Podcasts you like

[albionmoonlight]

Happily, I do not have a long commute to work. It is, however, enough time in the car to enjoy some podcasts. And we live in an amazing time where you can get a wide variety of high quality on-demand audio for free.

So, I thought that it might be nice to share some of what we listen to in order to see if we turn anyone else onto it.

I don't listen to all of these all of the time, but it is nice to have a large rotation of them to fit whatever mood I am in. I like

The CT & Jivin Show (talk radio co-hosted by FOFC's own cthomer5000)

Escape Pod (weekly science fiction podcast. Very high quality)

Pseudopod (weekly horror fiction podcast. A little more stripped down than Escape Pod)

Pod Castle (weekly fantasy podcast. I'm not as big of a fantasy fan, so I don't catch it every week, but I like it so far.)

The B.S. Report (ESPN's Bill Simmons talking sports with his friends. If you like his columns, you will like this. If you don't, then you won't.)

This American Life (Weekly slice of life journalism from the popular NPR show.)

The Diane Reims Show (Daily news show. One of my favorite NPR shows.)

[ISiddiqui]

Mine

(That's "Polycast" - about the computer game Civilization and its offspring)

[terpkristin]

Currently subscribed to:
- CAGCast
- CAG Foreplay (hasn't been updated in awhile, but hopefully they'll get back on track)
- Penny Arcade Podcast (rarely updated)
- Engadget (the new Engadget isn't as good as the old)
- gdgt weekly (from the guys who used to to Engadget, not sure if I like it yet, I think they're trying to find their stride)
- History of Photography (a photography class that the prof records and posts as podcasts)
- Joystiq (still quite enjoyable)
- MacBreak Weekly (interesting, but not something I feel a need to give all my attention to, considering I don't own a Mac)
- NPR Science Friday (only download stories that are interesting to me)
- Player One Podcast (not too bad, again something I can listen to as background noise)
- PotterCast (used to be a lot more interesting than it has been lately)
- Roz Rows the Pacific (on hiatus until she begins leg 2)
- This American Life (like SciFri, I only download eps when they sound like they're of particular interest)
- This Week in Photography (interesting, but I'm soooo not good enough at photography to get full effect from this)
- This Week in Tech
- Major Nelson Radio (download every now and then)

/tk

[KWhit]

This American Life
Diggnation (video)
CT and Jivin
The Moth
Tiki Bar TV (video)

[lordscarlet]

I really only listen to CT and Jivin and Dot Net Rocks, for the most part. I subscribe to others, but I don't regularly listen to them. Mostly local radio talk shows (The Mike O'Meara Show, Big O & Dukes, The Junkies) and a few techie shows.

[DanGarion]

I can't believe no one has said In the Bleachers yet....

[MJ4H]

My weekly rotation:

CT & Jivin
Wait Wait Don't Tell Me
Car Talk
Radio Free Nintendo
The Wiire
Two Plus Two Pokercast
DS Life

[panerd]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Happily, I do not have a long commute to work. It is, however, enough time in the car to enjoy some podcasts. And we live in an amazing time where you can get a wide variety of high quality on-demand audio for free.

So, I thought that it might be nice to share some of what we listen to in order to see if we turn anyone else onto it.

I don't listen to all of these all of the time, but it is nice to have a large rotation of them to fit whatever mood I am in. I like

The CT & Jivin Show (talk radio co-hosted by FOFC's own cthomer5000)

Escape Pod (weekly science fiction podcast. Very high quality)

Pseudopod (weekly horror fiction podcast. A little more stripped down than Escape Pod)

Pod Castle (weekly fantasy podcast. I'm not as big of a fantasy fan, so I don't catch it every week, but I like it so far.)

The B.S. Report (ESPN's Bill Simmons talking sports with his friends. If you like his columns, you will like this. If you don't, then you won't.)

This American Life (Weekly slice of life journalism from the popular NPR show.)

The Diane Reims Show (Daily news show. One of my favorite NPR shows.)

Anyone know what the deal is with the BS report lately? It wasn't the greatest thing ever but made an hour of work go by a little easier a few times a week. I especially enjoyed him guessing the NFL's lines. I know he used to say that some people didn't like him talking to his friends but did they actually pull the plug?

[Celeval]

Currently in rotation:

Best of Today (BBC)
CT & Jivin
Dungeons & Dragons Podcast (not like I play anymore, but hey...)
ESPN Baseball Today (rarely listened to)
ESPN: PTI
ESPNsoccernet Podcast
ESPNU College Basketball
ESPNU College Football
Georgia Tech Athletics Podcast
Irish and Celtic Music Podcast
NewsPod (BBC)
NPR: 4pm ET News Summary
NPR: 7am ET News Summary
NPR: Talk of the Nation
The Onion Radio News
Sportsweek
606 Football Phone-In

[Green Caesar]

DiggNation (video)
Totally Rad Show (video)
Creativity Top 5 Ads (video) - weekly top 5 commercials, etc. Hit or miss.
BS Report
Scene Unseen - film reviews where one guy sees and the other doesn't. Pretty funny.
Filmspotting - film reviews. A little stuffy sometimes.
Digital Detroit Radio - my friend's podcast. Introduces 3 newish songs each podcast.
SModcast - film director Kevin Smith's podcast. Funny as shit.
MLB.com Fantasy 411 (video or just audio) - only during the season.
Inside the Traders Studio - fantasybaseballmafia.com podcast. Only during baseball season.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by panerd

Anyone know what the deal is with the BS report lately? It wasn't the greatest thing ever but made an hour of work go by a little easier a few times a week. I especially enjoyed him guessing the NFL's lines. I know he used to say that some people didn't like him talking to his friends but did they actually pull the plug?

You get the sense that he might be having issues with the powers that be at ESPN. He posted this on his personal blog: Sports Guy Unplugged: 10/1/08 - 11/1/08

Or, it might just be that his kids got the flu and he had to take some personal time.

Either way, I agree with you. I don't orient my week around the BS report, but it was nice to hear some sports humor on the way to work once a week.

[Calis]

I am pretty much addicted to podcasts, but most of my general rotation has been mentioned already. Firstly I'd like to recommend RadioLab for any This American Life fans. It's a similar show with more of a science focus. Good show.

I have a pretty heavy gaming rotation as well. I always listen to the Games for Windows podcast(LAN Party now). It's my favorite, and is only partially about gaming for the most part. It's not the same now that Jeff Green and Sean Elliott left but it's still good. I also listen to Gamers with Jobs pretty frequently, and 1up Yours when I can stomach listening to Garnett & Shane.

The Diane Rehm show is tops of my news list. Fantastic show, and the type of political show I wish would replace the crap we have now. Talk of the Nation is great also, but it occasionally bores me to tears. It's All Politics is a short one on NPR as well that is very funny. I recommend most everything NPR. The Economist puts out some nice little snippet podcasts as well.

I occasionally listen to the Comic Geek Speak podcast if it's something that interests me, but that's pretty infrequent. There was one called Webcomics Weekly that had 4 figures from the industry discussing everything related to creating and running a webcomic that I think is done now but I really enjoyed it at the time.

I still go back and listen to the Ricky Gervais shows occasionally again. Still hilarious as well.

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

I can't believe no one has said In the Bleachers yet....

Thanks Dan

[mckerney]

CT & Jivin
The Sound of Young America - PRI Interview Entertainment show
Jordan, Jesse GO! - Free Form Talk show by TSOYA's Jesse Thorn and Jordan Morris of Fuel TV, often with guests
KFAN Video Games Weekly - Hosted by fantasy guru Paul Charchian, a staff member from Game Informer, and occasionally Vikings Punter Chris Kluwe
This American Life
Talk of the Nation Science Friday
Kasper Hauser Comedy Podcast - Hasn't been updated in quite some time, what is there is still quite funny
Little Gray Books - Lecture series that had been hosted by John Hodgman, hasn't been updated in quite some time

[MrDNA]

I bring nothing new to the conversation, but if this is a popularity contest, these guys get one more vote:

Wait Wait Don't Tell Me
SModcast
The Moth
Radiolab
NPR StoryCorps
This American Life

[SFL Cat]

What is this podcast you speak of?

[Cringer]

The only podcast I have ever been able to get into was the Dawn and Drew Show. I haven't listened for a long time, not sure why, but I love their show.

As they describe themselves (or used to at least), they are ex-gutter punks who bought a farm in Wisconsin, they are a pretty popular podcast as far as I know.

[terpkristin]

Bump.
Was looking for some new shows to listen to recently and figured I'd check back here. Anybody find anything good lately? My list has changed a bit...here's my current rundown:

CAG Foreplay - rarely updated
CAGCast - it's not as good when the show runs longer than 90 minutes
CRL with Vickie Howell - a craft podcast, on hiatus as she just had a child
Downloadable Content, Penny Arcade - rarely updated but usually fun and random
Dungeons & Dragons - I only get the episodes that have the Penny Arcade guys playing, they're in the "3rd season"
gdgt weekly - I like how they use enhanced AAC files so I can skip sections that aren't interesting to me
The Joystiq Podcast - this isn't as good as it used to be, it's another one that gets worse as the show gets longer
A Life Well Wasted - a new one found via kottke, it's "This American Life" for video games, though isn't as regularly-released
MacBreak Weekly - I'm not a Mac owner, so I only listen to the parts about iPods and tech that's relevant to me
Car Talk podcast - I never catch it live
Science Friday podcast - only the stories that interest me, I think sometimes they dumb it down a little too much
Wait Wait Don't Tell Me - I never catch it live
PlayerOne - I listen to this as background noise
Podrunner - mixes for working out, it's usually worth a listen
RCRD LBL - from the rcrdlbl website, new music
Roz Rows the Pacific - she just finished up leg 2 so I expect this to go back on hiatus
Stuff You Should Know - from howstuffworks.com
This Week in Tech - only if Jason Calacanis isn't on. That guy is irritating
1Up.com Retronauts - I enjoy reminiscing about the games that got me started gaming

/tk

[MJ4H]

Only one I've added since last time is Bill Burr's Monday Morning Podcast.

[fantom1979]

My list:

ESPN: Football Today, Fantasy Football, Baseball Today, Fantasy Baseball
TWIT (This week in technology): TWIT, Macbreak Weekly, Windows Weekly, this week in google
The Dan Patrick Show

[lcjjdnh]

Adam Carolla Podcast
B.S. Report
This American Life

[Northwood_DK]

The Dan Patrick Show
B.S. Report
Adam Carolla Podcast
Tony Kornheiser Show
ESPN: Football Today, Fantasy Football
Ct and Jivin

[LloydLungs]

Adam Carolla Podcast
B.S. Report
Dave Dameshek Podcast
Wiretap

[RainMaker]

Adam Carolla Podcast
BS Report w/ Bill Simmons

[digamma]

Two Jacks in the Hole--Everything about laughs, nothing about poker.
Georgia Tech Athletics Podcast

[Celeval]

I'll listen to Stuff I Missed in History Class (howstuffworks.com) from time to time.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by Celeval

I'll listen to Stuff I Missed in History Class (howstuffworks.com) from time to time.

Sometimes I listen to that, too, but I've found that if the podcast doesn't have at least one male on it, then I get...irritated (that's not the right word) by the voices. I have no idea why. But my sister, my mom, and I all have problems doing audio commanding on our bluetooth setups, I wonder if it's a girl voice thing.

/tk

[Schmidty]

What the hell is a podcast?

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by Schmidty

What the hell is a podcast?

A cast that turns you into a pod-person.

Nah, it's an internet radio "show" that's recorded and made available for others' listening pleasure...for free, usually. Many are done by professionals (the ESPN or NPR show podcasts, for example), many are done by pseudo-professionals (Adam Curry's show, for example, or anything on the TWiT network), and many are done by normal people just wanting to have their voice heard (you might consider it akin to an audio blog in some cases).

But, quite often, podcasts are regularly released "radio" shows that people enjoy listening to.

/tk

[Schmidty]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

A cast that turns you into a pod-person.

Nah, it's an internet radio "show" that's recorded and made available for others' listening pleasure...for free, usually. Many are done by professionals (the ESPN or NPR show podcasts, for example), many are done by pseudo-professionals (Adam Curry's show, for example, or anything on the TWiT network), and many are done by normal people just wanting to have their voice heard (you might consider it akin to an audio blog in some cases).

But, quite often, podcasts are regularly released "radio" shows that people enjoy listening to.

/tk

Ok thanks , I think I knew that. I just had a brain-fart.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by LloydLungs

Wiretap

Was just going to recommend this, especially being there's an official podcast feed now.

[Fidatelo]

B.S. Report

[Calis]

I have a lengthy commute, and I go through a lot of podcasts. Here's a few of my favorites.

Filmspotting- Great podcast about, you guessed it...films.

Radiolab- I haven't seen this one mentioned yet, but if you enjoy This American Life I think you'd love this one. Extremely well done show that is along the same lines but has a scientific focus. Really good.

Diane Rehm Show- About the only political type show I can stomache anymore. I think it has a great mixture of both sides without devolving into a mess.

Giant Bombcast- Videogame podcast. It's pretty lowbrow, but the guys obviously have a good time and are good friends. It's pretty hilarious at times.

Idle Thumbs- My current favorite gaming-centered podcast. Pretty lowbrow as well and has a tendency to rely on a lot of in-jokes, but I laugh several times through each episode and apart from that I think they fall more in line with my gaming tastes than any other podcast. Occasionally focus on classic PC game gems that I don't hear mentioned on other console-centric shows.

Three Moves Ahead- Awesome gaming podcast for strategy/wargame players. Quickly becoming one of my favorites, they pick a subject and do a pretty good job sticking to it and have some great insight into the genres.


Bill Moyer- Great interviews and interesting subjects.

The list goes on and on.

[DanGarion]

Windows Weekly with Paul Thurrott
This Week in Tech
Maximum PC B.S. Podcast
Net@Night

[Passacaglia]

I'll list the two that I listen to that I haven't seen mentioned before:

Sound Opinions (music show from NPR)
Ricky Gervais Podcast (not many free episodes lately, but you can get past seasons, and they're hilarious)

[Bigsmooth]

Adam Carolla podcast

[Cringer]

-Champions Soccer Radio Network, a couple different shows.
-Engadget
-gdgt (a tech show)
-Going Linux
-Linux Outlaws
-Nerd Moment
-Palmcast
-The Dawn and Drew Show
-This Week in Fun
-This Week in Tech

Added today; Adam Carolla to give it a shot, FLOSS Weekly which I have been meaning to add to give a try.

[Fidatelo]

Adam Carolla podcast was the funniest thing I'd ever heard in my life... for 3 weeks. I was actually stunned by how suddenly I just lost interest in hearing him rant and basically talk over top of whatever lame guest he had scrabbled up that day.

I honestly think that he'd be better off doing like 2 a week, or cutting them all down to 20-25 minutes of just the 'highlights' of each discussion.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I think I'm going to start listening to podcasts other than my own. Frankly - and I know this is hard to believe - I get tired of hearing myself read random advertisements from the Yellow Pages.

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

I think I'm going to start listening to podcasts other than my own. Frankly - and I know this is hard to believe - I get tired of hearing myself read random advertisements from the Yellow Pages.

How do I subscribe to this?

[Passacaglia]

pumpytudorsrainman.com

[LloydLungs]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

Adam Carolla podcast was the funniest thing I'd ever heard in my life... for 3 weeks. I was actually stunned by how suddenly I just lost interest in hearing him rant and basically talk over top of whatever lame guest he had scrabbled up that day.

Well, for the first month or so, he wasn't ranting and talking over lame guests, because the guests were awesome and everything clicked really well. I was really hoping that they would just cycle back through the same set of guests every month, but unfortunately the guest quality plummeted after that first month. And I think that's why he feels (probably correctly) that he needs to talk over whoever's there. Otherwise we have to listen to Pauly Shore (et al.) talk.

I still enjoy it, but the increasingly suspect guests and Adam's obsession with Teresa Strasser and her celebrity gossip news have knocked it down from great to just good.

[Rich1033]

I dont know, I still listen to the Adam Carolla podcast everyday at work and enjoy it. That, along with the Giant Bombcast(for gaming), are my two favorite podcasts at the moment.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by LloydLungs

Well, for the first month or so, he wasn't ranting and talking over lame guests, because the guests were awesome and everything clicked really well. I was really hoping that they would just cycle back through the same set of guests every month, but unfortunately the guest quality plummeted after that first month. And I think that's why he feels (probably correctly) that he needs to talk over whoever's there. Otherwise we have to listen to Pauly Shore (et al.) talk.

I still enjoy it, but the increasingly suspect guests and Adam's obsession with Teresa Strasser and her celebrity gossip news have knocked it down from great to just good.

So true. I think there are two big factors hurting his show:

1) It seems like he feels he needs to keep bringing in a variety of guests that seem interesting on paper. Perhaps it was the early success of the show, but I get the feeling he said "Shit, I have nearly a million people downloading these every day, I better get some more celebrity names". The show was succesful for the opposite though. It was kind of the anti-talk show. It had guests on that you wouldn't find on the Leno's of the world. Guests that really hit the 20-45 year old male demographic.

2) I think it's tough to get people to drive out to his studio and give up an hour of their life for an interview. It's easier when you're on the radio and the interviews are a quick 5 minutes. Guests literally have to give up their morning or afternoon to do the podcast.

I don't mind Strasser that much (although Bald Bryan is brutal) as she doesn't tend to talk over him and lets him do his thing. I think Carolla is one of the most underated guys out there and is really funny in this forum. He's kind of a vulgar, dirtier version of Seinfeld. I love his shows with guys like Dameshek, McHale, Grier, Kimmell, Simmons, and others.

The shows I can't stand are the ones where the comedian is working from a script or is some act. The good thing about podcasts though is that you can just skip the crappy guests. I really dig the podcast format and hope it starts catching on more. Would love to see Stern in this format at some time.

[LloydLungs]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I don't mind Strasser that much (although Bald Bryan is brutal) as she doesn't tend to talk over him and lets him do his thing. I think Carolla is one of the most underated guys out there and is really funny in this forum. He's kind of a vulgar, dirtier version of Seinfeld. I love his shows with guys like Dameshek, McHale, Grier, Kimmell, Simmons, and others.

The shows I can't stand are the ones where the comedian is working from a script or is some act. The good thing about podcasts though is that you can just skip the crappy guests. I really dig the podcast format and hope it starts catching on more. Would love to see Stern in this format at some time.

Strasser isn't so bad (or hasn't been in podcast format anyway -- radio was another story). It's the celebrity news she brings in. My eyes just glaze over. I wish it were less frequent. I mean she is in ALL the time.

Love all the guests you mentioned, though. Maybe Adam should record four or five podcasts in one sitting every time an awesome guest makes their way out there, then release them gradually over a few weeks. Easier said than done, I'm sure. Carolla really is gifted but needs a certain type of guest/on-air partner for best results.

The podcast format in general rocks, though. Definitely hooked on long-form interviews and lack of commercials. You can really get lost in 'em on a long drive.

[Fidatelo]

I don't get the love for Dave Dameshek. I won't claim to know too much about him, but the few times I've heard him on either Carolla's or Simmon's podcasts, he just seems lame to me. He doesn't seem to be overly smart, funny, affable, interesting, exciting, or noteworthy in any way. I can't really figure out what the draw would be.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by LloydLungs

Strasser isn't so bad (or hasn't been in podcast format anyway -- radio was another story). It's the celebrity news she brings in. My eyes just glaze over. I wish it were less frequent. I mean she is in ALL the time.

Love all the guests you mentioned, though. Maybe Adam should record four or five podcasts in one sitting every time an awesome guest makes their way out there, then release them gradually over a few weeks. Easier said than done, I'm sure. Carolla really is gifted but needs a certain type of guest/on-air partner for best results.

The podcast format in general rocks, though. Definitely hooked on long-form interviews and lack of commercials. You can really get lost in 'em on a long drive.

He sometimes cuts off podcasts at the hour mark that feel like they are just getting good. I don't know if he could find 4-5 hours to talk to someone, but I do think there are a lot of guests that could easily pull off a 2-parter at 2 hours. Guys like Kimmel, Dr. Drew, etc seem to go by quick.

I agree with you on the celebrity news. It was better when they'd just have her on and shoot the shit.

For those who haven't heard his Pedoph-Isle bit, it's some of the funniest shit I've ever listened to.

YouTube - Bill Simmons & Adam Carolla - "Pedif-Isle" Part 1
YouTube - Bill Simmons & Adam Carolla - "Pedif-Isle" Part 2

[MrDNA]

Bump to look for good MLB podcasts.

I used to enjoy ESPN's The Baseball Today Podcast. No doubt due to my enjoyment of it, they canned the best part of it for making a joke about Selig. So now I'm in need of a good MLB podcast. Anybody got one they enjoy?

[sposfan]

I've been looking for a while too. I find most of the bigger "name" ones pretty lame. Baseball HQ has a good one (once a week, released every friday or sat) and Rotowire has a good daily one. Baseball Prospectus and Baseball America also have podcasts.

CBS, MLB and ESPN all have their own, none of which I can force myself to listen to.

The only other sports podcast I listen to is The Dan Patrick Show, which is still great!

[bbgunn]

Here's what I listen to regularly:

ESPN: PTI (can't get this show in Japan)
ESPN: Around the Horn (ditto)
The Dan Patrick Show
The Dan LeBatard Show (the Roy's Top 10 feature is too hilarious. Sometimes a bit too "Miami" for me, but they usually talk about national stories)
My History Can Beat Up Your Politics (The host takes political topics in today's news and compares them to similar events in American history. I'm surprised this podcast doesn't get a lot of play. There is brilliant stuff here)
BBC: Global News
CNN News Update

Other than that, I'm looking for some good non-ESPN NBA and MLB podcasts.