Who will be a visionary?
The magazine Geo goes one step further than most podcasts when it comes to sustainability issues and goes in search of the best, most sustainable idea in Germany. In the ten episodes of the casting show Who will be a visionary? In cooperation with the Bertelsmann production company Audio Alliance, applicants must first convince the three-person jury which idea will advance one round with short audio pitches. From start-ups to research groups to established companies: They all compete against each other after the preselection. The format convinces with a fair argumentative exchange of blows, scientific facts and creative, forward-looking ideas: edible spoons made of cocoa shell fibers, neoprene suits that are recycled into sports mats, biological insulation material based on mushrooms. Refreshingly different from the usual casting shows, little artificiality, but a lot of stimulating input. And it’s always about feasibility, not utopias. In the final voting, the listeners decide who wins. Sarah Zapf
Everything will be different
The title is the motto: Everything will be different, of course that alludes to the fact that this is about variations, a musical theme that is being further developed and changed. But actually it doesn’t quite apply. The second season of Igor Levit’s piano podcast follows on from the first – 32 x Beethoven – on, and most of it stays the same: the pianist Igor Levit sits at the piano, the music manager Anselm Cybinski next to him. The only difference is that they don’t talk about Beethoven sonatas, but rather about variations. They are Levit’s favorite musical form. If he does Diabelli variations plays, he “goes crazy with joy,” he says in the first episode. There should be a total of 17 episodes, different composers born between 1740 and 1963. It starts, of course, with Bach Goldberg Variations. Levit tells how they became a cult and why he would never go on tour with them. He explains how modern pianos make it difficult to play this piece and shows how Bach’s bass lines survive in pop music. One asks, one plays. You are welcome to sit down. Elisa Britzelmeier
Bad men
Bad manners, that is, bad manners, men know that they often have them. At least if you believe common clichés. This is exactly what the podcast wants Bad men now set out and answer: When is a man a man? Not Herbert Grönemeyer, who once sang about the question, but rather the half male, half female moderator duo Max Spallek and Kirstin Warnke gets to the bottom of her. To do this, they dig deep into the cliché box: Men like technology and cars. Is that correct? And what about male friendships or the male sex drive? In order to find answers, the hosts invite guests. They talk to psychologists, gamers and Max’s old roommate. Via remotes, porn and hugs. With the author Katja Lewina, you will uncover why men celebrate their sexuality differently than women. The man is analyzed in a relaxed, easy way, including highs and lows, preferences and uncertainties. It’s entertaining how Warnke and Spallek try week after week to figure out what healthy masculinity could be. Clara Meyer
The greats of the underworld
Drug dealers, contract killers, arms dealers: the host Noah Sari deals with really bad guys who have made it to the top in their criminal, murderous and deeply immoral milieus. Kingpins is the American original of the podcast, the production company Parcast is now also releasing a German adaptation. A kingpin is number one. Like Curtis Warren, who directed drug trafficking in England in the 1980s and 1990s. Or Richard Kuklinski, who killed hundreds of people in the United States before he was arrested in the mid-1980s. Or Viktor But, the most ruthless arms dealer of the post-Soviet era. Two episodes are dedicated to each of these men: the first describes the ascent, the second the fall and the end. In the end – this is central to this podcast – good must win. Because otherwise one would have to despair of the world. The attraction? To discover the flaw that each of these criminals has and that will ultimately be their undoing. Stefan Fischer