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Miranda Sawyer’s best radio and podcasts of 2019

The year we came close to peak podcast nonetheless saw a wealth of talent, while radio saw more upheaval

In 2019, “I’m making a podcast” overtook “I’m writing a film script” as the standard media dilettante response to that ever-tricky question: “What do you do, exactly?” Every week brought a new slew of podcasts. Sue Perkins launched one. David Dimbleby, too. Dawn O’Porter, Stacey Solomon, Gemma Collins, even Robbie Williams...
The BBC, in particular, seemed to go podcast bananas, desperately flinging out new shows like they were old clothes. Some were great: Tom Neenan Is Not All Men was hilarious; You’re Dead To Me hilarious and informative.

There were a couple of brilliant new BBC thriller docs: Intrigue: Tunnel 29, about a group of people who tunnelled under the Berlin Wall and The Missing Cryptoqueen, about a bitcoin con-woman. Fortunately… with Fi and Jane continued to be one of the funniest and most popular shows out there. Plus the Beeb’s chatty, inclusive sports podcasts are still second to none, with That Peter Crouch Podcast (football) and Tailenders (cricket) continuing to bantz their way into thousands of hearts (not mine, but I’m a grump). But despite all this podcastery hoo-ha, there are still many people who prefer radio and the transfer of BBC iPlayer’s radio content to BBC Sounds in September caused much listener heartache and disgruntlement.

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from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/35bHzy7

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