Traditional Podcasts

Many of these are existing radio shows, rebundled as podcasts. All great to listen to.

Kiwimana bee podcasts – I was recently introduced to this podcast from North Island – excellent way to keep up with the latest in beekeeping both in NZ and worldwide – recommended.

a16z  Marc Andreessen’s podcast – recommended for techies. How did I miss this? Lots to catch up on.

RiskyBusiness – thanks to the person who mentioned this at the Canterbury software cluster meeting April 2015. Essential listening  for those building products and keen to stay ahead of the bad guys.

Ask me another –  If you like pub quiz nights, this is for you: fun, trivia questions all the time  (USA, 2011)

Wait, Wait don’t tell me – its really a rebroadcast of the  NPR ( US National Public Radio) show in front of a live audience, lots of fun energy and spontaneity (USA, 2011)

NZ: at the movies – stay ahead of movies by listening, when you choose,  to the fantastic movie reviews from always entertaining RNZ’s Simon Morris. Best reviews are of movies he does not like (New Zealand, 2008)

Freakonomics Radio ; if you liked the books, you will love this podcast. Always a new (data driven) insight into some weird question. I enjoy listening to the back and forth.  I think they gather material for their next book via this podcast. (USA, 2010)

BBC business daily. Great way to keep up with world business news every day. (UK, 2010)

Sleek Geeks Starring  Mr almost-know-it-all Dr Karl and Adam Spencer in Australia. Quite fun and many odd ball topics bantered about (Australia, originally a ABC TV program)

NPR Fresh Air – By far the best interviews with important people in the world in politics, science, arts, culture and faith. Highly recommended.  Everyone obviously loves to be interviewed by Terry Gross, she draws out the best in people.   (USA,  radio show since 1990)

5 Live Science – Naked Scientist Chris Smith and friends. Another great science program from the BBC ( UK, 2009)

BBC world update morning  commute. A regular news broadcast bundled as a handy  way  to get your daily news just when you want it, in a 30 minute package. By the time you get to work, you are all done catching up with the current disasters, wars and scandals. (UK, 2010)

Graham Norton. Listen when you just want to relax and enjoy. This is rebroadcast of his radio show. (UK, 2007)

The Moth Podcast – when you feel like hearing a story, tune into Moth! (USA, 2009)

Science Friday – basically a  rebroadcast of popular NPR science show with guests – best science interviews – broad topic base, pro critical-thinking (USA, 2011)

New Eruptive Podcasts

These podcasts are are not derived from other media. They are often presented in the new, high quality production, non-radio format. When I listen, I feel like they are talking just to me.

CBC Ideas podcast – a good source of continually stimulating ideas, such as this one about what is money

AWS podcast – pretty good way to keep up with Amazon Web Services many changes, besides reading their blog. Little dry but helpful. Has been off the air until recently, glad to see it back (USA,2013)

Startup Podcast  –   fantastically popular,  week by week story of a real startup, bravely bears all  (USA, 2014)

Startups for the Rest of Us – always practical advice for startups, or at least something to chew on – 228 episodes and counting! (USA)

Serial, of course,  was the media story of 2014.  Every new episode was eagerly awaited. When they started, they did not know how it would end. Amazingly analytical and thoughtful.  ( USA, 2014)

NZ tech podcast – Paul Spain continues to provide a great service to the NZ tech community with this podcast – sometime  presentation is a bit dry in comparison to other  podcasts now available. ( New Zealand, 2011)

Cloud Computing Weekly and Cloudcast.net  – 2 helpful podcasts to keep up with Cloud topics (USA)

Invisibilia – Actually a science show with a delightful feminine perspective and excellent, surprise story telling. Only 6 episodes so far, but already has been #1 in podcast charts (USA, 2015)

Spilled Milk –   lots of   fun with  foodie trivia – (USA, 2010)

Science Weekly  – one of the great Guardian podcasts – an important set of topics with clear scientific analysis. (UK,

Dan Carlin’s hardcore history – Like history? Check this out.  Fantastic site for boning up on history, compelling presentation, opinionated, you will learn so much about World War 1, the Khan empire etc. Actually more of (free) Audio book than podcasts, hours of listening here. (USA, 2011)

Planet Money. A great podcast for understanding the world economy. Their past T-shirt series was outstanding. (USA, 2008)

Slate Money – nice data based approach to economic matters, good banter and ends with their favourite numbers of the week. US/Europe focus usually (USA, 2014)

The Hidden Brain   – great collection of podcasts about how we think our brains work, which determines  what we do (NPR, USA)

(stats are from here ) 

Have you found other disruptive, eruptive podcasts? Let me know!