I have a pretty firm grasp of what to do with articles, but the podcast space is always a little more mysterious to me, much as I love it. So I’m curious: What sorts of pods do my HoS customers listen to? Figure I could learn of some good ones this way, plus get a sense of what subscribers are into.
So funny that you ask, Ethan. I was going to recommend a podcast that I discovered last Spring. I binge-listened to the entire podography in about a week. Since then the two yahoos who got me hooked on their podcast are averaging one podcast every nine months so there's that. Anyway, check it out: it's on Spotify and called "Syncing Up".
I see a lot of familiar titles here, which is not surprising given the Blocked and Reported connection. And recently the Fifth Column connection. I see a number of Conversations with Coleman mentions, Jordan Peterson, Sam Harris, Bari Weiss, Weinsteins. Yet no Glenn Show? Glenn Loury and (usually) John McWhorter talking about race and culture, worth a listen. Also, the Quillette Podcast and Dishcast from Andrew Sullivan occupy some of the same thinking space.
In addition to Hardcore History and History of Rome (Duncan), both mentioned here, I love a lot of other excellent history podcasts:
Revolutions (Duncan)
The Fall of Rome (Patrick Wyman)
Tides of History (also Patrick Wyman; Europe after the Romans)
The Explorers Podcast (Matt Breen)
Real Dictators (brilliant narrator voice, excellent dictators)
The History of English (so good that I haven't listened enough, as I feel compelled to take notes).
The History of Vikings (arcane, fun to sample occasional episodes)
History Unplugged (all over the place but worth scanning for subjects of interest)
I would like to see at least once a month that you interview authors of books that influenced you whether sports or not. The podcast format allows the ability to go deep on a book that previous formats did not. You will allow us to see the Strauss journey.
I listen to BS, Bill Burr, All In, Low Post, JRE, Maron, and Bad Friends; just to name a few.
House of Strauss drops are immediate "stop and listen" for me. I enjoy where you take conversations, even with guests I'm not particularly a fan of.
Your recent appearance on the Habershow was great. Free flowing discussion with no bullshit and a genuine rapport between the three of you. Good stuff.
Blocked and Reported, Red Scare, Conversations with Tyler, Conversations with Coleman, Jack Slack, EconTalk, Joe Rogan, Fifth Column, Lex Fridman, The Good Fight, Rationally Speaking, Adam Carrolla, Bill Burr, SmartLess
The Realignment (Marshall Kosloff also hosts two others on Foreign Policy and more hardcore tech ideas), Red Scare, VS Media podcast (Stephen Miller @redsteeze has it on Patreon, media criticism podcasts are a dime a dozen, but he's the most incisive I've found by far), Odd Lots, Split Zone Duo and Cover 3 for college football (Steven Godfrey on SZD is one of the most blunt/transparent reporters I've found and so not only do you learn a lot about coaching searches and behind the scenes stuff, but you also just learn a lot about different school cultures which by proxy means you get regional insights about different places in the US)
I thought the Cowherd interview was great. If you could get Simmons, Russillo, Cain, or Patrick in that format it would be great. Jeff Pearlman and authors like him would be great. Long form discussion is mad for podcasts.
Commentary, The Remnant, Econtalk, Fifth Column, Ricochet Podcast are good general political podcasts. Some lean right some are questioning everything.
Very Bad Wizards, Blocked and Reported, Decoding The Gurus, Conversations with Tyler.
For hoops, I think The Dunkers Spot is the best thing going. Nekias and SJ have great chemistry, and analysis. Game Theory is good too. I can't do Nate Duncan anymore but Real GM Radio remains good. Lowe may be the corniest human alive.
No one else will probably find this interesting but would love an episode on some of the “underground” or off the grid sports in the US (like cricket - there’s always this idea that twenty20 cricket can crack the American market) The stories, people and politics is pretty fascinating. Just think your curiosity would make it absorbing listening. But again you’ll probably get record low listeners!
the podcasts i listen to are nate's, zach lowe's, and occasionally fringe political stuff like subliminal jihad. but you are in a different boat than all of them sans lowe (and even he's a bit different because of the Insider/public divide of his work) because you also write and your pod is a direct extension of your writing presence, so you have to play by different rules. because of that, i'll give you the advice i would give to lowe because i think he fucks this up sometimes: keep it about the guest. your columns are about you, and obviously we want you to share your extemp opinions and have a real conversation etc, but steering it toward the guest talking as much as possible is preferable - while we like you, we get enough of you in the written form
Lex Fridman’s Podcast, Ben Thompson’s Stratechery pods, BBC In Our Time, Conversations with Tyler, The Rest is History, EconTalk, NBA/NFL/soccer pods time permitting, Mindpump Fitness pod.
Talking Politics (David Runciman / London Review of Books)
Most of these are either subscriber-only or I'm paying for the premium version.
Generally, I like podcasts of 2-4 people discussing something pretty freeform. Provided the audio quality is good, I really don't care much for fancy production or radio-style editing.
I listen to so many podcasts. Most are in a niche of interest for me: Econ, surfing, etc.
90% would fall into 2 categories--
1) 2-3 good friends with great chemistry talking about a subject each week they know a lot about. Blocked and Reported is two charismatic people discussing internet bullshit, Fifth Column is 3 super well read dudes talking politics, the Watch with Chris and Andy talk TV, and basically every bball pod is 2 guys talking the week in NBA
2) An interesting, well prepared host brings on an expert and allows the expert to lay out their views/latest research. Sam Harris is like this, as is Lex Fridman, as is EconTalk.
The remaining pods are well produced pieces of Journalism: NPR Planet Money, your latest true crime sensation, etc.
Your pod has primarily been a version of the second kind to great results thus far. Some of your earlier pods were more experimental and produced, and those were great as well.
I think you just need to figure out if you want to add a weekly hang out/ discussion pod to your mix. The key, I think, is it needs to be people who are genuinely friends who just enjoy hanging out. I do a weekly NBA pod (the Super Hoopers). We have barely any listeners and I barely care about the NBA anymore, but I enjoy just sitting and talking with my friends once a week so I keep doing it.
Some of the Ringer stuff (The Watch/ Big Picture/ Mismatch/ Occasionally pop back in with Simmons), The Athletic NBA Shows, No Dunks/Buffs, Lowe Post, Anything with Jason Concepcion, Habershow, Corridor Cast, All Fantasy Everything, Noble Blood, Pack Your Knives, Off-Menu & The Bodega Boys
News/Politics: Weeds, Marketplace, pod save America, ezra, decoder (list goes on)
Storytelling: revisionist history, reply all
Culture: switched on pop, no guitar is safe, broken record, I guess Strauss fits here?
I do a heavier amount of “what’s happening in the world” stuff. The amount of email i need to put up with for my job has made me dislike reading, so it’s become tough to keep up with news without it being in my earbuds.
I listen to an embarrassing amount of podcasts. At one point I was listening to TWO separate podcasts about A Song of Ice and Fire. That’s just unnecessary.
For my money, while there’s a lot of really great and fun stuff out there, there’s only one podcast that is really indispensable: The History of Rome, by Mike Duncan. It covers Roman history from Romulus through the fall of the last emperor of the western empire. It really takes advantage of the format, it’s broken down into 15 minute to half hour chunks, it’s plain English, it’s fascinating. Check it out.
For most compelling individual podcast episode of the last year, I nominate Jodan Peterson's Tyranny, Slavery and Columbia U with guest Yeonmi Park. A contender is Sam Harris's discussion with Jeff Hawkins about artificial intelligence (among other topics), in which Sam thinks we're doomed and Hawkins does not, (#255 — The Future of Intelligence, July 2021).
Dunc'd On Prime, Hollinger and Duncan, RealGM Radio, Habershow, Lowe Post, Hoop Collective, and on occasion BS Report, The MisMatch. I will say I love all those guys and they are super smart, but would love to hear you on a podcast with others like the hosts of the aforementioned shows, but talk about stuff where there may be more disagreements. I don't mean Crossfire style, or even like the Mismatch (sometimes Chris Vernon is a little too surface level for me). Like, I don't want another debate on whether advanced stats are useful (of course they are in the proper context), but perhaps two people using advance stats to make award predictions and coming up with different conclusions. I love Danny and Nate as basketball thinkers, but they are so closely aligned sometimes in their thinking it's like they only disagree by a few degrees. Or since you aren't really in the weeds on day to day stuff bball games anymore and are more longform, go on a podcast like Dunc'd on and tell Nate why he's all wrong about the season needing to be shorter (my guess is you don't disagree, but that sort of topic).
A lot of basketball. Nerdy stuff like Dunc'd On and Ben Taylor, but also more fun, but still smart stuff like Tom Haberstroh and the Athletic NBA podcast. HOS has always been an immediate listen, we get insights and thoughts that most won't or don't share, even if it isn't basketball related. Used to listen to a lot of Count The Dings, it's fun to hear people interact in a mostly normal way.
Basketball- Habershow-NBA Show-Lowe Post-Windhorst-Hollinger Duncan-Crossover .. Non BBall- This week in Virology-Curbsiders-Cardio Nerds-Cor Consult Pharmacology-etc. Ross Tucker Podcast-GM Shuffle-selected KNBR podcasts-Pass it down and some others. Dropped all political
Hoops: Windy’s Friday Hoop Collective (can’t do Spears/Shelburne), Duncan and Leroux/Hollinger, Hoops Adjacent with David Aldridge & Marcus Thompson, No Dunks, Rogue Bogues (at 4x speed whenever Bogut’s reading anything out loud) Lowe Post (guest dependent), World of Basketball with Fran Fraschilla, Locked on Bucks, HOS
Non Hoops: BBC’s History Extra, History Hit with Dan Snow, Hardcore History with Dan Carlin, American History Tellers, Irish History Podcast, In Our Time, The Forum, The Inquiry, The Documentary Pod, Cumtown, Woke Bros, The Daily (scold me Daddy!), Sarajevo Calling (RIP)
Love and Radio can set the standard for what can be done with audio
This American Life. It is the gold standard when it is done right. This week's episode with the guards from Gitmo meeting one of their prisoners was amazing.
I have been a regular listener of Simmons since he started! Although, he has slipped immensely and I am much more excited about Rogues Bogues. Russillo has good segments but never a food full show.
All the good 'interview' podcasts like JRE, Maron, Lex Friedman all depend on the guest to keep my interest. Getcha Rocks off with Mick Wall is fun as well. The Missing CryptoQueen is great for a long drive.
I am sure there are more, but I used to work in public radio and manage my own pod...so I am a bit picky
Sam Harris Making Sense, Recode Media, Pivot, Sway, How I Built This, all of the top NBA pods, both of Ben Thompson’s pods, all of Conrad Thompson’s wrestling nostalgia pods (mainly the Bruce Pritchard one), Michael Lewis Against The Rules, Freakonomics, Business Wars, HoS!
Between the lines: Das Haus von Strauss, Boston Billy, Ryen from the vineyard, and those damn nerds Nate and Danny.
Outside them: Blocked and reported, Jordan Peterson, Useful Idiots, Lex Friedman, Dark Horse, Conversations with Coleman, Check’s and Balances, HARDCORE history, New Discourses, plus randoms with a guest of note.
General interest: Lex Fridman Podcast, Thinking Is Cool, Red Scare, Blocked and Reported
Politics: the Fifth Column, the Realignment, Counterbalance, the Reason Roundtable, Conversations with Coleman, Megyn Kelly Show, Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar, Anchoring Truths Podcast, Honestly with Bari Weiss
All-In, Lex Fridman, Tim Ferriss, Reasonable Doubt, Real Time, Rogue Bouges, Hang Up and Listen, Jason Whitlock, a16z, Adam Carolla, and some reactive sports podcasts sometimes.
I will have check out Red Scare and Blocked and Reported given the number of times they’ve been mentioned here.
Was struck watching the ESPN broadcasts of the warriors game how much worse of a product the national team is putting out relative to the local team. I may be a sucker for Fitz and the party line, but it wasn’t even clear Mark Jackson was watching the game.
The sports pods I listen to have already been mentioned by others here, so here are some non sports pods I like:
- The Common Descent podcast, in which two paleontologists talk about a particular animal, group of animals, how they evolved. They also have good episodes about mass extinctions.
- Opinionated History of Mathematics, the first season of this podcast will convince you that Galileo was an idiot.
- Freakonomics (also People I mostly admire)
I also just finished Dan Carlin's audio book "The End is always Near."
Get Amin and Tom once a week and we’re cool.
So funny that you ask, Ethan. I was going to recommend a podcast that I discovered last Spring. I binge-listened to the entire podography in about a week. Since then the two yahoos who got me hooked on their podcast are averaging one podcast every nine months so there's that. Anyway, check it out: it's on Spotify and called "Syncing Up".
Red Scare
Fifth Column
Honestly (Bari Weiss)
I see a lot of familiar titles here, which is not surprising given the Blocked and Reported connection. And recently the Fifth Column connection. I see a number of Conversations with Coleman mentions, Jordan Peterson, Sam Harris, Bari Weiss, Weinsteins. Yet no Glenn Show? Glenn Loury and (usually) John McWhorter talking about race and culture, worth a listen. Also, the Quillette Podcast and Dishcast from Andrew Sullivan occupy some of the same thinking space.
In addition to Hardcore History and History of Rome (Duncan), both mentioned here, I love a lot of other excellent history podcasts:
Revolutions (Duncan)
The Fall of Rome (Patrick Wyman)
Tides of History (also Patrick Wyman; Europe after the Romans)
The Explorers Podcast (Matt Breen)
Real Dictators (brilliant narrator voice, excellent dictators)
The History of English (so good that I haven't listened enough, as I feel compelled to take notes).
The History of Vikings (arcane, fun to sample occasional episodes)
History Unplugged (all over the place but worth scanning for subjects of interest)
I would like to see at least once a month that you interview authors of books that influenced you whether sports or not. The podcast format allows the ability to go deep on a book that previous formats did not. You will allow us to see the Strauss journey.
Jason Whitlock would be an interesting guest. Seems to cover some of the same ground between sports and culture.
There's definitely something to be said for being *too* prolific as well.
Most people have a shocking backlog to get through and I dropped ones from the rotation because I just fell so far behind. Lebatard a prime example
I wouldn't over-egg the golden goose's omelette by doing more than one a week.
Cowherd interview ruled.
Bill Simmons podcast, Ryen Russilo podcast, 31 Thoughts (great listen, even if you know nothing about hockey), ESPN FC
I listen to BS, Bill Burr, All In, Low Post, JRE, Maron, and Bad Friends; just to name a few.
House of Strauss drops are immediate "stop and listen" for me. I enjoy where you take conversations, even with guests I'm not particularly a fan of.
Your recent appearance on the Habershow was great. Free flowing discussion with no bullshit and a genuine rapport between the three of you. Good stuff.
Blocked and Reported, Red Scare, Conversations with Tyler, Conversations with Coleman, Jack Slack, EconTalk, Joe Rogan, Fifth Column, Lex Fridman, The Good Fight, Rationally Speaking, Adam Carrolla, Bill Burr, SmartLess
5th column (How I found HoS)
Your Mom's House
JRE
The Psychology Podcast
Jordan B Peterson Podcast
Aba and Preach (Youtube Only)
Flagrant 2
Lex Fridman
Kill Tony
Broken Record
Revisionist History
Dan Carlin Hardcore History
Dumpster Fire with Bridget Phetasy (You Tube only)
The Realignment (Marshall Kosloff also hosts two others on Foreign Policy and more hardcore tech ideas), Red Scare, VS Media podcast (Stephen Miller @redsteeze has it on Patreon, media criticism podcasts are a dime a dozen, but he's the most incisive I've found by far), Odd Lots, Split Zone Duo and Cover 3 for college football (Steven Godfrey on SZD is one of the most blunt/transparent reporters I've found and so not only do you learn a lot about coaching searches and behind the scenes stuff, but you also just learn a lot about different school cultures which by proxy means you get regional insights about different places in the US)
Tim Dillon show
Blocked and Reported
Red Scare
The Richard Lewis Show
Rogan but it depends on the guest
Voices of Wrestling Flagship
The Rewatchables
Hardcore History
I thought the Cowherd interview was great. If you could get Simmons, Russillo, Cain, or Patrick in that format it would be great. Jeff Pearlman and authors like him would be great. Long form discussion is mad for podcasts.
Commentary, The Remnant, Econtalk, Fifth Column, Ricochet Podcast are good general political podcasts. Some lean right some are questioning everything.
Very Bad Wizards, Blocked and Reported, Decoding The Gurus, Conversations with Tyler.
For hoops, I think The Dunkers Spot is the best thing going. Nekias and SJ have great chemistry, and analysis. Game Theory is good too. I can't do Nate Duncan anymore but Real GM Radio remains good. Lowe may be the corniest human alive.
No one else will probably find this interesting but would love an episode on some of the “underground” or off the grid sports in the US (like cricket - there’s always this idea that twenty20 cricket can crack the American market) The stories, people and politics is pretty fascinating. Just think your curiosity would make it absorbing listening. But again you’ll probably get record low listeners!
and like others said, the more amin the better. we love amin
the podcasts i listen to are nate's, zach lowe's, and occasionally fringe political stuff like subliminal jihad. but you are in a different boat than all of them sans lowe (and even he's a bit different because of the Insider/public divide of his work) because you also write and your pod is a direct extension of your writing presence, so you have to play by different rules. because of that, i'll give you the advice i would give to lowe because i think he fucks this up sometimes: keep it about the guest. your columns are about you, and obviously we want you to share your extemp opinions and have a real conversation etc, but steering it toward the guest talking as much as possible is preferable - while we like you, we get enough of you in the written form
Lex Fridman’s Podcast, Ben Thompson’s Stratechery pods, BBC In Our Time, Conversations with Tyler, The Rest is History, EconTalk, NBA/NFL/soccer pods time permitting, Mindpump Fitness pod.
Just my own podcast diet:
-Shutdown Fullcast
-Left, Right, and Center
-The Reason Roundtable
-The Rewatchables
-The Bill Simmons Podcast
-Revisionist History
-Hardcore History
-Lowe Post
-Rationally Speaking w/Julia Galef
-The Weeds
-Conversations with Tyler (Cowen)
-Red Scare
-Fifth Column
-Blocked and Reported
-Feminine Chaos
-The Argument
General interest pods I subscribe to (besides HoS of course):
Blocked & Reported
The Fifth Column
Conversations with Coleman
The Dishcast with Andrew Sullivan
The Energy Transition Show with Chris Nelder
Feminine Chaos (Kat Rosenfield & Phoebe Maltz Bovy)
Talking Politics (David Runciman / London Review of Books)
Most of these are either subscriber-only or I'm paying for the premium version.
Generally, I like podcasts of 2-4 people discussing something pretty freeform. Provided the audio quality is good, I really don't care much for fancy production or radio-style editing.
I listen to so many podcasts. Most are in a niche of interest for me: Econ, surfing, etc.
90% would fall into 2 categories--
1) 2-3 good friends with great chemistry talking about a subject each week they know a lot about. Blocked and Reported is two charismatic people discussing internet bullshit, Fifth Column is 3 super well read dudes talking politics, the Watch with Chris and Andy talk TV, and basically every bball pod is 2 guys talking the week in NBA
2) An interesting, well prepared host brings on an expert and allows the expert to lay out their views/latest research. Sam Harris is like this, as is Lex Fridman, as is EconTalk.
The remaining pods are well produced pieces of Journalism: NPR Planet Money, your latest true crime sensation, etc.
Your pod has primarily been a version of the second kind to great results thus far. Some of your earlier pods were more experimental and produced, and those were great as well.
I think you just need to figure out if you want to add a weekly hang out/ discussion pod to your mix. The key, I think, is it needs to be people who are genuinely friends who just enjoy hanging out. I do a weekly NBA pod (the Super Hoopers). We have barely any listeners and I barely care about the NBA anymore, but I enjoy just sitting and talking with my friends once a week so I keep doing it.
Some of the Ringer stuff (The Watch/ Big Picture/ Mismatch/ Occasionally pop back in with Simmons), The Athletic NBA Shows, No Dunks/Buffs, Lowe Post, Anything with Jason Concepcion, Habershow, Corridor Cast, All Fantasy Everything, Noble Blood, Pack Your Knives, Off-Menu & The Bodega Boys
Bball favs: No Dunks, Dunk’d On Prime, Light Years, Warriors +/-, Lowe Post, Windhorst, Seerat Sohi & Chris Ryan
Other sports: The Tennis Podcast, The Freestyle Boys
Comedy: Judge John Hodgman, Stop Podcasting Yourself
Sports: Lowe Post, Duncd On
News/Politics: Weeds, Marketplace, pod save America, ezra, decoder (list goes on)
Storytelling: revisionist history, reply all
Culture: switched on pop, no guitar is safe, broken record, I guess Strauss fits here?
I do a heavier amount of “what’s happening in the world” stuff. The amount of email i need to put up with for my job has made me dislike reading, so it’s become tough to keep up with news without it being in my earbuds.
Cumtown, Chapo, Simmons, Pardon My Take(during football season) and HoS.
I listen to an embarrassing amount of podcasts. At one point I was listening to TWO separate podcasts about A Song of Ice and Fire. That’s just unnecessary.
For my money, while there’s a lot of really great and fun stuff out there, there’s only one podcast that is really indispensable: The History of Rome, by Mike Duncan. It covers Roman history from Romulus through the fall of the last emperor of the western empire. It really takes advantage of the format, it’s broken down into 15 minute to half hour chunks, it’s plain English, it’s fascinating. Check it out.
For most compelling individual podcast episode of the last year, I nominate Jodan Peterson's Tyranny, Slavery and Columbia U with guest Yeonmi Park. A contender is Sam Harris's discussion with Jeff Hawkins about artificial intelligence (among other topics), in which Sam thinks we're doomed and Hawkins does not, (#255 — The Future of Intelligence, July 2021).
Double Pivot (soccer analytics)
Missed Apex (F1)
Athletic Football Tactics podcast (née Zonal Marking)
Thinking Basketball
Hollinger and Duncan
Dunc’d On
Lowe Post
Russillo (especially if Trent Dilfer is on)
Dunc'd On Prime, Hollinger and Duncan, RealGM Radio, Habershow, Lowe Post, Hoop Collective, and on occasion BS Report, The MisMatch. I will say I love all those guys and they are super smart, but would love to hear you on a podcast with others like the hosts of the aforementioned shows, but talk about stuff where there may be more disagreements. I don't mean Crossfire style, or even like the Mismatch (sometimes Chris Vernon is a little too surface level for me). Like, I don't want another debate on whether advanced stats are useful (of course they are in the proper context), but perhaps two people using advance stats to make award predictions and coming up with different conclusions. I love Danny and Nate as basketball thinkers, but they are so closely aligned sometimes in their thinking it's like they only disagree by a few degrees. Or since you aren't really in the weeds on day to day stuff bball games anymore and are more longform, go on a podcast like Dunc'd on and tell Nate why he's all wrong about the season needing to be shorter (my guess is you don't disagree, but that sort of topic).
A lot of basketball. Nerdy stuff like Dunc'd On and Ben Taylor, but also more fun, but still smart stuff like Tom Haberstroh and the Athletic NBA podcast. HOS has always been an immediate listen, we get insights and thoughts that most won't or don't share, even if it isn't basketball related. Used to listen to a lot of Count The Dings, it's fun to hear people interact in a mostly normal way.
Basketball- Habershow-NBA Show-Lowe Post-Windhorst-Hollinger Duncan-Crossover .. Non BBall- This week in Virology-Curbsiders-Cardio Nerds-Cor Consult Pharmacology-etc. Ross Tucker Podcast-GM Shuffle-selected KNBR podcasts-Pass it down and some others. Dropped all political
Radical Personal Finance
What Bitcoin Did
Quoth the Raven
Lowe Post
Ryen Russilo
a16z
Infinite Loops
Old Man and the Three
My favorites, in no particular order.
Truehoop
Hollinger and Duncan
Eat the Rich
Athletic Nerder She Wrote
Thinking Basketball
Cinephobe
Jim Brockmire
Lowe Post
Rogan
House of Strauss - eager to hear more topics with your new freedom
Hoops: Windy’s Friday Hoop Collective (can’t do Spears/Shelburne), Duncan and Leroux/Hollinger, Hoops Adjacent with David Aldridge & Marcus Thompson, No Dunks, Rogue Bogues (at 4x speed whenever Bogut’s reading anything out loud) Lowe Post (guest dependent), World of Basketball with Fran Fraschilla, Locked on Bucks, HOS
Non Hoops: BBC’s History Extra, History Hit with Dan Snow, Hardcore History with Dan Carlin, American History Tellers, Irish History Podcast, In Our Time, The Forum, The Inquiry, The Documentary Pod, Cumtown, Woke Bros, The Daily (scold me Daddy!), Sarajevo Calling (RIP)
a few of the ringer ones-Simmons when it’s nba, the watch; recode decode, Kara + Scott Galloway, some Christian ones (south side rabbi is good)
Non-basketball/US-sports division: The Bugle; In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg; The Guardian Football Weekly
Love and Radio can set the standard for what can be done with audio
This American Life. It is the gold standard when it is done right. This week's episode with the guards from Gitmo meeting one of their prisoners was amazing.
I have been a regular listener of Simmons since he started! Although, he has slipped immensely and I am much more excited about Rogues Bogues. Russillo has good segments but never a food full show.
All the good 'interview' podcasts like JRE, Maron, Lex Friedman all depend on the guest to keep my interest. Getcha Rocks off with Mick Wall is fun as well. The Missing CryptoQueen is great for a long drive.
I am sure there are more, but I used to work in public radio and manage my own pod...so I am a bit picky
Simmons, Lowe Post, Mismatch, Windhorst, occasionally Russillo, House of Strauss, Behind the Bima, Good Faith Effort
All In Podcast
Highly recommend
In the Bubble with Andy Slavvit
Duncan and Hollinger is only one that I stop everything for to listen to as soon as a new one is uploaded.
True Hoop, Coach Thorpe is the best
The Habershow 👌🏻
I always learn a lot from The Lowe Post and Game Theory pods
Revolutions
Dunc'd on
All the Presidents' Lawyers
Left Right and Center
Radio War Nerd
Syntax.fm
Sam Harris Making Sense, Recode Media, Pivot, Sway, How I Built This, all of the top NBA pods, both of Ben Thompson’s pods, all of Conrad Thompson’s wrestling nostalgia pods (mainly the Bruce Pritchard one), Michael Lewis Against The Rules, Freakonomics, Business Wars, HoS!
Nba: no dunks, duncd on, Lowe, bs, wind horst,jj redick and some team specicif ones (mavs and warriors).
Other: hardcore history, stuff you should know,conan, The bugle, Hello Internet, Unmade podcast, cinephobe, rewatchables
Some other stuff I'm forgetting
Ryen Russillo (life advice)
Dunc'd On Prime
Hollinger & Duncan
RealGM
Bill Simmons
Conversations With Tyler
Ramit Sethi (I Will Teach You To Be Rich)
The Twenty Minute VC
Invest Like The Best
The Weeds
ESPN FC
PocketNow Weekly
The Transfer Window
The Indicator
Habershow
Lowe Post
JJ Redick
Duncan Robinson
Locked On Jazz
The Opportunity
Between the lines: Das Haus von Strauss, Boston Billy, Ryen from the vineyard, and those damn nerds Nate and Danny.
Outside them: Blocked and reported, Jordan Peterson, Useful Idiots, Lex Friedman, Dark Horse, Conversations with Coleman, Check’s and Balances, HARDCORE history, New Discourses, plus randoms with a guest of note.
Sports: HoS
General interest: Lex Fridman Podcast, Thinking Is Cool, Red Scare, Blocked and Reported
Politics: the Fifth Column, the Realignment, Counterbalance, the Reason Roundtable, Conversations with Coleman, Megyn Kelly Show, Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar, Anchoring Truths Podcast, Honestly with Bari Weiss
Comedy: Tim Dillon Show
Alab
All-In, Lex Fridman, Tim Ferriss, Reasonable Doubt, Real Time, Rogue Bouges, Hang Up and Listen, Jason Whitlock, a16z, Adam Carolla, and some reactive sports podcasts sometimes.
I will have check out Red Scare and Blocked and Reported given the number of times they’ve been mentioned here.
Was struck watching the ESPN broadcasts of the warriors game how much worse of a product the national team is putting out relative to the local team. I may be a sucker for Fitz and the party line, but it wasn’t even clear Mark Jackson was watching the game.
The sports pods I listen to have already been mentioned by others here, so here are some non sports pods I like:
- The Common Descent podcast, in which two paleontologists talk about a particular animal, group of animals, how they evolved. They also have good episodes about mass extinctions.
- Opinionated History of Mathematics, the first season of this podcast will convince you that Galileo was an idiot.
- Freakonomics (also People I mostly admire)
I also just finished Dan Carlin's audio book "The End is always Near."