Best of Impactful Podcasts 2023
Best of Impactful Podcasts 2023
Sounds Like Impact's version of a "Best Of" 🏅
The complete first annual #SoundsLikeImpact “Best of Impactful Podcasts” round-up is here! Back in June I compiled the “so far” list, but now there are some modifications to the list, including the format.
The point of this list is to celebrate podcasts that highlight a societal issue–or issues–in a meaningful, thoughtful and compelling way. I look for shows that tell stories that are solutions-oriented, or that have the potential to inspire social change.
If you notice any differences between the list released in June versus the December list, it does not mean that a show is no longer an impactful listen. It’s more about just providing a list* of shows for readers to prioritize (we only have an attention span for so much!), but that doesn’t mean that I don’t think you should go back and listen to anything I mentioned previously that isn’t on the final list. Also please remember, any list is subjective! These are shows that I listened to and loved, and that does not devalue those absent or imbue any kind of superiority for those present.
As a reminder, the basic qualifying criteria are as follows:
Narrative (story driven)
Launched in 2023
Finite: A mini series / a complete season / limited series
All episodes available (before this list published). The cutoff for my review was all episodes published by end of November.
*Instead of a list of 10, I bumped the number up to 14, both because I felt like it and because it’s really hard to choose with such incredible work out there!
Navigating this list:
Trailers are embedded when available, and should play regardless of whether you have a Spotify account.
You can get the playlist of all the shows’ episodes on Spotify only. However, each of the podcast titles link to Pod.link, so you can choose the podcast player of your choice.
The hyperlinked “About” text links to the show website, when available, and the text that follows is the show description, aka not my words.
“Best of” List Contents (listed in order of release month)
“Equity and Education” (Systemic) 🆕
City of Tents: Veterans Row 🆕
You Didn’t See Nothin
Letters from Sing Sing 🆕
Discarded
“The Welfare-to-Work Industrial Complex” (The Uncertain Hour) 🆕
Left Over: How Corporations and Politicians Are Milking the American School Lunch
“The COVID Tracking Project” (Reveal)
Freeway Phantom 🆕
“Buffalo Extreme” (Embedded)
Sandcastles
Expectant
Weight For It 🆕
The Kids of Rutherford County 🆕
Under some entries is a related interview, recommended CTA and/or a rec for another show of a similar theme or style. Happy listening and doing! 😉
Also please share this list with others!
🌟 The List 🌟
“Equity and Education” | Systemic
Released: January 2023
Topic Tags: Education, DEI, race
Format: Season, 4 episodes
Publisher: Marketplace / APM
Why It’s Impactful: The backlash to calls for racial equity in 2020 has extended to public education. This show helps us to understand how hostility to DEI efforts is playing out in a particular community and what impact that has on stakeholders.
About: Systemic is an award-winning podcast that uses audio diaries and interviews to document the lives of people working to create change. In Season 2, the show follows a diverse group of educators, students and parents during a school year in which debates around race and equity in public education reached a fever pitch.
Similarly themed work to listen to: Borrowed and Banned or School Colors
Take Action: Education CTAs
City of Tents: Veterans Row
Released: February 2023
Topic Tags: Veterans, homelessness, economic inequality, government
Format: Season, 8 episodes
Publisher: KCRW
Why It’s Impactful: At first glance, it might seem like this show is going to tackle NIMBYism and economic inequality, but what you’ll find is it is really an investigation into the failure of government to deliver on their promise to veterans.
About: In one of LA’s fanciest neighborhoods, homeless military veterans erected a big tent city and refused to leave. “City of Tents: Veterans Row” tells the story of the men who built the camp as a protest, and how it became both a refuge and a battlefield. The camp eventually engulfed the entire neighborhood around it in conflict and became a symbol for the limits of our patriotism – before it finally came to an end more than one year later.
Similarly themed work to listen to: This guest curation by Alexandra Cohl.
You Didn’t See Nothin
Released: February 2023
Topic Tags: Racial Injustice, hate crimes | Content warning: violence
Format: Limited series, 7 episodes
Publisher: USG Audio, Invisible Institute
Why It’s Impactful: In addition to being deeply personal story, this investigation into fallout of an act of racial terror helps use to understand the complex realities before us as we try to address racial injustice and prevent hate crimes today.
About: In 1997, Lenard Clark was beaten into a coma by a gang of older white teens simply for being Black in a white neighborhood. One of Lenard’s attackers was from a powerful Chicago family, with connections to the mob dating back to Al Capone. The media quickly turned towards stories of reconciliation and racial healing, enabled by Black leaders seemingly in thrall to the attacker’s family.
Yohance wasn’t having any of it. At the time of the attack, he was in his early 20s, writing plays, selling weed, and living at his dad’s house on the South Side of Chicago. Unable to stand by silently, he began working with a neighborhood newspaper to investigate the vicious hate crime. Reporting on the incident led him to grow increasingly disillusioned with journalism.
“You Didn't See Nothin” finds Yohance back in Chicago after a 10-year prison sentence, tracking down key players to examine how this story connects to our present moment.
Similarly themed work to listen to: Holy Week
Letters from Sing Sing
Released: February 2023
Topic Tags: Mass incarceration, wrongful conviction, racial injustice
Format: Limited series, 8 episodes
Publisher: NBC News Studio
Why It’s Impactful: Unethical and racist practices of law enforcement aside, peer pressure within a jury—a duty that most of us will have at one point or another (at least in the US)—led to a conviction that forever changed a man and his family’s life forever.
About: In December of 2002, NBC News producer Dan Slepian got a letter from a New York state prison. It was from a man serving 25 years to life for murder. And it ended with a desperate plea: look into my case. Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez had been convicted of killing a retired New York City police officer, but he insisted he didn’t do it. Dan was skeptical. Prosecutors said five eyewitnesses had sworn JJ was the killer. Could five people be wrong? So Dan began to dig. What he discovered went far beyond just JJ’s case. And 20 years later, it’s still unfolding. Letters from Sing Sing tells the story of a man convicted of murder, a journalist, and the letter that changed both of their lives.
Similarly themed work to listen to: Earwitness
Take Action: This interview with Obscured creators has organizations working on wrongful convictions and trauma from negative police interactions. And again, you must recognize your power as a juror and act ethically.
Discarded
Released: February 2023
Topic Tags: Environmental injustice, pollution, environmental health
Format: Limited series, 4 episodes
Publisher: Lemonada Media
Why It’s Impactful: Throughout this series, host Gloria Riviera successfully guides us through this tale of environmental injustice, misguided calls for consumer convenience and industry malpractice. I also want to commend Lemonada Media for partnering with environmental nonprofit Only One to develop a resource guide with calls-to-action that you can take.
About: This is the story of a modern-day Erin Brockovich, set on the Mississippi River in an area known as “Cancer Alley.” Her name is Sharon Lavigne, her community is St. James Parish in Louisiana, and her fight is to keep out one of the largest plastic manufacturing companies in the world.
In this investigative four-part series, hosted by Emmy award-winning journalist Gloria Riviera, we discover how our plastic world came to be. Because plastic is everywhere – it has advanced our world, but it has damaged our environment and our health. So what do we do? We look at what’s next for all of us, and how we can learn from communities like St. James to make a difference in our own backyards.
Similarly themed work to listen to: Help This Garden Grow
Take Action: Environmental CTAs
“The Welfare-to-Work Industrial Complex” | The Uncertain Hour
Released: March 2023
Topic Tags: Economic inequality, government
Format: Season, 6 episodes
Publisher: Marketplace / APM
Why It’s Impactful: I believe this show will help clear up misperceptions of those on welfare as it brings to light a flawed system exacerbated by the privatization of social services.
About: Each season, we explain the weird, complicated and often unequal American economy — and why some people get ahead and some get left behind. Host Krissy Clark dives into obscure policies and forgotten histories to explain why America is like it is. The latest season examines the “welfare-to-work industrial complex” and the multi-million dollar companies running today’s for-profit welfare centers.
Similarly themed work to listen to: Throughline or Freakonomics Radio
Left Over: How Corporations and Politicians Are Milking the American School Lunch
Released: March 2023
Topic Tags: Education, economic inequality, government
Format: Limited series, 6 episodes
Publisher: LWC Studios, The Counter
Why It’s Impactful: Left Over makes clear that the story of school lunch is tied to economic inequality, gender inequality, food sovereignty, political priorities (and politicking) and climate change.
About: Left Over is a six-part investigative series from LWC Studios looking at the systemic shortcomings of the National School Lunch program, from those at the bottom of the food pyramid, to those at the top. Left Over’s reporter, award-winning journalist Jessica Terrell, travels to school districts across the country for a closer look at why and how corporations and politicians are undermining and exploiting the American public school lunch system. Each episode of Left Over dives into the experiences of lunch workers, students, families, caretakers, and community organizers while examining how the problematic views surrounding poverty and unchecked racial inequality are fueling the country’s largest anti-hunger programs.
Similarly themed work to listen to: Sold a Story
Read my interview with creator Jessica Terrell.
“The Covid Tracking Project” | Reveal
[No trailer available]
Released: April 2023
Topic Tags: Public health, COVID, government
Format: Mini-series, 3 episodes
Publisher: Reveal
Why It’s Impactful: The COVID Tracking Project mini-series is the retrospective that we need to remind us of the mistakes made so that we can plot a path forward.
About: This three-part series exposes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s bungled response to COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic and takes listeners inside the massive volunteer effort to collect data about tests, cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the U.S.
The United States has 4% of the world’s population, but 16% of COVID-19 deaths. This series investigates the failures that led to over 1 million Americans dying from COVID-19 and what that tells us about the nation’s ability to respond to the next pandemic. This three-part series was reported by Artis Curiskis and Kara Oehler and hosted by infectious disease expert Jessica Malaty Rivera.
Similarly themed work to listen to: Half-Vaxxed: The Rise and Fall of Philly Fighting COVID
Take Action: Go get your COVID booster! Keep masking in public spaces! Do not let these efforts and the countless deaths and illness be for nothing. I highly recommend
to stay up to date on what’s happening with COVID.Freeway Phantom
Released: May 2023
Topic Tags: Racial injustice, true crime, gender | Content warning: violence & racial trauma
Format: Limited series, 10 episodes, 2 bonus eps
Publisher: Tenderfoot TV, IHeartMedia, Black Bar Mitzvah
Why It’s Impactful: Freeway Phantom carefully articulates how racist and sexist attitudes can hinder crime investigations. Also, the show does not sensationalize these tragedies and I applaud their efforts to put up a reward for tips that could lead to the resolution of these cold cases.
About: Between 1971 and 1972, six black girls went missing in the Washington D.C. area. Their bodies were discarded alongside DC freeways. And their killer was never found. The media dubbed him “The Freeway Phantom.” From iHeartRadio and Tenderfoot TV, a new podcast reinvestigates the 50 year old unsolved murders of these young girls. Journalist and Public Radio veteran Celeste Headlee (NPR, PBS, TEDx) examines old case files and interviews the investigators and family members who are still haunted by these killings. Headlee will ask the questions: Why didn’t these murders make the news headlines? Did law enforcement do enough to solve these crimes? And how do racial disparities impact these types of investigations, past and present? Plus, we’ll explore new evidence which may crack the cold case wide open again.
If you have any information relating to these unsolved crimes, contact the Metropolitan Police Department at (202) 727-9099. If you have a tip and would like to reach out directly to Tenderfoot TV, email us at tips@tenderfoot.tv.
Similarly themed work to listen to: After Broad and Market
Read my interview with producer Jamie Albright, which also has some CTAs.
“Buffalo Extreme” | Embedded
Released: May 2023
Topic Tags: Mental health, gun violence | Content warning: Gun violence & racial trauma
Format: Mini-series, 3 episodes
Publisher: NPR
Why It’s Impactful: You are hearing from young Black women–and their families–who have experience an unspeakable act of mass violence and racial terror in their hometown. I commend Na’kya McCann, a first-time host and our guide for this series, for sharing her story and the stories of her fellow community members.
About: What happens after a racist mass shooting in your neighborhood? On May 14, 2022, the world changed for residents of Buffalo, New York, when a white man approached the Jefferson Street Tops supermarket and started shooting. He murdered ten and injured three people, almost all Black. That same day, teenagers and children — members of a Black cheer team called BASE — were at their gym around the corner. "Buffalo Extreme" is their story: a 3-part series where NPR hands the mic to the girls, their moms and coaches as they navigate the complicated path to recovery in the year after.
Similarly themed work to listen to: All the Only Ones (another series in the Embedded feed from November 2023 that focuses on trans youth)
Take Action: This curation on gun violence has CTAs.
Sandcastles
Released: May 2023
Topic Tags: Environmental, climate change, disaster recovery
Format: Season, 5 episodes
Publisher: Wave Maker Media
Why It’s Impactful: The tagline of Sandcastles alludes to a desire for belonging through emphasizing that the show is about home: the space that we construct in our heart, our mind, and maybe on the physical plane. I believe that the narrative that Cargill and her team have put together can serve as a blueprint for how we should do climate storytelling going forward.
About: On the night of the Woolsey Fire, no one could have imagined where they’d be today–they couldn't think much past survival. It was life or death. But in the days and years that followed what this unlikely band of surfers pioneered could have global consequences. When emergency first responders were overwhelmed by LA county’s most destructive fire, these neighbors and friends stepped up to defend their home turf in Point Dume, Malibu. Their devotion to home drove them to show up for their community in ways no one expected- not even them.
Sandcastles is a podcast about home, how we create it, and why we fight so hard for it.
Similarly themed work to listen to: Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America
Take Action: Environmental CTAs
Read my interview with creator Adriana Cargill.
Expectant
Released: May 2023
Topic Tags: Mental health, climate change, parenthood
Format: Limited series, 6 episodes
Publisher: Pippa Johnstone (Indie)
Why It’s Impactful: Expectant is a masterful composition of what makes fictional storytelling captivating, and how nonfiction can ground us in reality.
About: Expectant is a six-part audio series that muddies fiction and non-fiction as a woman faces the prospect of becoming a parent during the climate crisis.
Through conversations with climate researchers, parents, mental health experts and childfree families, she grapples with grief, hope, and the biggest decision of her life: should she bring a child into this world?
Similarly themed work to listen to: Climate Anxiety and the Kid Question
Take Action: This curation about climate emotions has CTAs.
Read my interview with creator Pippa Johnstone.
Weight for It
Released: August 2023
Topic Tags: Weight stigma, body image | Content warning: If you have struggled with eating disorders or mental health issues surrounding weight, you may want to take care when listening.
Format: Season, 7 episodes
Publisher: Radiotopia/PRX, OhItsBigRon Studios
Why It’s Impactful: As I touched on in
‘s Audio Delicacies, Weight For It is an incredibly vulnerable work that also manages to provide a model for what reconciliation, accountability and healing can sound like in an audio format.
About: Weight For It unpacks the nuanced thoughts of fat folks, and of all folks who think about their weight all the time. Through narrative storytelling, and some memoir, host Ronald Young Jr. hopes to have the conversations that we tend to avoid when it comes to our bodies.
Similarly styled work to listen to: Free From Desire: Asexual in the City of Love
Take Action: This curation about weight stigma has CTAs.
Read my interview with Ronald Young Jr.
The Kids of Rutherford County
Released: October 2023
Topic Tags: Racial injustice, juvenile system, government, mass incarceration
Format: Limited Series, 4 episodes
Publisher: Serial / NYTimes / ProPublica / Nashville Public Radio
Why It’s Impactful: First, I admired journalist Meribah Knight’s persistence in seeking accountability for what are quite heinous actions against children. Second, this show was a reminder that for as disillusioned as we can get about voting, the judge responsible for the unjust incarceration of over 1000 children was elected to a local office that most of us probably would not pay attention to, so we all need to be better about that.
About: For over a decade, one Tennessee county arrested and illegally jailed hundreds, maybe thousands, of children. A four-part narrative series reveals how this came to be, the adults responsible for it, and the two lawyers, former juvenile delinquents themselves, who try to do something about it.
Similarly themed work to listen to: Say Their Name
Share what social impact podcast series you were loving this year? Drop your recs in the comments!
Also, if you’ve listened to any of the shows above, please share your thoughts!