What Are Your Favorite Podcasts?
Decatur Metro | November 12, 2014 | 11:01 am
Parker asks…
How about fave podcasts? Have you done that already? I’m an addict and I’d love to know what other DM readers are listening to.
Me too!
Also here are some related links for ya. First a New York Magazine article entitled “What’s Behind the Great Podcast Renaissance?”
And from there, check out The Atlantic’s list of Podcasts So Good You Will Want to Binge-Listen.
My friend turned me on to this Podcast called Analyze Phish. It’s basically just a guy who loves the band Phish trying to convince his friend who hates Phish why he should change his mind about their music. It’s hilarious. I’ve you’ve ever been to a jamband concert, you’ve got to check it out.
Serial!
WTF with Marc Moran
Freakonomics Radio, TEDtalks
Almost all the Slate podcasts are good, or great:
Political Gabfest (great)
Culture Gabfest (great)
XX Gabfest (good)
Amicus (great)
Mom & Dad are Fighting (good)
The Gist (Good)
You forgot Slate’s Hang Up & Listen, the sports podcast for the NPR set. Probably my second favorite after the Political Gabfest. I kind of lost patience with XX some years ago. As a dude who considers himself a pretty ardent feminist, I nevertheless always came out of that one feeling at best marginalized and often antagonized. Hannah Rosen just grates on me a bit…
I also haven’t listened to the recently added Money podcast because the topics never seem to hold much interest for me. Lexicon Valley also is a slog for me, even though I’m an editor by trade, but maybe I need to give it another chance.
I am actually a Slate Plus subscriber, and in addition to getting an extra segment for all of their regular podcasts, you also get a bevy of Plus-only podcasts, including weekly discussions of a range of TV series when they’re in season (Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, Dr. Who, Orange is the New Black…maybe some others).
Stuff You Should Know (http://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts)
Film Sack (http://filmsack.com/)
Podcasts have changed my commute, and therefore my life, for the better. Here are some of my favorites:
Serial
This American Life
Fresh Air with Teri Gross
RadioLab
TEDTalks
The Splendid Table
WTF with Marc Moran
Stupid question: how do you listen to these on a commute? Can you listen on an Android Smartphone? My cars are old and not wired for satellite.
I have them uploaded to a podcast app called “Overcast’ on my iPhone which is connected to my car’s bluetooth. But a year ago I had neither iPhone nor bluetooth and I listened through headphones on my iPod touch.
Curous: Is there a particular reason you use a third-party podcast app rather than the built-in iOS podcast app? I find it very robust, especially in its latest incarnation.
If you don’t have Bluetooth, you can plug into your car’s auxiliary imput.
And if your car doesn’t have Bluetooth or an auxiliary input, you can use a cassette adapter or an FM transmitter (to pick up over radio), as people did back in the days before CD players were common in cars. Not great sound quality in either case, but better than nothing.
An even better option if you’re willing to spend around $100 are aftermarket kits that allow you to add a direct iPhone/iPod (and I assume Android or whatever) input (with charging) into most cars. I did this several years ago with my 2005 Honda Accord. Required disassembling the center console to access the back of the factory radio (kit uses the satellite radio input) but was not terribly intimidating with YouTube videos/pics online to guide me. Have been reaping the benefits ever since.
I have podcasts loaded on my ancient ipod and play them in the car with a battery operated speaker case I bought for about $10 at Target.
Just don’t be one of those people driving around with headphones on. So stupid. So unsafe.
SERIAL IS SO GOOD! I miss This American Life
Why do you “miss” TAL? It’s still coming out every week, and is still the #1 podcast in iTunes (well, alternates spots with Serial now).
I’m in need of Podcast 101 for commuting/driving: which android app is recommended? If you can make phone calls through your car’s speakers/computer via Bluetooth, can you broadcast a podcast that way? (I’m too embarrassed to ask my children these questons.)
Doggcatcher is my favorite Android podcast app. I use it with my Bluetooth receiver in my car, set the playback speed to 1.5x and cram 45 minutes of podcasts into my 30 minute commute. You can subscribe to podcasts, have them download automatically, delete played or old ones. Well worth the couple of dollars over the built-in android applications.
I like Broadcasting House with Paddy O’Connell, BBC Radio 4…
Lots of great ones mentioned already. I’ll add:
99% Invisible
The Moth
Planet Money
froknowsphoto.com weekly raw talk
I like:
The Dinner Party Download (no matter what the topics/guests, this one is always enjoyable)
Feakonomics Radio
Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me
Planet Money
Dan Carlin Hardcore History
Can’t +1 this one enough.
And he just keeps getting better. I thought he’d have trouble topping the Fall of the Roman Republic series, but Wrath of the Khans was great and the current WWI series is unreal. It’s like he was born to do this.
Also on the historical front I’ve been enjoying catching up with the History of Byzantium and I’ve heard good things about the History of Rome series.
I’ve tried to cultivate Dan Carlin. Doesn’t he sort of yell at you? I’ll have to try him again based on the comments here.
Ha ha. I’d say he gets “excited” sometimes on Common Sense, but HH usually seems to have the proper emotional range. I think his voicing goes great when talking about Ukrainian bone-fields, Mongolian mass-executions, and der Kindermord.
I like listening to someone who seems excited about their topic, though. The breezy, conversational style of Stuff You Missed in History Class really leaves me cold.
Econtalk with Russ Roberts (more interesting than it might sound)
Freakonomics
Planet Money
Radiolab
Car Talk (even though they are repeats, i still love every show)
Hardcore History (long shows but great for the history lover)
The Moth
This American Life
Serial
Startup
Love love love podcasts!! Marketplace, Planet Money, All Songs Considered, and the Dinner Party are in current rotation. All great for dog walking and for those times that you’re stuck on the treadmill.
I can’t wait to try some of those suggested here!
how is On The Media not listed yet? or LeShow?
Diane Rehm Show
KQED- Forum
On Being with Krista Tippett is my favorite.
Men In Blazers – if you like soccer, you’ll love it. And I love Car Talk. Last week’s memorial to Tommy was hilarious and sad at the same time.
For those who ask about mobile devices, I use Podcaster Pro on Android.
The one podcast I listen to not mentioned here is Roderick on the Line.
It’s an hour long phone call between Merlin Mann and musician Jon Roderick. Between the two, they are (off color) asute observers of people and culture and cultural memes, with a lot of rock (Jon) and tech (Merlin) history tossed in. Some episodes are better than others, but they make me laugh when I’m by myself on an hour+ car trip.
DougLovesMovies. Lovable stoner Doug Benson gets 3-4 goof off comedians to play movie games including “Last Man Stanton” “How Much Did This Shit Make” and the always epic “Leonard Maltin Game”. Lots of inside jokes, but after 3-4 shows, you are hooked.
My fav is, Ask Me Another. Game show style, but for the NPR crowd : )
This is my favorite “What is/are Your Favorite…?” ever. I’m going to get off my duff and figure this podcast thing out. I have a terrible attitude about about having to drive whether it’s the schlep to work or an odyssey to visit the family or taking the helicopter over to Renfroe (just kidding). And I’ve been whining for years about not having the radio station choices I had out West. This could be life changing.
Yes, it will be life-changing.
Many good ones already listed. Here are some others I like:
99% Invisible (architecture and design for the layperson)
Uhh Yeah Dude (non sequitur takes on news of the weird and Hollywood anecdotes by two struggling showbiz buddies)
The Memory Palace (deeply humanistic stories of historical afterthoughts)
Leonard Lopate (old school NYC public radio, varied interest interviews)
Common Sense with Dan Carlin (mostly to whet the appetite for his Hardcore History pods)
…and then a couple of O.G. film podcasts — Film Junk and Filmspotting
+1 million for The Memory Palace. Soooo infrequent, but each one a perfectly crafted little gem of historical human experience. I cherish these every time Nate Dimeo chooses to grace us with one.
New auto with a USB port almost makes me wish I was a travelling sales person. Podcasts have radically changed my commute.
My favorite podcast is Cognitive Dissonance, but it’s very in your face. They take on pseudoscience and religion with hilarious results (in a juvenile way at times). Never laughed so hard in the car.
WTF w/ Marc Maron is great (as others have mentioned).
Sound Opinions is a great one for music
Here’s what’s on my play list:
Philosophize This
Louisiana Eats
The Alton Browncast
History in five minutes
NPR Food
Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me
Merriam-Webster Word of the Day
America’s Test Kitchen
Let me add:
You Must Remember This (Old Hollywood stories)
The Dead Authors Podcast (Comedians pretending to be dead authors)
The Writers Guild Foundation Podcast (Scriptwriters talk about their craft)
I will also second:
WTF (I admit that I often skip over the Marc only parts)
Fresh Air
This American Life
Serial
We seem to be back in the golden age of radio but now it is all on-demand and commercial free.
Lots of Serial fans here. I know who the killer is: It’s Mail Kimp.
No one thought this was funny? I stole it straight from Ira Glass.
I did. 🙂
I’m a word nerd and I like Lexicon Valley.
BBC Radio did something with the British Museum called A History of the World in 100 Objects. I’m up to about 3000 b.c.
And The New Yorker Fiction podcast. It’s splendid. Short story writers reading other people’s stories, and explaining why the story is great. So you get Sam Lipsyte reading Tom McGuane, or Julian Barnes reading Frank O’Connor, or Roddy Doyle reading Maeve Brennan.
Only thing I listen to on my commutes. There’s a podcast for every niche interest.
Some of my favorite regular listens that aren’t mentioned above are below..
The Pen Addict (Covers all things office supply, with a focus on pens.)
The Talk Show (Apple Centric Tech Discussion)
The Accidental Tech Podcast (Apple Centric Tech Discussion)
the needle & the mouse (tech plus design)
The Erasable Podcast (Focus on pencils)
The Tim Ferris Show (Google Tim Ferris)
GastroPod (Food)
Back To Work (Productivity + Culture)
The Incomparable (Culture and Media)
Too many more…
I seem fun – the Diary of Jen Kirkman
How did this get made – a hilarious discussion on how horrible movies made it to screen
Snap Judgment
Of course the norms
This American Life
Serial
L+R
Inspired by this thread, I listened to the current installment of Love & Radio this afternoon. Now I think I know more about you than I wanted to know. This includes you, DM. You can hide behind RadioLab all you want.
One more vote for the usual suspects (Serial, This American Life, Radiolab, The Moth, everything from Slate, NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me). But here are some more that have received little or no mention that are well worth your time:
Welcome to Night Vale – Imagine the News from Lake Wobegon, only instead of receiving updates on charming midwestern town populated by lovable Lutherans and Catholics, Night Vale is a mysterious desert locale populated by secretive hooded figures, aliens, megalomaniacal glowing radiation clouds, secret police, etc. It’s hilarious.
NPR’s Snap Judgment – If you’ve already binged your way through TAL, Radiolab, the Moth, etc. and want more of that kind of compelling real-life storytelling, this is your new addiction. Glen Washington is a great host and storyteller and the use of music sets this apart from some of its brethren.
Startup – The realtime audio diary of Alex Blumberg — formerly of NPR’s Planet Money — as he strikes out on his own with a warts-and-all account of trying to get his own company (a podcasting production company, natch) off the ground. Started the same time as Serial and is similarly structured and similarly compelling, despite the very different topics.
Wiretap – If you like This American Life, you know Jonathan Goldstein, who is a fixture on that show. This is his own weekly Canadian Broadcasting Corp. show, which is sort of a half-hour meditation on a philosophical concept. Sometimes deep, sometimes silly, always entertaining.
NPR’s Storycorps – Just like on NPR, but works even better as a podcast.
Death, Sex + Money – Fantastic Terry Gross-level interviews with a mix of regular people and celebrities focused on the titular often uncomfortable topics.
The Longest Shortest Time – Parenting podcast that focuses exclusively on the the period of time from birth to toddlerhood.
Inside the Magic – Bar none, the best podcast for Disney nerds (especially Disney park nerds).
The Tolkien Professor – If you are a Tolkien nerd, you’ll find no more in-depth and well-informed discussion of the books and the movies than this.
I’m in agreement with most podcasts already posted, but I’m surprised that no one has mentioned The Bugle with John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman (http://thebuglepodcast.com/). It’s hilarious. John Oliver’s was doing this irreverent take on the news way before his current show. I can’t recommend it enough.