Before podcasting became all the rage, Russell Johnson at the
Connected Traveler was doing audio stories for download from
around the world. He calls his site “the world’s first 24 hour per day world travel and culture radio station”. You can
argue that the stories are kinda “newsy”, maybe a bit too polished and buttoned up, but they are informative and
certainly well-produced. The “nat sound” in the pieces is particularly good. It’s actually amazing how many stories you
can find at the site.
This story on Cancun sounds a bit like a corporate
commercial, but after listening to it for a while, it actually grew on me, and I ended up listening several others. In
this one, he takes on Burma, which
we blogged about a bit yesterday. Russ actually advocates
that travelers NOT visit Burma, saying that the “democratization” efforts there are not far enough along and that
supporting the ruling junta through tourism is a bad idea. Dunno about that. Seems that it’s a good thing for people to
be exposed to what’s happening in Burma, and for Burmese to encounter people outside their borders, but he makes a good
point.
I like what Russ is doing here, and will tune in again to see what he’s doing and where he goes.