Podcasts permit a shift of listening time from a set appointment to virtually any convenient occasion. I do it while taking my daily (more or less) 3 mile walk, while I’m “plodding along”. While there are thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of great podcasts from other sources, the ones sponsored via public radio have been vetted through the worthy objectives of the medium. Here’s what I’ve been listening to recently. I hope you might find these suggestions — in roughly 90 minute bites -- helpful in enhancing your own enjoyment of radio, our favorite medium.
__ __ “Are networks the glue of society or the architecture of privilege?” MORAL MAZE - BBC Radio 4 Michael Buerk chairs a special debate from the Hay Festival examining the morality of networks. The release of the Epstein files has been a reminder that power often flows not just through formal institutions, but through webs of connection: political friendships, old school ties, and professional circles. There's been focused attention on how influential networks operate, and how access, opportunity and protection can follow. Critics say such cases expose a world where success depends less on merit than on who you know. But networks are not confined to the wealthy or the powerful. From journalism and politics to business, academia and religion, informal relationships shape how institutions actually work. People rely on contacts for jobs, introductions and advice. Trust is built through familiarity. Sociologists call this “social capital”, the networks of relationships that allow communities and organisations to function. Anthropologists go further: humans are a networked species, whose survival has long depended on cooperation, loyalty and mutual obligation. The moral tension is that the same instincts that create trust also draw boundaries. Networks build solidarity, but they also decide who is inside and who is left outside. Opportunity, influence and sometimes harm can circulate within closed circles. What looks like loyalty from the inside can look like exclusion from the outside. So when does social capital become social injustice? Are networks the glue of society, or the architecture of privilege? (57”) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002wvfy “The dangerous jazz life of Anita O’Day” THE MUSIC SHOW - ABC Radio National Anita O'Day was a jazz singer who lived 'the jazz life'. She's been compared to people like Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald: an incredible singer, storyteller, and a deeply troubled drug user and alcoholic. Despite the turmoil of her personal life, she's one of the most precise singers of her generation, on the beat and right in tune for every note. Author James Gavin, who knew O'Day, returns to The Music Show with his fresh biography, 'Cool Heat: Anita O’Day and Her Dangerous Jazz Life.' (54”) https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/musicshow/anita-oday-james-gavin/106911636 — — A compendium of these suggestions, plus on occasion additional pertinent material, is published every other month in the CIDX Messenger, the monthly e-newsletter of the Canadian International DX Club (CIDX). For further information and membership information, go to www.cidxclub.ca John Figliozzi Member, North America Shortwave Association Executive Council Co-Coordinator, NASWA Annual SWL Fest Editor, The NASWA Journal “Shortwave Center” column Author, "The Worldwide Listening Guide” Opinion Writer, “The Daily Gazette - Sunday”, Schenectady, NY _______________________________________________ Swprograms mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/swprograms To unsubscribe: Send an E-mail to [email protected]?subject=unsubscribe, or visit the URL shown above.
