As Senior Foreign Correspondent for CBS News, Peabody and Emmy Award-winning journalist Seth Doane has traveled to around 70 countries to report on political and personal interest stories across the globe, from the front lines of war to the glaciers of Greenland to the deserts of Chile. Now, on the new podcast 60 Minutes: A Second Look, he journeys back in time to revisit the most impactful moments and people profiled on America’s most successful television broadcast.
With a fresh perspective and introduction of rare archival treasures and never-before-heard audio, 60 Minutes: A Second Look explores the people who shaped our culture and witnessed seismic moments in American history — from a then 21-year-old Taylor Swift to the Secret Service agent who witnessed the Kennedy assassination to the President’s daughter who became one of the biggest “influencers” of her time. From the battle over what’s taught in our schools to what the tech titans of the 1980s predicted about our anxieties of today, listen to how our world has–and hasn’t–changed.
When we think back on the past 50 years, we might think the world we live in has totally changed — but that’s not always the case. 60 Minutes: A Second Look, along with these podcasts that make you think twice about history, takes a critical look back at our past, what we’ve learned (or are still learning) from it, and how our world never stops evolving.
Twenty Thousand Hertz
There are thousands of sounds we hear everyday – from the ping of our cell phones to the honk of cars on the street to our own voices in our heads — and they usually go in one ear and out the other (pun intended). But on Twenty Thousand Hertz, Dallas Taylor makes us think twice about those sounds, diving deep into the sonic world (something you podcast listeners know a lot about!). Dallas explains the science of sound, how sounds can be like ear candy to some and nails on a chalkboard to others, and how some recognizable sounds have even changed over time.
Freakonomics Radio
There’s a hidden side to everything – at least Stephen Dubner, host of the fan-favorite Freakonomics podcast, thinks so. The author and former New York Times editor explores things you always thought you knew (but don’t) and things you never thought you wanted to know (but are now glad you do). With more than 500 episodes available on everything from fraud in academia to why eyeglasses have become so expensive, there’s a topic for everyone to go down a wormhole on.
Slow Burn
Few podcasts have received as much praise as Slow Burn, and for good reason. Examining overlooked aspects of societal and political moments that have shaped our culture, Slow Burn combines archival tape, deep research, and emotional interviews to create an experience that takes the listener inside the moment as if they were living through it themselves. 9 seasons in, the narrative podcast began with an intense look at Watergate and has covered topics like Roe v. Wade, Clarence Thomas, and the battle for gay rights, posing a parallel between these moments in history and what America is experiencing today.
The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds
Who said history has to be so serious? Not comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Renolds, hosts of The Dollop, where they choose a subject from history and examine it through a comedic lens. In each episode, Dave tells Gareth a story from history about a topic he knows nothing about and, you guessed it, hilarity ensues. Highlighting stories that have modern day parallels, the duo has episodes on well-known people and moments, like Rupert Murdoch and the 1984 Olympic Games, alongside subjects, like criminal Otto Wood, you might have never heard of.
SNAFU with Ed Helms
What fun is looking back on the past if we don’t recognize all the times we’ve majorly messed up? On SNAFU, actor, comedian, and history aficionado Ed Helms takes us on a wild ride through key moments in the past. Specifically, moments where humans have screwed up royally. Season 1 focuses on the nuclear doom of the 1980s with Able Archer 83, the NATO Military exercise that nearly triggered WWIII, while Season 2 gets into MEDBURG, the heist that exposed a big FBI bungle. Both are hilarious, informative, and slightly terrifying.
The Last Archive
They say every story has three sides — your side, my side, and the truth. On historian and New Yorker writer Jill LePore’s podcast, The Last Archive, she takes a look at the history of truth and how we got to the current fake news, post-truth moment. Covering subjects like weather forecasting, early AI, social network theory, time traveling and more, she asks how we know what we know and why it seems like, lately, we don’t know anything at all.
Hidden Brain
There’s no denying that humans have changed immensely since the dawn of time, but in some ways, our behavior remains just as it was two million years ago. On Shankar Vedantam’s Hidden Brain, the journalist and science writer combines science with storytelling to examine the unconscious patterns that drive our behavior and shape our choices. He asks the big questions, like which character traits are we most drawn to, how can we learn to be alone, and how fear both helps and hurts us.
Behind the Bastards
History has its good guys and its bad guys and, let’s face it, sometimes the bad guys are just more interesting. What’s even more interesting is the bad influences behind said bad guys. Such is the idea on Behind the Bastards, where journalist Robert Evans and guests dissect the worst people in history, exposing the realities of their lives and what led them to land on the dark side of history. Think, the people, places, and things that made Hitler into Hitler. Robert’s covered so many people – some well-known, like Sam Bankman-Fried and some, like Avery Brundage, president of the International Olympic Committee from 1952-1972, that are not so known – that it kind of makes me concerned that there’s still more bad guys and gals to uncover. At least it’ll mean more episodes!
Throughline
Each episode of Throughline attempts to answer the question: How did we get here? Hosted by Peabody Award-winning journalists Ramtin Arablouei and Rund Abdelfatah, the podcast looks at the historical events that contributed to what’s happening in our world today. They say history repeats itself and that couldn’t be more true when it comes to politics, civil rights, social justice issues – all topics Throughline covers. I recommend their “We the People” series on the constitutional amendments, an eye-opening look at what the Founding Fathers were thinking when they wrote the amendments and how they’ve been contorted to fit our lives today.
the memory palace
If you only have a few minutes in your day to get your podcast fill, check out Nate DiMeo’s the memory palace. Each month, Nate shares a new short vignette (typically around 15 minutes) that combines evocative sound design and narrative historical storytelling to bring us soulful stories from the past. Nate weaves a rich tapestry in his storytelling, covering everyday and little known topics, from the first female lighthouse keeper to the 1908 “Better Babies” contest, through a perspective of the past.
CBS News Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley
The top stories on the arts, music, nature, entertainment, sports, history, science, and human achievements can all be found in one place – CBS News Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley! From breakdowns of the presidential debates to reviews of the hottest new books on the market, get the latest on what’s happening in all sectors of our world. Plus, you’ll get to hear more from me!
Pocket Casts Blog 