Don’t miss these podcasts
Wonderful stories. Straight into your brain by way of your eardrums.
Can’t miss these three
These are my all-time favorites — if you only listen to three podcasts regularly, make it these ones.
Radiolab is the pinnacle of radio storytelling. The podcast finds amazing stories in the world of science, and tells them in the best-produced podcast around, with great sound design, custom music, and amazing engagement.
99% Invisible is a fantastic podcast about design (the name is based on the expression that ‘great design is 99% invisible). The podcast digs into interesting phenomena, great design, and, well, the opposite of great design.
How I Built This is an interview podcast that talks to founders of huge, well-known companies, and asks a simple question: So, how did this all come together? It’s a fascinating look behind the scenes, and a must-listen podcast for wannabe entrepreneurs.
Serial was the podcast that put podcasting back on the map — a nail-biting thrill ride of a crime story evolving. Extremely well told.
S Town is almost as good as serial — and my god is it good. It’s the story of what happens when a reporter goes into a sleepy town in Alabama, only to discover that not everything is as it seems… Absolutely riveting.
More podcasts below
Other amazing podcasts
Wanna go deeper? Sure!
- Criminal is a journey into the world of crime & punishment. Great narrative journalism with a focus on criminal justice, its victims, and its perpetrators.
- Reveal really is investigative journalism at its finest, digging deep into complicated topics, told beautifully.
- This American Life continues being one of my all-time favorite podcasts. Deep storytelling about big questions — usually 2–3 stories around a theme.
- Planet Money is a long-running classic, diving into the world of economics, broken down into bite-sized stories exploring the why, what, and how of the flow of money.
- Invisibilia is a podcast that takes a look at the ‘hidden side of everything’ — systems, design, and decisions that affect our lives in often unexpected ways
- Death, Sex and Money is an interview podcast that does something extraordinary: Tackling the subjects that we, as humans, are bad at talking about. Always fascinating listening.
- Radiolab’s More Perfect is a spin-off show from Radiolab, and focuses on the US Supreme Court. It’s a lot more interesting than it sounds, and helps give a deeper understanding of the what, why and how of the Supreme Court.
- Sort of related to More Perfect is What Trump can Teach Us about Con Law — a podcast that takes a look at what the US’ 45th president is up to, and how you can learn more about constitutional law in the process.
- Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History is a fascinating podcast that takes another look at slices of history that we thought we knew… but that are worth some closer observation.
- Death by Design is a fascinating podcast that explores people who take control over the process of dying. The stories are all beautiful, intense, and helps explore your own thoughts about an event that’ll happen to all of us.
- The Allusionist is a podcast for the word-lover among us; exploring the origin and quirks in the English language beautifully.
- Love and Radio is hard to describe. It’s a journey into the lives of interesting people — often told with some fantastic narrative and sound design techniques.
- Freakonomics Radio is a great podcast that explores the world of economics, picking up great stories of what drives decision-making.
- Founders and Friends is another great interview podcast, where host Scott Orn talks to startups about the things that matter.
- Bay Curious is a short set of podcasts where the KQED radio crews try to answer readers’ questions about things, people, places, and events in the Bay Area. I found it a great way to get to know my adopted home town better.
- 2 Dope Queens is a standup comedy podcast I’ve really been enjoying — funny, irreverent, and not taking itself too seriously.
- Gimlet Media’s Crimetown is lovely, exploring how the sleepy town of Providence, RI ended up in the claws of the mob. Original interviews, great editing.
- The Embedded podcast is NPR’s fantastic investigative journalism podcast. It goes deep into some of the biggest problems in our society, which makes for some riveting listening.
- Song Exploder is a must-listen for the music fans. Picking apart the story of how a music track came together, instrument by instrument, note by note. It’s a fascinating glimpse into how music is made.
