Hi folks,
Before we resume TOA awards season and determine the best podcast of 2018, let’s take a moment to acknowledge Common Sense, a podcast that was a fixture atop my podcast rankings over the past few years.
Lifetime Achievement Award – Common Sense
We here in the TOA Award Committee are at the point now of perhaps considering Dan Carlin’s current events program retired from my podcast lineup. There has been no official announcement about the show being over but since Carlin has stopped releasing new episodes in 2018 (save for one show in May) the general mood is that another good thing in my life has ended. It’s kind of like that old riddle – if a podcast exists on iTunes but doesn’t release any new episodes, can it win a TOA Podcast Award? I’m not sure about that one - what I do know is that my common sense tells me the show is, without officially being declared over, over.
The end of the show is an unfortunate development given how valuable some of his centrist perspective might be in our current political landscape. He’s a clear thinker whose agenda is, if not nonexistent, at least balanced by perspective, and I’ve found his podcast a great way to sort through the distracted, shortsighted, and polarized rubbish I feel bombarded by in our breaking news culture. Of course, on the other hand maybe his year of silence was its own commentary about the value of talk in 2018. What is the point of discussion when most people seem a trigger word or two away from turning into a frothing idiot, ranting and raving against the politician, policy, or party that most incites their outrage?
Returning briefly to the much less relevant matter of my own podcast rankings, I think if Carlin gets the show rolling again in 2019, I’m sure Common Sense will challenge once more for a place among my top three. Until that happy day, though, I will reluctantly acknowledge that a podcast with one episode a year is a lot like a podcast with no episodes a year, and settle for the uncertain closure of a TOA Podcast Lifetime Achievement Award.
