The Madison365 podcast Black Oxygen is officially in the Top 40.
Technically speaking, it’s ranked number 40 of “The 100 Best Black Podcasts You Must Follow in 2022,” posted by the media data website Feedspot. Podcasts were ranked by traffic, social media followers, domain authority & freshness.
On the weekly podcast, which publishes new episodes every Monday through Madison365, host Angela Russell interviews Black people from around Wisconsin about their histories, their struggles, their careers, and what it means to be Black in a mostly-white place.
Since launching in 2020, the show has been downloaded nearly 71,000 times and earned a Wisconsin Innovation Award in the nonprofit category last year.
“People like hearing and learning about the various folks in Wisconsin that they had no idea (about), that they can see themselves reflected in some of those stories and hearing about aspects of Wisconsin that they would have never known,” Russell said.
She said she’s heard from listeners that the podcast has added to their day-to-day lives in surprising ways.
“People have tried different activities because of things that have been profiled on Black Oxygen,” she said, specifically citing that several people joined the BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin after she featured cofounders Dexter Patterson, Dr. Jeff Gallagan and Rita Flores Wiskowski on the podcast earlier this year.
“Amplifying more voices is what’s next for me,” Russell said when asked about the future of the show. “I’ve learned so much about Wisconsin through this. I love Wisconsin, even more now that I’ve gotten to know so many more voices. Just really continuing to amplify the myriad of Black voices throughout the state is what I really want to continue to do. It’s funny, I took a break earlier this year, just to take some time away, and I realized that I actually needed this Black oxygen myself, and I missed it when I wasn’t doing it.”
Black Oxygen is available on all podcast platforms every Monday morning.
