Like most people in 2019, I listen to a handful of podcasts religiously.
I commute each morning to a gym I workout at, VIVE Fitness in Kingston, PA, and the drive gives me about 60 minutes total to listen and digest content in an easy, conversational form. When I’m not in the car, I have my wireless Beats headphones on while I work. This is what I’m tuned into at the moment:
- The Joe Rogan Experience – Yea. I get it. Everyone listen’s to JRE. It’s cliche but the guests he brings on is what keeps it interesting and new to me. I can refresh my Apple Music Podcast feed every few days and get a totally different experience out of this podcast each time. One day it’s Chris Kresser talking about the flaws in the vegetarian documentary “The Game Changers”, and next it’s Tulsi Gabbard talking about her 2020 presidential campaign. Total long-form content that give me a totally different perspective on health, politics, entertainment, that I would otherwise not be exposed to simply reading the paper or watching the news. Effortless in my opinion and a much needed dose of out of the box thinking.
- The Recruiting Hour – Two Nebraska Football sportswriters, MIke Schafer and Conner Happer, produce a recruiting podcast everyday that runs through the latest news as it relates to the team and potential recruiting targets. I honestly pay more attention to recruiting anymore, as the actual results on the field are less than desired at the moment. The majority of the Nebraska Football media world are tough to take (won’t name anyone specifically) but these two keep things pretty light. The “we’re two guys that never played sports and we know it” approach is the best part about it. Easy listen when I’m trying to literally turn off the brain at the end of a long work day and see who the Big Red are in on.
- Barstool Radio – Barstool is a brand that I’ve been following since college and their podcast, Barstool Radio, is the brand in a nutshell. The show is hosted by someone different almost everyday, and they dive into the previous week’s events at the Barstool offices and everything that ensues. They take calls from Stoolies and generally talk sports. And when I say talk sports I mean El Pres berating employee’s sports teams in favor of his Boston allegiances. Normally El Pres would be a guy I can’t stand, but he’s self aware enough to be funnier than most all others that would try to perform his shtick. I’ve honestly never seen someone who likes exposing his company’s haters more and my seatbelts buckled for the endless entertainment.
- Making Sense with Sam Harris – This podcast is certainly “out there” as they say. Sam is an author, neuroscientist, and philosopher who brings guests on to discuss ethics, free will, politics, the mind, AI, and anything associated with deep thinking. The majority of the guests he brings on the show dive into topics that are far above my pay grade but I feel smarter and more curious about the mind with each Making Sense episode that appears in my “Previously Played” feed. Sam was a guest on the Joe Rogan Podcast a few years ago back and kind of opened me up to his world. Thinking about thinking is the best way I’d describe it, and I feel like that is the most underwhelming way I could possibly put it.
- BrandBeats – Self described as “An agency podcast with views on design, technology, art, and culture.”, BrandBeats is produced by the design agency, Basic. I don’t listen to this one as much as some of the others, but it’s always a great change of pace when I’m looking to hear about what’s new in the design world. Basic is a brand that I hold in high regard as agency that does things the right way as far as the work they put out and the way they look at things. They offer key insights into some of their in-house professionals and how they view design’s impact on people and their communities.
Like I’ve said, podcasts are a great use of longform content and without a doubt, the most popular, rising form mass content digestion. Wether its CEO, stand-up comedian, sports journalist, or neuroscientist, everyone has an interesting take on the world and it’s important to change your perspective on things as much as you possibly can.