[Swprograms] Podding Along - Issue 303

[John Figliozzi <jfiglio1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Most radio listening takes place in the car or while doing other things that allow freedom for the ear, but not the eyes and hands.  Podcasts permit a shift of listening time from a set appointment to virtually any convenient occasion.  I do it while “power walking” (most) every morning in what sometimes seems like a vain attempt to diminish the results of sitting behind a desk for 35 years.  The act of putting one foot in front of the other can be pretty monotonous and by “podding along” while plodding along the mind also gets something useful to do.  So it is with the time spent commuting to work day after day.

Podcasting has expanded almost exponentially so very quickly that it can justly be considered a medium all its own.  Therefore, the attempt here has to be to highlight only a small portion of it, just one corner where excellence reigns.

Some of the best radio comes from the public networks of the UK, Australia, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and the U.S.  Apart from the originating program’s web site, most programs are made available through any number of other amalgamation sources such as iTunes and TuneIn. 

Admittedly, these are thoroughly subjective recommendations, but my interests and tolerance for incompatible views are pretty wide-ranging. Here’s another in a continuing series of small samplings, offered in a 90 minute scope (more or less):

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“Gerard Mercator: The man who revolutionised mapmaking" 
THE FORUM - BBC World Service
It’s the map of the world we all recognise today, but until Gerard Mercator came up with his elegant solution in 1569, the question of how to turn the earth’s three dimensional sphere into a flat image had long flummoxed mapmakers. Nearly 500 years later, Mercator’s model is still the standard for modern mapmaking. What makes it so enduring?  Joining Rajan Datar to discuss the man who defined the way we see the world are geographer and explorer Nicholas Crane, philosopher Emily Thomas and professor of cartography Philippe De Maeyer. (40”)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cszjv7

“Actor Zoe Kazan; Trans Activist Jennifer Finney Boylan" 
For Zoe Kazan, 'Plot Against America' Is 'Scarily Prescient' And Personal: The show, adapted from Philip Roth's novel, imagines a world in which aviator Charles Lindbergh defeated Franklin D. Roosevelt in the race for the presidency, moving the country toward fascism.
Need A Mental Escape? These Books Offer Solace In Troubled Times: With much of the world on lockdown due to the pandemic, critic Maureen Corrigan turns to books for companionship. Her recommended reads span fiction, nonfiction and poetry — some old, some new.
'I'm Living In The World With No Secrets,' Says Trans Activist Jennifer Finney Boylan: Boylan came out as trans when she was in her 40s. She describes her new book, Good Boy, as a "memoir of masculinity, kind of told the way an expatriate might speak of the country of their birth.” (51”)
https://www.npr.org/2020/04/25/842804642/fresh-air-weekend-actor-zoe-kazan-trans-activist-jennifer-finney-boylan

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A monthly (well, mostly monthly) compendium of these newsletters, plus on occasion additional pertinent material, is now published in The CIDX Messenger, the monthly e-newsletter of the Canadian International DX Club (CIDX).  For further information, go to www.cidx.ca

John Figliozzi
Editor, "The Worldwide Listening Guide”
NEW! 184 page 9th EDITION available NOW from Universal Radio [universal-radio.com], Amazon [amazon.com], Ham Radio Outlet [hamradio.com]

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