Ready to discover your next favorite podcast?

This fresh, new monthly event series is designed to help you discover, listen to, and support the best podcasts you can’t find. Join us for an intimate evening of listening with silent headphones creating a truly captivating audio experience.

We’ll feature the best podcasters from across the country in conversation with Chicago’s own award-winning podcast host & producer Anna DeShawn, showcase indy podcasts in a never-before-seen Podcast Open Mic, and be in community where you can make new connections.

The Podcast Salon is for those who love podcasts and those who are ready to find out what the talk is all about.

Got a Podcast? Want to share during our Podcast Open Mic segment? 

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Save the Date for the next Podcast Salon

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The Podcast Salon is hosted by award-winning podcast host & producer Anna DeShawn. 

Anna, pronouns anything respectful, is a social entrepreneur, storyteller and community organizer. She is a multi-award winning podcast host/producer who builds streaming platforms which center & celebrate BIPOC & QTPOC creatives. In 2023, Anna was inducted into the Chicago LGBTQ Hall of Fame because of her unwavering commitment to the LGBTQ community. Anna DeShawn is determined to ride media into its next era by utilizing digital media streams to tell the stories and play the music that deserves to be heard.

This month's featured podcast is Curious City! 

WBEZ’s Curious City takes questions from listeners about Chicago and the region, like ‘What happens to birds stuck inside O’Hare Airport?’ or ‘Is the Old Joliet prison really haunted?’ We investigate the answers and talk about them on the show. Our mission is to include the public in editorial decision-making, make journalism more transparent and strengthen multimedia coverage about Chicago, the surrounding region and its people (past or present). Listen to Curious City at wbez.org/curious-city, on Wednesday afternoons at 91.5FM or wherever you listen to podcasts.

This month's special features include: 

Joy in the Breakthrough

This podcast explores the peaks and valleys of life through cross-generational conversations with diverse leaders who have learned the power of being broken open in order to break through. Hosted by Connie Lindsey and Anna Valencia.

Gathering Ground

Join consultant, filmmaker and activist Mary F. Morten as she delves into what it’s like to operate within and outside of the nonprofit industrial landscape. Along with her special guests, Mary answers questions from listeners and covers topics including racial and gender equity, and the experiences of people of color in leadership development and the nonprofit workforce. 

This month's artist: 

Poet22

Poet22 is an independent RnB artist with roots in Chicago’s South side. With her first album ‘Chrysalis’ accumulating over 500,000 streams across platforms, poet is no stranger to baring her innermost thoughts on wax. The songstress’ ability to switch in between sharp, soft and relaxed vocal deliveries leaves each listener with a lyric they can scream, shout or cry to. Now joining the Podcast Salon for her first performance of the year, this experience is an opportunity for music fanatics everywhere to fall in love with something new and get in on the fun early!

This month's DJ: 

DJ All the Way Kay

DJ All The Way Kay, or Kay for short, possesses unmistakable style and skill influenced by the cultural aesthetic of her hometown, Chicago. While her first loves are Hip-Hop and House Music, she is an open format DJ with an extensive collection that represents the best of all genres. She has been one of the reigning female DJs of the Chicago Queer scene for more than a decade and currently holds residency at numerous Chicago bars and nightclubs, including but not limited to: Beauty Bar, Berlin Nightclub, Emporium Arcade Bar and Untitled Supperclub.