Shows That Shift Paradigms with Rekha Murthy
Shows That Shift Paradigms with Rekha Murthy
Sounds Like Impact: A newsletter for audio and action – Vol. 3
Welcome to Volume 3 of Sounds Like Impact!
Today we have a guest curation from podcast strategist Rekha Murthy, and Rekha is also our creator interview for this edition. I hope you enjoy listening to her picks, learning about her career and reading her advice.
Announcements: This newsletter has 178 subscribers! I am so grateful to each and every one of you for signing up, and to those of you who have shared with others on your own platforms.
Do you think this newsletter can get to 200 subscribers by the end of the month? Many of you got me to 100, and I think we can do it again! If you have been enjoying what you’ve read or listened to, please share.
And I want to give extra thanks to the following people who have pledged support to the newsletter since it began this month: Renee, Lauren, Deondric, Emma, Sara and Juleyka!
A moment of transparency: Because of the way Substack works, I have to turn on Paid Subscriptions for the pledges to actually go through—even if I prefer the language used for pledging. The only change is you will see a button that says ‘Upgrade To Paid,’ but you can still read the newsletter for free.
Please read my intro to this newsletter to learn more about my efforts and the current discount for April. Upgrade if it moves you, donate one-time if you prefer, share if thats all you can or want to do; I’m thankful for it all.
🙌 Keeping the faith: I saw a story on Instagram about a barber named Vernon Jackson who offers free haircuts to children with disabilities in Cincinnati. Vernon’s community effort echoes a piece of advice you’ll find mentioned in Rekha’s interview.
Watch the news clip on CBS.
#AudioForAction | Guest Curation by Rekha Murthy
‘Shows that Shift Paradigms’
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A selection of evergreen episodes and series that have changed my thinking on life, nature, podcasting (yes, podcasting), and people. They are beautifully made and enjoyable listens. - Rekha Murthy
Gravity, On Mortality and Meaning with Paul Kalanithi
Editor’s Note: Rekha helped design the show, story edit and find it a home at Wonder Media Network.
Mothers Of Invention, You Probably Have Everything You Need
70 Over 70, "Everybody's Job Changes" with Nikki Giovanni
The Ezra Klein Show, This Conversation with Richard Powers is a Gift
Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness, Are We Imagining a Better Future Into Existence? with adrienne maree brown
Bonus Listening: Buffy, a 5-part series about Indigenous singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie.
Get the podcast playlist on Spotify or Podchaser for wherever you may listen.
🗳 If you would like to submit a guest curation, first consider pitching your podcast(s). If you do not work in podcasting, hang tight for now. I will be putting out on open-call in the next few months.
🚨 Calls to Action
Based on Rekha’s podcast recommendations, and inspired by my interview with her, here are a couple of CTAs that I recommend.
Ponder: “On Mortality and Meaning” gives us some things to think about, and you may want to continue with that theme. Check out the recent issue of Spiral, a free magazine from the Rubin Museum of Art in NYC. It further expands on the subject of their latest exhibition Death Is Not the End. If you can get to the exhibition, I recommend that too!
Become: While Rekha found an environmental group to get involved with, perhaps there are other ways you want to help the environment, and your well-being. Learn more from Nice News on how to become a Citizen Scientist and improve your mood at the same time!
Google Arts and Culture actually has a cool audio citizen science coral reef opportunity that you can do from your home, happening now!
📣 Spotlight
Rekha Murthy is a podcast strategist who believes that podcasting is at its best when it includes a wide range of voices and lived experiences. She offers content strategy, editorial, and audience development services to clients of all sizes – from big companies and public radio stations to independent creators, influencers, and journalists. Rekha is a founding team member and lead curriculum designer of Spotify’s Sound Up program for underrepresented makers around the world. She is a Peer Group Co-Chair for The Impact Guild, and recently served as a Founding Governor of The Podcast Academy, which hosts The Ambies. She spent years at PRX + Radiotopia, NPR’s All Things Considered + NPR Online, and web and mobile startups. Other passions include good journalism, street media, graphic novels, saving our planet’s livable climate, good friends, long walks, knitting scarves, and her little girls.
Below is an excerpt of my interview with Rekha. Be sure to check out the full interview where she talks about her career path and shares some gems for podcasters and readers alike on good storytelling and getting involved with social issues.
You have worked on a variety of shows, and most seem to have some sort of social impact focus. Gravity, about how to reframe our collective approach to hardship; This Land, about threats to indigenous sovereignty; Twenty-Four Seven, a show about the caregiving crisis; and Drilled, about accountability for those behind the climate crisis.
Why are these sorts of shows what you gravitate towards?
Why these sorts of shows? Because there are plenty of the other kinds - pure entertainment, chat, true crime, political takes by people who already have plenty of exposure, and so on. Many podcasts have changed my life, showing me so much more than my traditional education and mainstream media diet ever did. I want more of those kinds of podcasts in the world. I want podcasts that do something different, that don't replicate older media forms with their limited scope of who gets heard, what gets centered, and who can pay the subscription to consume. I want depth, creativity, and, yes, lightness.
⏭ Coming Up
As mentioned last week, next we will explore some environmental investigative series, and some take a true-crime approach.
And will next week be the week that we have the first reader submitted “Act of Joy”? I hope so! Learn how to submit.
🤗 An act of joy: I love watching TV, especially while Facetiming with my good friend Andrea. As recent as last week we did this and we watched the show we love to recommend to EVERYONE called 9-1-1: Lone Star.
You will laugh, you will cry, you will gasp; you will be amazed at how creative the writers are. Seriously, give it a try (at least 3 eps) and tell me I’m wrong (or right). Comments are open 😂.
Take care of yourselves! And if you listen or take any actions, be sure to let me know in the comments or via email soundslikeimpact [at] unofficialsocialchair [dot] com.