I wrote about my podcast habit more than a year ago. Since then, the podcasting world has grown and grown in variety and quality, and my subscription list has become so long that scrolling through has become tedious.
So, I took some time to create an updated list of recommended shows and favorite episodes, separated into the shows where I try my damndest to hear every episode (and fail), and shows where I dip in and out based on topic and guest.
And here are some overall favorite episodes:
- Dan Carlin’s 5-part series on Ghenghis Khan and the Mongol Empire [link], still my all-time favorite
- Phil Libin in Stanford’s ETL series [link], honest, thoughtful, unique opinions
- TED Radio Hour’s To The Edge episode [link]
- Tim Ferriss’s interview with Kevin Kelly [link], what an awesome thinker and writer
- Jason Calacanis’s interview with Mark Suster, post-Maker Studios acquisition [link]
- Freakonomics on why women are not men (more interesting than you’d think) [link]
- Alec Baldwin talking to Rosie O’Donnell for Here’s The Thing [link]
- The Fog of Disbelief on the Moth radio hour [link]
- RadioLab’s The Black Box (you’ll want to hear the follow-up episode, too) [link]
- RadioLab on why Kenyans dominate long-distance running [link]
(and this very sincere, unplugged Marc Maron interview of Robin Williams)
Random podcast thoughts:
Like radio, its de facto predecessor, in podcasting current news and non-fiction dominate, but I’d like to see more fiction — short stories, plays, dialogues, excerpts of novels, etc. Maybe I haven’t searched thoroughly enough…
The go-to format is a host who interviews a new guest for each episode. Of my 13 favorites, 7 of them are of this interview Q&A variety, which has its limitations. I prefer the quirkier solo shows, like Dan Carlin’s and Nigel Warburton’s…but I’m sure podcasters will continue to experiment here
Podcasting is not a lucrative business. From what I understand of radio, national syndication is where you start to see big bucks. I’ve noticed more sponsorships and ads in professionally produced podcasts (eg, the BS Report, NPR Planet Money) but advertising needs massive viewership for massive dollars. Subscription and pay-per-episode models are uncommon and mostly voluntary. And the podcast patent infringement lawsuit against Adam Carolla revealed that most podcasters make so little money that it’s not worth a patent troll’s time lol
I would LOVE a podcasting app that allows you to press a button and instantly clip a 10-15 second chunk of a particular episode, for personal reference or to share. Also note-taking is cumbersome and involves switching between apps, but I assume that’s a niche problem…
Here’s the list of recommended shows. Thanks for reading y’all!