common myths and misunderstandings. I particularly liked this season’s shows about fracking and gun control.
Serial — Unlike most listeners, I actually liked the second season of Serial, which was all about Bowe Bergdahl, a soldier who went AWOL in Afghanistan. The show is on hiatus while the crew prepares Season 3.
Signal — A great podcast from Stat about the business of biotech and drug development, hosted by Xconomy alum Luke Timmerman and CNBC reporter Meg Tirrell.
*Slate’s Whistlestop — John Dickerson, host of CBS’s Face the Nation, is an amateur but highly informed presidential historian. In this show he reads (possibly extemporizes) long essays about pivotal or unusual moments in past presidencies and campaigns.
StartUp — Season 1 of this show from Gimlet Media was great, because it was all about the founding of Gimlet itself. Seasons 2 and 3 were about different startups and they weren’t nearly as compelling. But I still listen because there’s an occasional episode about Gimlet and the ongoing challenges of being a media startup.
The Story Collider — In the style of The Moth Radio Hour, this podcast collects true stories told live on stage, except that they’re all about science.
*Surprisingly Awesome —Yet another Gimlet show that sets itself the challenge of taking seemingly boring subjects and explaining why they’re actually incredibly interesting and important. For instance: concrete, cardboard, and flossing. (Boy, that flossing episode turned into a real firestorm.) Creator and first-season host Adam Davidson has moved on to the New York Times, and the show is now hosted by the capable Rachel Ward.
Song Exploder — An ingenious Radiotopia show in which host Hrishikesh Hirway persuades musicians to explain how they wrote, recorded, and assembled their songs. Guests have included Bjork, Wilco, and the Magnetic Fields.
*Sound Matters — A gorgeously recorded show about sound and its role in our lives. A limited-run podcast from British/Danish producer Tim Hinman, Sound Matters was supported by B&O Play, a maker of high-end speakers and headphones. So in a sense, it was an extended native ad. But a really good one.
Studio 360 — The podcast version of the erudite WNYC show on culture and the arts, hosted by writer Kurt Andersen, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Spy magazine.
This American Life — No explanation necessary. In the world of nonfiction audio storytelling, this is the show that started it all.
Transistor — A STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) series from PRX, focusing on stories from and about women scientists, produced mainly by new and emerging audio creators.
Undone — A new Gimlet show from Radiolab veteran Pat Walters, inspired by the short-documentary series Retro Report. Undone looks at news stories from the past that revealed hidden meanings long after public interest faded.
Us & Them — This insightful show from West Virginia Public Radio is back after a hiatus. It’s about cultural divides and how we can bridge them—a bigger topic than ever these days.
*The West Wing Weekly — TV recap shows are a staple of the podcasting world, and most of them are terrible. But this one is amazing, as was the show to which it pays tribute. Hrishikesh Hirway (of Song Exploder) joins forces with Joshua Malina (who played Will Bailey on “The West Wing”) to dissect “The West Wing” episode by episode and talk about how the show still resonates today. The show often features guests who starred in or worked on TWW.
And last, but hopefully not least, a bonus 51st show:
Soonish — My own new podcast about technology, culture, and the future. How do we think and talk about the future? What can we do to shape it together? Why are our best forecasts—and our worst fears—usually wrong? As I mentioned above, each episode tells a story about the technology choices we’re making today and how our decisions today could shape our lives for decades to come. Subscribe now on iTunes or Stitcher to hear a teaser and find out why the first five episodes are brought to you by the letter “M”. The first regular episode premieres January 13.
