Chicagoist Podcast - Spring Break Roundup
By Karl Klockars in Arts & Entertainment on May 11, 2009 8:45PM
The Chicagoist Podcast Series is taking a week off, due to a general overdose of news, D-Pete mania, and too much grilling. But fear not, rather than leave you with a total lack of audio entertainment, we've compiled a list of some of the finest podcasts known to the Chicagoland area.
Covering news, food, sports, entertainment and politics for locals and expats, the Chicago podcast community is as varied as its populace. We did a little searching and uncovered some of the 'casts that you might grant your ears to in our short absence. Rather than rehash all the NPR podcasts that everyone downloads, we've tried to track down a good crossection of audio enjoyment that you might not otherwise be aware of.
Keeping Score In Chicago: Their website isn't much, but considering it's a radio guy and a newspaper guy, web-based stuff isn't their forte - but reporting and recording are. Former Q101'er Fook and S-T'er Mark Konkol have been slowing down when it comes to 'casting recently, but they're still good for news and views from a couple media insiders.
Hungry Mag Podcasts: It's one thing to check out photos of your favorite restaurants, another thing to trade information on forums, still another thing to see what we have to say - but sometimes you just have to go to the horse's mouth, as it were. HungryMag's Michael Nagrant has interviewed just about every chef, restauranteur and mixologist in town, and many from beyond Chicago's boundaries. If your favorite chef hasn't done an interview podcast with Nagrant, just wait - he's probably got it scheduled.
Da Bearcast: In case your desire for Bear conversation knows no depths, Da Bearcast is for you. Need to sound off about Cutlers and defensive lines in the heart of spring? With blogs, polls, news and of course audio, Da Bearcast advises that you "Listen to it, or it'll eat you."
CubsCast: With interviews, insight and damn near constant updates (including their "140 characters from home plate" twitter account), if you can't get enough Cubs coverage across the city from the mainstream media, you might get your LD50 from the guys at CubsCast.
MediaGeek: Despite starting out on radio, and still having a home on smaller stations across the state and even nationwide, Mediageek might be easiest to keep track of via podcast. They keep their eyes on media (duh) with a Chicago-centric outlook. From information about and conversations with people from Punk Planet to Ars Technica to Chi-Town Daily News, MediaGeek chronicles alternative and online news as well as other journalism and legal topics.
OutsideTheLoop: Another 'cast with a home on a tiny radio station, OTL can be heard on Loyola University's radio station but otherwise lives online. Calling themselves "Chicago's Almost Above-Ground Audio Magazine" they cover news, events, interviews and everything else Chicago-centric. Ever wanted to know who created the Tamale Guy's twitter account? That's the kind of info they've got. We're jealous.
We're also aware of the work from Chicago Bites, SoxCast, ChicagoBooth business podcasts, TalkTheater, Steph Izard's Tasty Life, and for people who want to flash back to the late 80's / early 90's Shock Jock radio phase, RedBarRadio is out there as well.
And of course, you can always peruse the last few months of Chicagoistcasting via iTunes and our RSS feed, as you well know by now. Got any other podcasts you want us and others to know about? Let us know in the comments.
broadcasting by alforque.