S-Town with Brian Reed

08/31/22 • 28 min

S-Town, a seven "chapter", 6-plus hour podcast was released on March 28, 2017. The podcast was downloaded a record-breaking 10 million times in four days, and had been downloaded over 40 million times just a few months later. This week Mike and Eric review S-Town, along with The Trojan Horse Affair, Brian Reed's follow-up to S-Town. Drawing on both comparisons and contrasts between the 2 series, we attempt to highlight the techniques and styles that makes Brian’s podcasts so ground-breaking and a must-listen for anyone doing podcasts that involve storytelling.

S-Town begins when a middle-aged man, living in an Alabama town he despises, emails Brian and asks him to investigate a murder that he believes has been covered up by the local police. In The Trojan Horse Affair, an unlikely duo chases down the origins of a mysterious letter that caused a national scandal in England.

On No Harm In Asking, hosts Eric Byron and Michael Kerr are on a journey to gather insights into why podcasts succeed or fail and to explore the myriad of different patterns, structures, topics, techniques, and personalities that have evolved this industry. Through our podcast, we hope to inspire and encourage the next generation of storytellers and visionaries.

All 7 chapters of S-Town can be found here:

https://stownpodcast.org/

They also have a full social media presence on Twitter and Instagram at @stownpodcast (although updates seemed to have stopped after they were acquired by the New York Times).

The Trojan Horse Affair is available here:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/podcasts/trojan-horse-affair.html

Check us out on Twitter at @noharmaskingpod.

Eric also publishes his online journey titled "A Podcasting Journal" on Substack at https://ericbyron.substack.com/

Our sponsors:

Qollab.me - the free to use interview planning, preparation and collaboration tool
https://qollab.me/

Discovery Shark Week
https://www.amazon.com/stores/SharkWeek/page/24092A27-AAC4-45E1-96B2-C4019C4CB766?ref_=ast_bln

All 7 chapters of S-Town can be found here:

https://stownpodcast.org/

They also have a full social media presence on Twitter and Instagram at @stownpodcast (although updates seemed to have stopped after they were acquired by the New York Times).

The Trojan Horse Affair is available here:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/podcasts/trojan-horse-affair.html

Check us out on Twitter at @noharmaskingpod.

Eric also publishes his online journey titled "A Podcasting Journal" on Substack at https://ericbyron.substack.com/

Our sponsors:

Qollab.me - the free to use interview planning, preparation and collaboration tool
https://qollab.me/

Discovery Shark Week
https://www.amazon.com/stores/SharkWeek/page/24092A27-AAC4-45E1-96B2-C4019C4CB766?ref_=ast_bln

Previous Episode

Freakonomics Radio with Stephen J. Dubner

This week Mike and Eric review the podcast Freakonomics Radio hosted by Stephen J. Dubner. We also take a look at his sister show No Stupid Questions that he co-hosts with research psychologist Angela Duckworth. Looking at both shows, we debate why we believe FR comes across as a much more engaging show than NSQ despite the likability of Angela and the similar goals of each podcast.

Freakonomics Radio attempts to discover the hidden side of everything and tells you things you always thought you knew (but didn’t) and things you never thought you wanted to know (but do). Indeed, they do a great job in this superbly done podcast!

While we listened to many episodes of FR, we both enjoyed this recent "replay" show, The Pros and Cons of America’s (Extreme) Individualism.

https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-pros-and-cons-of-americas-extreme-individualism-replay/

The Freakonomics Radio team can be found on Twitter at @Freakonomics. Angela can be found at @angeladuckw.

Check us out on Twitter at @noharmaskingpod.

Eric also publishes his online journey titled "A Podcasting Journal" on Substack at https://ericbyron.substack.com/

Our sponsors:

Qollab.me - the free to use interview planning, preparation and collaboration tool

https://qollab.me/

Discovery Shark Week
https://www.amazon.com/stores/SharkWeek/page/24092A27-AAC4-45E1-96B2-C4019C4CB766?ref_=ast_bln

Use promotion code: 10SHARKWEEK

Next Episode

This American Life with Ira Glass

Are people born podcasters or can the skill be learned? Obviously, it can be learned, but sometimes it's worth taking a look at the people that were clearly born to do it. Ira Glass serves as the director, senior producer, host, administrator, librarian, researcher and (perhaps most importantly) lead visionary for This American Life. To be fair, Ira did put in his time at various newsrooms cutting tape and doing odd jobs, but it very much seems like this was his life's calling.

This American Life is a weekly public radio program and podcast that began in 1995 and now comprises over 780 episodes. The jury is still out as to whether we'd search this one out on a weekly basis, indeed it's a lot to process, but the way they intertwine often three, four or even more seemingly disparate stories into a cohesive unit is pure genius.

Heard by more than 2 million listeners each week on over 500 public radio stations in the U.S., and with another 2.3 million people downloading each episode as a podcast, there are many great lessons in here for any podcaster.

Mike and Eric listened to The Possum Experiment, Ghost in the Machine and Tell Me I’m Fat, all of which are discussed in our review. You can find them here:

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/

They also have a full social media presence on Twitter at @ThisAmerLife and Ira can be found at @iraglass.

Eric also publishes his podcasting journey titled "A Podcasting Journal" on Substack at https://ericbyron.substack.com/

Please check out our sponsors:

Qollab.me - the free to use interview planning, preparation and collaboration tool
https://qollab.me/

Discovery Shark Week
https://www.amazon.com/stores/SharkWeek/page/24092A27-AAC4-45E1-96B2-C4019C4CB766?ref_=ast_bln

Use promotion code: 10SHARKWEEK