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Listen to WBUR's can't-miss podcasts from 2023
From worm wars to public art controversy, the power of the gun industry to a shadowy parole system, WBUR's podcasts tackled a lot this year. Here are some of the series and episodes from 2023 you shouldn't sleep on:
The Gun Machine
This eight-episode podcast digs into the history of the gun industry in the United States that most Americans never learned in school. Host Alain Stephens, of The Trace, starts the series recounting how the relationship between the gun industry and the federal government got started back in 18th-century Massachusetts, and follows the thread to how it impacts all of our lives and communities today.
Violation
When someone commits a terrible crime, how much time in prison is enough? Who gets to decide? That's what this podcast, hosted and reported by The Marshall Project's Beth Schwartzapfel, asks. After a murder at summer camp, two families are intertwined for decades. And their story gives us a glimpse into America's opaque parole system.
The Common
A daily news and culture podcast focused on Boston, The Common celebrated its first birthday this fall.
Two of the most listened to episodes this year were:
- Not everyone is embracing The Embrace: Since its unveiling on Jan. 13, The Embrace monument to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, has received a wide range of reactions both good and bad. WBUR arts reporter Arielle Gray joins The Common to discuss why some in the community are disappointed with the memorial.
- 10 years later: The Boston Marathon bombings and mental health: The Common speaks with WBUR senior correspondent Deborah Becker about the psychological damage left in the wake of the attacks, and experts' recommendations for self-care.
And don't miss these two series from the year:
- As part of WBUR's Field Guide to Boston, The Common took a spin around the city to check out what's good in a few neighborhoods, including Mattapan and Little Saigon.
- For Earth Week, The Common explored what climate change felt like around Boston — from microgrids in Chinatown, erosion on the Boston Harbor Islands, to the fight to preserve Crane Ledge Woods, and heat islands in the South End.
Endless Thread
A weekly podcast digs into the vast and curious ecosystem of online communities to find untold histories, unsolved mysteries, and other jaw-dropping stories.
Two of the most listened to episodes this year were:
- My Canadian girlfriend: Did you have a friend who claimed they were in a long distance relationship with someone really awesome ... but darn it, you could never meet them, because they lived in Canada? And did you suspect that relationship was imaginary? Of course you did. In this episode, the team meets one Redditor who really and truly did have a girlfriend who lived in Canada, whom he fell for when the internet was new.
- Worm Wars: Invasive species and the stories we tell about them: Endless Thread producer Nora Saks learned that a "toxic, self-cloning worm that poops out of its mouth is invading Maine." She's alarmed about eco-doom, until state experts clue her into the "real threat" to the state's gardens and precious forests. In an attempt to find out more about this real threat, the hosts tunnel down a wormhole, encountering a long history of xenophobic rhetoric about so-called invasive species, and some hard truths about the field of invasion biology itself.
And don't miss this this year's "PARKS!" series:
- PARKS!: The Endless Thread crew goes to the great outdoors ... through their computers. They talk to the National Park Service's social media manager in charge of its recent viral success, meet the internet's slime guy, explore an obsession with a monolith in Wyoming, and consider how to counteract sea level rise by dumping all the excess sea water in Death Valley.
Circle Round
This podcast adapts carefully-selected folktales from around the world into sound- and music-rich stories for kids ages 3-103. Each episode explores important issues like kindness, persistence and generosity, and ends with an activity to foster a deeper conversation.
Two of the most listened to episodes this year were:
- The Stork King: Julian Lerner ("The Wonder Years," "Alma's Way") stars in a Ukrainian tale about how high-flying risks can pay off in the end.
- All Tied Up: Recorded live at Tanglewood with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and a star-studded cast, this tale from Borneo features a tiny trickster who untangles a problem by tying it up in knots.