December 22, 2014

The Podcasts You Should Download For 2015

By Kathy Goldgeier

So maybe you’ve already binge-listened to all 12 episodes of “Serial,” which re-examines a 1999 Baltimore murder. Maybe you’re a Mike Pesca fan and subscribe to his daily interview and opinion podcast, “The Gist.” Perhaps you’ve downloaded public radio’s “This American Life” to your smart phone and listened on the treadmill.

Or maybe you’ve never listened to a podcast in your life. If that’s the case, get on board.

Here’s a quick primer: Podcasts are audio files you can download from the Internet to a mobile device like your smartphone or tablet (you’ll first need to download the podcast app from iTunes or Google Play). You can subscribe to a podcast so each new episode downloads automatically, or, you can hand-pick the ones you want. Once the podcast is on your device, you don’t need cellular or WiFi service to listen to it. You can also listen by streaming the audio through the podcast’s website, which does require an Internet connection.

Whether you’re already a podcast addict looking for a new fix now that “Serial” has wrapped up its first season, or are just curious to try something new, we’re here to help.

Here’s what our Tech Tuesday guests recommend:

Eric Nuzum, Vice President of Programming at NPR

  • Microphone Check, an NPR podcast featuring interviews with and by hip hop artists.
  • TED Radio Hour, also from NPR, is based on TED talks from “the world’s most remarkable minds,” and is also NPR’s most popular podcast, Nuzum says.

Mike Pesca, Host of Slate’s “The Gist” podcast and co-host of its “Hang Up and Listen” podcast

Andrea Seabrook, Creator and Host of Scripps News’ “DecodeDC” podcast

  • When she’s not working on her own podcast, Seabrook listens to Political Gabfest.

 A.C. Valdez, Senior Producer at Latino USA

  • Here’s an unusual pick: Rosetta’s Singing Comet from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab. It’s a recording of sounds believed to be oscillations in the magnetic field around a comet, with the frequencies amplified 10,000 times so they can be heard by the human ear.

Need more? Take your pick:

 What are your favorite podcasts? Post them here. We’ll add them to the list.

And don’t forget to listen to our Dec. 23 Tech Tuesday , which will help you keep up with the latest on the tech behind podcasts as well what to sample next. (As it turns out, you can even tune in our own show any time you’d like … via podcast).