Podcast Research Assignment
Overview
Listen to and analyze one or more episodes from 3 different podcasts. Consider elements like genre, format, style, tone, sound design, overall sound quality, target demographic, representation and message. Write a paper discussing your analysis and how you will apply this insight to your own podcast episode.
For your Podcast Research Assignment, choose ONE podcast from this list.
These podcasts have been selected by your professors as reflecting the principles of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion that are important to the RTA School of Media. By asking you to listen to at least one of them as we begin this course, we hope to begin your journey in RTA with these principles top of mind.
(Note: if your own podcast concept falls into the same category as any of the ones below, and you would like to do a second or even third podcast from this list, that is OK.)
Burn It All Down: (choose any episode)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/burn-it-all-down/id1235386795?mt=2
Podcast description: The feminist sports podcast you need. Shireen Ahmed, Lindsay Gibbs, Brenda Elsey, Amira Rose Davis, and Jessica Luther break down the week in sports and culture.
Colour Code (choose any episode)
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/colour-code/id1143156370
Podcast Description: If there’s one thing Canadians avoid, it’s talking about race. This podcast is here to change that. Join hosts Denise Balkissoon and Hannah Sung for a conversation on race in Canada. We won’t have all the answers but we do ask bold questions.
Finding Cleo (choose any episode, although this is a serial narrative so you might want to start with the first episode)
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/findingcleo/click-here-to-listen-to-missing-murdered-finding-cleo-1.4557887
Podcast Description: Where is Cleo? Taken by child welfare workers in the 1970’s and adopted in the U.S., the young Cree girl’s family believes she was raped and murdered while hitchhiking back home to Saskatchewan. CBC news investigative reporter Connie Walker joins the search to find out what really happened to Cleo.
Nancy (choose any episode)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1222041050?utm_campaign=nancy_subscribe&utm_medium=subscribe&utm_source=listen_free
Podcast Description: Stories and conversations about the queer experience today. Prepare to laugh and cry and laugh again.
Nice White Parents (episode 1)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nice-white-parents/id1524080195
Podcast description: If you want to understand what’s wrong with our public schools, you have to look at what is arguably the most powerful force in shaping them: white parents. A five-part series from the makers of Serial and The New York Times. Hosted by Chana Joffe-Walt.
Party Lines: A Day of Reflection
https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/381-radio-party-lines/episode/15852895-a-day-of-reflection
Episode description: The way Elamin sees it, this Canada Day comes after a year full of questions that included: what is Canada about? And who is Canada for? As Indigenous leaders call for reflection today, and as some cities opt to pull back on celebrations, Rosie and Elamin look at the politics involved in the decision on how to mark July 1 this year. And before pausing for the summer — they’ll be back in August! — the two explore another big-picture question: what will Canada look like, coming out of this pandemic? The past year has also forced the country to face inequalities underscored by COVID-19. What will be asked of governments once the virus is in the rearview?
See Something Say Something (choose any episode)
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/see-something-say-something/id1169261799
Podcast Description: Each week, Ahmed Ali Akbar covers everything that American Muslims are talking about right now — misrepresentation in the media, equality in the mosque, Asahd memes, and much more.
Still Processing (choose any episode)
https://www.nytimes.com/column/still-processing-podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1151436460
Podcast description: Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham are working it out in this show about culture. That means television, film, books, music — but also the culture of work, dating, the internet and how those fit together.
Telling Our Twisted Histories (choose any episode)
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/telling-our-twisted-histories/id1567243013
Words connect us. Words hurt us. Indigenous histories have been twisted by centuries of colonization. Host Kaniehti:io Horn brings us together to decolonize our minds– one word, one concept, one story at a time.
The Secret Life of Canada (choose any episode)
https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/203-the-secret-life-of-canada?cmp=DM_SEM_Listen_Titles
Podcast description: The Secret Life of Canada is a history podcast about the country you know and the stories you don’t. (Co-hosted by RTA’s Allan Slaight Broadcaster in Residence Falen Johnson.)
The SoundGirls Podcast (choose any episode)
“Resonating Beyond Sound. We speak to audio professionals from all walks of life, to learn how we can better support one another towards a more diversified industry. We also talk to our soundgirls.org profile people and dive a little deeper with them.”
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/soundgirls-podcast/id151285146
This American Life: Meant to be Broken (ACT 1 – Time Bandit)
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/713/made-to-be-broken
Episode description: Jerome Ellis is a composer and musician. But this year, at an annual New Year’s Day performance event, he got on stage with no instrument, or anything else, and broke a small rule in a monumental way. A podcast about ableism and a man confronting it with his art.
Warrior Life Podcast (choose any episode)
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/warrior-life/id1434096503
Podcast description: This is an Indigenous podcast about warrior life – a lifestyle that focuses on decolonizing our minds, bodies and spirits while at the same time revitalizing our cultures, traditions, laws and governing practices. (Hosted by Pam Palmater, Associate Professor and Director of The Centre for Indigenous Governance here at X University.)
