My Favorite Podcasts from the Last Decade
This headline is click-bait. I haven’t been listening to podcasts for ten years, and I certainly can’t remember what I was listening to five years ago. I just wanted to share some shows that I enjoyed listening to in the last few years. No particular order, except for Heaven’s Gate, which is a masterpiece above all audio masterpieces. I’ve embedded episode 1 or a trailer for serial shows and an episode I recommend for shows that don’t have a fixed order.
(Oh, and maybe listen to my show?)
Heaven’s Gate
In 1997, thirty-nine people took their own lives in an apparent mass suicide. The events captivated the media and had people across the planet asking the same question…‘Why?’ 20 years later, those who lost loved ones and those who still believe — tell their story. Hosted by Glynn Washington of Snap Judgment.
The Good Place: The Podcast
Holy motherforking shirtballs! This is the official comedy and entertainment podcast for NBC’s TV show The Good Place. Subscribe and you’ll get weekly behind-the-scenes stories, episode and performance insights and funny anecdotes. Hosted by actor Marc Evan Jackson (Shawn) with a rotating slate of co-hosts and special guests, including actors, writers, producers and more, this podcast takes a deep dive into everything on- and off-screen.
The Anthropocene Reviewed
The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. On The Anthropocene Reviewed, #1 New York Times bestselling author John Green (The Fault in Our Stars, Turtles All the Way Down) reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale.
Museum Archipelago
A tiny show guiding you through the rocky landscape of museums. Museum Archipelago believes that no museum is an island and that museums are not neutral. Taking a broad definition of museums, host Ian Elsner brings you to different museum spaces around the world, dives deep into institutional problems, and introduces you to the people working to fix them. Each episode is never longer than 15 minutes, so let’s get started.
Sleep With Me
Insomnia? Mind racing at night? Worries keeping you up? Tune in for a bedtime story that lets you forget your problems and progressively gets more boring until you fall to sleep. So get in bed, press play, close your eyes, and drift off into dreamland.
Girl in Space
Nothing fancy here — just the simple audio diary of a girl in space. Also, there’s this weird and potentially ominous light in the distance that seems to be growing steadily closer. Listen for science, guns, trust, anti-matter, truth, beauty, inner turmoil, and delicious cheeses. It’s all here. In space.
By the Book
Half reality show, half self-help podcast, and one wild social experiment. Join comedian Jolenta Greenberg and culture critic Kristen Meinzer as they live by the rules of a different self-help book each episode to figure out which ones might actually be life changing.
Dolly Parton’s America
In this intensely divided moment, one of the few things everyone still seems to agree on is Dolly Parton — but why? That simple question leads to a deeply personal, historical, and musical rethinking of one of America’s great icons. Join us for a 9-episode journey into the Dollyverse. Hosted by Jad Abumrad, creator of Radiolab and More Perfect.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Volcanoes. Trees. Drunk butterflies. Mars missions. Slug sex. Death. Beauty standards. Anxiety busters. Beer science. Bee drama. Take away a pocket full of science knowledge and charming, bizarre stories about what fuels these professional -ologists’ obsessions. Humorist and science correspondent Alie Ward asks smart people stupid questions and the answers might change your life.
Sexing History
A podcast about how the history of sexuality shapes our present.
The Dream
*Disclaimer: I LOVED season 1, but so far I’ve got really mixed/meh feelings about season 2.
We’ve all got that friend or cousin who steadily hawks some overpriced miracle drink, leggings, or shampoo on social media. They aren’t just trying to sell you something, but would like to offer you the opportunity of a lifetime to achieve riches while working from home on your own terms. You’ve probably been too afraid, or too loving, or too reasonable to confront them. Not us. This season on The Dream we go inside the world of multi-level marketing to expose this pyramid-shaped business model for what it is. Join us on this bizarre journey filled with snake oil salesmen, shifty millionaires, struggling single moms, and a few sweet grandmas.
My Dad Wrote a Porno
Imagine if your Dad wrote a dirty book. Most people would try to ignore it and pretend it had never happened — but not Jamie Morton. Instead, he’s decided to read it to the world in this award-winning comedy podcast. With the help of his friends, James Cooper and BBC Radio 1’s Alice Levine, Jamie will be reading a chapter a week and discovering more about his father than he ever bargained for.
Raw Material
Raw Material is an arts and culture podcast from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). Each season focuses on a different topic, featuring voices of artists working in all media and exploring the inspiration and stories behind modern and contemporary art.
The Gateway: Teal Swan
The Gateway is a six-part series about Teal Swan, a new brand of spiritual guru, who draws in followers with her hypnotic self-help YouTube videos aimed at people who are struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts. Some followers move to Teal’s healing center, a spiritual startup where they produce content and manage social media accounts. Teal insists her therapy saves lives, but her critics say Teal’s death-focused dogma is dangerous. Gizmodo reporter Jennings Brown traveled to rural Utah and to the forests of Costa Rica, with extensive access to Teal and her inner circle, to understand Teal’s teachings and investigate the deaths of some of her followers.
The Shrink Next Door
Veteran journalist Joe Nocera’s neighbor in the Hamptons was a therapist named Ike. Ike counted celebrities and Manhattan elites as his patients. He’d host star-studded parties at his eccentric vacation house. But one summer, Joe discovered that Ike was gone and everything he’d thought he’d known about his neighbor — and the house next door — was wrong. From Wondery, the company behind Dirty John and Dr. Death, and Bloomberg, “The Shrink Next Door” is a story about power, control and turning to the wrong person for help for three decades. Written and hosted by Joe Nocera, a columnist for Bloomberg.
Welcome to Night Vale
Twice-monthly community updates for the small desert town of Night Vale, where every conspiracy theory is true. Turn on your radio and hide. Never listened before? It’s an ongoing radio show. Start with the current episode, and you’ll catch on in no time. Or, go right to Episode 1 if you wanna binge-listen.
Throughline
The past is never past. Every headline has a history. Join us every week as we go back in time to understand the present. These are stories you can feel and sounds you can see from the moments that shaped our world.
1619
In August of 1619, a ship carrying more than 20 enslaved Africans arrived in the English colony of Virginia. America was not yet America, but this was the moment it began. No aspect of the country that would be formed here has been untouched by the 250 years of slavery that followed. On the 400th anniversary of this fateful moment, it is time to tell the story.“1619” is a New York Times audio series hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones.
WTF with Marc Maron
Marc Maron welcomes comedians, actors, directors, writers, authors, musicians and folks from all walks of life to his home for amazingly revealing conversations. Marc’s probing, comprehensive interview style allows guests to express themselves in ways listeners have never heard.
The Clearing
When April Balascio was 40 years old, something she’d feared for decades was finally proven true. Her father, Edward Wayne Edwards, really was a murderer. The Clearing is about what came after April called a detective in 2009 to tell him about her suspicions — a call that led to her father’s arrest and eventual conviction on multiple murders — and tracks the emotional journey as she and host Josh Dean dig back into her childhood, unravel the truth of her father’s life, and overturn a viral online narrative that had turned Edward Wayne Edwards into a kind of serial killer caricature. Produced by Pineapple Street Media in association with Gimlet.
Attention HellMart Shoppers!
Attention HellMart Shoppers! is a twice monthly horror/comedy audio-drama. Join the staff of HelloMart, a big box super-store built on top of the gates of hell, as they battle the forces of evil in order to bring you the best customer service minimum wage can provide.
HowSound
The Backstory to Great Radio Storytelling, hosted by Rob Rosenthal, for Transom and PRX.
Stories from the Eastern West
Little-known histories from Central & Eastern Europe that changed our world…Heard of how The Rolling Stones played for the Communist Party? The bear who fought in WWII? Or the man who single-handedly created an entire language? Each episode of our narrative podcast tells incredible stories that all have one thing in common: the Eastern West.#SFTEW
Distillations
Each episode of Distillations podcast takes a deep-dive into a moment of science-related history in order to shed light on the present.
Dear Sugars
Radically empathic advice
Getting Curious with Jonathan van Ness
A weekly exploration of all the things Jonathan Van Ness (Queer Eye, Gay of Thrones) is curious about. Come on a journey with Jonathan and experts in their respective fields as they get curious about anything and everything under the sun.
Out of the Blocks
Out of the Blocks is a uniquely immersive listening experience that emerges from a mosaic of voices and soundscapes on the streets of Baltimore. A custom-tailored score colors and connects this tapestry of stories hidden in plain sight.
How to Be American
At every point in American history, immigrants, migrants and refugees have arrived here searching for a sense of belonging. In cities, towns and in rural areas alike, they’ve asked themselves an incredibly complex and ever-changing question: “How can I fit in to America?”On our new podcast — “How to Be American” — the Tenement Museum explores how the notion of “being American” has evolved, in leaps and bounds and glacially-slow shifts, over the course of our nation’s history. We’ll dig deep into the past to learn about the struggles, triumphs and oft-colliding cultures of immigrants to New York City’s fabled Lower East Side, and chat with preeminent historians, chefs and more to help connect the dots to the present day.For some of us, asking how we fit in to America is part of a daily struggle to survive. For others, it’s a nearly non-existent question. But no matter whether your family has lived in America for six generations or six weeks, “How to be American” will make you reconsider what it means to be American.
S-Town
S-Town is a new podcast from Serial and This American Life, hosted by Brian Reed, about a man named John who despises his Alabama town and decides to do something about it. He asks Brian to investigate the son of a wealthy family who’s allegedly been bragging that he got away with murder. But when someone else ends up dead, the search for the truth leads to a nasty feud, a hunt for hidden treasure, and an unearthing of the mysteries of one man’s life.
Looking for something new for your ears in 2020?
Here are some shows I’ve produced. Listen to the back catalog and subscribe for new content in the new year.
Museums in Strange Places
I believe that museums are one of the best ways to discover a place, whether it’s your first time visiting or you’ve lived there your whole life. Join me on this adventure as I get to know the world….one museum as a time.I’m your host, Hannah Hethmon, and in each episode I visit a different museum to discover its stories, discuss challenges and triumphs with fascinating museum professionals (and volunteers), and get to know each season’s country, state, or region through it museums.
On the Record (Produced for the UK National Archives)
History is everywhere in popular culture. But the truth is harder to find. On the Record is a podcast by The National Archives that takes a closer look at the stories you think you know. At The National Archives, we are the guardians of more than 11 million historical government and public records spanning a thousand years of British history. These original documents hold thousands of incredible stories…if you know where to look.
The Vagina Museum Podcast (Produced for the Vagina Museum)
Yes, there’s actually a Vagina Museum. Located in London’s Camden Market, the Vagina Museum is the world’s first bricks and mortar museum dedicated to vaginas, vulvas, and gynecological anatomy. We have a vision of a world where no one is ashamed of their bodies, everyone has bodily autonomy, and all of humanity works together to build a society that is free and equal. This is our podcast. Spoiler alert, it’s about vaginas. In the first season of our podcast, you’ll get six episodes that take you deep into the past and present of the vagina. Ever hear of yoni steaming? We investigated its history. Like saying the word cunt? We’ve got a whole episode about it. Ever wondered if there were any transgender saints from the medieval ages? We’ve got the story. Merkins? Check. Placenta? Check. Desperate to know the real story of the vibrator’s invention? We’ve got you.
