What podcasts are you listening to? I’m on a kick to listen to a wider range this year and I’d love to get and share some suggestions.
Quick note: It is way too difficult to find and subscribe to podcasts. Some have websites, most don’t. You have to search for them on iTunes, Stitcher, or “wherever you get your podcasts” to borrow a closing line from so many desperate-sounding hosts who know that we are in the Neolithic age of podcasting. So forgive me if I only have the title or Twitter link for a show or host!
I often listen to health- and tech-related podcasts while I’m cooking dinner as a way to wind down my workday:
- Tech Tonics, with Lisa Suennen and David Shaywitz, MD, PhD (First among equals. I’d pay to listen.)
- Politico’s Pulse Check, with Dan Diamond (This episode featuring data scientists Jonathan Sung and Aneesh Chopra is a must-listen for health geeks.)
- Well/Connected, with Dr. Joe Kvedar (Shameless plug: I was a guest earlier this month.)
- The Exam Room, with Bryan Vartabedian, MD (An early episode on physician burnout got me hooked.)
- The a16z Podcast (Shameless plug, part two: I was a recent guest, along with Anil Sethi, CEO of Ciitizen – a company I advise.)
- Better Health While Aging, with Leslie Kernisan, MD, MPH (Her interview with Bill Thomas, MD, about housing and communities as engines of independence is mind-expanding.)
History podcasts are my choice when exercising:
- Uncivil: the stories that were left out of Civil War history
- BackStory (Health geeks will love Forgotten Flu: America & the 1918 Pandemic)
- Slow Burn: Season 1
These podcasts reveal our shared humanity:
- How to Be a Girl: Daily life with my transgender daughter, with Marlo Mack
- The Moth: (One favorite: There Is No Spoon)
- Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel
- Who Am I…Really? with Damon Davis
And for thoughtful analysis of current events while baking pie (and sometimes cookies) I listen to:
- It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders (Sometimes I tune in just to hear the uplifting closing segment, when listeners call in to share their wins for the week.)
- Stay Tuned with Preet (The Dec. 20, 2018, episode with Kara Swisher is a must-listen.)
- Planet Money (The Invisible Wall is an episode that has stuck with me.)
What are you listening to? And if you produce a podcast, tell us about it! Comments are open.
Featured image: The start of a strawberry rhubarb pie on my kitchen counter last summer.
How I built this
Masters of Scale
Who Am I really?
Thanks!
I regularly binged on How I Built This when it started but haven’t listened in a while — will check it out again.
I’d never heard of Masters of Scale but it looks right up my alley.
And yes, Who Am I Really? is fantastic — Damon manages to draw people out and be the perfect active listener as people share their stories.
Very specific to my area is RealTalk MS, hosted by Jon Strum. Jon presents the latest research updates on multiple sclerosis and includes guest interviews (I’ve been on talking about patient focused drug development and iConquerMS). Jon is able to break down the technical side of bio into terms that are understandable to the general listener. So, my recommendation for people interested in MS – http://realtalkms.com
I’ll be checking out your recommendations as well.
Thanks! I love this category of podcast — super-detailed, geeky niche. I often drop in on shows like this to get a perspective on a community that I’m not part of.
I cohost A Bipolar, a Schizophrenic, and a Podcast with Michelle Hammer (I have bipolar) — it’s a more conversational show.
I host The Psych Central Show podcast that features guests week after week helping us understand mental health, mental illness, and psychology.
I hope you like them. 🙂
Gabe Howard
Can’t wait to check them out! Thanks for sharing.
Ear Hustle. Beautiful, inspiring and sometimes devastating stories from (and produced by) inmates in San Quentin
Someone else recently recommended this one – and I devoured the Ear Hustle producers’ interview on Fresh Air. Will check it out for sure.
Mmmm. Strawberry-rhubarb pie. Just seeing the ingredients was like a taste of a madeleine … evoking summer. Thanks.
You can find my healthcare innovation podcast, Harlow On Healthcare, on all the podcast catchers, as part of HealthcareNOW Radio. My podcast home page (with archive) is at http://j.mp/HarlowOnHC. The format is a half-hour fireside chat with healthcare leaders about building the future of healthcare. Recent episodes have addressed a wide range of topics, including: state-level public health responses to the opioid crisis, the NIH All of Us million-genome project, cost-effectiveness analysis, design thinking and the healthcare internet of things.
To your point about findability – I blog about each episode and embed the audio in the blog post: https://healthblawg.com/harlow-on-healthcare.
HCN Radio is an internet radio station at https://www.healthcarenowradio.com/ that “broadcasts” 24/7. (You can even ask Alexa or Google to play it for you: “Find Tune In station HealthcareNOW Radio.” ) Shows are mostly health IT focused, but cover a broad range of topics, from value-based care, to blockchain, to payment, to compliance, and beyond. Each show broadcasts multiple times a day — in my case for two weeks — and then rolls over into the podcast archive. I invite you to check out all of my co-conspirators’ offerings.
Here’s another “network” of podcasts you may want to check out: Touch Point Media http://touchpoint.health/ – with shows from multiple perspectives: hospitals, health systems, physicians, clinicians and consumers.
And, winding up with a shameless plug — please let me know if you’d like to join me for a chat sometime.
Thank you! LOVE the idea of blogging every episode, esp. for a podcast that includes discussion of, let’s say, pending legislation, current law, a report that people may want to read on their own… Your show is a great example of a well-produced, focused, niche podcast that sheds light.
I’d be honored to be a guest when I get past some of the deadlines looming ahead in Feb & March (working on a big research project!)
Thanks Susannah. Looking forward to it.
Oh, so many to share!! And, thank you for sharing yours. Here are some I think are right up your alley:
http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/29-strong-verbs-short-sentences
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/665/before-things-went-to-hell/act-one-3
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/528/the-radio-drama-episode
https://medium.com/nevertheless-podcast/finding-genius-5462f8fd0792
https://medium.com/nevertheless-podcast/episode-6-straight-roads-dont-make-skilful-drivers-66459df0657b
I was riveted to the second season of Slate and this past season of Serial.
I completed Seth Godin and Alex DiPalma’s Podcasting Fellowship recently. Here’s my first episode (lots more work to do, but it’s a start): https://maryaviles.com/blog/2018/11/25/life-long-learning-emphasis-on-long
Great list! And I can’t wait to listen to your first episode. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for these reminders and recommendations! I’ve really just begun to luxuriate in the podcast pool, often opting for audible books. My dear friend, Alison Gold, has collected some pretty stellar recommendations and also, reminds us to seek diverse voices and perspectives:
https://www.optimisticanthro.com/blog-optimistic-anthropology/2019/1/20/field-notes-podcasts-to-inspire-the-adjacent-possible-vol-2
+1000 on the diverse voices & perspectives — I had not realized how prevalent the white male host phenomenon is. Thanks for sharing Alison’s list!
I produce Health Hats, the Podcast https://www.health-hats.com/subscribe-to-podcast/
I listen to:
Healthcare is Hilarious: Casey Quinlan https://mightycasey.com/healthcare-is-hilarious/
Humans with Josh Levent http://www.joshlevent.com/podcast/
State of Inclusion with Ame Sanders https://stateofinclusion.simplecast.fm/
Women Rule Politico https://www.politico.com/womenrule
The Problem https://theproblem.regenstrief.org/
Great list! My family will be pleased with all the cooking I’m going to do, listening to these 🙂
Would love to hear what you think of the Healthcare IT Today podcast we just launched: https://www.healthcareittoday.com/category/healthcare-it-today-podcasts/
I’ll check it out!
Here are a few suggestions that came to me via tweets (memorializing here since they’ll otherwise disappear into the void):
The Nocturnists: real stories about life in medicine
Explore the Space: health care & society
Aria Code: as in opera
Revolutions: as in war
As someone who’s hosted podcasts, I LOVE a great interviewer as much as a guest, because I appreciate the work that goes into a engaging episode. And of course, you begin to feel like you know that interviewer over time, which is why I’m drawn to these three in particular:
To make me smarter in my job: Fixing Healthcare with Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/fixing-healthcare-podcast/id1423874033?mt=2). Brilliant guests, probing questions, super-timely topic. Hopefully they bring in payers and other stakeholders as guests for season two.
To make me a more enlightened person: The Rich Roll Podcast (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rich-roll-podcast/id582272991?mt=2) Rich goes deep on topics that expands my thinking. Sometimes my head hurts afterwards.
To make me laugh out loud, while in traffic at a red light, as others stare, but that’s OK because it’s my guilty pleasure and by God, I’m still learning something too: Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/getting-curious-with-jonathan-van-ness/id1068563276?mt=2). Yes, he’s the best character in this season’s Queer Eye and he’s got a very pronounced political agenda but you know what? That’s great. I wish more people cared enough to educate themselves on the issues. And sometimes listening to NPR on the ride home is not what your soul needs.
Enjoy, Susannah!
I highly recommend Hurry Slowly with Jocelyn K. Glei – how to be more creative, resilient, and productive by slowing down. It’s changed my mindset and habits re: work.
Oh, that sounds lovely. “Slow down” is a personal mantra. Thank you!
I follow 3 science-based Functional Medicine (FM) podcasts. It’s major health education for me.
Fx Med Podcast — Dr. Kara Fitzgerald N.D. interviews FM leaders.
https://www.drkarafitzgerald.com/fxmed-podcast/
Doctor’s Farmacy, with Dr. Mark Hyman https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-doctors-farmacy-with-mark-hyman-m-d/id1382804627
Broken Brain, hosted by Dhru Purohit https://drhyman.com/broken-brain-podcasts/
FM, at its core, treats root causes more than symptoms.
I completely healed from several major physical health conditions– without meds or surgery. Every time, my research doctors said that’s impossible— I’m anonymously famous for what I pulled off. Now in my 60s I have no major health condition. Not for years now— knock wood! I become higher-functioning every day.
What worked for me, every time, was my own science-based research. A ton of it. And listening to my body, focusing on healing vs symptoms. And logging everything. Based on that, creating my own ultra-health program— changing my diet, lifestyle, movement patterns, mind-set, everything.
No help from the medical system, unfortunately, though I did try and try. And I never attended support groups that seem more about getting help with symptoms.
After I rebuilt my health I discovered FM. FM is now explaining the root causes of conditions I had, and how my self-healing program worked. Glad to see more physicians getting on board!
Thank you! I love the image of you rebuilding your health, brick by brick, with your own research into the science of healing.
That’s what it takes.
Thanks for this great post! I’m checking out https://betterhealthwhileaging.net/series/bhwa/
I too am a podcast junkie!
My favorites in Healthcare are:
* The #HCBiz Show! Unraveling the Business of Healthcare (I host this one with Shahid Shah – https://TheHCBiz.com )
* Relentless Health Value – https://relentlesshealthvalue.com/
* A Healthy Dose – the VC take on HC industry
* The Drop Out – it’s about Theranos. Just started listening and it’s fascinating.
Marketing:
* Building a Story Brand – Donald Miller
* Akimbo – Seth Godin
* The Practice Marketing Podcast (I co-host this one with Garrett Smith – https://inboundmd.com/podcast/ )
Favorite overall:
* Radio Lab – Great stories with incredible production quality.
Awesome! Since you host podcasts, maybe you can tell me: What is required to get the production quality up to the standard of a professional show? Not even to the level of Radio Lab, but something close.
The question is open to anyone who wants to answer, btw: What happens behind the scenes to make podcasts sound iffy vs. decent vs. great?
On the tech q front, I’ll second the recommendation (below) of the Audio Technica ATR 2100 mic. That, and a stand (or swing-arm like an old architect’s desk lamp) and a pop filter, and free Audacity software (to record and edit) is all you really need. There are a variety of free and paid tools to use to record a remote guest. Anything from Uberconference (free phone or web con call) to Zencastr (paid service which requires your guest to handle some technical stuff on their end to record and upload a file from their computer). My favorite bit was asking my son the musician to come up with a 15-second composition in the mode of Weekend Edition incidental music. I’ve been a guest on podcasts with fancier equipment and software that don’t sound noticeably better than the sound quality I get. Since most listeners are not listening with really hi-fidelity equipment, and since most of our collective listenership is old enough to have lost at least some hearing, the marginal benefits of high-end equipment and software seem pretty marginal.
Thanks much for the relentlesshealthvalue.com mention, Don & mutual admiration society for thehcbiz.com.
Thanks for posting the original list, Suzanne. I think it’s really important to promote great quality podcasts, especially for healthcare, so that new listeners aren’t turned off by the channel when the first show they listen to isn’t high quality content with a decent-quality production value.
To answer your question, to get a podcast up to snuff so that listeners don’t abandon after a few minutes takes some technical know-how as well as time.
Editing (cutting out the parts that are tangential and nobody wants to hear) is essential in my opinion as is having a good producer to equalize the sound, etc.
Equipment is also a factor. Different people do it different ways. I prefer hardware as opposed to online recording but of course that adds a layer of complexity.
If there’s a website/mailing list involved, then there’s also the maintenance of those online properties + social media, which you know all about 🙂
In all, despite having a team of 4 that I work with, I probably spend at least 3-5 hours personally every week on our show.
Happy to get into more detail if you’re interested.
Susannah, thank you for mentioning Better Health While Aging, I’m so honored!
(and yes, Dr. Bill Thomas is amazing!)
And love this conversation you have prompted.
Re your question about podcast sound: I’m not sure how to grade the sound of my own podcast, I have aimed for it to sound “good enough” because I have no funding and have been doing everything on a shoestring. I use an ATR2100 microphone, which costs $60-70 on amazon, and is generally a “best value” pick among podcasters. My sound would be better if I padded the walls of my office but oh well. So I would say getting a decent microphone and putting it in a good position can probably get the sound to “good enough.” That said, I don’t consider myself an expert in the topic, so I hope someone with more extensive podcasting experience will weigh in.
I can thoroughly recommend Dr Chatterjee, he’s now the No.1 health podcast in the UK https://drchatterjee.com/blog/category/podcast/
Thanks, Paul! I’ll give it a listen.
Love all the comments and recommendations. Thought I would add a few more. I have a been a podcast junkie since the early days of blogging. I saw a couple of these already mentioned, but on my rotation and recommendation list that’s days Susannah are the following.
Death, Sex and Money by Anna Sale. Anna’s a Charleston West Virginia native now living on the west coast.
One more WV podcast for you – Mountain Stage. This stays on my NPR music podcast rotation along with Tiny Desk Concerts.
Revisionist History by Malcolm Gladwell. It doesn’t get any better. Great interviewing style and topics. As our son gets ready for college this series he did on higher ed was great and his piece on the border wall issues was one of my favorites.
A spin off from Revisionist History is a new podcast by Malcolm and music producer Rick Rubin. It is called Broken Record. This is just starting up and the first couple of episodes are excellent. Can’t wit for more.
Of course – This American Life. Everything about it is great. Never a bad show.
I am our family genealogy nut and so I like Extreme Genes.
Crimetown. A podcast on crime and corruption in America’s towns. The first season was on Providence and season 2 is Detroit.
I don’t think I saw S-Town listed by anyone above. I hope you have listened to this – if not go now and download it and start episode 1. One of the best serial podcasts ever in my opinion. Captivating story. Be ready, you will binge listen to this series. Other favorite serial story podcasts:
Loved, loved, loved Missing Richard Simmons.
Seriel
The WVU Coed Murders. Regional story for me because it happened in the 1970s when my older sisters were students at WVU.
All for now. Enjoy! Bob
Because the conversation is never over, here’s a new podcast I’ve been listening to:
Who Lives Like This?! The grit and grace of caregiving
The hosts, Jason Lehmbeck and Elizabeth Aquino, interview “our kinds of celebrities” — the people caring for children and young adults with significant health challenges. It’s a way to drop into a community that may otherwise be invisible to the rest of us. And wow is it rich — both heartbreaking and inspiring.