Whether I’m in my car or walking to class, I’m usually listening to something. This past year instead of always listening to music I decided to explore the ever-expanding selection of podcasts. With 16 categories and thousands of podcasts within those categories, choosing what you want to subscribe to can be a little overwhelming. While stumbling upon something organically is always fun here a list of 10 podcasts that are worth a listen.
1. This American Life
“The long-running (almost 18 years) and highly successful radio show focuses each week on a single theme, delivering one long story or several shorter ones.”
2. LifeAfter
“Ross, a low level employee at the FBI, who spends his days conversing online with his wife Charlie – who died eight months ago. But the technology behind this digital resurrection leads Ross down a dangerous path that threatens his job, his own life, and maybe even the world.”
3. This Week Had Me Like
“Celebrity expert @OfficialSeanPenn (aka Caroline Goldfarb) [hosts a podcast] where she brings an expert and a plebe to the roundtable to examine the week’s most bizarre moments in pop culture.”
4. The Black Tapes
“The Black Tapes is a serialized docudrama about one journalist’s search for truth, her enigmatic subject’s mysterious past, and the literal and figurative ghosts that haunt them both.”
5. The Read
“Kid Fury and Crissle for their weekly podcast covering hip-hop and pop culture’s most trying stars. As transplants to NYC, The Read also serves as an on-air therapy session for two friends trying to adjust to life and rats in the big city.”
6. Up and Vanished
“Written and Produced by filmmaker Payne Lindsey, Up and Vanished is an ongoing audio podcast series that documents the investigation of the unsolved disappearance of Tara Grinstead.”
7. Reply All
“A show about the internet. And trained rats, time travel, celebrity dogs, lovelorn phone scammers, angry flower children, workplace iguanas, and more.”
8. 2 Dope Queens
“Join the 2 Dope Queens, Phoebe Robinson and Jessica Williams, along with their favorite comedians, for stories about sex, romance, race, hair journeys, living in New York, and Billy Joel. Plus a whole bunch of other s**t.”
9. Call Your Girlfriend
“Call Your Girlfriend is a podcast for long-distance besties everywhere, hosted by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman and produced by Gina Delvac. We’re highbrow and lowbrow, unapologetically feminist, and not afraid to realtalk each other about everything from menstrual cycles to workplace dramas.”
10. How Did This Get Made?
“Have you ever seen a movie so bad that it’s amazing? Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael and Jason Mantzoukas want to hear about it! We’ll watch it with our funniest friends, and report back to you with the results.”