Spacetime Diaries

Season one of Spacetime Diaries, called “The Disappearing,” is an eight-episode sci-fi musical adventure. After a tech worker named Karima “disappears” and finds herself in the distant future and another planet, she’s embroiled in a clash for the fate of humanity. And along the way, we’re presented with big ideas about our role in climate change, post-truth politics, and technological advances.

Spearheaded by recent PDX transplant Ghan Patel, “The Disappearing” was not only recorded remotely between him and friends in New York and the West Coast in the midst of 2020 during the pandemic, but it was directly inspired by the events of last year. Season two of Spacetime Diaries is currently in the works. 

Cancer for Breakfast

Yes, it’s a podcast about cancer, a serious topic, but don’t take it too seriously—at least that’s the hope of these two hosts, Amy and Stef.

Amy and Stef are “cancer people.” Their very first episode was released on March 2, and throughout the podcast Amy and Stef will share letters from fellow cancer people, highlight promising Recent Advances in Treatments and Science (R.A.T.S.!) and discuss their own fears and realizations as they navigate two very different breast cancer experiences. It's honest, vulnerable, and unexpected. Got a letter you want to send the hosts? Send them a message at [email protected] New episodes will publish every Wednesday. 

Flagrant Pod

The first volume of the Portland-based, women-run magazine Flagrant was announced in January 2020, and since then, the crew has been hard at work creating beautiful mags and great basketball-inspired stories. They even got high praise from ESPN’s The Jump. Recently, the magazine announced a new audio venture, Flagrant Pod: The Flagrant Files, “a true-ish, crime-ish podcast” that looks at NBA conspiracies. 

Hosted by Ciara Smith and produced by Emma Weightman, Flagrant Pod released its first episode "Double Teamed" on March 3. In the episode, Smith is joined by Flagrant founders Ashtyn Butuso and Alex Haigh as they discuss Marcus and Markieff Morris, and the conspiracy surrounding Markieff’s ankle injury in the 2017 Eastern Conference Finals.

Come for the conspiracy chat, stay for the cankles conversation.

PROTOCOL

Podcasts aren’t necessarily just two or a few folks talking among themselves and into our ears. Audio engineers and writers, including Portland-based multi-disciplinary artist Phil Johnson, are realizing the potential of the podcast frontier.

Johnson’s new series PROTOCOL, released by PCS Remix: Original Works, is an Afro-futurist sci-fi thriller blending sound, music, and narrative. The setup is simple: tragedy befalls the space cruiser Elegua IV, and the crew encounter a new threat on their mission to preserve humanity. But the show promises, as good science fiction does, big concepts and ideas. 

PROTOCOL: Episode 1 - Trailer from Portland Center Stage on Vimeo.

"PROTOCOL: Episode 1" will launch March 9 at 7:30 p.m., with a listening party and live Q&A with the artistic team.

Listen: In this episode of Footnotes, we talked with Spacetime Diaries creator Ghan Patel, and highlight some more locally-produced podcasts.