MIRS launches new political podcast

There is a new political talk show in town, and for a political junkie like me that’s a great thing.

MIRS (Michigan Information & Research Service), the subscription only newsletter that covers the Capitol, launched an hour long podcast focusing on Michigan politics on Monday, and it will run weekly on Monday. The podcast is hosted by MIRS’ Editor Kyle Melinn. Panelists include MIRS’ Publisher John T. Reurink and Correspondent Susan Demas, who also writes for the Michigan Truth Squad.

It features discussion and interviews, and the best part is that even though MIRS is subscription only, the podcast is free.

I love podcasts, which are kind of like audio blogs. They are excellent for a slow day in the office because you can listen anytime you want and pause them anytime you want. Some podcasts are just recordings of radio shows, like the Stephanie Miller Podcast I subscribe to, but there are some great local ones, too.

One of my favorites that comes from a broadcast radio show comes from the Lansing City Pulse. The hour long show is broadcast on Wednesday evenings on 89 FM, the Michigan Sate University radio station, but its podcasts are archived on the City Pulse web site. The shows go all the way back to October of 2008, and they have filled some slow afternoons at the office. The show was, until last week, also hosted by Melinn and City Pulse Publisher Berl Schwartz. The show has guests that generally cover three areas: politics, the arts and the local Lansing area.

My favorite non-radio podcast is called “Two Guys Named Joe” put out about one a week by political consultants Joe DiSano and Joe Munem. One is a Democrat and one is a Republican, and they offer up lots of great inside information.

One of the newer but really good podcasts on Talk Lansing is “The Back Room: Michigan Politics” hosted by veteran journalist and radio host Walt Sorg. The show features a weekly rotating roundtable of mid-Michigan political activists that has included Ari Adler, former press secretary to the Republican leader of the Michigan Senate; Mark Grebner, Democratic political consultant and longtime Ingham County Commissioner; and Kathie Dunbar, Lansing city councilperson and head of the South Lansing Community Development Association.