故事 FM (Gùshì FM / Story FM) is an interesting Chinese podcast for listening practice
For the last few months I've been listening to the 故事 FM podcast every day via Apple Podcasts.
Each episode of 故事 FM begins with the podcast's slogan: “用你的声音讲你的故事” (Yòng nǐ de shēngyīn jiǎng nǐ de gùshì / “telling your story in your voice”). They invite a person to tell their story. The story-tellers are mostly ordinary people, which is part of the appeal, although some are somewhat famous people, which is also interesting.
The stories on 故事 FM are almost always quite adult in terms of the content – many stories are about relationships, criminality and other adult topics. This is partly what makes it so good for Mandarin listening material: it covers serious topics in detail and depth.
The other good thing about 故事 FM for Chinese listening practice is that it has a range of different voices and accents, and most of the story tellers use normal everyday language to tell their story. You can tell that some practice and editing has gone into the recording, but it's still kept natural and easy to listen to.
故事 FM has been running for a while and is pretty popular in mainland China. I know a few people that listen to it, and who are also keen to discuss the stories as they are often so interesting.
I discovered 故事 FM just by searching for “故事” in Apple Podcasts, and I'm glad I did. It's probably the best source of Chinese listening material I've found so far. Have a listen if you'd like some refreshing and interesting Chinese listening material.
