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 Taral Productions podcast recorded at The Arbor Studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. Send requests, comments and suggestions to [email protected]
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 77 minutes
- Episodes
- 63
- Years Active
- 2024 - 2025
These songs will help you get over your ex
Songs do a great job of marking all the chapters of a relationship - titillation, infatuation, obsession ... followed by the comforting warmth of deep and abiding love ... (sometimes) followed by hur…
We never want to see these movies again!
Your hosts at "How We Heard It" love movies just as much anyone, and like everyone else, they'll watch their favorite films again and again.
But there are some good movies - some great movies even - …
The highs and lows of drugs and alcohol in music
Songwriters in most every genre dabble in themes of alcohol and drug use - some of them just looking for a good time, some of them looking for a serious escape from their lives and some of them looki…
Why do these great mean songs feel so good?
Forget about sappy love songs and happy party songs. Sometimes you've just got to rip somebody a new one, and you don't want to be nice about it.
The cathartic power of a mean song can't be underesti…
Here are our favorite singers and bands from around the world!
The whole world is full of great music, so this week the "How We Heard It" guys travel the globe to unveil some of the artists who have caught their attention - from Latin America to Asia to Europe t…
Music trends we hate!
Music is in a constant state of change, keeping it in line with shifts in popular culture overall as genres rise and fall in popularity and technology trends change how music is made and how we liste…
When terrible people make good art
We're constantly passing judgment on others, even if subconsciously - including when we're deciding what movie to watch or what music to hear. The words and actions of celebrities are met with our ap…
We react to reaction videos: the good, the bad and the WTF
While searching and scrolling through music videos on YouTube, most of us have found ourselves watching videos of people watching the videos we came to see.
And they're commenting and reviewing these…
God, it's brutal out here
All the time they tried their best, is this the kind of thanks they get?
Veteran journalists Chuck Campbell and Wayne Bledsoe have made careers of keeping up with and analyzing music, and in this epi…
These are the best comedians working today (plus some dead ones)
Veteran entertainment writers (and friends) Chuck Campbell and Wayne Bledsoe and their engineer/musician friend John Baker love a good laugh. So on this episode of "How We Heard It," they check off a…
Here are our favorite love songs!
Most bands and singers do at least an occasional love song now and then, and love is the most common subject in popular music.
But good love songs can be hard to find - some of the best singers aren'…
Great short songs and why we love them
No offense to long songs, but sometimes you don't need to hear long intros, repetitive choruses, bridges, someone noodling around on a guitar and protracted outros.
This week on "How We Heard It," ve…
Grammy preview: Taylor Swift vs. Beyonce, or will someone else shine?
Veteran music critics Chuck Campbell and Wayne Bledsoe have spent decades arguing with each other, publicly and privately, about who should (and who would) win the Grammy Awards.
On paper, the 2025 G…
Humor and music: the union we all need
With rare exceptions, humans love to laugh and they love music. We differ on what we find funny and what kind of music we like, but when comedy and music come together, it can be magical.
On this epi…
These great ballads are good for the soul
On this episode of "How We Heard It," the guys talk about some of the greatest ballads in classic and modern pop music.
Well, first they argue about what a ballad even is, but once they settle on a d…
How Hollywood can fix the movie industry
The movie industry has buckled under intense challenges in recent years - including a devastating pandemic that shut down theaters for months, labor strikes that disrupted the production process and …
Brace yourself, music is going to change again
Change is inevitable.
When you live in the day-to-day world of popular music, you might not notice, but the music industry is endlessly changing. It's a revolving door of artists and a rise and fall …
When should songs be censored or banned?
Songs can make you blush and songs can make you mad, but should they ever be banned?
Veteran music journalists Wayne Bledsoe and Chuck Campbell take a look at how and why artists have been censored a…
When musicians lie to the media ... and when journalists don't know what's going on
Sometimes performers and journalists hit it off beautifully, and the result is a fun and breezy piece that engages and informs fans.
This episode of "How We Heard It" isn't about those stories. Inste…
What's up with all the gibberish that singers use?
If singers talked the way they sing, you might think they were having a stroke.
From The Beatles and Nat "King" Cole to The Police and Beck to Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter, singers have been ma…