We've had a few posts like this before, but it's been a while, and hey, who doesn't like a good podcast?
What's on your iPod, Hubski? Do people even own iPods anymore? Is podcasting killing radio, or keeping it alive?
Lately, I've been digging the hell out of a trifecta of comedy podcasts:
Sooo Many White Guys, in which comedian Phoebe Roberts interviews cool people who (mostly) aren't white guys. (My fav guest so far was Bassem Youssef, but they're all great.)
The Rad Dudecast, which is stupid, frequently offensive, and pretty funny, but just had a really great episode about one of the hosts' time in psych wards & mental hospitals.
The Hilarious World of Depression, a show about the relationship between depression and comedy-- this one's really big for me personally because it's helped me understand my own depression and how it's linked to my love of standup. From the show description: "[The podcast] is a chance to gain some insight, have a few laughs, and realize that people with depression are not alone and that together, we can all feel a bit better." Listen from the beginning for maximum insight.
I love the medium. I tend towards informative and longer form. Just a few from the many I rotate through.
--
FiveThirtyEight's The Gerrymandering Project. The link takes you to the pitch for the series I made on hubski. A deep dive on gerrymandering and six US states' attempts to deal with the issue.
Slate's Amicus. Supreme Court podcast that dives into cases on whatever current cases are on the docket. The guests are almost always decades long SCOTUS correspondents, the top academics of the relevant field of law, expert lawyers, or even parties to the cases themselves. I found out about Rick Hasen, nationally recognized expert in election law and campaign finance regulation, through a recent episode about gerrymandering.
Slate's Slow Burn. A podcast about Watergate. Loads of details about the famous yearslong scandal and its players.
NYTimes' The Daily. 20-30 minute episodes, delivered early every business day, each a deeper dive into a frontpage-worthy story of recent news. This is an excellent podcast. The host has access to the world's foremost journalists from the Times, bringing them in to discuss their coverage of anything and everything. I wind up listening to about 75% of their episodes.
Waking Up with Sam Harris. If you like the host, who has proven to be controversial to some, then you're in good hands. Sam is a neuroscientist, philosopher, and best-selling author who I find to be reasoned, ethical, and fair. Topics range from consciousness, meditation, and current events to AI, political science and economics, and theoretical physics.
I've been a huge fan of Hardcore History with Dan Carlin for years. He's become the standard by which I judge all other podcasts. Detailed and intensively researched epics on ancient (and modern) history.
Preet Bharara is a fantastic listen too. Expert commentary on the political times from the US Attorney from the southern district of New York - fired by Trump for not returning an unprofessional phone call.
The Pope's Long Con is a fantastic bit too. Really deep investigative journalism published right around the time of Rep. Dan Johnson's death. Dive into some weird Kentucky political lore and the fascinatingly and pathologically bizarre history of the "The Pope".
Hardcore History would have to be the objectively best podcast I've listened to. For those that haven't listened to it, I strongly recommend going the multi-part series called Blueprint for Armageddon. It's a 6 part series (all 2-3 hours long) focusing on the WWII, from the lead-up to the end of the war. Dan Carlin does an excellent job of providing what seems almost like a personal face to many of the stories.
I don't listen to podcasts any more, I guess. The Apple app is poop. The Apple sound ecosystem - that decides to drop the audio for 5 seconds every time an alert comes in - is not conducive or supportive of listening along uninterrupted.
And if I hear one more person ramble on for 10 minutes about their personal life, and then say, "So, let's drop right in then, shall we?" I'm gonna shove so many earbuds up their ass they'll pop.
Loved listening to Mark Maron's "WTF", except I couldn't give a shit about his life, and got tired of trying to scrub forward 20 minutes to get to the damn interview, while trying to keep one eye on traffic and not crash into a school bus full of children.
Loved listening to "Things You Missed in History Class" but just kinda petered out on it.
Truly loved "In Our Time". The incredible range of topics, guests, and skill of Melvyn Bragg's technique for eliciting key quotes and ideas from his panel of guests, to move the story forward.
Used to listen to RadioLab, ReplyAll, More Perfect, and The Green Line... but I just can't hear another story about moronic political shit, or listen to another manufactured-emotions tear-jerker as a new broadcasting student tries all the knobs and dials on tear-jerker storytelling tropes, all in one episode.
Nowadays, i write really nasty, angry punk songs on guitar, and stream music on Spotify.
#bugski for mk
This post of mine that I am commenting on, has several responses. The responses never showed up in my list, or lit up the Hubski wheel, so I never went back to the conversation to participate with the other commenters.
However, I have gotten notifications on replies to OTHER posts of mine, both before and after this one.
This indicates to me that there is something wrong with this specific post, or my comment on this specific post.
Just wanted to flag that for you. FYI.
Radiolab really has gone downhill.
I still listen to Stuff you Missed in History Class. I don't know that it will ever leave my feed.
- And if I hear one more person ramble on for 10 minutes about their personal life, and then say, "So, let's drop right in then, shall we?" I'm gonna shove so many earbuds up their ass they'll pop.
I thought it was just my tastes changing. I have the exact same thing as you, Bootz and Ben with Radiolab. They jumped the shark somewhere in 2015 and haven't recovered since. It's such a shame because Radiolab is what dragged me into podcasts in the first place with sincere, emotional stories. But now they over-produce it, over-simplify stories and every story needs to be some audiogasm.
I have the same problem with 99% Invisible. Used to be just Roman Mars talking about interesting niche designs, but now it's a full crew of producers and radiomakers so it passed Podcast-Eternal-September.
Same as you and OB! My god. I dropped Radiolab after repeatedly, uncontrollably groaning out loud at some recent episodes, including their SCOTUS series. Just totally dumbed down, emotional, overwrought pap, with cheesy music to boot. What happened?
I like RadioLab. I don't listen every week, but only when I happen to catch it in the car. What they're doing is just presenting some interesting, usually unknown topic, and giving the public a taste. I think that's admirable, but of course it's going to come with simplifications, hype, etc. I forgive them that (and of course sometimes they hit one out of the park, such as in their AUMF episode). That said, that Supreme Court thing they did made me embarrassed for them. I couldn't get through a single episode. Maybe it is for kids, and it's cool if you're trying to get kids to learn up of Marbury v. Madison; lord knows public school isn't going to teach you about how the courts work. But don't bill it as being for anything but kids.
They have more than a fair share of home runs. That AUMF episode was excellent. So was their story on the photojournalist embedded with the medevac team in Afghanistan. Actually this list of 11 episodes is on point for me. But their recent stuff really turned me off, and with so many other good options I couldn't justify returning. As often happens with all my favorite series, I will probably rotate back after some time.
I'm the total opposite- what's the appeal of conversational podcasts? I hate hate hate them with a vengeance, they're longer, undirected, and feel lazy- a waste of the medium. They make me feel like I'm hanging out with two other people and they've locked me out of the conversation. The Hilarious World of Depression is my biggest offender of the medium, it feels like it's narrating over the discussion to insult my intelligence. This is probably just me.
The appeal for conversational podcasts, aka "Two Dudes Talking" genre, is that it's people you like discussing things you find interesting. Good conversational podcasts are like good hubski discussions, except in audio form. I prefer the more topical podcasts wherein the hosts discuss articles or news that I have(n't) heard about.
What so many conversation-y podcasts don't understand, is that a conversation is generally awful to listen back to. I have at times recorded interviews I did, and usually more than half of the time is uninteresting to listen to despite it being a good conversation from the perspective of those having it. So I only listen to some well-edited conversational podcasts. No crosstalking, no breathing, no reverb because the host did not put more effort in than "let's buy a Yeti", and for the love of god let people finish their thoughts instead of continually interrupting. Accidental Tech Podcast and Hello Internet are particularly well-edited IMO.
Lately I’ve been falling asleep to The History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps. I’m 60 episodes in and have only gotten to the Stoics.
The Paris Review Podcast is great for poetry and short stories. I think they also pointed me to LeVar Burton Reads.
Other than that I follow a bunch of F1 podcasts, to keep up with the gossip in the off-season.
Oh, and Snedtänkt, the best podcast in Swedish you will probably never listen to. Topics include the subculture of Gothenburg, Jules Verne, 70’s pornos and anxiety sex, pilsner movies, and the dark history of amusement parks.
Säg till om det är något speciellt du är intresserad av så kan jag försöka rekommendera något passande på svenska. Av ren nyfikenhet, hur svårt är det med olika dialekter när man lär sig svenska?
(Translation: Let me know if there’s anything specific you’re interested in and I’ll try to recommending something in Swedish. Out of curiosity, how hard is it with different dialects when trying to learn Swedish?)
Henry & Heidi, by Henry Rollins and Heidi May, reciting Henry's stories. Herny is a very good storyteller and has quite a few interesting plots to tell.
99% Invisible, about various topics of design, mostly things we don't see or hear about. Did you know that without air conditioning skyscrappers wouldn't exist? Or that floods were never a problem for New Your City because it was guarded by a massive colony of oysters?
Stuff that's been in my feed lately:
Part-time Genius - my favorite part is the PTG fact-off. Also the time when they had Mango say his own name because a bunch of people wrote in saying they didn't think Will was pronouncing it right.
Note to Self - billed as "the tech show about being human" and asks what I think are a lot of good questions.
Spacepod - I love that she starts almost every episode off with herself and her interviewee trying an interesting drink, some of them I have heard of (cheerwine, Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray celery soda, Sioux City Sarsaparilla) and some are just totally bizarre (Mama Chia Chia Squeeze, Moongaritas [margaritas with gouda in them], Peanut Butter and Jelly soda) so it's always fun to see what kind of mess they are drinking and their reactions to them. And then, of course, the rest of the episode is space science stuff so also right up my alley.
Every Little Thing - Flora Lichtman thinks that everyone's favorite animal should be the flamingo, because they are kinda badass. This podcast made itself a nice little home in the space vacated by another Gimlet series that came and went too soon: Mystery Show
Because I have a fetish for good True Crime and these guys are fucking hysterical: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/crime-in-sports/small-town-murder
Tim Ferriss Show because....well Tim Ferriss is amazing at asking questions https://tim.blog/podcast/
Another True Crime that I also listen to because #relationshipgoals https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/tiegrabber-podcasts/true-crime-brewery
Still love me some This American Life and Planet Money.
If you never listened to S-Town, listen to it. Seriously: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/stown (especially if you are or have folks in your life who deal with depression / bipolar)
Big podcast guy here, nothing intellectual though.
The SteebeeWeebee Show, Your Mom's House, Tiger Belly, and less often JRE unless Joey Diaz or an interesting non-comedian is on.