Podcast Book Club

It's a classic PBC episode this time, as we go back to our roots and discuss a podcast to see what makes it tick. Lateral with Tom Scott is a quiz podcast, which is a really underrepresented format in our opinion. So what makes it work? Why should you consider this format for your show? Will we get too hung up on the importance of points? (yes). In this episode podcast producers Zoe Anderson and D...

Recorded November 2023. The news simply will not stop happening. It feels like every day we wake up, only to find that more things have occurred whilst we slept. So how do you turn all this relentless happening into a podcast? Oh, and you need to release every day, mon-fri. This episode our intrepid team of reporters is taking a look at the art of daily news podcasting, and getting to the bottom o...

“Can a video be a podcast?” is an all-time favourite topic of conversation amongst those of us with “RSS 4 EVA” tattooed on the base of our backs. But for all the audio purists out there it’s hard to deny that, for a growing number of people, a video can absolutely be a podcast. So what now? Is “podcast” going the way of “literally”? Another definition lost to the unending meat-grinder of modern l...

We're back! And this time we're on video! Season 2 of Podcast Book Club is nearly here. In this new season we'll be covering video podcasts, trailers, history podcasts, daily news shows, and more! We'll be joined by such podcasting pros as Arielle Nissenblatt, Ian Sanders, James Shield, as well as the usual cast of characters from Lower Street. You can join us for both audio and video episodes thi...

Season two of Podcast Book Club is on its way! Whilst the Lower Street team gets it ready, here’s a bonus episode in the form of a pilot. This was back when the gang of podcasting pros was first being assembled and, as such, their audio isn’t as crispy as it is now. Their first podcast review? Blowback, a podcast about American imperial misadventures. The first series of Blowback is about the Iraq...

The Podcast Pros are back to investigate one of the many things looted by the British Empire. This particular item has four legs and a mop-like furry body - it’s the Pekingese dog!  Their guide? Stuff the British Stole, from ABC and CBC podcasts. The episode in question is called “Best. Named. Dog. Ever.” It covers the British looting of dogs and other, inanimate, cultural artifacts from the Chine...

In this episode of Podcast Book Club, our podcast professionals investigate the intersection of sport and video games (and podcasting, I suppose). With their helmets and padding on, they’re diving into an episode of ESPN’s podcast 30 for 30, entitled Madden’s Game. Sports podcast fans, this one is for you. The episode takes a look at the development of the massively popular American football video...

Podcast Book Club is finally dealing with an actual book review! Well, it’s a notebook. And there are a few of them. And it’s actually a podcast episode about those notebooks. But that doesn’t slip off the tongue as easily. This time our gang of podcast professionals are listening to a wonderful episode of the podcast Slow News entitled The Darwin Job: The Vanishing, Reappearing Notebooks. The epi...

In this episode of Podcast Book Club, the gang dons their plague doctor outfits, as they dive into the morbid history of the great morbidity itself, the plague.  Having sourced all the appropriate herbs and tinctures, and refreshed their knowledge of miasmatic diseases, it’s time to give a little podcast review of The Anthropocene Reviewed. We’re taking podcast fans to listen in and review the epi...

Ready for an adventure podcast fans? This week Lower Street’s podcast pros have been time-traveling. They’ve been soaking up the Stone Age views of Olduvai Gorge, and the palatial surroundings of a temple in 12th century Japan. Their guide? Two episodes of the iconic BBC podcast production A History of the World in 100 Objects. The two(!) episodes in question are Olduvai Stone Chopping Tool and Ja...

This week the Lower Street gang dons their trench coats and trilbys to investigate the podcast Switched on Pop and its recent episode entitled “Who killed the key change in pop music?”  This particular episode of Switched on Pop uses creative scripting and sound engineering to create a thoroughly tongue-in-cheek spoof of old detective dramas. Switched on Pop’s host, Nate Sloan takes on the charact...

In a world drowning in content, a brave team of podcast pros are on a mission to find the best podcasts and figure out what makes them so good. Want to discover new podcasts? Explore what makes a great podcast episode? And get the inside track from podcasting pros? Then join us! This is the podcast made for podcast fans far and wide.  Each week a different group of the Lower Street team sits down...