Ten Great Storytelling Podcasts: Subscribe NOW!

Ten Great Storytelling Podcasts: Subscribe NOW!

I’m talking about modern storytelling here, not children’s faery tales, instead interesting stories and experiences from around the globe and moments in lives which should be shared. These are some of my very favourite podcasts to listen to, my friends… here are ten great storytelling podcasts… enjoy! Also, before I forget, the amazing radio you see in this post is by VQ, I am a huge fan of their vintage style DAB / FB / Bluetooth radios, you can connect them to your iPhone and play your podcasts out of the big, high quality speaker and it makes life all the sweeter, this design is the Hepburn.

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One of the first podcasts I fell in love with. They went through a bit of a dry spell last year where they seemed to be producing less content and it became a lot more tech focused, but it seems to be back on track now, which is awesome news. I’ve listened to every episode at least twice over, some of my favourite stories include episodes: ‘1: A Stranger Says I Love You’, ’36: Today’s The Day’, ’44: Shine On You Crazy Goldman’, ’79: Boy In Photo’, ’86: Man Of The People’, ’16: Why Is Mason Reese Crying’ and ’56: Zardulu’. That’s a fair few hours of listening for you…

This American Life

The mother of all podcasts. This public radio show is also released as a podcast and these are the guys who bought Serial and S-Town into the world. Do you need to know any more?! Also, the latest 4 episodes are all you will ever find on the podcast app, so if you want to go back and listen to previous episodes, I suggest you get the app. It costs £2.99 and it’s worth every penny. Or listen at the website if you want to save your pennies. There’s way too many great episodes to mention, but ‘The Breakup’ is amazing for the story ‘Dr Phil’ and the whole episode of ‘Cars’ is great and I also LOVED the lotto story in ‘It seemed like a good idea at the time’. Trust me!

Criminal

I have an embarrassing confession to make. I have listened to each episode MANY times. I have a system, I listen to each episode first time round when I’m awake and concentrating, then I listen again when I’m drifting off to sleep because the presenter, Phoebe Judge has the worlds most soothing voice. I love this podcast and it’s more about the world of crime, rather than gruesome stories, for instance a girl who counterfeit notes when she was at college, the New York Times crime book reviewer and the girl who discovered someone was living in her crawl space in her apartment. So many amazing episodes, too many to mention actually, so just start at the beginning and work your way through every single episode, it shouldn’t take TOO long if you are a commuter, as each episode is generally about 20-30 minutes long.

Lore

Stories of folk law. Some people love this podcast, others find it boring. Me, I really enjoy it! One of my very favourite episodes is 79: Locked Away. Give that one a go and if you don’t love it, I promise I won’t make you listen to any others!

Heavyweight

I love this podcast so much and I can’t wait for the next series. It’s by Jonathan Goldstein who worked on This American Life and in each episode he helps to guide people through an unresolved moment from past to lay it to rest, as it were. My favourite episode is Gregor, but there are so many great ones, like Buzz, Tara, Julia and Jesse. Yep, each episode is named after the person who’s story it is.

The Vanished

Stories of those who have vanished. Sometimes with conclusions, sometimes on-going cases hoping for help in finding a resolution. Always interesting and often a little weird. There’s a LOT of episodes to get through and what I like about it, is that a lot of the cases feature people that might have been forgotten by the media, drug addicts, sex workers, transients… it’s really interesting.

Love + Radio

The first episode of Love + Radio I listened to was called Counter Melody, which was all about a music teacher trying to figure out what the counter melody in a piece of classical music was, it was left as a riddle by the composer a hundred years ago and I loved it! But I’ve since noticed other episodes have a bit more of a risqué theme, like Upper Left. Not that it’s a bad thing, but I feel like the first episode was very different to any others, I love this podcast and I’ve been working my way through years of amazing content. Try Photochemical and The Secrets Hotline to see how you get on and if you love it… keep going!

You Must Remember This

Stories from old Hollywood, because it’s important to know what went on with the greats. There’s so much to learn about Jayne Mansfield, Marilyn Monroe, Bette Davis and Jean Harlow. BTW, the Charles Manson mini series is GREAT!

The Moth

Stories from the stage. Always without a script and always different. It’s quite a prestigious thing to be part of, so they have had some amazing writers and performers. Again a lot of episodes to listen to, but I tend to just dip in and out once in a while.

This Is Love

From the makers of Criminal, This is Love if filled with stories of Love. Occasionally sad, always beautiful and often sharing how how strange life can be and those tiny moments which alter everything. They are currently working on the second season, so take the opportunity to catch up on season 1 now!

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And there we have it, Ten Great Storytelling Podcasts! Enjoy!