Podcast Suggestion thread
 

I know we've discussed serial before but I've recently really got into the convenience of podcasts. Wondering what you guys are into. Some of my suggestions are The Nosleep Podcast, which is horror stories from the reddit board Nosleep. Very high production quality and some truly creepy stories. I also recommend the Freakonomics podcast!

Hardcore History is by far my favorite thing going.

Seconded.

I've even gone back and bought the older episodes. It's great.

I really enjoy Three Moves Ahead, a computer strategy game podcast with a more adult focus than others.

I'm on the Comedy Bang Bang and Welcome to Night Vale trains... but I'm catching up, so no spoilers. :)

Comedy Bang Bang and How Did this Get Made anchor my comedy listening - I know there's a ton of new stuff on the earwolf and wolfpop networks, but there's only so much time.

Still plugging away through Go Bayside, I'm about 80% done.

I like Hardcore History, but it's more of a binge every 4-5 months thing when he comes out with something new.

Most of the Wrestling Observer podcasts for Pro Wrestling and MMA

Not much sports anymore now that Bill Simmons is gone. I'd love to find a replacement but I find most sports talk so boring. Sometimes I can do the Mike and Mike or SVP and Russillo daily best of shows.

Now that I'm about halfway through the last book and almost done season 3 of the show, I'm starting to look for a Game of Thrones podcast, but the two I tried were duds.

I listen to a lot of podcasts. Here are 3 current favorites:

Revolutions - A History podcast that examines various historical revolutions. He's completed the British and American revolutions, is almost done with the French revolution and Haiti is up next. He also did the History of Rome, which is MASSIVE.

Startup - Just finished its second season, but its behind the scenes at a tech startup. The first season is about the starting of the company that makes the podcast which gives fantastic insight into how tech companies begin. The second season is good, but not as great as S1.

Answer Me This - Two british people answer questions from listeners. Fun humor and comes out once every other week which is nice since it's less of a commitment.

This interests me. Is every week a new revolution? I was confused by the format.

I listen to Giant Bombcast and the Giant Beastcast every week. It's a gaming podcast where they talk about the latest gaming news. Really good personalities.

I also second How did this get made...I love bad movies and I love The league so it's a natural fit. Great stuff

I too enjoyed the first season of Start Up and found the second one less compelling.

I usually listen to Hang Up and Listen during a run each week.

Great thread. Thanks.

I listen to Hawkeye Nation. Probably not in many peoples taste here. But its good for Iowa football and Basketball.

I look forward to hearing more suggestions.

Scoob is that board games or video games?

Video

I havent got into Revolutions yet, but I got through the whole 180-ish episodes of The History of Rome and thought it was great. Mike Duncan is like Dan Carlin without the arrogance and off-topic rambling.

My other regulars are:

In Our Time: BBC thing, each week a presenter and three university professors discuss something really clever. Recently it's been Extremophiles (organisms that live in extreme conditions), Frederick The Great, and Utilitarianism. It's hit or miss, some weeks I just dont care enough about the subject to stick with it.

The Cycling Podcast: British again, ex-professional and two journalists discuss latest happenings in the world of bicycle road racing. Tour de France has just started so they're onto two podcasts per day.

Smodcast: Cant give up on it, even if too many episodes now are just Kevin Smith getting high and giggling at his own jokes. Still enough funnies to keep me coming back.

No he does a series on a particular Revolution. So there were 15 on the British and Americans and there's now like 42 on the French.

I agree that Mike Duncan's like Dan Carlin but more low key, which I like.

I find it hard to track Mike Duncan. I'll be listening when I'm walking the dog and I realize my mind has wandered for 5 minutes and I've missed 1/3 of the podcast. That never happens with Dan Carlin. At the Duncan level of podcast tone and enthusiasm, I'd rather just read the material, because all he's really doing is reading to me in a monotone voice. This is why I'm more drawn to louder, usually comedy-based podcasts, and Carlin is the closest I can get to that kind of dynamism in the history podcast realm.

Like you, I enjoyed the first season but disliked the second. It didn't help that Dating Ring was a terrible company that you could tell from the start was not going to succeed in the way they wanted to. The business was just not scalable.

I can't decide if they picked Dating Ring because 1) they really wanted to explore the "women in the start-up scene" narrative or because 2) no one else was as desperate as Dating Ring for free publicity that they would show what a shit-storm their company was on the inside. Probably a bit of both.

I can't compare the two, since I've never listened to Duncan, but I really like Dan Carlin's delivery and excitement. He really seems to love the material and the passion for it shows. Also, he seems to be a pretty big geek - with all of his various Lord of the Rings references - which I enjoy.

Anyway, podcasts I listen to:

99% Invisible
The Dirtbag Diaries - outdoor adventure stuff
Freakonomics
Market Foolery
Planet Money
Reply All *
Startup *
This American Life
The Tony Kornhesier Show (currently on summer break)

* - These two (along with Mystery Show) are from Gimlet Media, the original startup profiled in season 1 of the Startup Podcast. I'm not sure how Gimlet plans on making a ton of money either (I imagine ad buys for podcasts are pretty low cost), especially with only three shows. I'm not a fan of Mystery Show at all, and Reply All is losing me. I just don't care about what they are covering.

Yeah, what a disappointment. The premise is great: ordinary person goes out to solve every day "mysteries." But the chosen mysteries are boring, the execution is horrible and the host is just as bad.

I have given Reply All a chance on a topic by topic or episode by episode basis. Just ok, in my mind.

Great thread! I listen to mostly L.A. and San Diego sports podcasts. There are a few that are "Must Listen" as soon as they're available and they are:

Pencils Down - Pumpy's Podcast!
Freakonomics - Among some of the podcasts: "What's the Best Exercise", "Should Tipping Be Banned", "There's No Such Thing As A Free Appetizer", and lots more. You'll learn a thing or 2.
60 Minutes - CBS's Award Winning Show
ESPN Olbermann - Sports and sarcasm
Star Talk Radio - My favorite. Where pop culture and science colide. Knowledge and comedy.
48 Hours - Crime
Frontline - Documentaries. One of my favorite show was concussions in the NFL.
Stuff You Should Know - Learn stuff

So at my current job, I listen to podcasts probably 25-30 hours a week so I have a huge list.

Wall Street Journal This Morning
Rachel Maddow
Lowe Post
Jim Cramer's Mad Money
Puck Podcast
All About Android
Blackhawks Insider
Cheap Heat (Wrestling podcast)
Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast
Talk is Jericho
The Ross Report
We Study Billionaires
Dave Ramsey Show
The Diane Rehm Show
Force Cast (Star Wars)
InvestED
Six Figure Side Gig
This American Life
The Best Soccer Show Podcast
Radiolab
Bill Burr's Monday Morning Podcast
60 Minutes
Effectively Wild (Baseball)

Heh....you named 3 of my favorite podcasts that I listen to on a consistent basis. Other ones that I tend to listen to are the following:

Stuff You Missed in History Class (Feed) - This podcast focuses on people and events not often discussed in history books or that we have limited information to. Covers history over a swath of cultures and countries, but I would say a large percentage of it focuses on American history

Science Friday (Feed) - While I am not a huge science buff, I do like to hear anything about our current advances in science and technology and how it is changing how we interact with the world. On top of that, the podcast also questions what we have learned in our past. Pretty good podcast.


NPR: StoryCorps (Feed) - My daughter and I enjoy this podcast. These are simply personal stories of people around the United States told through the person or people who experienced them. They could be talking about contemporary struggles or triumphed or just people who want to record memories of an event that happened decades earlier. Good heartfelt stories that are in a short enough format to consume and great for road trips.

Serial (Feed) - If you are into audiobooks (especially non-fiction) or want something different to hear on a road trip plus you are interested in listening about a real life murder case, this is an excellent podcast. The entire 12 episode podcast focuses on this one murder that occurred in 1999 in Baltomore. A high school student by the name of Hae Min Lee (Korean female) was murdered at a park. Her former boyfriend, Adnan Syed, is accused and charged with her murder. The interviewer speaks to Adnan in jail as well as a host of other people (friend from school, teachers, jurors, etc.). Eagerly awaiting season 2.

The Truth - Movies for your Ears (Feed) - If you are into Audio Dramas, this is one of the better ones out there. Ever since I had listened to the podcast, We're Alive, a while back I tried to find something comparable to it. What I best like about this podcast is that each podcast does not follow the same story. It also have a Twilight Zone sort of vibe because they are short stories with a deep meaning.

I second In Our Time on BBC - very interesting 'academic light' discussions on a wide variety of topics.

I kinda cut back lately, but still find time for Savage Love.

Yep, both have a good premise, but I find that I care none at all about the actual topics they have picked. Reply All started out better, but has gone downhill lately.

Let me echo the love for 99% Invisible. It's really great stuff and the archives are full of fantastic shows that will be just as powerful today as they were when they first aired.

Also let me echo the disappointment/dislike for The Mystery Show. I was so excited based on the premise but in the end it's far more philosophical than exciting. I get and respect what they're trying to do, but it's not something I'm interested in for my podcast.

Today's episode of Startup confirms to me just how much more I like the show when it's about Gimlet than about Dating Ring. I found the whole discussion around advertising ethics fascinating. I enjoy hearing that they're getting bigger much faster than expected. Interesting stuff to me.

How we have gone 29 posts without mentioning WTF with Marc Maron is beyond me. He just recently had the President on.

Agreed that the latest Startup episode is what I signed up for.

I tried WTF with Marc Maron, and maybe it was just that one episode, but I felt like an outsider the entire time. Kinda like when I listened to Nerdest. The lack of long term history with the show made me feel like I was missing something.

My feelings about WTF are this: you'll like it if you're a fan of his guest of the week. I'm not hot on Marc as an interviewer, and I don't really know what's in it for a listener if s/he doesn't care about the guest.

Art bell returns this week as well for any old Coast to Coast fans...I believe there will be a free live broadcast, with a 5 dollar month fee for the show on podcast.

YES!!! OMG I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!! He had a trial run last night, I think he was more of a guest. Dunno, I fell asleep which is what usually happens if I listen live. We (Antmeister and I) are Time Travelers. Show's on live on July 20th. Man, this makes me so happy.

I'm super excited too, but in the back of my mind hoping he doesn't quit in a week or something!

Eh, I like the TV show but that usually is all the Maron I can take for the calendar year.

This is actually happening - I've been obsessed with this podcast recently. What happens to someone whose whole life changes in an instant. Fascinating, happy, sad and so many other emotions. Rated high on iTunes.

Anyone have any good TV/pop culture podcasts now that firewall/iceberg, Hollywood prospectus, prince movies have all ended? Been a rough few weeks for suddenly ending podcasts.

I found the Woooo!cast on a flight over the weekend. It's a weekly show with Ric Flair talking about his life in wrestling. For any NWA fan from back in the day, I think you'll have a lot of fun with it.

Wooooo!

I've recently started listening to podcasts quite a bit and some of my favorites are:

Criminal
Hardcore History
FiveThirtyEight Elections
Lore
My Favorite Murder
Serial
Stuff You Missed in History Class

Aside from the others I've mentioned in this thread, I've picked up the Star Wars Minute - every episode breaks down a single minute of the star wars movies. It's Light-hearted, funny, the episodes are short, and its just nerdy enough (to where the obsessions with star wars minutia are funny rather than comic book-guy angry).

Here's my list of podcasts (I've just really started and some of these I haven't listened to much and might cull):

Conversation Parade - An Adventure Time podcast
Howler Radio
Freakanomics Radio
Men in Blazers
Presidential
RadioLab
Serial
This American Life
Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me
Welcome to Nightvale
The Liturgists Podcast
Hot Takedown (by 538)
Elections (by 538)
Backstory
99% Invisible
Myths and Legends Podcast
Alice Isn't Dead
Philosophy Bites
Flash Forward
The Memory Palace
Neighbors
Love + Radio
Here Be Monsters
Another Round

Recent finds of mine that are getting some attention:

Slate's The Gist (current events, random topics, opinion)
Reply All (tech leaning story telling)
Surprisingly Awesome (trivia/science/history)
Death, Sex & Money (storytelling)
Bullseye (pop culture)
How To Do Everything (quirky)
Hidden Brain (science, psych)
Judge John Hodgman (quirky, humor, trivia)
First Draft (NFL draft chat, but weird Kiper/McShay interchange is the real star)

For most of these, I skim through titles and listen when I see something that hits me. I have given The Gist a daily listen (<30m) for a few weeks, and about 70-80% of it is a hit for me... a pretty high ratio.

I like Mike Pesca on Hang Up and Listen, but haven't ever downloaded the Gist. I'll give it a shot.

I find him insufferable on The Gist. He seems to think he's much more clever than he actually is.

So... a quick follow up. This is an oddball offering, but the basic idea is people call in with various questions or problems, and the two hosts try to help solve their problem. It's more humorous than informative.

However... for my money the best thing in the show is the promo pieces. They have to do their reads for Caspar Mattresses or whatnot, and they fairly often go way off script and into really weird tangents. And the very best is when they do their obligatory read for the "NPR One" app -- where they totally play along and pitch it with great gusto, saying things like "...if you wanted to listen to this podcast, STOP... and go get the NPR One app so you can listen to something else, probably something else that's much better than this."

I doubt this endorsement will move many to subscribe, but I find them engaging for some reason.

So...here's my addition to the discussion.

Crimetown -- A 30 minute or so weekly podcast detailing the mob history of Providence. They're 12 episodes in and it's kept my interest. I'm not sure how long the season will last or what their city will be.

Criminal -- A biweekly look at criminals of various stripes. Some are serious while others are largely comedic.

Hardcore History -- I think my favorite aspect of this is how it breaks all the rules of podcasting (length, consistency of release, etc) while still being largely compelling.

Freakonomics

How Did This Get Made -- Enough has been said here about it.

How I Built This -- An NPR weekly that focuses on the people who built various successful products and services. Recent episodes have covered 5-Hour Energy, Chesapeake Bay Candle, Atari & Chuck E. Cheese, and Crate & Barrel.

Mere Fidelity -- An intellectual look at a variety of topics pertaining to the Christian faith.

Pass the Mic -- A look at the church from an African American perspective.

Presidential -- WaPo did a weekly podcast on each president leading up to this past election. Excellent introductory material.

Revisionist History -- Malcolm Gladwell's history podcast. He only did about 10 episodes.

Wrestling podcasts -- Jericho, Cornette, Schiavone, Pritchard, Ross, and Stone Cold.

Stuff You Should Know -- I like some of the shorter form podcasts like this one to rapid fire topics that I might want to learn more about later.

The Tim Ferriss Show -- I just eat up everything he does. I'm also getting ready to read Tools of Titans for the next few months.

The Way I Heard It -- Mike Rowe's podcast is interesting in that it's short (5-6 minutes per episode) and treated as a mystery each time. I get some of them right, but several have been surprises even at the reveal.

This American Life -- I just like the variety and the way that everything is treated well.

The Moment with Brian Koppelman -- A great interview series that hits a variety of guests that I don't hear on a lot of my other regular podcasts. Recent episodes have featured Evan McMullin and Marcus Samuelsson.

The Liturgists and The Bad Christian -- two podcasts that are done by folks who have dropped out of traditional Christianity but still engage with it as a way to give a voice to those in a similar situation.

So the Obama Bros are the latest podcast land hit. If you are a lefty, you'll enjoy Pod Save America, but for my money Pod Save the World is a really great listen. Less overtly political--a one on one sit down with a former foreign policy expert or government official. Really great stuff.

The Joe Rogan Experience

Ross Matthews has a great podcast.

Also, Cheap Ass Gamer is a great podcast for gamers.

I've recently started listening to Pardon My Take by the Barstool Sports guys and find it to be pretty decent. Their antics are pretty 'bro-y' but they bring enough general goofiness and smarts to the table that I'm willing to forgive the lamer moments.