Do You Podcast? I Do!

Being of the age I am, music was always my go-to source when I needed to work out, clean the house, drive just about anywhere or simply unwind. I have made my way through record players, transistor radio's, 8-track players, tape players, stereo's with all the bells and whistles, boom boxes, walk-mans, disc-mans, cd's, iPods, and now my phone. In other words, whatever was the newest thing for music to be coming out of, I had it and I was listening. 

Today though, we are not just relegated to listening to music through our devices and headphones. With our smartphones, we can listen to a variety of things from books to my new favorite thing, podcasts, all with no more effort than carrying around the outdated iPod. Okay, sometimes technology is pretty cool. 

So always a die-hard music listening fan no matter what I was doing, for some reason I decided to start exploring the world of podcasts. I honestly think maybe my first step into the podcast world was spurred on by my two older sons. I am a huge fan of true crime stories and murder mysteries on tv. I think I inherited this from my mother, who also was a fan. She used to read every true crime book she could get her hands on. At any rate, my boys gave me no end of grief over my entertainment choices. The older one commented every time he walked into the room and would ask if I might not like to watch a comedy for once instead of my murder shows, while the other son started calling my true crime "obsession" (their word not mine), murder porn. Now mind you, this entertainment critiquing was coming from those who found slasher movies and South Park, quality tv viewing, so truly, their opinion didn't rank very high on the things I worried about, but my grandkids also gave my choice of viewing a few weird looks from time to time, so maybe my true crime wasn't for everyone.

I guess it was about when I started going to the gym, that I decided I wanted to make better use of my time on the treadmill. I figured that rather than just listening to songs I had already heard thousands of times, maybe I would do something different. So I  started looking up podcasts. Naturally, I looked up true crime. I was in heaven. There were so many podcasts devoted to just this thing. I began sifting through them and looking for ones that really piqued my interest. 

Now before I go any further, for those of you who have not ventured into the world of podcasts, there are literally all kinds of podcasts. There are some that are like listening to the news. There are others that are like listening to a talk show, and others like listening to a lecture of sorts. My favorite though, are the ones that are basically told like a story or like an old-time radio show. 

The true crime podcasts that I seem to be drawn to most though were crimes discussed by comedians turned sleuths. Believe it or not, there are a lot of these and they are quite entertaining. I think since it is such dark subject matter, a little well-placed levity or in some cases, badly placed levity, helps to balance out the story and keep things a bit lighter. My second favorite is the podcasts where real detectives and police tell the stories of crimes that have come across their desks, and that they have had to solve. And finally, my third favorite is the cold case stories that can be decades old, that are being brought forward again and given new life with genealogical DNA and old clues being picked up by fresh eyes and new listener's ears. They all make for hours of entertaining and enlightening information.

 After stepping into this new world, I found myself with my headphones on and listening to podcasts most of the time. Not unlike music, I had a whole playlist of my new favorite podcasts and many had new episodes daily, some weekly, some bi-weekly, and some monthly. I was actually enjoying this far more than tv, as I could clean a tub and still be listening to an unsolved murder mystery. Bonus, no one knew what I was listening to and the kids could be in the same room and not give me funny looks. Of course, now my two children have opinions on me having headphones on all the time, but that is a them issue and not a me issue. 

One day, after being caught up on all my current true crime episodes, I decided to branch out even further into this new podcast world and look at some other types of podcasts. I found that I also really liked some of the scarier true-life stories, as well as some history podcasts, some political podcasts, and some religious podcasts. Quite honestly, there are podcasts for just about every kind of person and every kind of genre. They are almost addicting. 

I have found that since I have started listening to podcasts, I am actually learning a great deal. It appears that my old brain is still just spongy enough to absorb some new facts or at the very least....old facts that I have forgotten.  Listening to some of the historical podcasts, I have learned things I either slept through in high school or was simply never taught. I have run across some fascinating little-known stories that keep listening fun and even a bit unexpected at times. I have also learned that politics goes far deeper than just what we see and hear on the surface. Some of the podcasts give a deep dive into what goes on behind the scenes that we don't always get to know about from the mainstream media. Who knew that all was not as it seems in the world of presidents, senators, and such?  It all really is quite fascinating. 

One of my favorite podcasts that is non-murder porn, is called, Let's Not Meet. This podcast is about stories that listeners write in and tell about the weird, strange, and sometimes downright terrifying encounters they have had with people, places and things that they don't want to meet up with again. It is amazing how many near misses with serial killers and kidnappers there are out there. It is a weird and at times, a scary world, where sometimes the scariest creatures we run into are the other humans around us.... and this particular podcast shines a light on a lot of it. 

Now don't get me wrong, I still love my music and it still makes its way into the soundtrack of my life quite often, but with podcasts, I feel like my brain is working just a little harder, to visualize the stories that I am hearing, and most of all, I am always learning. In some strange way, it feels like my brain is doing double duty when I am both doing cardio and listening to a story about Billy the Kid. Yeah, I know. I am weird. 

Well, if any of this has piqued your interest and you might be looking for something just a little different, then maybe a podcast or three, are right up your alley. If you are interested in checking some out, then below I am listing some of my favorites. If however, I am preaching to the choir and you are already a podcast listener and lover, then please, leave me some of your favorites in the comments below. You can never find enough good podcasts.....right? 

Some of my favorites:

My Favorite Murder: two comedians, research and tell the stories of famous and not so famous murders. They also share murder stories from their fans. Their tag line: Stay sexy and don't get murdered? 

Small Town Dicks: Yeardley Smith of Lisa Simpson fame, and twin brother detectives Dan and Dave from small-town America, tell stories of murders they have been associated with as well as, they have on guest detectives who tell their own small-town murder stories. 

The Murder Squad: Detectives Jensen and Holes tell stories of murders and crimes both solved and unsolved. 

Let's Not Meet: Listener generated stories of true life scary stories filled with near misses and terrifying events with persons, places, and things they never want to meet again. 

Life Is Worth Living (Bishop Fulton Sheen): Talks and sermons that the late Bishop Fulton Sheen gave during his life as a Bishop of the Roman Catholic church. 

The Way I Heard It (Mike Rowe): TV personality Mike Rowe tells true stories reminiscent of Paul Harvey that always have a surprise ending, where the listener always learns something they didn't know before. 

History This Week: Well-known and little-known stories of history that happened on this date each week. 

American Story Tellers: History at its finest with historical stories we never knew we wanted to hear and that we never learned in school.

Well, there you have it. These are some of my favorite podcasts. I hope you give them a try and that you enjoy them as much as I do, even if you aren't into murder porn, like me. 

So....until next time, may you stay healthy, may you enjoy the warmer weather, and most of all, may you too find your favorite podcast.