Sounds Like Impact turned 2!
Sounds Like Impact: A newsletter for audio and action
Welcome to Sounds Like Impact!
First, a heartfelt thank you to those who subscribed to the newsletter during this hiatus period. I’ve been navigating unexpected life challenges, and it means a lot that folks still find value in the newsletter and believe in its potential.
April marks the completion of two years of publishing, and I could not be more grateful for those who have joined me on this journey.
Since the last edition in February, over 40 new subscribers have joined. Thank you to those who continue to recommend the newsletter to those in your networks.
With that, another milestone has been reached…
When I started this newsletter in 2023 after navigating my first layoff from the audio industry, I wanted to carry on the work I had started in 2021 as a Social Impact Editor at Spotify. The audio landscape is changing again in 2025, and many of the public media outlets that release impactful, investigative journalism about social issues now face more uncertainty with the new administration. Financial support for indie podcasts, which was already precarious before 2025, still seems to be a barrier to show development and promotion. And challenges to DEI, social services, environmental, and social advocacy abound.
So what does that mean for Sounds Like Impact? I’m still figuring it out, and I could use your help. Please take the short survey (5 polls) below to help me focus this newsletter. Also, if you prefer to leave comments or message me directly, please do so! Any feedback, even outside of the questions below, is welcome.
I really would like to have some clarity this month so I can restart publishing in June.
With 1000+ subscribers, can I get at least 250 responses?! Please help ^.
Also, what issues are top of mind for you right now? Let me know in the comments or messages!
🎧 New-ish Audio
While not a traditional curation, I want to list some shows or new seasons that came out during my hiatus that you may want to know about.
Vienna is working a delivery job when she hears about Cop City, a massive police training facility being built in Atlanta. She decides to join a group of activists attempting to stop construction. When Vienna arrives in the South River Forest, she quickly finds a community, a cause –- and a love unlike any other. But the events of one morning shatters everything. Vienna and everyone connected to the forest begin asking themselves a question: what are you willing to die for?
One nerd’s quest to find out why we know next to nothing about period pain. Tired of suffering from “death cramps” with no diagnosis for 20 years, Kate Downey has to look for her own answers. She interviews top doctors and researchers, and delves into topics from Greek history to sitcoms to TikTok wellness scams, all to figure out why menstrual pain is so often dismissed and untreated. What she finds will change how you think about your own body and the medical system. Because having a microphone gets you more answers than having a uterus.
Disrupting Peace explores why peace hasn’t worked, and how it still could. In each episode, Bridget Conley, research director at the World Peace Foundation, speaks with a researcher specializing in one obstacle to peace, and an activist who’s changing systems from the ground up. Together they explore what worked, what didn’t, and why we shouldn’t give up.
Divine Intervention is the untold story of a ragtag band of radical nuns in combat boots, wild-haired priests and their madcap friends who swiftly became accomplished cat-burglars in a hellbent effort to sabotage the Vietnam war. Many went to jail, some betrayed their friends, others fell in love.
Safeguarding Sound Science from the National Center for Science Education combats misinformation, disinformation, and misconceptions about climate change with actual science. In Season One: Climate Change Edition, Mat Kaplan (former host of Planetary Radio) talks to scientists, teachers, and other experts to explore who’s behind some of the more insidious efforts to spread misinformation, how those efforts filter down to schools and classrooms, and what is being done to ensure that everyone, including students, get an accurate climate change education.
Unsolved Histories: What Happened to Flight 293? explores one of aviation’s greatest mysteries—the disappearance of a Northwest Airlines DC-7C carrying military personnel and their families over the Gulf of Alaska on June 3, 1963. Moments before vanishing, one of the pilots radioed air traffic control requesting a change in altitude, but the flight was never heard from again. With no survivors and little debris recovered, families were left with unanswered questions and no formal recognition of their loss. The podcast sheds light on the decades-long fight for recognition led by these families and advocates, a movement that has now helped inspire bipartisan federal legislation.
From Understood.org, Climbing the Walls is an investigative limited-series podcast that explores why women weren’t diagnosed with ADHD for so long — and how the massive uptick in diagnoses since the pandemic is changing the ways we think about ADHD.
She Leads with CARE is a limited podcast series hosted by actor and producer Bellamy Young. From Vietnam to Ukraine to Tanzania, community leaders share their life experiences to show how local empowerment programs are changing lives. Join Bellamy to learn about the difference we can make in our own lives – and the lives of those around us – when we care.
Spotlight: Snitch City brings listeners inside the clandestine world of police informants through the story of one police department. Investigative reporter Dugan Arnett uncovers rampant misconduct and explores how, in a nation addicted to drugs, police have become addicted to informants.
For 50 years, CHFA has worked alongside partners and communities in pursuit of the vision that everyone in Colorado will have the opportunity for housing stability and economic prosperity. Now, we're uplifting the stories of those partners: people and organizations tackling some of the toughest housing challenges in the Centennial State. Over the course of eight episodes this season, The Buildout will take listeners across Colorado: from Front Range cities to resort towns to rural communities; from homelessness to homeownership; to the collaborations and innovations to build and preserve affordable housing. For every gap, there are hardworking, committed changemakers working to close it.
"Say Their Name" focuses on the assault and killing of people by police, highlighting incidents throughout the United States. Serving as a memorialization for these individuals, we learn about who these people were through the words of the people that knew them best, while also helping us understand what these situations do to their families and communities not only in the immediate aftermath, but also what happens when the news-cycle moves on and the social media attention shifts focus. We offer solutions, spread awareness and support these families & communities.
Through thoughtful conversations with luminaries across climate and culture, each episode delves into themes of interdependence, creativity, and solutions for a thriving future. Designed to seed meaningful change and inspire transformation, The Nature Of offers insights and tools to navigate the complexities of being human in urgent times.
Why are so many people dying at Dauphin County Prison? When Lamont Jones finds out his cousin has died after being locked up at the jail he is determined to find answers. And what he learns sets him and an entire community on a fight for change.
Our Ancestors Were Messy, is a podcast covering the gossip, scandals, and pop culture that made headlines in the Black newspapers of segregated communities during the pre-Civil Rights era. On each episode, host Nichole Hill and her guests follow the story of an ancestor in search of opportunity, adventure, love, and a way to beat Jim Crow. Hill and her guests learn the mess - and eventual history - their ancestors make along the way.
Totally Booked with Zibby (formerly Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books) offers daily interviews centered around books, authors, and story creators in 30 minutes or less. Stay up-to-date on new releases, bestsellers and underrated titles that bestselling author, publisher, bookstore owner, and “NYC’s Most Powerful Bookfluencer” Zibby Owens thinks are worth your time. Zibby doesn’t just “interview;" she really connects with guests so you can, too. Feel like you’re backstage with the authors, not in the audience.
🚨 Calls to Action
Support public media by contacting your representatives (USA).
Learn how to support public libraries with
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Thanks again for all of your support. I’m looking forward to returning to regular publishing in early June.
-Ayo, Founder / Publisher
Happy Birthday, and congratulations on the milestone! We're happy and so grateful you decided to include us amongst these other impactful shows.
HBDDDD!