Small-portion podcasts?
March 5, 2009 12:26 PM Subscribe
I miss Slate Explainer! Looking for short but interesting podcasts to round out the podcast CDs I compile for my commute. Suggestions in the 2--10 minute range please?
Most of the podcasts I listen to -- Kermode, TAL, RadiolLab etc -- run 30 minutes or more. And somehow 10 minutes unused on an 80 minute CD seems awfully wasteful to me. Slate Explainer's daily 3-minutes-or-so podcast was awfully useful for filling those gaps, but it went on "hiatus" in January, probably never to return.
My tastes tend towards science/technology. I'm already subscribed to SciAm's 60 Second Science and 60 Second Psych and to NPR's Krulwich on Science. But I'm willing to give anything MeFi recommends a chance.
Most of the podcasts I listen to -- Kermode, TAL, RadiolLab etc -- run 30 minutes or more. And somehow 10 minutes unused on an 80 minute CD seems awfully wasteful to me. Slate Explainer's daily 3-minutes-or-so podcast was awfully useful for filling those gaps, but it went on "hiatus" in January, probably never to return.
My tastes tend towards science/technology. I'm already subscribed to SciAm's 60 Second Science and 60 Second Psych and to NPR's Krulwich on Science. But I'm willing to give anything MeFi recommends a chance.
The Moth? Some of their performances will be familiar to you from This American Life, but there are many more.
posted by onshi at 12:32 PM on March 5, 2009
posted by onshi at 12:32 PM on March 5, 2009
If you can tolerate the ~15 min. range, try NPR's Planet Money. 2nding The Moth, too.
posted by jon1270 at 12:36 PM on March 5, 2009
posted by jon1270 at 12:36 PM on March 5, 2009
Grammar Girl,Modern Manners Guy as well as Podictionary all meet your time requirements. OutloudOpinion also has quite a few short podcasts.
posted by geekyguy at 12:37 PM on March 5, 2009
posted by geekyguy at 12:37 PM on March 5, 2009
Best answer: CBC's Quirks and Quarks has both an individual-segments feed and a full-show feed. Individual segments usually run between 5-20 minutes. The Economist's podcasts are usually quite interesting, and usually run 10-15 minutes.
posted by Johnny Assay at 12:37 PM on March 5, 2009
posted by Johnny Assay at 12:37 PM on March 5, 2009
Studio 360 breaks up their weekly podcast into 5-10 minute segments that can be downloaded individually. I usually check the website and download the portions I find interesting.
posted by reenum at 12:48 PM on March 5, 2009
posted by reenum at 12:48 PM on March 5, 2009
The Ethicist (NYT)
Tekzilla Daily (video, and hit-or-miss on what's relevant to you, but worth having for when it is)
NPR Story of the Day
NPR Hourly News Summary
posted by mkultra at 12:49 PM on March 5, 2009
Tekzilla Daily (video, and hit-or-miss on what's relevant to you, but worth having for when it is)
NPR Story of the Day
NPR Hourly News Summary
posted by mkultra at 12:49 PM on March 5, 2009
NPR has several Marketplace podcasts that are cool. They have a short morning report one that I like. Only problem is I've often heard the stories the day before.
Robert Reisch has a great one that's short commentary as well.
posted by cjorgensen at 1:36 PM on March 5, 2009
Robert Reisch has a great one that's short commentary as well.
posted by cjorgensen at 1:36 PM on March 5, 2009
CBC's The Hour breaks its daily show into ~8 minute segments. (I think they're typically broken on where the commercials go, but I have found the odd silent 90sec spot of podcast where the commercial would have been...) Anyway, I love George Stroumboulopoulos. If I could only have one podcast, I'm pretty sure this would be it.
posted by cgg at 2:11 PM on March 5, 2009
posted by cgg at 2:11 PM on March 5, 2009
It is not serious and sometimes it misses the mark but The Onion Radio News can be damn funny and usually about ~50 seconds. They are very nice in playlists to separate longer form content.
posted by mmascolino at 2:43 PM on March 5, 2009
posted by mmascolino at 2:43 PM on March 5, 2009
I'm not going to link them (I produce them), but I'm very proud of both The Kasper Hauser Comedy Podcast (3-5 minute sketches) and The Coyle & Sharpe Podcast (3-10 minute radio put-ons from the 60s), and both have won "Best of iTunes."
posted by YoungAmerican at 4:27 PM on March 5, 2009
posted by YoungAmerican at 4:27 PM on March 5, 2009
Best answer: Check out Skeptoid by Brian Dunning. It's a great short, concise, and clear podcast about science and skepticism.
posted by tybstar at 5:14 PM on March 5, 2009
posted by tybstar at 5:14 PM on March 5, 2009
Best answer: BBC Instant Guide -- it pretty much is the Explainer, with a politics/current events focus, and about 8 min long.
posted by Methylviolet at 6:33 PM on March 5, 2009
posted by Methylviolet at 6:33 PM on March 5, 2009
I'm going off-track here, and I apologize if there are obvious explanations for these, but are these one-time CD-Rs that you're making? You could try CD-RWs instead, so you won't feel like you have to have 80s minutes to get your money's worth.
Or you could just get a cheap mp3 player, which would save a lot of time spent on burning the CDs. And if you find any good short podcasts here, you can still get those too.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 9:07 PM on March 5, 2009
Or you could just get a cheap mp3 player, which would save a lot of time spent on burning the CDs. And if you find any good short podcasts here, you can still get those too.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 9:07 PM on March 5, 2009
Hardcore History is a fun and not too dense review of world history. He's had some interesting topics like America's Worst President, Alexander the Great vs. Hitler and some other non-traditional analysis of historical events.
posted by electroboy at 7:58 AM on March 6, 2009
posted by electroboy at 7:58 AM on March 6, 2009
Response by poster: Thanks to all, many good suggestions; I'll come back and mark some best answers once I've got some listening in.
On the CD thing, yeah, it's weird, but it works for me. I commute by car 1 hour each way and don't want to be faffing around with an iPod and an FM transmitter and the car stereo while I'm driving; I enjoy the process of compiling the day's CDs in the morning and I enjoy having pre-compiled stuff on the drive that I can just play and go. Hadn't considered CD-RW, though...
Already subscribed to The Moth from previous recommend-me-a-podcast AskMes -- often good stuff -- and to Planet Money via the TAL Giant Pool of Money episode.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 8:35 AM on March 6, 2009
On the CD thing, yeah, it's weird, but it works for me. I commute by car 1 hour each way and don't want to be faffing around with an iPod and an FM transmitter and the car stereo while I'm driving; I enjoy the process of compiling the day's CDs in the morning and I enjoy having pre-compiled stuff on the drive that I can just play and go. Hadn't considered CD-RW, though...
Already subscribed to The Moth from previous recommend-me-a-podcast AskMes -- often good stuff -- and to Planet Money via the TAL Giant Pool of Money episode.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 8:35 AM on March 6, 2009
Keep in mind that not all car radios that play CD-Rs can play CD-RWs.
posted by mmascolino at 11:54 AM on March 6, 2009
posted by mmascolino at 11:54 AM on March 6, 2009
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Are you burning them to cds? Why don't you get a really cheap mp3 player?
posted by sully75 at 12:29 PM on March 5, 2009