Among all first world problems, this surely ranks among the worst: You discover a great new show, binge on it…only to realise that the last episode isn’t available yet. Happened to me with the podcast The Apology Line this week — couldn’t wait for the finale. Lucky you: All episodes are now available. Is it worth it? I’ll say this: I listen to a lot of podcasts, and never since the first season of Serial has one gripped me as much as this one. Listen to the trailer and prepare to get hooked.
From Weekly Filet #335, in February 2021.
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An excellent episode from the BBC’s The Documentary Podcast. On the importance of maps (for, among other things, fighting epidemics), and why so much of Africa is still not mapped properly. Listen to it here.
From Weekly Filet #310, in July 2020.
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Drilled calls itself a «true-crime podcast about climate change». Season 3 has just started, it digs deep into the history of fossil fuel propaganda and introduces the people who shaped it.
From Weekly Filet #288, in May 2020.
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A fantastic new podcast from The Atlantic on the aftermath of hurricane Katrina that left large parts of New Orleans devastated in 2005. The story of an unnatural disaster.
From Weekly Filet #298, in April 2020.
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This week, I re-listened to Gimlet’s Startup podcast, in which founder Alex Blumberg documents the first steps of what would become his podcast company (it’s even more interesting to listen to now with the hindsight knowledge that Gimlet was recently acquired by Spotify for more than $200 million.) I realised that I had missed one episode when it came out, which to me is the standout episode in an already outstanding first season: It’s the episode in which they report on a time when several employees are on the brink of burning out. Highly recommended.
From Weekly Filet #292, in March 2020.
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What happens if human beings can’t handle the power of their own weaponry? A six-hour podcast episode on the early days of the nuclear age. Worth every minute of it.
From Weekly Filet #268, in March 2018.
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If you loved Serial, season 1 (and were disappointed by season 2), this is for you. A breathtaking story.
From Weekly Filet #255, in November 2017.
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A six-year-old child, raised as a boy, who knew she was a girl at the age of three. This is her story, told by her mother (and herself) in a podcast.
From Weekly Filet #253, in October 2017.
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How do you create a piece of music that excites for hours and that can automatically adapt to what happens in the world it helps create? A fascinating dive into sound design for video games.
From Weekly Filet #251, in October 2017.
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A brilliant, detailed musical analysis of arguably the most popular song in the world, with one billion plays a day (!) at its peak: the Nokia ringtone. Yes, that one. This is an older and somewhat atypical episode of my new favourite podcast, «Switched On Pop». A musicologist and a songwriter go deep into the anatomy of popular songs (usually not ringtones) and explain what makes them hits and «help listeners find a-ha moments in the music». They are at their best when they cross-examine songs – like in «Hotline Hello: Drake and Adele».
From Weekly Filet #242, in August 2017.
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Make sense of what’s happening, and imagine what could be.
Carefully curated recommendations on what to read, watch and listen to. For nerds and changemakers who love when something makes them go «Huh, I never thought of it this way!».
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