Old-school radio voices headline this week’s newsletter. The counts: 35 notable guests, 15 new podcasts, five deep dives and one bout of second-grade humor.
Pod Take of the Week
“I didn’t want to play The Beatles. I wanted to be The Beatles.”
Listen: Fresh Air: Howard Stern (47:51)
- So says Stern, sharing with Terry Gross his deliriously wild career ambitions.
- Instead, as he shares with Gross, he became Fartman.
- Stern sat with fellow audio giant Gross for a much hyped two-part interview that covered psychotherapy, cancer, Stern’s parents, Stern’s sexist past and, yes, farts.
Go Deep
1) The Founding of the Women’s United Soccer Association
Listen: Back Pass
- ESPN’s 30 for 30 takes a 53-minute dive into the launch of the first professional soccer league for women in the wake of the 1999 World Cup.
2) Artificial Intelligence
Listen: Future State
- Host and former Special Advisor to the President for Cyber Security Richard Clark and futurist Amy Webb talk AI.
3) People Who Have Been Left Behind
Listen: The Documentary Podcast
- The BBC World Service pod looks at the people migrants leave behind when they go in search of improved lives.
4) “John Wick; Chapter 2”
Listen: The Rewatchables
- The Ringer goes deep on the Keanu Reeves “instant classic.”
5) “Game of Thrones” and History
Listen: StarTalk
- George RR Martin talks to host Neil deGrasse Tyson about the real-world inspiration for “Thrones.”
- My take: Better than listening to complaints about Season 8!
Guest Appearances By…
(L) = On Luminary
Braun, Scooter Math & Magic with Bob Pittman
Clarke, Richard The Gist with Mike Pesca
Cody, Diablo Keep It!
Corden, James You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes
Crosley, Sloane Longform Podcast
Daniels, Jeff Here’s the Thing
Destiny Now What? with Arian Foster (L)
Diamond, Jared The Gist
Doyle, Glennon Oprah’s Super Soul Conversations
Feldman, Liz Jordan, Jesse GO!
- Convo with the creator of “Dead to Me.”
Franklin, Aaron The National Podcast of Texas
- Says the pitmaster behind the beloved Franklin BBQ: “There’s always people in a three-hour line hoping you fail.”
Gabbard, Tulsi The Joe Rogan Experience
- Rogan goes 2 hours, 42 minutes with the 2020 Presidential candidate.
Gates, Bill The TED Interview
Haddish, Tiffany Celeste and Her Best (L)
Hader, Bill The Jim Rome Podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, Kickass News
- The “Barry” star makes the pod rounds.
Harlow, Poppy Skimm’d From the Couch
Harris, Neil Patrick Life is Short with Justin Long
Herzog, Werner Studio 360
Hornby, Nick Recode Media
Huston, Anjelica WTF with Marc Maron
Jamil, Jameela Never Not Funny
- Tahani!
Long, Justin Armchair Expert
Mantzoukas, Jason Off Camera
- Derek!
Mooney, Kyle WTF with Marc Maron
O’Brien, Soledad Persistence 360°
Pell, Paula Bullseye
Pennington, Ty Nobody Told Me!
Simons, Timothy TV Take
Stelter, Brian The Ezra Klein Show
Thomas, Richard The Moment
Tlaib, Rep. Rashida The Daily
Waller-Bridge, Phoebe Fresh Air
Wells, Pete The Sporkful
- Host Dan Pashman goes undercover with the New York Times restaurant critic.
Welsh, Irvine Conversations
- Convo with author of “Trainspotting.”
Williams, Allison Hysteria
Notable New Podcasts
1) White Lies
- True crime alert! The NPR podcast investigates the 1965 murder of Reverend James Reeb, rooted in solid journalism.
- Says Sarah Bowen Shea of the Another Mother Runner pod: “If you love ‘In the Dark,’ you’ll be glued to this show.”
- It’s the current No. 1 pod on iTunes.
- Documentarian Andrew Jenks investigates the recent college admissions scandal in the pod’s first season.
- Diane von Furstenberg hosts the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation pod featuring “the often untold stories behind one of the world’s most famous landmarks: the Statue of Liberty.”
4) Starkville
- Jayson Stark and Doug Glanville dive into “the beauty of our national pastime,” aka baseball.
5) The Queen
- Slate explores the life of Linda Taylor, America’s “welfare queen.” She was “the villain Ronald Reagan needed to create a vision of a country being taken advantage of by its poorest citizens.”
6) The C-Word (L)
- Lena Dunham’s pod focuses on “women history loves to call ‘crazy’”
7) Science Rules! with Bill Nye
- The Science Guy will “tackle your curliest questions on just about anything in the universe.” Specific!
- An advice show “made by and for people of color.” Tonya Mosley hosts the KQED production.
9) Distributed, with Matt Mulleweg
- The co-founder of WordPress’s and CEO of Automattic’s pod seeks to “understand the future of work.” He leads a company with 900+ employees across 68 countries.
10) Math & Magic with Bob Pittman
- iHeartMedia Chairman and CEO talks marketing.
11) Life is Short with Justin Long
- The actor asks people like Neil Patrick Harris, “How do we make the most out of our short time here on Earth?”
12) Dead Ass with Khadeen and Devale Ellis
- The YouTubers talk about “love, sex, marriage and everything in between.” Strong debut. It’s No. 4 on iTunes.
13) Personal Best
- It’s season two of the CBC pod that “turns tiny goals into grand adventures.”
- Soccer/football icon Rooney talks about his career.
15) 13 Alibis
- Dateline NBC producer Dan Slepian “chronicles the case of Richard Rosario, who was convicted of a 1996 murder in New York City.” All eight episodes dropped yesterday.