3 minute read
The Marketplace magazine March-April 2021
Podcasts provide a welcome respite from screen time
Everywhere you look these days, there’s something new to listen to in the form of a podcast.
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Several reasons could explain the surging variety and popularity of these online audio offerings.
For people too blurry-eyed to read after days of online meetings, and tired of binging Netflix or Disney+, well-done podcasts can soothe while they entertain, inform, or inspire.
At the same time, barriers to entry, in the form of the cost of microphones, audio recording equipment and online hosting, continue to drop.
Some days it seems as though the Canadian best-selling author who joked about being the only person on the planet without a podcast is only exaggerating slightly.
Podcasts are exploding in popularity, with the costs of needed equipment continuing to drop
istock-Pekic
There are podcasts for every taste and attention span, it seems.
People who like to garden, but only have a few minutes to spare, can check out Melissa and Gary Will’s Empress of Dirt — Two Minutes in the Garden, which, despite its title, tends to run between five and six minutes in length: meda.org/empressofdirt
At the other end of the spectrum, author and motivational speaker Brene Brown’s Dare to Lead podcast, which features conversations with such notable people as authors Simon Sinek and Jim Collins, or former US President Barack Obama, comes in at between 90 minutes and two hours. meda.org/BreneBrown
Here are some other podcasts that have caught The Marketplace’s attention recently:
British newspaper The Guardian has a wide range of audio offerings dealing with current affairs, politics, science, music, film and books, among other topics. The Small Changes podcast from 2018 features a series of one-on-one interviews with people who’ve seen a problem in the world and set out to change it — often in small and unexpected ways.
The series is pithy and not a huge time commitment. meda.org/ Guardian
For a market-oriented slant on the week’s news, another British publication, The Economist, has a lot to offer: Give Money Talks, The Intelligence or Editor’s Picks a listen at meda.org/Economist
Among the more noteworthy podcasts for entrepreneurs: People looking for inspiration in the form of lessons from familiar names can check out Entrepreneurs on Fire: meda.org/Entreponfire
In a similar vein, for people who have time for a longer listen, there is Rachel Hollis’s RISE podcast. Listen to Hollis at this link: meda.org/Hollis
Bizchix is a podcast designed for women entrepreneurs, hosted by MBA and coach Natalie Eckdahl meda.org/Bizchix
US National Public Radio’s How I Built This explores stories behind well-known companies: meda.org/ builtthis
Linked In’s co-founder Reid Hoffman hosts Masters of Scale, an exploration of how well-known companies have scaled up. The show promotes itself as being the first American media program committed to gender balance for guests: meda.org/MastersofScale Spirituality and religion: The Faith Today podcast, hosted by Karen Stiller, co-editor of the magazine of the same name, provides a series of 20-30 minute interviews around issues in the Canadian church from an evangelical perspective: meda.org/FaithToday
In the US, Christianity Today offers 10 different podcasts, focused on such areas as prayer during COVID, discipleship, preaching, the nature of church leadership and discussion of major cultural events: meda.org/ ChristianityToday
Some of the most consistently interesting sermons come from Bruxy Cavey, teaching pastor of The MeetingHouse: meda.org/ MeetingHouse Music: Broken Record provides a series of fascinating conversations with popular musicians, with hosts Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell and Bruce Headlam: meda.org/ BrokenRecord
For people whose tastes run more toward classical music, Ottawa’s National Arts Centre explores both the famous composers and the current performers: meda.org/ NACclassics .
21 The Marketplace March April 2021
