Cuz I generally listen to my local radio station or FalloutRadio on iTunes when I’m at work.
Or podcasts.
I am just finishing S-Town.
And holy crap is it good.
I tend to like “true crime” or serial fiction, thats it.
I hate nearly every other popular podcast that everyone recommends.
Things i like:
Welcome to Night Vale
The Black Tapes
Sayer
Limetown
Criminal
Sword and Scale
Archive 81
EOS 10
ars PARADOXICA
and the first season of Serial.
I need some recommendations as I’m about to finish S-Town!
I’m a little hesitate to make recommendations to someone who says they hate nearly every other popular podcast, but I’ll give it a go.
I really like the Myths and Legends podcast. It only works if you like his style of retelling, but I do. Lore is another one in a similar boat.
If you like serialized fiction, my favorite is Scott Sigler, and he has lots of stuff. The GFL books are good even for someone who is not a young adult and who doesn’t enjoy gridiron football, even though it’s a YA series about football. His horror is more up my alley.
For short fiction, all of the Escape Artists podcasts are great, but if you prefer longer stuff serialized, maybe this isn’t quite right.
Ah! If you like words and language, I like The Allusionist and Lexicon Valley (this one is more academic, while The Allusionist is more fun.)
In the Dark is a true crime podcast, that didn’t come up when I looked before because I’ve finished the run. I liked it, but it wasn’t enough to make me remember it months later.
And, I like Snap Judgement. It’s mostly people telling stories about themselves, so it has some things in common with This American Life, but with more diversity and more grit.
I appreciate you giving a list, I’ll have to check some of them out. I couldn’t get into Welcome to Night Vale, it just didn’t hit me. But, I really enjoy Criminal.
I’ve just subbed to Archive 81 and ars Paradoxica Those sound like fun.
I really like both of them, they’re a little over the top like old timey radio dramas, but not in a self aware cheeky way, just in a sincere kind of way? Its hard to explain. Like I don’t like the super adventure story time one or whatever its called. I feel like its just making fun of a genre where these are more a little true to the genre?
LimeTown and The Black Tapes are “mock” NPR documentaries. Not “mockumentaries” they’re not funny, they’re spooky as hell. But done in that NPR doc style. Both very very good. I hope LimeTown comes back soon, its been off air a long time.
One series I really liked was “We are alive” - basically its the walking dead, in serial radio drama form. It was really good and really long. I kind of want to give it a re-listen.
Excellent thread! I’m a bit stuck in a rut with my podcasts. I love them, but they’re a little too narrow in genre. I’d like to get some new ones.
Here’s what’s on my list;
Starship Sofa
Cast of Wonders
No Sleep Podcast
Pseudopod
Clarkesworld
Far Fetched Fables
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Drabblecast
Escape Pod
Tales to Terrify
Podcastle
Lightspeed
All of the above are fiction (science, fantasy, horror) that do a new episode every week. Except Drabblecast which seems to have gone silent. I’ll have to check why. Norm is my favorite.
For non-fiction, which I listen to mostly at the gym that I never go to;
Radiolab
Freakonomics
On the Media
This American Life
I plan on not working out more in the near future, so any suggestions for good podcasts not to listen to are very welcome!
I love old time radio, as long as the racism and sexism don’t totally overwhelm. There is plenty of it out there, personally my favorite is The Saint, but I also like old Sherlock Holmes. X Minus One was great, but the sexism on a few… fuuuuuu
Your description of “we are alive” is intruiguing.
I really liked We Are Alive! I listened to at least half of it while I had an active concussion LOL - couldn’t read or watch TV - and honestly I don’t remember the middle 1/3. I think I’ll download it for my walks home now its nice out again.
Have you tried Tanis?
They promo it hard during The Black Tapes.
Imma go subscribe to all of @waetherman’s podcasts!!
All of those fiction ones are good, and they have a lot of back-catalog that you can peruse. I will give a warning about No Sleep tho; it’s the worst kind of horror - often violent, sometimes veering in to misogynistic. The writing is often pretty weak. The host is great, and he puts on a good show, but all the material is basically user submitted material from a Reddit thread, and it reflects that origin. So listen at your own risk!
I’m not usually a fan of horror but Tales to Terrify is the best of the horror ones on that list. More classic, cerebral horror.
The Adventure Zone
MBMBAM
Nerd Poker (just started back up)
Star Wars New Canon Book Club
Lore
Cracked
Friends at the Table
Flophouse
Still Buffering
Sawbones
This American Life
Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me
Welcome to Nightvale
Cox and Crendor
Dragon Talk
Freakonomics
Smodcast
Tell 'Em Steve Dave
Dungeons & Dragons & Drunks
Adam Ruins Everything
And I probably have more subscriptions than that, though I don’t even recommend all of these.
I’ve got a good feeling about this - but you might like Crimetown, a multipart doc on corruption in Baltimore.
Some podcasts I like have already been mentioned: two which haven’t are 99% Invisible, broadly on “the unnoticed architecture and design that shape our world”, as their site says, and The Memory Palace, a short meander round some historical incident.
And then there’s Dan Carlin’s history podcast. They don’t come along often, but they’re very long.
Oh I love 99% Invisible! I’d forgotten about that!
I couldn’t get into Memory Palace, maybe I’ll try again.
Also just to reiterate this new one I started “Homecoming” - uh, some fucking budget, its got Catherine Keener and Oscar Issacs in it? Its really good!
I like some of the Gimlet podcasts, but Homecoming didn’t really move me. And, the season of Startup where they talked about Dov Charney was more than I could deal with. Reply all is hit or miss, with me, but all their shows have good production quality.
i’m surprised there aren’t more mentions of Welcome To Nightvale. i love that damn podcast, it’s so fun. i also like 99% Invisible, and one of the things that keeps me subbed to that is that it’s short. i subscribe to WAY too many podcasts, and ones that are 30 mins or less i tend to keep after awhile – longer ones i might skip if my time is too short.
i also like Hello From The Magic Tavern, which is hard to describe but it makes me laugh every episode, so there ya go.
i also listen to Slate’s Culture Gabfest and their Political Gabfest religiously (the former so i can yell at Stephen Metcalf, the latter so i can gush over my podcast boyfriend, John Dickerson).
the New York Times Fiction podcast is cool, if you like listening to an hour or so of various authors reading works either by themselves or other authors, and then discussing them with the host.
Studio 360 is great for all things culture
and there’s a new one i recently came across called “Between The Liner Notes” that covers music history. the 2-parter about the history of disco was fantastic.
Those sound like fun.
- but you might like Crimetown, a multipart doc on corruption in Baltimore.