David’s 14 Favorite Podcasts

Last Updated: November 2017

I am not sure exactly when I started listening to podcasts, but over the past few years I have become completely hooked on them. I now listen to about 2 podcasts per day on a wide variety of topics. People talk about binging on Netflix, but I find that I am much more into podcast binging than movies or TV shows. If I find a new series that I like, I run straight through all of the back episodes until I am eagerly anticipating the next installment.

My addiction to podcasts is such that each day I instinctively check to see if I have new podcast episodes from my favorite series to listen to. Unfortunately, podcasts are often released on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, so I am frequently frustrated by the lack of new content in my podcast app feed. I am always searching around for recommendations or a new series that looks like it might be up my alley, so I figured that I would share my favorite podcast series with everyone here so that you all might be kind enough to recommend a few to me in return 🙂 Please let me know your favorites and feedback in the comments below the post!

Without further ado, here is my list of favorite podcasts broken down by genre:

Human Interest Story Podcasts

I am not 100% sure that this headline is the right way to describe the podcasts I have listed below, but the basic idea is that these podcasts follow the stories of interesting people from all walks of life around the world. There can be one host or many depending on the series, but I love these podcasts because they provide a short peek into peoples’ lives that are often very different from mine, allowing me to walk around in their shoes for an hour at a time.

Strangers

Strangers is one of those podcasts that I discovered and then immediately consumed the entire backlog over a couple weeks. Hosted by Lia Thau, this podcast allows people to tell their own stories in their own words with only a few narrative interruptions by Lia to help guide the stories to their conclusions. Stories about an artist father and the daughter he never met reuniting after many years, a hotel lobby greeter befriending comedian Dave Chappelle and telling a small but not insignificant fib, and Lia’s own 4-part tale of her dating challenges after a difficult breakup are some of the many, many wonderful tales that you can hear in this series.

This American Life

A perennial favorite in best podcast lists, Ira Glass hosts this weekly hour-long podcast that usually covers a couple stories over 3–4 acts per episode centered on a particular theme. With episodes currently numbering in the 600s, this series has been around for ages, but that is for good reason as I have found the reporting to be of consistently high quality. One annoying part of following this podcast is that the older episodes are not readily available in iTunes, but thankfully they regularly play updated versions of top episodes from the archive.

Death, Sex & Money

Anna Sale hosts this podcast about “big questions and hard choices that are often left out of polite conversation.” She is a great interviewer that brings more out of her guests than most podcasters that I have heard, particularly when talking to celebrities. By focusing on these more taboo topics, the conversation usually goes in unexpected directions. Some recent pieces I really enjoyed were a two-part series on student debt and then another episode from a long-term shoplifter talking through her history and lack of guilt about her actions.

RadioLab

After discovering RadioLab through a friend’s recommendation, I made quick work of this series’ entire back catalogue. RadioLab’s episodes cover all kinds of topics including science, nature, personal stories, politics and much more, ensuring that there will always be something that will pique your interest. I have found their reporting and choice in topics to be a cut above the rest.

S-Town

John is a resident of a small city in Alabama and reaches out to show host Brian Reed about some happenings in his town. Taking the bait, Brian heads to Alabama and that is where the story begins. This series’ 7 episode arch takes many twists and turns, but the most fascinating thing that it does is provides a very deep dive into the personality, feelings and psyche of one single person in a way that most other podcasts do not. If you want to look deep inside the mind of a one-of-a-kind individual, this is the podcast for you.

Personal Quests & Questions

Though in some cases these podcasts may also be grouped under the Human Interest Story category, I found them to be a bit different because they focus on helping people to solve a personal challenge, mystery or question in their lives that they have been wanting to know the answer to for ages. The stories typically start out in a very straightforward way, but by trying to get to the root of the question or mystery, the hosts manage to find out some interesting information that makes you look at this otherwise mundane happening in a new way.

Just a note that all podcasts in this category are produced by Gimlet Media, so definitely keep your eyes and ears open for other Gimlet Media podcasts in the future as they are likely to also be pretty good.

Heavyweight

Jonathan Goldstein tries to help people solve issues that they have had with other people in their past through this podcast. His deadpan delivery and amusing editing style keep the podcast entertaining even as the episode premises start out quite mundane. The episode about one of his relatives needing to get his records back from his childhood friend who became the famous DJ Moby was particularly awesome, but each episode manages to unearth some interesting details about the people around the mystery and pull everything together into a satisfying conclusion.

Every Little Thing

This podcast regularly goes deep into all kinds of niche topics, both through investigative reporting into a the topics of their choosing and from listener questions. I usually walk away from an episode knowing a surprising amount about things that I had never even considered before, such as recent episodes about why it is so difficult to find a living armadillo in the wild or the unfashionable end of cargo shorts. Each episode is short and sweet, making for a relaxing listen during your commute.

The Mystery Show

Hosted by Starlee Kine, The Mystery Show is similar to Heavyweight but with less focus on mending old relationships and more on solving mysteries that happen in daily life. Starlee does her best detective work to uncover things like what happened to a small movie store on a New York street corner that disappeared from one day to the next, or the story behind a surprising license plate that she saw at an intersection during a long stop light. Unfortunately, this show was cut short after only one 6-episode season, but that also means that you don’t have an excuse to let this fun show pass you by.

Technology

The more that I have become interested in bootstrapping software companies in the last months, the more startup and technology podcasts I have started listening to. I know there are many other podcasts than the ones listed below that are worth checking out, but I am doing my best to make my way through the back episodes of these shows that I really enjoy.

Startups for the Rest of Us

Mike Taber and Rob Walling host this podcast about starting and running your own businesses without the help of venture capital. Each episode focuses on an important part of business marketing, strategy or growth or answers a handful of listener questions. I found out about this podcast through Rob’s book Start Small, Stay Small, which I strongly recommend picking up, and I have since found this podcast to be at a reasonable level of technical depth to make it worthwhile for first-time founders and serial entrepreneurs alike.

Tropical MBA

The focus of the Tropical MBA podcast is to develop a community of entrepreneurs dedicated to building location-independent businesses. Insightful interviews with founders from around the globe and considerations of the pros and cons for living in different places make this podcast stand out among the rest. The funny interaction between hosts Dan Andrews and Ian Schoen also makes the podcast binge-worthy.

Kalzumeus

Patrick McKenzie has become one of my business role models. He built and sold many businesses on his own working out of a small town in Japan, which is a perfect way to describe what I aspire to do someday. He has a ton of micropreneurial and consulting experience that he shares with many interesting guests on his podcast. Though only 14 episodes in total thus far, I have found Patrick’s podcast to be extremely informative and well worth the listening investment. One note — use an app like Overcast to get the episodes through the feed posted on the linked site because it is not available through many of the normal podcast channels.

Reply All

I am still fairly new to this podcast, but I think that it provides a nice break from the typical startup stories while covering technology topics. Most episodes break down a recent tech story or new controversy, but I find their investigative reporting to be the most interesting. I decided to include them on this list due to a recent two-episode piece on tracking down the people running a phone scam out of India that proved that the producers were willing to do anything to get to the bottom of a story.

Serial Killers / Murder Mystery

I am sure that all of the regular podcast listeners out there already know about this show, so this is intended as a heads up to the readers that are new to mystery podcasts. Serial was one of the first shows that I really got into. The first season dives into the murder of a high schooler and the person who has been put behind bars for the crime claiming his innocence. It is a fantastic listen that is not to be missed. The second season of Serial goes in a totally different direction that, while still enjoyable, does not reach the heights of season one. I am interested to see what host Sarah Koenig is planning for the next season!

Dirty John

Dirty John follows the story of a bad actor taking advantage of an middle-aged woman and her family. Though there are many head-shaking “how could you have been this stupid!?!” moments during the course of the six episode arch, it is an enjoyable, unpredictable ride from start to finish. One quick warning — the Los Angeles “Valley girl” speaking style of many of the interviewees gets annoying when binging through the podcast so maybe take some time between episodes.

Suggestions

Please let me know what you think of my list and which podcasts make your favorites list in the comments below! Thanks and happy listening!

Originally published at www.davidemcneill.com on November 7, 2017.