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| Hello! I’m still taking a break from normal issues of 1.5x Speed, but we’re trying out a few fun things while I’m off — like asking another podcast person to share what’s in their feed. |
| For this issue, I called up Tonya Mosley, host of Truth Be Told and recently-minted co-host of Fresh Air. Let’s get to it! |
| Enjoying 1.5x Speed? Feel free to send this newsletter to your buds, and click here to read previous editions. Tell me how you’re doing. Are you scared of flamingos? Did you make a pilgrimage to the Barbie AirBnB? Will pink ever be the same again? Grimace is in my body, it hurts. |
| “I heard about this show through word of mouth, from Sandhya Dirks, a journalist at NPR and a really good friend of mine. I just binged it. It’s so well done. It feels so real. It places me in Chicago, and I feel like I’m on a journey with him. Not only does it feel connected to the topic, but it does so in a way that speaks to audiences I’m familiar with. I’m originally from Detroit, so I’m always trying to think about ways to connect to the people I grew up with in the ways they’d wanna hear and receive it.” |
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| “I listen to a lot of interview shows in part as research for my own. A while ago, EmRata had Jeremy O’ Harris on, and I listened to that episode because I was going to speak with him as well. I just love her interview style. It feels like you’re hanging out with people who know each other, but it’s not loosey goosey in a way that interview shows can get when friends are talking together and going all over the place. She’s very structured, and she’s strong in how she takes on questions and manages the conversation. Jeremy has such a big personality, almost like a bear you have to pin down; he can go off into different tangents. That can be amazing if you’re in a dinner conversation, but for a program, it’s a little unwieldy, and the way she was able to bring it back and take it forward was just magic. After that, I just started listening to all of her stuff. I really love it.” |
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| “This is a one woman-hosted show. She’s been doing it for maybe five or six years now. She rarely has guests on. It’s just her traveling the world. She goes to Europe, to Africa. She lived in Ghana for a little bit, and in South Africa too. And she has a huge following. I think a lot of people live vicariously through her. Like me, you know? But it’s not field recording — she goes out and lives life and then she’ll go up to her apartment and studio and kind of just talk through everything. Sometimes she brings in pop culture. Sometimes she talks about the news of the day. Sometimes she tells you how other parts of the world are reacting to what’s happening in the United States. It’s really hard for someone to keep your attention for a full hour of just them talking, but she makes it so interesting.” |
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| “Jenée is a friend of mine, and she was an advice giver even before she became the host of that show. Always the person we’d go to for advice. I just love how pithy the podcast is. And I like listening to other people’s problems, then hearing other people try to give solutions to those problems. I also know how witty and funny Jenée can be. As a host, I sometimes feel a push and pull between how much of myself or how much of a presenter I am on the mic. That has shifted over time, based on how people have changed in what they want from interviewers. Today, we actually want to hear a real person, not just some disembodied voice. I think Janae does a really good job being her true, authentic self. When I listen, I know I’m listening to the same Jenée I just talked to a few hours ago.” |
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| “I would probably say the first episode of the latest season, ‘How To Get Free.’ It’s a journey into a really powerful experience that I had in seeking out the deeper meaning of freedom and liberation through the context of psychedelic therapy. It’s a departure from what the show has previously been, but I think in a really beautiful way that allows people to think about their own internal work in getting to liberation.” |
| And that’s a wrap for 1.5x Speed! Hope you enjoyed it. We’re back next week, but in the meantime… |
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