The best podcasts to learn about the experiences of others

Ear Hustle is prison slang for eavesdropping, and that’s what listening to the show feels like: a raw, often funny, and always surprising peek into the reality of life inside prison.

Hosts Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods co-created the show that launched in 2017 while Earlonne was incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison, where Nigel was a volunteer teaching photography. Since Earlonne’s release in 2018, the show has expanded to include stories from prisons across the state, including the California Institution for Women, as well as stories about getting out of prison and starting over, post-incarceration.

From finding romance, to grappling with a life sentence, to trying to parent via 15-minute phone calls, Ear Hustle stories deliver what This American Life host Ira Glass calls a “"very real” and “untragic” take on prison life.

Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a network of independent listener-supported podcasts. Discover audio with vision at radiotopia.fm and learn more about Ear Hustle at earhustlesq.com.

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso is a weekly series of intimate conversations with artists, activists, and politicians. Where people sound like people. Hosted by Sam Fragoso. New episodes every Sunday.

This podcast that will take you on a journey across the world...without you having to go anywhere. You'll be hearing from the people leaving their countries and everything behind them, to the volunteers working alongside them. Those currently living in refugee camps, and people working on the front line. The humans behind the statistics and the headlines. The real heroes of today. Transcend borders, nationalities, religions and languages to hear from the people with which we share this world...our Worldwide Tribe.

Music by Alexander Wells

Artwork by Milla Adler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

shado-lite is a brand new @shado.mag podcast hosted by Zoe Rasbash (@zorasbash) and Larissa Kennedy (@larissa_kennedy_). We will be using this podcast to navigate the big issues on your feed, moving from apathy and overwhelm to collective action and hopeful pathways forward. We’re not claiming to be experts in these issues – let’s remove the dichotomy of student versus teacher – but instead we want to take listeners on a collective journey of learning.

Visit shado’s website: shado-mag.com

Podcast artwork: @sayeeda.bacchus

Podcast production and music: @flrs.carla

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stuck at home, Louis is using the lockdown to track down some high-profile people he's been longing to talk to - from all walks of life and on both sides of the Atlantic.