How We Heard It

About How We Heard It

Veteran entertainment journalists, music columnists and longtime friends Wayne Bledsoe and Chuck Campbell host ”How We Heard It,” a breezy and sometimes offbeat take on how music and movies got to where they are today and where it’s all going. They break down who are the most promising Generation Z singers one minute and the next they debate who are the most overrated acts from the past. Sexy songs, soundtracks, controversies and weird movies find their way into the discussion, and they also weigh in with recommendations on who to hear and what to see in music and film from the past and present. Wayne and Chuck have more than 65 years of experience in professional journalism between them, but they don’t waste time indulging in scholarly breakdowns of their institutional knowledge. Instead, they share behind-the-scenes stories about their odd, funny, inspirational and embarrassing encounters with celebrities, managers, fans and readers. And they laugh at themselves and each other. A lot. Because being an entertainment journalist does that to you. An important third voice in the ”How We Heard It” podcast is engineer John Baker, himself a musician and producer who reins in Wayne and Chuck when they need it. John’s tastes are a little bit Wayne and a little bit Chuck, and he’s a friendly sort. Wayne’s primary role in his nearly four decades at the Knoxville News-Sentinel was his work as an entertainment writer and critic. He currently hosts ”The Six O’Clock Swerve” weekly radio show on WUTK, 90.3 FM in Knoxville, he’s a former Grammy nominee, and he’s an organizer of the annual concert series ”Waynestock: For the Love of Drew and Rylan.” He’s also an artist and unconventional garden writer - see more at www.waynebledsoe.com. Chuck started his career in journalism at the Daytona Beach News-Journal in Florida before joining the staff in Knoxville. He has reviewed more than 5,500 albums, and his column was distributed by the New York Times, Gannett, Cox News Service and the Scripps Howard News Service. He was an entertainment and travel editor in both Florida and Tennessee and a regional news planner for Gannett’s South Region. ”How We Heard It” is a Cozy Planet Productions podcast recorded at The Arbor Studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. Send requests, comments and suggestions to HowWeHeardIt@gmail.com

Publisher

howweheardit

Category

music · tv & film

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

30 Jun 2024

Latest episode

17 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

121 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   17 Oct 2026

   This time we’re covering everything from J to L!

   Your “How We Heard It” hosts never know what they’ll find to talk about when they dig through their music collections - albums they forgot they had, albums they didn’t realize they had, albums they could never forget about. This week they’re at it again and unusually focused, concentrating primarily on artists that start with J, K or L. The guys give their short takes on some 50 artists - including Etta James, Jethro Tull, Joy Division, the Kinks, Kraftwerk, Lenny Kravitz, Patti LaBelle, k.d. lang, Cyndi Lauper, Los Lobos and dozens of other acts. Rock, pop, R&B, country, jazz, rap, Latin and electronic music are all included in the breezy free-for-all, so buckle in and take a ride!

2. 

   10 Oct 2026

   Weird and offbeat music we love

   We praise "weird" music because it's engagingly unpredictable, creative and nonformulaic. We condemn "weird" music because it's self-indulgent, affected and weird just for the sake of being weird. It's not that we can't make up our mind if weird music is good or bad, it's that weird music can be weirdly good or weirdly bad. This week on "How We Heard It," Chuck, Wayne and John run through a spectrum of offbeat artists who are sometimes, usually or always considered weird, including Frank Zappa, The B-52's, Devo, Bjork, Captain Beefheart, Enya, Beck, Throbbing Gristle, The Residents, Sonic Youth, Marianne Faithfull, PJ Harvey, Pere Ubu - and even the Beatles and the Beach Boys. Sometimes emerging genres seem weird till they go mainstream. Sometimes the addition of an instrument like the sitar or bagpipes can make the conventional sound fascinating. Sometimes an unusual voice is enough to make music sound weird. This episode explores why some of our favorite music is offbeat, and why some offbeat music is simply unlistenable. Who are your favorite (or most hated) "weird" music acts?

3. 

   3 Oct 2026

   Home sweet home? That depends on the song

   Songwriters know there's no place like home - for better and worse. Home is where the heart is, and home is where the hurt is. We might get homesick when we're away and then feel trapped when we return. For some, home is a retreat into seclusion, and they won't even answer the door. Meanwhile others never intend to darken the doorstep of their home again. This week the hosts of "How We Heard It" look at our complicated feelings for "home" as presented in songs - and the range of emotions is expansive. For a loving couple, home is a blissful house of joy. For an abused child, it's a place of hellish torture. A home can be a place where dreams come true for some and a place where dreams die for others. And for some, "home" isn't a physical place, it's a state of mind. Whatever you think of "home," there are songs that match your feelings. From broken homes to temples of love to haunted houses, we've got it all.

Who has been a guest on How We Heard It

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Chuck Campbell
• Wayne Bledsoe
• John Baker

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

8 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 34 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

35

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

81

Contact How We Heard It

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Questions about How We Heard It