Pod-Alization: Best Podcast For Kids; Reign Of Error Final Episode; Lovin' The Life Shift Podcast

 The Ten News Podcast celebrates Pride Month

 Developing any news program today is about as dangerous as that barrel gambit over Niagara Falls. However objective you may think your news program is, you will always have people claiming it's "fake news" or it doesn't sufficiently worship at the feet of self-proclaimed and self-deputized culture warriors. 

News for children is even more of a long shot for success. We have parents at school board meetings screaming about curriculum that isn't taught in their schools, but their Facebook group claims it is. Or books like "The Diary of Anne Frank" banned in parts of Florida and Texas because --. Who knows why?

 That’s why The Ten News podcast is simply so good. It is terrific children’s programming. This is how The Ten News describes their podcast: “The Ten News podcast explores topics that kids care about most, including events, sports, science, gaming, pop culture, entertainment, and more! With new episodes every Wednesday, it’s a great way for you and your family to stay connected with what’s going on in the world.”

The Ten News was a Common Sense Selection, which is a part of Common Sense Media’s seal program that recognizes podcasts for engaging stories, valuable content, diverse voices, characters, and messages that are a great choice for kids & families. ⁠ ⁠

In its first two seasons, the podcast produced and released an amazing 129 episodes. In those two seasons, the podcast has welcomed notable guests such as LEGO Masters Judge Amy Corbett, America’s top doctor Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Sarah Natochenny, the voice of Ash Ketchum for Pokémon fans.

The Ten News podcast is deep into its third season with a brand-new logo, format, and co-hosts. The Ten News delivers quality news content to kids 8–12.

One of the podcast's best features is Ten Things You Need To Know. In those episodes, which last about seven minutes, ten kid-appropriate news items are covered.

In one of its recent episodes The Ten News celebrates Pride Month.

 

Reign Of Error releases last episode in the series

 If you enjoy listening to a narrative unfold about an entitled rich guy who had everything but acted like he deserved more, listen to Reign Of Error. Produced and distributed by Wondery, an Amazon company, Reign Of Error was created by Smartless Media, a podcast company started by actors Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes, who signed a podcast development deal with Amazon in 2021.

James Dolan was born into immense privilege. He could have done anything with his life. But he chose the family business — a cable television empire that came to include ownership of the New York Knicks, one of the most beloved franchises on earth. What happened from there is a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. Dolan didn't just lead the Knicks to disaster (and the worst record in the NBA in the 21st Century); he also built a laboratory of shame, dysfunction, and, well, unintentional hilarity. 

Host David Greene is your concierge as he unpacks this trainwreck, over five riveting episodes, while chasing the answer to one elusive question: Why the hell won't James Dolan just sell the team?

If you don't know James Dolan, then believe me when I state that he is thick-headed and thin-skinned. Over his 20+ year tenure as owner of the NBA's Knicks and Madison Square Garden, Dolan has started a war and maintained trench warfare with the press. In 2017, Dolan had Knicks former great Charles Oakley escorted out of the Garden and arrested. After an avalanche of bad press and an Oakley lawsuit, the former Knick was finally allowed back into the Garden. 

Score: Oakley 1. Dolan 0.

In the last few years, Dolan has been banning and ejecting people who are related to law firms and other organizations involved in lawsuits or matters against him. 

Dolan once banned a fan for loudly urging him to sell the team. His security detail had used facial recognition to refuse admission to anyone who has -- in his warped mind -- become an enemy. That includes lawyers from a large firm suing Dolan, even though the lawyers ejected had no involvement in the case.

Score. Fans 1. Dolan 0.

Hiring David Greene as the host of this express train to deranged entitlement takes a steady hand. Too caustic and demeaning, and the host comes off as mean-spirited toward the subject, James Dolan. Too soft, and Dolan appears to get a free pass for exquisite pettiness and bullying behavior.

David Greene is a true pro. He handles the Dolan story with a perfect dosage of humor, snark, and natural curiosity about what powers the ego of James Dolan.

Greene is now the host of KCRW's Left Right & Center (LRC), a well-established politics podcast that is appropriately billed as "The civilized yet provocative antidote to the self-contained opinion bubbles that dominate political debate."

I highly recommend Reign Of Error for several reasons. First, the tale about James Dolan is a cautionary story about the serious consequences of an America where economic inequality gives birth to entitled man-boys like James Dolan, Jeffrey Epstein, Elon Musk, et al. Second, Greene excels as the host, hitting his three-point jump shot of conclusions and insights at a higher rate than Steph Curry. 

Finally, the five-part podcast series leads listeners down this dark road of dysfunction until you say, "There's no way James Dolan could do something more egregious than this." 

And then he does.  

The last episode focuses on efforts to get Dolan to sell the NBA's Knicks to an owner who will restore it to its former glory. 

Check it out. Maybe you'll buy the team.  

The Life Shift podcast: Listen to Life-altering moments

 Interview podcasts succeed or fail based on two factors. First, how good is the host as an interviewer? Can the host ask questions that stimulate a conversation? Is the host prepared and done the research, yet spontaneous enough to ask impromptu questions generated via the back and forth of the interview? Does the host actively listen and respond appropriately?

On The Life Shift podcast, host Matt Gilhooly has candid conversations with people about the pivotal moments that changed their lives forever.

The Life Shift podcast highlights life-altering moments and humanizes the struggles and triumphs through them all.

While that mission is an aggressive goal, The Life Shift podcast has an ace in the hole.   

It's the host, Matt Gilhooly. Sound Judgment podcast creator and host Elaine Appleton Grant has been talking about "hostiness" for over a year. Hostiness is the skill set necessary to be an effective podcast host. And Matt Gilhooly definitely has plenty of hostiness.

Gilhooly, a Public Relations Graduate from the University of Florida, possesses the innate ability to interview his guests with the skill of a therapist, an aptitude for active listening, and an empathetic style that soothes the guests and entrances the listeners.

Matt Gilhooly's success proves that you don't have to be a celebrity, a person with years of experience in media, a Spotify-funded "influencer," or a private equity-funded elitist, to be a successful podcast host with a podcast that celebrates the ability of humans to overcome, thrive in spite of obstacles, and recognize that pivotal moment in which an individual's life hangs in the balance.

In his most recent episodes, Gilhooly speaks to two women who overcame trauma and found success. First, Gilhooly speaks to Elizabeth Rosenberg, who shares her personal journey from burnout to spiritual awakening.

"And I learned through therapy that I would also give myself migraines not only to give myself a time-out but to punish myself for not being successful at what I had set out to do, which is just like mind-blowing to me because you're like, oh my God, like you did this to yourself," Rosenberg observes.

Then MC McDonald shares her journey of overcoming trauma, navigating grief and family relationships, and finding success.

"I think if we can think about trauma and, and that point of healing as possible, then we can, we can enter into the healing process with a lot more hope than with this understanding that if you have trauma, that means you are somehow like marred or broken or, you know," McDonald says.

Check out The Life Shift podcast.  Maybe the podcast can help you through your "life-altering moment."