The surge of new podcasts continues. Many about the novel coronavirus, of course. And it’s good to see baseball represent while the season’s delayed.
This week’s counts: 53 notable guests, 15 new podcasts, four deep dives and one 1988 World Series MVP turned podcaster.
Keep hanging strong, everyone. Can’t wait until the ballparks open up.
Pod Take of the Week
“We’re gonna make it through this. It’s going to be bad, and things are not going to be the same on the other side, but, you know…they change anyway.”
Listen: Sugar Calling: ‘Roll Up Your Sleeves, Girls’ (19:57)
- That’s Margaret Atwood, with some wisdom and historical perspective on the COVID-19 pandemic.
- In a new pod about living through this challenging time, host Cheryl Strayed “turns to writers who inspire her for courage and insight.”
- Strayed interviews Atwood for the second episode because of the “way she writes about how we persist in the face of extreme difficulty.”
- Atwood pushes back on the suggestion she has specific wisdom to convey — then proves Strayed right with calm and insight.
Go Deep
1) Apollo 13
Listen: Houston We Have a Podcast, Radio Astronomy, History Extra
- The fateful space mission launched 50 years ago tomorrow. Several pods look back, including:
- NASA’s Houston We Have a Podcast — name inspired, of course, by the words of astronaut Jack Swigert during the mission — features Apollo 13 crew members James A. Lovell and Fred W. Haise.
- Radio Astronomy talks to Jerry Woodfill, who “was working at Mission Control when the spacecraft’s oxygen tank exploded.”
- History Extra features historian Tom Ellis, who “revisits the dramatic story of the astronauts’ incredible battle to survive.”
2) Entertaining Kids in the Time of Coronavirus
Listen: Radiolab for Kids, The Kids Are All…Home
- Radiolab dropped its 17 most kid-friendly episodes into a Radiolab for Kids feed.
- Pineapple Street Studios’ The Kids Are All…Home is “for kids stuck at home, by kids stuck at home.” Its third episode dropped this week.
3) The Cannonball Run
Listen: Past Gas
- The two-part series on the cross-country auto race from New York City to Los Angeles explores “the history of American cross-country racing, including early records, and why the 1971 running was organized as a protest against the government.”
- Note: Car and Driver calls the efforts to get from NYC to LA as fast as possible “dumb.”
4) Jeff Tweedy vs. Jay Farrar
Listen: Rivals
- A 1-hour, 10-minute deep dive into the rise and split of the two creative forces in Uncle Tupelo who went on to form Wilco and Son Volt respectively.
- My take: #TeamTweedy.
Guest Appearances By…
($L) = On Luminary, behind a paywall. (S) = A Spotify exclusive. Bird, Sue The Lowe Post
Cameron, Julia Under the Skin with Russell Brand ($L)
Carden, D’Arcy Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Common Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations
Crenshaw, Dan The Joe Rogan Experience
Drescher, Fran WTF with Marc Maron
Dunham, Jeff WTF with Marc Maron
Dupri, Jermain expediTIously
Eilish, Billie Telekom Electronic Beats
- Eilish says about dealing with isolation, “I kind of have this feeling of like, I love my friends, I can’t wait to see them, I do miss them a lot, but at the same time I’m like, I don’t know, I’m good. I’m good being alone, like I like being alone.”
Everson, Zach Trump, Inc.
- The reporter/publisher of 1100 Pennsylvania talks Trump and the MyPillow guy.
Fauci, Anthony The Journal
Feimster, Fortune Relatively Sane with Jessica Kirson
Ferguson, Niall Recode Decode
Fridman, Lex The Joe Rogan Experience
Gilbert, Elizabeth TED Talks Daily
Gordon, Emily V. Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, Jordan, Jesse GO!
Grant, Adam Recode Decode
- The host of WorkLife envisions the future of work after COVID-19.
Green, Hank 10 Things That Scare Me
Green, John Men in Blazers
Holland, Eva Longform Podcast, Gangrey Podcast
- Convos with the author of “Nerve: Adventures in the Science of Fear.”
Hung, William What Was That Like
Huston, Anjelica Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin
Ireland, Kathy Pretty Big Deal
Katzenberg, Jeffrey Recode Media
Keys, Alicia Broken Record, Armchair Expert
Koenig, Ezra The Moment with Brian Koppelman
Lapkis, Lauren Comedy Bang! Bang!
Lewis, Huey Sodajerker on Songwriting
Linney, Laura The Watch
Mandel, Emily St. John Conversations with Tyler
Mantzoukas, Jason Binge Mode: Weekly
- The comedian completes a two-part spot with deep dives into several pop culture properties, including “The Good Place” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.”
Maron, Marc The Three Questions with Andy Richter, Never Not Funny
Marx, Richard The Adam Carolla Show
McChrystal, Stanley Making Sense with Sam Harris
Nanjiani, Kumail Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, Off Camera with Sam Jones
O’Brien, Ed All Songs Considered
- The Radiohead guitarist talks about his “boldly colorful and intimate” new album, “Earth.”
Perel, Esther The Ron Burgundy Podcast
Pinker, Steven Guy Kawasaki’s Remarkable People
Rapinoe, Megan The Lowe Post
Reynolds, Ryan Scriptnotes
Rizwan, Mawaan Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness
Rocca, Mo Life is Short with Justin Long
Slate, Jenny Women Who Travel
Stanchfield, Darby Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig
Sure, Al B. Hotboxin with Mike Tyson
Systrom, Kevin The Jordan Harbinger Show, Recode Decode
Van Ness, Jonathan It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders
Waller-Bridge, Phoebe Scriptnotes
Warren, Elizabeth The Ezra Klein Show
Wayne, Lil All the Smoke
Whitman, Meg Skimm’d From The Couch
Yang, Alan Comedy Bang! Bang!, The Dave Chang Show
Zakaria, Fareed The TED Interview
Notable New Podcasts
- Julie Klausner and Tom Scharpling “join forces for a weekly journey through the worst of everything.”
- A “The Sopranos” rewatch podcast with two of the show’s co-stars, Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa.
- They give “fans all the inside info, behind the scenes stories and little-known facts that could only come from someone on the inside.”
- Hosts Dr. Zeke Emanuel and Dr. Jonathan Moreno “grapple with the choices forced upon us by the novel Coronavirus,” examining “the codes of ethics that are the backbone of modern medicine.”
- It’s No. 181 on iTunes.
4) Off Air w/Joe and Orel
- Los Angeles Dodgers’ TV announcers Joe Davis and Orel Hershiser “take their love of baseball, life and each other into the most casual setting you’ve heard them yet.”
- It’s No. 74 on iTunes.
- CBS Washington correspondent Major Garrett and “a team of CBS News correspondents and experts break down the daily White House briefing.”
- A comedy fiction pod in which a “clever teenage journalist comically recounts the events that lead to a beloved member of her community tragically dying in a freak, plague-related accident the week before Passover.”
- It’s “part guide, part reminder of the resiliency of the human spirit to still creatively meaningfully gather, even while we have to be apart.” Priya Parker hosts.
8) Counter Programming with Shira & Arielle
- The duo says this will be “your new favorite coronavirus/COVID-19 distraction podcast.”
- They’re on “a quest to bring the world counter programming of all kinds. They’ll focus on countertops (namely, they’re doing a series on marble, granite, and quartz), time counters, calorie counters, counters of other kinds.”
- Hosts Maren Hunsberger and Greg Foot “tell “the true stories of the wild experiments, bizarre journeys, and strange ideas that led to incredible discoveries, life-saving medicines, and evidence of where we all came from.”
- It’s No. 69 on iTunes.
10) Coronavirus in California: Stories From the Front Lines
- The Los Angeles Times podcast features “dispatches from Californians who are in the thick of this pandemic.” Gustavo Arellano hosts.
11) Come Through with Rebecca Carroll
- Carroll has “essential conversations about race in a pivotal moment for America. She talks to great thinkers, writers, and artists about faith, representation, white fragility, and how it’s all playing out in 2020.”
12) The Dennissance
- Dennis Quaid talks to famous people about their “interests outside of the thing they’re known for.”
13) The Compound
- Host Ian Happ of the Chicago Cubs chronicles his life and the lives of three of his teammates.
14) She’s a Rec’
- Lauren Lyle talks to “some of the coolest women of our time, and each week she’s got a new guest on to recommend the albums, films, books and female heroes that have most influenced their lives.”
15) Boxed In
- A “crew of writers and personalities from Yahoo Sports will debate, rank and discuss topics from the world of sports & pop-culture.”
And One to Look Forward to: NASA’s Curious Universe (April 13)
- NASA’s astronauts, scientists and engineers take listeners “on a new adventure each week — all you need is your curiosity.”
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