LISTENING to locally produced podcasts can be a great way to feel connected to the community, as well as being entertained and informed. During this time of social distancing, if you haven’t done so before, you might want to seek some out. 

Online Southend radio station Ship Full of Bombs has live shows broadcast every night, brought to you by a melange of hosts made up of DJs, musicians, personalities and more. A quick click on the podcast section of shipfullofbombs.co.uk will take you to the archive or tune in to sfob.podbean.com where you can listen to the recorded live shows. 

Radio Nova Lujon is a Leigh based net station, which has now been online for years and has built up an army of dedicated listeners and DJs - many of them top name - spinning some truly great music. Visit novalujon.com for more.

Off The Beat and Track is a podcast from Stu Whiffen (Rayleigh’s Pink Toothbrush promoter) which is released through Scroobius Pips Distraction Pieces Network. Each episode features a conversation with a special guest who select seven songs which have sound tracked their life to date. Visit play.acast.com/s/offthebeatandtrack

Si Deaves from Rochford is a comedian who “drinks tea and talks to comedians, musicians and other interesting folk”. His podcast is at tpartypod.podbean.com