Comment by subpar | Hacker News Reader

Comment by subpar | Hacker News Reader

The year was 2011 and I had just moved to DC after finishing undergrad. I couldn't find work in the radio business so instead I got a contract gig through Craigslist with the Internet Archive scanning books in the basement of the Library of Congress. Its dark down there and the work is pretty mechanical. The books themselves are only occasionally interesting.

My iPod Touch could connect to wifi so I started listening to NPR while I scanned. I could do that for two hours or so, but once the segments started repeating I got bored. A friend suggested I listen to Radiolab, so I did. When I'd gone through their catalogue I tried out 99% Invisible. Then academic lectures that had been turned into podcasts. Then audiobooks. Then whatever I could find by searching for "good podcasts." Eventually I got tired of the sound of podcasts (they have a sound) and switched to WFMU and a couple college stations I liked.

I haven't listened to another podcast since. Am I missing something?

I don't think you're really missing anything beyond the fact that podcasts have diversified to the point that you can find one in whatever niche you're curious about. There's also a huge array of artistic and fiction content, with a panoply of sound styles.

The problem, of course, is finding the niche that fits you. It's classic long-tail stuff. I'm sure there are lots of podcasts that sound like indie radio stations, though I have no idea how you'd go about finding them except by trial and error (and referral).

Once you find it, the medium is conveniently offline, requiring neither airwaves nor a live connection -- as well as the ability to speed it up or slow it down, skip, etc. If nothing else, I suspect a lot of those indie stations make their material available by podcast, which would give you access to similar content from all over the world.

You are definitely missing a lot. I don't think many of these would show up under "good podcasts":

Sample, for example:

* Re:Sound (curated aggregator of best episodes)

* SpeakUp (storytelling and teaching storytelling intermixed)

* Confabulation (storytelling, Canadian)

* The Moth (storytelling, worldwide)

* Story Collider (storytelling, Science topics, somewhat uneven)

* Snap Judgment (storytelling, backed by music)

* The truth (mini-stories)

* Everything is alive ("objects" talk)

* Proof (food mini-episodes)

* The Allusionist (stories about language)

* Uncover (radio style journalism. NXIVM series was great)

* Hit Parade (stories about music/trends)

And that's just the vanilla general podcasts. Then, many niches you want to dive in have their own constellations of podcasts in different levels of quality/style.

For example

* for DnD/Role Playing:

-- Critical Role (live DnD game with (niche-)famous Voice Actors), also

-- Session Zero

-- Character Creation Cast

-- Hello from the Magic Tavern

* For Impov:

-- Improv London Podcast

-- Improv Nerd

-- Improv for humans

-- Improv beat by beat

I was already listening to the podcasts before that name existed (Gilmore Gang!) I welcomed, used, and said goodbye to ITConversations. Things they did with AWS to insert new adds into old episodes were super cool for the time :-) Same with Java Posse (oh those hats!)

Just because some podcasts are now popular and tuned for the general audience does not mean that there is no longer something for those with interest for audio consumption and much more niche interests. In fact, it is the opposite, as the software becomes easier and hosting cheaper.

I suspect you've listened to overproduced podcasts. I don't care for those. NPRs are like that. Reed Hoffman's Masters of Scale podcast is a textbook example of what I don't like.

Dan Carlin, of Hardcore History, a very longform podcast, was interviewed by someone once and asked about producing his podcast. He actually does a lot of producing but it's very subtle. Things I didn't consciously notice until I had heard him talk about those.

So maybe try some high quality (e.g. clear audio, recorded well), but not overproduced podcasts with all the bells and whistles.

At this point you can find one like that for any topic you maybe interested in.

Did you stick purely to NPR styles genres? Or did you try two dudes talking podcasts and all that other sort of stuff? If you did then apparently you just dont like non-music audio entertainment now, which has more to do with your preferences than with the nature of podcasts I would think.

I wouldn’t say they’ve gotten better, but there’s a lot more at or near the quality level of Radiolab or 99pi.

You can fill your day/drive with well produced podcasts on a regular basis, rather than just the occasional hour.

WFMU and you didn't wind up hooked to the Best Show for at least a short while?

Oh sure, I had my Best Show phase. Who hasn't these days?

Yup. Plenty of good history podcasts, for example

What are the good history podcasts? Most seem still like two guys chatting and oh here’s some facts from the past

I don't know what you're looking for but Dan Carlin's Hardcore History is excellent for a very long form podcast.

Three I like:

The History of Rome in 179+ podcasts. Done in increments of 12-20 minutes. Great for short commutes.

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History as mentioned by ghaff, but yes, it's extremely long form.

Tides of History - different topics and somewhere between 45 - 60 minutes.

The Revolutions podcast is great.

History of philosophy without any gaps if you're into philosophy.

From Wittenberg to Westphalia; History of the Papacy podcast; History of China podcast.

I'm not a fan of Hardcore History - it seems more about the drama and theatricality of Carlin's own voince than about the historical content.

/r/badhistory agrees.

https://old.reddit.com/r/badhistory/comments/6swvvq/opinion_...

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