This week we’re getting to peek into the podcast app and listening life of Matt Lawell, my friend from high-school! Matt and I ran cross country together at Western Reserve Academy, and I’ve been fortunate to keep in touch with him. He is an over-achiever, he always has been. (Subscribe to his newsletter Three Road Games.)
The app I use: I am a Spotify man, and beyond that, a Spotify mobile app man. I listen almost exclusively on my phone.
Speed: I used to listen at 1.2 speed but developed such a backlog that I upped it during the first weeks of the lockdown to 1.5. Should have made the change years ago.
When I listen: I move forward, either walking or running, at least an hour every day. I don’t listen to anything during my runs but I do wear my right Bose earbud on every walk. I also listen during my 20-minute commute (almost no one goes into my office these days, so I don’t mind going in two or three days a week) and whenever I’m working on something that doesn’t require much reading or writing focus.
How I discover: I have stumbled across so many shows over the last few years — a good friend turned me on to Doughboys, an acquaintance of a friend told me about Conrad Thompson when he was still running only one wrestling podcast a week, I will occasionally tune in to podcasts advertised on other podcasts, sometimes I’ll just treat the Spotify search bar as Podcast Google (recent favorite searches include the 1904 Olympics, Colonel Sanders, and codebreakers) — but my best bet these days is Podcast The Newsletter. You have at least two or three new series or episodes every week that I want to listen to and download while I’m still reading your blurb. (I need to remember to read the newsletter more often but Mondays and Tuesdays are my busiest days and sometimes it slips too far down by Wednesdays. I’ll be better in the fall. Promise.)
Notes: Just want to shine a light on some recent limited series that have really impressed me. I finally listened to Wind of Change, in which Patrick Radden Keefe of The New Yorker keeps asking people who might know: “Hey, remember the 1989 Scorpions hit Wind of Change? The soundtrack for the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Soviet Union? Yeah, did the CIA actually write that?” (By the end, I wondered whether the podcast itself might have been written by the CIA.) … My 4-year-old just started ballet and it is so much fun to watch her dance. Maybe gymnastics will follow in a year or two. If they do, I’ll remember ESPN 30 for 30’s Heavy Medals, Alyssa Roenigk’s and Bonnie Ford’s brilliant biography of Béla and Márta Károlyi and their affect on generations of young female gymnasts in Romania and the United States. I started listening on an evening walk in August and just kept walking, I didn’t want the story to stop. … Emily Guerin hooked me with her visit into the unfulfilled desert vision of California City. I wanted more but genuinely feared for her safety the last episode or two. This was definitely recommended in Podcast The Newsletter, so thanks, Lauren.
I listen to podcasts to learn, to be entertained, and for work (I write about the golf course maintenance industry and run a small bar trivia company on the side). I think that reflects directly into my queue, which includes 123 episodes as of Wednesday afternoon. There’s just too much good stuff out there right now.
DOESN’T EVERYBODY LISTEN TO THESE?
The Daily (4 episodes in my queue, because Michael Barbaro is best when binged)
Fresh Air (5, Terry Gross is the podcast O.G. and no one will ever convince me otherwise)
In the Bubble with Andy Slavitt (2, now with less impending doom and more justified outrage)
Reply All (1)
Stuff You Should Know (2)
WTF (2)
MORE PUBLIC RADIO FAVORITES
All Songs Considered (9, the only show I listen to at regular speed)
Bullseye with Jesse Thorn (1)
How I Built This (2)
Scene on Radio (4)
Radiolab (2)
This American Life (taking a break)
CONVERSATIONS
On Being (6, and in a constant backlog because I always want to give Krista Tippett and her guests my undivided attention)
Two Writers Slinging Yang (up to date)
The Three Questions with Andy Richter (1, really hit or miss for me)
Yang Speaks (1)
Doughboys (listened religiously for more than 200 episodes and even attended a live show but I’m taking a break because I’ve been losing weight and listening to three people talk about fast food doesn’t seem like the best idea for my mental fortitude to keep going)
The Michelle Obama Podcast (up to date)
Gaze at the National Parks (up to date, because I never knew I needed two gay guys named Dustin and Mike talking about National Parks in my life but as it turned out, yes, I absolutely do)
STUFF THAT MAKES ME THINK I’M SMART
Throughline (1, and their recent episode about the history of bananas in Central America needs to be optioned into a movie)
Citation Needed (2)
Every Little Thing (1)
How to Save a Planet (4, I don’t drink anymore, but I want to drink whenever I listen to this series)
Rough Translation (1)
This Day in Esoteric Political History (1)
The Last Archive (12 episodes, haven’t listened to any yet but I love Jill Lepore)
Nice Try: Utopian (8 episodes, haven’t listened to any of these yet either but I have high hopes)
Overdue (taking a break)
I DON’T THINK I’M SMART ENOUGH TO ALWAYS FOLLOW WHAT’S GOING ON
Hidden Brain (1)
GOLF TALK
GolfWRX Radio (2)
Fried Egg Stories (1)
Superintendent Radio Network (1, this is where all my shows wind up — I produce and host three of our four monthly series about golf course superintendents, who are some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet)
Not So Superintendent (up to date)
Golf Digest’s Local Knowledge (up to date)
I’M NOT AS FAST AS LAUREN BUT I AM A RUNNER
The Morning Shakeout (taking a break but I still wish Mario Fraioli could be my running coach)
The Strength Running Podcast (1)
The Rich Roll Podcast (taking a break)
ENTERTAINING STORIES
The Constant: A History of Getting Things Wrong (1)
Ongoing History of New Music (up to date)
Olympipod (5, an ongoing history of the Olympics; I have high hopes that this one lasts for a while)
Parcast Presents Creatures and Cryptids (1)
Podcast: The Ride (1, hit or miss for me but their episode about Disneyland’s first day could be adapted into a documentary if Disney would let it)
Outside Podcast (1, some great examples of engaging sponsored content)
Red Web (up to date, recommended by Podcast The Newsletter)
PRO WRESTLING ISN’T REAL TO ME, BUT I STILL LOVE IT
Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard (20, because I listened religiously for several years until going to a live show, fell off the STW wagon and then switched over to All Elite Wrestling because Vince McMahon just seems like a slimy scuzz, but I checked in a few months ago and there were interesting episodes, so I figured who not and just started downloading)
83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff (9, see above)
Grilling JR (4, see above)
The Card is Going to Change (3)
AEW Unrestricted (up to date)
OH, AND MY KID LIKES PODCASTS, TOO
Little Stories for Tiny People
Dads Read Princess Stories