Help me find indie podcasts

April 15, 2008 9:52 AM

Looking for off the beaten path podcasts and ways to find podcasts online.

I've sampled the oeuvre of NPR, CBC, BBC and the Guardian. These organizations put out some high quality stuff, and I listen to several regularly.

I'm now looking for podcasts put out by individuals or those that don't get as much publicity as the ones from the organizations above.

My interests include: writing, storytelling (a la This American Life), writing, fantasy sports, personal finance, pop culture, and interesting or offbeat takes on the news.

I've noticed looking through the past posts that the recommendations tend to be weighted towards science and tech. That's understandable given the MeFi population, but I'm not terribly interested in either subject.

As a corollary, are there sites or blogs that review podcasts that you use? I'd be really interested to learn how everyone finds new stuff to listen to.

Thanks!

posted by reenum to media & arts (10 answers total)

Baseball HQ Radio.
posted by tiburon at 9:55 AM on April 15, 2008

Tank Riot

WARNING!: Contains high amounts of awesome Wisconsin accents.
posted by Science! at 10:02 AM on April 15, 2008

Top of the Pods. Nothing new since 2007, but tons of free archives on iTunes.
posted by toastedbeagle at 10:11 AM on April 15, 2008

the sound of young america!
posted by ncc1701d at 10:28 AM on April 15, 2008

Simply Syndicated is an independent podcast network in the UK. I've been listening to their shows for almost a year now. Most of it is fairly middlebrow, and I rarely agree completely with their views, but the hosts are all very funny and endearing. Their flagship show is "Movies You Should See," in which they review a movie each week, but usually spend most of the hour completely off topic.
posted by seldomfun at 10:32 AM on April 15, 2008

Jordan, Jesse Go! by a fellow Metafilerian can cover storytelling, pop culture and offbeat...basically it is two friends and an ocassional guest who talk about their lives and things that are going on in the world. Overly simplistic description to be sure, but it is great.
posted by mmascolino at 10:41 AM on April 15, 2008

Filmspotting is the best movies podcast I've heard so far.

I'll second Jordan Jesse Go! , as it's the best podcast in the world. And it does contain some choice pop culture content. (It's where I learned the joys of Charle's Barkley's Shut Up and Jam Gaiden).

Creative Screenwriting Magazine has an occasionally (depending on the guests) podcast.

I don't listen to a lot of podcasts, but I listen religiously to the ones I like.
posted by joelhunt at 10:51 AM on April 15, 2008

I produce The Sound of Young America and Jordan Jesse Go (independently) and am very proud of both.

For offbeat takes on the news, I recommend John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman's The Bugle, which is produced by timesonline.co.uk. It's a weekly half hour of comedy about the news, and is well written and performed.

In the strange stuff department, I recommend Joe Frank, the predecessor of This American Life. Mesmerizing audio stories, experiments, and dramas. I'm also a big fan of Will Franken, a somewhat surreal, stream-of-consciousness solo sketch comic from San Francisco (now lives in Queens). His infrequent but excellent podcast is Things We Did Before Reality.

My favorite "people talking" podcast is Jimmy Pardo's Never Not Funny. They recently went pay, but I believe the archives are still free, and 20 minutes a week are free one way or t'other. Jimmy's one of the funniest guys in the world in my book, and it's a fascinating show.

If you're interested in ideas (science interest is NOT a pre-requisite), then WNYC's RadioLab is amazing. I've also started to subscribe to the TED Talks podcast, which is speaches on various "big ideas," and is often quite interesting.

I also really enjoy Dan Savage's "Savage Love" podcast. He's a well-known sex and relationship advice columnist, and he's very funny and compelling in audio format as well... maybe even moreso.
posted by YoungAmerican at 1:24 PM on April 15, 2008 [2 favorites]

Widely Ranging Interests
posted by tellurian at 6:43 PM on April 15, 2008

Seven Second Delay has a podcast of its weekly WFMU show.

It is kind of hard to explain... a bit like watching those car accident films in driver's ed ... but live and simultaneously, in slow motion.
posted by R. Mutt at 8:00 AM on April 16, 2008