When I read this Washington Post article about people who listen to hours of podcasts, practically nonstop, I felt a jolt of recognition. I’m not quite as invested as the people in this article, but I do listen to a lot of podcasts while doing chores, playing chess online, walking around the city, commuting and so on.
Long before big commercial outlets (including my employer, The New York Times) moved into the podcast space, I started blogging about the indie podcasts that interested me. Many of them are still going strong, and some have vanished. Here are the ones that interest me now. The list is random, reflecting how it shows up in my podcast player at the moment (Marco Arment’s Overcast, of course. It’s the best.)
The Talk Show With John Gruber. Daring Fireball blogger and Apple observer. Wide-ranging discussion of tech, entertainment and other topics.
A Slight Change of Plans. A new one about human behavior, with Maya Shankar.
Accidental Tech Podcast with Arment, John Siracusa and Casey Liss. I have a membership for their bonus content. Heavy tech with a focus on Apple product and, occasionally, cars and home appliances..
Afford Anything. One of the better “Financial Independence” podcasts, with Paula Pant as the interviewer. The episodes where she takes questions are good; I’ll also listen depending on who the guest is.
The Always Sunny Podcast. Cast of the long-running sitcom “Always Sunny in Philadelphia” reminisce about past seasons. Fun. I’m pretty far behind.
BeatsWorkingMusic. The private Patreon ($) podcast of John Roderick, singer of the Long Winters and a host of various podcasts. Eclectic ramblings.
ChooseFi. Interesting Financial Independence podcast; worth a listen depending on the topic.
Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. Fun, rambling celebrity interviews with Conan doing bits.
Depresh Mode with John Moe. Prominent people discuss their mental health challenges. Interesting, depending on the guest. The David Sedaris episode is worth checking out.
Do by Friday. This started out as a weekly “challenge” podcast with Merlin Mann, Alex Cox and the Cards Against Humanity guy, who dropped out after a scandal. It has gotten a bit weird and often goes off the rails, but amusing.
Episode One. Parody podcast that purports to offer the first episodes of bizarre podcasts.
Huberman Lab. Andrew Huberman is a research neuroscientist at Stanford who has interesting guests talking about optimizing human brains and other biology. He also wants to sell you vitamins. Interesting topics and guests but proceed with skepticism.
The Important Thing. Michael Lopp (@rands on social media) and Lyle Troxell talk about management, nerd stuff and tech, among other things.
The Incomparable. Nerdy/geeky pop culture roundtables led by Jason Snell on movies, TV shows, books, with a heavy emphasis on genres, particularly science fiction and fantasy. I skip around; depends on the topic and whether it will contain spoilers for me.
The Jordan Harbinger Show. In-depth newsy interviews and other features. This is a heavy content stream. I listen depending on the guest or topic. High quality. Listener Q&A on Fridays.
Jordan, Jesse, GO! Comedy podcast with Jesse Thorn and Jordan Morris. Many funny guests from the world of comedy writing and podcasts.
Judge John Hodgman. Hodgman takes a “Judge Judy” approach to listeners’ peculiar disputes.
Learned Lag. For participants in the Learned League trivia site; next-day discussion of daily questions during active seasons.
MacBreak Weekly. Leo LaPorte and various tech journalists discuss Apple News. I listen sporadically, usually ahead of big updates or product releases.
The Matt Walker Podcast. A sleep doctor tells you how to get better sleep.
My Brother, My Brother and Me. Comedy, with listener questions. The three McElroy brothers take listener questions and do bits.
Nutrition Facts with Dr. Greger. Review of nutritional literature. He definitely has a point of view, and it generally leads to reducing animal food sources.
Omnibus. Roderick and Ken Jennings of Jeopardy! fame talk about obscure and weird events and subjects from the past. So many episodes. Hard to keep up with. But interesting.
Uhh Yeah Dude. The OG podcast in the format of two guys making jokes about offbeat news, with Jonathan Larroquette (the actor’s son) and Seth Romatelli. Closing in on 1,000 episode as of late 2023.
The Peter Attia Drive. A doctor discusses the science of longevity, and also a lot of F1 racing content, which I mostly skip. Interesting guests. A lot of topical overlap with Huberman and others.
Triple Click. Video game content. I listen depending on the game. I have a Switch, a PS5 and a very old Xbox, and also play some iOS and Mac games. I am terrible at all of them. Favorites: Recent Legend of Zelda stuff, Elden Ring and puzzle type games.
Reconcilable Differences. Merlin Mann and John Siracusa on a variety of entertaintment, tech and personal topics.
RoderickOntheLine. Mann and Roderick in occasional conversation. Supertrain. Keep moving and get out of the way. All the great shows. Etc.
Shelved by Genre. A pair of college teachers at Ranged Touch, a podcasting outfit focused on video games, books and movies/TV, read along with genre books. They’ve started with Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun, a science fiction and-or fantasy series I had never read before. Five stars!
Just King Things. Also from Ranged Touch. A monthly, highly deep and critical discussion of the books of Stephen King in publication order. Bonus episodes (for $) cover movie/tv and other adaptations. Five stars!
Something You Should Know. A veteran radio broadcaster, Mike Carruthers, has fascinating guests with a lot of surprising stuff. And that is something you should know.
The Stacking Benjamins Show. Joe Saul-Sehy and co-hosts on money and finance.
The Tim Ferris Show. Self-experimenter and author of “The Four-Hour Body” and other books interviews a range of interesting people. I listen depending on the topic and guest. While he comes off as a bit of a huckster selling stuff, I have lost 60 pounds using the “slow carb diet” in his book. The basic approach is a lot of protein, whole vegetables with NO processed carbs / sugar / bread/breading / dairy except on cheat days once a week. It works and is fairly effortless once you get the hang of it.
Upgrade. Tech podcast from Relay.fm, with emphasis on Mac/Apple.
You Must Remember This. Hollywood history podcast.
Those are my main subscriptions/follows. I also listen to a lot of individual episodes of shows that come to my attention, as well as corporate radio-style offerings like The Daily and This American Life.