Got a question about DC? Now there’s a podcast for that.
About three years ago, WAMU started answering listener questions in the What’s With Washington series, covering all sorts of burning questions, from the DC accent to what’s up with street sweeping. Now, the popular segment is going long-form with an all new podcast that aims to dive deeper, with a six-episode first season debuting today. Each episode will dive into one question and seek out the answer, pulling in WAMU and DCist reporters, local experts and the voice of the people.
Look for episodes every Tuesday wherever you get your podcasts — and listen here for the first two episodes.
We sat down with host and WAMU arts and culture reporter, Mikaela Lefrak, to learn more about it, her take on the podcast bubble and her love for Robert Krulwich.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
730DC: Why a podcast? What will be different with this versus the What’s with Washington series?
Mikaela Lefrak: The What’s With Washington radio stories are confined by our broadcast clock — most feature stories have to be around four, five minutes tops. That means that we often have to leave fascinating voices and storylines on the cutting room floor. Podcasting grants us the time to go down more rabbit holes, which is awesome.
If you’re an avid WAMU listener, you’ll recognize that some of the podcast episodes are based on questions we’re already explored in radio features (“Why doesn’t the National Zoo have a wombat?” for example). But what you hear in the podcast will be very different from what you heard on the radio: There will be more voices, more storylines, and more information.
We’re also excited that the show will help us connect with folks who might not regularly listen to public radio or visit wamu.org.
I hope this podcast helps people learn more about the place they call home.
730: How will this add to the local DC news ecosystem?
ML: I love What’s With Washington because it’s powered by the audience. People ask us AMAZING questions. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read questions people submitted and go, “Wow, I’ve been wondering that forever!”
Also, Washington can really get a bad rap sometimes, and that bugs the heck out of me. I’m from here (grew up in McLean, went to high school in Tenleytown, and have lived in Columbia Heights and Adams Morgan for the better part of the past decade), and I love this region. I hope this podcast helps people learn more about the place they call home.
730: What stories are you excited to tell? Voices to amplify?
ML: I’m excited to to introduce listeners to the reporters of the WAMU newsroom. Because we have more time (the episodes are 15–20 minutes, compared to a 3–5 minute radio feature), when we get in the podcasting studio we’re able to drop our “radio voices” and just be our silly, nerdy, regular selves. For example, you’ll get to hear our environment reporter Jacob Fenston composting with his young daughter, June, at home, and our race and identity Sasha-Ann Simons tell me about how hard it was to get used to D.C. when she moved here a few years ago.
…After each episode you’ll feel like you’ve been on a Magic Schoolbus-like adventure
I’m also looking forward to amplifying voices from across the Washington region. We’ll be answering questions from listeners in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, and interviewing people from every quadrant of the city. The producers’ and my goal was that after each episode you’ll feel like you’ve been on a Magic Schoolbus-like adventure and met a diversity of characters along the ride.
730: There are a number of smaller hyper-local podcasts in DC (see our 2017 list here). Some have started and stopped; some are still going strong. How does this podcast fit in that ecosystem and what’s your vision for this one beating the odds?
ML: What I think a lot of people don’t realize is how much time it takes to put together a podcast, especially a highly produced one like What’s With Washington. I really admire all the D.C.-based podcast hosts who create content on a weekly or biweekly basis and edit it down into something listenable, while holding down full time jobs and social lives at the same time (I’m looking at you, Morgan Givens). There are also a lot of folks out there who start shows with the best intentions, and then realize a few weeks or months in that it takes too much time out of their lives to keep producing original material on a regular basis. I don’t blame them — it can be a slog!!
No one ever asks if we’re living in a “book bubble” or a “TV bubble,” and soon I think the idea of a “podcast bubble” is going to disappear too.
What’s With Washington has been set up for long-term success because it has the WAMU machine behind it. I work with two amazing producers, Daisy Rosario and Poncie Rutsch, who masterminded the show and are simultaneously starting to shape a broader podcasting strategy for the station. We’re planning to put out our first season and then take some time to listen to feedback and come up with new ideas before we dive into a season two. And no matter how the podcast goes over, we’re going to keep putting What’s With Washington stories on the radio.
But I mean, I’m not going to lie and say that I haven’t been begging the podcast gods every night to bless us with thousands of listeners. Are you there, podcast gods? It’s me, Mikaela. Don’t forsake me.
730: Do you think we’re in a podcast bubble?
ML: I don’t. I think we’re finally getting to a place where podcasts are just a normal part of people’s lives. No one ever asks if we’re living in a “book bubble” or a “TV bubble,” and soon I think the idea of a “podcast bubble” is going to disappear too. Podcasts are convenient, they’re free, they’re varied, and they’re personal. Why wouldn’t they stick around?
730: What’s your favorite podcast personally?
ML: Oh man, the answer to this question literally changes constantly. Right now I’m digging my way through old episodes of Song Exploder, an non-narrated podcast where musicians explain how they created a song. And my producers recently turned me on to By The Book. In each episode, the hosts read a self-help book and try to live by it for two weeks. It’s a riot, and it teaches me a lot too.
I also love podcasts that feature amazing laughs, because nothing makes me smile like hearing people crack themselves up. I’m thinking of PJ Vogt from Reply All, Jessica Williams and Phoebe Robinson from 2 Dope Queens, and the Click and Clack brothers from Car Talk. Those dudes had the best laughs.
730: If you had to compare your podcast voice to another podcast host, who do you sound most like?
ML: I’d be honored to the point of tears if anyone ever told me I reminded them of Robert Krulwich from Radiolab. He’s my radio and podcast hero. He’s been in the business for years, but he still approaches his stories with the curiosity and exuberance of a little kid. I love that. I also really admire the role he plays on air — he’s the guy who’s always there to ask the simple questions you’ve been praying someone would ask. But he’s also wicked smart: Just listen back to some of his stories from the ’70s and ’80s when he was an economics reporter at NPR. Man, they’re good.
Other than that, I hope I just sound like myself: A young woman with a wheezy laugh and a delight in D.C. history and culture, and who isn’t above wearing a panda suit to the National Zoo.
