A comprehensive guide to: podcasts.
A list of everything I listen to and enjoy (Not The Daily)
I love podcasts and listen to them constantly. I love them as a news source, as entertainment, and as a way to learn about something new. Because I am a huge introvert I spend a lot of time alone (this is very on purpose, no one come near me I don’t want to be around you), and I often will put on a podcast while I’m alone in my house. I also have a pretty long commute, so I really fly through a lot of these.
I use the Overcast app. The Apple Podcasts app is genuinely terrible, and I don’t like the Spotify podcast interface either. I like Overcast because you can make playlists, so I have one for the things I listen to every week and another for other series or ones I want to listen to.
I listen to these every week:
Up First: This is daily, from NPR. A quick 10-15 minute snapshot of the most important news stories for the day. I listen every morning.
What a Day: Also a daily news podcast. This one is from Crooked Media, so definitely a liberal point of view. This also is a general overview of the biggest news stories, but they also usually do a deeper dive into one topic and they also feature interviews often.
Who? Weekly: I am obsessed with this and talk about it all the time. If you are into pop culture and celebrity gossip, this is required listening. It might take you a few episodes to get into it and figure out what’s going on, but once you’re in you’re in.
Keep It!: This is also a pop culture podcast, hosted by Ira Madison and Louis Virtel (they had a third cohost until recently and often have guest hosts now). I always love their takes on current pop culture news and they always have great guest interviews.
Bad on Paper: Very much enjoy this lifestyle podcast hosted by Becca Freeman and Olivia Muenter, two women in their late 20s/early 30s. They talk about a lot of different topics, do a monthly bookclub episode, and sometimes have guests. This used to be hosted by Becca and Grace Atwood, a blogger I follow on Instagram, but Grace recently left and Olivia took her place. I really like Becca and Olivia, they have a lot of similar interests to me, and they are both also great instagram follows.
Vibe Check: Hosted by Sam Sanders, Zach Stafford, and Saeed Jones. This feels like listening to a friend group chat every week. They talk about pop culture in news stories, they always have such interesting perspectives, and they are also very funny.
I never miss an episode of:
Criminal: This is one of the first podcasts I ever listened to and remains a favorite many years later. Each episode is 30-45 minutes and tells the story of a crime. They cover all different types of crime, and it’s always such an interesting story. This is hosted by Phoebe Judge, who I think has one of the best voices in podcasts.
If Books Could Kill: Hosted by Michael Hobbs (from Maintenance Phase) and Peter Shamshiri (from 5-4), each episode covers and debunks a different “airport book,” or popular pop science books from the last few decades.
Maintenance Phase: I think this is essential listening. Each episode the two hosts, Aubrey Gordon and Michael Hobbs, talk about a wellness trend and all the ways in which it is deeply harmful and also just based on falsehoods. This has fully radicalized me and I wish everyone would listen.
Normal Gossip: Each episode the host, Kelsey, has a guest on and tells them a gossip story that’s been sent in by a listener. These stories are WILD and so hilarious and this is just a genius idea for a podcast. I recommend to anyone and everyone.
Still Processing: Hosted by Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morris, two culture critics at the NYT. They are so smart and I love their commentary.
You’re Wrong About: This absolutely exploded in popularity during the pandemic, so I’m guessing most of you have heard about this. Each episode is about a well known event or person or topic that has been misconstrued in our public consciousness.
More pop culture commentary:
I listen to all of these intermittently, depending on the topic of the episode.
Be There in Five: This will not be for everyone. Every episode of this is 2+ hours and the host, Kate Kennedy, deep dives into different pop culture topics. Kate talks about so many things that I am interested in, and I really appreciate her perspective. Some episode recommendations: Rachel Hollis, Mormon Mommy Blog Empires, Childless Millennial. I also love following Kate on Instagram.
Pop Culture Happy Hour: This is daily from NPR, 15-30 minute episodes about new things in pop culture. They cover mostly TV and movies, but also books and music. I like to listen to this after I’ve watched something, or if I’m on the fence about whether or not I want to see something.
Las Culturistas: This is hosted by Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang and makes me LAUGH. I don’t listen every week, but I like to listen every so often depending on the topic or the guest.
Crime/Law/Criminal Justice:
I have become extremely wary of true crime content over the past few years and I am very picky and careful about what I do chose to listen to. Everything listed here has been made ethically, paints a realistic picture of the criminal legal system, but is also still interesting and informative.
5-4: Each episode, the three hosts explain a Supreme Court decision. They do a mix of old ones and new ones. The hosts of this are very progressive, very much “burn it all down, the Supreme Court SUCKS,” so that may or may not be your vibe. This is one of the only podcasts I’ve found about SCOTUS that I feel like I can understand as someone without a law degree, and I’ve learned so much from it.
Bone Valley: An absolutely infuriating story about a man who has been wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife and has spent decades in prison. A good example of how hard it is to fix the mistakes the criminal legal system makes.
Ear Hustle: This is such an incredible podcast, hosted by two men who used to be incarcerated in San Quentin prison. When the podcast started, they both were still in prison. Now they’re both out. This is so eye opening about prison life and really essential journalism.
In the Dark (specifically season 2): It’s about a man named Curtis Flowers, who was tried six times for the same murder in Mississippi. This podcast is so well done that it played a huge role in this case eventually being heard by the Supreme Court.
Justice in America: Essential listening. I learned so much from this.
The Kids of Rutherford County: A four part series about a small county in Tennessee that, for over a decade, arrested and illegally jailed hundreds of kids. This pissed me off but it’s really well reported and I think a good example of how local courthouses can really do whatever they want.
Lost Patients: An absolute must listen. About the system for mental health treatment in this country, and how it doesn’t really work. The most comprehensive and effective reporting I’ve ever encountered on this issue.
More Perfect: A limited series about some of the most influential Supreme Court decisions throughout history.
On Our Watch: This is a series about how police police themselves, the internal investigation process, and why it’s so hard for them to hold themselves accountable (the answer is because they don’t want to).
The Retrievals: About a Yale fertility clinic where a nurse started stealing fentanyl and replacing it with saline, which led to many women going through egg retrieval procedures without pain medication.
Running From COPS: A series about the television show COPS and its impact on policing and our view of law enforcement. Spoiler alert: it’s a bad, dangerous, harmful show.
Serial (Season 3): One of the most accurate representations of the criminal legal system I have ever encountered.
Suspect (season one only): About a woman who was murdered at a party and the man who became the main suspect.
Unprecedented: A limited series about significant Supreme Court cases related to the First Amendment.
Random topics:
America’s Girls: Limited series about the history of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.
This American Life: Everyone knows what this is. My favorite episode is obviously the Rom Com one.
Death, Sex, and Money: Each episode is about something related to one of these three topics, sometimes interviews with famous people, sometimes stories of normal people.
The Dream: Season 1 is about MLMs, season 2 is about the wellness industry, and season 3 is about life coaches. All very good.
The Dropout: The Theranos Podcast. They covered the original story and then they covered Elizabeth Holmes’ trial.
Floodlines: This is about Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath. I learned so much from this.
In God We Lust: The story of Jerry Falwell Jr.’s rise and fall. Absolutely wild.
Invisibilia: very interesting, just about human behavior.
Nice White Parents: A series from the people who made Serial about public schools and gentrification and a whole lot of mess.
Pod and Prejudice: Two friends, one of which is a Jane Austen fan and one who has never read any of her work, read Pride and Prejudice together and discuss.
Rabbit Hole: A NYT series about how people get radicalized on the internet. Interesting and also bleak.
Scam Goddess: This is hosted by Laci Mosley, who is so hilarious. Each week she has a guest and they talk about a different scam. The first episode was about Anna Delvey, so that’s the vibe here. It’s so, so funny.
Slow Burn: Each season is a deep dive into an important historical event. I learn so much every time.
Under the Influence with Jo Piazza: About influencers! Sort of a look at the industry as a whole and the different subsets of it.
Unfinished: Short Creek: A deep dive into the FLDS cult in Short Creek, Arizona. I have been interested in this cult for so many years and this is the best, most definitive reporting I’ve ever found on it.
Too Long, Didn’t Watch: Each episode the host, Alan Sepinwall (a TV critic), has a celebrity guest on and they watch the first and last episode of a very popular tv show that the guest never watched.
Spectacle: An Unscripted History of Reality TV: Each episode chronicles a significant reality tv show and its impact on television and pop culture.
Who Shat on the Floor at My Wedding?: Absolutely hilarious. Two women and a friend launch a full scale investigation to try to figure out….who shat on the floor at their wedding.
Fiction:
36 Questions: A three-part musical about a couple working through the famous 36 Questions to Fall In Love.
Bone Marry Bury: A fun and funny twist on Fuck, Marry, Kill.
Limetown: A journalist works to uncover what happened when hundreds of people disappeared from a small town ten years ago.
Homecoming: A woman works at a facility that is doing some sort of experimental treatment on veterans.
Showmance: A woman breaks up with her boyfriend and gets a job in London as a producer on a baking competition show.
Vote for Love: A woman is working on a presidential campaign and the candidate’s son is a guy who ghosted her 8 years prior.