As we cov­er the world of enlight­ened pod­casts, we inevitably uncov­er ones that become our per­son­al favorites, and this was the case with Radio Open Source (iTunes Feed Web Site). Host­ed by Christo­pher Lydon, the show had a great knack for mak­ing heady issues engag­ing and acces­si­ble to a wider audi­ence, and that was main­ly because the show took its lead from the Radio Open Source blog and its active online com­mu­ni­ty. Rather unique­ly, Lydon and his crew let the online com­mu­ni­ty help pro­duce the show, which meant let­ting the audi­ence sug­gest top­ics and guests for future pro­grams. It was a nov­el con­cept that yield­ed some very good results.

Any­way, as you can tell, we’re talk­ing about things in the past tense, and that’s because the show announced last week that they’ve run out of fund­ing and gone on a sum­mer hia­tus. They’re sort­ing things out and hop­ing to return this fall with new mon­ey and per­haps a new broadcasting/podcasting approach. We hope to see them back in action soon. In mean­time, we’d encour­age you look back through their media archive — iTunes Feed Web Site — to get a feel for what the fall may bring.

It’s a wrap for the week:

• Steven Col­bert Gives iPhone Zero Stars
• Phi­los­o­phy Bites
• Miles and Coltrane on YouTube: The Jazz Greats
• The Online Span­ish Edu­ca­tion Pro­gram
• 20 Pod­casts That Will Teach You Span­ish, French, Ital­ian and Ger­man (A Reprise)
• What Feed Read­ers Don’t See on Open Cul­ture

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Our col­lec­tion of pod­casts will help you start speak­ing Man­darin or Can­tonese. To learn more lan­guages, see our com­plete col­lec­tion of for­eign lan­guage les­son pod­casts.

• French for Begin­ners iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Fun, effec­tive lessons for begin­ners. Pro­vid­ed by the French Ecole.
• Le Jour­nal en français facile iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Night­ly news from RFI pre­sent­ed in slow­ly spo­ken French to assist you with your com­pre­hen­sion.
• Learn French by Pod­cast iTunes Feed Web Site
  • A well-reviewed series of lessons for begin­ners and those who want to brush up on their French.
• Learn French with Dai­ly Pod­casts iTunes Feed Web Site
  • These lessons are brought to you by French teach­ers from Paris. They are best suit­ed for those who already have some begin­ning French under their belts.
• Ma France iTunes Feed Web Site
  • The BBC offers 24 video pod­casts that will teach you French.
• Mali French Feed Web Site
  • The Peace Corps teach­es you some of the French spo­ken in Mali.
• The French Pod Class iTunes Feed Web Site
  • A very pop­u­lar col­lec­tion that teach­es stu­dents the French lan­guage and dif­fer­ent facets of French cul­ture.
• The Ver­b­cast — French Verbs by Relax­ation iTunes Feed Web Site
  • A four-week series of lessons that will allow you to refine your knowl­edge of French verbs.

Our col­lec­tion of pod­casts will help you start get­ting com­fort­able in Eng­lish. To learn more lan­guages, see our com­plete col­lec­tion of for­eign lan­guage les­son pod­casts.

• Busi­ness Eng­lish iTunes Web Site
  • Learn the Eng­lish you will need to func­tion effec­tive­ly in an Amer­i­can busi­ness envi­ron­ment.
• Eng­lish as a Sec­ond Lan­guage Pod­cast iTunes Feed Web Site
  • A very well liked col­lec­tion of ESL lessons. Over 100 episodes in the col­lec­tion.
• Eng­lish for Span­ish Speak­ers (’Por Fin Aprende Ingles’) iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Si ust­ed haya asis­ti­do al menos a un cur­so de ingles, y ust­ed nece­si­ta la opor­tu­nidad de escuchar al ingles y hablar el ingles, entonces ‘Por Fin Aprende Ingles’ es el pod­cast per­fec­to para ust­ed. Pre­sen­ta­do por Car­la Staufert-Sauvi­er, una pro­fe­so­ra de Mex­i­co, y Jade Lindquist, una pro­fe­so­ra de los EE UU.
• ESL Busi­ness News iTunes Feed Web Site
  • A week­ly pod­cast of inter­na­tion­al busi­ness news read in slow, clear Eng­lish. Lis­ten to the pod­cast and fol­low along in the accom­pa­ny­ing script.
• On Demand Eng­lish iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Dai­ly pod­casts that will teach you Eng­lish and Amer­i­can cus­toms. Well done.
• The Bob and Rob Show: Week­ly Eng­lish Lessons from a Yan­kee and a Brit iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Tak­ing a more uncon­ven­tion­al approach to teach­ing Eng­lish, this pro­gram uses humor to teach inter­me­di­ate-to-advanced stu­dents idioms, gram­mar, and slang in both Amer­i­can and Eng­lish fla­vors.

Anoth­er week, anoth­er wrap:

• The Top 25 Edu­ca­tion­al Pod­casts on iTunes — June 22
• The Trou­ble with Judas
• James Joyce’s Ulysses: A Free Pod­cast
• Uni­ver­si­ty Pod­casts: The New Video Wave on iTunes
• The Salman Rus­die Affair: Part II
• Physics for Future Pres­i­dents on Video
• 20 Pod­casts That Will Teach You Span­ish, French, Ital­ian and Ger­man

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