[hanklazard]

I listen to a ton of tech, current events/news and finance podcasts. Their radio programming seemed to weaken over the last few years so I lost touch. Are there any NPR podcasts worth listening to ?(asking honestly, looking for recs)

[elijaht]

I like Up First. No frills daily news, 3x~4min stories. That being said- my news consumption is pretty limited, so the appeal for me is quickly catching me up with major stories. If you already keep up with current event/news it might be a bit basic for you

[darknavi]

Up First, BBC Global News, and NPR News Now (top of the hour, 3 minutes) are my go-to in the car. No nonsense news headlines.

[nohaydeprobleme]

Radio Ambulante is great for people learning Spanish, especially because the episodes come with transcripts and the content is interesting (it presents stories from Latin America). It’s been a fantastic learning resource: https://radioambulante.org/en

[blakesterz]

I like Hidden Brain, Planet Money and Marketplace. I can't keep up with all the podcasts I'd like to.

[jonny_eh]

In addition to Planet Money I recommend "The Indicator from Planet Money", a daily 10m economics podcast.

https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510325/the-indicator-from-plane...

[drewg123]

Planet Money and the Indicator are excellent.

[bjtitus]

I listen to Marketplace and Fresh Air regularly.

[gordon_freeman]

'Marketplace' [0] daily and 'Wait Wait Don't Tell Me' [1] on the weekend.

[0] https://www.npr.org/podcasts/381444600/marketplace

[1] https://www.npr.org/podcasts/344098539/wait-wait-don-t-tell-...

[Rolcol]

Marketplace isn’t an “NPR” show. It’s owned by American Public Media.

I wonder if this page is more of a generic podcast feed and player

[elil17]

This American Life is still solid, IMHO

[AlwaysRock]

Embedded is pretty good. They just started a new show about an under reported friendly fire event in Fallujah.

[tootie]

I recommend On the Media to everyone. It's WNYC which is an affiliate but same idea.

[dcormier]

I've enjoyed Planet Money for a long time. https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510289/planet-money

[jhallenworld]

I've been listening to Bloomberg more than NPR recently for general news. NPR often seems silly... also they have more ads than the ultra-capitalist Bloomberg.

One bright spot (but it's not NPR): Locally, WGBH has Jim and Margery of "Boston Public Radio"

https://www.wgbh.org/news/boston-public-radio

[InitialLastName]

> they have more ads than the ultra-capitalist Bloomberg

That's because everything Bloomberg does is an ad for Bloomberg and their primary product, the Bloomberg terminal.

[jhallenworld]

They talk about it a little, but not that much. Actually one thing Bloomberg does is fawn over CEOs a little too much.

[theGnuMe]

They need the CEOs to come on the show so that's why.

[theGnuMe]

This American Life, Radiolab are some I like. NPR was basically podcasting before podcasting became the thing.

[thomaslangston]

Short Wave is a short week day science NPR podcast I enjoy.

[dredmorbius]

I've similarly lost interest in most direct-broadcast listening on NPR, though I'll catch a newscast a few times a week, perhaps.

Among podcasts:

- Fresh Air. Terry Gross and Dave Davies are both consummate interviewers, the guest list is excellent, and long-form interviews (30--40+ minutes typically) allow real exploration of a topic, beyond what a 2--6 minute news segment might address. The topical coverage is broad and includes numerous aspects well beyond my own typical interests. There's also a tremendous back-catalogue in the Fresh Air Archive: <https://freshairarchive.org/>

- NPR Headlines: If you just want the most recent 5-minute rundown, that's its own podcast feed.

- Selected Shorts: Short stories --- narrative fiction. A nice break from nonfiction / news / political coverage, and a good end-of-day / end-of-week unwind. Very New-Yorkerish as a friend notes... <https://www.npr.org/podcasts/381443486/pri-selected-shorts>

- The World (PRX): Not strictly NPR, but a news programme which has its primary focus outside US borders. <https://theworld.org/programs/the-world>

- Radiolabs, Freakonomics, Planet Money, How I Built This, Ted Radio Hour: Variable quality IMO, but often good. For someone who's not especially interested in business-launch stories, HIBT has delivered some real hits. I'll sample from these streams. Many of these series have been around for a long time, and have gone through a few hosts. They're generally pretty solid. Most have become at least somewhat "popular" / watered down / formulaic, though original brilliance does sometimes shine through.

- On the Media (WNYC Studios): Distributed by NPR (and at one time directly affiliated), this is the left-central media-analysis programme out of NYC. I was greatly disturbed at the ejection of former co-host Bob Garfield (his own subsequent podcast has been shut down, though he still tweets and has a substack). The show remains relevant, though much more uneven and less compelling than previously. In part it's become a platform for showcasing other podcasts' and series' productions, some of which can be quite good. Currently (re)running a multi-episode bit on right wing talk radio.

- From the CBC, "Ideas" with Nahlah Ayad: <https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas>. This also has a very long back catalogue (notably with former host Paul Kennedy who helmed the programme from 1999--2019). The Massey Lecture segments are especially good.

I strongly favour less topical programmes, generally not affiliated with NPR/PBS or other US public broadcasters. Notably a number of philosophy-related podcasts (Adam Davidson "History of Philosophy", Stephen West "Philosophize This", Wesley Cecil "Humane Arts" (popular and error-prone, but engaging), the truly excellent "Talking Politics: The History of Ideas" with David Runciman, now concluded). A few Libravox books (variable in technical and speaker quality, but some gems), and histories (Rome, Byzantium, China).

I also listen to numerous author / academic podcasts, most especially from the New Books Network (<https://newbooksnetwork.com/>) and various university series (Yale, Harvard, Stanford, LSE, etc.) These may be public lecture series, university press, or specific departments of interest. Speaker quality varies tremendously, but topical knowledge is excellent and the material tends to be noncommercial and is generally only glancingly topical, with some exceptions.