Ask HN: What are your favourite podcasts?
What are the daily/weekly podcasts you listen?
BBC From Our Own Correspondent https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qjlq
Motherfoclóir, Irish linguistics and language https://www.headstuff.org/motherfocloir/
I find podcasts like Radiolab and Serial to be particularly egregious examples of time sinks. They're produced with a narrative arc much like Netflix shows; they keep you "on the edge of your seat" but at the end I'm left with one less hour in my day and not much else to show for it. The same is true for news podcasts. I can listen to new podcasts all day and know exactly what different budget proposals or farm bills contain but what do I really do with that information, how does it really impact my life? In short, I think the vast majority of podcasts are useful as fleeting entertainment and arn't much use beyond that, regardless of content. Maybe it's just my learning style though.
That said, Podcasts I regularly listen to:
Chapo Trap House - cynical news coverage + comedy from socialists
Intercepted - Top notch journalism
Deconstructed - Also top notch journalism
Vox's The Weeds - deep dive policy wonk stuff from neoliberals
NYT The Daily - Coverage of one timely news topic each day
Democracy Now - More Top notch liberal journalism
I use PocketCasts on Android, which handles the variable playspeed well and also has a neat silence trimming feature that can accumulate hours of saved time.
The other consequence of compressing time is the podcast requires more concentration. If it’s not too valuable it might be less of a waste of time to listen slowly enough that another activity can be done without missing much.
The best solution is to only listen to great shows that your future self will approve of, which isn’t easily done. :)
(And yes, Pocket Casts is great at saving time - I’ve shaved off weeks at this point.)
I actually found this guy pushing very aggressive, one sided political agenda, which is far from being top notch journalism in my opinion..
A series of interviews with touring singer/songwriters.
Parallels to software and business: hustle and grinding for a desired way of life, cultivating a skill over time, building a product that people will pay for in an increasingly saturated market, dealing with imposter syndrome and the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.
Anyone with interests in both songwriting and software will enjoy it.
The Tim Ferriss Show - https://tim.blog/podcast/
- Philosophy Bites
- Radiolab
- HBR Ideacast
- Intelligence Squared