PODCASTING

Voices from past describe Stonewall on History podcast

In honor of Saturday's 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising in New York (see story Page 1E), we went looking for a gay history podcast. We found Making Gay History, from founder and host Eric Marcus, an author and activist who also heads up the Stonewall 50 Consortium (stonewall50consortium.org). The consortium has put together a powerhouse coalition of nonprofits and fundraisers and donors with the purpose of getting the word out about events marking what is considered the beginning of the modern gay rights movement.

The Stonewall episodes are entertaining and informative and feature the stories of eye witnesses and victims of police, as well describing the events that led up to the uprising. The podcast is in its fifth season, so there are plenty of past episodes to catch up on.

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There's a cool website for podcasters and fans who are into statistics. It's called PodTrac, and it's an analytics site that ranks podcasts and podcast producers as well as listener demographics. Podcasters and producers can sign up to have their shows analyzed for listener data and take advantage of other publisher services. Registration is free.

PodTrac (analytics.podtrac.com) publishes a monthly list of podcast rankings by the size of its audience for any given month, whereas others go by popularity. Their Top 5 podcasts for May, based on data collected from publishers who have signed up for the service, were as follows: The Daily from The New York Times is a news roundup from the newspaper President Donald Trump calls "the enemy of the people." Seems as though that ringing endorsement has propelled the podcast to the top of the heap.

This American Life with Ira Glass is the granddaddy of them all and still going strong.

Stuff You Should Know from iHeartRadio has been around since 2008 and is a regular on the Top 10 list. It's a video/podcast series with hosts Josh Clark and Charles W. "Chuck" Bryant and the title says it all.

Up First from NPR is a good way to start your day if you like news that gets right to the point. Hosts Rachel Martin, David Greene and Steve Inskeep, rely on reporting and analysis from NPR News to create the 10-minute news capsule each day.

The Ben Shapiro Show from Daily Wire features the conservative host's views on politics, which skew hard to the right.

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Another interesting podcast series targets those who want to start one. The Podcast Host (thepodcasthost.com) is a website that teaches the basics of starting a cast as well improving the one you have. Its accompanying podcast is Podcraft: Honing the Art of Podcasting. Listen, learn and start casting.

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Eleanor Bley Griffiths, in a post on the RadioTimes website (radiotimes.com), listed 21 of the podcasts "you need to listen to right now." Top of the list was The Dropout from ABC News, which the writer described: "In Silicon Valley, where a good enough idea can make you a billionaire, she was a Big Deal with her company Theranos valued at $9 billion. But then it all went wrong and the nature of her downfall is such that at times it seems unbelievable -- it's inspired a book and documentary as well as this podcast."

Also on the list is 13 Minutes to the Moon from the BBC. Griffiths wrote: "Marking the 50th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 mission, this series blasts into the story of the first moon landing, told by the people who made it happen -- from astronauts to Mission Control experts." Download it and blast off.

Are you an Arkansan with your own podcast? Let us know about it by emailing [email protected].

Style on 06/25/2019

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