Emergency Podcast

No, I’m not producing an Emergency podcast. Rather, I’m offering a brief review of the Weekly Emergency Podcast by Dr. Michael Ehrman. This podcast came to me by way of Podcast Pickle, a pod/vidcast review and directory site. After listening to the most current episode of the Emergency Podcast, I couldn’t help but think of how much it sounded like a reading of a government response document. After reading the podcast notes, it became apparently why I got this impression.

“Michael Ehrman working in emergency management since 1972 with a Ph.D. in Emergency Management. FEMA PDS certificate and numerous California State Fire Marshall, American Heart and Red Cross certifications. I am a certified Incident Command System instructor for both fire and police.” — Podcast Bio

Although the material can get a little technical in places and the delivery can get stoic at points, there is quite a bit of quality information in the podcasts I sampled from the series. Each full episode runs about 20-30 minutes and is fairly concise and well-paced for the average listener.

There are moments of subtle levity and humor slipped in here and there which help make the information more digestable and appealing. The lyrics in the introduction music in particular are rather funny (Feeding the Fire the Fire by John Korbel from the Bourbon Street Taps album, via the Podsafe Network.

I would recommend NOT jumping into this podcast with the current episode but rather going back to the introductory episode and working your way up to the current release.

I do strongly recommend listening to this podcast through iTunes, on an iPod or using a program that supports “enhanced” podcasts as Dr. Ehrman has included numerous supplemental images to enhance the podcast.

Dr. Ehrman has quiet a few references to Hurricane Katrina as a readiness and response example on the personal and organizational levels. I suspect he, like many onlookers and victims, was not pleased with the FEMA management of the disaster.

My only suggestion for improvement would be for the creator to include detailed podcast notes online and links to more indepth reference material.

You can learn more about the Emergency Podcast and subcribe here.