I really enjoyed the podcast “Justice” with Michael Sandel. I think it was billed as Harvard’s favorite lecture.
The best of them all – ‘We’re Alive’: a serialized account of the zombie apocalypse. We’re at the end of the second season now, so you’d have to start back at the beginning to get the characters all sorted out. Not only am I hooked on it, but half my Lit students now are, too. Most episodes end with the nail-gnawing cliff hangers reminiscent of old radio shows.
I like Dan Savage’s Lovecast. It’s amusing listening to weird details of people’s sex lives. My personal favorite was about the girl who wanted her boyfriend to fuck her armpit and come up her nose.
Fresh Air is always an interesting listen as well. Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me always has me giggling on my commute.
There have been some comedy podcasts mentioned that I’ve tried but never stuck with. The two that I really love are:
Sick and Wrong Podcast: Just what the title says. Not for the faint of heart.
The Complete Guide to Everything: Just what the title says.
Sex sells so I came in to recommend Dan Savage’s “Savage Love” Podcast, it is available online and on iTunes. (I see HazelNutCoffee beat me to the punch!)
Seconded. (Verballer fist bump)
+1
It’s a BBC show where they discuss anything and everything. But it’s not talk radio, it’s one presenter and three experts discussing anything from Baconian science to the Boxer Rebellion or the Brothers Grimm (all discussed in 2009)
This sounds fantastic. I have added a subscription, thanks.
While I am thinking of it, I also used to listed to Escape Pod which is SciFi short stories read aloud and very good. I still subscribe, but haven’t been in the mood recently so it’s been a while since I listened to any of them.
I have also been meaning to give decoder ring theater a shot. I hear great things, but haven’t gotten around to listening to it yet.
Thanks for suggesting this, it’s really interesting.
Seconded. Aside from This American Life, this is the only can’t-miss podcast on my weekly schedule.
If you like comic books at all, you might tune in to The Two-Headed Nerd Comicast. I try to catch it every week and see what’s new out there in the comic book world.
My favorite fiction podcast: The Classic Tales Podcast by BJ Harrison. At the very least check out the various Jeeves and Wooster stories. Harrison is just the sort of cob to do a bang up job with those short t’s, what ho!
huh, this post sounds a bit familiar 
It’s been a year though, so I’ll browse the recommendations with you. 
These have been recommended in the thread, and I highly second the recommendations. All are on my current subscribed:
[ul]
[li]The Moth[/li][li]Planet Money[/li][li]A History of the World in 100 objects[/li][/ul]
I haven’t seen it mentioned, but I highly recommend Stuff You Should Know
It’s two really charismatic guys - “Hi, I’m Josh Clark and this is Charles W. ‘Chuckers’ Bryant” basically doing the oratory equivalent of a wikipedia article on an interesting topic. It’s smart, the two have really good banter, it’s funny, and there’s nearly 250 episodes available for download. I highly recommend it. Once you love it, join their Kiva team, which is kicking ass and doing some real good.
Here’s what I listen to regularly (some already mentioned, but maybe that means they’re really good):
Skeptics Guide to the Universe: I love this one! Very informative and always interesting.
WTF with Marc Maron: he’s neurotic, but he really knows how to interview a guest. He’s also pretty damn funny.
The Nerdist: Chris, Matt and Jonah have great chemistry together which makes for some good interviews.
Tech News Today: good tech roundup.
Doug Loves Movies: funny podcast with a panel of guests shooting the breeze with America’s hardest working stoner, Doug Benson.
The Pod F. Tompkast: Paul F. Tompkin’s strange and hilarious podcast featuring excerpts from The Great Undiscovered Project in which he impersonates various celebrities as they plan a project, as well as other bits. Really, I can’t put it into words, you’ll have to listen.
Marketplace from APM: Great update on the economy that airs on NPR stations.
Here are a few that I have stopped listening on a regular basis, but still check out if I need a fix:
Comedy Bang-Bang: formerly Comedy Death Ray. The podcast used to be really, really hilarious but seems to be hit or miss lately. I will probably give it a shot again in the future and maybe grab back episodes if I like what I hear.
The Adam Carolla Show: I used to look forward to this every morning but it seems to have run out of steam. Sometimes he’ll get a great guest and I’ll download it.
Joe Rogan: when he has a guest I’m interested in then it can be really, really great. Unfortunately, at over 2 hours long, I can’t always bring myself to listen to a guest I’m not interested in.
Hope that helps!
The only exception I’ve noticed is that big names are terrible at The Moth. Salmon Rushdie’s 15 minutes were awful - nothing but name dropping and “look at me!” anecdotes. There was another one I was really unimpressed with - was it Al Sharpton maybe? It’s the “every day guy” stories that affect me the most. I love them so much!
I have a one hr drive each epway , and the following excellent podcasts were suggested to my by the dope.
This American Life
Freakonomics
Radiolab
On The Media
Cartalk
Bill Maher ( I don’t always agree with him, but find him funny in an OTT shouty kind of way)
Also the TED talks are good, they are video, but I find the talks are generally good enough that one can just listen
The Economist has a full edition podcast if you subscribe to the magazine
Friday night comedy podcast from the BBC, although the humour may not translate well.
I tried the Racal Maddow show, could never get it to sync up reliably. I tried one of the skeptical shows and found the dismissive sneering attitude a little over bearing. The Moth had some great stories, but too much dross and so i dropped it due to the large signal to noise ratio.