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The 10 best ever podcasts
Ten years since Apple launched a version of iTunes with a new format called podcasting, Pete Naughton selects 10 of the best
In June 2005, Apple launched a version of its iTunes software with a new feature which Steve Jobs confidently termed “the next generation of radio”. The technology in question was an innovative but little-known format called podcasting, which had been developed within the hacker community in the early 2000s, and which made it easy to distribute and download series of audio programmes online. A decade on, and Jobs’s confidence has been borne out. People, in their tens of millions, have been won over by the delights of a medium that allows them to freely download shows from around the world – made by lone amateurs and venerable organisations alike – and to listen to episodes whenever they please. Podcasts are thriving. Here are 10 of the best.
Literature
The New Yorker Fiction (2007-)
In this delightful, regularly surprising series, a well-known writer is asked to pick one of their favourite short stories from the New Yorker’s fiction archives, read it in its entirety and then discuss the work with a presenter. Highlights include David Sedaris reading Miranda July (November 2, 2012) and Joyce Carol Oates on Cynthia Ozick (September 30, 2014).
Sport
The Football Ramble (2007-)
Pete Donaldson is one of the hosts of 'The Football Ramble'. (Photo: REX)
Hosted by a quartet of exuberant, knowledgeable and quick-witted football fans – including the Absolute radio presenter Pete Donaldson and the stand-up comic Jim Campbell – this long-running series provides a weekly fix of global soccer news, analysis and banter; and manages the rare feat of being both funny and informative.
Documentary
Radiolab (2005-)
American radio documentary-making is going through a golden age at the moment, and this Peabody Award-winning series – which explores big, idea-driven stories with a blend of diligent investigative journalism and atmospheric sound design – is the best of the best. Episodes have focused in on everything from human attempts to communicate with dolphins (Hello) to the social experiments being undertaken at Facebook (The Trust Engineers).
Film
Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode. (Photo: REX)
Led by two of the finest and most likeable communicators in radio, the podcast version of Mark Kermode’s and Simon Mayo’s weekly 5 Live show is an unalloyed pleasure. For the uninitiated, it involves verbose, terrifically expressive movie reviews (Kermode), down-to-earth questioning of said reviews (Mayo), listener correspondence, good-natured bickering, interviews, and regular appearances by actors such as Jason Isaacs and Michael Sheen.
Music
KEXP Live Performance (2012-)
I remember when I first stumbled upon this series from the great Seattle-based music station, KEXP, and not quite believing my eyes: it offers a stream of literally hundreds of high-fidelity live session recordings of wonderful musicians who’d passed through the studios there (think Steve Earle, Alt-J, Father John Misty), all for free.
History
Charting the evolution of humanity through a series of a hundred carefully selected objects – from a stone chopping tool to a solar powered lamp – this 2010 collaboration between Radio 4 and the British Museum is a certified masterpiece, and works beautifully as a podcast.
Reportage
Serial (2014-)
The first season of Sarah Koenig’s investigative series, which re-examined the evidence from a 1999 murder case, was almost indecently compelling – and was the first podcast to become a bona fide cultural event. A second, focusing on a “very different” subject, is due this autumn.
Science
The Naked Scientists (2005-)
Created and co-presented by a Cambridge-based virologist called Dr Chris Smith, this whip-smart, long-running podcast – which also broadcasts on BBC Radio 5 Live every Sunday – manages to convey big scientific ideas and breakthroughs with clarity, wit, and a refreshing lack of lab jargon.
Comedy
The Bugle (2007-)
John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman present 'The Bugle'
Billing itself as an “audio newspaper for a visual world”, this satirical news show co-hosted by Andy Zaltzman (in London) and John Oliver (in New York) has been going strong since 2007, and remains funnier, edgier, and more comically unfettered than anything BBC Radio has to offer.
First Person
Betty In the Sky With a Suitcase (2006-)
One of the revolutionary things about podcasting is that it allows anyone with a computer, a microphone and an Internet connection to become a broadcaster. This series, made by a sprightly American flight attendant under the pseudonym Betty Thesky, is a perfect case in point. Once a month, Betty relays scintillating, joyously uncensored anecdotes from life at 34,000 feet – sleepwalking passengers, misbehaving celebrities, Ebola-related mix-ups and all – as well as recordings of the places that she’s visited. It’s like listening in on a gossipy airline confab. Marvellous.