Podcast Roundup September 2020

The Indicator's episode "The Looming Eviction Crisis" is exactly what it sounds like. Extended unemployment benefits are running out, the number of jobs in the US isn't rebounding, and people who rent are soon going to have to face the music about rent.  If millions of people are evicted, where exactly are they going to go? The next big headline is going to be about the homelessness population among working adults in this country.  

I'm not here to plug 99% Invisible, which is one of the top 50 podcasts on Apple's podcast rankings. I'm not here to wax on poetically about the majesty of Roman Mars' resonant voice in my headphones. I'm not here to talk about how the team over at 99PI manages to take the most banal seeming topics and make them interesting.  I'm not.  Just listen to "Podcast Episode," which is about BRANDING*, the most boring topic on the planet, and fall under the spell of how storytelling is done.

*Like, when I see a meeting invite for a "branding" or "marketing" talk for work, I just about want to die. It's just not interesting to me, although bless all our social media and marketing gurus who understand how little I care.

Some of the best news I've heard in 2020 is that The Great British Bake-Off somehow managed to create a bubble and film a new season of the show AND that each episode is being released on Fridays on Netflix.  The Bake Down is a recap podcast of the show featuring former contestants Howard (he whose custard was stolen in Custardgate) and Jane (who was a finalist the year Candace won).  Anyway, I love watching the episode and then listening to the podcast. It's a little bit of light in a gloomy time.

Another recent favorite of mine is Let's Go To Court!, a podcast hosted by two good friends, Brandi and Kristin. Each week, one of them covers a court case, historic or contemporary.  It's just fun to listen to two friends talk to each other. It's clear that they've known each other forever and they love each other. I'm in the early days of the back catalog and it's years before physical distancing was a phrase I used every day and sometimes I gasp when I hear them talking about things that are just not a thing right now, but it also makes me nostalgic. There's also this running joke about how their moms are going to take them out for ice cream now that they have 50 reviews (I told you it was early days) and it's clear that their moms are not caught up on the episodes because they haven't yet been taken to ice cream and it's charming and lovely and I just want to listen to them talk to one another, tease each other, and laugh inappropriately at old-timey crime.  

On September 23, Bradley Robert Edwards was found guilty on two counts of murder in Australia, bringing an end to the mystery of who was the man commonly known as the Claremont serial killer. I found myself listening to an old Casefile episode about the case, as well as its update.  Thanks to some DNA evidence, the case has switched from a cold case to solved and it's fun to go back and listen. If you're really into nostalgic Casefile, relistening to the East Area Rapist five parter (case 53) is definitely worth the listen, particularly now that Joseph James DeAngelo has been caught.  

I'm really on the fence about a lot of DNA evidence, particularly the type used to catch DeAngelo, but it's fascinating to listen to how the police solve these types of cases and how communities react to crime sprees.  It's a bit dark, so if you're headspace isn't there, skip Casefile and listen to Let's Go To Court! instead.