The Podcast Hour

Chance encounters: 'All The Best'

All The Best logo (Supplied) Photo: Supplied

Have you ever got an unexpected message or a social media notification from a name from your past? One day Stephen got a Facebook notification from somebody once very special to him, who he'd lost contact with 27 years before.

We share some of Carey Scheer's story 'The Only Hole In My Life' produced by Tegan Nicholls and Selena Shannon, as featured on the 'All The Best' podcast.
 

'Reply All': tech mysteries

Reply All show logo (Supplied) Photo: Supplied

'Reply All' is a long-running and popular show that shares some great stories stemming from our interactions with technology and internet life.

It's been running for nearly 5 years and over that time's released more than 140 fortnightly episodes...each one gets millions of downloads!

Some past highlights include one where host Alex Goldman engages with a phone scammer in India who's trying to take over his computer...then flies over to India to meet him! And there's also a recurring segment called Yes-Yes-No where they try to decode some cryptic tweet or online message for their less tech savvy boss, the CEO of Gimlet Media, Alex Blumberg.

Here's some of another regular section called 'Super Tech Support', where listeners try to have their weird tech problems solved and answered. For some reason Ben can't listen to one of his favourite podcasts, 99% Invisible with Roman Mars, on the car stereo of his Mazda- but why?

We play some of 'The Roman Mars Mazda Virus'- episode 140 of Reply All from Gimlet Media hosted by PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman.


 

'This Paranormal Life': otherwordly laughs

This Paranormal Life logo (Supplied) Photo: Supplied

Do you believe in aliens, or doubt that the Moon Landings ever took place? Me neither...but I didn't let that stop me from enjoying 'This Paranormal Life'!

It's a funny show where two self-styled experts on the paranormal, Rory Powers and Kit Grier, cast a sceptical, jokey eye over some of the outlandish claims and otherworldly accounts out there, and consider whether they might, just possibly, have some basis in reality.

In past episodes they've tackled such major stories as Bigfoot, The Lost City of Atlantis, and of course The Axe Wielding Goat Man. Here's another case of the paranormal I hadn't heard about before- that of a half rabbit half man creature that may or may not have started killing people more than a century ago.

We share an excerpt from episode 67 of 'This Paranormal Life' called 'Murderous Bunny Man Escapes Asylum' presented by Rory Powers and Kit Grier, and the show recently won the award for Best Entertainment Podcast at the British Podcast Awards.

'The Soundtrack Show': the music in our favourite films

'The Soundtrack Show' looks at the vital role that music plays in creating the fictional universe of some of our favourite films. From Jaws to Star Wars, from Psycho to Jurassic Park...and beyond.

We play a clip from the first of three episodes devoted to the first part of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy The Fellowship of The Ring from 2001, with a film score written by composer Howard Shore- from the episode 'The Fellowship of the Ring: the Music (Part I)' from 'The Soundtrack Show' hosted by David Collins.

The Soundtrack Show logo (Supplied) Photo: Supplied

The Podcast Hour for Saturday 3rd August 2019

A chance encounter fom the past in 'All The Best', tech show 'Reply All' solves online mysteries and tells stories of internet life, find otherworldly laughs in 'This Paranormal Life', and 'The Soundtrack Show' explores the role music plays in creating the fictional universe of our favourite films.