Podcasts are to audio what Netflix + DVR is to video. Perhaps more so. Most of the time when I am working out, driving, or doing mindless domestic chores (cooking, dishwashing, laundry, lawn, etc etc), I consume podcasts. There are so many, there is so much to learn. (Yes, there is a time for quiet, contemplative solitude, sometimes I do that, too.) Here are my current faves.
History
Backstory
3-4 colleagues, all academic historians, who provide in-depth discussions of subjects in American History. Great rapport and collegiality, high production values, intellectually worthy.l
Dan Carlin's Hardcore HistoryThis is a "cult" podcast. Episodes only come out every 2-4 months, but they are 4-6 hours long. Dan Carlin is a former media pro and amateur history buff. Awesome storyteller of history, idiosyncratic, consistent style, range of history is incredibly wide, though mostly non-American, lots of it ancient. Always a must-listen.
More Perfect
A spinoff of Radiolab, legal history.
Revisionist History
Malcolm Gladwell, about 10 1-hour episodes per season. Must-listen. (Favorite episode: the one that ties Wilt Chamberlain's ultra-legendary 100-point basketball game, to social behavior.)
Tech
In theory this shouldn't interest me, 3 Apple fanboys (in the best sense of the word) spending 60% of their time discussing Apple products (which I never buy), 40% of the time doing very good but arbitrary and idiosyncratic consumer tech analysis. Outstanding chemistry and collegiality, very high production values, even though the most indie of anything on my list.
Exponent
Infotech business analysis and strategy, must-listen.
General Interest
Not much sex, just a good documentary podcast. I think the name is meant to suggest it focuses on topics that are of eternal interest..
Freakonomics
Podcast that continues the spirit of the book. Applying economic analytical techniques to myriad everyday situations.
Planet Money
I haven't listened a lot, but similar to Freakonomics, but specifically focused on financial topics.
Radiolab
Legendary radio show, podcast form. Great scientific storytelling that results from the intellectual curiosity of 2 media pros.
Science Vs
Like a well-curated, highly entertaining literature survey, on topical issues, such as what remedies work to cure balding, or is the bee-apocalypse real?
The Moth
Unique, always-entertaining live storytelling podcast. Broad appeal across the Myers-Briggs spectrum. The podcast analog to Prairie Home Companion.
This American Life
The amazing Ira Glass, the trailblazing radio show in podcast form.
General News
Documentary-form, where the reporter is "embedded" with the subject. E.g. expose of the satanic for-profit prison industry, by embedding a reporter as a guard for several months.
Reveal
Classic investigative reporting.
The Documentary (BBC)
Classic BBC, high-end documentaries on various topics.
Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me
News quiz show. Only funny if you are well-informed. Host Peter Sagal is an improv genius. Causes me to laugh out loud, when listening at the gym.
Politics
Traditional, Reaganite conservatives Mona Charen and Jay Nordlinger are hosts. Sometimes a guest, sometimes not. Thoughtful political analysis, right-wing, but anti-Trump, traditional, intellectual, not religious (though sympathetic at times), not Alt-Right. Heirs to William F. Buckley. Good for educating millenials on what conservatism used to be like.
Slate's Whistlestop
Political history, quite excellent.
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