Podcasts -- seeking recommendations

[carbonel]

I remember my first podcast. naomikritzer mentioned she had a story on PodCastle. That was #39, and I ended up downloading everything on PodCastle and Escape Pod to date. It became a morning habit, just like (I suppose) morning drive radio for more normal people. I have a window most days of half an hour to an hour where a podcast is the perfect thing. It took me several years to work my way through the backlog, but I recently caught up, which means I get one new story a week.

Back then, I also subscribed to a bunch of recurring stuff from NPR: Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, Science Friday, and This American Life. Also the Savage Love podcast. Pretty soon, I was several weeks behind on those, and had to unsubscribe. Then anghara mentioned the BBC's A History of the World in 100 Objects. It took several months to work my way through it, but I finally did. The very last item in the subscription was a promo for Shakespeare's Restless World, which purports to describe the world of Shakespeare in 20 objects. I just subscribed to that one.

But now I'm looking for more, and I'd welcome suggestions, particularly ones based on these parameters:

• Because it's a limited block of time, I prefer shortish podcasts -- 45 minutes or less. (The giant episodes on Escape Pod and PodCastle take me several days to listen to.)
  
  
• I have a preference, though not an absolute one, for educational material rather than fiction, because I listen to fiction (audiobooks) for my car/exercise listening on the iPod, and this should be something different.
  
  
• I am generally allergic to politics, unless the politics are at least 100 years old.
  
  
• It shouldn't be something where I'll feel as if I'm on a treadmill that I have to keep up with, or it will run me over (see NPR above).

Podcasts of fan fiction don't really work in this context, because I want new material, and in fan fiction podcasts, I'm usually looking for an audio version of an existing favorite.

Comments

[helenraven.livejournal.com]

I listen to several Slate podcasts: "Lexicon Valley" (about language), "Culture Gabfest" and "Political Gabfest". I don't understand more than about 10% of the political one, but I find it a nice place to hang out.

The "Bugle" podcast is one of the highlights of my week. It has accumulated a lot of in-jokes by now and may be off-putting for a new listener, but most of the people I've pushed it on have become regular listeners.

The BBC's "Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo's Film Reviews", which may be useless to you given the different release schedules in the UK and US and which irritates me more and more each week - but I still need to know what Kermode thinks. These have become quite long and are now at least 90 minutes, but I listen to them on double-speed and fast-forward through the interviews, so for me they're now about a 30 minute listen. [Not a ringing endorsement, this, is it?]

"Skeptoid" with Brian Dunning, which is a 15 minute sceptical take on aspects of popular culture. I would start from the beginning, where he takes on the "big" topics.

These are all things that you can dip in and out of, i.e. there's nothing to keep up with.

[carbonel]

Thanks -- just started listening to Lexicon Valley.

[inamac.livejournal.com]

I second Kermode and Mayo. And you might browse through the BBC back catalogue of 'In Our Time' (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl)for interesting discussions on some very deep subjects (the archive is divided by theme - I recommend the History and Science ones).

[tanac.livejournal.com]

I love the BBC's Desert Island Discs. It's been going on for decades; she's had absolutely everyone on as guests. The fundamental premise is that guests share the 7 albums they'd take with them to a desert island, along with why- usually ends up talking a lot about their lives, motivations, etc. everyone from British politicians, to actors, to architects, to designers... The interviewer does her homework and asks good questions.

Design Matters is another one I like, although it's longer than my commute (30 min), so that gets annoying occasionally.

[agentxpndble.livejournal.com]

Ditto (about Desert Island Discs) - I dread the day I eventually exhaust the archive. :-(

Also, not sure if it's your style, but I never miss The Moth podcast: http://themoth.org/about/programs/the-moth-podcast

[affreca.livejournal.com]

Sorry about the drive by post, but I have recommendations. Astronomy Cast is a pretty good weekly (ish) half hour podcast about astronomy. There's about 300 episodes currently. Each week is a new topic, and they wait until research has been proven out for a couple of years (except for the arsenic life one that was mostly disproven). I have reservations about the episodes when they try any geology (my field), and Pamela mispronounces names (but admits it). Star Stuff (Australian Broadcasting) is a weekly half hour podcast on breaking astronomy stories, so it's a nice complement.

Quirks and Quarks an hour-long (so longer than your limit) science radio show that interviews various researchers. It is currently on summer hiatus, but there are quite a bit of archives available as it has been running on CBC for years. Science Now and Inside Science are two short BBC equivalents.

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

Hmm, consider Stuff You Should Know, Freakonomics Radio and Stuff to Blow Your Mind.

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

Also, BBC World Service does "Witness" which may verge on political too much, but it's about historic things rather than current for the most part. Short episodes of a few minutes ruminating on things like the fall of the Berlin Wall, famous kidnappings, apartheid... all kinds of stuff from a first person perspective.