Last week saw Podcast Day 24, a big international podcasting summit with announcements and guests galore.
There were a few innovations discussed, such as this innovative card game which hopes to help anyone who wants to start their own podcast (face it, we have a podcast idea in our back pocket). Methodkit was praised for how it helps people structure their podcast and come up with format ideas.
Another highlight included Jess Phillips MP saying that she would like to do a podcast with Boris Johnson, to prove to us all what he is really like. “This is not in sympathy to him, he’s just like nothing he comes across on the television,” Phillips said. “He’s not better. In many ways he’s worse.”
And there was also a new podcast announced by the creators of the British Podcast Award winning series The Log Books. I’ve already had a listen and it is so good I decided to feature it as one of our recommendations in this week’s newsletter. See details of it below.
NOTABLE NAMES ON PODCASTS THIS WEEK
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- There’s a new series of Dish this week, the podcast hosted by Nick Grimshaw and Angela Harnett. The one and only Rylan joined them both for a meal.
- Sam Carter, the lead singer with the band Architects, is on the first episode of the new series of Your Own Personal Beatles to talk about the band’s influence on his material and what it was like to record an album at Abbey Road.
- Feel Better Live More celebrated its 300th episode this week. To celebrate Dr Rangan Chatterjee invited Tim Peake along to talk about what it takes to be an astronaut.
- Sally Hawkins is on Kermode and Mayo’s Take this week, talking about her new film The Lost King.
Here are our podcast picks for the week ahead
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Black and Day, Back in the Day – Throughout UK Black History Month we’ll be featuring many great podcasts, starting with this one from the creators of The Log Books. It’s a collaboration between Marc Thompson and Jason Okandaye, exploring and amplifying stories of Black LGBTQIA+ lives in Britain from the 1970s to the turn of the Millennium.
Each episode consists of a young presenter meeting someone older who can help shine a light on this important social history. The first episode, fronted by journalist Abi McIntosh, delves into Black LGBTQ+ media treatment and representation. Abi starts by reading up an archive copy of Gay News, realising that media representation since the 1970s has not necessarily changed for the better: “Unfortunately, this is still the case in the media and in LGBT media. It’s very white and very male, and if there is anything to do with lesbians or queer women they are white women.”
She then meets Ted Brown, a Gay Liberation Front activist and journalist and they both share the experiences of their own respective generations, and discuss whether the risks of the younger generation becoming less political and taking freedoms for granted. It’s a stimulating, thought provoking discussion. “The danger with taking these things for granted is that you don’t appreciate your achievements and there are people willing to take those away,” says Brown. “And many of us need to be more conscious and politically conscious to keep what we have, and to move forward.”
The Talent Factory – There has been a lot of re-evaluating of cultural moments throughout the noughties in recent years. And for months there have been troubling news stories circulating about what television talent show experiences were like for the contestants who actually participated in them.
So this new BBC Sounds series, presented by singer and previous X Factor contestant Amelia Lily, couldn’t be any more well timed. This easy-to-listen series, consisting of 15 minute episodes, delves into the issues surrounding this sausage factory; from the exploitation of the sob story to the long term consequences of overnight fame in the public eye. Expect a lot of names to pop up you may not have thought about for years, creating a lot of unexpected nostalgia.
Mixed Up – This podcast explores issues of identity and race through the experience of being mixed race, presented by Nicole and Emma. “We bring you stories about growing up mixed, straddling two worlds and everything in-between,” says Nicole.
The first episode of the latest series features an engaging interview with the professional footballer Anton Ferdinand. He talks about growing up in Peckham, how he has encountered racism from both sides of his heritage and the moments that have shaped his life, such as his close relationship with his mother.
Mixed Up also has a special episode out for Black History Month. It is an interview with the founder of The Association of Mixed-Rice Irish, Rosemary Adaser.
The Great Women Artists Podcast – This podcast, presented by Katy Hessel, this week features a conversation with someone who hardly needs an introduction: the artist Tracey Emin.
Known for her honest, distinctive and often autobiographical works, in this episode Emin talked about the therapeutic benefits that her work brings her and how artists need to represent the world around them, rather than making nice pictures. She’s as open and candid as you would expect, making a great hour of audio.
One moment talks about her revelation after getting back into painting after experiencing a serious illness: “I was sweeping my arm around to paint the bottom of the canvas and I realised that I was doing it in this amazing circular. And I thought ‘fucking hell, it feels like I’ve never been ill.’ It feels like I’ve never had cancer. It feels like this is me. I feel like me.”
“And every bit of pain I’ve ever had in my life has just gone. That’s what it felt like, which is a pretty amazing feeling.”
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