In a post earlier this week, I referred to my ‘weekly diet’ of podcasts and I thought it was only fair to open up the larder. I have been podcasting the radio show I present since May 2005. Initially I didn’t know what podcasting was or how to do it. A kind listener explained and helped me set it up. For a long time I harboured suspicions that it was just something for the early adopters out there and was never going to go mainstream. That was until BBC Radio 4 issued an edict that presenters had to say the word ‘podcast’ every thirty seconds. In the past 6 months I’ve become a true convert, particularly on a three week solo cycle-camping trip in France, where spoken-word podcasts were regular evening listening.
Just like blogs, there are a thousand awful and pointless podcasts out there for every one worth listening to. There’s also this thing called podfade, in which a podcast starts off really well then becomes less regular, less interesting before it runs silently into the sands of the presenter’s own guilt and self-loathing. In other words, not every podcast stays the course or lives up to its early promise. Then again, there are podcasts that get better with time, usually amateur productions in which the presenter(s) get more comfortable in the role and find their niche. In short, a lot of filtering, and scratching and sniffing is required. Beside the iTunes Music Store podcast area, a recommendation from a friend is probably the best way of finding out about what’s good.
It’s clear that not all of these are strictly speaking podcasts, rather radio broadcasts which are subsequently made available as podcasts. I don’t see that as a disqualification. So here goes, you can read the list after the jump. (more…)
Along with the exhibitions, talks, guided walks, debates and parties there is a series of excellent architectural podwalks produced by Ruby Wright. I did one about my neighbourhood, entitled ‘Backstreets of Southwark’. It was featured on BBC Radio 4’s iPM programme on 14 June.
The walk passes both cutting edge and utilitarian architecture, secret pocket parks, an unconsecrated boneyard where 15,000 people lie buried, the wine bar where local magistrates go after hard day on the bench, the remains of the debtors prison where Charles Dickens’s father was banged up in 1824 and much more.
It’s about 2 miles long and starts and finishes at Southwark tube station, on the Jubilee Line. A map of the route (including a GPX trace) is over here.
Download including various file formats (128kb MP3, 64kb MP3, Ogg Vorbis) from here.
The confirmation of Barack Obama as the presumptive Democratic Party candidate for the 2008 presidential election is a historic moment in the history of black America. Previously I’ve posted audio recordings of Bobby Kennedy’s campaign in 1968 and Spiro Agnew’s vice-presidency. Now seems like a good time to turn to the record collection to remember the first black man to have run a major US city or to have been seriously considered for a presidential ticket: Carl B. Stokes. (more…)
Help locate London’s fine heritage of Victorian drinking fountains, in celebration of the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association.
Public drinking fountains are a simple, modest yet precious civic amenity under threat from neglect and the rise of environmentally catastrophic bottled water. Turn away from the bottle and join a treasure hunt and celebration of the public drinking fountains of London (not forgetting troughs for the cows).
Use the Google Map below to add your favourite fountains:
Last weekend I came across a second-hand vinyl record of Senator Bobby Kennedy interviewed by David Frost. The interview was conducted during RFK’s 1968 Presidential bid which was to end in his assassination in Los Angeles - just hours after winning the California Democratic primary. The record is a fascinating document of a remarkable man at a remarkable moment in American history (audio links below). (more…)
I am currently a Transatlantic Fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. GMF is a nonpartisan American public policy and grantmaking institution dedicated to promoting greater cooperation and understanding between the United States and Europe. Founded in 1972 through a gift from Germany as a permanent memorial to post-World War Two Marshall Plan assistance, GMF maintains a strong presence on both sides of the Atlantic.
Last Saturday BBC Radio 4’s outstanding Archive Hour featured a documentary on the propaganda that came across the Atlantic alongside all the development assistance dollars. Highly recommended listening to anyone with an interest in modern European history and the concept of soft power.
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