I Zoomed tonight with some of my former Travel Channel colleagues. It made me even more nostalgic for the days we all went places, so roll with me on a deep dive into the current state of travel. Or just come along for the usual look at everything else happening in podcastland.
This week’s counts: 47 notable guests, 18 new podcasts, five deep dives and one landmark stat: As of this week, 1 million shows now can be found on Apple Podcasts.
Pod Take of the Week
“This is no longer like a site where you go to watch a video. It’s the soundtrack to people’s life.”
Listen: Rabbit Hole: Two: Looking Down (30:23)
- That’s New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose, on the role YouTube now plays in our culture.
- Roose’s six-episode dive into the depths of how the internet works hit episode two, with a look at how YouTube algorithm works.
- Big get: Roose analyzes Caleb Cain’s YouTube viewing history over four years and 12,000 videos, showing how the changes to the algorithm shaped what he saw — and how he saw the world.
Go Deep
1) The NFL Draft
Listen: Pardon My Take, The Bill Simmons Podcast, The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, Flying Coach With Steve Kerr and Pete Carroll
- The NFL draft kicked off Thursday night, and sports podcasts were pretty excited to have something fresh to talk about. At least 1,330 published an episode about it in the last 24 hours. Some highlights from the top five sports podcasts, as ranked by Apple Podcasts:
- Pardon My Take (No. 2 ranked on Apple) breaks down the first round and athlete couches.
- Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll (No. 3) breaks down how he prepares for a virtual draft and how he scouts players.
- Simmons (No. 4) breaks down the first round and the boos for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell with Cousin Sal.
- Le Batard (No. 5) breaks down the first round and the funniest moments with Stugotz.
- Note: The morning after the start of the NFL draft, All the Smoke, an NBA podcast (!), was ranked No. 1 among sports podcasts on Apple.
2) The Novel Coronavirus and Travel
Listen: Big Questions with Cal Fussman, Bloomberg Businessweek, Deviate with Rolf Potts, Confronting Coronavirus, Skift Daily Briefing
- The Points Guy Brian Kelly offers his take on the future of travel and aviation.
- On Bloomberg, JetBlue chairman Joel Peterson shares his industry perspective.
- Potts talks to AirTreks chairman Sean Keener about the prognosis for long-term world travel.
- Confronting Coronavirus from the Irish Times asks, “How will the global airline industry recover from Covid-19?”
- Industry pub Skift tracks the day-to-day of the industry in turmoil.
3) Beyoncé’s “Lemonade”
Listen: Dissect
- Cole Cuchna’s beloved music podcast returns with a song-by-song deep dive into Queen Bey’s landmark album.
4) Mind-Control Experiments
Listen: Endless Thread
- Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson unravel “the shocking history of CIA-funded mind-control experiments” in a limited series for the WBUR/Reddit production.
5) Amazon vs. Walmart
Listen: Business Wars
- The latest six-episode series dives into the battle between the retail (and more) giants.
Guest Appearances By…
($L) = On Luminary, behind a paywall. (S) = A Spotify exclusive. Biggs, Jason Life is Short with Justin Long
Braff, Zach You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes
Brown, Jerry The Californian Century
Colicchio, Tom Angry Americans
Corddry, Rob Kickass News
Cross, David The Three Questions with Andy Richter
Crow, Sheryl Armchair Expert
Cuban, Mark Recode Decode
Dorsey, Jack Artificial Intelligence
Ferriss, Tim Recode Decode
Gervais, Ricky Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Goodall, Jane ID10T
Hall, Daryl Here’s the Thing
Hanks, Tom Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!
Helms, Ed Bullseye
Hood, Patterson Broken Record
Hutcherson, Josh Anna Faris is Unqualified, ID10T
Iger, Bob The goop Podcast
Inslee, Jay Here’s the Deal
Jackman, Hugh The Big Ticket
Jamil, Jameela Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls
- She narrates the story of Greta Thunberg.
Jennings, Ken The Adam Carolla Show
Kerry, John Work in Progress with Sophia Bush
Klobuchar, Amy Here’s the Deal
Koppelman, Brian The Tim Ferriss Show
- The “Billions” co-creator talks art, Francis Ford Coppola.
Klosterman, Chuck The Bill Simmons Podcast
Lapkus, Lauren Las Culturistas
Lewis, Michael The Al Franken Podcast
Middleditch, Thomas ID10T, Comedy Bang! Bang!, Off Camera with Sam Jones
Morris, Wesley Home Cooking
Murthy, Vivek Unlocking Us with Brene Brown
Neistat, Casey Pretty Big Deal
O’Donnell, Rosie WTF with Marc Maron
Pence, Mike The Journal
Pill, Alison Keep It!
Sanders, Bernie Pod Save America
Schaal, Kristen Bananas
Schwartz, Ben Comedy Bang! Bang!
Scott, Adam How Did This Get Made?
- The man who will be returning to Parks and Rec for a one-time special next week (!!!) talks about the Vin Diesel movie “Bloodshot.”
Silver, Nate In the Bubble with Andy Slavitt
Silverstone, Alicia Kickass News
Sonnenfeld, Barry WTF with Marc Maron
- Has anyone watched “Get Shorty” recently? Does it hold up for a rewatch?
Stonestreet, Eric TigerBelly
Tan, Amy Sugar Calling
Villaseñor, Melissa Good for You
Wright, Jeffrey Touré Show
Zimmern Andrew Guy Kawasaki’s Remarkable People
Notable New Podcasts
- Rick Wilson and Molly Jong-Fast host The Daily Beast’s “podcast for a world gone off the rails.”
- It’s No. 11 on Apple Podcasts.
2) Bananas
- From Exactly Right, Kurt Braunohler and Scotty Landes “discuss the strange, fascinating, and just plain bananas news from around the world.”
- It’s No. 16 on Apple Podcasts.
- Jon Meacham “explores some of the most historic and trying times in American History, and how this nation dealt with these moments, the impact of these moments and how we came through these moments a unified nation.”
- It’s No. 17 on Apple Podcasts
4) Let’s Do Life with Autumn Calabrese
- The fitness expert “navigates life as a superstar trainer, boy Mom, daughter, sister, and friend.”
- It’s No. 21 on Apple Podcasts
5) The Confessional with Nadia Bolz-Weber
- It’s “a carwash for people’s shame and secrets.”
- A little more meat on that bone: The former stand-up comic and recovering alcoholic, and current Lutheran Pastor, “invites guests to share stories about times they were at their worst.”
- It’s No. 30 on Apple Podcasts.
6) Light House
- In the fiction pod from iHeartRadio, “There is a darkness that dwells in the heart of Light House…one that will tear Tara’s family apart. Do you believe in ghosts? Tara didn’t…until she moved into Light House.”
- It’s No. 59 on Apple Podcasts.
- It’s cheekily billed as “the 1st podcast by a comedian… EVER.”
8) Lights Out
- The “chill creepy paranormal and true crime podcast” covers “a wide range of topics including the occult, hauntings, cryptids, alien abductions, serial killers and demonic possession.”
- Gustavo Sorola and Chris Demarais host the true crimer that breaks down “the major accidents in aviation and the steps taken to prevent future disasters.”
10) News O’Clock
- The Buzzfeed pod is “a 20-minute news digest…that breaks down the day’s headlines from the worlds of politics, culture, and entertainment.”
- Former tennis pro Daniela Hantuchova ”interviews guests that inspire her from the world of sports, entertainment, and culture.”
- The Grammy Award-winning guitarist interviews “the friends he’s met in his 20 plus years as a touring musician.”
- First guest: Dave Matthews.
13) LoveSick
- It’s “about dating in the time of COVID-19,” featuring audio-recorded blind dates.
- Jay Caspian Kang, Tammy Kim and Andy Liu are the hosts of this podcast on Substack.
- The gist: “We launched this thing because, like you, we’ve been sheltering in place and wanted an outlet for our thoughts on the coronavirus, Asia, geopolitics, and Asian Americans.”
15) Grounded with Louis Theroux
- He’s “using the lockdown to track down some high-profile people he’s been longing to talk to – from all walks of life and on both sides of the Atlantic.”
- The BBC pod offers ‘history lessons for all the family,” hosted by Greg Jenner.
17) Social Distance Assistance
- VPM explores “the positive ways people are helping during the pandemic” and it answers “your questions about life in the era of social distancing.”
18) Triple Click
- Video game experts Kirk Hamilton, Maddy Myers and Jason Schreier ”explore hot topics in video game news and culture, answer burning listener questions, debate the pros and cons of the biggest new games, and replay old classics together.”
And Two to Look Forward to:
Julie’s Library (April 29)
- Welcome to podcastland, Julie Andrews!
- She and her daughter, children’s author and educator Emma Walton Hamilton, “invite you into their library to read their favorite children’s books.”
In the Dark: Coronavirus in the Delta (April 30)
- The acclaimed podcast returns Thursday with a limited-run series focused on lives upended in the Mississippi Delta by the novel coronavirus.
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