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Entertainment June 19, 2018
These are for people that just don't have four hours to kill.
I will be the first to say that I fell into the podcast circle hard. As of right now, I am subscribed to 77 podcasts, and I can only see that list getting more ridiculously long as my life progresses. Does this make me a leading podcast expert? I like to think so.
People will use podcasts to get news, laugh for the day, or just fill up their long morning commute.
But, I don’t have a long morning commute. I just want to fill up the 40 minutes it takes for me to roll out of bed, get dressed, and eat a bagel. So even though some of the top-ranked podcasts are fantastic, it might take me days to get through a single two-hour episode.
With this list, you can see popular podcasts that usually have episodes that are less than an hour. If time isn’t an issue, feel free to check out these 10 popular podcasts as well.
Modern Love combines both our obsession with romance with our love of famous people. The show starts with a famous actor or actress reading a personal essay on love (not their love, sadly). In the second half, they interview the author of that piece so we can see how they’ve fared since the first wrote the essay. It can be both cute and sad. Listen here to Saoirse Ronan read an essay on the relationship between an American exchange student and an Iraqi doctor.
99% Invisible is a design podcast that doesn’t feel like a design podcast. The show, hosted by Roman Mars, explores architecture with a human touch that lets you feel both educated and engaged. Listen to their interesting episode on mobile home parks here.
This fictional podcast, created by the same people who made the famous Welcome to Nightvale podcast, follows a truck driver drives through the US in search of her wife, who she previously thought was dead. The show is pretty on-brand with Nightvale Presents general level of creepy content while being much easier to catch up with. Stay on your toes. Listen to the first episode here.
Ear Hustle is the first of its kind, a podcast that is recorded inside of a prison. Recorded at San Quentin State Prison, Nigel Poor cohosts alongside inmate Earlonne Woods as they have honest discussions and interview other inmates. From parenting in prison to having cellmates, they talk about what it’s actually like in prison. Listen to their episode on the people living in San Quentin’s death row here.
Code Switch isn’t just a podcast about race; it’s about how people of color operate in the world. The diverse set of hosts talk through pop culture and news as it relates to culture and identity. They expertly balance out the light-hearted with the heavy. It is always relevant and serves as a great reminder that people of color have a voice that needs to be heard in today’s society. Find some of their most recent episodes here.
Phoebe Judge, the host of Criminal, has a wonderfully soothing voice which contrasts splendidly with the sometimes disturbing crimes detailed on the podcast. Criminal tells stories of a variety of crimes, sometimes creepy and sometimes laughable. One example of those laughable episodes is about a man gives the middle finger to every cop he sees; listen to it here.
If you like horror movies or just plain old scary stuff, this is the podcast for you. From the music to the subject matter to Aaron Mahnke’s dramatic pauses, it’s enough to make my skin crawl without making to me too scared to listen. Not every episode is scary but they’re all quite eerie. Listen to an enticing episode about places that have been forgotten and (almost) abandoned here.
Ah, yes, the news. What makes the PBS News Hour Segments different from other news podcasts, is that it separates what could be an hour-long episode into roughly five easily digestible parts. It is released every day, Monday through Friday, and the updated daily episode can be found here.
Tiny Desk Concert is great for any music lover. Performers will play about 3 songs in an office space, giving you the feeling of intimacy that comes with a small venue concert right in your headphones. You can listen to the performance on the go or sit and watch it if you have the time. Right above this, is the video from when Chance the Rapper blow everyone out of the water during his Tiny Desk Concert.
