Podcast Playlist

This week, we're sharing our New and Notable episode from April of this year.

You know what they say: April showers bring new podcasts. And it's our job to pick you a bouquet of the freshest ones! Our latest New and Notable list features brand new shows and returning favourites alike. Hear a bilingual new audio adaptation of Romeo and Juliet starring Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong'o. Plus, ever heard of that time Canada fought a war with Denmark...with whiskey? And if you're not sick of vaccine arguments yet, we've got the story of one that's over a century old.

Featuring: Cocaine and Rhinestones, Romeo y Julieta, The Experiment, Still Processing, and The Secret Life of Canada.

This week we're sharing one of our favourite episodes from May 2016.

The internet has spread from a place of general nerdiness to now encompass everything from the cornerstones of human experience, to the weirdest, most niche subcultures.  And having all that rubbing and mixing together can make for some pretty great stories!

That why, this week we're diving into the weird world of the internet. 

Lucia Cole is a pop star. You can find her music on all the major streaming services. She has Twitter and Instagram, she's been interviewed, and she's endorsed by the one and only Shaquille O'Neal.

But she's not real. Her whole career was just a bizarre catflish.

We also share some tips on crafting a password that's tough to crack.

1. Buzzfeed's Internet Explorer

"[Lucia Cole] flew too close to the sun and she messed with the Ariana Grande fans."  — Katie Notopoulos, on How A Teen Uncovered The Internet's Weirdest Catfish

A new pop star climbs the charts on Spotify, Tidal, and iTunes, having been endorsed by the likes of Shaquille O'Neal and 64,000 Twitter followers. The only problem? She's not real.

2. Life of the Law

"Redditors started naming names. Drawing conclusions after hours of listening to police scanners."  — Brit Hanson on what happened after the Boston Marathon bombing, in Drag.net 

We live in an age of crowdsourced law enforcement, where amateur sleuths can crack or ruin cases simply by being armed with their own laptops.

3. Codebreaker

The surprisingly complicated story behind pornography aggregate sites.

4. Hacked

The best practices behind creating a unique internet password and why it is crucially important to our wellbeing.

5. Snap Judgment

An award-winning performer shares a heartfelt, humorous story about what it's like to help his mom start dating again.

Plus - Former Podcast Playlist host, Lindsay Michael, interviews host Glynn Washington on how growing up in a cult made him a better storyteller.

This week we're sharing one of our favourite episodes from May 2016.

Meeting someone who you look up to is scary for a lot of reasons. For one, you hope you don't embarrass yourself.

But the big fear is that they won't live up to your expectations. And how could they! In your mind, they're your idol, but in the flesh, they're a real person with flaws and weaknesses. 

And that's what we're talking about in this week's episode. We find out what happens when we meet our idols. From Kevin Pollak's Chat Show actor Matthew Perry shares a story about watching hockey with his hockey hero Wayne Gretzky. ​From Mortified, one teenager's favourite icon of the 90s was someone in their 90s: Katharine Hepburn.

Listen here for the full Canadian Broadcast version:

1. Kevin Pollak's Chat Show

Actor Matthew Perry shares his own dream come true of meeting hockey legend, Wayne Gretzky.

2. Mortified

A teenager sends fan letters to Katharine Hepburn in an attempt to save her from eternal damnation.

3. The Lapse

What happens when you get in the way of rampant fans and their idol? Tom finds out the hard way at an Insane Clown Posse concert.

4. I Was There Too

After being treated poorly on set, an actor's fortune is changed when Eddie Murphy shows up on set.

PLUS - Former Podcast Playlist host, Lindsay Michael, interviews I Was There Too host Matt Gourley about how he manages to host four podcasts, his favourite interviews and the time he was let down by one of his idols.

This week we're revisiting one of our favourite episodes from April. Michael Hobbes and Sarah Marshall are journalists, writers, and the dynamic duo behind one of our latest favourite podcasts, You're Wrong About. The show unpacks misunderstood moments in history and pop culture, from the life of Princess Diana to the Satanic Panic to the O.J. Simpson trial.

Featuring: You're Wrong About, American Hysteria, Outsiders

Excerpts from the best new and notable podcasts this month.

Featuring: The Sound Aquatic, A Death In Cryptoland, Forever Is A Long Time, Evil By Design, Other People's Problems.

David Ridgen is a radio producer and documentarian. He is also the host of the CBC podcast Someone Knows Something, which has released 6 seasons of investigations into unsolved crimes.

This week, David Ridgen is sharing some of the shows he listens to (when he isn't too busy working on his own shows).

Podcasts featured on this episode: Someone Knows Something, Constellations, Media Indigena, Threatened, and Big Picture Science.

This week, we're featuring one of our favourite episodes, which originally aired this past March.

With the world’s podcast archives getting so deep, and so many talented voices out there, we don’t want any hidden gems to stay hidden! In this episode, Elamin shines a light on jewels of the podcasting world we think you need to know.

Come for the podcast recs, stay to find out: can a musical save a small town? What’s the deal with synesthesia? Why did Euro Disney fail? And whatever happened to SARS?

Podcasts featured this week:

Land of Desires

Planet Money

Ologies

Newcomers: Lord of the Rings

Whatever Happened To… ?

This week on Podcast Playlist we’re exploring identity and diaspora. We’ll hear stories about understanding your roots, connecting through language, and the importance of community.

Featuring: The Stoop; Self Evident: Asian America’s Stories; La Brega; Pieces; Tell them, I am

For over thirty years, listeners have been coming to Terry Carnation and his radio show Dark Air for answers to their questions about all things supernatural. Fictional listeners, that is — because Terry is a fictional character played by Rainn Wilson, who you might know as Dwight Schrute from The Office. Our host Elamin Abdelmahmoud had the honour of speaking to Terry about ghosts, Yetis, elves, and the search for his missing wife. You don't want to miss this conversation, or Terry's thoughts on...Rainn Wilson.

We also have a brand new slate of new and notable podcasts for your July listening. Hear about the baseball pitcher who played the best game of his life...while tripping on acid. Plus, an independent Canadian podcast spotlights everyday people overcoming life's challenges by finding purpose.

FEATURED PODCASTS:

1- Dark Air with Terry Carnation: "Paranormal AM radio host Terry Carnation (aka Rainn Wilson) returns to the airwaves after his mental breakdown. But on his first night back, he receives a call that could be coming from beyond the grave."

2 - SickKids VS: "Ryan is severely allergic to peanuts. Like, hives-blossoming, throat-closing, get-me-epinephrine-now kind of allergic. But as part of a clinical trial at SickKids, which could change the course of allergy treatment, he now eats a tiny dose of the stuff every night. That's because peanuts—the very food that could kill him—might also be the key to protecting him. WARNING: Please do not try this without the close supervision of a doctor."

3 - Not Past It: "Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis, played the best game of his career while tripping on acid. On June 12, 1970, Ellis pitched a no-hitter. [Host] Simone [Polanen] tells the story of his trip and what it can teach us about psychedelic drugs and performance anxiety."

4 - Pop Chat: "We now have to spend hours looking at our faces in screens. The result? A noticeable uptick in plastic surgery, injectables, veneers...basically, all the ways we can change our faces. Is this reality here to stay?"

5 - Resilient People: "Terrence Rodriguez spent much of his youth alone, singing songs about how lonely he was and wanting to be someone else. Now married and living in a Toronto suburb called Rexdale, he wants to be the role model to the city's LGBTQ+ youth that he wished he had growing up. Terrence created the community group REX Pride to offer counselling, support and friendship to young people struggling to find their place in the world. We spoke about his childhood, the process of transitioning and what REX Pride means to him."

6 - Sickboy: "Hosts Join Jeremie, Brian and Taylor as they tackle health taboos with people who have experienced them firsthand. In this episode, the boys are joined by Jodie Martinson. Martinson is the producer of the CBC podcast Other People's Problems. This week we talk about the therapeutic value in being a fly on the wall. Real people. Real problems. Real talk. Normally, therapy sessions are totally confidential — but this podcast opens the doors. Hillary McBride and her clients want to help demystify mental health. This is what people really sound like when they talk about traumatic births, turbulent divorces, eating disorders and tough childhoods."

This week we're joined by Laura Lynch, host of the CBC podcast and radio show What On Earth. To celebrate her show's first anniversary, Laura's taking us through some of her favourite podcasts on climate change.

Featuring: What On Earth, The Allusionist, Inherited, Saltgrass.