Podcast Critique

Podcast Critique

"Freakonomics"

One of the podcasts I chose to subscribe to is called "Freakonomics." It is a podcast that New York journalist, Stephen J. Dubnerand  and economist, Steven D. Levitt created where they study and survey very interesting events and problems that we encounter and hear about every day, including cheating teachers and bizarre baby names. I found this podcast on iTunes after searching through  the society & culture genre. I am very interested in sociology, so I thought I would find one that related to it in some way, and so this did.
The episodes I watched from the podcast were called "Do You Really Want to Know Your Future?" and "A Burger A Day." The second one was my favorite, where the two speakers discussed the possibility of a McDonald's McDouble being the cheapest, most nutritious, and bountiful food with all of it's protein, daily fiber, calcium and iron, that has ever existed in human history.

Likes:

• The men on the podcast had a good balance of using humor in the podcast while also being informational.
• They recorded surveys given out to other people whom they'd just found walking down the street.
• There was beneficial information given about the value of nutrition and the social observations relating to people's preference of fast food over healthy food.

Dislikes:

• The podcast was only 6 minutes and 49 seconds. It could've been longer and had more information.
• The podcast was a little more opinionated than it was based on facts.

There were not many things I disliked about these episodes. I plan on listening to them further because I find it very different. The podcast itself has a lot of variety of subjects, some are unusual but that is what makes them interesting. 

"Relations" Podcast

The second podcast I chose is called "Relations." The authors are Elijah R. Young and Sarah J. Storer. The two discuss practical relationship advice and other social advice. I also found this podcast through iTunes while I was browsing through different genres. It caught my attention because it seemed entertaining. I wasn't interested in listening to a boring, "school-book" educational podcast, so this seemed interesting and more popular. 

The episodes I watched were called "How to Combine Dating and Social Media Properly" and "Dating While Shy: How to Overcome Social Shyness." I connected more with the second episode, because I am very interested in certain social aspects and what causes them in the first place, so I was curious as to what this was all about when I read the title. In the episode the two basically discussed the fear and anxiety over social shyness (whether it be involved in dating or not), and solutions to the anxiety that exist. 

Likes:

• Right when the episode started, it sounded like a legitimate and professional radio show but also giving popular information that is amusing and easier to engage in.
• Since there is a girl and boy speaking, it offers different perspectives from each opposite sex.   
• The two people are understanding and sensitive to the subject of being "shy" and try and help people out there who suffer from the subject.

Dislikes:

• The podcast's website is not very up-to-date. It isn't very inviting, which makes the podcast itself seem less popular and it only has 5 out of 15 ratings.
• The two speakers sound very sweet and mellow, but it also makes the episodes less exciting to listen to. Their tones are soft, which at times caused me to lose their attention.

Along with the first podcast, there wasn't much to dislike about this one. I found the episodes very inviting and plan to keep my subscription.