Podcast Spotlight: Rumor Flies
In an era where “fake news” and “alternative facts” have interjected their way into daily conversation, it’s important to continue diligently fact-checking and stopping the spread of rumors. Rumor Flies is helping push this cause by exposing some widely-held beliefs for the frauds they are, all with painstaking fact-checking so they don’t become part of the problem.
(Editor’s note: purely coincidental this post is following Podcast Spotlight: Mulder Was Right – Conspiracy and Alternative Facts)
Though they attempt to stay out of politics, Rumor Flies does tackle some extremely present topics such as MSG allergies, rumors around Disneyland, and even aphrodisiacs. I got a chance to meet Greg who leads the fact-checking for Rumor Flies (a very important job) and discuss the origins of the podcast and where they want to go from here. Below is our full Q&A.
Discover Pods: Describe your podcast in 140-characters or less.
Greg: Rumor Flies explores the origins and veracity of common rumors, myths, and misconceptions. We are somewhere between Snopes and Mythbusters, but with a comedic bend and far fewer qualifications.
DP: How did your podcast get started?
Greg: Our podcast started just over a year ago after co-host Ryan appeared on my old show, “Projecting” (discontinued). We were old friends in high school who hadn’t seen each other in some time after I went off to college in VA. We had a great discussion about myths surrounding GMO’s. After the show, Ryan and Josh chatted (I believe over a game of Rocket League) about how Ryan wanted to start a dedicated show that dealt with common rumors, myths, and misconception. After brainstorming a few ideas, the two childhood friends realized they’d probably make good co-hosts. They gave me a call, we met over drinks to hash out the details, and soon after we started producing the show!
DP: Why did you choose a podcast over other mediums?
Greg: That’s a great question with no simple answer. I think part of it is that podcasts have such a low barrier to entry, especially if you know how to handle audio (I used to do field mixing for film sets and Ryan and Josh are both seasoned musicians). We had all the gear we needed, I knew how podcast syndication worked, and we all just LOVE podcasts. It was a really cool opportunity to join the podcast world we enjoy so much.
Greg: Oof how to answer this without sounding pretentious…I think people enjoy our chemistry and dedication to not only proving/debunking commonly parroted “facts” (especially during a time where clickbait/”fake news” are so widely discussed), but also our hunt for the origin stories of certain myths/rumors. We love trying to find the original “perpetrator” if you will in the giant game of telephone that happens. We have found some awesome origin stories and we enjoy sharing them.
Greg: MSG allergies for starters, but I’d say the most “power keg” episode we did was where we specifically went after the products pushed by (and the general authority of) Dr. Oz and Alex Jones (Infowars). We tend to be VERY careful about steering clear of politics and controversies, but at the end of season 2 (with the help of our buddies over at Blurry Photos), we decided to double down and target two people we consider incredibly dishonest and irresponsible.
DP: What are your favorite 5 podcasts?
Greg: Way too hard to choose haha I think each of us can give 2 answers (feel free to cut it down if you need or just pull 1 each).
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