While radio nowadays is mostly music and news, old time radio never died out, it just moved onto phones and became podcasts so diverse that anyone can find the one for them.
The comic book lover: The Bright Sessions follows therapist Joan Bright as she meets with her patients. It sounds deceivingly normal, except Dr. Bright specializes in therapy for the “strange and unusual,” and all of her patients possess abilities like time travel, dream walking, and telepathy. The Bright Sessions won seven Audio Verse Awards in 2016.
The Horror lover: One of the first big fiction podcasts was Welcome to Night Vale, a show that compiles the broadcasts of a radio station in the spooky fictional town of Night Vale. Since then, the creators have written books and podcasts including two horror podcasts Alice Isn’t Dead and Within in the Wires. “Within in the Wires takes on an unusual form of expressing itself. It’s from the perspective of audio tapes that people fall asleep to. It’s got this very suspenseful, gothic vibe that’s really cool.” senior Line Bower said.
The curious: HowStuffWorks runs podcasts for those who want to learn something new. Stuff You Missed in History Class discusses a different interesting person or event in every episode. Stuff to Blow Your Mind covers exciting science, and Stuff You Should Know reports a little of everything.
Those who love Law and Order: Each episode of Criminal details a different true crime case. It’s critically acclaimed, made the Atlantic’s “The 50 Best Podcasts of 2016” and introduces listeners to creepy yet real stories.“The investigation stuff they do is really interesting and they show that facts are sometimes stranger than fiction,” junior Bradley Udwin said.
Those who like to stay up-to-date: The world moves fast, and it’s a full time job trying to keep up with it all. Luckily, The New York Times pays people to do it. Every weekday, all the craziness of U.S. politics gets summed up by Michael Barbaro in 20 succinct minutes in The Daily. Featuring different guests every week, The Daily deals with big issues like the ongoing gun debate and immigration while boasting a five star rating on iTunes.
Those who adore Survivor: Two time Survivor contestant and zero time Survivor winner Rob Cesternino hosts the appropriately-named Rob Has A Podcast. The show talks about popular reality TV shows like The Amazing Race and Big Brother. “My favorite podcast is Rob Has A Podcast. It’s very funny and I get all the inside jokes. It’s cool to listen to the same people again and again and get to know them,” sophomore Lauren Sherr said.
Those who like to laugh: My Brother, My Brother and Me is self-described as “an advice show for the modern era.” The three McElroy brothers, Justin, Travis and Griffin, try to answer Yahoo! Answers questions as well as questions sent in by listeners. With very familiar banter for anyone with siblings, the brothers usually get distracted and/or give terrible advice. They have occasional “guest-perts” and a spin-off podcast where they play Dungeons and Dragons called The Adventure Zone.
The Star Wars and Star Trek lovers: Wolf 359 follows sarcastic communications officer Doug Eiffel on the U.S.S. Hephaestus, a spaceship on a mission to find intelligent life in the Universe. His fellow crew members include the sassy A.I. Hera, the no-nonsense Commander Minkowski and the eccentric Doctor Hilbert. Wolf 359 has episodes shorter than an episode of TV and five star rating on iTunes.
Marisa Silverman
Staff Writer
