Shine A Light On It: five fresh podcasts for 2020

Posted on 6 January, 2020

This summer we bring you an eclectic mix of podcasts that provide either sparkling listening or shine an important light on issues you may otherwise miss.

When so many new auditory offerings are on the market, we cut through to those which truly deserve your ear-space.

The Squiz

Former political staffer Claire Kimball has been emailing busy people with the best annotated news from around the country and world each morning for the past few years.

This year, she made it easier for those of us who are too busy at 6am to read The Squiz and instead need to whack on a (roughly) eight-minute breakdown of what we need to catch up on before we hit the office. Then we can all sound learned.

Listen here.

Dolly’s America

Whoever thought they would hang off every word of a nine-episode podcast deep dive into the rhinestone-encrusted world of Dolly Parton? But creator and host Jad Abumrad has created some magical content around the musings of America’s favourite musical daughter.

Taking her back through her career, Jad teases out of her some of Dolly’s most insightful commentary on America today. The most surprising part? Dolly is every bit a feminist icon—and much smarter and sweeter than all of us.

Listen here.

ABC’s Unravel

This is a true-crime podcast looking at some of the most bizarre unsolved mysteries which have captivated the nation’s attention—as told by ABC investigative reporters. The latest series, Snowball, strikes out a little differently, however, into the realm of love fraud.

For Triple J’s Director of Content Ollie Ward, this story is personal. His parents lost everything after his brother was conned by Californian fraudster Lezlie Manukian—the couple married before she cleaned out the bank accounts and ran back to the US. Ollie retraces the journey of  love and betrayal.

Listen here.

Too Peas in a Podcast

Mandy and Kate thought they would start a podcast about their lives as busy mums of premmie twins with special needs—and how they navigate school, and the seemingly endless stream of specialist and medical issues that are part of their kid’s lives.

While the issues are sobering, these two mums have a brilliant and empathic friendship—big on swear words and laughter.

They shine a light on the fundamental love that comes from mothers to their children and, most of all, they show us the importance of acceptance, inclusiveness and kindness.

Listen here.

Ologies

How well do you know your ‘ologies?  If you want to broaden your mind—as well as your vocabulary—this series goes on a deep dive into some of the most bizarre corners of science.

One which stands out is the Spidroinology—the study of spider’s webs. Hear Spider silk expert Dr Randy Lewis of Utah State University wax lyrical about the future uses of spiderweb protein and better understand the architectural feats that our eight-legged friends spin out in a day’s work.

Listen here.

This article originally appeared in Magazine: Shine for Summer 2019/20, available for free while stocks last. Find out more about Magazine here.

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