HAVE YOU HEARD?

THIIIRD Waves: The intersections of culture and activism

Published on September 15, 2021

Have You Heard? is where the Pod Bible team meet the people behind the podcasts you may not have heard of yet. While the Oh. My. Pod. section in the magazine gives a quick shout out to shows of that ilk, Have You Heard? aims to go deeper in an effort to spread awareness for shows that deserve more exposure! We recently heard from Rhona, TrYb and Daniela from the podcast THIIIRD Waves – an audio companion to the THIIRD magazine.

Who are you and what’s your podcast about?

Daniela: We are Rhona (left), TrYb (middle), and Daniela (right). Our podcast THIIIRD Waves is one of the outputs of THIIIRD magazine, a platform that amplifies marginalised voices through print, events, and on the airwaves with this podcast. Our show explores the intersections of culture and activism, and brings to our listeners interviews and discussions with guests who have knowledge and lived experiences on the topic at hand. On the radio edit of the show which lives on Soho Radio’s culture channel as well as Mixcloud, the episodes are spliced with an eclectic mix of music influenced by cultural diasporas, and finished by a DJ set.

What was the first podcast you ever listened to?

Daniela: The Ricky Gervais podcast when it originally came out in 2005! That was the start of the podcasting era, and it had me giggling on the bus everyday for a month, didn’t think of it at the time but that’s when the magic of podcasting bit me I should think!

Rhona: The first one I really got into was Sistren’s podcast aired from Roundhouse studios. Listening to that show was like sitting in on a feminist committee meeting at the back of an after school bus – the mix of unfiltered chat, critical thinking, draggings, and banter was familiar and relatable.

TrYb: I stumbled on podcasts accidentally. I had always heard that it was something that people did but did not really know the extent of it until I heard one Spotify and then got religiously hooked on a show called Hit Parade by Slate. The show allowed me to live my inner music nerd fantasy through audio form.

Why did you decide to start podcasting in the first place?

Daniela: I’ve always dabbled in audio production, with a few small radio shows back in uni days. There’s something about the format that strikes a really nice balance between being really engaging but yet accessible enough to just get into and make, something between literature and film or something.

Rhona: We’d been doing the magazine online and in print for some time before we decided to embark on the podcast. Starting one when we did made a lot of sense. By then, Daniela and myself had produced some THIIIRD events, and particularly at the panel talks we’d think – damn, we should have recorded that. Daniela had experience with audio and Tryb had also mentioned wanting to use it as part of the platform more. I had skills as an interviewer, so really it felt like a good pooling of our skill sets to structure something new out of what we were already doing.

Which podcasts do you take inspiration from?

Daniela: Radio Lab! I love the way that this show is seriously well researched and presented yet it’s the fact that it’s infused with a joyful inquisitiveness that sticks with me and inspires me – have fun and share good vibes whilst expanding our knowledge!

Rhona: I recently discovered The Cut and I love it, but the podcast I take the most inspiration from in essence is The Receipts. It’s very different from ours, but Tolly, Audrey and Milena help people who are in real pickles in their personal lives with their; isn’t that amazing to think a podcast can do that?

TrYb: I remember we spoke a lot about This American Life when we were first envisioning the podcast and hoped we could bring an ounce of storytelling and level of interesting topics for our audience. An inspiration for me is NPR’s Throughline, because they also explore social and historical concepts to shed light on how things are today. Things we sometimes don’t think about or recognise needs to change.

Who’s your dream guest for the podcast?

Daniela: It’s hard to say, whenever we reach out to people and they agree to guest (which is actually 9 out of 10 times) it always gives me such a huge buzz…

Rhona: It’s always topic dependent but, seeing as we reference her writing on the show, bell hooks would be an amazing guest if she would take an interview!

TrYb: I have a few! Akala and David Olusoga because their historical knowledge would be mind blowing on our show. Trever Nelson again for his knowledge from a musical perspective. Julian Assange, for his secrets and the Queen to hear her unfiltered perspective on the institution of the monarchy. The last two are probably a little less realistic.

What is the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far as a podcaster?

Daniela: You can’t be overprepared! Or over organised. Oh and as the producer of the show – not to neglect my own mic quality and just focus on my co-hosts and guests ha!

Rhona: Podcasts can be quite an intimate space. The intimacy is part of the magic of them, but learning how much of ‘you,’ you want to deposit in your show and getting comfortable with that is a process.

TrYb: For me, the biggest lesson has been to be able to find the fine balance between being very curated and organised with the show format and being able to speak off the cuff to the moment. It is sometimes necessary to know when it is necessary but still have the details and framework. It’s like a colouring book. You can use as many colours as you would like as long as you try and stay within the lines of the overall picture.