Tag: podcasts

10 great podcasts right now

on-being-krista-tippett

Two years ago (wow, already) I wrote about my podcast habit-addiction and ranked them. But like travel destinations and coffee drinks and dive bars, your tastes are always changing.

Here’s my greatful 10; they reflect a growing interest in writing and literature; less tech and science, more spirit and faith.

A tip: treat a new podcast like a collection of short stories; instead of starting with the most recent episode, scan the archives and listen first to the guests and topics that interest you

Hope you like them; please share your favorites as well. Thanks!

1. Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin – intimate interviews of his show-biz friends; liked: Penn Jillette, Rosie O’Donnell, Judd Apatow

2. New Yorker: Out Loud – every episode is witty, fast, current; my favorite staff writer slash recurring guest is Adam Gopnik (for example)

3. The Joe Rogan Experience – raw, unfiltered, and unedited conversations hosted by a podcast pioneer; not for everyone; favorites include Eddie Huang and Randall Park, Russell Peters

4. Ben Greenfield Fitness – a trainer’s trainer, episodes are dense with science and data and he lives what he preaches; each episode covers so many topics that it’s hard to recommend one, but I enjoyed “Why strong people are harder to kill”.

5. On Being with Krista Tippett – soulful, kind, curious conversations; liked: Helen Fisher the dating and love expert.

6. a16z – because VC; techies love to save time, a16z wastes none; liked: Peter Thiel

7. The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith – an industry insider interviews interesting inventors (of films!); liked: Dallas Buyers Club, Nightcrawler

8. Longform podcast – writers talking to writers; liked: Buzz Bissinger, Eli Sanders

9. The Tim Ferriss Show – TimTim talktalk! Liked: Kevin Kelly

10. The New York Times Book Review – great hosts, great guests, great books

Podcasts: new recommendations, favorite episodes, general thoughts

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]

Marc Maron with Robin Williams(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!