Podcast Book Club

Podcast fans from all around - come and nerd out about podcasts and discover new shows along the way! On Podcast Book Club - a different group of podcast industry pros sit down each week to pour over an episode of a show they admire. We're a group of podcasting professionals who spend every day scripting, producing, engineering, and promoting podcasts. And in our free time? We’re podcast fans just like you. We love to listen to even more podcasts and figure out what makes the best podcasts so good. So tune in and join the club - listen to podcast reviews of some of our favorite gems. We’ll give feedback on podcast content but also sound design, production, scripting, storytelling, and more. Want even more? Catch Podcast Book Club on Twitter: twitter.com/podbookclub Podcast Book Club is produced by Alex Bennett, Head of Post Production at Lower Street. Alex is a domesticated audio nerd, who has spent the past five years learning about human social conventions via the medium of podcasting. From Edinburgh, Scotland he is an audio engineer that helps produce audio dramas in his spare time. Alex specialises in soundscapes and creative mixing. He has a deep and abiding love for sandwiches, and is the 2nd worst bowler at Lower Street. Lower Street provides next-level podcast production services for ambitious companies: everything from podcast strategy and creation to growth. We’ve worked with companies like BCG to develop multiple podcasts like Climate Vision 2050, BCG Compliance, BCG Fintech Files, and BCG In Her Element. We’ve also helped produce: Cadence Bank’s In Good Companies; HPE’s Technology Now, Zuhlke’s Data Today, Northern Trust’s The Road to Why, Zoobean’s The Reading Culture; ICR’s Welcome to the Arena and ZeroNorth’s Navigating Zero. Find out more at https://lowerstreet.co/ and sign up for our newsletter to keep in touch https://lowerstreet.co/newsletter-sign-up

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Episodes

Quiz Show Podcasts! We listen to Lateral With Tom Scott

It's a classic PBC episode this time, as we go back to our roots and discuss a podcast to see what makes it tick. Lateral with Tom Scott is a quiz podcast, which is a really underrepresented format in our opinion. So what makes it work? Why should you consider this format for your show? Will we get too hung up on the importance of points? (yes). In this episode podcast producers Zoe Anderson and Daria Lawson, podcast production manager Elizabeth Amos, and audio engineer Alex Bennett discuss: Mak...

May 13, 2024•30 min•Ep. 12

The Pressures of Making a Daily News Podcast

Recorded November 2023. The news simply will not stop happening. It feels like every day we wake up, only to find that more things have occurred whilst we slept. So how do you turn all this relentless happening into a podcast? Oh, and you need to release every day, mon-fri. This episode our intrepid team of reporters is taking a look at the art of daily news podcasting, and getting to the bottom of why it's such an exciting and challenging area of podcasting to work in. In this episode podcast p...

Apr 10, 2024•35 min•Ep. 11

Can a Video be a Podcast? The Unstoppable Rise of Video in Podcasting

“Can a video be a podcast?” is an all-time favourite topic of conversation amongst those of us with “RSS 4 EVA” tattooed on the base of our backs. But for all the audio purists out there it’s hard to deny that, for a growing number of people, a video can absolutely be a podcast. So what now? Is “podcast” going the way of “literally”? Another definition lost to the unending meat-grinder of modern linguistic ‘progress’? Well, we think there are a lot of really useful lessons to be learned from the...

Apr 01, 2024•44 min•Ep. 10

Season 2: Coming Soon to a Screen Near You!

We're back! And this time we're on video! Season 2 of Podcast Book Club is nearly here. In this new season we'll be covering video podcasts, trailers, history podcasts, daily news shows, and more! We'll be joined by such podcasting pros as Arielle Nissenblatt, Ian Sanders, James Shield, as well as the usual cast of characters from Lower Street. You can join us for both audio and video episodes this season, so head over to Youtube and get subscribed! https://www.youtube.com/@Podbookclub Podcast B...

Mar 21, 2024•2 min•Ep. 9

BONUS EPISODE: Blowback. A Big, Bright, and Crisp Exposé of American Imperial Excess.

Season two of Podcast Book Club is on its way! Whilst the Lower Street team gets it ready, here’s a bonus episode in the form of a pilot. This was back when the gang of podcasting pros was first being assembled and, as such, their audio isn’t as crispy as it is now. Their first podcast review? Blowback, a podcast about American imperial misadventures. The first series of Blowback is about the Iraq war and all of the wild events surrounding it. From British imperialism to CIA intervention, to the...

Sep 28, 2023•20 min•Ep. 8

Stuff the British Stole: A Steely Investigation, with Overtones of Loss and Imperialism.

The Podcast Pros are back to investigate one of the many things looted by the British Empire. This particular item has four legs and a mop-like furry body - it’s the Pekingese dog! Their guide? Stuff the British Stole, from ABC and CBC podcasts. The episode in question is called “Best.Named.Dog.Ever.” It covers the British looting of dogs and other, inanimate, cultural artifacts from the Chinese during the Opium Wars. How did the conflict start? What are the lasting cultural impacts? How did the...

Aug 03, 2023•30 min•Ep. 7

30 for 30: A Juicy Sporting Odyssey, with notes of Pigskin and Wil Wheaton.

In this episode of Podcast Book Club, our podcast professionals investigate the intersection of sport and video games (and podcasting, I suppose). With their helmets and padding on, they’re diving into an episode of ESPN’s podcast 30 for 30, entitled Madden’s Game. Sports podcast fans, this one is for you. The episode takes a look at the development of the massively popular American football video game, from its early years as an overly ambitious PC program to its current number-one slot in game...

Jul 27, 2023•31 min•Ep. 6

Slow News: An Oaked Classic, with Layers of Mystery and Hints of Darwin.

Podcast Book Club is finally dealing with an actual book review! Well, it’s a notebook. And there are a few of them. And it’s actually a podcast episode about those notebooks. But that doesn’t slip off the tongue as easily. This time our gang of podcast professionals are listening to a wonderful episode of the podcast Slow News entitled The Darwin Job: The Vanishing, Reappearing Notebooks. The episode we’re looking at investigates the mysterious vanishing of some of Darwin’s notebooks from their...

Jul 20, 2023•27 min•Ep. 5

Anthropocene Reviewed: A Deeply Human Story, with Overtones of Death and Decay.

In this episode of Podcast Book Club, the gang dons their plague doctor outfits, as they dive into the morbid history of the great morbidity itself, the plague. Having sourced all the appropriate herbs and tinctures, and refreshed their knowledge of miasmatic diseases, it’s time to give a little podcast review of The Anthropocene Reviewed. We’re taking podcast fans to listen in and review the episode titled Plague. The Anthropocene Reviewed’s Host, John Green, takes us through the history of the...

Jul 13, 2023•31 min•Ep. 4

History of the World in 100 Objects: An Aged, Refined Classic, with notes of Attenborough and hints of Pipe Tobacco.

Ready for an adventure podcast fans? This week Lower Street’s podcast pros have been time-traveling. They’ve been soaking up the Stone Age views of Olduvai Gorge, and the palatial surroundings of a temple in 12th century Japan. Their guide? Two episodes of the iconic BBC podcast production A History of the World in 100 Objects. The two(!) episodes in question are Olduvai Stone Chopping Tool and Japanese Bronze Mirror. We’re guided through the stories of these objects by Neil MacGregor, the forme...

Jul 06, 2023•33 min•Ep. 3

Switched on Pop: An Opulent Noire Spoof, with Overtones of Music Theory and Budget Will Arnett.

This week the Lower Street gang dons their trench coats and trilbys to investigate the podcast Switched on Pop and its recent episode entitled “Who killed the key change in pop music?” This particular episode of Switched on Pop uses creative scripting and sound engineering to create a thoroughly tongue-in-cheek spoof of old detective dramas. Switched on Pop’s host, Nate Sloan takes on the character of Joe Treble - a private detective on the case of the missing key change in pop music. Lower Stre...

Jun 29, 2023•30 min•Ep. 2

Podcast Book Club - Coming Soon!

In a world drowning in content, a brave team of podcast pros are on a mission to find the best podcasts and figure out what makes them so good. Want to discover new podcasts? Explore what makes a great podcast episode? And get the inside track from podcasting pros? Then join us! This is the podcast made for podcast fans far and wide. Each week a different group of the Lower Street team sits down to talk about an episode of a podcast we've been listening to and discuss what it means to us. We’ll ...

Jun 16, 2023•2 min•Ep. 1

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