Independent podcasts are the heart and soul of podcasting. Well before Amazon, Apple, iHeart, SiriusXM, and Spotify understood that podcasts existed, the industry was sustained by "indie podcasters" producing quality shows with a dream of connecting with listeners thirsting for new content.
Are there quality network-supported shows out there? Sure there are, but money buys content, celebrities, and copycatting. Independent podcasting is the fuel that drives network-supported podcasts.
If you've read this column, then these shows will be familiar to you. If not, you've probably never heard of them. Either way, these independent podcasts represent the best of podcasting as an industry has to offer.
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Why Wars Happened
Podcasting has again proven its history bona fides with a new podcast, Why Wars Happened. Here is the marketing pitch for the show: "Are you one of those people who's
more interested in the politics and events leading up to history's wars
rather than the wars themselves? Then this is the show for you."
The host is Emily Ross, and each season, the show will focus on a different historical war. Every Wednesday, Ross releases a new episode, continuing the story of the people and events that led to the conflict.
Host Emily Ross forewarns listeners right away that, "This isn't your normal history podcast. Forget, endless lists of dates, and names, and places. Here, we tell history like a story, making Why Wars Happened perfect for both history buffs and newcomers to history."
Season one focuses on the American Revolution, which is out now.
Since
there are no battles to discuss, what material and events does the
podcast cover? Ross begins the podcast in episode one with a bird's eye
view of England in the late 1500s and early 1600s. The title of the
episode tells us all: Just how much of a hellhole was 1600s England?
Ross is, of course, setting us up for the familiar parts of the American Revolution -- Paul Revere, Thomas Paine, George Washington, and the minutemen. Ross answers the question: Why did it come to that?
While the content is captivating, it's the host, Emily Ross, who is the runaway train of narrative excellence. Seriously, the woman could make announcing train departures at Penn Station in Manhattan interesting.
More
important, Emily Ross is an independent podcaster. She's putting
herself out there because of her love of history and podcasting. That's
adorable and commendable.
Ross says: "I've been absolutely obsessed with history and how wars happened for probably well over a decade at least. I spend hours talking to my husband about why wars happened. I endlessly read about them and am just fascinated by them. Furthermore, I want to teach people about history in a way that gets the concepts across, rather than overloading with names and dates and irrelevant information."
This is an indie podcast that does history right!***************************************************
Salad With A Side Of Fries
I'm looking for a diet that is healthy, but also allows me to enjoy eating some "bad" foods without the guilt pangs that send my self-esteem into self-flagellation.
That's why I so enjoy the Salad With a Side of Fries podcast hosted by Jenn Trepeck.
In the beginning of each episode, Trepeck says, "Welcome to Salad With A Side Of Fries, talking
wellness and weight loss for real life. I'll clear up the myths,
misinformation, bad science, and marketing and teach you how to eat and
how to cheat."
Now,
this is my kind of wellness, diet, and fitness podcast. I don't want to
run seven miles on the beach in army boots. Or go to CrossFit and flip
tractor tires.
“My
passion for nutrition and helping others stems from kicking my food
issues with my own weight management saga.” says creator/ host Jenn
Trepeck.
Trepeck then espouses the "why" behind her podcast. "I believe that the greatest accountability is paying it forward. That’s why I teach the nutrition education we are all supposed to know but no one ever taught us, along with the science behind food, fitness, and health."
Episodes
come in two formats. First, full circa 50-minute episodes on such
topics as clean eating, meditation for stress, headaches and migraines,
and oral care. Second, shorter Nutrition Nuggets episodes.
Trepeck is an excellent host who has an obvious passion for the subject and a lot of expertise. She's a solid interviewer who listens well and can guide a fluid conversation with a guest.
My favorite attribute of Trepeck's is her focus on motivating listeners, not lecturing to her listeners. Trepeck is not one of those wellness podcast hosts where "failure is not an option."
Instead, she recognizes and conveys that making lifestyle, fitness, and diet changes is exceedingly hard. Look for small wins, she urges, and do not make perfectionism the enemy of gradual progress.
Trepeck takes obvious delight in debunking fad diets, and exposing the BS we are fed by the food and diet industry. She explains how the people around us can positively and negatively impact our health journey, and how we can shift mindsets in order to overcome inappropriate barometers of success to instead achieve happy, healthy, and meaningful change.
Salad with a Side of Fries is a podcast that lives up to its promise to answer questions on wellness and weight loss for real life, which includes drinking, eating out, and skipping the grocery store.
After all, Trepeck declares, "What’s a life without fries and dessert, anyway?"
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Surfing Corporate
In today's U.S. economy, less than 45 percent of employees work in small businesses. The majority work for big business or big government.
Working in a corporate setting is wandering into a universe where the rules are different and sometimes inverted. Even if there is a code of silence, that doesn't seem to bother The Surfing Corporate podcast. The show "tackles the themes and issues of corporate life with a humorous and relatable point of view."
The
podcast's elevator pitch is: "Hosted by Aileen Merciel and Glenda
Pacanins, former media executives who have experienced first-hand what
really goes on behind fancy corporate doors (and have a slightly evil
sense of humor), this podcast aims to entertain as well as provide
practical advice to employees who are currently navigating turbulent
corporate waters."
The
show lives up to its promise. It's engaging, has a sense of humor,
describes the incongruities of corporate life, and offers solutions.
The podcast
shares true stories of bizarre and embarrassing experiences veteran
corporate surfers have been through, and tell you how they came back to
the surface after those life-threatening wipeouts.
The
podcast's self-described mission statement incorporates the ambiance of
the show: Serious with a chance of humor. "Our goal is to help you not
only navigate the corporate waters, but to surf the hell out of them,
and all without throwing fellow employees to the sharks or promising
your firstborn to Satan. It CAN be done."
The co-hosts, Aileen A. Merciel and Glenda
Pacanins, are ideal for podcast hosting with their prior media
experience. They are good together, complement each other well, and are
genuinely funny. I enjoyed their on-air chemistry, which sounds like it
extends to their personal lives.
We spend a third of our lives at work, and another third worrying about it. Think of Surfing Corporate as a wellness podcast for the workplace.
Check out this year's two-parter on working at Amazon.
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5 Random Questions
Leave it to a podcasting pro like Danny Brown to put a surprise twist on the tried-and-true interview podcast.
Welcome to 5 Random Questions with host, Danny Brown. Each week,
Danny sits down with his special guest and uses a random question
generator to come up with five unpredictable, thought-provoking, and
sometimes downright hilarious questions. No topic is off-limits as Danny
and his guests dive into their answers, sparking lively discussions
filled with laughter, surprises, and occasional deep insights.
The podcast began in June 2024 and has already received a lot of listener attention and buzz.
While the format and the intriguing guests keep the podcast lively, unpredictable, and wild, it is creator / host Danny Brown who is the true master of ceremonies here. In the hands of a lesser host, this format could either devolve into conversational anarchy or be as rigid as a British stiff upper lip. Brown is in complete control here. He goes with the flow, relaxes his guests with his genial sense of humor and understated wit, and he can improvise like the best stand-up comedian.
You may not have heard of Danny Brown, but many in the podcasting industry, know him, his reputation for excellence, and his work.
We want our podcasts to surprise us at times. 5 Random Questions takes the standard interview podcast twists it, bends it, stretches it, and pulls it -- all for the benefit of the audience.
Check out interviews with Arielle Nissenblatt and Em.
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Impostrix
One signal that a podcast is ear worthy and worth its weight in words is that it defies genre categorization. After listening to multiple episodes of the Impostrix podcast, the show could be classified as a business podcast, a self-improvement podcast, a career development podcast, an anti-racism podcast, a psychology podcast, and a BIPOC podcast.
I think Impostrix is so compelling because Ms Knox Lee has focused on Imposter Syndrome as one major consequence of centuries of chattel slavery, a century of exclusionary and vitriolic laws like Jim Crow, and the continuing undeclared campaign against BIPOC racial, cultural, and economic equality.
The Impostrix podcast just completed its third season with somatic coach Jen Chau, which was one of my favorite episodes. I know that you're asking: What's a somatic coach? So did I. Knox-Lee and Chau answer that question in the episode. Simply put, a somatic coach helps clients develop a deeper connection with their bodies to support their growth and transformation.
Check out the Impostrix podcast. While the target audience may be Black women, the intellectual vigor of creator / host Whitney Knox Lee makes the podcast compelling listening for anyone --race, gender, political affiliation -- with an open mind, a willingness to learn, and an eagerness to make life better for everyone.
As Whitney Knox Lee stresses many times on her podcast, "Be validated."
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Honorable Mentions: Multispective, Another F*cking Horror Podcast, Kelly Corrigan Wonders, and 6 Degrees Of Cats.
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