get a slightly bigger location where to gather, that would be great. I was squeezing around people constantly.

  • By far, the Hang Up live show (featured here) was the most raucous, uproarious audience. It was pretty dang good. Hope they release the episode.

  • We got a lot of short bite-sized introductions from people you know and, to be honest, never knew because they were behind the scenes. I’m editing now for IG/YouTube.

  • I got this special Dan Pashman pasta from The Sporkful Podcast as he made his way around the podcast press tour. I was just listening to the episode he guested on with Chef José Andrés’ podcast.

  Perfecting Pasta with Dan Pashman

• Fans of the car show Top Gear UK from the BBC can gear up to listen to one of the hosts, Richard Hammond team up with his daughter on the new podcast… Who We Are Now with Izzy & Richard Hammond.

  

• On the market: Why am I not surprised? WarnerMedia has been constantly holding fire sales these last 1-2 years on their entertainment properties and is now looking to sell its Rooster Teeth production house. Rooster Teeth came onto the scene 20 years ago with fan favorite Red vs. Blue parody based on the Halo video game series and blossomed from there into all things geekdom which included podcasts. Read more here.

• Crossed Wires is a new podcast festival to be held in Sheffield, England. More info here. Co-created by Alice Levine (My Dad Wrote A Porno). From what it looks like, you buy individual tickets to each show. It’s not clear if there will be a “festival pass” for all the shows.

• I was watching some Kill Tony YouTube clips of comedian Kam Patterson. If you ever thought you couldn’t make a podcast, think again. Anyone and everyone can start a podcast…

• Watch clip here

• Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine and iHeart are launching a new daily podcast on March 25th called The Bright Side. Trailer here.

• Speaking of which, iHeart Podcast Awards are live tonight at 9 PM ET. Catch the live show and I believe replay on the same YouTube channel here:

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About our podcast critic Sam MacDonald:

I enjoy listening to audio fiction and want to share what I love with other people. So, I started my blog The Audiophile to do just that. That love for audio fiction also led me to create my audio drama anthology, The Books of Thoth. I’ve even dipped my toes into voice acting. I was Slenderman in season three of Residents of Proserpina Park. My day job is working as an edutainer at the Shreveport Aquarium. I inform and entertain the guests while working at the various touch pool exhibits. Oh, and sometimes I dress up as a shark, a pirate, or even a Christmas elf.

Find him Twitter : ArthurDrakoni
BlueSky: arthurdrakoni.bsky.social
Reddit: u/ArthurDrakoni
The Audiophile Blog of Reviews
Sam’s own fiction podcast, The Books of Thoth:
Books of Thoth home page

Hey Sam

On to Sam’s picks this week…

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Podcast: Long Night in Egypt
Genre: Fiction, Thriller
Publisher: Realm, Violet Hour Media

About: The Violet Hour presents - LONG NIGHT IN EGYPT. During Spring Break, a group of archaeology students travel to Egypt and sneak into the Pyramid of Unas after dark. Little do they know that they are setting themselves up for a ghostly night of terror that will alter their fates forever.

Egyptian Mythology was the first mythology that I ever truly fell in love with. Naturally, I was very excited to find an audio drama based around Egyptian Mythology. Excited, but also very apprehensive. I’ve been burned by too many movies and television shows that butcher mythology. So, I was prepared to go through this audio drama with a fine-tooth comb. I was watching like a hawk for even the slightest deviation from actual mythological sources.

Much to my pleasant surprise, however, I couldn’t find a single liberty taken. Imagine a Rick Riordan book, but its rated R, and that’s kind of what Long Night in Egypt is like. It captures the magic of those urban fantasy mythology books, but aims it at an older crowd. Also recommended for those who enjoyed Moon Knight. This was the Egyptian Mythology audio drama I’d been longing for. 

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Podcast: The Soyuz Files
Genre: History, Sci-Fi
Publisher: The West

About: In an alternate history of the Cold War, the Soviet Union wins the Space Race -- American astronauts never land on the Moon. Told through radio news broadcasts in 1968 and 1969, The Soyuz Files takes you from the skyscrapers of Manhattan to the spires of the Kremlin. Join investigative journalist Jack Schechter as he gets swept up in the intrigue of two rocket scientists, a Soviet diplomat, and the lies that hold everything together.

It is often said that there are only nine basic plots in all of fiction. It isn’t the plot you have, but how you add your own spin that matters. The plot of The Soyuz Files might sound similar to the Apple+ series For All Mankind. However, they take very different approaches to the idea of a Soviet moon landing. For All Mankind takes an incredibly optimistic, if not best-case scenario, stance. The Soyuz Files, by contrast, goes for a more cynical and pessimistic take. Mind you, neither is superior to the other, merely very different. 

I’m an absolute sucker for alternate history that involves the Space Race. So, the way I see it, the more the merrier. It was refreshing to find a straight-up alternate history audio drama. No magic, or aliens, just the forces of history taking a different direction. I also thought it was neat that, when this podcast first came out, you could have postcards sent to you. That way, you could solve the mystery along with the main character. The Soyuz Files does have pictures of the cards on their website. But, if you’re lazy like me, you can just listen to the show without issue. 

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Podcast: The Luchador: 1000 Fights of El Fuego Fuerte
Genre: Drama, Fiction
Publisher: The Luchador

About: The mighty Lucha Libre champion of Mexico City does battle in and out of the ring with deadly vampires, dangerous mobsters, and the ethical complications of maintaining a rigid moral philosophy. A biweekly fiction adventure series created by Daniel Valero Fletcher, starring a Latinx lead cast and special guest stars from the real world of professional wrestling.

I like to think of myself as thoughtful and introspective. However, I’m also very much a simple man. So, when I see a podcast with a picture of a man wearing a luchador mask, I think to myself “Hell yes, I want to listen to that!” Now, I freely admit most of my knowledge of lucha libre comes from cartoons. However, that was not an impediment in the slightest. You don’t have to know anything about lucha libre to enjoy this audio drama. 

There are times when I want to listen to something intellectual and sophisticated. But there are also times I want to cut loose and have some fun. And what says fun like a masked wrestler fighting against Aztec vampire women? I mean, is that not something we could all use some more of in our lives right now? And hey, season two of The Luchador is on the way. So, now is an excellent time to catch up on season one. 

Libre

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Just Added:

Straight to the Comments! - Daily Mail
Our Black Gay Diaspora Podcast - Erick Taylor Woodby
Leverage Your Podcast Show - Lyndsay Phillips
Creature Preacher - Rococo Punch
Never Post - Charts & Leisure
Playing With Marbles - Vocal Fry Studios
Kelly Corrigan Wonders - Kelly Corrigan, PRX
Who We Are Now with Izzy & Richard Hammond - Global Media & Entertainment
Three Million - BBC
Hear Me Out with Lucy Eaton - Hear Me Out: Discussions about Great Theatre and Greater Plays
A Muslim & A Jew Go There - Instinct Productions
Jam Tomorrow - Podmasters
Blue Sky - The Optimism Institute
Good Is In The Details - GIID
Dead River - Dead River
Blame It on the Fame: Milli Vanilli - Wondery
Lowlines - Social Broadcasts & Scenery Studios
The Recipe with Kenji and Deb - Deb Perelman, Kenji López-Alt
The History Chicks - QCode, The History Chicks
Fearful Symmetry - Bob Paris
What's Poppin' Penny? - Toni Kennedy-Preschool Family Productions

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‘Top of the Pods’ this past week: All Brit podcasts in the top 5!

5. Into The Dirt - Tortoise Media

4. Empire - Goalhanger Podcasts

3. Can I tell you a secret? - The Guardian

2. Things Fell Apart - BBC

1. A Muslim & A Jew Go There - Instinct Productions

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Stay safe, be kind, and go to your doctor's checkup!

Listening with you,
Captain Ron

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