Ask HN: What podcasts are you listening to?

73 points by st3fan ↗ HN
What is on your playlist?

66 comments

[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 128 ms ] thread
In no specific order:

My brother my brother and me

Hardcore history

Science friday

Software engineering daily

Data skeptic

Linear digressions

Math mutation

Omega tau

I've listened to a ton more, but I tend to get tired of some and move onto others. I used to love radiolab and this american life, but find them kind of annoying now.

Breaker for iOS does a good job of recommending episodes and podcasts based on your likes and friends. I recommend it.
1. Undone (by Gimlet Media) : A one season show about less known historical happenings.

2. The Daily (by NYTimes) : A daily show covering what’s most important in the world on that day.

3. NPR Politics Podcast (by NPR) : Covers the political headlines of the US. They’re all really smart people who really know the ins and outs of politics.

4. FiveThirtyEight Politics Podcast (by ESPN) : Mostly news about politics , but from a more data driven approach. Really funny too.

5. Pod Save America (by Crooked Media) : Hilarious talk show from a group of former Obama administration speechwriters. Obviously left and democratic leaning, but absolutely hilarious.

6. Pod Save The World (by Crooked Media) : A more serious show about American Foreign Policy.

7. Civics 101 (by NHPR) - The name says it all, but I want every American citizen to be locked in a chamber and forced to listen to this. Absolutely essential to understanding the basics of how the US government works.

8. The New Yorker Politics Podcast (by WNYC Studios/The New Yorker) : Really well rounded show, a recent episode on Mattis is a must listen.

You'd probably like 'The Good Fight' by Yascha Mounk
If you like the above and want some high-level academic analysis on the legal/geopolitical aspects of the week's events:

- Foreign Policy's Editor's Round Table (ER)

- Lawfare

- Rational Security

All are conversations with thoughtful, and politically diverse experts speaking on timely topics a few times a week.

Going to throw this in here to keep all the left leaning stuff together. :)

Best of the Left -- progressive / liberal talk, twice a week collections on a single topic. Well narrated and produced. Warning. Very liberal.

I don't listen to tech podcasts. Since it's E3 time of year, I've got a bunch of Giant Bombcasts slated for next week. I'm also listening to Kevin Smith do commentary on Frasier episodes...

  * "Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night; all day!"
  * StarTalk Radio Show by Neil deGrasse Tyson
  * Adam & Dr. Drew Show
  * NPR Up First
  * How Stuff Works
  * Darn Carlin's Hardcore History
  * Michael Blanks' Apartment Investing Podcast
  * Reasonable Doubt with Mark Garagos and Adam Carolla
  * Weekly Infusion
Seconded. Who'd thunk a comic with a bro-schtick would end up hosting such a thought-provoking podcast?
Just my "must listens" to keep it simple:

  - Planet Money
  - My Dad Wrote a Porno (NSFW, obviously, but wickedly funny)
  - Startup
  - Radiolab
  - Entreprogrammers (original, not the spinoffs)
  - The Daily (only when they aren't doing US politics)
No developer podcasts have engaged me enough for them to be must-listens every week though there are lots of good ones such as The Changelog and Developer Tea that I dip into time to time. The typical 1-2 hour interview format does not work for me at all, I need tight editing and some pace and structure around stories.
My Pocketcasts List:

Dev:

  All Javascript Podcasts from DevChat.tv

  Tools Day
History:

  Hardcore History

  History of the Crusades

  History of the Papacy

  Revolutions

  The British History Podcast

  The Civil War: A History Podcast

  The History of Byzantium

  The History of Egypt

  The History of England

  The History if Islam

  Maritime history Podcast

  When Diplomacy Fails
Video Games:

  Gamers with Job Conference Call

  Crucible Radio (Destiny)

  Giant Bombcast

  Idle Weekend

  Rebel FM

  The Dive LoL Podcast

  The Giant Beastcast

  The Magic Hour

  The Bungie Podcast 

  Three Moves Ahead

  Waypoint Radio

  Wild Weasel
Random:

  Shift+F1

  The Steve Austin Show
I'm sure you can draw some conclusions about my hobbies/interests.
How I built this

Foundation (Kevin Rose's podcast)

Primarily security related podcasts.

1. Defensive Security 2. Branding Down Security 3. Risky Business 4. SANS Internet Storm Center 5. Southern Fried Security

Some non security related ones... Hardcore History, Common Sense, and on a much lighter note, The Comedy Button

I haven't seen anyone mention Exponent yet. It's basically Stratechery, the podcast.
True Crime - Last Podcast on the Left - Criminal - Crimetown

Random Info - Radiolab - 99% Invisible

Interviews - WTF w/ Marc Maron - Joe Rogan (depending on the guest) - The Nerdist (depending on the guest)

I can recommend:

The People's Pharmacy -- A pharmacologist and a medical anthropologist host an hour long show each week, usually on one medical topic (sometimes, a melange). Their guests are top notch experts, e.g. head of whatever cardiological at the Cleveland Clinic (one of the top cardiovascular centers in the U.S.). They also cover topics/changes sometimes years before they filter into "general knowledge" and reporting. Such as the problems with statins. Or, lately, how "Lyme Disease" is not always a simple diagnosis nor treatment and also the symptomology and sometimes diagnosis is really capturing a variety of infections by a variety of pathogens -- ticks carry many, and individual responses vary.

On the Media -- an hour long show each week. Much of it is "meta", about what is appearing in the media, and what isn't, and why. Helping listeners know and understand "why they are saying that" and "why aren't they talking about this other thing -- hey, there's this other thing!"

I've not been so attentive to it of late, but there's also WBEZ's "Worldview". Extended interviews with experts about world topics. You'll often get information and perspective you won't find anywhere in the mainstream media.

P.S. If you're on Android, the AntennaPod app is a nice, open source podcast app.

    - Radio Lab 
    - Malcolm Gladwell's Revisionist History
    - Linear Digressions
    - Hidden Brain
    - FiveThirtyEight's Hot Takedown
    - FiveThirtyEight's Politics
    - Freakonomics
    - Planet Money
    - 99% Invisible
    - Neil Tyson's StarTalk
    - NYT's The Daily
    - Talk Python To Me
    - The Changelog
    - Hello Internet
There's a few other Machine Learning/Data Science-ish "podcasts", some other NPR ones, and This American Life.

I didn't realize that I spend so much time on this.

I have a long drive to and from work during which I like to stop thinking about work. So...

- The Splendid Table: Because food is important.

- Retronauts: Retrogaming in all its glory.

Talking Machines. It's definitely a bit over my head, but it's a really good podcast about Machine Learning, with heaps of interviews and pretty in depth conversations.
My favorites: - Go Time - Coding Blocks - The Changelog - JavaScript Jabber
Surprised no one has mentioned The Tim Ferris Show. That's my #1 right now. He's got a really eclectic but also well thought out guest list and I learn something useful every episode. His recent episode with Nick Szabo was the crash course on cryptocurrency that I always wanted. Highly recommended.
Joe Rogan Experience

The Good Fight

Rational Security

Bombshell

Risky Business

Waking Up with Sam Harris

Conversations with Tyler

EconTalk

The Ezra Klein Show

The Weeds

The Tim Ferriss Show

Software Engineering Daily

Deep State Radio

I really wish ezra and Sam Harris would do a podcast and resolve this "feud"
I'm ambivalent.

I sense a lot of sanctimonious posturing and more-liberal-than-thou attitude when it comes to Sam Harris, and Klein is hardly the first to equivocate over him.

For people who like to read genre fiction, I'd recommend The Geek's Guide to the Galaxy.
I don't know about other people, but I'm constantly overwhelmed by podcast recommendation threads. People recommend podcasts that each have hundreds of episodes. I certainly won't listen to all of them just to catch up.

What I want is a list of must-listen episodes and short series. Does such a thing exist?

When starting a new podcast I normally listen to the newest one. Then it depends on the style. News/current events podcasts, just listen to new ones. Others, browse the history and cherry pick ones that sound interesting or download them all.