Today was yet another day where I found myself engaged in another discussion with a friend about what podcasts we each listen to. After the conversation we end up sending each other links to our favorite podcasts. I thought it would just be a lot easier if I published my entire list of podcasts and then point them and you to that.
I’m always looking to be turned on to new shows, so please let me know your top recommendations. I find it very difficult to constantly keep up with all the shows, so if I take on a new show, I’ll need to let one go.
Apologies to all my friends who have podcasts that I’m not listening to. Now you know. :)
Here are my favorite shows and why.
Audio podcasts
- BusinessWeek – Cover Stories: Pretty much says it in the title (which is always a good idea). Gives you a good background on how the reporter discovered the story and gathered the information to write it.
- CNET News.com daily tech news podcast: Former colleagues Leslie Katz, Charlie Cooper, and others from ZDTV/TechTV host this short daily podcast. Great way to get caught up on the day’s tech news in just ten minutes.
- KCRW’s The Business: This is probably my favorite podcast. Thirty minute weekly show about show business in Hollywood. Great interviews and insightful reporting.
- NPR: Technology Podcast: Just some good tech reporting from NPR. They group together the best tech stories from the week in one podcast.
- NPR: Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!: Yes, it’s a funny show, but this may be the first to go if I get a good new podcast recommendation. They need to change their format. It’s getting really stale.
- The Official Lost Podcast: (video too!) I’m a total fan of Lost, but not so much a fan that I want to listen to the mind numbing conversations of the fan podcasts.
- On the Media: Some of the best reporting on the media and journalism outside of The Daily Show.
- PJK Podcast: Good friend Patrick Kearney has a podcast about the ups and downs of living a digital lifestyle. Highly recommended even if you’re not a friend of Patrick’s. :)
- Real Time with Bill Maher: Yeah, it’s a great show and plays off great just in an audio podcast.
- Savage Love: Dan Savage is an incredibly entertaining host. Often makes the questions on Loveline seem tame.
- Sparkletack: Podcast about different aspects of San Francisco history. I’m a big San Francisco history buff. I give walking tours occasionally. Richard Miller is probably the best podcast host ever. I don’t know of anyone that delivers their podcast with as much research, preparation, and passion as he does. He hasn’t made many episodes in a while, but he’s got an archive of 60+ evergreen episodes.
- Unintended Detours: Good friend Sue Mell (former stand up comic) produces a show with production and story development that’s equal to the shows heard on WNYC’s Radio Lab.
- WNYC’s Leonard Lopate Show: Great interviewer out of New York pumps out a handful of shows every day. I’m very selective of which ones I listen to, but I hear at least three every week.
- WNYC’s Radio Lab: Just got turned onto this show from my friend Pete Alcorn at iTunes. Great audio production. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to learn about audio storytelling.
Video podcasts
- Comedy Insider: Really well produced show from ON Networks. While I don’t learn anything new about comedy, I do see friends of mine on the show and it is valuable for those people looking to break into comedy.
- Life as a Comic Videoblog: This is a better show from my comedian friend Rob Paravonian, now opening for George Carlin. It’s a great series about what it’s like to be a working comic.
- Fuel TV: BMX and Skate: OK, I wish I could do all the things they do, but I can’t. Although it’s good to know there are still men in their 30s and 40s still skateboarding.
- Izzy Video: Offers segments on video shooting and post production. Also a really good model of free/paid content. Israel Hyman, the host, gives some podcasts away for free and has some others behind a paid subscription.
- Onion News Network: Consistently funny parody news segments.
- Photoshop for Video: More than 70+ episodes so far about preparing images for video production. I’m admittedly a Photoshop moron and I need all the help I can get.
- Play Value: My favorite show from ON Networks is about the history of video games. I’ve learned a lot watching this show.
- TEDTalks: If you don’t learn anything watching sessions at TED, you’re either not listening or you already know everything. In that case, please contact me, I’d love to meet you.
