Podcasts of the Week Ending December 13

Decoder Ring :: Murphy’s Law

Back in the 80s there were an endless series of popular humor books about “Murphy’s Law.”  This podcast seeks to find the origin of the story and discovers that it’s harder to document than expected.

Code Switch :: Reverse Freedom Rides

An incident in history I’d never heard of before occurred in the 1960s when racist Southern whites organized to send Black Southerners to Northern cities.

60-Second Science :: Linguists Hear An Accent Begin

I’m fascinated by accents and this podcast explores how accents originate.

Throughline :: America’s Opioid Epidemic

Opioid addiction goes back a long way in American history, at least to the Civil War.  Wars have been key in introducing new addictive drugs into the populace.  And historically, the response to addiction has always been racialized: healthcare and compassion for white people, punishment for Black people.

Running tally of 2019 Podcast of the Week appearances:

• Afropop Worldwide – 1
• AirSpace – 1
• The Anthropocene Reviewed – 1
• BackStory – 6
• Best of the Left– 5
• Code Switch – 6
• Decoder Ring  – 5
• Dolly Parton’s America – 2
• Fresh Air – 8
• Futility Closet – 2
• Have You Heard? – 1
• Hidden Brain – 2
• Hit Parade – 6
• Household Name – 1
• Hub History – 7
• Lost at the Smithsonian – 3
• Lost Notes – 1
• Memory Palace – 6
• More or Less – 4
• More Perfect – 2
• The Moth – 1
• 99% Invisible – 14
• The New Yorker Radio Hour – 1
• Next Left – 1
• On the Media – 4
• Planet Money – 3
• Planet Money: The Indicator – 1
• Re:Sound – 1
• Radiolab  – 3
• Radio Boston – 3
• The Report – entire series
• Science Talk – 1
• 1619 Project – 4
• 60 Second Science – 2
• Smithsonian Sidedoor – 3
• Sound Opinions – 4
• StoryCorps – 2
• 30 for 30 Podcasts – 2
• This American Life – 4
• Tiny Desk Concert – 1
• Throughline – 9
• To the Best of Our Knowledge – 1
• Tomorrow Society – 1
• Travel with Rick Steves – 1
• The Truth – 3
• Twenty Thousand Hertz  – 6
• The War on Cars – 4
• WBUR News – 6
• We Need Some Milk – 1
• Wedway Radio – 1
• What Next – 1
• You Must Remember This – entire 6-part series on Song of the South