It was a few years ago that I started listening to the Dukes of Hazards podcast and have enjoyed it ever since.  (I wrote about their show here).  Since then, I’ve sampled a variety of other EM-relevant podcasts, some appealing to me and others not.  Here’s who I’ve been listening to lately, along with their iTunes links:

Disaster Politics Podcast

Hosted by Jeff Schlegelmilch, this podcast centers on some great guests and panels, discussing all manner of emergency management policy, politics, regulation, and legislation.  Jeff arranges some really great and insightful discussions that are relevant to current application across a wide range of emergency management.

EM Weekly’s Podcast

This podcast is hosted by Todd DeVoe, bringing in guests to discuss current topics in emergency management.  There is a lot of relevant discussion on programs that are thought provoking and scalable, examining both big-picture issues as well as community-level solutions.

The Spear

The Spear is a podcast from the Modern War Institute at West Point.  While not usually directly relevant to emergency management topics (though there are a couple of great episodes covering the 9/11 attacks on the Pentagon and WTC), these are inspiring stories of people in combat that often underscore leadership, initiative, and the value of preparedness, sometimes even reflecting on how lessons learned have been applied afterwards.

The Security Studies Podcast

This podcast is produced by the Georgetown University Security Studies Program.  They cover a lot of topics related to domestic and international security, including terrorist groups and activities, critical infrastructure security, and more.  Some really great interviews and topics.

How I Built This

This NPR produced podcast has nothing at all to directly do with emergency management, but what it does have is inspiring stories of determination, improvisation, and innovation from people who built their own companies – many of which you are familiar with.  There are a lot of takeaways for emergency managers in these shows… not necessarily on starting your own business, but on the resolve and creativity we need to show more of in our own profession.  Lots of inspiration to be found here.

I hope you take some time to sample my recommendations, and of course, if you like them, be sure to follow them on social media, subscribe to their podcast feeds, and leave them reviews.  As a podcaster myself, I can attest to how important these things are!

What podcasts do you listen to?

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© 2019 – Timothy Riecker, CEDP

Emergency Preparedness Solutions, LLC