If you've grown tired of listening to the radio, your usual playlist, or your audiobooks, it's high time to give these podcasts a try
Time is becoming even more precious in today’s every-changing, fast-paced world. If you’ve ever felt like you’re being left behind on different things, or if you simply just don’t have enough time to further explore your interests, we might just have a solution for that. Podcasts, which you can find online (on iTunes, Spotify, and other web syndicates), are a great way to fill those information-idle moments when you’re stuck in traffic, while you’re sweating it out in the gym, or when you’re trying your hardest to get some shut-eye in the wee hours of the morning. Here are some of our recommendations, which we’ve sorted out according to your interests:
Hollywood History: You Must Remember This
For a meaty slice of Hollywood’s juicy past, tune into You Must Remember This. Every episode explores a specific narrative about “the secret and/or forgotten history of Hollywood’s first century,” which figures into a much larger story of the season. If you’ve ever wondered about how plain-Jane Norma Jeane became Marilyn Monroe, the world’s most recognisable blonde bombshell, or if the story of Charles Manson’s crimes has kept you awake at night, you will enjoy YMRT’s treasure trove of tales.
Since the podcast presents a creative non-fictive account of these stories, every reasonable attempt is made at accuracy, but there will always be conflicting reports from all sorts of sources. However, you can always count on host and researcher Karina Longworth’s dedication to deliver the most interesting stories about the most intriguing figures in Hollywood. After all, she has made a career out of this.
News: TIME’s The Brief
Time’s spoken edition takes all the stories you need to hear today and turns it into 30-45-minute, easy-to-digest news bites for those times when you can’t read.
Music: FT Life of a Song
Each episode of Financial Times’ podcast explores the entire story of a song—from its inception to the inevitable covers.
Science: Science Vs
This podcast takes a dig at fads and trends to get to the bottom of “what’s fact, what’s not, and what’s somewhere in between.”
Film: Black List Table Reads
Those who want to keep tabs on the most exciting potential projects in the Hollywood film industry will enjoy Black List Table Reads. The podcast is hosted by Franklin Leonard, a film executive and the founder of The Black List, a yearly publication that showcases “Hollywood’s most popular unproduced screenplays.” As an extension of this list, BLTR takes some of these scripts and “turns them into movies, for your ears.” Every month, a new script is read by a rotating cast of actors, and in between these readings, a number of interviews with prominent and up-and-coming screenwriters are also aired.
Conspiracy Theories: Stuff They Don’t Want You to Know Audio
If you find conspiracy theories on aliens, government, war, and religion intriguing, listen to Stuff They Don’t Want You to Know. The podcast covers an expansive array of topics which have been left unexplained by people in authority.
Radio Drama: Homecoming
While streaming services the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime are revolutionising the way people consume television content, elsewhere in the entertainment industry, radio dramas are coming back from irrelevance by way of podcasts. Homecoming is one of such, and it could be the most star-studded yet. Starring Catherine Keener, Oscar Isaac, David Schwimmer, Amy Sedaris, and David Cross, this psychological thriller takes the listeners through the story of an experimental program that aims to help seasoned soldiers re-adjust into civilian life. The structure weaves through the present and the past, with Keener’s character Heidi at the centre of it all.
Investigative Journalism: Serial
If you’re active on social media, you’ve probably seen all the posts about Serial, whose stories have been deemed as gripping and addictive. The podcast, led by journalist Sarah Koenig, makes use of investigative journalism to look for answers to mysteries. It currently has two seasons. The first one explores the case of Adnan Syed, who was arrested for allegedly killing his girlfriend. Meanwhile, season two tells the story of Bowe Bergdahl, a US soldier who was accused of being a deserter and traitor, as he returned home after five years of being a Taliban prisoner.
Design and Architecture
DnA puts out conversations with designers and critics about the latest in product development, fashion, architecture, and all things design.
Technology: Mashable Tech – Spoken Edition
Every day, you see stories on different kinds of innovations, but most of these things are not always easy to understand. Mashable Tech picks one topic per day and summarises it into bite-sized nuggets of wisdom for your daily consumption.
Talk Show: Anna Faris is Unqualified
Comedienne Anna Faris has started a podcast to give out “not-so-great relationship advice” to people. To do so, she invites other celebrities (the likes of Jeremy Renner, Katie Couric, Jennifer Lawrence, and Anna’s other friends) into the home she shares with husband Chris Pratt and their young son to talk about their lives, experiences, so they can impart some guidance on their problems. It’s funny, insightful, and it feels as though you’re getting to know these celebrities better.
Comedy: Comedy Bang Bang
Host Scott Aukerman blends conversation and improvisational comedy in this podcast, where he invites Hollywood’s funniest comedians. Most episodes start with traditional interviews, which eventually snowball into bits of character work, games, and comic revelry. There’s no way of telling how each episode will end.