The Adventure Zone is a D&D podcast and is a great jumping off point because they don't know what they're doing either! This is a series collaboration with The EarBuds Podcast Collective. Sign up for their newsletter to get weekly recommendations from great curators. Resources Podcast Recommendations List! ? A list of the best podcast email newsletter ? Sign up for the Podcast Advocate Newsletter! - Get podcast recommendations, podcast industry news, and more great content monthly. ?? Podcasters: share the PAN newsletter with your listeners and you'll be featured in a following issue - Click here to learn more. Find more great podcasts at PodcastAdvocate.Network Support Podcast Playl.ist Audibletrial.com/podcastplaylist for a free audiobook and support the show!

Podcast Playlist

The Adventure Zone 4-1 EarBuds Podcast Collective Collaboration

Updates on Podcast Playlist, Podcast Advocate Network, and EarBuds Podcast Collective collaboration.

EarBuds Podcast Collective collaboration and other news!

Join us for The inaugural DiscoverPods Awards for 2017 roundtable discussion with Kevin Goldberg, Arielle Nissenblatt, Phoebe Lett, and Brendan Hutchins.

2017 Discover Pods Awards

Cast voted for DiscoverPods.com's 2017 Awards and check out PodcastAdvocate.Network for more great shows.

Special Announcement - Awards ? And Pods! ?

Briefly covering the rest of the political podcasts I recommend: 5 on 45 by The Brookings Institute, The New York Times ’ The Daily, WNYC’s The United States Of Anxiety, WNYC’s On The Media, Primary Concerns by The New Republic , and Radiotopia’s What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law Please go to audibletrial.com/PodcastPlaylist﻿ to get a free audiobook of your choice, and support this show. It really helps, and is completely free to you. 5 on 45 by The Brookings Institute The New York Times’ The Daily WNYC’s The United States Of Anxiety WNYC’s On The Media Primary Concerns by The New Republic Radiotopia’s What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law Can He Do That? by The Washington Post Civics 101 OPB's Think Out Loud OPB's Politics Now I will be back in a few months with a season on music podcasts. I hope you stay subscribed because I have some fun ideas planned, it'll just take some time. Thanks for your patience. In the meantime, I have started my own music podcast called Nobody Asked For This with my buddies Aaron Wong and David Kallison. Aaron and I talk about pop and pop-punk music, and when we get something wrong, David pauses and corrects us. It's silly and fun. I hope you like it.

News and Politics Wrap Up 2-05

Pod Save America, Pod Save The World, With Friends Like These, Pod Save The People, and Lovett Or Leave It audio review.

Crooked Media 2-04 News/Politics

An audio review of the podcast Can He Do That by The Washington Post

Can He Do That? 2-03 News/Politics Podcasts

Intercepted is the podcast you want to listen to if you're looking for journalism that isn't owned by corporations or advertisers, and provides not only a variety of voices from the panelists and guests but also entertainment with musical guests and poets, leaving the listener with more to consider.

Intercepted 2-02 News/Politics Podcasts

This is the beginning of my series on news and politics podcasts. This episode will focus on the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast by FiveThirtyEight.com that started in January 2016 to analyze data during the United States presidential primaries.

FiveThirtyEight 2-01 News/Politics Podcasts

The producers of S-Town, and what else they've worked on. You are listening to Podcast Playlist, a podcast about podcasts, where I, Brendan Hutchins, share what I've been listening to, and why you should listen, too. This is my third and final episode in a series devoted to S-Town, this time exploring the producers, their backgrounds, and some of their previous work. People know I love podcasts and are asking all the time, "Brendan! What podcasts should I listen to? What's good? Any new shows out there?" Okay, that doesn't happen. It's more like they're just standing there, unaware of what is about to happen to their ears, and I barrage them with "Oh man! Have you heard about Harmontown? Wasn't last week's Magic Tavern silly? What'd you think of Serial?" Few podcasts have penetrated the mainstream the way Serial has. The team behind the biggest podcast success launched their newest show S-Town, and I told you all about it in the previous two episodes. S-Town only took one week to reach 16 million downloads, which is a fourth of the time it took Serial season two and an eighth the time it took Serial season one. () S-Town is the love child of Serial and This American Life, taking after both, and standing on its own in a brilliant way. These producers created a new experience for listeners, not only familiar but also a remarkable blend of genres. Let's go back to the sources and see why their collaboration works so well. This is Brian Reed's first podcast as the full time host. Previously, he produced a few of my favorite segments for This American Life including articles from episode 513 "129 Cars,” episode 524 "I Was So High,” and episode 547 "Cops See It Differently.” Brian’s delivery has a genuine and affable quality, and he charms people to acquire the real story someone may be reluctant to share. On the episode "129 Cars," This American Life goes to a car dealership to get the real story about the different tactics salesmen use to meet their monthly quota. Brian tries to interview Manny, the top car salesman on the lot, who wants no part of the radio interviews, but Brian persists and finds an opening. Here's a clip:∿∿∿ Brian's ability to read anything his subject throws at him, and that he keeps coming back for more, allows him to get close, personal, and emotional stories. Similarly, in S-Town, Brian reads John McLemore's recommended short stories by Shirley Jackson, Guy de Maupassant, and William Faulkner the first night they meet in Alabama. Brian just picks up The Art Of War and jumps back into interviewing Manny, showing his dedication to understanding the subject he’s covering "129 Cars" of This American Life actually has a web-exclusive clip by Sarah Koenig, his future partner on S-Town. Sarah Koenig is an award-winning journalist and worked at This American Life for a few years, but she may be most well known for her reporting on what was the biggest podcast before S-Town, Serial. The first season covered the flawed case against Adnan Sayed for the murder of Hae Min Lee. The second season focused on the story of Bowe Bergdahl who was charged for leaving his post in Afghanistan. Both seasons of Serial are some of the best podcasting in terms of compelling narratives and amazing reporting. Here is one of my favorite clips from season one where Sarah is trying to justify the state’s timeline to Producer Dana Chivvis:∿∿∿ It's pretty amazing that Sarah explains the scenario so clearly, but this clip also cracks me up and entertains for a few reasons. First, Sarah hints that she knows a thing or two about pot. Second, the producers leave in their human interactions. Lastly, Sarah breaks from the story to comment on her partner Dana. Such a great show. Sidenote: If you enjoyed following Hae and Adnon's story from Serial season one, check out the podcast Undisclosed linked in the show notes. Undisclosed is hosted by three lawyers including Rabia Chaudry who originally brought the Adnon case to Sarah Koenig. They dive deep into the minutia of one case per season and uncover all the details that the state fails to reveal in criminal cases against the wrongfully convicted. Starlee Kine is the story consultant for S-Town, so I’m going to take this opportunity to share her previous podcast, Mystery Show, as it also includes long unedited phone calls, exposing quirks and passions, and has multiple mysteries that have satisfying resolutions. I hadn’t re-listened to Mystery Show until I was pulling clips for this episode, and it made me laugh so hard I cried. Mystery Show was my favorite podcast of 2015. Produced by Gimlet Media for one season, Starlee narrates her quirky adventures as she attempts to solve weird mysteries in her guests’ lives. The first episode is about how Laura rents a video from a store, and the next day the store is shut down and empty! What happened? My favorite episode by far is called Britney where Andrea, a not-so-well-known author, sees a photo of Britney Spears holding Andrea's book! How'd she get it? Did she like it? Starlee goes to awesome lengths to answer these questions and more. [Britney clip 1] Similar to S-Town, many books are mentioned during the episode. Here is a list of books that they could find that Britney Spears has read. [Britney clip 2] The part that I love best about Starlee's production style is the long conversations and therapist-style probing questions. In this clip, Starlee is talking with the customer service representative for a concert ticket vendor to help with her investigation. [Britney clip 3] Many of the S-Town producers that you don’t hear on the show are seasoned professionals from This American Life. Julie Snyder is the executive producer of S-Town and is the co-creator of Serial. Before that she was a senior producer at This American Life. Ira Glass, the host of This American Life, was an editorial advisor for S-Town, as was Neil Drumming who is a producer at This American Life, often covering race and family. The whole production team is top notch and it permeates through almost every moment of the show. Through the combined work of many great producers, and Ira Glass insisting that Brian record everything always, pod-listeners were all able to experience a new level of audio storytelling and start the next chapter of podcasting with S-Town. I've seen many requests on Facebook and Twitter for other podcasts to listen to that can fill the void left after listening to S-Town, but for the same reasons S-Town is special, it's impossible to give a good recommendation of another podcast. I could list some true-crime podcasts, or human-interest podcasts, or narrative podcasts, but none of them have that literature quality. As much as it pains me to say it, to fill the void left by S-Town, you may need to look into audiobooks. I have a link in the show notes for BookRiot's video on what to read after S-Town. Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood and Norman Mailer’s The Executioner's Song are recommendations from my wife Sarah. They’re both close journalistic examinations of murderers, great for anyone who wanted more murder mystery than S-Town provided. You can find more about S-Town at Stownpodcast.org, and the links will be in the show notes. There is also a Facebook group and a subbreddit, r/stownpodcast. This concludes the series of Podcast Playlist just about S-Town but it doesn't have to be the end of the topic. You can reach out on twitter, I'm @ThePodPlaylist. If you would like to support the show to keep the recommendations coming, please visit patreon.com/PodcastPlaylist. You can sign up for a small reoccurring patronage and get rewards like extra episodes and personalized recommendations. This episode was recorded in "on the Cascadia Fault Line" Portland, Oregon. Writing, music and narration by Brendan Hutchins, the producer and script editor was Sarah Hutchins, and moral support and infinite distractions were provided by Sebastian and Autumn (Sarah's and my cats). Send me your comments, suggestions, and recommendation success stories. I'm @ThePodPlaylist on twitter. I'll accept text or audio messages to ThePodcastPlaylist@gmail.com. You can leave a comment on the post at PodcastPlayl.ist where you can also see the show notes. Please subscribe to this feed, rate the show in iTunes, follow @thepodplaylist on twitter, and I'll talk at you next time. Happy listening. Peace.

S-Town - S-Team, The S-Town Producers 1-03

The Sound And The Story with @DavidKallison Neurotic Tornado with @YuviZalkow The Longform Podcast interviewing Brian Reed, @BriHReed You are listening to Podcast Playlist, a podcast about podcasts, where I, Brendan Hutchins, share what I've been listening to, and why you should listen, too. I intend to keep the show safe for work, but as a warning, today's podcast contains explicit language. If that doesn't bother you, let's continue. Luckily, for the second episode of Podcast Playlist in a series devoted to S-Town, I've been able to connect with a few other podcasters and discuss many aspects of S-Town, the creative non-fiction masterpiece in audio form. For a spoiler-free overview of S-Town, please check out the previous episode. Be prepared for many spoilers as I discuss the show with a David Kallison of The Sound and the Story podcast and Yuvi Zalkow of the Neurotic Tornado podcast. I'm including clips from these conversations, but if you would like to hear the full interviews, I'm posting them in their entirety on my Patreon page at patreon.com/PodcastPlaylist. They clock in at over an hour each and both contain great perspectives on the music and literary aspects of S-Town. I'll also add some excerpts from the Longform podcast where Brian Reed is interviewed by the host, Max Linsky. First up, my interview with David. That was part of my conversation with David Kallison of The Sound and the Story podcast where he dives into a single album, picking apart each track and analyzing the lyrics in relation to the band members’ histories. It's a great listen. My favorite episode is about The album The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me by Brand New because it was not only an amazing album, but the amount of research and detail that David put in illustrated a real passion for music and this band. Links to the show will be in the show notes. Now, here are some more thoughts on S-Town with author, YouTuber, App Creator and podcaster Yuvi Zalkow. That was part of my conversation with Yuvi Zalkow of Neurotic Tornado. In his podcast, each season covers one or multiple relationships, and how they work, or don't work, over the long term. It gets wonderfully weird. The links will be in the show notes. If you'd like to hear the full interviews with David and Yuvi, please check out patreon.com/PodcastPlaylist. Lastly, here are some excerpts from the Brian Reed interview on The Longform podcast, a show about writing with the aim to uncover the story behind the story and story maker. That was Brian Reed, the host of S-Town, interviewed by Max Linsky of the Longform Podcast. I love that parts of the process come out in this interview that are so fascinating, like that Brian only met with John once, and yet he had an incredible pull to John, so much so that he wanted to go to his funeral. Also, the reasons for putting out all the chapters at once and how they framed it as a novel. I highly recommend listening to the full interview. Links to all of these shows will be in the show notes. This is the second episode of the first series from Podcast Playlist, just about S-Town. The full Spoiler-Town conversations with David Kallison of The Sound and the Story Podcast, and Yuvi Zalkow of Neurotic Tornado, will be available for patrons at patreon.com/PodcastPlaylist Please check it out. This episode was recorded in "yes, it rains a lot" Portland, Oregon. Writing, music, and narration by Brendan Hutchins, the producer and script editor was my amazing wife Sarah Hutchins, and moral support and infinite distractions were provided by Sebastian and Autumn (Sarah's and my cats). Send me your comments, suggestions, and recommendation success stories. I'm @ThePodPlaylist on twitter. I'll accept text or audio messages to ThePodcastPlaylist@gmail.com. You can leave a comment on the post at PodcastPlayl.ist where you can also see the show notes. Please subscribe and rate the show in iTunes, follow @thepodplaylist on twitter, and I'll talk to you next time. Happy listening. Peace.

S-Town - Spoiler-Town 1-02

For a readable version of the transcript, please check out You are listening to Podcast Playlist, a podcast about podcasts, where I, Brendan Hutchins, share what I've been listening to, and why you should listen, too. I intend to keep the show safe for work, but as a warning, today's podcast contains explicit language. If that doesn't bother you, let's continue. I listen to a lot of podcasts. I'm fortunate to have a job where I can spend all day listening to whatever I please, and most of the time, I choose podcasts. Podcasts have been a source of news and comedy and a way to learn about topics I've always been interested in and things I've never heard of. This is the first episode of Podcast Playlist in a series devoted to S-Town, an audio masterpiece that takes podcasting to a new level more akin to literature than you may expect. S-Town is by the producers of This American Life and Serial. I'll talk more about the producers in a future episode of this series and another episode will be called Spoiler-Town where I discuss themes and details with David Kallison from The Sound And The Story Podcast, but for now, this episode will be a spoiler-free dive into the story and experience of listening to S-Town. S-Town is a seven-part series, ranging from 48-63 minutes per episode, released all at once, for a total of six and a half hours. It's bingeable, right now. The main premise is about John B. McLemore, a clockmaker, in Alabama who contacts Brian Reed at This American Life about a murder that he believes was covered up by the police. However, the show is more about understanding the people of Woodstock, Alabama, what John calls Shit-town, their misunderstandings, their feuds, and their humanity. Should you listen to it? Yes. The crew behind this show is a group of seasoned producers and hosts, the audio quality and production is top of the line, and it's just a great story that you'll want to hear to the end and talk about with all your friends, and hopefully me! I'm @ThePodPlaylist on twitter. The podcast This American Life brought the established radio show to the medium of on-demand audio programming, which has always felt like the podcast equivalent of a magazine. Serial tweaked and played with that format to bring podcasts to a new level of popularity and awareness. According to an article in Wired, Serial was modeled after television, ending each episode with a cliffhanger. S-Town is the refinement of the medium to the mature artistic level podcasting deserves. I compare S-Town to This American Life and Serial not just because they're from the same creators, but because they are two of the most well-known podcasts, and they produce high-quality programming. To keep with the theme of a literary novel, each episode of S-Town is a chapter. Through the series and in each chapter, S-Town illustrates the human condition. In the first chapter, Brian defines proleptic, a word that John uses to describe the town. Proleptic, meaning the representation or assumption of a future act as if presently existing, is a theme throughout the series, with person after person declaring or claiming something to be true, when it hasn't happened, or at least not yet. Another prominent theme is horology, the study of time and making clocks. Here is a clip from the first chapter [CHI fixing a clock] With this, Brian is building a great analogy that sets a couple themes and ideas to hook the listener, but quickly the podcast is no longer following the original investigation. CHII(solved) S-Town is about a dead man, but that only scratches the surface. S-Town isn't about a town. It isn't about a murder. It isn't about a mystery. It's about people, the people of S-Town, specifically, one person from that town, an amazingly talented and troubled person—John B. McLemore, an antique horologist, conspiracy theorist, poet, semi-homosexual, chemist, masochist, canine caretaker, horticulturalist, altruist, mentor, pessimistic idealist, and atheist, yet he won’t let any of those things define him [CHVII how Johns see himself]. He is most often simply described by his friends as a genius, but he is also known by the townspeople for how he can talk for hours and is exhausting [∿∿∿ from CHII so you guys know John?] and he is not without his quirks [∿∿∿ from CHII piss in sink]. This may seem like a random or gross thing to do, but he's actually conserving water and fighting for his environmental beliefs. Halfway through the second episode, John becomes a friend, [CHI Calling out by sheer force] a person who you want to get to know deeply but shield your kids from, a person who is relatable, yet is fascinatingly new and different. [CHVII I'll never forget you] S-Town is about the literal and metaphorical maze that John has made, not just for Brian, but for everyone he's ever contacted, for the townspeople in S-Town, and now for everyone listening. [∿∿∿ from CHVI second investigation] The flow of the show is steady, starting new threads but wrapping up others along the way, and the season ends with a great resolution that is both bittersweet and utterly fascinating. [∿∿∿ from CHVII life death quarks] There's a lot of commentary in this show about small towns. [CHI town has a way of forgetting] When I was young, I lived in a small town here in Oregon, and this show has wonderfully captured that small town feel. [CHIII crud fuck town] but there's a fascinating other side to John's hatred for the town and people in it. He hates it because he loves it. It's two sides of the same gold-plated dime. S-Town is a great name for the show. Throughout that S has different meanings. Here is how I break down the chapters: Chapter I Shittown, Chapter II Social, Chapter III Self-destruction, Chapter IV Scavenger hunt, Chapter V Strife, Chapter VI Sexuality, Chapter VII Struggle. I will go into more detail about each in the upcoming Spoiler-Town episode. During chapters IV and V, the people of John's Shittown try to make their way through the maze of John's mind, and the world he has created, putting them through tests of will and morality and even making them question themselves and their actions. Here is Rita, John's cousin [CHV not a bad person 1] and here is Tyler, Johns apprentice, and friend [CHV not a bad person 2]. This may be exactly what John is hoping for as Brian analyzes in this clip [CHII why John is upset]. John relays a story of how the people around him see the world and the other people in it, and it takes some time for Brian to fully grasp John's analogy, but he does and explains it well. [CHII pants story] Some people argue that this series exploits the people in and around the story, but everyone agreed to be on the record for their interviews. John, after pushing away the friends in his life, reached out to Brian as a new companion. John not only uses Brian to help solve a murder, and expose the town of Woodstock to the light of day, but John also shares his 53-page manifesto while they were sitting together. John uses Brian as a biographer. [CHVII Brian reading John's manifesto] In addition to the incredible story, I find myself moved by the instrumental music used throughout as transitions and interludes. My head bobs as the plucked cello leads into the heavy beat. The music transports and engulfs me into the story. I'll be talking with David on the Spoiler-Town episode a little more about the music. Even though clips of interviews are played out of order for narrative effect, I can tell when Brian is interviewing based on his skill level, his comfort, and his questions, because during the three years that he devoted to this man and this town, he grows as an investigator and a reporter. I am very excited to see more from Brian Reed and the rest of the crew. S-Town is neither Serial nor a true-crime podcast. It's a journey through the degrading mind of a troubled genius. This podcast shines from its use of storytelling and analogies to convey morals and humanity. This isn't light listening but something that reflects a mirror on yourself and your community. S-Town is a well produced, enthralling, and thoroughly entertaining podcast. Like a great book, I didn't want to put it down; in fact, I listened through six times. S-Town gets better with each repeat experience. I'm so glad that John reached out to Brian, and they went on this journey together. You can find more at Stownpodcast.org, and the links will be in the show notes. This is the first series from Podcast Playlist, just about S-Town. My next episode will be Spoiler-Town, taking clips from my conversation with David Kallison of The Sound And The Story Podcast, and patrons at patreon.com/PodcastPlaylist will be able to hear the full hour and a half conversation where we are spoiling the entire series of S-Town, as well as diving into the music of the show. Please check it out. If you would like to support the show to keep the recommendations coming, please visit patreon.com/PodcastPlaylist. You can sign up for a small reoccurring patronage and get rewards like the aforementioned extra episodes and other bonuses. This episode was recorded in "keeping it weird" Portland, Oregon. Writing, music, and narration by Brendan Hutchins, the producer and script editor was my amazing wife Sarah Hutchins, the chief advisor was Yuvi Zalkow from the podcast Neurotic Tornado, and moral support and infinite distractions were provided by Sebastian and Autumn (Sarah's and my cats). Add meow ∿∿∿ Send me your comments, suggestions, and recommendation success stories. I'm @ThePodPlaylist on twitter. I'll accept text or audio messages to ThePodcastPlaylist@gmail.com. You can leave a comment on the post at PodcastPlayl.ist where you can also see the show notes. Please subscribe to this feed, rate the show in iTunes, follow @thepodplaylist on twitter, and I'll talk to you next time. Happy listening. Peace. S-Town

S-Town - Overview and Review 1-01

Please share your podcast story on twitter, I'm @ThePodPlaylist or record an audio message and email ThePodcastPlaylist@gmail.com. You can also leave a comment on the post at PodcastPlayl.ist and see the show notes. I can't respond to all feedback but I will read every one and some may be selected to be read or played on the show. Podcast Playlist will cover one theme each season of the show in a short format, aiming for under 15 minutes, highlighting one podcast per episode that may interest you. For the first episode I'm breaking that format and just talking about S-Town, the spinoff of Serial and This American Life, and that should drop in 2 weeks. After that, my first season will cover politics. Look for that in about a month. Please subscribe to this feed, you can find the show in iTunes, Google Play, OverCast, or on your podcast app of choice. Please reach out on Twitter, I'm @ThePodPlaylist, http://facebook.com/PodcastPlaylist, or http://patreon.com/PodcastPlaylist for special episodes and extras. Thanks for your time. Happy listening. Peace.

Podcast Playlist Episode 0

This was a podcast recommendation podcast. Podcast Playlist covered one theme each season in a short format, aiming for around 20 minutes, highlighting one podcast per episode that may interest you.

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Podcast Playlist

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