podcasts

[L CC]

You're not trying.

Podcasts are a bit like amateur magazines, for me. Rarely are they well enough written to be worth the listen. Books won, mostly. Plus, there's something really satisfying about the association : the ride, the route, the book, the memory.

[quixoticgeek]

You're not trying.

Podcasts are a bit like amateur magazines, for me. Rarely are they well enough written to be worth the listen. Books won, mostly. Plus, there's something really satisfying about the association : the ride, the route, the book, the memory.

I implore you to try 99 percent invisible, Serial, or Passenger list. The quality of the production is amazing. Riding home from the shops listening to the latest episode of Passenger list today, it brought shivers down my spine. I slowed my pedally. Just. Wow. Start at episode 1 and go through.

There are a lot of awful podcasts out there.
but at the same time there are some fantastic ones.

J

[perpetual dan]

Here's a couple more that I'm listening to lately:
 - Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman (can be a bit tech bro, I dip in depending on who's being interviewed - Jimmy Wales was good)
 - Soundtracking with Edith Bowman (film music)
 - The Candid Frame (photography interviews, but not about gear / technique)
and a couple of other photography podcasts, but that's a bit of a tangent interest wise for here.

[citoyen]

I implore you to try 99 percent invisible, Serial, or Passenger list.

I love 99pi. Not only is the content great, and the production quality excellent, Roman Mars has the most wonderful voice. I could listen to him all day. He also has the best name.

For a good story-based podcast, I still like The Moth. They're recorded in front of a live audience, which means the sound quality can be a bit variable, but they're always interesting. And often surprising. The premise of the Moth is that everyone has a story to tell, and everyone can become a storyteller. They workshop the stories ahead of the show, to give them proper narrative structure, and for the storytellers to practise delivery. Often a show is based around a loose theme, but even within a theme the stories can vary in their style and content. Funny, sad, scary, inspirational, often all of the above at the same time.
https://themoth.org/about

[fimm]

I'm going to suggest some of the ones I have been enjoying, but a little bit cautiously as they're all sport ones and that doesn't appear to be your cup of tea...
Cycling:
Matt Stephens Unplugged
Life in the Peloton (Mitch Docker) - he does some as part of "The Cycling Podcast" and some lighter ones as "Talking Luft" which are separate.

Formula 1:
F1 Nation
F1 Beyond The Grid

General Sport:
Stripped Back Sport with Kirsty Gallacher - there don't seem to be new ones coming through just now but her back catalogue looks interesting and I've enjoyed the episodes I've listened to.

[ravenbait]

I currently only do horror/scifi audio drama, which may or may not be your cup of tea, but would recommend:

Tanis (quit before season 5, though, which is where the writers should have stopped)
The Left Right Game (I wish I had written this)
The Magnus Archives
BBC Sounds -- Tracks
BBC Sounds -- The Lovecraft Investigations
The Harrowing
Janus Descending
Primordial Deep
The White Vault

Also, Palimpsest is okay.

I have started, but have not yet decided if I would recommend:

Vast Horizon
The Silt Verses
No Place But The Water
Archive 81

My writer friends all rate Old Ghosts of Appalachia very highly. If you are in the mood for narrated stories, Pseudopod has new fiction on the regular, as does Escape Pod.

Sam

[ravenbait]

It hadn't occurred to me to listen to podcasts while riding before -- I always listen to something, because otherwise external sounds play merry hell with my synaesthesia^*. I just wanted to say thank you for the suggestion.

Sam
*I am not interested in starting a discussion/argument about the merits or demerits of headphones while riding. When an approaching car gives you the sensation of someone stroking a microplane up your spine, headphones are all about turning an unpleasant experience into a useful one.

[quixoticgeek]

It hadn't occurred to me to listen to podcasts while riding before -- I always listen to something, because otherwise external sounds play merry hell with my synaesthesia^*. I just wanted to say thank you for the suggestion.

Sam
*I am not interested in starting a discussion/argument about the merits or demerits of headphones while riding. When an approaching car gives you the sensation of someone stroking a microplane up your spine, headphones are all about turning an unpleasant experience into a useful one.

Podcasts and audiobooks are my goto for cycling. Much better than music for me. If I don't listen to something, my mind can wonder. They help me concentrate, and cos I use open backed head phones, i can still hear just fine.

J

[Nuncio]

I've had to cull my postcast subscriptions since I stopped commuting - I used to get through at least 2.5 hours listening on the bike in addition to whatever I could fit in off the bike. I'm now down to one US politics one (from 3), but there's been less of interest since January.

But I can recommend a couple of fairly new comedy podcasts.

3 Bean Salad - 3 blokes improvising on (and usually then away from) a random subject provided by a listener. The 3 are Mike Wozniak (riding his wave of Taskmaster popularity), Ben Partridge (the The Beef and Dairy Network podcast man) and Henry Paker. They are very similar in voice, age and sensibilities and they each kick off each others riffs.  Amiable nonsense.

Brain Cigar - Peter Baynham (Iannucci stable alumnus, and, somewhat improbably, now living in LA after his second Oscar nomination for the 2nd Borat movie) and someone called Jez Simmonds. More nonsense, but even less rooted in reality than the above.

 

[citoyen]

I’m sold. Mike Wozniak, Ben Partridge - say no more. I don’t know Henry Paker (or don’t think I do) but if he’s hanging around with those two, he must be alright.

As for Peter Baynham, he was always the best thing on Fist of Fun.

[perpetual dan]

Ultra running magazine did an episode on hallucinations earlier this year, which might appeal to the audaxers and mushroom fans amongst us. https://ultrarunning.com/featured/hallucinations/

[mrcharly-YHT]

I listen to BBC sounds quite a lot - when working in the garden, etc.

There are recurring podcasts that I follow; Ukraincast, Americast, Newcast.

Then there are one-offs.

The Lazarus Heist is very good. Documentary, not fiction. Season 1 is about North Korean hackers; I'm aghast that this isn't more generally known about. The scale of the financial theft is staggering, billions. This is how Kim can afford the missiles.

"I'm not a monster"
2 seasons, the first one about a USAnian woman who joins ISIS. Season one requires a strong stomach. Season 2 about Shamina Begum.