Podcasts Are the New NPR: On Following Formulas

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I’m newish to this whole podcast listening thing. The first time I tried listening to podcasts, a) there wasn’t too much out there, and b) what was out there really sucked, in terms of both content and production value.

In the last four months, my car has stopped picking up NPR consistently on the thirty-minute ride to work, so I’ve been using the podcatcher on my phone as a substitute. I have trouble remembering when exactly my previous forays into podcast listening were, since the internet moves in dog years, but things have improved a lot since whenever then was. While I listen, I tend to think over work-related issues, which makes sense, since I’m going to (or from) work. One of the regulars is the great “five paragraph essay” debate English teachers love to engage in, which goes something like this:

Pro - Beginning writers sometimes need to start with formula (like, say, the five-paragraph essay) to get better and then develop their own style. They need that scaffold. If you’re not teaching students to write this way, you’re doing it wrong.

Con – Five-paragraph essays suck. They’re boring, and professional writers don’t write this way. Let students find their own way, without formula, and oftentimes, they’ll come up with something better on their own. If you’re teaching the five-paragraph essay, you’re doing it wrong.

Mean dragon ladies with glasses on chains generally represent the Pro side, with free-spirited hippie mavericks on the other, and I find myself stuck firmly in the middle.

So, while arguing with myself about formulaic writing on the way to work, I’ve noticed that most of the podcasts I’m listening to adhere to formulas:

1. Podcasts that follow the 2 (or more) guys, a girl, and a roundtable formula

Buzz Out Loud – To be fair, sometimes the revolving cast of cnet experts includes another woman, but most of the time, Molly Wood is holdin’ it down as the lone female with Rafe Needleman, Jason Howell, and another dude; they’re entertaining, but her rants are totally the reason I keep listening. When I get time, I’m totally going back to catch up on the now-defunct Gadgettes (co-hosted by Wood), which follows the two-woman discussion formula below.

NPR’s Culturetopia – NPR collects all of its pop-culture related broadcasts for podcast, but the only one I listen to is the Pop Culture Happy Hour (the one actually created for podcast), hosted by Linda Holmes from the MonkeySee blog. This is a recent addition, but most of the ones I’ve listened to feature Holmes, Glen Weldon (NPR comic/book guy), Stephen Thompson (NPR music editor, formerly of the A.V. Club), and Trey Graham (NPR Digital Media guy).

NPR’s All Songs Considered – Bob Boilen is on all the time, but it’s really at its best on the roundtable-type episodes when Carrie Brownstein (Monitor Mix, Sleater-Kinney) is on, so look for her name in the archive (and be sure to check out the Best Opening Tracks episode – it’s a good ‘un). This one’s generally longer than my drive, so I save it for the weekend.

2. Podcasts that follow the two-woman discussion formula

Stuff You Missed in History Class – Katie Lambert and Sarah Dowdey of HowStuffWorks explore history. The recent series on Catherine the Great was interesting, but the episode that really grabbed me was the one last week about the Trung sisters of Vietnam, who led the resistance against China in the first century. Katie and Sarah get bonus points for elaborating on areas of controversy and suggesting sources for further reading.

Stuff Mom Never Told You – This one is the newest addition to my podcatcher feed. Molly Edmonds and Cristen Conger (also from HowStuffWorks) discuss gender-related sciency stuff, like the correlation between intelligence and sperm motility.

3. Podcasts that follow the This American Life formula

These podcasts all follow the “people tell funny/sweet/themed stories” formula, with some sort of Ira Glass-like narrator providing the setup. I generally have to be in a certain kind of mood for these, and they’re longer, which means weekend listening, but when I’m in the mood and have the time, they’re good stuff.

This American Life – I’ve grown to really appreciate the themes, the structure, the storytelling, and the Ira Glass as I’ve entered my thirties. This is still my favorite example of this formula, but I’m more than a little annoyed that I can only stream archived podcasts since 3G is spotty pretty much anywhere I want to drive. I could, of course, pay 99 cents to download the archived podcasts from iTunes, but that just seems wrong, until I remember that podcast listeners completely miss NPR fund drives.

The Moth – The Moth is a storytelling nonprofit in NYC that puts on events where real people tell real stories before a live audience. They record them and podcast the best ones. Each podcast contains only one story, running anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour.

Risk! – More storytelling, only with an emphasis on comedy (and riskier language). Kevin Allison, formerly of the State, plays the role of Ira Glass. Like This American Life, each episode collects several stories with a common theme, and like The Moth, they have a live show. Each podcast is compiled from both the live show and studio sessions. The music sets this version of the formula apart – they include short, original ditties and skits related to the theme in each of the episodes I’ve heard.

4. Podcasts that follow the Siskel and Ebert formula

Sound Opinions – Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot are music critics in Chicago, so the formula is a bit of a shout-out, though they tweaked it a bit, replacing the thumbs with “buy it,” “burn it,” and “trash it.” I generally like All Songs Considered better for only doing positive reviews, but sometimes I do need to hear that, say, the latest John Legend record sucks. This airs on Saturday afternoons on my local NPR, but every time I turn on the radio on the weekend, I can’t find anything but Car Talk or Prairie Home Companion, so the podcast works better for me.

5. Podcasts that follow the Fresh Air Formula

Fresh Air – I find Terry Gross’s voice incredibly soothing, and she has a knack for choosing interesting interview subjects (the episode with Walton Goggins is a fairly recent favorite), but my local NPR moved Fresh Air to a time that’s inconvenient, so if I’m listening to her, it’s the podcast, and it’s usually the weekend.

BBC’s World Book Club – Harriet Gilbert talks to authors about their best-known work. There’s a studio audience, and their questions sometimes seem obvious, but, really, once you’ve read the book, what do you ask its author that isn’t obvious? These are longer (about an hour) podcasts, for weekend listening. I highly recommend the episodes with David Mitchell and Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

Book Lust with Nancy Pearl – Pearl is the Seattle librarian who does seasonal recommendations on NPR’s Morning Edition. Her recommendations are generally excellent, but I listen just because I love the way she talks about books. She makes me want to read more. Here, she interviews authors, and while it’s not as engaging as the Morning Edition appearances, she asks good questions.

I’m not sure what this means about my own formula debate, except that maybe the reason podcasts have gotten better is that they went through that “beginning writer” stage, where they had to imitate formula to get better. The question I have as a listener is whether I’m going to get bored with that formula, and, if and when I do, am I going to be able to find podcasts that break from formula? Or are they, as I fear for my students, going to be producing the audio equivalent of the five-paragraph essay for the rest of their lives?