Podcast.com News

Fans of the Office (both versions), Office Space, and nutty reality TV spoofs will be drawn to the IT Room, a new Internet-only show that debuts November 11. It’s a show about the geeks who control the computers at the company you probably work at. You can subscribe to trailers for the show (which are already are getting hyped through a number of video websites) from the IT Room website — and yes, that is a monkey telling you to subscribe, and you need to do what he says.

NPR is getting a little younger and smarter in the morning. It’s uber-popular AM show, Morning Edition, has given many a U.S. public radio fan a soundtrack for cooking eggs and sitting at stoplights every morning. But the show hasn’t aged well, even after inserting new hosts a few years ago following the acrimonious departure of long-time voice Bob Edwards. NPR has given us reason to let bygones be bygones with a new morning show, the Bryant Park Project, that speaks closer to the ear of the *cough* ‘modern’ public radio fan. Hosts Alison Stewart and Luke Burbank convey the notes of the day in a loose, conversational tone that goes well with that first cup of coffee.

Boing Boing has had a long run at one of the most popular blogs by spotlighting the oddities, strangeness, and coolness of this world. They started their first audio podcast a while ago now, which is quite nice — but it lacks the visual impact of images and videos included in many of the BB blog posts. That’s why we’re pumped up for Boing Boing TV, which brings the necessary Boing Boing stories to your screen. We can say no more except that it’s Super Awesome with a capital S and A (in other words, it’s highly recommended).

It’s an experiment that other media companies of its kind should get hip to: 60 Minutes is now offering their entire show as an audio podcast every week. 60 Minutes has long been available in its entirety over CBS News radio; it’s only natural to send it out via the podcasting waves as well. The old 60 Minutes feed, which only featured a segment of each weekly show, is now the feed that carries the full episodes.

The first episode to get the podcast treatment was a good one, with Scott Pelley interviewing Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. If you haven’t subscribed yet, here’s your chance to hear one of the better investigative journalism shows in the U.S.

Every week we spotlight a podcast that’s either unique, compelling, spectacular, or some combination thereof. The Lyric Opera of Chicago podcast is that combination, coming from the sort of industry that very much benefits from the intimacy of the podcast medium. This first podcast is well-produced like you’d expect from an operatic production; the twist here that strikes us is the behind-the-scenes, almost informal chatting. It’s off-the-cuff in a way that tempers the sort of stuffy reputation that keeps many younger people from learning more about opera and its rich history. Count me as one who has been fed his medicine (it’s a feed — get it?  oooh … ).

Unless you’re living in Pakistan or its neighboring countries (or in this case, Seattle WA USA), you probably don’t have much perspective on how Pakistan feels it’s represented in the rest of the world.  But that’s what podcasting is for, allowing anyone with a microphone and a computer to educate others, and that’s where the Pak Cast aims to teach us all.  If you want “the full spectrum of perspectives on Pakistan and its place in the world”, start right here.

The news: it’s a tricky thing. To understand all the facts related to national and international news stories, you have to have a fairly large body of knowledge — or an Internet connection equipped with Google search. Even then you/I might be confused, and right when you start to furrow your brow Slate comes in to save the day with the Slate Explainer podcasts. Slate takes one underlying question from the big news story of the day and fleshes it out as an audio podcast, such as: Do soldiers have free speech rights? How come pieces of foam always fall off the space shuttle? How do they measure SPF? Slate makes the news less tricky and only takes a few minutes out of your day to do that. A little time = more smarts = good stuff.

Fringe festivals? The secret lives of monkeys? Hip hop controversies? Yeah, you get all that PLUS great stories and conversations about the arts when you subscribe to Studio 360, a public radio production out of WNYC that also happens to make podcast listeners swoon. They say they produce weekly but often update their feed every few days, and that’s our good luck. Now I must get back to that swooning …

It’s time for some of us to go back to school — WAIT! Before a collective groan comes from the students, check out how some are using podcasting to get students in the mood (we ALL can appreciate the ingenuity here, right?):

• A lesson in healthy eating at school and on campus (Back to College, Back to School / Parent Focus)
• Teachers using podcasts to give students a jump on what’s to come (FAMS Welcome Back)
• OK, OK, maybe that’s not exciting enough to keep SOME of you interested, so for you gamers, check out Episode 40 of the World of Warcraft podcast, and for those of you in the working world (read: wayyyyy beyond school), you can still learn something interesting with the Google SketchUp podcast.

School shouldn’t be a bad word, should it?

In the USA the state of Montana attracts many adventurous outdoorsmen and women, and it’s also the headquarters of an excellent and equally adventurous public radio collective, and now podcaster, called Hearing Voices. They do it all from long-form audio specials about specific themes and holidays to abstract sound portraits to online “audities”. The HV podcast features shorter sound-rich stories about travel, news, science, our world, and everything in-between — with an edgy twist.