• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.
We seem to have two different Podcast threads which differ in subject matter, not one whit.

This is an unashamed cut and paste of a post I put up on the Fortean Podcasts thread.

I think it's worth duplicating here because it's a great podcast, and wouldn't want anyone who might be interested to miss the recommendation.

---

I still haven't really got into podcasts yet. No doubt I will, but I'm one of those who hovers at the door for ages, and then chucks myself in like a lunatic. I'm currently still hovering at the door.

Well, since then I’ve dipped a few toes in the podosphere – and although still not exactly a gluttonous consumer, the parts of it I do enjoy, I enjoy very much.

Just for now though, I’m going to serve up some propers to Talking Till Dawn - and the two guys who host it.

I’ve always thought that an interest in the strange is a win-win situation: if a story appears to be genuine, then that’s clearly a fantastic thing - but even if it’s not, and provably not, then the reasons why it exists, and the journey it went through to get where it is, can be an equally fascinating trip in its own right. To my mind it’s not just about the story, but the story of the story - not just the woo, but the why too.

And this seems to be the character of this podcast. For me they get the balance right on lots of levels: there’s banter (Glasgow based – so there’s bound to be...patter is nine tenths of the law), but just the right amount (although maybe a little bit of overchat in the first episode, but they soon get that sorted); the ethos is inquisitive and open minded without being gullible, sceptical without being dismissive, intelligent without being fusty - and it can be funny without being flippant.

Not a dry scripted recitation of recycled facts, or a bunch of people telling in-jokes and braying at each other over the ether - the two hosts are present within the discussion, but without making it all about them, and there’s a genuine warmth and clear enthusiasm which makes the listener feel somehow involved in the conversation in the way that the best radio always did. (The broadcast relationship reminds me a little of Will Ross and Mike Taylor, of the thoroughly excellent, A Podcast to the Curious.) The episodes seem to be at least part scripted, and possibly researched alternately, or at least separately, by the presenters, which helps create the spontaneous to and fro of a genuine conversation.

Repetition is the curse of any niche subject, and as with many things based on this sort of material, if the subject is something that you already have an interest in, then there might not be a whole lot you won’t have heard already. But, there’s always just a little bit more to think about, and even very familiar things can be thrown into a different light by a different telling – and I’d say that this is probably a good place for that to happen.

There’s clearly a lot of effort put into researching the subjects and, even with that familiar ground, I haven’t found a single episode that hasn’t been a thoroughly enjoyable listen. I thought I’d heard and read enough about Loch Ness to last me a couple of lifetimes, and was going to skip those episodes, but I ended up gobbling them up – about as entertaining an overall revue of the subject as I’ve ever come across. I even found the Black Eyed Kids episode – a subject I am not in the least convinced about, or even that interested in – entertaining; worth the bus fair alone for Michael’s genuinely unnerving experience in a Glasgow park (not a BEK, by the way – but you can see the connect).

It’s also, I think, a great name.

As you can probably tell, I really like it, and am saving the latest episode – Sky Monsters & Atmospheric Beasts – for a stormy evening.

Link: Talking Till Dawn.

---


Have since then listened to the Sky Monsters episode, and the latest, on Erdstalls - all really, really good stuff.
 
We seem to have two different Podcast threads which differ in subject matter, not one whit.

This is an unashamed cut and paste of a post I put up on the Fortean Podcasts thread.

I think it's worth duplicating here because it's a great podcast, and wouldn't want anyone who might be interested to miss the recommendation.

---



Well, since then I’ve dipped a few toes in the podosphere – and although still not exactly a gluttonous consumer, the parts of it I do enjoy, I enjoy very much.

Just for now though, I’m going to serve up some propers to Talking Till Dawn - and the two guys who host it.

I’ve always thought that an interest in the strange is a win-win situation: if a story appears to be genuine, then that’s clearly a fantastic thing - but even if it’s not, and provably not, then the reasons why it exists, and the journey it went through to get where it is, can be an equally fascinating trip in its own right. To my mind it’s not just about the story, but the story of the story - not just the woo, but the why too.

And this seems to be the character of this podcast. For me they get the balance right on lots of levels: there’s banter (Glasgow based – so there’s bound to be...patter is nine tenths of the law), but just the right amount (although maybe a little bit of overchat in the first episode, but they soon get that sorted); the ethos is inquisitive and open minded without being gullible, sceptical without being dismissive, intelligent without being fusty - and it can be funny without being flippant.

Not a dry scripted recitation of recycled facts, or a bunch of people telling in-jokes and braying at each other over the ether - the two hosts are present within the discussion, but without making it all about them, and there’s a genuine warmth and clear enthusiasm which makes the listener feel somehow involved in the conversation in the way that the best radio always did. (The broadcast relationship reminds me a little of Will Ross and Mike Taylor, of the thoroughly excellent, A Podcast to the Curious.) The episodes seem to be at least part scripted, and possibly researched alternately, or at least separately, by the presenters, which helps create the spontaneous to and fro of a genuine conversation.

Repetition is the curse of any niche subject, and as with many things based on this sort of material, if the subject is something that you already have an interest in, then there might not be a whole lot you won’t have heard already. But, there’s always just a little bit more to think about, and even very familiar things can be thrown into a different light by a different telling – and I’d say that this is probably a good place for that to happen.

There’s clearly a lot of effort put into researching the subjects and, even with that familiar ground, I haven’t found a single episode that hasn’t been a thoroughly enjoyable listen. I thought I’d heard and read enough about Loch Ness to last me a couple of lifetimes, and was going to skip those episodes, but I ended up gobbling them up – about as entertaining an overall revue of the subject as I’ve ever come across. I even found the Black Eyed Kids episode – a subject I am not in the least convinced about, or even that interested in – entertaining; worth the bus fair alone for Michael’s genuinely unnerving experience in a Glasgow park (not a BEK, by the way – but you can see the connect).

It’s also, I think, a great name.

As you can probably tell, I really like it, and am saving the latest episode – Sky Monsters & Atmospheric Beasts – for a stormy evening.

Link: Talking Till Dawn.

---


Have since then listened to the Sky Monsters episode, and the latest, on Erdstalls - all really, really good stuff.
Thanks for the heads up on Talking Till Dawn. I have subscribed after listening to a few episodes and it s everything you said it was.
 
I keep meaning to write something like that for my business site but I never seem to find the time, and a lot is specific to the program you are using to edit once you get to that stage. And then it's generally easier to find 'how to's on YouTube. It is quite a diverse topic though depending on how deep you get. I was lucky to have some music recording experience so I was already familiar with mic technique, editing and mixing. After that it is mainly just setting up a host and having a social media presence on the technical side.

It can seem overwhelming when you try and break it down, but at it's simplest, it's just talking into a microphone.


Urry up with the next episode! :D
 
I'll give Talking Til Dawn a listen since I'm a Glaswegian!

I put on Astonishing Legends yesterday for the first time in ages and was amazed that it took them 13 minutes of waffling to even start talking about the subject (DB Cooper). And then there was and ad. And then another ad a few minutes later. Then another.
I completely support podcasts advertising - they should make money since they're entertaining us. But the amount of ads on Astonishing Legends is a bit of a joke.
 
I'll give Talking Til Dawn a listen since I'm a Glaswegian!

I put on Astonishing Legends yesterday for the first time in ages and was amazed that it took them 13 minutes of waffling to even start talking about the subject (DB Cooper). And then there was and ad. And then another ad a few minutes later. Then another.
I completely support podcasts advertising - they should make money since they're entertaining us. But the amount of ads on Astonishing Legends is a bit of a joke.

The podcast has somewhat lost its way
 
I'll give Talking Til Dawn a listen since I'm a Glaswegian!

I put on Astonishing Legends yesterday for the first time in ages and was amazed that it took them 13 minutes of waffling to even start talking about the subject (DB Cooper). And then there was and ad. And then another ad a few minutes later. Then another.
I completely support podcasts advertising - they should make money since they're entertaining us. But the amount of ads on Astonishing Legends is a bit of a joke.

Their ability to waffle is quite something.
 
Most enthusiast podcasts are mainly waffle and in-jokes. I've mainly given up on them now.
 
Most enthusiast podcasts are mainly waffle and in-jokes. I've mainly given up on them now.

Only unenthusiast podcasts for you!

Podcasts are a mixed beast, I agree that most podcasts I listen to have digressions, if not waffle and in jokes are a staple of all. They are a very mixed bag. I find the Astonishimg Legends guys at least mildly irritating but on the other hand there's a film podcast I listen to which often has 3 hour episodes full of digression and in jokes and they will spend a good chunk or three of most episodes on completely unrelated topics or discussing exactly which blu Rays they bought, where how much they cost and how they shelved them or ages nitpicking their complex and multi- tiered scoring system and I mostly enjoy that.
 
In my experience any more than two presenters and the potential for too much ohblahrara becomes positively Malthusian.

That's not to say that two can't go wrong, but when you have decent presenters two gives enough scope for people to bounce ideas around and engage in the odd bit of banter, but generally not enough to get out of hand. Too many podcasts sound like a bunch of mates heading for a night out, shouting over each other in a bus queue.
 
Too many podcasts sound like a bunch of mates heading for a night out, shouting over each other in a bus queue.

Yep, those ones go straight off, never to be listened to again. And it's even worse if they make bevvying a part of the "experience". I had one on the other day which was okay but they started banging on about what beer they had, where they'd got it and so on. I don't give a shit where you got your beer, just talk about the subject FFS.
 
Anyone hear 'Wind Of Change?'

It's a 'deep dive' into a conspiracy theory/rumour heard by the creators from a FOAF CIA source, that the CIA wrote a famous rock song by the German band Scorpions as part of a soft propaganda campaign. The evidence they turn up over the course of eight episodes is disappointingly slim (actually, absolutely absent) but it's an intriguing idea. The furthest they get to proving it is various CIA officers and other people involved with the story saying 'that sounds like the kind of thing that could be true, but I hadn't heard of it before'.

Here's an article about it.
 
I’ve recently started listening to the Fortean News Podcast. Not the most polished of podcasts but a single and serious presenter. I doubt it would float everyone’s boat but I am enjoying them.
 
In my experience any more than two presenters and the potential for too much ohblahrara becomes positively Malthusian.

That's not to say that two can't go wrong, but when you have decent presenters two gives enough scope for people to bounce ideas around and engage in the odd bit of banter, but generally not enough to get out of hand. Too many podcasts sound like a bunch of mates heading for a night out, shouting over each other in a bus queue.

Too many people is definitely an issue, I do wonder if part of the problem with Astonishing Legends is that, only having two people, they feel they have to pad things out. That said, if there was one more waffley person on it, I'd go insane.
 
Sounds like a good one.

From the archives: The prison where murderers play for Manchester United – podcast
00:00:00
00:38:27

We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.
This week, from 2015: Luzira was once the most notorious prison in Uganda. Now it’s home to what is surely the world’s most elaborate prison football league – and a model for the transformative power of the beautiful game. By David Goldblatt

https://www.theguardian.com/news/au...-murderers-play-for-manchester-united-podcast
 
I'll give Talking Til Dawn a listen since I'm a Glaswegian!

I put on Astonishing Legends yesterday for the first time in ages and was amazed that it took them 13 minutes of waffling to even start talking about the subject (DB Cooper). And then there was and ad. And then another ad a few minutes later. Then another.
I completely support podcasts advertising - they should make money since they're entertaining us. But the amount of ads on Astonishing Legends is a bit of a joke.
I agree, and another issue I have with 'astonishing legends' is the runtime. Who has seven hours to listen to a multipart episode on a subject? Editing is super important.
 
Anyone hear 'Wind Of Change?'

It's a 'deep dive' into a conspiracy theory/rumour heard by the creators from a FOAF CIA source, that the CIA wrote a famous rock song by the German band Scorpions as part of a soft propaganda campaign. The evidence they turn up over the course of eight episodes is disappointingly slim (actually, absolutely absent) but it's an intriguing idea. The furthest they get to proving it is various CIA officers and other people involved with the story saying 'that sounds like the kind of thing that could be true, but I hadn't heard of it before'.

Here's an article about it.
That song brings back a mix of emotions and memories from the 90’s when construction wasn’t doing very well here in the U.K. and I left the family to work in Russia for three years. My first two years were in Moscow and our office was at Park Kultury Metro station, just around the corner from Gorky Park.
 
I agree, and another issue I have with 'astonishing legends' is the runtime. Who has seven hours to listen to a multipart episode on a subject? Editing is super important.
If it was 7 hours of interesting content, fair enough. But the latest Ouija "series" consisted of a first section that was just some guy droning on about all the automatic writing sets he'd bought. I listened for about an hour then got sick of it and put on part 2 which was "stories". That just sounded to me like fictional accounts of things that had happened to listeners so I turned that off as well.
I have some hours to listen to podcasts, but not when they're as poorly put together as that.
 
If it was 7 hours of interesting content, fair enough. But the latest Ouija "series" consisted of a first section that was just some guy droning on about all the automatic writing sets he'd bought. I listened for about an hour then got sick of it and put on part 2 which was "stories". That just sounded to me like fictional accounts of things that had happened to listeners so I turned that off as well.
I have some hours to listen to podcasts, but not when they're as poorly put together as that.
That'd be great to fall asleep to though.
 
You could fall asleep to ghost stories?! Not me, I'm too much of a scaredy-cat.
As I've dredged up mentioned many times, I was once drifting comfortable off to MR James' Casting Runes and had reached the bit where Karswell makes a multitude of centipedes and disgusting slimy creatures appear to climb out of the magic lantern screen, just as the cat decided to nuzzle my face... :eek:
 
I fall asleep to "The Ghost Story Guys". I love their podcast. Both narrators have soothing, easy to listen to voices. I often have to listen to their episodes twice because I've fallen asleep.
 
Looks Unfamiliar is a podcast about nostalgia only the guest remembers but nobody else seems to. The latest guest is Will Maclean, author.
Podcast

Because it's Halloween, the topic is more hauntological, including the weird stories on schools programme Look And Read, The Pan Book of Horror, and the icing on the cake, Photographs of the Unknown. I have the same memories of some of the stuff discussed, especially how terrifying Photographs of the Unknown was. Now I have my own copy!
 
Back
Top