I like This American Life, but the quality varies massively which is frustrating. I listen to a few BBC podcasts - no ads and generally consistently good, in particular Kermode and Mayo’s film podcast, Ouch (about living with and the politics and culture of disability) and Thinking Allowed, for sociological highbrow discussion from Radio 4.
Just discovered Reply All, and loving it. The Longest Shortest Time cause for some reason I like mummy blogs even though I’m not a parent. I shelled out for Dan Savage’s Magnum podcast but quickly tired of him/his callers taking too long to ask a simple question about sex. I also recently subscribed to Mark Marron and like his personalised, quite emotional take on interviews. Death Sex and Money is ok, a bit inconsistent but has the odd brilliant guest. I recommend listening to the recent episodes about New Orleans, especially Big Freedia.
For fascinating science discussions I like The Infinite Monkey Cage. Plus they’ve got a theme song written by Eric Idle.
For history, besides all the good ones already mentioned, there’s Rex Factor. Two British fellows rank all the monarchs of Britain from Alfred the Great to Elizabeth II.
About 20 hours a week. I’m not going to list all of them, but here are some of the more interesting and/or obscure:
[ul]
[li]A Way with Words[/li][li]No Such Thing as a Fish[/li][li]Sawbones[/li][li]The Splendid Table[/li][li]Stuff Mom Never Told You[/li][li]Deep in Bear Country[/li][li]Amicus[/li][li]Savage Love[/li][li]Oh No, Ross and Carrie[/li][li]Yes Means Yes[/li][li]Reality Cast[/li][li]America’s Test Kitchen[/li][li]Awesome Etiquette[/li][li]Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe[/li][li]Overthinking It[/li][li]Prefer Not To[/li][/ul]
Also, I don’t listen to it regularly, but there’s one called The 'Cast Next Door that is having a few episodes on which my partner is a guest
The Memory Palace
99% Invisible
Freakonomics
How to do Everything
Seincast
Stuff You Should Know
Stuff to Blow Your Mind
The Tony Kornheiser Show
ESPN Behind the Bets
Grantland Sports (Cheap Heat)
Talk is Jericho
Maltin on movies - Movie critic Leonard Maltin and actor Baron Vaughn discuss every week three movies related by a common theme- a good one, a bad one, and an underrated one. Worth a listen.
**Spontaneanation **- Comedian Paul F. Tompkins interviews a celebrity - and then him and a bunch of improv actors base some sort of radio play around what was said. It’s improv, so of course there’s a lot of hits and misses.