Now, what you’ve all be waiting for. Our top podcasts of 2018. As podcast producers, we listen to a lot of shows. This is an opportunity for you to see what our favorites have been. Enjoy!
Ian’s Top Podcasts
The variety of guests is what I like so much about this podcast. Joe selects guests that range from cage fighters to quantum physicists. I admire his consistency and his volume of output.
To me, programming is a form of poetry. John and JP do a great job of describing the way programmers think as they break down various books on developing software.
This one is not for everyone. If you don’t care about the details of software development philosophy, don’t even bother giving it a try. If you’re interested in taking a deep dive into the beauty of software, Iteration is a good one.
Again, the range of guests on Tim’s show is fantastic. His guests range from James Cameron to LeBron James to successful eCommerce store entrepreneurs. At times I’m not a fan of the formats of his episodes, but I like the fact that he is experimenting with podcasting as a medium. He’ll do episodes in which he isn’t even there with his guests. I think Thim just sends questions and the guests go over the topics on their own.
If you’re interested in taking an unconventional look at what a podcast can be, the Tim Ferriss Show is worth a listen.
Caliphate is a podcast that blew me away. This one requires no explanation. It’s a nine part series done in excellent narrative form. The creator seeks to answer the questions, “Who is joining ISIS?”
Seth is one of my favorite people who offer advice and ideas to those seeking to do things that are hard. This podcast is a great one to start at the beginning and catch up on. Each episode has an insightful idea that seems to come from some ancient tome that was recently dusted off in the basement of a great library somewhere in an ancient European library.
Matt’s Top Podcasts
This has been a favorite of mine for years. I appreciate their careful focus on how news and content is delivered to the public – how it effects our collective understanding of issues. In my mind, it’s one of few media watchdog-type sources that remains inventive and indispensable in today’s oversaturated news ecosystem. Lastly, I really like the show’s hosts Brooke Gladstone and Bob Garfield, both of whom are sharp interviewers who don’t relent to evasive interviewees.
I’m not a design nerd, but the stories they dig up for this long-running podcasts almost always keep me listening until the end. The show does a brilliant job of zooming into the small corners of our everyday lives and telling a story about street curbs or NBA jersey designs. But they also look at huge aspects of our world that we simply lose sight of. The history of America’s Chinatowns is one that does this well, and is also one of my recent favorites. The host Roman Mars is engaging and his voice has a real soothing quality about it.
This show continues to surprise me with its incredibly diverse subject matter and guests. At its base, Change Lab explores artists’ and designer’s creativity, creative process, and their general philosophy. The host, ArtCenter College President Lorne Buchman, aims to unpack his guest’s experiences and the transformations that have molded their creativity and subsequent work. It’s enlightening, inspiring, and I often find myself yearning to create in a bolder way.
Milo’s Top Podcasts
I’m a dweeb who has had computers and the internet as part of my life for as long as I can remember. This show brings out some of the super strange quirky and interesting elements of the internet in a really engaging way. From full on crime journalism to trying to explain memes to their baby-boomer boss, this show has everything that I like. Plus the show really keeps in a lot of the personality of the people involved and I feel like that puts it on a different level than a lot of podcasts that try to polish their shows for a “mass appeal”.
This is obviously a classic podcast. Killer audio production, fantastic story telling, and good journalism. I remember growing up and listening to NPR and loving this show when I was in middle and high school and a while ago when I was working as a window washer, this was the podcast I binged while I was working. Certainly keeps the wonder and intrigue in the minutia of life for me.
The thing that keeps me coming back to this show is that it stays pretty agnostic as far as morality is concerned, never getting too preachy. The two hosts seem to have a pretty different view of how the world works and should work, and the way they butt heads during episodes really makes my internal dialogue seem a lot less crazy, but also normalizes dialogue about tough topics between people.
This is the outlier, but it’s fantastic. This is a D&D podcast by the hosts of My Brother, My Brother And Me, with this one including their dad, Clint, who clearly shares their strange sense of humor.
The show spans multiple different arcs and storylines, always spending enough time in the lore and the story, but also diverging into the hilarious and stupid often to great effect. Even if you don’t like D&D, if you like fantasy stories, comedy shows, and great storytelling, you will like this podcast.
Naomi’s Top Podcasts
I could listen to them every single day. In fact, I already do. These three brothers answer Yahoo Answers queries off the cuff and with little to no seriousness. Other recurring bits include advice on haunted dolls, horses of all sizes, and fast food company press releases. They always have the capacity to give each other the giggles and I can’t help but laugh along. Maybe not the best podcast for the morning commute, as I inevitably ending up laughing loudly out loud while standing very alone.
This comedy podcast unites galpals Ronna and Beverly, a pair of hilarious Jewish mothers from the greater Boston area. Each week they discuss the repercussions of their failed marriages and their children’s gifts and shortcomings. They often have guests on the show and will spend most of the interview talking over both each other and the guest.
Episodes are introduced by Beverly singing the word podcast to a well-known pop song. This is a near constant day-maker and also a choking hazard. Listen while eating at your own risk.
Serial is an investigative journalism podcast hosted by Sarah Koenig, narrating a nonfiction story over multiple episodes. The series was co-created and is co-produced by Koenig and Julie Snyder and developed by This American Life. The third season of Serial plays out like a murder mystery novel that you cannot put down and wouldn’t want to anyways. This year’s theme centers on the judicial system in the United States and touches on too many timely topics to count. Koenig is a fabulous storyteller and the work she is doing is important.
If you missed Seasons 1 and 2, they do not need to be enjoyed in order and are certainly worth a listen, too!
Finally, here is someone who is a health professional who feels like a friend and speaks like one, too. Dr. Aviva Romm is doing all the research for women and children on topics like the dangers of plastics in household products, the increasing rate of cesarean sections globally, and the dangers of fad detox diets. Not only is her podcast extremely educational, it is both relevant and relatable.
Sylvia’s Top Podcasts
Probably my most listened-to show. Oprah has the amazing ability to go deep with her guests (I mean, she IS Oprah) and bring out their HUMAN-NESS no matter how famous they are. It is fascinating for me to hear from typical “spiritual gurus” to athletes like Dwayne Wade about their relationship with life and how that relationship has contributed to their success. It is interesting to me that all of these people have deeply positive relationships with the unknown, but the listener can relate to many of their stories through Oprah’s interview questions and comments.
For people like me, who interested in living a life outside of the 9am-5pm lifestyle, this podcast is a must! The host, Cathy, breaks it down and gives extremely tangible tips, tricks, and advice on how to live your non-mainstream best life (Hint: a lot of it has to do with the conversations we have inside our heads). Cathy is also hilarious, and her guests are awesome! Not only is her content extremely engaging and fun, but it actually works. This podcast has functioned as an extremely positive and support community to help me live the out-of-the-box lifestyle that I have today.
So this show is one of our clients, but I also have to say, their women’s entrepreneurship content really rocks! Every week, business coach Joy Chudacoff, interviews a different amazing woman and business and they really share so many gems and pieces of wisdom about how they built their business empire. I love that Joy doesn’t just focus on the easy parts of business, she also asks each of her guests about the challenges that they’ve had to overcome and how they have dealt with issues on their business or career journey. Love the content, and love the guests!
This is a new podcast that is about women’s health and hormone balance. It always surprises me how little we as women learned about our bodies in [most] schools, and we’ve begun to normalize certain hormonal issues. Truthfully, through a healthy diet and some lifestyle changes, we can reverse a lot of our own health issues and have a stronger base for beating fertility issues and hormonal cancers. This podcast makes these health techniques applicable, easy, and digestible, for the busy woman who wants to feel her best.
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