Lesson 2 - There Are Basically Two Types of Narrative Podcasts

Alright and welcome back. Hopefully, you’re here after you’ve completed Lesson 1, where I’ve done my best to show you just how big the range of different shows is. 

In today’s lesson, we are going to zero in on one type of show, and that is: a Narrative Podcast. Which is also the type of show that you are going to complete for this assignment.

So, what is a narrative show? 

Well, there are a few traits that you need to become familiar with.

1. 
   The first thing is that narrative podcasts are generally led by a narrator. And that person has the job to carry you along as you listen to the story. Quite likely, that person will be you.

If you think back to the worksheet for Lesson 1 - The Whole History of Podcasting in Under 11 minutes -  you’ll remember that being a narrator is actually a very old job. That’s because storytelling is the oldest form of communication. It’s been used for entertainment, information, spreading important news, since time began.

In some ways a lot has changed about storytelling, and in other ways, not much has changed. N balance, despite the millions of stories and podcasts that have been created, when we think today about the different types of podcasts…we can basically narrow the field down to two basic types of narration formats.

And that is - Stories told in the first person; 

And stories told in the third person.

So, First and Third.

So what’s the difference?

A story told in the first person could be told in the voice of a journalist, or a reporter, but it could also be anyone who has a story to tell.

These stories are told from the “I” perspective. This is a story that happened to me…or this is a story about my family, or my friend.  

Quite often with narrative podcasts,  the narrator has a personal connection to the subject matter, or the main character, in the story.  

If you go back to the Lesson 1 Worksheet, let’s look at two examples of a story told in the first-person.

The first one is the show “1619.” This was published by the New York Times Magazine in 2019, to coincide with the 400th anniversary of a ship arriving at a port in what is now Virginia, then a British Colony, holding the cargo of 20 some-odd enslaved peoples from Africa. In this is a podcast,  journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones re-examines American history by following the arrival of this first ship, and what the series does is it completely reframes an old narrative… American wasn’t founded in 1776, through revolution…it was founded on this day, in 1619. Because these slaves on that ship were responsible to shape American political, cultural and economic institutions…all of them…instead of the it being the other way around.

And what makes it a first-person story, is that Nikole Hannah-Jones tells this from her own perspective as an African-American woman. She tells the history through interviews with historian, scholars, activists…but then she weaves it together with her own personal story. This show, by the way, won a ton of awards,and it is now taught as curriculum in some American highschools, and it’s now also a book and a Hulu television series. For me, it’s a fantastic example of how a podcast chance literally change the narrative of how we remember, and teach, history.

The other example of the story told in the first person is Stolen, which is an investigative podcast produced by the Indigenous Canadian reporter Connie Walker. In Season 2, Connie Walker investigates a story about her late father, who was a Residential School Survivor. This podcast does an incredible job to share a personal story that also helps to discuss the much bigger issue of Reconciliation.

A story told in the Third Person means that a journalist, or a writer, or a investigator is telling the story, or uncovering a mystery, of another person’s story. So the narrator here doesn’t usually have a personal connecting to the story being told. It’s reported, or shared, on behalf, or with, someone else. 

If you go back to the Lesson 1 Worksheet, the first example of a story told in the Third Person is: Bone Valley, where the hosts GIlbert King and Kelsy Decker investigate the wrongful conviction of a man named Leo Schofield who has been wrongfully incarcerated for more than 35 years. 

They investigate the crime, introduce new evidence, and try to convince the audience of Leo’s innocence. The man who the story is about, Leo Schofield, does appear in the story. He is interviewed, both in person, and on the phone. But at heart, this is a journalist telling a story about someone else…which makes it a Third Person Perspective.

The second example I want to share is We Were Three, where journalist Nancy Updike, reports and then investigates the story of one family caught in the Covid web of misinformation. Nancy Updike does many interviews with the protagonist, named Rachel. She interviews her, she goes on reporting trips with her. But ultimately, this story is told, which is to say it’s narrated, by a journalist, which is what makes it a Third Person story.

Generally speaking, I would say that you should be able to determine which format the show will follow in the first few minutes. A well-produced show will sort of give you an overview of the story, and then lay out the rules, meaning the format, within the first episode.  

As you get closer to making your own podcast, one of the first things you will need to decide is whether you will tell your story from your own perspective, from the First Person, or if you will tell a story about someone, or something else, told through the Third Person.