The best podcasts you should listen to this week (and an announcement)
By Jaclyn Schiff and Simon Owens
Do you love listening to podcasts but are overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices out there? Have you subscribed to way more podcasts than you could ever listen to and don’t want to miss the best episodes? AudioTeller is a weekly newsletter that tells you the can’t-miss episodes you absolutely need to download. To have this newsletter delivered to your inbox, sign up here.
Hey AudioTeller readers! Simon here. So this newsletter recently passed its one-year anniversary and my co-editor Jaclyn and I used the anniversary as an opportunity to take stock of what we’ve accomplished with it so far and where we want to go with it. After careful discussion, we’ve decided to go on hiatus.
Why? A couple reasons. While the number of subscribers did steadily increase, the growth rate didn’t really accelerate over the course of 50 or so issues. We were putting a significant amount of effort each week into listening to a lot of podcasts and then compiling each issue, but the audience just never really materialized. This made us wonder if we weren’t getting the format quite right.
This all would have been perfectly fine if we loved the process of compiling AudioTeller — I don’t mind a tiny audience if it’s a labor of love — but producing it each week got to be kind of a slog. And between me trying to launch my tech journalism career and Jaclyn growing her content marketing business, we just felt that the time spent on pulling together AudioTeller each week would be better spent on these other projects. Plus I just wanted to start listening to podcasts purely for pleasure again.
So anyway, we want to thank our amazing contributors for their entries. We would not have been able to keep this thing going for a year without them. And while we’re pausing publication for now, it doesn’t necessarily mean we’re shutting down AudioTeller for good. Jaclyn and I were already bantering about a few ideas for how we could launch a new-and-improved version. Until then, thanks for reading and we hope we helped you discover at least a few quality podcasts along the way.
From Jaclyn Schiff, AudioTeller co-editor:
Can you fall in love with anyone? [link]
Podcast: Why Oh Why — Episode: Can You Fall in Love with Anyone?
I’ve recommended Why Oh Why before and feel compelled to recommend the latest episode — a conversation between the host, Andrea Silenzi, and Mandy Len Catron, author of the book, “How to Fall in Love with Anyone.” Catron wrote the hit New York Times Modern Love essay, “To Fall in Love with Anyone, Do This,” which describes how Catron used a psychologist’s 36 questions designed to spark love between two people in her own life. Silenzi and Catron discuss those questions (and whether they really work), and how love stories are made. If love has ever baffled you, don’t miss this revealing and informative episode.
From Renan Borelli, director of audience growth and engagement at MTV News:
No seriously, you should listen to the Game of Thrones binge podcast [link]
Podcast: Binge Mode
I’ve been quiet on Audioteller for a few weeks, but not without a good reason; I’ve been working through all 61 (SIXTY-ONE!!) episodes of The Ringer’s Game of Thrones podcast Binge Mode, which I recommended all the way back in June. That’s right; I listened to every single episode of the podcast, which covered all six seasons of Game of Thrones. The show truly is a remarkable accomplishment; hosts Mallory Rubin and Jason Concepcion are just as funny on the 60th episode as they are on the first, which speaks both to their in-depth knowledge of the Song of Ice and Fire books and the Game of Thrones TV series and their talent as podcast hosts. The show is also extremely well-edited; every episode feels consistent, with recurring segments and a tight structure, and not just like two nerds talking freely for a half-hour (a format which comprises the bulk of pop culture podcasts, including my own). Binge Mode is actually continuing through the seventh season of Game of Thrones (on now!), so you can jump right in; new episodes drop every Wednesday during the season. WINTER IS HERE!
From Miriam Kagan, a nonprofit fundraiser based in Texas:
The story of hip hop told through the biography of one of its most influential producers [link]
Podcast: Mogul
I have been listening to this new podcast called Mogul: The Life and Death of Chris Lighty, a hip hop industry giant. This is not just the story of one man, but the story of an entire era, people, and culture told in an engaging, educational, and smart way. This podcast is so good, every American child should be made to listen to it in history class. By far my favorite podcast so far of 2017. New episodes come out every Friday. Whether you are a fan of hip hop or just like learning about our history as a nation, this is a binge-worthy podcast for you!
From Rachael Zur, a shoe designer in Brooklyn:
Why Donald Trump keeps talking to the Russians about “adoptions” [link]
Podcast: Planet Money — Episode: Meeting the Russians
By now we are all well aware that the Trumps’ and the Russians’ code for lifting sanctions is the word “adoptions.” What gets missed in the joke is the reality behind it. Planet Money’s “Meeting the Russians” sheds the necessary light on the subject. In 1996 Bill Browder went to Russia to make his fortune. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, Russia was eager to embrace Capitalism and sold state owned companies for a song, so Browder started an investment fund that gained such strength and influence it was notably the largest investment fund in Russia with assets in the billions. Once he owned shares in the acquired companies, he soon realized why these companies were so cheap: the oligarchs who owned them were sucking all the profit out of the company to line their own wallets. When Browder confronted corruption within a newly vested company, he would expose it in the Russian press and the response was seemingly positive for a time. The recently appointed President Putin would champion the exposure, ensuring that the oligarchs caught stealing money were punished and Browder’s investments thrived.
Fast forward to 2005, without warning, Browder was met by authorities, “declared a threat to national security” and deported the very same day. A year later, his last owned company in Moscow and his lawyer’s offices were raided and documents were seized. This led Browder to hire a lawyer named Sergei Magnitsky. What emerged from the stolen documents was a tax refund filed by a Russian man claiming ownership of the Browder company. The tax refund issued from the government was for $230 million, the largest tax refund Russia has ever paid out. Conspicuously, the refund was paid out the day after filing. Magnitsky alerted the authorities to what looked to be the largest tax scam in Russian history. But instead of the Russian refund recipient going to jail, Sergei Magnitsky did. He spent 358 days in prison in unconscionable conditions. He filed 450 formal complaints against his treatment, believing a judge would respond. He was beaten to death on Nov. 16, 2009, age 37.
Browder sought justice for Magnitsky by going after the assets of those connected to Magnitsky’s death through political channels. The Magnitsky Act of 2012 made it impossible for those Russians to do financial business in the US and beyond. Putin’s immediate response to this act: banning US citizens from adopting Russian children. And here we arrive at adoptions, a seemingly knee jerk reaction on Putin’s part that benefits no one and certainly hurts the most vulnerable in Putin’s Russia: orphans. The Trump and Russian meetings discuss lifting the financial freeze on guilty parties, not the continued adoption freeze, nevertheless using the subject as subterfuge to mask their financial plans.
Bill Browder, a champion for anti corruption, has had his life threatened repeatedly: he does not go to the same restaurant twice.
Thanks for reading (and hopefully listening to our recommendations). Think we missed a great episode? Email us at audioteller@gmail.com. Want to have this list delivered to your inbox every week? Go here.
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