David W. Swanson

Pastor and Author

regular (podcast) listening

A week or so ago I mentioned a podcast I recorded with some guys for Leadership Journal. Larry commented that he would reveal his favorite podcasts if I point out some of the ones I listen to regularly. I’m taking you up on it Larry.

Most of my podcast listening used to happen on walks around Lake Ellyn, but since our move into Chicago it seems that bus and El rides will be the ideal time.

There are 6 podcasts that I listen to regularly. Here are the first 3:

  • Sound Opinions. Hosted by Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago Sun Times and Greg Kot of the Tribune, Sound Opinions bills itself as a rock and roll talk show. Covering music news and new releases, the show also features interviews with musicians and the occasional live performance. Half the fun of this show is the Siskel and Ebert-style banter between two guys whose knowledge of music is ridiculously huge.
  • Mars Hill Bible Church. Typically Rob Bell does the preaching, but the church invites other creative communicators to share the teaching. This is the one podcasts that really makes me want to preach more. Bell in particular gets me thinking about Biblical passages and themes that seem worth exploring.
  • The Kindlings. I’ve been less regular with these conversations and interviews hosted by Dick Staub, but I’d still recommend it. Staub gets some very creative folks on his show, most who share his Christ-centered perspective of the world.

Related…

David Swanson

4 responses to “regular (podcast) listening”

  1. Wayne Avatar
    Wayne

    Thanks for those podcast recommendations David. I think I am going to like the Kindlings…

    Reply
  2. Larry Eisner Avatar
    Larry Eisner

    Well, cool! I’ll have to check a couple of these out. Although I admit I’ve heard promos for the Sound Opinions Podcast, and I’m not too enthused… I actually never really are for music podcasts for some reason. Can’t explain that one…

    Anyway, here’s my list. And to be clear, more than a couple of these are NOT Christian in ANY way, in fact, there are a couple where swearing is commonplace. These are the video game podcasts from 1UP.com, a site I trust highly for its video game content, and the podcasts remind me of when a younger me would talk games all day with my friends… (sadly, the swearing was common back then too.) But I still listen because there aren’t ANY good Christian gaming podcasts. And the list is definitely slanted towards video games, because it’s a passionate hobby of mine.

    Anyway… here it is:

    1) Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me! – National Public Radio (waitwait.npr.org) –
    This one is a very funny (definitely liberal slanted) look at the week’s news through a quiz show format. They have one special guest per week, and have three (usually comedians or comedic journalists) panelists, and the prize is Karl Castle’s (NPR News personality and Wait, Wait announcer) voice on the winner’s answering machine.

    2) GoNintendo.com Podcasts – GoNintendo.com – This weekly podcast (Generally safe for the teen crowd. There’s usually less swearing here than on late-night network television…) covers all things Nintendo. I’m a Wii owner, but I listened to the podcast before then, because the group of people who do the podcast are really funny people, and have very distinct personalities that are fun to listen to. Highlight: After the news and listener questions, they always have a video-game-music quiz where listeners send in songs that the crew has to guess. If you play or played games, it’s fun to test yourself along with them…

    3) 1Up Yours – 1UP.com – This is probably the best video game podcast in existence. You get all sorts of topics covering the gamut of the industry (new games, events, interviews, guest apperances, reviews, and general industry banter) in a fun, focused format that I find very entertaining. This podcast runs long, so be prepared for anything from one to two hours of podcasting per session. (Usually lasts me from dishes to laundry to bedtime. 🙂 Lots of swearing, unfortunately, but it’s the personalities that again trump for me.

    4) WNYC’s Radio Lab – WNYC.org/NPR.org – Radio Lab takes on one topic on a sporadically monthly schedule (sometimes more frequently, sometimes less). And what they do is take a scientific topic like say, Memory, and make it interesting and accessible through truly novel (Artistic, even) use of the audio they collect and create to demonstrate the concepts. They’ll use interviews and sound effects and banter to really challenge the concepts and make things understandable.
    *This one is HIGHLY recommended to ANYONE* I think it’s the best podcast out there, personally. But it is so infrequent, that it’s not a good one to make your first one or only one…

    5) Simply Youth Ministry Podcast – Doug Fields (Saddleback) – simplyyouthministry.com –
    If you’re a youth worker, this is great. However, you can tell it’s definitely more tailored to staff or full-time volunteers rather than occasional (but as the latter, I still enjoy it). The format is that fans ask questions of the group of funny and spot-on youth workers, and they answer, but the so often get on a tangent that it’s fun. It’s great to simply hear other youth workers doing their thing, and having that same camaraderie that we so often experience, but knowing it’s about the Body of Christ.

    6) This American Life – Chicago Public Radio – It’s just plain awesome. I won’t go into it because David already has in the past. But it’s great.

    7) Cook’s Illustrated Video Podcast – cooksillustrated.com (I think) – It’s like a cooking show condensed into like 3 minutes. You learn something new every time. Great!

    8) They Might Be Giants Friday Night Family Podcast – TMBG.com – It’s about 5-6 minutes of videos for the kids. Great in the car. Videos and silly songs from the Johns about numbers, letters, geography, etc. Great clean fun.

    9) Ask A Ninja – askaninja.com – Just fun. Video podcast. If you haven’t seen it, I’d say start at the beginning as early as you can find and work your way forward. The comedy is hilarious to me. I dunno. Ninjas. Come on!

    10) Izzy Video – izzyvideo.com – Israel Hyman does brief video tutorials on how to shoot better footage, how to use certain software perks (usually on Final Cut) and how to overall make better video. I love it because it’s simple, but it’s very useful stuff. It helped me a lot in my growth as a videographer.

    And to be honest there’s a LOT MORE. I’ve got a couple more video game ones, some more random ones, and a couple tech ones that I’d recommend. But I listen to a LOT of podcasts. In fact, I don’t really watch much TV or listen to the radio much, because I’m listening to or watching podcasts instead.

    Hope I didn’t bore anyone!!! If you want more, let me know. 🙂

    Reply
  3. Larry Eisner Avatar
    Larry Eisner

    okay, so the number eight with a right-parenthesis is apparently a smiley-face with sunglasses. And I didn’t hit enter there… so #8 is immediately following that sunglassed dude. 🙂 8)

    Reply
  4. Larry Eisner Avatar
    Larry Eisner

    Actually, I figure I’ll just add the list without qualification:

    Let My People Think – Ravi Zaccharias International Ministries – RZIM.com

    GFW Radio Podcasts – Games For Windows stuff (PC Gaming)- 1UP.com

    Retronauts – Retro Gaming Podcast (8-bit through Dreamcast) – 1UP.com

    RetroforceGo! – Another Retro Gaming Podcast – Destructoid.com

    This Week In Tech – Leo LaPorte (Defunct TechTV guru) – TWIT.com

    CrankyGeeks – John C. Dvorak’s Tech weekly (video) – crankygeeks.com

    DiggNation – (Very irreverant – LOTS of swearing) – diggnation.com

    They Might Be Giants podcast – (music) – TMBG.com

    Best Of You Tube podcast – bestofyoutube.com

    KJ-52 Monday Night Podcast – Christian rapper blabs. 🙂 – KJ52.com

    and finally the bestest podcast in the whole world (yeah I’m a little biased):

    Ignite! Podcasts – ignitepodcasts.libsyn.com (Actually please check it out!!!)

    You can get and subscribe to ALL of these podcasts through iTunes as well.
    (And you can rate/comment on the Ignite! one there too… PLEASE!)

    Reply

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