I'm Aisha Roscoe, and this is the Sunday story from Up First.
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Now, if you're like me, your podcast queue is always overflowing with options and it seems like there are new podcasts launching every day.
But deciphering what's actually worth listening to, that can be a challenge.
And that's where NPR's Pod Club newsletter comes in.
It just launched this summer.
So I sat down with one of the writers, Lauren Gonzalez, to get to know more about this new offering that's dedicated to bringing you handpicked podcast recommendations.
Lauren Gonzalez, welcome to the podcast.
Hi, thank you for having me.
Yeah, so can you explain, like, what's the origin of PodClub?
How and why did it get started?
So PodClub actually started within NPR first.
I think a lot of people expect podcasters to be always excited and totally up to date on what all the podcast launches are, but we struggle as much as everyday listeners do too.
And so we started PodClub, actually as a Slack channel, to give producers editors, reporters a chance to connect to the joy of audio again.
And so it became almost our online water cooler station.
And it led to so many things.
We had book club style podcast discussions, and we would be sharing our favorite recommendations.
And we made a decision that we really wanted to bring this fandom and curiosity to our listeners and readers as well, so that they could be enjoying and fangirling about podcasts as much as us.
So how do you even begin to decide which ones make the cut for a newsletter?
Yeah, so at PodClub, we really start with the personal, you know?
I think about.
You know, just even in my own personal life, the podcasts that I'm really excited to share are the ones that have connected with me because of where I'm at with my life, what I'm wrestling with or just what I'm curious about.
And so we really start there.
I had a few weeks ago, I was listening to this episode of It's Been a Minute.
It's like after a certain age, women's health disappears from public discourse.
And that's despite the fact that approximately 2 million women in the US go through perimenopause each year.
It was all about the murkiness of menopause.
And it really made me think about my mom's own journey with menopause a few years back and how hard that was for her and for us as a family.
But it really led her to rediscovering herself and new passions that she didn't even know she had, like a newfound appreciation and talent for art.
I also wrote about an episode from Life Kit which was all about tips and tricks for using your phone less, which I'm really looking to find ways to break habits there.
And so that is just kind of a way that we are curating, just starting with the personal, what's on our mind and what episodes are helping us better understand the world around us.
Well, why is it so important to kind of guide your audience to these podcasts in particular?
Well, I you know.
I think we're all struggling right now with an overload of information, whether it's on our screens.
I mean, mainly it's on our screens.
Right.
But I think that we're inundated with misinformation.
Basically, like we don't know where to how to parse through what we're going to enjoy, you know.
And decision fatigue.
There's decisions fatigue.
You don't want to make any more decisions.
Yeah.
And I think that at some point the Internet and the algorithm became our go-to for just getting any sort of content.
And I think we're all missing that, the times in which a friend or a family member would just tell you hey, I really loved this podcast episode.
And so we want to be your stand-in friend to really again pick some of the gems that might not be ones that pop up on your feed, but are still really worth a listen.
They're the episodes that make you want to take the long way home, right?
Those often get lost, and we want you to give it a listen.
What have you learned about NPR listeners from putting this newsletter together?
I mean, I think that podcasts and newsletters both benefit from a sort of intimate relationship with your audiences.
You know, audiences want to hear from us, but we also want to hear from them.
In our newsletter, we always put a question out to our readers, something that sparked some of our curiosity after listening to an episode, and we kind of want to hear back from them.
And we've been really surprised with some great responses.
Our readers have shared dinner party tricks, some favorite fun facts.
I actually had a person who wrote back to me after I shared my thoughts on digital minimalism.
And they thanked me for reminding them not to buy a cell phone.
I guess they have gone many years without a cell phone.
We're sort of reconsidering it.
Listen to the LifeGit episode and decided not to make that purchase, which is I'm glad that she and I both really benefited from that listen.
Yeah.
My goodness.
Well, you know, look, I love Life Kit, but I also love my phone.
But, you know, more power to the people who are trying to be minimal, minimalist.
Fair enough.
For the record, I kept my phone too, but I enjoyed the listen.
Yeah.
When we come back, Lauren offers some personalized recommendations for your next podcast listen.
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We're back with Lauren Gonzalez of the Pod Club newsletter, talking about, you know, finding your next favorite podcast.
So, Lauren, what's on your radar right now?
Are there any hidden gems that we need to know about?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, I've got so many gems for you.
Are you ready?
Yes, yes.
So I'd love to recommend Close All Tabs.
It comes from KQED, which is one of our member stations from California.
This is a tech show, but you don't have to be a techie to like it.
It's really for listeners who are curious about how tech shapes our lives and our world.
And they really cover so much ground.
How tech has transformed the war in Ukraine.
How you should feel about AI slop and how there are still really some online communities out there that spark joy and curiosity.
It's not all doom and gloom on the Internet.
Okay.
And so, you know, I know that people have a lot of different interests.
I have certain interests.
So I was wondering if you had any podcasts, you know, dealing in the horror space or with comics or anything like that.
I love Marvel and DC.
What do you have along those lines?
I have a couple of things and I have to say this is such a fun topic challenge for me.
I love being like a little podcast curating machine on the spot.
It's very fun, um okay.
So if you love horror which um, i know you do, i would recommend the classic uh, spooked also from kqd.
It is definitely for the people who love the paranormal and the um unbelievable, unexplainable.
But I think even if that's not your jam, you're going to love the storytelling here.
I feel like Spooked is the kind of podcast that you want to just press play when you're just around a campfire with friends and just listen.
I'm going to have you start with the episode The Thin Place.
This is about a paramedic who can save lives and can also see dead people.
Let me give you a little snippet of that.
I was standing at the foot of her bed and there was nurses and firefighters on one side and there was a doctor and some other nurses and maybe some techs on the other.
And I remember standing there and just feeling this super immense sadness.
Like if you, if you stand in a cold pool, you can feel the weight of the water, the cold water on you, but it's not covering your entire body.
That's kind of how it felt.
And I turned and the woman from the car crash was standing just right behind me.
And I just looked right at her and she wasn't looking at me.
She was looking at herself on the table.
We'll leave you on that little teaser.
And if you listen, let me know what you think about it.
Absolutely, yeah.
Okay, I heard that you're a Marvel DC Comics fan.
Yes, I'm a big, yeah, big comics fan, yeah.
Okay, I think you're going to really love this one.
So earlier this summer, ThruLine did an episode all about Captain America.
Don't be afraid, son.
You're about to become one of America's saviors.
Calmly, the young man allows himself to be inoculated with strange seething liquids.
Oh!
There!
It is done!
He's changing.
They really dive deep into the history of this superhero and how Captain America has really evolved from its start or its creation during World War II and how he has symbolized many different things at different points in American culture.
And I think they really wrestle with this question of what does it mean to be an American superhero and what it has symbolized throughout American culture.
Thank you so much for that, because I, you know, for those two recommendations.
So that's given me, you know, some fodder, some food to, to chew on, like maybe during the holidays.
If people though, are like stranded on their way home for Thanksgiving, or or want to download something to like get them through their holiday travel, what do you recommend that will really like hook people, or you know what's their next great binge listen.
Okay.
I have three things. binge-worthy listens for you.
So I'm going to start with Operation Night Cat.
It's from New Hampshire Public Radio, and it came out earlier in November.
It follows one of the biggest poaching cases in New England's history and there's a surprising twist and connection to violence that was covered up in the New Hampshire prison system.
So I definitely encourage you to listen to that.
I've really enjoyed A Whole Other Country from Marfa Public Radio.
It's about a Midwesterner from the 90s who moves down south and fights to create his own Republic of Texas.
It really is a wild ride.
I would also recommend Our Common Nature.
It's from WNYC and it's hosted by Yo-Yo Ma.
I've been describing it as a cross-country road trip set to his music.
He's traveling to Maine and West Virginia and Alaska and he's connecting with local leaders there who are really taking care of the natural world.
And then he plays an accompanying song of his that kind of you know feels resonant with the story and the conversations that he's having.
So it's really beautiful.
And there is this one episode where he performs alongside Wabanaki musicians to welcome the dawn in Acadia, Maine.
And so if you're looking for a beautiful series and a new morning routine, I recommend you listen to that one too.
Well, you know, thank you so much for all of these recommendations.
Absolutely.
You know, people are going to have a lot to listen to, and I can't wait to try them out.
Great.
Yes, enjoy this, and I hope it fills any holiday lulls during your Thanksgiving.
You can subscribe to the Pod Club newsletter at npr.org slash pod club.
We also put links to all the podcasts we mentioned in this episode and to the newsletter sign up in the show notes.
This episode of the Sunday Story was produced by Thomas Coltrane with help from Andrew Mambo.
Liana Simstrom edited this episode.
The engineer was Jimmy Keeley.
The Sunday Story team also includes Justine Yan and Jenny Schmidt.
Our executive producer is Irene Noguchi.
I'm Ayesha Roscoe, and Up First is back tomorrow with all the news you need to start your week.
Until then, have a great rest of your weekend.
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