Feature | Estonia's English-language podcasts, all in the one place
Podcasting isn't new, and with Estonia often hailed as one of the world's leading digital states, it's no surprise that a wealth of English-language podcasts exploring various aspects of the country exists.
Some of these may have slipped below the radar for many potentially interested listeners. To help address that, ERR News has compiled a list of well over a dozen podcasts of various types in a single article for ease of reference.
For a podcast to be included, it needed to meet three criteria: it must be in English, focus on Estonia, and have multiple, recent episodes available online.
Podcasts that have not been updated in the past year or so are included in the "legacy" section.
Listening to every single episode could have been a major undertaking, so instead, the list below features individual episodes that are fairly representative of each podcast as a whole.
These podcasts cover a wide range of subject matter and approaches, from the e-state to culture, from everyday life in Estonia to the academic, from specific events or developments to more general discussions, and from official organization broadcasts to hobbyists, and more.
In short, there should be something for all tastes, while those interested in hearing and/or watching more can follow the links to other episodes from the same creators.
Participants include Estonians, native English speakers, and people of other nationalities.
Formats vary from monologues to host-guest dialogues, two hosts, two or more guests, and so on.
The language spans the gamut, from formal to somewhat coarse, so Caveat Auditor.
The podcast episodes also vary greatly in length, from around five minutes to over two hours, with some podcasts available as video, others as audio-only, and some offering both (Spotify and YouTube are among the most commonly used platforms).
Please note that inclusion on this list – which is in no particular order – is neither an endorsement nor a comment on the content; readers, or in this case listeners, can make up their own minds.
This article was first published in 2021, and has been regularly updated.
e-Estonia podcast
A digital podcast to kick things off, from the e-Estonia briefing center's official Art of Digitalization series. This focuses on digitalization stories that have taken Estonian know-how globally, the site says.
The most recent installment is "Modern classrooms: girls in tech, STEM TV show & Irish education," which aired in June.
History of Estonia Podcast
Literally what it says it is, this regularly-updated podcast has been running for several years and has many good quality and interesting takes on Estonian history that go way beyond the surface-level nature of many other English-language treatments of Estonian history.
The host goes by the name of William of Clermont, real name William S. Parsley, and the series starts at the start, in prehistory. It continues through the many foreign conquests that Estonia has suffered in its history since then, as well as the drive towards independence.
The most recent installment featured Estonian Defense Forces commander Gen. Martin Herem, who stepped down in the summer but was still in the post when the episode was broadcast, and which covered the Forest Brothers (Metsavennad), freedom fighters who opposed the Soviet occupation of Estonia.
Estonian Football Podcast
The only podcast on the list so far to be dedicated solely to sport, this is brought to you by U.K.-based twin brothers Reece and Nath Broughton, and covers club football, primarily the top-tier A. Le Coq Premium Liiga (also known as the Meistriliiga). The podcast's Twitter account is here.
The latest episode features an interview with Estonian international midfielder Kevor Palumets.
KultuuriReflektor
A pure culture podcast, the series includes episodes both in English and Estonian; the most recent in English looked at "Memory in Arts and Cultural Management."
Life in Estonia for Foreigners
Manan Anwar, originally from Pakistan and now an Estonian citizen, presents this series of video shorts on many different areas of living in the country as a foreign national.
Digital Government Podcast
The e-Governance Academy's podcast has assisted digital transformation globally in more than 130 countries, according to the website, providing insights and worldwide examples on how digital technology can benefit every society.
The podcast is the e-Governance Academy's official channel.
The Joe Rogan Experience
Estonian stand-up comedian Ari Matti Mustonen recently appeared on "The Joe Rogan Experience," no less, one of the most-watched podcasts of all.
Mustonen has also become a regular guest on comedy podcast "Kill Tony," recorded in front of a live audience and which regularly garners over a million views on YouTube.
Sõdurileht
The Sõdurileht page, dedicated to topics of interest to members and ex-members of the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) and the volunteer Defense League (Kaitseliit) occasionally carries podcasts in the English language, such as this one about British forces defending Estonia.
Estonian Soldier
Finally and continuing the military theme, no article on podcasts in English relating to Estonia would be complete without former Estonian Defense Forces conscript, now reservist, Artur Rehi's "Estonian Soldier" series.
Rehi had already been regularly podcasting about military matters prior to the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, which unsurprisingly has dominated the series since then.
The most recent episode at the time of writing deals with Ukrainian forces knocking out some Russian S-400 surface-to-air missiles, at the Khalino airbase .
Legacy podcasts
Here are all the podcast series, in no particular order, which have not been updated in the past year, yet are still online and contain plenty of content. If they start up again naturally they will be re-bumped to the main list. Any other podcasts which were included in the original version of this piece, but whose links are no longer working, have been removed.
Tallinn University Podcast
Tallinn University Podcast started in May 2021 with an appearance by former president Toomas Hendrik Ilves.
The podcast episodes' other past guests included former U.S. ambassador Michael McFaul, Professor Mika Aaltola and Dr. Mari Liis Jakobson, while the series has covered the War in Ukraine in some depth.
quESTonia
A current affairs-based podcast hosted by Stuart Garlick with journalist and Social Democratic Tallinn city councilor Maris Hellrand.
This episode brought some, perhaps much-needed, tough love from academic and researcher Keegan McBride, much of whose research work has been related to e-governance in Estonia.
Found in Estonia
A real people podcast, this one, hosted by Tiina Pärtel – and, in the earlier episodes, co-hosted by Kaisa Holsting – and interviewing many different expats from all over the world on their lives in Estonia.
Estonia Explained
Writer and historian Maarja Merivoo-Parro, formerly of ERR, put together this series which, as its name suggests, deconstructs many of the underlying aspects of the national character and way of doing things.
Tallinn Talks
The Tallinn Talks podcast was aimed at international residents of Estonia's capital.
The podcast was broadcast in cooperation with the City Center district government and the Tallinn Strategic Management Office.
Startup in Estonia
British-Estonian host Adam Rang took a look at different aspects of creating and building up a startup, by interviewing some of the key players in the sector, who already have a track record of having successfully done the same.
This episode, entitled "How to help save the planet & still make a profit", featured Sandra Särav, head of sustainability at Bolt.
Rang previously worked for the e-Residency program, and has given a TEDxTallinn talk on another one of his passions, Estonian saunas.
Comedy Guy with Louis Zezeran
Hosted by founder of entertainment troupe and promoters Comedy Estonia. this episode features journalist and comic Sille-Kadri Simer, to mark the 10th anniversary of the publication of a notorious "pick-up" guidebook.
The Estonian Experience
The Estonian Experience with Stew and Jay is here (audio), with some episodes available on YouTube. It featured U.S. stand-up comic Stewart Johnson and co-presenter Jason Medina
This episode features ERR's own Priit "Wend" Kuusk.
Other Estonian Experience guests included former prime minister Taavi Rõivas, rapper Genka, musician James Werts and travel writer Justin Petrone.
EXPO Dubai 2020 Podcast
Maarja Merivoo-Parro also presented this limited-episode series, which tied in with Estonia's participation at Expo 2020 Dubai.
The podcast was produced by Research in Estonia.
Work in Estonia podcast
Work in Estonia Talk says it aims to give an insight to expats working in Estonia and covers two sides of the story in its podcasts, one expat guest working in Estonia, and one of their local co-workers (or bosses).
Just to show we're up for anything, within reason, ERR News' Marcus Turovski and Andrew Whyte appeared in this episode, from December 2022.
Editor's note: This article was first published in 2021 and has since been updated.
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Do you run, host, take part in or simply listen to/watch a regular English-language podcast about Estonia, and which was (unintentionally) left out? Please send your link here and we'll consider it for inclusion.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
