On the latest episode of Too Embarrassed to Ask, Kara Swisher and Lauren Goode reprised one of our most popular episodes from last year, a guide to the best podcasts you should be listening to now. And this time, they were joined by 60db’s Liz Gannes, formerly of Recode.
What are the best podcasts right now? Here’s our 2017 guide.
Recode’s Kara Swisher, The Verge’s Lauren Goode and 60db’s Liz Gannes share their picks — and then our listeners weigh in.
Photo by Stephen Lam/Getty Images
60db is a mobile app that organizes and recommends podcasts that fit your tastes, and Gannes singled out Netflix as an example of what they’re trying to make. The comparison is especially apt because she and her colleagues also create original audio content for their users.
“There’s a lot of places in the world that don’t have their own podcasts that make great stories,” Gannes said. “We do a lot of stories with the Washington Post; they don’t have a big audio department. We do a lot of stories with the Atlantic.”
She compared 60db’s style to the New York Times’ The Daily, a breakout hit news and analysis show hosted by NYT reporter Michael Barbaro.
“We’re talking through the news with a reporter, explaining context on it and we’re bringing some of the stuff that didn’t quite get into the story — the experience.”
Below the embed there’s a roundup of some of the best podcasts you should check out. You can also find a playlist of many of the shows recommended by Too Embarrassed to Ask listeners on the 60db app.
You can listen to the new podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Spotify (mobile only), TuneIn, Stitcher and SoundCloud.
In addition to The Daily, here’s the full list of shows discussed in this episode by Swisher, Goode, Gannes, Recode Radio producer Eric Johnson (that’s me) and our listeners:
- Missing Richard Simmons (Gannes recommended this show for its high polish level, with the caveat that it felt “exploitative” by the end)
- S-Town, the latest podcast from the creators of Serial
- Star Talk Radio, hosted by Neil DeGrasse Tyson (“He’ll do the interview and then he’ll step out and interview someone else about the interview, which sometimes is really good for really deeply nerdy, geeky topics,” Gannes said.)
- The Bill Simmons Podcast
- Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter
- Outside Podcast, a show created by the staff of Outside Magazine
- The “Crooked Media empire”: Pod Save America, Pod Save the World, Pod Save the People and Lovett or Leave It (And if you are already a “friend of the pod,” don’t miss Swisher’s live Recode Decode interview with Crooked’s Jon Lovett, Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor from March.)
- Trailblazers with Walter Isaacson
- Hardcore History, hosted by Dan Carlin
- Ctrl-Walt-Delete, hosted by Walt Mossberg and Nilay Patel
- The Riveters (“They do a lot of politics, but other things, too,” Gannes said. “It’s ‘riveters’ as in Rosie the Riveter and they interview women.”)
- The Ezra Klein Show
- The Vergecast
- How I Built This
- You Must Remember This (“A podcast about old Hollywood, primarily, which is pretty cool,” Gannes said. “That’s not a topic that’s usually addressed in regular media.”)
- Slate’s Political Gabfest
- From a listener: “Anything on the TWiT network”
- The Adventure Zone
- Better Call Saul Insider
- Survivor Game Changers, hosted by Rob Cesternino
- Decoding Westworld, hosted by Dave Chen and Joanna Robinson (“I don’t think I would have wanted to watch it without having that discussion around it,” Gannes said.)
- Lit Up, a show about literature hosted by Angela Ledgerwood (“It’s great,” Goode said. “As a writer, you get so heads-down in the news that you forget about all the other forms that are out there.”)
- Flash Forward, hosted by Rose Eveleth
- Crimetown, a show about organized crime in Providence, R.I.
Have questions about podcasting — or other suggestions of great podcasts — that we didn’t get to in this episode? Tweet them to @Recode with the hashtag #TooEmbarrassed, or email them to TooEmbarrassed@recode.net.
Be sure to follow @LaurenGoode, @KaraSwisher and @Recode to be alerted when we’re looking for questions about a specific topic.
If you like this show — and you need still more podcast recommendations — you should also check out our other podcasts:
- Recode Decode, hosted by Kara Swisher, is a weekly show featuring in-depth interviews with the movers and shakers in tech and media every Monday. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Spotify (mobile only), TuneIn, Stitcher and SoundCloud.
- Recode Media with Peter Kafka features no-nonsense conversations with the smartest and most interesting people in the media world, with new episodes every Thursday. Use these links to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Spotify (mobile only), TuneIn, Stitcher and SoundCloud.
- And finally, Recode Replay has all the audio from our live events, such as the Code Conference, Code Media and the Code Commerce Series. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Spotify (mobile only), TuneIn and Stitcher.
If you like what we’re doing, please write a review on Apple Podcasts— and if you don’t, just tweet-strafe Kara and Lauren. Tune in next Friday for another episode of Too Embarrassed to Ask!
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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