Podcasts – My Current Rotation
The things people devote their time to plays a large part in defining a person’s character – a topic I address at longer length here. It’s been a recent focal point for me to be more intentional about how I’m spending my time – specifically, how I’m spending some of the quieter moments, or moments that had previously been considered “dead time”.
One of the more efficient ways I’ve been filling my time has been by listening to podcasts. Podcasts are an incredible resource for getting information and human insight about literally anything – it’s basically the “Golden Age” of podcasting right now, there’s a series for everyone. Here’s what I’ve had in my rotation over the past few months:
The Daily
My 2019 version of the newspaper, New York Times show “The Daily” hosted by Michael Barbaro is an objective, well-informed series showcasing the biggest stories of the day. According to the podcast description, “this is what the news should sound like.” 20 minutes every morning, Monday through Friday. There’s a wide variety of morning news podcasts or daily updates available, but what sets “The Daily” apart from the competition is the consistency, focus, and passion that fuels its operation.
The Press Box
Hosted by David Shoemaker and Brian Curtis of The Ringer, “The Press Box” features news and highlights of the biggest media stories across politics, entertainment, sports, and more. David and Brian are both smart, quick-witted journalists that provide generally objective insight about why and how the media functions in its current form. It’s not only informative, they infuse humor into their content with segments like “The Overworked Twitter Joke of the Week” or “Guess the Strained-Pun Headline” which livens each episode.
Stuff You Missed in History Class
If you enjoy history and was to go deeper than the Washington’s, Lincoln’s, or Kennedy’s of the world, I encourage you to check out “Stuff You Missed In History Class” – or if your public education was like mine, a more apt name might be “Stuff They Never Mentioned in History Class”. The series, produced by HowStuffWorks and hosted by Tracy Wilson and Holly Frey, highlights some of the more unknown, interesting (see: strange) events of human history.
**HowStuffWorks also produces a series called “Stuff You Should Know” which follows a very similar format, but spans a wider variety of information.
The Rewatchables
This one is mostly for fun. Another podcast produced by The Ringer, “The Rewatchables” is a series that takes an in-depth look into a variety of films that have had a significant cultural impact and have since been deemed as necessary “Rewatchables”. They select movies spanning all genres, just this year they have examined “The Notebeook”, “The Godfather”, “Old School”, and “Reservoir Dogs”, to list a few. The pod is commonly hosted by Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, or Sean Fennessey, and welcomes assorted “Ringer” journalists and contributors to share their perspectives.
Bonus: TED Radio Hour
I only include this as a bonus because I don’t listen to it on a consistent basis; however, there is a gigantic library of TED talks and power hour speakers that impart an incredible amount of wisdom and knowledge on seemingly every topic imaginable. If you want to hear about different perspectives on human emotion, or how to develop concrete skills, or how the climate crisis is an impending threat to our society – check out TED Radio hour on your podcast provider and dive in to the information.
I highly recommend giving these podcasts a chance to see if they match your tastes. podcast rotation is admittedly fickle at times – I’m constantly tossing series in and out of my queue as my “palette” continues to evolve. Because I have a lot of time to fill with music, books, or podcasts, I’m able to test the waters and find shoes that fit my niche. As long as a show positively contributes to my knowledge or entertainment and is in like with my personal goals, I’m all ears.