The two indie podcasts deal with the relationship between two middle-aged men, and then one of the smartest creatures on the planet (have you seen the U.S. government lately) whales, or cetaceans.
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Whale Tales is an excellent independent podcast with a self-descriptive title. Whale Tales describes itself as "a place where naturalists, researchers, and whale
enthusiasts alike can come together to connect, share, and save their
whale tales." However, it should be noted that the podcast follows cetaceans, which included whales, dolphins, and porpoises.
The podcasters -- Lindsay Curtis, Sara Given, and Nicole Cann -- have offered more than a podcast. The show acts more like a community of people vested in cetaceans. The show's website is described as "a living library of the amazing stories you’ve collected from your time with wild whales. You’ll be able to save your sightings, share your memories, and search for other stories featuring your favorite whales."
The show has produced over 80 episodes and its strength is its guests. One of my favorite guests was Stephanie Stack, who, in November 2024, discussed humpback whales. A don't miss episode.
Last June, the show released a four-episode arc following individual Orcas. Another highlight.
Check out Whale Tales and learn more of these magnificent creatures -- cetaceans - and be introduced into a community of people working to protect their habitat.
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Convergence -- Two Men, One Society
Podcaster Mark Steadman has recently launched a new podcast, Undo. This inventive and
kooky independent podcast launches an investigation into how history’s
oddballs, outliers, and overachievers built systems to help them do
their best work. Each
episode unearths a so-called productivity hack from history to help you
separate the brilliant from the bullshit, so you can build a
methodology that works for you.
Steadman's idiosyncratic take on the world is evident in his other podcast, Convergence.
Steadman tells us: "What is the work of a middle-aged man? To improve himself and help those around him contribute to a fairer, more tolerant society."
Mark is a digital producer with a coaching mindset. Brendan is a home remodeler with plans to become a men’s health coach.
As men entering their second phase of life, they push each-other to be better and achieve more, without the hustle and grind mindset of the Internet bro. They also do battle with music, writing original songs on the topic of the day.
Launched in late 2023, Convergence is like a one-act play with only two characters on stage -- Mark and Brendan -- and we view their lives from different angles in every episode. It's a treatment that podcast networks would never consider, which is one reason we love it.
Mark Steadman describes the show this way: "It started off as two friends across the Atlantic, trying to make sense of the world and what it meant to run a small business while approaching middle-age. It’s now become a very, very small men’s group of sorts, and I often use the phrase two dudes trying to figure out how to be better dudes."
Mark anchors the show like this: "We essentially have a hardcore self-improvement guy in Brendan, tempered by a pleasure-seeking Brit who is sometimes achingly conscious of how pretentious some of our conversations can be."
Check out Convergence. Stay for a peek into these two men's lives. Leave the assumptions.
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Divine Intervention -- Sinner Repent
We don't usually review many network-supported shows, except when the show covers a topic that we consider laudable -- espousing tolerance, supporting equality and inclusion, make the world a better place, and, lastly, investigative journalism.
iHeartPodcasts and Wonder Media Network have launched Divine Intervention, a ten-episode narrative podcast, fifteen years in the making. Host Brendan Patrick Hughes will delve into one of the most tumultuous periods in the history of the Catholic Church, the United States and the personal lives of ten revolutionaries.
Fifty years ago, a ragtag band of radical nuns in combat boots, wild-haired priests and their madcap friends swiftly became accomplished cat burglars in a hellbent effort to sabotage a war -- the Vietnam War.
They did everything they could to destroy the war machine – they scaled walls, picked locks, hid in broom closets and broke into federal draft boards, stealing the files of the young men about to be sent into combat. They napalmed these files in city squares. They shredded them at press conferences, harbored draft fugitives in church sanctuaries, and traded blows with J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI. Many went to jail, others betrayed their friends, and some fell in love.
“Working on this project for so many years meant that I was able to capture a lot of important voices that have since left us, like Howard Zinn,” said Hughes. “This has been a decades-long labor of love about the people I grew up with — outlandish and fiercely political Boston Irish Catholics out to save the world.”
Brendan Patrick Hughes (creator, host) is a filmmaker, stage director, performance artist, professor and podcast host. His feature film Dindin premiered in October and is currently playing on Amazon Prime and Apple TV. His documentary The Metal Detector is now streaming on PBS. He is Clinical Assistant Professor of Film and Media at Pace University’s Sands College of Performing Arts in New York City.
Wonder Media Network (WMN) is a female-founded, audio-first creative studio based in New York City that was founded in 2018 by former award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan and Shira Atkins. WMN was acquired by Acast, the world’s largest independent podcast company, on December 6th, 2024.
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