Podcasting on Countertops to Counter My COVID Anxiety
How I created a podcast on countertops as a way of countering my COVID anxiety
Need a new podcast recommendation, EarBuds? In addition to our weekly newsletter, we’ve got some more for you. Pop in those podcast earbuds and listen up, because we’ve got a guest post from comedian and podcaster, Shira Moskowitz!
I think a lot of the world is experiencing some heightened anxiety as a result of this global pandemic. Read this blog post to find out one person’s attempt to counter her own anxiety through a creative project. It’s a creative project that’s near and dear to our hearts, as it keeps podcasts and podcasting front and center. Shira discovered podcasting!
How did Shira counter her anxiety through podcasting about countertops? Find out here:
I never thought I’d learn so much about counter tops...and then the pandemic hit. The pandemic has provided an opportunity for many of us, who are stuck at home, to hone new skills. I have friends (as I’m sure we all do) who started baking. It seems like everyone started reading more (myself including! I’m using this time to finally read all of the Harry Potter books for the first time). And many people started running when their gyms closed, just to name a few. But somehow my quarantine hobby became researching countertops.
Get it…? “Counter” Programming?!
How did I end up here you ask? Well, early into social isolation, I was on the phone with my good friend Arielle (the founder of Earbuds podcast collective) and we were discussing how anxious many of our favorite podcasts were making us. Many of our favorite shows were tackling COVID-19. While this was essential in keeping us informed and safe,
there was so much grim COVID-19 news. It made me feel helpless and scared. Arielle even reported feeling heart palpitations!
A few days later, Arielle called me with what at first thought seemed to be a wild idea. What if we could provide counter programming to all of this upsetting news to podcast listeners all over the world? What if we could offer people, like us, a respite from the scary situation we’re currently living in? And thus Counterprogramming with Shira and Arielle was born.
The idea was simple; we would research and discuss any topic that related to the word counter: Count Dracula, Countertenor, Census People Counters, but of course, there was no better place to start than with countertops. Get it… counter programming? Each week, we would hop on Squadcast, as we’re separated by the great big U.S. -- Arielle in Los Angeles and me in Manhattan, and chat about the counter of the week, while also checking in with each other, something that is both essential and cathartic right now.
Our first podcast episode was on marble countertops, which at the time seemed like a logical place to begin as Arielle and I assumed that many countertops were made of it. However, we soon realized that despite marble’s stunning appearance, it actually isn’t so practical for a kitchen. It is difficult to clean and it stains easily due to its porous nature. We then proceeded to hate on marble pretty vocally throughout the rest of our countertops podcast series. Let us know if you disagree.
Next we touched on steel. Steel is much easier to clean, but it does scratch easily. Plus, aesthetically it is not really the look we’re going for in our future kitchen. However, we agreed that steel is very practical for industrial kitchens. In each episode, we make sure to consider whether or not we’d like to have said countertop in our future kitchens -- a very important discussion that lets us dream beyond the confines of the pandemic.
For our third episode, we discussed granite and wow...granite really blew us away. Granite is both beautiful and practical. It’s easy to clean, it doesn’t stain, it’s sturdy, and it’s pretty. Our research on granite took us on an adventure to the quarries of New Hampshire and to the BYU TV show Granite Flats (which we’re planning to watch and maybe even discuss in a future episode -- let us know if you’d like to join our movie / show / book / podcast club).
Last but not least, we discussed wood. To be honest, I really cannot picture a house with a wood countertop, but apparently it’s a thing. Although we quickly learned why it does not tend to be a popular choice. It’s another porous material that needs to be cleaned in a very particular way. But if you’re going for a rustic look, wood is your best bet. Plus, it naturally kills bacteria which is so neat.
By the end of the countertop series a few things had happened. First, Arielle and I had developed a deep distaste for marble (which my brother who is an awesome chef believes is unfounded, but if you listen to our episodes, I bet you’ll be on our side) and a passion for granite. I found that each week as I prepared to record our podcast episode, I became excited to learn about a new kind of counter. You’ll notice as you listen to our episodes that our enthusiasm about countertops really grows. We also get better and better at the physical act of creating and executing our podcast recording, which I think is an important lesson for new podcasters around the globe.
Second, we had cultivated a community of counties (the name we lovingly call our fans). Our counties send in pictures of their counters, stories of their countertop woes and wonders, and tune in every Wednesday to listen to our latest countertop conversation (something you’ll learn if you tune in too is that I simply love alliteration). We even got a response from Lindsay Graham, no not that Lindsay Graham. Lindsay Graham, the amazing storyteller, podcast creator, and host of Wondery’s American History Tellers, 1865 the Audio Drama, and American Scandal. He took the time to record a short story about his dad and his experience with wooden countertops. What a treat!
Our initial goal with Counter Programming with Shira & Arielle had been to make people laugh and to take their minds off the world around us, but the investment in the actual content of countertops both from our counties and from us, truly surprised me. Perhaps, people needed something simple, unassuming, and concrete to focus on - even if it was just for a half hour once a week - and even if we don’t cover concrete as a kitchen counter material.
Of course Arielle and I did not invent the niche genre of countertop podcasts. A quick search of the word countertop will pull up a few cooking tutorial podcasts such as The Kitchen Counter - Home Cooking Tips and Inspiration and home improvement pods like Fix It Home Improvement DIY Home Repair Projects & Products, but where our show is different is that we do actually dive into some thorough research on counters but from the perspective of two people who know very little (read: nothing) on the subject and have no real use for this information anytime soon (we like to think we’ll be able to buy houses one day but the way the world looks, that dream seems a bit far off).
Counterprogramming started off as a small project to distract ourselves, our friends and family, and strangers on the internet from the overwhelming and scary world around us for a short time each week). This project is a way for us to contribute to the solution by giving people something to listen to while they are at home. Neither of us are first responders (I assume you figured that out by now) and so we took our talents of making people laugh (we hope) and we put that to use virtually. And hopefully this gave our listeners something to do while stuck at home.
We also owe a massive credit to our engineer, Daniel, who adds the most fitting sound effects to our podcast episodes from week to week. He truly takes our content from a 6 to an 11!
We have learned a great deal about countertops, and my heart truly skips a beat each and every time I see an insta-story of a friend cooking on their granite countertop, but this podcast has also taught me more about the art of podcasting and what it means to build a virtual community.
We love this story from Shira about Counter Programming. Full disclosure -- EarBuds founder Arielle Nissenblatt is half of the team at the Counter Programming podcast. We hope this story inspires you to go out and create -- whether you’re finally jumping on a project that’s been in your brain for years or you’re podcasting in order to combat some anxious feelings, it’s all valid. We’re in strange times right now and if podcasting is your coping mechanism, I say let’s go for it. Podcasts are there for us in so many ways; as walking partners, doing-dishes entertainment, and so much more.
Want to tell us the story of how you created your podcast? We’d love to hear it.
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