\u201cThroughline\u201d, hosted by Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei, is a podcast that tells stories of the past to illuminate parts of our world today. The most recent episode focuses on the electoral college – how it came to be, and how it affects our voting process today. It tells the story of the Constitutional Convention, and the compromises that the founders took to create the imperfect document that the Constitution is. The hosts discuss the early failures of the electoral college, mainly the election of 1800, in which a federalist House of Representatives ended up choosing between two Democratic-Republican presidential candidates. After this, the 12th Amendment was issued, which required the president and vice-president to be voted for separately. The hosts also discuss more modern effects of the electoral college, such as the multiple recent elections in which the popular vote winner lost the electoral college, as well as the attempts to abolish it and the potential resulting effects.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThroughline\u201d is a nonfiction podcast that focuses on conveying information through stories. However, the historical stories that it tells are not the type that most people would dive into for fun. The team behind the podcast implements various techniques to tell these stories in a manner that is both digestible and enjoyable to the public.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the foremost narrative techniques used in \u201cThroughline\u201d is the modern, non-technical language used by the hosts that is in sharp contrast to the dry, textbook-manner in which history is usually conveyed. Most of the time, the hosts speak in a clear-cut and conversational vernacular, as in \u201cThey all had different interests, yet they all had a stake in the success of the union. So it wasn’t going to be easy to agree on anything, especially on how to elect the country’s chief executive or president.\u201d This style of narration makes it easy to follow the story and makes the listener feel as though it\u2019s more of a casual conversation than a formal presentation. Even the experts who offer deeper insight into the stories stay away from formal and technical language. Occasionally, the hosts throw in some slang, such as this section referring to George Washington\u2019s doubts about the success of the Constitutional Convention: \u201cEven he was unsure the damn thing was going to work. That was the vibe.\u201d The use of such slang helps foster a very casual *vibe*, which makes the content easier to listen to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The main breaks from the modern language in the podcast are through direct historical quotations and recordings. For example, one extremely dense quote by Alexander Hamilton begins, \u201cIt was equally desirable that the immediate election should be made by men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation\u2026\u201d Direct quotes are always read by voice actors rather than the hosts, which separates them from the rest of the show. The main role that the quotes serve is to make the story feel more immersive, as if the listener is closer to being in the room. However, they are always summarized in common language afterwards by the hosts, so that the listener isn\u2019t forced to decipher the formal and dated language of the past in real-time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Along with the narrative style and tone, other features such as background music at dramatic moments, expert testimonials, pauses to show jumps in historical eras, and applications of the stories to the present world make \u201cThroughline\u201d a well-made and entertaining podcast to listen to. It has an ideal combination of information density, drama, and real-world connections, and I\u2019m looking forward to discussing some of these other aspects as I follow it through future episodes.
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Word count: 610 words
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