Podcast Playlist

By CBCSociety & Culture

Podcast Playlist episodes

November 27, 2023 Jane Marie on the MLM-to-life coach pipeline, and her favourite podcasts
This week our guest is Jane Marie, creator and host of The Dream.
Can a life coach really solve your problems, or is it all just a big hustle? That’s the question at the heart of Season 3 of the Dream. Leah and Jane will sit down to talk about the show, plus, we’ll listen to some of her favourite podcasts.
Like the story of three friends who took what was supposed to be a 45-minute pleasure cruise, and wound up trapped on a deserted island…all within sight of the Empire State Building.
Featuring: The Dream, This American Life, My Year In Mensa, Where Should We Begin with Esther Perel
For links and more info, head to http://cbc.ca/podcastplaylist.
54 min
November 20, 2023 Decoder Ring's Willa Paskin on solving cultural mysteries, and her favourite podcasts
This week we're joined by Willa Paskin, the creator and host of Decoder Ring. It's a show that takes the questions on culture you never knew you had, and always finds the answer.
Leah and Willa talk about solving cultural mysteries, that time Peter Falk quelled a Romanian uprising, and Willa's favourite podcasts.
Featuring: Decoder Ring, The Turning: Room of Mirrors, Appearances, Hi-Phi Nation, Terrestrials
For links and more info, head to http://cbc.ca/podcastplaylist.
54 min
November 14, 2023 Stories from Syria, plus new podcasts for the fall
In 2011, the Arab Spring was sending shock waves across the world. Amid the many activists demanding change, one Syrian blogger wrote about her life as a lesbian, in a country where homosexuality is illegal.
Her blog, Gay Girl in Damascus, drew countless readers inspired by her search for freedom. But, the blog wasn't all that it seemed. The new podcast Gay Girl Gone reveals the startling truth. Host and producer Samira Mohyeddin joins Leah to discuss the series.
Plus, we'll share more of our favourite pods released this month.
Featuring:
Gay Girl Gone - "Journalist Samira Mohyeddin investigates what actually happened to the infamous Gay Girl in Damascus. The result is a twisted yarn that spans the globe and challenges our thinking on love, politics and identity in cyberspace. What happened to Amina and uncovers a dangerous world of secret police, forbidden love, and deception on the world wide web."
Serial: The Kids of Rutherford County - "A four-part series about a Tennessee county that was arresting and illegally jailing children for over a decade."
The Closer: Deals Change the World - "We take you inside the final days of Toys R Us with Lauren Hirsch, the reporter who first revealed the iconic company's impending bankruptcy, and explain what drove the company out of business."
A Race Around the World - "On November 14th, 1889, Nellie Bly left Manhattan to go on a race around the world in under 80 days. In this episode, host Adrien Behn will delve into the background of this extraordinary woman. She will explore Nellie Bly's upbringing and aspirations, the obstacles she somersaulted over to become a female investigative journalist, her groundbreaking reporting, and what drove her to embark on a journey that defied the norms of her time."
Bloodlines - "Syria. 2018. ISIS is on the brink of defeat. Two-year-old Salmaan disappears amid the bombardment. In London, his grandfather desperately searches for answers."
What new releases are you enjoying? Email our team at [email protected]. Or find us at cbc.ca/podcastplaylist
54 min
November 06, 2023 Straight to the source: We ask three hosts why we should listen to their podcasts (w/ Mark Chavez, Amy Westervelt & Jo Firestone)
This week, we’re going straight to the source and asking three podcasters to sell us on their shows.
First, Mark Chavez gives us the pitch for Let’s Make A Horror. Can three comedians write — and make — a decent horror movie?
Next, Amy Westervelt tells us about the latest season of Drilled. It’s a true crime podcast about the climate crisis, and in their latest season they’re looking at the worldwide crackdown on climate protest.
Then, Jo Firestone tells us about Murder on Sex Island, a podcast about an undercover detective who has to solve a murder on the set of a trashy reality TV show.
Those interviews, plus excerpts from the podcasts, this week on Podcast Playlist.
Featuring: Let's Make A Horror, Drilled, Murder On Sex Island
For links and more info, head to http://cbc.ca/podcastplaylist.
54 min
October 30, 2023 Halloween Spooktacular: A ghost in the family, haunted clothing, Furby's revenge, and more spooky stories
It's our annual Halloween Spooktacular episode!
We’ll hear a fabulously frightening selection of stories today. We’ve got tales about toys that go bump in the night, a haunted pair of pants, an interview with a legendary horror movie director, and more.
Like this story from Tristan Redman: He doesn’t believe in ghosts, but Tristan remembers weird things happening in his teenage bedroom. Later, he learned the people who lived there after him were visited by the ghost.
That’s not all. It turns out that Tristan’s childhood home is right next door to the house where his wife’s great grandmother was murdered. Could she be the one who haunted his childhood dreams?
That scare and more, this week on Podcast Playlist.
Featuring: I Talk To Ghosts, Spooked, Ghost Story, Weird Distractions, Unspookable, American Hysteria
For links and more info, head to http://cbc.ca/podcastplaylist.
54 min
October 23, 2023 CBC's David Common on catching scammers and the new Marketplace podcast
As a foreign correspondent, David Common's reporting has taken him to more than 80 countries, including warzones in Afghanistan, Iraq and Ukraine.
But these days he's staying a bit closer to home. David has recently taken over hosting duties on CBC Radio's morning show in Toronto, Metro Morning.
He's also the co-host of the consumer watchdog show, Marketplace, on CBC Television. And Marketplace now has its very own podcast.
David will tell us about how his first week at Metro Morning, and what it was like turning a TV show into a podcast.
Plus, he'll share some of the podcasts in his rotation.
Featuring: CBC Marketplace, The Secret Life of Canada, Wind of Change, Yo Is This Racist?, War On The Rocks
For links and more info head to http://cbc.ca/podcastplaylist
53 min
October 16, 2023 Producer Picks: A punk rock mystery, a gossipy podcast about literary greats and more you may have missed
To make this show, our team listens through hours upon hours of audio. But sometimes, a few excellent shows will slip through the cracks.
This week, Leah is joined by the Podcast Playlist crew to share some amazing podcasts that you may have missed.
Like Once upon a time...at Bennington College. Our senior producer Kate Evans likes it because listening feels like, "a summer page turner, but for a podcast." The show shares the history of the unique Liberal arts college where authors Brett Easton Ellis, Jonathan Lethem and Donna Tartt all went to school together.
Plus, Producer Julian Uzielli shares a heartfelt podcast about a group of Armenian soliders who survived months of being trapped behind enemy lines.
That and more, this week on Podcast Playlist.
Featuring:
Once Upon a Time...at Bennington College (Kate's pick) - "Bennington. Autumn, 1982. Donna, Jonathan and Bret arrive on the campus of the school nicknamed "The Little Red Whorehouse on the Hill." One of them comes with a steamer trunk. One of them comes with a Kangol cap. One of them comes with a "suitcase full of drugs."
Freeway Phantom (Leah's pick) - "On April 25th, 1971, 13-year-old Carol Spinks mysteriously disappeared from her neighborhood in southeast Washington D.C. Six days later, her body was discovered off a nearby freeway. Investigators assumed this was a one-off murder. Little did they know, Carol was the first victim of D.C.'s first serial killer."
The Ballad of Billy Balls (Kelsey's pick) - "It's 1982, and a man bursts into an East Village storefront apartment and shoots punk musician Billy Balls. Author and activist iO Tillett Wright and Crimetown Producer Austin Mitchell unravel a mystery of love and loss, the tender binds of family, and the stories we tell ourselves just to survive."
Country of Dust (Julian's pick) - "This podcast from a multinational team of producers tells the stories of a changing Armenia. A lot has been happening here: revolution, war, immigration, a shifting economy and so much more. We capture what life is like here right now and explore the odd, inspiring and sometimes perplexing ways in which this country keeps going, despite the odds."
For more visit: cbc.ca/podcastplaylist
54 min
October 09, 2023 Paul McCartney explains his lyrics, teaching kids about happiness with Sesame Street, and more great new podcasts
It’s a music fan’s dream: Imagine you’re handed hundreds of hours of never-before-heard tapes of Paul McCartney talking about all the lyrics he’s ever written.
Those tapes showed up on the doorstep of one lucky team of podcast producers. McCartney: A Life In Lyrics is a new podcast telling the stories behind the lyrics of some of McCartney’s most famous songs, from the early days all the way to the present. Leah sits down with executive producer Justin Richmond to talk about the project.
Then, Leah talks to Laurie Santos, host of The Happiness Lab, about collaborating with Elmo, Grover and the rest of the Sesame Street gang to teach kids about the science of happiness.
All that and more, this week on Podcast Playlist.
Featuring: McCartney: A Life In Lyrics, Rough Translation, The Happiness Lab, Academy
For links and more info on everything in today's episode, head to http://cbc.ca/podcastplaylist.
54 min
October 02, 2023 The best true crime podcasts this October
For years, Alana Chen harbored a deep secret. As a teen, she confessed to her priest that she was attracted to women. She was told to never tell her parents, and over the next seven years, Alana received conversion therapy in secret.

Her story is told in the new podcast Dear Alana. Host Simon Kent Fung joins us to talk about the series.

That and more great new true crime on this week's episode.

Featuring: Alphabet Boys, Dear Alana, Crime Story, Someone Knows Something, You're Wrong About

For more info on everything on today's episode, head to cbc.ca/podcastplaylist.

Get in touch! Email us at [email protected]
54 min
September 25, 2023 Nana aba Duncan, Garvia Bailey and Hannah Sung on starting a podcast company
Media Girlfriends began in 2016 as a podcast hosted by Nana aba Duncan, where in each episode she spoke with other women working in media.
Today, it has evolved into a full-fledged podcast production company, which Duncan created along with co-founders Garvia Bailey and Hannah Sung.
Today, Nana aba, Garvia and Hannah come on the show to tell us about their journey, and share their favourite podcasts.
Featuring: Humans Of The House, Authentic: The Story of Tablo, You Didn't See Nothin, Shameless Acquisition Target.
For links and more info on all the podcasts featured in this episode, head to http://cbc.ca/podcastplaylist.
54 min

About Podcast Playlist

From the publisher's feed

Hosted by Leah-Simone Bowen, Podcast Playlist's podcast obsessed producers help you find the best podcasts out there. Each week we curate fresh, exciting and thoughtful stories to help you unearth…