Closing 2022: These podcasts helped me get through the year [Unscripted column] | | Entertainment

Apologies to Beyoncé. Earth, Wind & Fire; Cardi B; LCD Soundsystem and Rizzo;

Spotify claims you’re my top artist of 2022, but there’s more than you.

After digging through the Spotify Wrapped reports, I found out my daughter loved the song “September” and my algorithm exploded. The Big Picture: Music was just a small part of my streaming. About 90% of my time on that platform was spent on podcasts, not music.

The podcast made me laugh and cry while driving the back roads of Lancaster County. They yell at me while I cook. They make me understand the world better.

Not everyone understands it. A few years ago, in my own world under my headphones, someone asked me what song was playing. She looked at me blankly when I said I was listening to a podcast. It’s like a radio show, I explained.

“You should see that movie, ‘Seabiscuit,'” she said slowly. “You’ll want it.”

For those of you who thought radio was in the 1930s or anyone else, here are my top podcasts from last year.

About media

“On the Media” is like Charlie Brown on top of a permanent cloud that negatively points out all the bad things that surround us. Back back to hear it again. But I can’t stop listening

Here, one of the Pentagon Papers writers reflects on what we missed. A journalist explains why we need to go beyond mass shootings when covering gun violence. In his recent six-part series, “The Divided Dial,” Talks explores why radio is right-wing.

It can be a little depressing at times, but this podcast is packed with interesting conversations about how media shapes how we see the world.

Dressed: a history of fashion

Why do you wear what you wear? In Dressed: The History of Fashion, two fashion historians explore this issue through time and place.

Recent favorite interviews include a photo detective who uses clothes to solve genealogical mysteries. An interview with Elena Kanagy-Loux (from Pennsylvania!) discusses the often overlooked past of lacemakers and those who embrace the craft today. I’m not a huge royal fan, but I still liked the two-part episode about how Princess Diana used her clothes as a way to communicate without words.

long form

Even if you don’t have time to read all the great long-form journalism that comes out, Longform is a great way to learn about these articles and their authors. Podcasts started as websites curating must-read stories. Last year, the website stopped adding new stories to his picks, but the two writers kept up with their weekly podcast.

A meandering conversation might discuss how someone got the job, how they pitched the big story, what the writing process is, and how they make a living. In one episode, Andrea Bernstein explained how she combed through oral histories to find background, context, and contradictions in famous family members. Talking about writing the novel Fleishman is in Trouble, which became a television series for which she served as showrunner.

Cultivation place

Jennifer Jewell describes “Cultivating Place” as a conversation about natural history and the human urge for gardening. Why you garden is more important than how you garden. This is Throw his gardening companion for I-can-grow-that podcasts like “You Bet Your Garden.”

Each guest’s personal and professional projects are huge, from managing large arboretums to reimaging community gardens to replanting seeds. A winter solstice episode that delves into our relationship with plants, a surprising conversation from Maria Popova, the woman behind Brain Pickings. In another conversation, florist girlfriend Louesa Roebuck shows us how to make ikebana punk.

This American Life

Each episode of “This American Life” has been downloaded by 2.5 million people, so it’s no secret. I’ve stuck with this show through its TV version, live shows, and spin-offs “Serial” and “S-Town.” Boy, they know how to tug your heartstrings with a song or just a few notes.

Earlier this month, author Etgar Keret filled an episode with eight short stories about a Jewish girl whose mother Orna was in Poland during World War II. The story is violent, tender, scary, and funny. The last time she sees her mother is almost unbearable. It doesn’t grip it much.