It may seem hard to believe, but podcasts are only a little over a decade old. In that relatively short time, the podcast has become a significant part of how the human race consumes all kinds of meaningful information—sociological, economic, political, artistic, journalistic and psychological, to name but a few. When it comes to podcasts, we’re 10+ years into a vivid, crucial artistic medium.Podcasts do tick a sort of neo-vintage box for the consumer— a throwback to the radio days of yore, where both extraordinary distance, as well as intimacy, in that specific “theatre of the imagination” reigned.
But though podcasts have crossover qualities with great radio, they are not radio. At least not exclusively. And so what, exactly, is a podcast? And how does it differ from traditional radio or audio-narration content?
First and foremost: a podcast is a piece of audio that was created, at least in part, specifically for digital release.
The specificity of the digital experience is more than simply that the content is experienced on a digital device— it means, that more often than not, the content is being consumed on a personal set of headphones, which does make a huge difference in the sense of intimacy and imaginative dialogue that occurs between content creator and consumer. Unlike in days of yore when audio-based, traditional radio content was consumed casually, and predominantly in a larger setting (such as the living room or the in the car), today a podcast exists by almost literally whispering in the ears of its listeners, and that is an intimacy we have never fully experienced before on such a widespread level. That is a podcasts’ distinction.
Podcast purists—and such people do exist—might object to the inclusion of major radio heavyweights, but This American Life and Radiolab, to take two major examples, are, in my opinion anyway, both great podcasts as well as great radio programs. But often, you’ll find that distinction blurs.
So without further ado, here is my list. I have included the podcasts we all already know and love: This American Life, Radiolab, The Moth, Serial, and TED Radio Hour I’ve included a few lesser know but equally impactful gems. Some you may, and some you may not have known you needed to listen to rightthissecond.
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1. Love + Radio
Nick van der Kolk’s Love + Radio is a podcast pioneer, taking the personal storytelling and high-quality production you might associate with This American Life into realms more risqué and even raunchy than you’re likely to find on public radio (though some episodes have, in fact, aired on public radio).
This podcast weaves fact and fiction, pulling together interviews and stories that relate to a theme. It’s a podcast that introduces you to the strangest of strangers but also gives a gentle reminder that we’re all a little bit strange.
Top episode pick:
“The Living Room”—my favorite podcast of anything ever. A story of a New York woman who becomes intimately involved in the lives of her neighbors because they never close their curtains. What begins as the most audacious form of hedonism turns in a slow, sickening story of empathy and profound human not-connection. I suggest sitting down and doing nothing else but thoroughly listening to it for the 20 minutes. It is radio story-telling at its absolute best. Funny, riveting, fascinating, heart-wrenching, moving beyond. Beyond.
2. This American Life
No surprises here, This American Life is an international institution. This American Life's archive goes back to 1995 and I have listened to every single episode since I came across it in 2002, enjoying its arc as the show grew into an increasingly polished purveyor of top-notch narrative nonfiction.
Top episode pick:
Act V—the podcast that made me fall in love with any form of radio. Theater meets humanity in heart and gut-wrenching reality.
3. Radiolab
Radiolab, like This American Life, is a gateway podcast, hooking listeners with a rich, 13-season back catalog of episodes that stand the test of time.“Space” was one of the first Radiolab to have been produced during the podcast era, and the episode brings together many of the elements that make people love the show: interviews with a diverse slate of voices, scientists as well as artists and authors; an intriguing soundtrack (“Radiolab space episode music” is a Google search autofill); and, above all, an intelligent probing of the human, emotional aspects of an essential scientific topic.
The most indelible part of the episode is the interview with Ann Druyan, widow of Carl Sagan. She tells the story of the pair’s collaboration on the “Golden Record” sent with the Voyager probes, a job they started as colleagues and finished as lovers. This was a tremendously difficult selection, but
Top episode pick:
Space
Other Radiolab honorable mentions include:
Colors
60 Words
The Ring and I
4. Invisibilia
I adore this NPR podcast, which explores the intangible (invisible, hence the title) forces that shape our everyday lives. It is absolutely fascinating to consider the ineffeble mysteries of our perception and assumptions. I’ve personally devoured every episode because they deeply explore emotions, thoughts, and perceptions like Arctic explorers. They also do it so artistcally, that it is irresistable, captivating, and moving.
Top episode pick:
The Secret Emotional Life of Clothes
5. Serial
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And yeah: whatevs, it’s pretty good. AND BY PRETTY GOOD I MEAN LIFE-STOMPINGLY AMAZING. This is one of those podcasts where you wake up Thursday and you had plans… but they got canceled. Because you had to listen to Serial. I’m not kidding.
To quote Conor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic:
“After five episodes, the worst thing that can be said about Serial, a new podcast led by This American Life producer Sarah Koenig, is that the next episode isn't yet online. It will post Thursday. I will listen immediately. If the rest of the inaugural season's episodes were released together, like House of Cards, I'd consume them in one sitting, foregoing sunshine, sleep, and human contact until all episodes were exhausted. That's how I binge-watched much of The Wire, The Sopranos, and Breaking Bad. At the time, I never imagined I'd ever binge-listen to radio.”
By telling a completely true story (over 12 episodes of roughly 45 minutes each), and reporting that story as they went, the producers of Serial not only created something genuinely new, they expanded people’s concept of what podcasts were capable of.
The extraordinary compassion with which they tell this complex tale is the star of this piece. But everything shimmers— from the narration by host Sarah Koenig, to the music, the intensity and thoroughness of the journalism, the emotion captured and presented. It’s all there from the first moments of Episode 1, “The Alibi,” which is now the most downloaded podcast in history:
Serial Episode 1: “The Alibi”
Click and… say bye bye to the known world for the next 24 hours.
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