Servant of Pod with Nick Quah
45 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 3 years ago -In the world of podcasts, anyone can tell their story. From major media institutions to mom and pop shops starting from scratch. Let Nick Quah guide you through this ever-changing world, as he speaks with the producers, hosts, and executives that are shaping the culture of podcasting.
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Episodes
Introducing WILD by LAist Studios
July 01, 2021 09:30 - 34 minutes - 32 MBIntroducing WILD by LAist Studios, a podcast about origin stories. About those moments big and small that transform people forever. Season 1 of WILD: Home Forever is a time capsule of these kinds of moments captured during a global pandemic that left a lot of us "growing up" again while stuck at home for more than a year. In episode 1, we meet Daisy Figueroa who went back to her childhood home and decides to transform it. In the process, she creates her own business and redefines the standar...
Where We Are Now, Again
March 24, 2021 09:30 - 31 minutes - 28.7 MBServant of Pod is coming to an end, and since this is the final episode, we figured we’d close out the show the same way we began: in a pandemic. (Kidding, but not really.) To send off the podcast, Nick is joined by The Verge’s Ashley Carman to build a (very) brief picture of where the podcast world is at the outset of 2021. This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
Sarah Marshall of You’re Wrong About and Why are Dads?
March 17, 2021 09:30 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MBWriter, podcaster, and cultural critic Sarah Marshall has a distinct expertise: diving deep into the messy backstories of widely known subjects that are often overlooked in their elemental details. This week, Nick speaks with Marshall about the way she approaches her topics, her various projects, and the larger enterprise of sitting, listening, and forging an emotional connection with larger than life figures. This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting...
The “Spectacle” of Reality Television
March 10, 2021 10:30 - 23 minutes - 21.8 MBSome call it “guilty pleasure,” some call it trash, but whatever description you use, you can’t deny that reality television is now firmly baked into the firmament of American reality. The relationship between the genre and podcasting is also increasingly felt, as more reality stars are starting their own shows — and more podcasts are affecting what’s happening on the screen. This week, Nick speaks with Mariah Smith, a reality TV expert and the host of Spectacle, a new series about the histo...
True Crime and Through the Cracks
March 03, 2021 10:30 - 30 minutes - 28.2 MBTrue crime podcasts are some of the most popular and profitable shows being made, despite (or perhaps because of) its occasional ethical queasiness. This week: a roundtable discussion with Crime Writers On…’s Rebecca Lavoie and WAMU’s Jonquilyn Hill about the appeal, pitfalls, and opportunities of the genre. They also talk about Hill’s new project, Through the Cracks, which both draws from — and challenges — the fundamental true crime mechanics. This program is made possible in part by the ...
What does a Podcast Producer do?
February 24, 2021 10:30 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MBThe Podcast Producer: by and large, it is the atomic unit of labor in the podcast business, and it’s a role that means and involves many, many things depending on the specific situation. This week: a roundtable discussion with Chiquita Channel Paschal and Emmanuel Dzotsi about what it means to be a producer, the path to becoming a full-time producer these days, and the changes they’d make if they ruled the industry. This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadca...
Travis McElroy
February 17, 2021 10:30 - 26 minutes - 24.4 MBThe Brothers McElroy — Travis, Justin, Griffin — are among the most prolific creators you’ll find in this community. Since launching the wildly popular My Brother, My Brother, and Me in 2010, the brothers have gone on to create an entire universe of McElroy-affiliated podcasts: The Adventure Zone, Schmanners, ‘Til Death Do Us Blart, and Sawbones, among them. This week, Nick talks to just one of them, Travis, about the nature of their popularity, what it’s like to do business as brothers, and...
It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders
February 10, 2021 10:30 - 24 minutes - 22.8 MBIt’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders always feels as much of a surprise as it does a gift. Originally developed as a replacement for the time slot previously occupied by Car Talk, the podcast has emerged to become an endlessly interesting take on the generalist news magazine show, seamlessly tying together a blend of news, interviews, and cultural analysis that are routed through Sanders’ own universe of interests. This week, Nick talks to Sanders about his path to the mic, how he thinks abou...
Revisiting the Legacy of Serial
February 03, 2021 10:30 - 27 minutes - 24.8 MBIt’s been a little more than six years since Serial made its debut and became one of the most successful and influential podcasts in the history of the medium. Since then, so much has been said and written about that first season, which continues to carry a deep legacy not just for the nature of its phenomenon, but for how many people in podcasting feel about that phenomenon. This week, Nick is joined by the New Yorker’s Sarah Larson to unpack the long tail of Serial, and how it continues to...
Anything For Selena
January 27, 2021 10:30 - 28 minutes - 25.9 MBSelena Quintanilla is a cultural icon for many, but for Maria Garcia, she's much more than that. For Maria, who was raised in El Paso, Texas, and lived and worked on the border for years, Selena was a figure that helped her — and many other young girls and women like her — find a place in a world where they didn't feel like they belonged. This week, Nick speaks with Maria about Anything for Selena, her new series from WBUR and Futuro Studios, which revisits the legacy of Selena, with an ear ...
Decoder Ring
January 20, 2021 10:30 - 24 minutes - 22.5 MBWhy did the mullet become a thing? Why did everybody go crazy over Cabbage Patch dolls? And why would anybody ever go on a reality TV show? These are the typical questions you'd find asked in Slate's Decoder Ring, one for the smartest podcasts out there and one that more people should be checking out. In each episode, host Willa Paskin, usually the TV critic for Slate, picks up a different cultural object — a word, a phenomenon, a moment, a device — and subjects it to a simple question: why?...
What Comes Next for Crooked Media?
January 13, 2021 10:45 - 25 minutes - 23.4 MBCrooked Media was founded by a group of former Obama staffers in the wake of Trump’s surprise win in the 2016 presidential election. Over the next four years, the media company built a strong listenership by essentially serving as a focal point for a certain kind of progressive voter that stands in opposition to the Trump presidency. Now that the United States is due to be led by Democrats, the obvious question abounds: what does this mean for Crooked Media? Nick talks to Tanya Somanader, Cr...
By The Book
January 06, 2021 10:45 - 22 minutes - 20.7 MBAs they say: new year, new you... Or is it? In time for the expected flood of New Year's resolutions, Nick talks to Jolenta Greenberg and Kristen Meinzer of By The Book, a fun reality-ish podcast that features the two hosts documenting their attempts to live by a different self-help book, down to the letter, every episode. Just how valuable are these books, anyway? And who are the people that write them? Have any of these books actually been life-changing? This program is made possible in p...
Podcasts for the End of the World
December 30, 2020 10:30 - 28 minutes - 25.7 MBForget doomsday prepping – are there podcasts that could help us through the end of the world? In this episode, Nick speaks with two women grappling with this topic in very different ways. First, Amy Westervelt, creator of Drilled and the Critical Frequency podcast network, tells Nick about her work as a climate crisis reporter and how she battles rampant misinformation campaigns in order to inform her audience in a direct and entertaining way. Then Nick chats with Sophie Townsend, whose pod...
Dream Second Season
December 23, 2020 10:30 - 13 minutes - 12.4 MBWe’re taking Christmas week off, but we didn’t want to leave you out in the cold. Caroline Crampton joins Nick to talk about one-off podcasts that they wish would consider second seasons. This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
Morra Aarons-Mele: The Anxious Achiever
December 16, 2020 10:30 - 27 minutes - 25.3 MBThe worlds of business, entrepreneurship, and startups can be wicked in what they don’t say about how their culture can negatively impact the mental health of their participants. In The Anxious Achiever, a podcast with Harvard Business Review, Morra Aarons-Mele takes that gap to task, using each episode to deliver a different conversation that seeks to bring realities about mental health in the business world to light. In this week’s episode, Nick talks to Morra about why she started the sho...
The Best Podcasts of 2020
December 09, 2020 10:30 - 35 minutes - 32.5 MBIt’s that time of year when the world is flooded with “best of” lists...so how about one more? Nick welcomes Sarah Larson, a staff writer at The New Yorker who writes about podcasts in her column Podcast Dept. and New Hampshire Public Radio’s Rebecca Lavoie, co-host of Crime Writers On to share their favorites – and not-so-favorites – of 2020. Floodlines Wind Of Change Lost Notes:1980 Unfinished: Short Creek Nice White Parents My Year In Mensa American Rehab Canary This program is m...
Las Raras
December 02, 2020 10:30 - 25 minutes - 23.2 MBIt's been a year of protest, not just in America but around the world. In Chile, citizens have spent well over the past twelve months — before the pandemic, and through it — demonstrating to demand change to their national constitution, originally established by the dictator Augusto Pinochet thirty years ago. It’s in this environment that Las Raras, a Spanish-language narrative podcast telling stories of freedom and liberation, launched its latest season, which in part focuses on documenting...
Home Cooking
November 25, 2020 10:30 - 27 minutes - 25.1 MBAt the start of the pandemic lockdown, Samin Nosrat and Hrishikesh Hirway decided to collaborate on a four-episode podcast project to help people figure what to do with all the beans (among other foodstuffs) they bought in bulk to prepare for the unpredictabilities ahead. Almost a year later, they're still making new episodes, and thank goodness for Home Cooking: fun, joyful, and genuinely informative, the podcast turned out to be the best pop-up creation to come out of this moment. In this ...
Lauren Shippen: The Bright Sessions
November 18, 2020 10:30 - 27 minutes - 25.1 MBIn 2014, Lauren Shippen was an aspiring actor in Los Angeles: taking classes, booking intermittent gigs, waiting tables, the like. Four years later, she ended up becoming one of the busiest people in podcasting, all on the strength of an independent fiction podcast she had made on her own time: The Bright Sessions. In this week’s episode, Nick talks to Lauren about her steadily rising career in entertainment, which spans multiple podcasts, a multi-project book deal, and maybe more. Servant ...
True Crime Pioneer Marc Smerling
November 11, 2020 10:30 - 25 minutes - 23.1 MBIf you’ve spent any time thinking about the sprawling history of crime and politics in Providence, Rhode Island in recent years, it’s probably because you’re familiar with Crimetown ...or you’re from there. In this week’s episode, Nick speaks with Marc Smerling, the pioneer true crime documentarian who co-created Crimetown with Zac Stuart-Pontier, and whose wildly accomplished resume includes Capturing The Friedmans, Catfish, and The Jinx. Smerling’s latest projects are FX’s A Wilderness of ...
Vann Newkirk II: Floodlines
November 04, 2020 10:30 - 29 minutes - 27 MBWhat is Hurricane Katrina's long, complicated legacy? Nick speaks with Vann Newkirk II, the host and one of the creators of The Atlantic's Floodlines, which reflects on the Katrina crisis 15 years later. What do the federal responses to Katrina and Covid-19 have in common? Can the people of New Orleans ever really "recover" from the tragedy of Katrina? And how did the team make one of the best-sounding podcasts of the year? Servant of Pod sponsors include: Get a ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR advertis...
Halloween Special
October 28, 2020 09:30 - 30 minutes - 27.7 MBWhat makes a story…scary? You can cut this question a few different ways: through story structure, through sound design, through narrative mechanisms. In this week’s episode, Nick talks to Jeffrey Cranor, the co-creator of Welcome to Night Vale and co-writer of Within the Wires, about the ins and outs of building a scary, spooky, or creepy podcast experience. The episode also features notes from some great spooky pod creators — Unwell, Mabel, Here Be Monsters, Archive 81 — talking about the ...
Hanif Abdurraqib
October 21, 2020 09:30 - 26 minutes - 23.9 MBThe latest season of Lost Notes, KCRW’s anthology podcast unearthing great stories from the music world that are generally lost to time, is distinct in two ways: first, all of its narratives are pulled from the relatively unlikely year of 1980, and second, it’s curated and hosted by the poet, essayist, and critic Hanif Abdurraqib. The end result is utterly gorgeous. In this week’s episode, Nick talks to Abdurraqib about focusing on 1980, the nature of legacy and fandom, and how to love thing...
Kara Swisher
October 14, 2020 09:30 - 25 minutes - 23.2 MBKara Swisher is a journalism powerhouse known for cutting through the nonsense talking points and asking the tough questions to some of the most powerful people on the planet. She’s been doing this for nearly 30 years, and after launching two successful podcasts – Recode Decode and Pivot with Scott Galloway – she’s taking on her third: Sway with New York Times Opinion. In this week’s episode, Nick talks to Swisher about her new show’s focus – who has power and how they use it – the surprisin...
Roman Mars
October 07, 2020 09:30 - 28 minutes - 26.1 MBLast month marked ten whole years of 99% Invisible, Roman Mars’ podcast about design, architecture, and things that quietly shape our world. That’s a long time to be making the same show, even if it’s one that’s recognized and beloved by millions. On this episode, Nick talks to Mars about the origins of 99% Invisible, the grind of making a weekly show for a decade, and how he thinks about the legacy of the podcast, and himself. They also talk about the 99% Invisible book, The 99% Invisible C...
Podcast Picks
September 30, 2020 09:30 - 5 minutes - 4.86 MBNick offers a pair of podcast picks this week. You’re Wrong About and The Ringer’s The Cam Chronicles. Servant of Pod sponsors include: Learn more about podcast attribution at podsights.com UCLA Extension Fall Quarter starts September 28. Enroll now at https://www.uclaextension.edu/
Forever35’s Self-Care Revolution
September 23, 2020 09:30 - 27 minutes - 25.5 MBIn these really rough times — and things sure do seem to get rougher by the day — it’s important to take care of yourself. However, the concept of “self-care” has become an increasingly complicated one in recent years, as it’s drifted further into the territory of rampant consumerism and corporate branding. Sometimes, what's needed is a really good guide that helps you find the right balance with retail therapy; to engage with it in a way that actually feels good to you. Forever35 happens to...
How Happy is Gretchen Rubin?
September 16, 2020 09:30 - 22 minutes - 21 MBGretchen Rubin’s been keeping it positive, despite the circumstances. Then again, that’s probably what you’d expect from one of the most prominent voices on the subject of happiness. Rubin is the best-selling author behind books like “The Happiness Project” and “The Four Tendencies,” and she has the distinction of being one of the earliest author-to-podcaster crossovers in the business with her podcast, Happier with Gretchen Rubin, launching back in 2015. Nick talks to Rubin about her intere...
Chenjerai Kumanyika
September 09, 2020 09:30 - 22 minutes - 20.6 MBChenjerai Kumanyika is a man of many roles: academic, artist, organizer, journalist. He’s also a maker of podcasts, most notable for his work as the co-host of the Peabody award-winning Uncivil along with two acclaimed seasons of Scene on Radio, “Seeing White” and “The Land That Has Never Been Yet.” All three projects are united by a radical sensibility: to fundamentally rethink a core aspect of American society. This week, Nick talks to Chenjerai about how — and why — he has come to integra...
Paul Bae
September 02, 2020 09:30 - 23 minutes - 21.7 MBPaul Bae is one of the more prominent creators of fiction podcasts. Since 2015, he co-created The Black Tapes (with Terry Miles), created the anthology series The Big Loop, directed a podcast project from Marvel, and has two shows in development for Spotify. Paul is also part of a growing cadre of podcast creators that’s finding work in Hollywood, with a few television opportunities bubbling up on the horizon. A lot is happening for him, and he’s come a long way to get to this point. This we...
Richard’s Famous Food Podcast
August 26, 2020 09:30 - 27 minutes - 25.1 MBRichard’s Famous Food Podcast is pretty hard to describe. It’s technically a podcast that deals in food documentaries, but it’s also a cartoonish acid trip that rarely follows a straight line. Genuinely one of the most bizarre things you’ll ever hear, the show is also distinct for the fact that it’s all the creation of one person: Richard Parks III, a food writer, documentarian, filmmaker, and audio producer. This week, Nick asks Parks to walk through a single episode of the show – “Cornicho...
ESPN Daily: Sports Coverage Without the Sports
August 19, 2020 09:30 - 29 minutes - 26.9 MBCollege football and Major League Baseball are hanging by a thread. A Floridian bubble is home to multiple sports leagues, all playing out experimental seasons. Stadiums and arenas are largely empty, filled in with artificial crowd noises and, in some cases, papered over with digital fans. Persisting within a pandemic, the sports world has never been stranger. So what is it like to make a daily sports podcast? This week, Nick spoke with Pablo Torre and Eve Troeh, the host and senior editoria...
A Brief Peek at Audio Erotica
August 12, 2020 09:00 - 28 minutes - 26.5 MBHere’s something a little different. There’s this somewhat parodic but also very real assertion that pornography tends to be at the forefront of new technologies: high-speed internet video, virtual reality, that kind of thing. Podcasting isn’t a new technology at all, of course, but we were interested in the question: how does pornography — and erotica, which is different but related — intersect with the current boom in on-demand audio? This week, Nick spoke with three guests who come at thi...
What Does a Podcast Editor Do?
August 05, 2020 09:30 - 29 minutes - 27.1 MBThe job of a podcast editor can be hard to efficiently explain, because they do many little things in the service of one big thing: to make the show better for more people. They think about structure, emphasize tension, tighten language, and consider how the presentation of the story comes across to different types of people. Podcast editors — particularly for narrative nonfiction shows — used to be really hard to find, but this has changed a little bit over the past few years as the podcast...
Jody Avirgan: The Ghosts of the 2016 Elections
July 29, 2020 09:30 - 29 minutes - 27.1 MBThe 2016 presidential election cycle left a deep mark on the podcast world. Few know this better than Jody Avirgan, who produced the popular FiveThirtyEight podcast through that cycle. Though he’s sitting the 2020 cycle out, opting instead to make This Day In Esoteric Political History with the Radiotopia network, Avirgan still has a lot to say about the way podcasts cover the elections. In this episode, Nick and Jody look back on the 2016 politics podcast explosion. Chapo Trap House Keepi...
Josh Levin: Slow Burn
July 22, 2020 09:30 - 32 minutes - 29.6 MBSlate's Slow Burn is one of the best podcast documentary series around, with each season driven forward by a simple framework: what was it like to live through a prominent historical event? For its fourth season, the team examines the rise of David Duke in the late '80s and early '90s, centering its attention on a major recent effort by a white supremacist to gain formal political power. Nick talks with Josh Levin, who hosts the season, and for whom the story of David Duke is a personal one....
Kid’s Podcasts: A True Alternative to Screen Time?
July 15, 2020 09:30 - 36 minutes - 33.5 MBThe numbers for kid’s podcasts have risen noticeably during lockdown. Nick talks to Molly Bloom, of American Public Media’s Brains On and its spin-off Smash Boom Best, and Lindsay Patterson, co-creator of Tumble Media and co-chair of Kids Listen, about the genre’s appeal, history, and power. Plus, Kameel Stanley joins Nick to dive deeper into the recent industry conversations involving creators of color and intellectual property. Podcasting can realize its promise — if it meets the challeng...
Hank Green on Big Money in Podcasting
July 08, 2020 09:30 - 33 minutes - 30.7 MBAs a veteran YouTuber, Hank Green is familiar with what happens when a quirky community starts seeing serious money, and grows up to become something else. This week, Nick talks to Green, who also makes podcasts, about whether he sees the same thing happening to podcasting. Hank’s opinion piece for The Washington Post Podcasts from Hank and John Green Vlogbrothers Crash Course Meddling Adults Dr. Gameshow
Stitcher Sold
July 07, 2020 10:00 - 13 minutes - 12.7 MBLast night, we learned that Stitcher is being sold to SiriusXM in what is now the largest podcast deal to date. Hot Pod’s UK writer Caroline Crampton joins Nick to talk through the ramifications of that news, plus what’s been going on at WNYC. The New York Times: “WNYC Employees Demanded Diversity. They Got Another White Boss.”
Making Music for Podcasts
July 01, 2020 09:30 - 42 minutes - 38.8 MBComposers Ramtin Arablouei of NPR and Gimlet’s Haley Shaw join Nick to talk about scoring podcasts, their favorite podcast music, and how they got where they are in this relatively new field. And to go over the week’s big news stories, Nick calls up Caroline Crampton, Hot Pod’s UK writer. Anthems / Stitcher for sale? / Serial / The Daily / Run To Your Mama / Snap Judgement / S-Town / Drop Electric / Ted Radio Hour / Throughline / Mogul / The Ballad of Billy Balls / The Habitat / 10 Things T...
Avery Trufelman: Articles Of Interest
June 24, 2020 09:30 - 39 minutes - 35.7 MBAvery Trufelman’s Articles of Interest is a show that explores fundamental ideas about fashion: What is its significance? Why do we give it value? How does it materially impact the world? In this episode, Nick talks with Avery about her work, which combines storytelling with a strong and evolving worldview. He also pulls apart the latest news with Ashley Carman, senior reporter for The Verge. This Is Not A Drake Podcast Boom/Bust: The Rise and Fall of HQ Trivia New Sounds Lucinda Willia...
John Moe: The Hilarious World of Depression
June 17, 2020 09:30 - 34 minutes - 31.9 MBThe Hilarious World of Depression, hosted by public radio veteran John Moe, was built around a kind of provocation: is depression funny? It takes the question to some of the most talented comedians, musicians, and performers in the world, going lengths to illustrate the universality of depression. Tragically, the show was cancelled earlier this week, but we’re airing this conversation because we believe in its mission and how it tried to de-stigmatize discussions around mental health. In thi...
Where We Are Now
June 17, 2020 09:30 - 43 minutes - 40.1 MBWelcome to Servant of Pod. To kick things off, Nick tries to build a (very) brief picture of where the podcast world is right now with the help of Team Coco’s Adam Sachs and Earios co-founder Priyanka Mattoo. He also gets advice on how to be a decent podcast host from a great podcast host: Death Sex and Money’s Anna Sale.
Welcome to Servant of Pod
May 29, 2020 17:37 - 1 minute - 1.82 MBIntroducing a new podcast from LAist Studios hosted by Nick Quah, your guide through the ever-changing culture of podcasting.