Podcast Roundup March 2024

It's been a couple of months since I shouted out some podcast episodes. Here's what I've taken note of in the last eight weeks.

"Rescues at sea, and how to make a fortune" from Planet Money

Perhaps I am not a reliable source on things having to do with tales on the sea because I love them all, but this story about how an oil tanker saved a tugboat from certain sinking and then claimed salvage rights was super interesting. Maritime law is fascinating and if there are any future lawyers reading this, think about maritime law as a specialty! So interesting!

"The Lonesome Hearts of 1937" from Code Switch

This episode aired on Valentine's Day and was a really fun look at lonely hearts ads in newspapers in a post-slavery world. There was a bit where they were trying to find a good candidate for one of the hosts that made me laugh and laugh. This is a great bit of mixing in real history with a great storyline. I had no real knowledge of these classifieds and enjoyed reading them greatly. I feel like there's a kernel for some great historical romance novel in this. (On a more serious note, there was an episode from this same podcast called "Why menthol cigarettes have a chokehold on Black smokers" that was also filled with so much information on a topic I knew nothing about. Code Switch had sort of fallen off my radar for a bit, but I feel like it has gotten back in top form recently.)

"Deported and disgraced: the students wrongly accused of cheating" from Today in Focus

In 2014, more than 35,000 people were accused of cheating on the TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) in the UK. Some students were deported back to their home countries, some students could stay with their reputations in tatters, many ended up with mental and physical health issues. In light of the weirdness that came out of the UK accusing many postal employees of fraud (see The Great Post Office Trial, a podcast I wrote about around this time last year), I am starting to feel a tiny bit of American superiority over all this. Anyway, fascinating story. 

"Susan Wokoma," "Sam Campbell," and "John Robins" from Off Menu (live episodes)

I have not been a loyal Off Menu listener. I listen when I know the guest, but even those I end up skipping about halfway through because sometimes it's not that great. I mean, when Off Menu hits, it hits, but there are more misses than hits. But they have been releasing some of the guests from their live shows at the end of last year and they are amazing. Susan Wokoma can barely stop laughing to complete her thoughts, Sam Campbell makes James Acaster look sensible, and John Robins messes with the format so badly that Ed and James don't even know what do with it. I was trying to listen to the Sam Campbell episode while working out and I had to turn it off because I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to drop a dumbbell.  

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Any great podcast episodes you've listened to recently? Or any great new songs?