1. Serial
Aimed at uncovering the truth and revealing it to its listeners, Serial is a podcast that will capture your attention almost immediately. The first season of Serial went viral after its whodunnit, murder-mystery, completely true story was explored over the course of ten episodes. The podcast itself is impressive: producers and researchers move through hundreds of hours of testimony, thousands of pages of documents, and countless conversations with witnesses to create a well composed, generally unbiased story that will leave your head spinning. Serial’s first season will get you hooked on Sarah Koenig’s effortless storytelling and will leave you wanting more. The good news: the podcast’s second season is just as dramatic as the first and updates on the case laid out in season one are being added as they become available. Check out Serial here.
2. Welcome to Night Vale
Welcome to Night Vale is a podcast that is in the style of community radio for the town of Night Vale. This community radio, narrated by the character Cecil Baldwin, features “local weather, news, announcements from the Sheriff’s Secret Police, mysterious lights in the night sky, dark hooded figures with unknowable powers, and cultural events.” Each episode builds on the one before while introducing new characters and events to create the spectacularly strange town of Night Vale and its equally strange inhabitants. Join Cecil and the residents of Night Vale as they live their daily lives in a town like our own in some ways and vastly different in others here.
3. Science Friday
Perfect for getting informed about matters large and small, Science Friday has been delivering interesting, relevant, scientific news on a level everyone can understand for the past 25 years. This Public Radio International broadcast leaves no rock unturned, covering topics from the red spot on Pluto’s moon to animal psychology. If you’re a curious person, want to stay up to date on what’s happening in the scientific world, or just want to feel a little smarter, then Science Friday is the podcast for you.
4. The Moth
Every single person should be required to listen to at least one episode of The Moth at some point in their lives. Released every Tuesday, the podcast features recordings from their radio hour of “true stories told live.” During every episode, guests tell stories that all fit into a predetermined theme, but differ in emotion. Don’t be surprised if one story has you holding back laughter and the next has you holding in tears. I can’t tell you exactly what you’ll get out of The Moth, but I can promise that listening to these craftily told stories will keep your idea of the human experience from being too rigidly defined. Give it a listen here.
5. Lady Problems
Great to have running in the background while getting ready for class, Lady Problems, part of the MTV Podcast Network and hosted by Rachel Handler, is a weekly podcast that interviews powerful women present in the entertainment industry, discusses the treatment of women in pop culture, connects their discussions with women’s experience in today’s society, and considers possible resolutions to these issues women face today. Handler and co-hosts Teo and Hazel are entertaining, enthusiastic, and clearly relate to the topics they talk about in each episodes. Their conversations with their guests, which include celebrities like Mara Wilson (Matilda) and Stacy London (What Not to Wear), are friendly, yet compelling. If you’re someone who is interested in pop culture as well as the treatment of women in today’s society, you should definitely check out Lady Problems. You can find Lady Problems here.