Some Great Podcasts You May Not Know About

I listen to a lot of podcasts—so much so that I'm confident the amount of time listening to podcasts outnumbers the time listening to music.

Maybe that's sad. It is what it is.

I obviously won't be listing podcasts like This American Life, Serial, or 99% Invisible. These are podcasts that aren't as popular (or maybe they are and I just don't know?), but may be worth your while. They are definitely worth mine.

While I'll link to the podcast's main page, you can obviously find them on your podcast app of choice. (By the way, I enthusiastically choose Overcast as my app of choice).


Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend (Earwolf)

Okay. Yes. Conan O'Brien is very well-known. But his new podcast, I believe, isn't well-known yet. I suspect that'll change soon. He interviews celebrities. My favorite interviews so far have been Dana Carvey, Jeff Goldblum, Lisa Kudrow, Michelle Obama, and Tig Notaro.

His podcast is the only one in which I actually like listening to the ad spots. He makes them hilarious. And he very prominently features his sweet and hilarious assistant Sona Movsesian, which makes it better.


Twenty Thousand Hertz

This, I think, is my favorite podcast of the moment. It's about all the familiar sounds that we hear throughout our lives, from companies' sonic logos to video game sounds to bird songs. If you listen to 99% Invisible, it's like that but about all things sound—not design. I just found out about it and I love that there's a long backlog of episodes I can go back to.


The Argument (NY Times)

I gotta give credit to Jamie Carroll for introducing me to this one. I think of it as NY Times' competitor to the Slate Political Gabfest or 538's Politics Podcast. It's a succinct ~35 minute podcast featuring three prominent Times' opinion writers (David Leonhardt, Michelle Goldberg, and Ross Douthat) of varying political opinions (moderate left, progressive-left, conservative right, respectively) talking about a few key hot political topics. These days, I look forward to this podcast more than Gabfest or 538's.


The Dream (Little Everywhere & Stitcher)

This investigative, mini-series podcast takes a journalistic look at the world of multi-level marketing companies (Herbalife, Amway, Mary Kay, Rodan+Fields, etc), and leaves you feeling very angry. I was hooked, and sad when it was over. Even sadder when I know that federal legislation to make it illegal isn't likely to happen anytime soon. The podcast goes into why.


Caliphate (NY Times)

Another investigative, mini-series podcast. I didn't know about it until Xin told me (h/t Xin). Heartbreaking, engrossing, brilliantly-made. It's about journalist Rukmini Callimachi's harrowing journey into the world of ISIS. Definitely shed tears listening to this one.

#podcasts