Inspiration for audio storytelling

Podcasts are a relatively new medium that builds off of the form of radio.  These can be a great source of inspiration for new ways of telling a story with audio only.

Here are some examples of podcasts that you may find inspirational for your Audio Interview piece:

This American Life - this is kind of the standard bearer for radio/podcast journalism these days. Hosted by Ira Glass.

RadioLab - another heavy hitter in the audio world - they generally have one theme per show and explore it in various different ways. It started out as more science based topics, but they definitely have expanded and explore lots of different "big" topics. They are known for their extensive sound design (Host Jad Abumrad even won a MacArthur Genius grant for it).  Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich. 

Serial - You probably have at least heard about this one in passing last year when Season 1 was blowing up late 2014. Hosted by Sarah Koenig, it is a long form journalism piece told week to week investigating the murder of a high school student Hae Min Lee in Baltimore in the late 90s.  But it's really a study of memory and ideas of subjective truth.  This season looks into the story of officer Bowe Bergdahl who walked out of camp in Afghanistan in 2009 and was held as a prisoner by the Taliban for 5 years. 

99% Invisible - hosted by Roman Mars, this show is all about the things we see all the time but don't think about. It's really great.

Started in mid-2014, Gimlet Media is a new specifically podcast based company. They have been producing top notch audio ever since.  They even got super meta and created a podcast about starting a podcast company (which is actually really good. It's called Start Up) Here are some of their other shows:

Mystery Show - Hosted by Starlee Kine, she solves a mystery week to week of varied subjects. Lots of fun and takes you in many unexpected directions. 

Sampler - each week host Brittany Luse chooses some parts from her favourite podcasts and talks about them.

Reply All - Hosted by PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman, it's a podcast about the internet. But really interesting weird stories.

Surprisingly Awesome - Hosted by Adam McKay and Adam Davidson (of Planet Money fame), they look at something that on the surface seems boring and find the ways that it is surprisingly awesome. (i.e. adhesives, broccoli, interest rates)

Places to go for good interviews:

Another Round - Hosted by Heben Nigatu and Tracy Clayton (from Buzzfeed), this is a kind of variety show that includes commentary on pop culture and politics and really great interviews with writers, thinkers, artists, creators etc.

Women of the Hour - Hosted by Lena Dunham, it's only five episodes but there are some gems in here. I particular like the episode about work and Dunham's interview with Zadie Smith

WTF with Marc Maron - Started as a series of interviews with comedians in his garage, Marc Maron is now nearing 500 episodes of longer form interviews, with tons of different people (including President Obama).  He's a bit obnoxious, but can get some real great stuff out of people. Also great for shop talk if you're a comedy nerd.

Longform - these are generally with writers and scholars, but some of their conversations are really great.  If you are into books and reading, you will probably find your favourite writer on here talking about their craft. 

Death, Sex and Money is hosted by Anna Sale (of WNYC fame) and she does interviews with cultural icons and regular folks about "the things we think about most but need to talk about more" - death, sex and money.

She Does is hosted by  Elaine Sheldon and Sarah Ginsburg.  It is more shop talk with women who are media makers and asks them how they got to where they are. It can be incredibly insightful and interesting.

Thanks to Lab Instructor Kaija for compiling this list!