Back in October 2015, I shared a list of podcasts that were on my regular listening feed. Each year I purposely look for new podcasts to listen to. This means removing some of my older regular listens and keeping some of my favourites.
The Expats, Radiolab, Hardcore History, Slate’s Political Gabfest and Whistestop remain at the top of my list, but I intentionally branched out from politics-themed podcasts in 2017 in response to the saturation of coverage of the American Presidential election and Donald Trump‘s election victory.
Here are some of the podcasts new to my feed that get my stamp of approval:
Let’s Find Out: Edmonton’s Historian Laureate Chris Chang-Yen Phillips answers questions about our city’s history in this semi-regular podcast, which released its sixth episode last week.
SpyCast: An interesting podcast from the International Spy Museum in Washington DC. The two most recent episodes about a Canadian diplomat in Havana working for the CIA and the lead up to the attack on Pearl Harbour are particularity fascinating.
Don’t Call me a Guru: A podcast about social media strategy hosted by Edmontonians Linda Hoang and Tyler Butler. (I’m a guest on episode three).
Escape Plan and Horizon Line: Atlas Obscura is the definitive online guidebook and friendly tour-guide to the world’s most wondrous, weird, and obscure places and it is one of my favourite websites. They are now producing two podcasts.
The World Next Week: The Council on Foreign Relations produces a weekly podcast that provides previews, analysis and information about upcoming international events.
The Axe Files and the Ezra Klein Show: Both of these podcasts include interesting and thought-provoking interviews with some of America’s key cultural, academic and political players. David Axelrod’s final podcast of 2016 included an interview with outgoing President Barack Obama.