What It’s Like to Be ...
Smart, respectful, not a moment wasted. It’s one of the best podcasts I’ve heard.
Smart, respectful, not a moment wasted. It’s one of the best podcasts I’ve heard.
The Unmarked Graveyard
New York City’s Hart Island is what’s typically called a potter’s field. Seven of the eight podcast episodes tell the stories of people buried there. One episode tells the story of an artist dedicated to documenting the island’s dead.
A Very British Cult
“The sinister life coaching company that takes over your life.” From BBC Sounds, it’s A Very British Cult, an eight-episode podcast by Catrin Nye.
“Ghost Town” on Soul Music
An episode about a Specials song.
Soul “Eyes”
Soul Music (BBC Radio 4) has a beautiful episode about Harry Warren and Al Dubin’s “I Only Have Eyes for You.”
Sliced Bread
Sliced Bread is an excellent podcast from the BBC.
TCM world
“I live in TCM world”: Charlie Watts, on his taste in clothes. From a Desert Island Discs episode.
Red Pen
The first episode (forty-four minutes) is ostensibly about who and whom, but it’s really two friends talking, and their talking goes all over the place: Christopher Columbus, bad reviews of the Sistine Chapel, commercialism at Egypt’s pyramids, a Geocities fan page for Rage Against the Machine, Jay McInerney’s tweets, and looting at Duane Reade stores, with none of those topics touching upon who or whom.
Two TALs
Two exceptional recent episodes of This American Life: “The Possum Experiment” and “Name. Age. Detail.”
dic·tio·nary stuff
A great episode of Merriam-Webster’s Word Matters.
The Trojan Horse Affair
A podcast series by Brian Reed and Hamza Syed.
Spectacular Vernacular
An excellent podcast.
No wind, no rain
A new episode of the BBC’s Soul Music , the first one in some time, is devoted to Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”
Just One Thing, a podcast
Any podcast that recommends morning walks, time spent in nature, and the consumption of dark chocolate is all right by me.
Finding D. W.
Jason Szwimer, the voice of D. W. Read for four seasons of Arthur, has a podcast, Finding D. W., devoted to finding and interviewing the other males who have voiced the character.
The Los Feliz Murder Mansion
A seven-episode podcast from Cloudy Day Pictures.
Orange Crate Art: Now and Then, a podcast
A new podcast, from historians Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman: Now and Then. As the title suggests, their conversation puts past and present together.
No Compromise, a podcast series
No Compromise is a podcast series from NPR, and winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for audio reporting.
Insurrection
A chilling episode of the podcast Criminal : an account of an 1898 coup in Wilmington, North Carolina. Draw your own parallels.
“Once in a Lifetime”
An especially good episode of BBC Radio 4’s Soul Music .
Word Matters
An excellent podcast from Merriam-Webster.
“Kids on the Case”
From the podcast Criminal, a great episode: “Kids on the Case,” true stories of children solving crimes, helping to solve crimes, and finding a missing person.
“Made to Be Broken”
One of the best episodes of This American Life I’ve heard: “Made to Be Broken.”
Michael Rosen, on the mend
He’s the host of the BBC Radio 4 podcast Word of Mouth.
BBC Radio 4: Great Lives
With 483 available episodes, so there’s no running out anytime soon.
Which knife?
“What’s a fish knife?”
Finding stories
In an episode of BBC Radio 4’s Word of Mouth, Clare Muireann Murphy, storyteller, tells Michael Rosen where she finds stories.
“Pencils”
From the BBC Radio 4 series The Boring Talks : “Pencils,” with Brian Mackenwells.
“Lying”
An especially good episode of the BBC Radio 4 podcast Word of Mouth: “Lying,” with Michael Rosen, Laura Wright, and guest Dawn Archer, professor of pragmatics and corpus linguistics.
“(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”
The latest episode of the BBC Radio 4 show Soul Music.