I started listening to the podcast Serial a few years ago, back when I basically had no idea what a podcast was…and I was hooked! I like to call Serial my “gateway podcast”. Now, I listen to podcasts when I’m walking to work, folding laundry, cleaning our apartment, painting my nails, basically anything mindless. Here are some podcasts that I love and currently listen to:
The Moth: A series of people telling personal stories to a live audience about something memorable that happened to them. Some stories will make you laugh out loud (I’ve done this on the subway!), some are touching, and some will seem too crazy to be true – but they all are! They range anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes and cover all kinds of topics from a police officer accidentally locking himself in the back of his cop car to a chef’s experience when Obama arrived at his restaurant for dinner. These are some of my favorite funny stories:
- “Empathetic Subway Screaming” – a man gets in a fight when he spills his groceries on the subway
- “Look Away – Or Don’t” – a man who faints at the sight of blood is preparing to become a father
- “My Bald & Blue Period” – a member of the Blue Man Group pulled a unique member from the audience on stage and had to improvise
- “Pen Pal” – a father ends up in a dilemma after signing his son up for a pen pal (also, listen to his story about visiting his grandfather’s grave “A Grave Predicament”)
Song Exploder: Each 15 minute episode features a musician dissecting one of their songs. I love getting the inside scoop on what the lyrics mean to the artist, the creative process behind developing the sounds on the track, and the phases a song went through before getting to the version we hear on the radio. These are my two favorite episodes so far:
StartUp: Exposes what happens “behind the scenes” when launching a company. The host, Alex Blumberg from NPR, leaves his career as a radio journalist to start his own company and let’s us listen in to all of the issues he encounters along the way. It is fascinating to learn about what it takes to get a business running, from creating your pitch to investors, to building your team of employees, to how challenging it can be to just name your company! You get to be on the inside of all of these discussions and it’s really addicting – I couldn’t stop listening! Start from the first episode:
- “How Not to Pitch a Billionaire” – Episode 1: we get to hear Alex prepare for his first investor pitch, even him and his wife deciding what shoes he should wear, and then his actual speech to Chris Sacca, who is infamous in Silicon Valley
Wondering how to listen to a podcast?
- On your computer: Click the links above and hit play right on the podcast’s website
- On your phone: Go into your “Podcasts” app (or “Stitcher” on Android phones), search for the name of a podcast and hit subscribe once you find it. Then, go into ‘My Podcasts’ and select an episode to play.
My Favorite Things 