The Podcast Renaissance Continues: What You Should Be Listening To

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It looked for a while that podcasting was on its way out along with the now-discontinued iPod it was named after, but thanks to factors such as Serial, the phenomenally popular podcast which follows Sarah Koenig’s re-examination of a Baltimore murder trial, and the fact that more people are streaming web audio in their cars, the online audio format is seeing something of a resurgence. Serial has set new records for podcasting and it can only be bringing more listeners to podcasts. Also, it’s rumoured that Spotify will soon include them in its product. A record 15% of Americans now say they’ve listened to a podcast in the last month, and Google Trends shows search results for ‘podcast’ are at their highest level since January 2007!

So, time to get involved. Here are the podcasts you need to be listening to:

About A Minute – an interesting interview, lasting about a minute

The Bugle – John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman give their unique, satirical take on the world’s events

TED Talks – presentations from inspirational people

The Godless Spellchecker – an atheist explores spirituality and religion through interviews

Sodajerker on Songwriting – exploring the craft of songwriting through interviews with the very best

Benjamen Walker’s Theory of Everything – modern human stories

99% Invisible – design and culture

Radiolab – great radio documentaries

The Moth – true stories, well told

Reply All – exploring the interweb

Freakonomics Radio – as in the books, a look at how we could optimise society

Documentary on One by RTE – archive of radio documentaries

Longform – a look into non-fiction writing through interviews

On Being – what does it mean to be human?

And here are some of the best BBC Radio 4 shows as podcasts. Even the ones that might sound boring are brilliant due to R4’s world-class presenters and production:

The Moral Maze – exploring moral questions in a classic format

Thinking Allowed – on society and how we live today

The Digital Human – how we live with technology

On The Hour – ridiculous spoof radio spots from Chris Morris

A History Of Ideas – ethics, law and philosophy

The Bottom Line – business with Evan Davies

More Or Less: Behind The Stats – tearing apart stats reported in the news

The Infinite Monkey Cage – great balance between humour and hard science by Brian Cox and Robin Ince

Any podcasts you love not listed? Tell me in the comments!

Want to learn new creative and marketing skills with me? Check out upcoming courses on topics like SEO, content marketing, copywriting and podcasting.


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