The team behind Podmasters’ hit current affairs and political podcast Oh God, What Now? has launched a new science and technology show exploring big scientific questions in depth, the independent podcast network has announced.
Using sound design and interviews with science experts from institutions like NASA and SETI, each episode of Why? tackles one key question, with topics including our future relationship with AI and the search for extraterrestrial life.
The twice-weekly podcast, which launched its first three episodes today, is co-hosted by author and screenwriter Emma Kennedy, Today in History and Answer Me This podcast host Olly Mann, co-founder and editor of rock music and pop culture podcast The Quietus, Luke Turner, and anthropologist and broadcaster Dr. Anna Machin.
“I’m honoured and thrilled to be part of the Why? podcast team,” said Kennedy. “I’m cursed with a curious mind and thank god I’ve finally got a job that can cure it.”
Why? is co-created by Podmaster’s co-founder and group editor Andrew Harrison, who also co-hosts Oh God, What Now? alongside a rotating panel of co-hosts which includes Podmasters contributing editor Ros Taylor, The Guardian columnist Dorian Lynskey, The i newspaper political correspondent Ian Dunt, political writer Alex Andreou, Best for Britain chief executive Naomi Smith, freelance journalist and author Marie Le Conte, and activist Minnie Rahman.
Podmasters’ portfolio of podcasts includes other political and news shows such as The Bunker and Rock & Roll Politics, as well as shows in other genres like comedy podcast We Are History and history podcast Jam Tomorrow. In a previous episode of the PodPod podcast, Harrison said that Podmasters aims to continue creating shows and developing projects across a range of genres to keep experimenting with what works and what doesn’t.
“We've built a pretty robust company here and also a pretty robust workflow,” said Harrison. “You've got lots of young producers, young audio editors, and we'd like to develop things quickly, get them out quickly, and see how they do.”
“One of the beauties of podcasting is if you put something else on and it doesn't quite work, if you haven't kind of failed disastrously in public; you just get to fade it and get on with the next one. The barriers to entry and the costs of exits are fairly low, so it just frees you to try stuff.”
