i listen to a lot of podcasts, and people have asked me what ones i recommend. so. here’s a bunch of great ones. (list will be updated whenever i remember more, lol.)
FICTION
Welcome to Night Vale – a small-community-radio feel, except that their town is full of bizarre unreal happenings and every conspiracy theory is true. super weird and also funny and also cute and i love
Limetown – investigative journalism done in a very similar way as Serial (except it’s fiction). the entire population of a small town disappears, and a reporter, searching for truth, finds way more than she had anticipated. it’s amazing. short show.
The Message – a team of cryptographers (and the podcast host who is tagging along with them) is set on decoding the first ever message received from extraterrestrial life, and everything gets intense really, really fast. also short.
Wolf 359 – a scifi audiodrama, presented as the logs of a communications officer aboard a ship orbiting the star Wolf 359, documenting the misadventures of the tiny crew.
EOS 10 – another comedic scifi audiodrama, this time about some of the medical staff on a space station. has often been called “scrubs in space”. this one has aliens.
The Black Tapes – about a journalist’s search for truth in bizarre ( likely paranormal) happenings, interspersed with her attempts to learn more about her associate’s shady past.
Pleasure Town – about a hedonistic town in oklahoma in the 20th century; the show is the founders thinking back on the town. different episodes incorporate the townsfolk telling their stories.
Alice Isn’t Dead – the story (or road trip) of a trucker who is searching for her missing wife. if you don’t think a story about trucking fits in the horror genre, you’re wrong.
Kakos Industries – very Welcome to Night Vale ish humor. about a corporation whose goal is to “do evil better”. episodes are supposedly newsletter broadcasts to the shareholders from the corporation’s ceo.
Selected Shorts – short stories, read aloud on stage by various ( and sometimes famous) actors. very wide selection of stories by some really talented authors.
The Nosleep Podcast – like Selected Shorts, except exclusively horror stories (mostly from reddit’s nosleep forum), and not on stage and less famous people.
NONFICTION
This American Life – fascinating true stories, phenomenal journalism, and each episode has a general theme (and usually contains at least a few stories). one of the most highly-rated podcasts, like, ever. plus there’s over 500 hour-long episodes, so you’ll probably never run out, which is awesome.
Radiolab – show format is kind of like This American Life, but with science themes (mostly) and two show hosts. it’s fun, the show hosts clearly enjoy what they do, they’re great at explaining complicated stuff in a comprehensible way. i’ve learned so many bizarre and cool things.
Serial – this podcast got crazy good ratings, so you might’ve heard of it. it’s classic investigative journalism. essentially, s1 is about a murder case and the reporters digging into whether or not the right guy was convicted.
Sword and Scale – excellent true crime podcast, with many actual audio recordings relating to cases (including court hearings and 911 calls, amongst other things). lots of horrifying and fascinating content, for anyone interested in true crime.
The Moth – true stories, told live on stage. this show has plenty of normal people telling incredible stories, and it’s also had famous people ranging everywhere from Niel Gaiman, to Steve from Blues Clues.
Invisibilia – the basic premise is that it’s about ‘invisible forces that control human behavior’. episode have ranged from technology, issues experienced by someone who is nonbinary. there aren’t many episodes yet, i’m sad
Snap Judgement – it feels kind of like The Moth, except not on stage, and with a bunch of catchy music in the background. i have only listened to a handful of episodes so far but my mom loves this show so
Criminal – it’s about crime, obviously. each episode is based around one story of a crime, or people involved in crime or crime-related things, etc. surprisingly interesting variety of stories, it’s super cool.
Lore – about the nonfiction history behind myths, legends, and folklore. freaky stuff. probably about as close to real life horror as exists.
……….so, anyway, yeah. there you go! i hope you enjoy, and please feel free to message me about podcasts any time because i like to yell about them 24/7.
Stardust and Sinew 