Podcasts, like radio before them, have become the conversations that shape our perception of the world. The intimacy of voices in your car, in your earbuds, or in the dark has transformed how we listen and learn.
The great and growing popularity of podcasts no doubt reflects their ability to convey useful information in a frank, intimate, and uncluttered fashion.
From the 62 podcasts WhoWhatWhy published in 2020, we have selected 10 for our annual “Best of” list, which we believe represents a kind of audio time capsule — capturing what we have lived through, felt, and thought during the past 12 months.
Here are the first five; we will add five more next Friday. Of course, you can always find YOUR favorites by going directly to our podcast page.
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Jeffrey Epstein: Sex, Lies, and Videotape
Back in January, we thought this could be one of the top stories of the year. It’s still one we should not forget.
Photo credit: Tim J Keegan / Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Australia’s Climate Apocalypse: Up Close and Personal
While other subjects have drowned it out, climate change still remains our greatest threat. Back in January we talked with Judith Crispin, an eyewitness to the Australian “fire apocalypse.” It was a precursor of what we were to see in California and the West.
Why Is Everybody So Damn Angry?
In February, we spoke with media analyst Martin Gurri in what was a kind of prophecy of everything from Trump to masks. Gurri talks about the American public’s relentless desire to destroy the established order without any clue about what comes next.
Why Do Pandemics Often Start With Bats?
While we were all reading last year’s top ten lists, somewhere in China the coronavirus pandemic began with a virus moving from bats to pigs and, ultimately, to the first human. How it happened and why bats are the vector is important to understand.
Putin, Putin, Putin
From impeachment to poisoning to the recent hacking, with the exception of Donald Trump, no public figure occupies more of the world’s psychological real estate than Vladimir Putin. A look at this year would not be complete without a look at Putin.
