Kai Wright is an award-winning writer, editor, and podcast host. He was host, most recently, of WNYC’s Notes from America, which aired live each week on public radio stations around the country. He was also host of the Peabody Award-winning podcast Blindspot: The Plague in the Shadows, which documents activism in the early years of the AIDS epidemic, and of several documentary podcasts from WNYC Studios. Prior to audio journalism, Kai was an editor at The Nation, editorial director of Colorlines, and an investigative fellow of Type Media Center, among other roles.
Emmanuel Dzotsi is an award-winning journalist and podcast host. Over the last decade he’s reported stories on everything from backroom deals for political power, the strange phenomenon of white people sending Black folks venmo payments as reparations, to vast money-making phone scams hidden in plain sight. He’s co-hosted and produced some of the most downloaded podcasts of all time—Serial and Reply All—and for the last couple of years has worked as a producer at This American Life. Emmanuel’s work has been featured in publications like the New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Guardian, among others.
As long standing journalists, podcasts hosts, and powerhouse producers, Kai Wright and Emmanuel Dzotsi have no lack of shows in their queues at all times. From gripping family controversy stories to shows about soccer as a mirror to the world to tales of iconic pop culture legends in Big Lives, their new show together, Kai and Emmanuel share what they’re most excited to be listening to these days.
Big Lives
Emmanuel: Our new show! When people become super famous, they often end up seeming like caricatures of themselves—flattened into memes and scandals, or into a single, defining image. With Big Lives, we’re digging through the BBC archives to revive your curiosity in these larger than life characters who have shaped our culture. From Jane Fonda to Muhammad Ali, David Bowie to Kylie Minogue, these are nuanced stories of how once relatable people became legends.
The Atlas Obscura Podcast
Kai: They take me on these beautiful, often odd journeys to meet quirky people in places with fascinating histories. I listen to episodes at random, and it’s a joy.
Our Ancestors Were Messy
Emmanuel: This is my favourite show right now. Host Nichole Hill brings us the gossip, heartache, and intrigue of Black people famous and not, from the 1930s-50s. I was lucky enough to produce a version of one of Nichole’s stories for This American Life recently and was blown away by her talent. Each story is deeply researched, and takes us on a raucous journey through old Black periodicals, diary entries, and countless letters that’ll have you laughing all the way through your commute.
It’s Been a Minute
Kai: Because as a listener, I’d follow host Brittney Luce just about anywhere. I regularly find myself way more invested in the conversation than I expected when I put on the show in the background. She draws me in every time.
Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay
Emmanuel: I could listen to Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay riff about anything and everything, so it’s a bonus that every week these two seem to talk about exactly what is on my mind. From discussions about the Texas Democratic Senate Primary, to a ranking of the all-time White Vacationers (white people who’ve dabbled in Blackness as a means to success) Higher Learning is a blend of politics and pop-culture that never feels dutiful.
Clock It with Symone & Eugene
Kai: Another one that always draws me in, often more than I expect. I’ll take this show over cable TV for my news and politics chat any day.
Stadio: A Football Podcast
Emmanuel: If you are not a soccer fan this show is not for you. But I am! And Stadio, hosted by Musa Okwonga and Ryan Hunn manages to avoid the pitfalls of so many of its crass, hottake-driven, betting-industry-supported rivals without ever feeling snobby or boring. The show’s great strength is that it’s interested in soccer, not as an escape from the world’s problems, but as a mirror for them.
the memory palace
Kai: An oldie but goodie. I’ve been craving more short form listening. Brief, beautiful, human-centered histories that stir my heart and make me think, and do it in 15 minutes.
The Idiot
Emmanuel: I’m biased because I think the world of my old colleagues at Serial, but their latest series with M. Gessen is as artful as it is entertaining. M. Gessen dives into a family controversy that I still can’t believe actually happened. It’s wild.
Stateside with Kai and Carter
Kai: Ok yes yes, it’s my own show. But I’m making this show because I need it myself—a space to slow down the headlines, try to really understand why the world is a dumpster fire, and then think about how we can put the fire out.
Pocket Casts Blog 