Podcast Recommendations for the week of April 21, 2025

Let's try this again!

Hey, email readers! Sorry to ghost you for the last couple months… you’re probably not interested in my excuses, but if you are, you can find them at the bottom.

For the past two months, I’ve been sharing podcast recommendations on LinkedIn and in public playlists, and the response has been fantastic.

Here’s how to get those recommendations delivered directly to your favorite podcast app.

This little experiment has going well enough that I’m going to start posting those same recs here! So if you want to know what I’m listening to & what I’ve been working on, you’ve come to the right place.

This week’s podcast recommendations

I love the feeling of falling in love with a new podcast. In the summer of 2011, I started listening to RadioLab, and a core memory was created: THIS was possible with audio?

Even as I've made podcasting my career, that feeling has continued to find me. It happened in 2014 with Reply All, in 2018 with Everything Is Alive, in 2021 with Normal Gossip, in 2024 with Never Post — to name just a few.

The latest winner of the Eric Johnson Award For "omg i love this" Vibes is a podcast about radical Catholic peace activists during the Vietnam War, called Divine Intervention.

I posted the first episode here in mid-March, and it's quickly become my favorite new podcast of 2025. Brendan Hughes & co are telling a story about resistance, sabotage, and faith that feels timely and immediately relevant, even though the events happened more than 50 years ago.

The playlists I post here are only for episodes you can enjoy on their own, without already knowing the podcast. But if you're looking for a new series to really sink into, you'd be smart to give Divine Intervention a try.

Speaking of which, here are this week's new recommendations:

🧛 WTF - "Ryan Coogler" (hosted by Marc Maron)

🐕 Lock and Code - "Did DOGE 'breach' Americans' data?" ft. Sydney Saubestre (hosted by David Ruiz)

🎙️ The People's Recorder - "A Giant Listening Project" (hosted by Chris Haley)

💩 This Guy Sucked - "Voltaire" ft. Eleanor Janega (hosted by Claire Aubin)

🌳 Niche to Meet You - "Stick Nation: Paying Attention, One Stick at a Time" ft. Logan Jugler, Boone Hogg, & Margaret Renkl (hosted by Leslie Thompson)

👑 Big Time - "The Homecoming Queen's Gambit" (reported by Rajiv Golla, introduced by Steve Buscemi)

🎯 Question Everything - "Freedom of the press is great, until you're the target" ft. David Enrich (hosted by Brian Reed)

Those excuses I promised

• My motivation to write about silly internet videos and funny news stories went WAY down after November 5, 2024. Wonder why.

• I am increasingly wary of Substack as a platform and was researching a move to Beehiiv or Ghost. Still chewing on this one!

• On a happier note, my work at LightningPod is keeping me busy! Podcasts are growing, and the sort creators & businesses I work with have been reaching out. I hope to tell you about some new shows I’m working on very soon.