Can anyone recommend some good French podcasts?

April 2, 2011 4:37 PM

Can anyone recommend some good French podcasts? I'm not looking for language-learning programming, Just French language podcasts similar to CBC's Spark on technology & culture, The Moth-style personal stories, gaming a la GiantBomb's Bombcast , or NPR-style in-depth journalism.

Essentially, I'm looking for long-form, in-depth, single-topic material, since my secondary objective is to de-rust my speaking and listening. For the same reason, I'd rather they were from France, instead of Francophone countries, in order to preserve my accent and not learn francophone slang.

Merci a tous!

posted by Grimp0teuthis to writing & language (10 answers total)

France Inter has a lot of podcasts, although I've not actually listened to any of them. You could use the 'Voir le site' option to search for podcasts which are likely to be interesting.
posted by mattn at 4:46 PM on April 2, 2011

France Culture Radio has a lot of in depth NPR like stuff.
France Culture Radio
posted by thylacine at 4:53 PM on April 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Check out Radio-Canada's baladodiffusions (our wacky word for "podcast").

You'll mostly find magazine-style shows, but some of them (like "La semaine verte") feature longer stories.

France Culture is also really nice. I often listen to "Les noueaux chemins de la connaissance" (a show about the humanities) and "Les enjeux internationaux" (shorter international politics show).
posted by agregoire at 5:41 PM on April 2, 2011

europe1.fr has many podcasts.
posted by fantasticninety at 6:36 PM on April 2, 2011

Also, Gaming Live has many reviews of video games.
posted by fantasticninety at 6:38 PM on April 2, 2011

Thanks, everyone who has chimed in so far! I'll check these out tomorrow.
posted by Grimp0teuthis at 9:42 PM on April 2, 2011

France Culture is just amazing. If I have to recommend any single one of their podcasts above any other, I'd go with Les Lundis de l'histoire, it's a really wonderful program about history (and I don't just say that because my dad was on a recent program).
posted by Kattullus at 1:06 AM on April 3, 2011

Hey, since this seems to be where the francophones are gathered, maybe I can piggy-back a question on top of Grimp0teuthis' askMeFi.

About 10 years ago I was working in Guadeloupe (lucky me, I know) and would listen to the radio while driving about on the week-ends. One time I caught the end of a panel show that sounded to me like a french version of "My Word". Clever people make witty jokes about language, etc..

Now my French isn't great, and listening to the radio in the car isn't the best conditions, so I may have completely mis-interpreted it. But does this ring a bell with anyone?
posted by benito.strauss at 1:10 PM on April 3, 2011

benito.strauss: the show you describe sounds like "Les Grosses Têtes".
posted by elgilito at 7:00 AM on April 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

Thank you, elgilito! AskMeFi amazes yet again.

Now to track down some old broadcasts (and probably confirm that I don't know enough about French culture to understand it).
posted by benito.strauss at 9:43 AM on April 4, 2011