NicheCast #1: A podcast playlist for when your heart is breaking
5 episodes to hold you in a trying time.
Hi!
Welcome to issue #1 of Shreya’s Audio Affairs. This issue has the following in store for you:
Welcome to the NicheCast.
NicheCast #1: a podcast playlist for when your heart is breaking.
Thank you for being here. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.
NicheCast
Shreya’s NicheCast will share podcast playlists for specific emotions. I am starting this because:
💜 I’ve grown rather tired of those around me thinking that the word podcasts means an interview show featuring dude-bro a certain kind of energy. While I do enjoy the occasional jab at the industry, especially one that involves Jane Austen, it does hurt when people outside my podcast circles think this is all there is to podcasts. To readers in the podcast circles – I hope you can share this playlist with people who might harbour this notion. To readers outside of podcast circles – see what I mean?
💜 I LOVE specific YouTube playlists like studying like a scholar in the baroque period or feeling nostalgic for a fairytale you once were in. So, I thought, why not create podcast playlists like these?
To make for easy sharing and consumption, these playlists will also live on Spotify and on Podchaser.
Without further ado, I present!
NicheCast #1: A podcast playlist for when your heart is breaking
Podcasts give us sound, poetry, and stories during a difficult hour. Here are some podcast episodes that have provided me comfort, companionship, and perspective when my heart was breaking. I hope they do the same for you.
(Disclaimer - these episodes are not meant just for break-ups; they can salvage other situations where a heart might break too).
Listen on: Spotify | Podchaser
Poetry Unbound: Hannah Emerson - Keep Yourself at the Beginning of the Beginning
Through Hannah Emerson’s poem, host Pádraig Ó Tuama reminds us that emptiness can signal the start of something. In times of emptiness, we can find the space to put ourselves at the beginning. Listen here.
Length of episode: 14 minutes.
This episode is: reflective, hopeful, and relatable.
The Shadows: Episode 1 - The Romantic
The Shadows challenges our ideals about romance and love at first sight. The podcast examines the anatomy of a relationship through the eyes of a hopeless romantic. The stories of these characters can offer perspective on our own. Listen here.
Average episode length: 35 minutes.
This podcast is: unique, brutally honest, and like your sassy aunt holding up a mirror to your love life.
The Anthropocene Reviewed: You’ll Never Walk Alone and Jerzy Dudek
John Green’s soothing voice tells a tale spanning from a Polish goalkeeper to a song from a Rogers and Hammerstein musical. To say anything more would be to spoil the experience. I give this episode 5 stars (iykyk). Listen here to remember: you’re not alone.
Episode length: 25 minutes.
This episode is: tear-inducing, wholesome, and it goes well with a walk.
Rumble Strip: Finn and the Bell
Erica Heilman’s Pulitzer-award winning podcast episode leaves your feeling surprisingly full for a rather sad story. One can’t help but feel renewed hope when witnessing the strength in the conversations Heilman has in this episode. Listen here. (Content warning: mentions suicide).
Episode length: 33 minutes 51 seconds.
This episode is: impactful, reflective, and hopeful.
Modern Love: An Empty Heart with Zoe Lister-Jones
This list would be incomplete without a Modern Love episode so here it is. Through a relatable tale of young love Lily King’s essay, read by Zoe Lister-Jones, reminds us that sometimes to be filled, a heart needs emptying. Listen here. (This is a paywalled link so you can also listen to the episode on any of the platforms mentioned below).
Episode length: 19 minutes.
This episode is: honest, relatable, and capable of providing closure.
Listen to NicheCast#1 on: Spotify | Podchaser
Question: what are some podcasts that have been there for you when your heart was breaking? I’d love to listen to them and if they resonate with me, they’ll be added to the playlist.
Credits
I love credits, both at the end of movies and podcasts. Bear with me as this is the first issue so there are quite a few people to thank:
Erik Jones for the email banner and cover art for this playlist. Subscribe to his newsletter Hurt Your Brain for podcast recommendations, fun links, and more unique visuals.
Evo Terra for always being honest and helpful.
Lauren Passell, Devin Andrade, and Arielle Nissenblatt. Your love for podcasts is as contagious as your smiles.
Caila Litman, Dane Cardiel, Steph Colbourn, Bryan Barletta, and Caitlin Van Horn. If it takes a village, this is my village for sure.
Veronica Montes, Paige McCauley, and Michelle Khouri for having the relentless courage to show up. Everything you touch turns to gold.
My family for the merciless teasing that makes me take myself less seriously.
Last, but far from least, thank you to my best friends - SR, PB, and GB. Love found its’ true meaning in our friendship.
Love this. YAY!
Amazing! Love the recommendations.