MetaPod

“A podcast documentary about Cheltenham, the home of British spying, and the cracks of lying and deception that run through this seemingly perfect Cotswolds town.”

The Town That Knew Too Much shines a light on the English town of Cheltenham and how the “pomp and ceremony” of this upper-middle-class town has been “subverted in the seedy world of espionage” since Government Communications Headquarters or “GC HQ” made its home there.

Over seven episodes, Nick Hilton features various characters associated with Britain’s spy and state intelligence history, including Alan Turing, Geoffrey Prime, Gareth Williams, and Edward Snowden.

The story also includes an episode about Kit Williams, author and creator of the Masquerade book and treasure hunt – and the Wishing Fish Clock, which resides in Cheltenham.

The second in Nick Hilton’s “Town” series, The Town That Knew Too Much continues with a “light-hearted, whimsical, tangential” documentary tone that is informative and entertaining. Also much like the first series, The Town That Didn’t Stare, The Town That Knew Too Much presents complex themes and issues related to technology, the Internet, society and self.

In this episode of MetaPod, we talk to Nick Hilton about some of the overarching themes of The Town That Knew Too Much, such as privacy, data collection, the internet, Big Tech, the Snowden leaks and the state.

We also discuss opinions on technology and privacy, from both the media and the public perspectives. Nick also tells us about the interactive elements that he built into the podcast. To conclude, Kevin asks Nick if he would ever like to be a spy. Obviously.

Show notes:

• Wishing Fish Clock and Kit Williams
• The Town That Knew Too Much Wishing Fish Clock challenge
• Geoffrey Prime
• You’re using coconuts
• Music from The Town That Knew Too Much by George Jennings

About Nick Hilton

Nick Hilton is a journalist and podcast producer. He was previously broadcast editor at The Spectator before starting his own company Podot, which specialises in current affairs and makes a slate of podcasts including A Podcast of One’s Own with Julia Gillard, The Everyman Podcast with James Naughtie, and House Work with Harriet Harman. He is also the podcast editor at the New Statesman, producing the biweekly New Statesman Podcast, as well as World Review and Skylines. As a journalist he has written for The Guardian, Vice, The Independent, the I, and Prospect, as well as The Spectator and New Statesman.

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“Seeing how it all started and seeing where I am now, one of the things that’s so different than before is that now it’s fancy.”

If you had an iPod in 2006 and synced podcasts from iTunes, you might have seen Elsie’s Yoga Class. The class was one of the first female-led yoga podcasts available. Remember, this was a time when you could browse most of the podcasts that existed fairly quickly.

“I came into the scene, recording my yoga classes because I wanted to record something — I wanted to have a show,” recalls Elsie Escobar, creator of Elsie’s Yoga Class. “I didn’t know how to make it work. I didn’t know how to do it, so I thought, you know what, I’m just gonna start doing something. I just wanted something to record so that I could understand the process.”

Fast forward 100+ episodes of Elsie’s Yoga Class and it’s 2013 and she works at a podcast hosting company, Libsyn. By 2014, Elsie joins forces with Jessica Kupferman to found She Podcasts, now the largest network of women in podcasting.

In this special episode of MetaPod we talk to Elsie Escobar, Co-founder of She Podcasts and Community Manager at Libsyn. We learn from Elsie what it’s been like to be part of podcasting’s professionalisation. She recounts the early days where everyone was “starting from zero” vs. now where more money and brands are involved.

Elsie also explains a few things that new podcasters should understand about the heart and soul of the medium’s origins. We also discuss the time and commitment that “doing all the things” as an indie podcaster requires.

We also hear about Elsie’s personal journey to becoming a more visible woman and role model, particularly for marginalised people and communities in podcasting.

About Elsie Escobar

Elsie Escobar is a podcasting community expert, advocate and mentor.

She is a 15-year veteran in the podcasting industry and inductee to the Academy of Podcasters Hall of Fame. Elsie is also the co-founder of She Podcasts, a podcasting community for women + non-binary that has 20k members with a corresponding podcast and conference.

If that’s not enough, Elsie is also the community manager at Libsyn and co-host/producer of The Feed: The Official Libsyn Podcast. 

Elsie has been a podcasting advocate, pundit and mentor to primarily women podcaster leaders. Her thing is driving dialogue in the podcasting industry, focusing on podcasts’ impact on society, culture and their power to drive social change.

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“How did an American family end up in the heart of the ISIS caliphate?”

Samantha Elhassani (nee Sally) insists, “I’m not a bad person — I’m not a monster”.

Yet she lived in the ISIS caliphate. Her ten-year-old son could make a suicide belt and be featured in ISIS propaganda. She owned slaves. And travelled to Hong Kong to deposit large sums of cash and gold and bought tactical combat gear there. And perhaps most astonishing, she was an FBI informant.

The story sounds unbelievable and Samantha says so herself. However, in 2018 she returned to the US into the custody of law enforcement. At the end of 2020, she was convicted of financing terrorism and sentenced to prison for 78 months.

Investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker Joshua Baker untangles Samantha’s story in the podcast In I’m Not A Monster and the film Return from ISIS. Jointly produced by the BBC and PBS, the podcast and film examine how an American woman and her children could possibly end up with ISIS in Syria. Joshua Baker brings listeners to places both frightening and familiar, from a former torture prison to a children’s swing set in the backyard of a home in Indiana.

In this episode of MetaPod, we talk to Joshua Baker about his mission to chronicle Samantha’s unique story. Josh discusses his journalistic career working in high-risk conflict zones and with vulnerable people. We also discuss the political and cultural understanding between countries of the Middle East and the West. Please be advised that some of our discussion revolves around violence, coercion and other unsettling topics.

Show notes:

• Return from ISIS on BBC Panorama or PBS Frontline
• Former Elkhart, Indiana Resident Sentenced to Over Six Years in Prison for Financing of Terrorism, US Department of Justice press release
• I Went To Syria To Find The American Family Who Joined Isis, Huffington Post interview with Joshua Baker
• I’m Not A Monster awarded Edward R Murrow Award

About Joshua Baker
Joshua is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, journalist and podcast creator. He prides himself on creating compelling human stories, often dealing with complex and emotive topics. He is the writer and host of I’m Not A Monster.

Josh combines journalistic rigour, cinematic sensibility and compelling narrative structure to create work that is both accessible and in-depth. He recognises story creating is a team game and loves bringing people together to make a collaborative process.

Josh has a track record for working with vulnerable contributors suffering from trauma or mental health issues, including children and highly sensitive sources. He has secured a plethora of specialist access, be that with terrorist groups, elite military units, whale hunters, sex workers, or friends and family of contributors. As well as working in the UK and USA, he has worked substantially in hostile environments around the world. Follow Joshua Baker on Twitter and listen to series 2 of I'm Not A Monster: The Shamima Begum Story.

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“Standup comedian, writer, and candlehead Selena Coppock talks with guests about their individual candle journeys, including candle stories, favorite scents and #wickpics.“

Who doesn’t like a candle burning away on their desk, on the kitchen table or while you’re having a bath?!

Well, maybe the last one is more of a required taste but very few people would say they dislike candles – surely…

The right scent, the right size, the right jar, lots of accessories – there’s a lot to take into consideration these days, not least with countless lifestyle brands now diving into the world of waxy wonders.

But even though candle selection is a serious thing, our guest – Selena Coppock – doesn’t take things TOO seriously, mainly because she’s a standup comedian and all-around giggler at life.

Selena’s premise for Two Wick Minimum is to interview her friends, many in the entertainment world, about their love of candles and what scents they love/hate and the memories that specific candles create.

The podcast is a riotous listen at times but, actually, also pretty useful if you’re looking for a new scent to buy or avoid.

Selena joins us in this episode to share a story or two about the show and her take on what’s hot or not in the candle universe.

Show notes

• Selena Coppock IMDB
• Seen Better Days
• How To Make Soy Wax Candles

About Selena Coppock

Selena Coppock is a standup comedian, writer, author, and storyteller based in NYC. She is the creator and voice of @NYTVows, the parody Twitter and Instagram account that lampoons the New York Times Wedding section, the wedding industrial complex, WASPs, and courtship rituals of the rich and insufferable. She is also the creator and host of Two Wick Minimum, America’s favorite and only podcast about candles. Her debut standup Seen Better Days (Little Lamb Recordings) hit #1 on the iTunes comedy charts and is available on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, etc. Selena was a guest star on the sitcom Red Oaks (Amazon Prime) and has been seen on Bravo, Lifetime, VH1, CollegeHumor.com, RooftopComedy.com, and elsewhere.

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“Unexplainable is a science show about everything we don’t know, looking at the most fascinating unanswered questions in science and the mind-bending ways scientists are trying to answer them.”

Dark Energy – what the heck is it? And what about UFOs – surely there’s some kind of analysis available that can shed some light on those mysterious objects in the sky?

Well, disappointingly, there is no definitive understanding of what either of these is – just a lot of speculation, ongoing research and, often, a lot of bad science.

Thankfully, Unexplainable is here to unravel the key elements behind these mysteries and many others, as much it can.

The Vox Media-run podcast is informative, entertaining and extremely thought-provoking. It has tackled the aforementioned subjects alongside others as varied as establishing the height of Mount Everest, planet-hunting, why placebos work and the length of human life.

Heavy stuff – but riveting and worth every minute of a listen.

In this episode of MetaPod we speak with Brian Resnick, co-creator of Unexplainable and Vox’s science reporter.

We wallow in the smartness of our guest and try to pick apart some of the topics in the Unexplainable portfolio of shows, as well as asking why does the internet need another podcast about science.

If you listen to Unexplainable, you’ll soon know why.

Show notes

• The Night Sky – How Henrietta Leavitt Changed Our Understanding Of The Universe
• How much worse can coronavirus get? (Brian Resnick for Vox)
• Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains Why Science Is Hard

About Brian Resnick

Brian Resnick is a science reporter at Vox.com, covering social and behavioral sciences, space, medicine, the environment and anything that makes you think “whoa that’s cool.” He is the co-creator of Unexplainable, a Vox podcast about unanswered questions in science. He serves as the show’s senior reporter, shaping the editorial direction of the series. Before Vox, he was a staff correspondent at National Journal where he wrote two cover stories for the (now defunct) weekly print magazine and reported on breaking news and politics.

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“Permanent Record Podcast is a look back at albums from the New Wave and Classic Rock genres.”

Think back to your favourite bands, songs and albums before the Internet – the songs you recorded off the radio or the albums that your friend let you borrow and copy with your dual cassette deck. How much do you really know about these beloved artefacts of your past?

Perhaps a fair amount, but Sarah and Brian Linnen of the Permanent Record Podcast demonstrate that there is always something more to learn about your favourites, especially with the advantage of hindsight and a few modern-day research tools.

Combining historical context and facts, trivia and endearing personal memories of the classic alternative and rock music of the 80s, Sarah and Brian will likely jog some memories of your own – from chart performance and critical reception to what you thought of the artwork on a cassingle or the band hairstyles and outfits in a music video.

Oh, you didn’t realise that there was another song on that album until much later in life? Probably because it didn’t fit on the only 60-minute cassette that your friend had available to record over, right? Don’t worry, Sarah and Brian will still have you in their club. You just need to be a fan.

In this episode of MetaPod, we talk about classic alternative music of the 1980s with Sarah and Brian – Depeche Mode, Erasure, The Communards, The Cure and others. We learn how Sarah and Brian select, research and present the albums they feature on the Permanent Record Podcast. We also discuss music more broadly.

If you’re a fan of Permanent Record Podcast, this is your chance to learn more about Sarah and Brian personally and all of the good work they do to provide listeners with a broad, yet detailed look at the much-loved classic alternative bands of the 80s.

Show notes:

• The First 100 Videos Played on MTV
• Album artwork for Falco 3
• Depeche Mode Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction 2020

About Sarah and Brian

Brian and Sarah spent the 1980s searching their local record shops for imports, new releases, and anything that spoke to them and their New Wave sensibilities. Now, decades later, they are still going on about those classic albums and the wonderful bands that were so important to them during those formative years.

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“In the early days, it really was this group of geeks and hardcore people that wanted to create media and hardcore audiences that wanted to listen to it.”

How do you go from a career in the military to one in podcasting? Just ask Todd Cochrane, the founder and CEO of Blubrry, a podcast hosting company.

“Life has these right and left-hand turns and I had a right-hand turn in June of 2004,” Todd told us.

That right-hand turn put Todd among the pioneers of a new medium being raised by rebels.

While recovering from an injury that changed the course of his career in the US Navy, Todd discovered the work of Dave Winer and Adam Curry and this thing they were talking about called “podcasting”. Todd was sucked in and before he knew it, he was at the nearest Walmart purchasing his first microphone.

Podcasting since 2004 with his tech show Geek News Central, Todd Cochrane also established the first podcast advertising deal and wrote the first book on podcasting. He also founded the Podcast Awards and is a member of the Podcast Hall of Fame.

“The industry was exciting, it was basically pioneer days, we were making stuff up as we go, we didn’t really know what we were doing, but things progressed very, very quickly,” said Todd.

In this special episode of MetaPod, we talk to Todd about the early players of podcasting and what it was like to work with the techies, geeks and hardcore audiences of the medium. We also discuss how podcasting has evolved to this day, including investment, leadership, its increasingly diverse field of creators and the entry of big media platforms in the space.

Todd also tells us what the most important thing is for new podcasters to understand about the medium and why the first two episodes of Geek News Central no longer exist.

Show notes:

• Geek News Central
• New Media Show with Todd Cochrane and Rob Greenlee
• The Rise and Demise of RSS

About Todd Cochrane

Todd Cochrane is the founder and CEO of Raw Voice, Inc, also known as Blubrry Podcasting. Todd has been podcasting since 2004. He is credited with the first podcast ad deal (with GoDaddy) and the first book about podcasting (published by Wiley). He also founded the Podcast Awards and was inducted into the inaugural class of the Podcast Hall of Fame in 2015. Before going into podcasting, Todd served in the US Navy for 25 years. He retired with the rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer. Todd spent the majority of the past 25 years in Honolulu, Hawaii, but now resides in Michigan.

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“Smart Enough To Know Better is a podcast of science, comedy and ignorance.”

It’s a unique skill to be able to apply humour to science – and get it to work.

Greg Wah and Dan Beeston have been doing this for over 10 years with Smart Enough To Know Better, creating an extremely listenable podcast that tackles big subjects with an accessible style.

There is a lot of banter, plenty of tangents that they often head down and a very loyal and engaged audience.

What makes Smart Enough To Know Better so good is that it’s not afraid to dissect a subject and speak truth to power – but do so in a way that is, generally, positive and constructive.

And as the pair creep closer to their 200th show, what better time to understand more about the show and the issues and topics that get them going.

For our latest episode of MetaPod, we speak to the Australia-based pair about how they pick their subjects each week and how they’ve nurtured their audience over a decade.

We tackle some big issues, such as the billionaire space race and coronavirus, as well as find out how much science they actually remember.

Show notes:

• Rocket men: Bezos, Musk and Branson scramble for space supremacy – The Guardian
• Everything you need to know about the ISS
• Risky Business dance scene

About Dan Beeston and Greg Wah

Dan has two decades of live performance under his belt and has tread the boards of the Enmore Theatre in Sydney, the Powerhouse in Brisbane and the back room of Mary’s Hotel in Dalby. His day job is as an internet boffin and he doesn’t hate it very much at all.

Greg is a bit of a generalist. A performer, writer, director by night but an astrophysicist by day. Learning is his passion and he can’t shut up about whatever new thing has squeezed his curiosity gland.

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“When Matthew MaGill died alone in the woods on the Florida-Georgia border, he left behind a box filled with the artifacts of an incredible life. A series of coincidences leads reporter Eric Mennel to the box, sending him on a five-year search to understand the truth about its owner.”

Stay Away from Matthew MaGill is an unusual podcast. It’s the story of a man who earned a reputation for being unusually handsome, stubborn and prone to telling tall tales. It’s also the story of secrets and the spaces they occupy between us, family and friends.

Blending investigation and personal memoir, Eric Mennel extends the boundaries of what one might expect from either genre. He begins by building an understanding of Matthew MaGill’s life through the contents of the box. At the same time, Eric is grappling with the relationship dynamics of his own family.

Eric bravely chooses to reconcile with family, a choice we presume Matthew MaGill did not make. Eric’s personal reflections on this process, as well as those of his family members, are included alongside the story of Matthew MaGill.

“Along the way, the questions I was asking about him – they just became a little entangled with things that were going on in my own life,” said Mennel. “The show is largely about the journey that I go on to reconnect with my family – with the help of Matthew MaGill’s box.”

In this episode of MetaPod, we talk to Eric about the contents of the box that Matthew MaGill left behind and how people earn the reputation as ‘someone to stay away from’. Eric explains the research that he undertook to understand who exactly Matthew was. We also discuss the provocative blend of investigation and personal memoir in the podcast.

Show notes:

• Woodbine, Georgia, At The Center Of A New Podcast
• FSU creative writing alumnus wins Edward R. Murrow Award

About Eric Mennel

Eric Mennel is an award-winning journalist and podcast producer. He is host of the new podcast, Stay Away from Matthew MaGill. His work has appeared on This American Life, NPR, StartUp, 99% Invisible, and lots of other shows. He’s won Edward R. Murrow Awards for his work on The Catch and Kill Podcast with Ronan Farrow, and for his reporting at WUNC in North Carolina. In 2013 he helped create the podcast, Criminal. He is currently a senior producer at Pineapple Street Studios.

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“Nina Gilden Seavey was twelve in May 1970, when an Air Force building in St. Louis burned to the ground. Her dad represented a young man arrested in connection with the fire: Howard Mechanic. Facing serious federal time, Howard fled and became one of the longest-running fugitives in U.S. history. As an adult, Nina picked up the trail. My Fugitive asks: Whatever happened to Howard Mechanic?”

Just the story of the disappearance of Vietnam War protester Howard Mechanic is an intriguing one, worthy of any podcast.

After his arrest and conviction for an obscure offence within the Civil Obedience Act, Mechanic went on the run for the next 28 years.

He settled in Scottsdale, Arizona, but eventually gave himself up to the authorities when a local reporter became suspicious about his candidacy for public office in the area. He was pardoned in January 2001 by the outgoing President Bill Clinton.

But My Fugitive is much more than the Mechanic saga, with Nina Gilden Seavey cleverly weaving in her personal connection to the case (her father was Mechanic’s lawyer in St. Louis) and investigating connections in the city to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968.

What emerges is a fascinating yet unsettling look at the behaviour of government agencies (namely, the Federal Bureau of Investigation) during that period of huge civil unrest in the U.S.

In this episode of MetaPod, we speak with Gilden Seavey about her tireless work to uncover the truth about Mechanic and the FBI, how the U.S. used a combination of surveillance and the Dark Arts of domestic espionage to thwart the efforts of the anti-war movement and what it means for today’s society.

Show notes:

• The Feeling Of Being Watched – documentary film
• Enemies: A History Of The FBI – book by Tim Weiner
• Doesn’t Anybody Know How To Be A Fugitive Anymore? – New York Times article, April 2000
• Pineapple Street Studios

About Nina Gilden Seavey

Nina Gilden Seavey is an Emmy Award-winning documentarian with a 30-year career in the non-fiction world and president of Seavey Media. Seavey’s documentaries have won numerous awards including five National Emmy nominations (one statue awarded). She is the founding director of The Documentary Center in the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University. She holds the academic rank of full research professor of history and media and public affairs, with appointments both in the Department of History and in the School of Media and Public Affairs.

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