Name this podcast

May 18, 2015 5:11 PM

Please help me come up with a name for my new podcast. Details inside.

I'm starting a podcast that will feature long-form interviews - think "Fresh Air" - but the twist is, none of the people interviewed will be famous in any way. The idea being that there is no such thing as an "ordinary person," and that all people can be fascinating if you let/help them tell their story.

My first thought was something along the lines of "A Day in the Life" or "A Day in This Life," but (a) those are both song titles, and (b) that's not really what it's about. It's not a "day in the life of CAREER," but rather one person telling their whole life story, or whatever chunk of it they want to tell.

Any ideas? Looking for something short but evocative, and hopefully not too esoteric (i.e. the title at least somewhat conveys the premise of the show).

Thanks!

posted by jbickers to Media & Arts (28 answers total)

"This Is My Life"
posted by fings at 5:17 PM on May 18, 2015

I like the idea of including something about voice or speech.
A single voice
One voice, one life
The spice of voice
Narrative voice

Or maybe something about story
Everyone has a story
Memoirs of the mundane
Story me this
Tell me yours
posted by OrangeDisk at 5:20 PM on May 18, 2015

Singular
One Voice, One Story (or the reverse)
Slice of Life
Innerscape
posted by Iris Gambol at 5:26 PM on May 18, 2015

Better Know A Person - A seven billion part podcast?

And just some stray thoughts you may know already: the idea resembles what anthropologists call a life history approach--words like profile and portrait come up a lot in book/chapter titles. There's a related idea called a person-centered ethnography, described in an article that quoted Yeats about not being able to separate the dancer from the dance.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 5:26 PM on May 18, 2015 [2 favorites]

A Story for All.
posted by deezil at 5:27 PM on May 18, 2015

Whole Life Stories
Extraordinary Stories from Ordinary Lives
Daily Tales
First-person Histories
Jewel-box Lives
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:58 PM on May 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

Lifestories
Your Story
What's Your Story?
Our Stories
Tell Me Your Life
posted by Rock Steady at 6:13 PM on May 18, 2015

The Warhol Effect - "Giving everybody their fifteen minutes, one podcast at a time."
posted by bluecore at 6:49 PM on May 18, 2015

If you're willing to go ironic: "Boring People"
If you're not: "Extra Ordinary"
posted by phooky at 6:50 PM on May 18, 2015

Stories Of Your Life And Others
posted by turbid dahlia at 7:17 PM on May 18, 2015

Out of the Ordinary
posted by chapps at 7:26 PM on May 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

For a podcast, I'd suggest something more funky and intriguing than an NPR show would use. They kind of have a built-in audience so they can afford to have kind of flat names like Fresh Air or This American Life. You want something that makes people say, "What the heck is that?" Sleep with Me is a good example. It's a podcast where the guy tells you stories to make you fall asleep, and once you know what it is the title fits and makes you chuckle. The Mental Illness Happy Hour is another. You wonder what show would ever have a title like that, and then when you find out it's a comedian talking frankly with people about mental illness, it fits.

All that being said, I'm not sure what title to suggest. If you can come up with something really punchy that describes your program in just a few words, great. But err on the side of weird.

There was a zine called So This is Me. Maybe something like that? There was a late night, local radio show in LA called The We Hours, and I feel like that's a good direction too.

Off the top of my head:

Here I Am
Inside Me
Me, Myself and You
What It Is
I Am Here
A Person
You Don't Know Me, But...
The Weekly Human
Talking to Somebody
So Who Are You?
And You Are?
Pleased to Meet You
Somebody You Don't Know
Talking to Strangers
Everyday People (that one's a little hacky, but you'd have a killer theme song!)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 8:09 PM on May 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

Walk A Mile.
posted by Scram at 8:18 PM on May 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

Lives Among Us
They Live
Ordinary and Extraordinary
Your Life Examined
Ordinary Lives Revealed
posted by Noisy Pink Bubbles at 9:30 PM on May 18, 2015

I'd go simple and just call it Voices. If that's available, anyway, and let a subtitle carry the rest of it. Like:

Voices: The revealing stories of everyday people

Yadda yadda. Ish. (Revealing is kind of lame but you do want some kind of word that sparks an interest.)

Good luck and let us know when your podcast is up and running. I'm totally going to listen. Can't wait!
posted by Bella Donna at 9:47 PM on May 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

Everyday biographies.
posted by dvrmmr at 10:32 PM on May 18, 2015

A few words to add into the mix: common, folk, folks

So...
Stories of Common Follk
Common Folk, Uncommon Stories
Ordinary Folks
Common Lives
Stories from the Everyday
posted by bluedaisy at 10:42 PM on May 18, 2015

One thing to think about: Since you are a person with a point of view, and you have—through chance and selection—ended up among a certain group of people who are probably more like you than not like you, is "ordinary" the highest common denominator most of the people you'll end up talking to have in common?

If it is, you're better at avoiding filter bubbles than I am—even if I were actively trying to talk to people who aren't like me I'd be stocking my podcast with people who fit my definition of "not like me." For that reason my guess is that "ordinary" isn't the most precise way to describe these people, and figuring out what additional baggage (good and bad) you and your guests are going to end up bringing to the podcast will help you name it and figure out exactly what makes it tick.

Also, I kind of like "One Person."
posted by Polycarp at 11:10 PM on May 18, 2015

I like the "brief title: explanatory subtitle" format. It's hard to convey what the concept is with just a single phrase.

Maybe something along the lines of "Out of Many: Life Stories of Everyday People."

And then you'd have episode title formats to consider.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 3:49 AM on May 19, 2015

Average joes
posted by pearlybob at 5:06 AM on May 19, 2015

Could you stick around your desired title and have something like 'A life in the day of...'
posted by Wysawyg at 5:07 AM on May 19, 2015

Once Upon a Life
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:40 AM on May 19, 2015

Snowflakes: Stories of Unique People
posted by at at 6:24 AM on May 19, 2015

One thing I would definitely recommend is choosing a name that is unique enough to search on. I feel like a lot of the suggestions here would just ping This American Life and not whatever you choose to call your podcast -- I'd leave the word Life out of it.

I like Ursula Hitler's suggestion of The Weekly Human a lot (assuming that you get some real human diversity in there).

Seconding that you should link it when you have some episodes!
posted by possibilityleft at 6:47 AM on May 19, 2015

Fifteen Minutes
Celebrity Next Door
Behind Picket Fences
posted by Promethea at 9:28 AM on May 19, 2015

TheirStories
For Each, a Story
A Life Lived
Living the Life
Welcome to My Life
Through Our Eyes
As Told By
As Told To [jbickers]
The People I Know
Everyday Narrators
First Person
The Things I've Seen
posted by freezer cake at 11:05 AM on May 19, 2015

the minutae memoirs
posted by WeekendJen at 1:23 PM on May 19, 2015

Storied Lives
The Memory Archive
Riffing on this, Folklives Today
This Is What Happened: Stories from Life
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:30 PM on May 19, 2015