Some friends of mine are getting broadband (at last) and I’ve been asked for netcast recommendations.
Over the past few years most of my media consumption has switched to downloads, whether netcasts or torrents, accessed via RSS feeds, aggregated using Google Reader. My use of radio and TV is now mainly for news and occasional sports broadcasts. This feels like an inevitable technological and cultural shift, so I was surprised when I discovered recently that very few of my students subscribe to any netcasts.
Here are my current subscriptions. As you can see, there are a lot of them! I don’t have time to catch every episode, so pick and choose based on episode descriptions.
UPDATE: This post has been receiving links, so I’ll endeavour to keep it updated. I’ve just added some recent finds, such as Are We Alone?, The Bugle, and Epic Fu, and removed several others that I was no longer downloading.
Audio netcasts:
- Adam and Joe BBC 6 Music
Humour is such a personal thing, but Adam and Joe make me laugh. Frequently. I first got into them via their great XFM podcast.
- All in the Mind
Interesting RN program about psychology, neurology, philosophy of mind, etc.
- anonradio: the next generation
Run by Tom Ellard, this has evolved over the years and is currently mainly providing downloads of John Blades’ 2MBS-FM program ‘Background Noise’.
- Are We Alone?
The SETI Institute’s excellent program about science and skepticism.
- Artworks
A good arts program.
- ASX Investor Update Podcast
Nonsense, but useful if, like me, you’d like to understand the world of finance.
- Background Briefing
RN’s in-depth current affairs program.
- Big Ideas
Mostly public lectures from Australia.
- Blogariddims
Dubstep mixes.
- The Bugle
The Times Online’s satirical podcast, with John Oliver (of The Daily Show) and Andy Zaltzman
- CBC Radio: Quirks & Quarks Segmented Show
An entertaining Canadian science show, split into bite-sized chunks.
- CBC Radio: The Best of Ideas
Mostly public lectures from Canada.
- First Monday Podcast
Monthly academically-inclined podcast about digital culture.
- FLOSS Weekly
Interviews and discussion about the world of open source software. Often quite technical, which I reckon is a good thing.
- Hindsight
RN history program.
- hungbunny
Experimental music.
- In Conversation
RN interview program.
- In Our Time
Essential. A panel of experts discusses a topic from science, history or the arts. Hosted by Melvyn Bragg.
- KCRW’s Le Show
Harry Shearer (Spinal Tap, The Simpsons) has a voice that could make reading the newspaper sound interesting, which is sort of what he does here, along with sketches and songs. One of my favourite shows.
- Late Night Live
Interviews and current affairs presented by Philip Adams.
- Lingua Franca
RN program about language.
- MacBreak Weekly
A favourite, mainly because of the amusing banter between Leo Laporte, Merlin Mann and Andy Ihnatko.
- Movie Time
Movie reviews and interviews, featuring some great collages by Paul Gough (aka Pimmon).
- National Interest
Australian national politics and current affairs.
- net@night
Amber Macarthur and Leo Laporte are the engaging hosts of this net-surfing show.
- Ockham’s Razor
Short talks by various Australian thinkers.
- Over The Edge
Negativland’s legendary live mixing show which has been going for decades.
- Philosopher’s Zone
I love this show. Accessible discussion of philosophical issues.
- Eleven Eleven
Excellent sound art and experimental music podcast by Jen Teo.
- Chasing the Tangent
Sofie Loizou presents lovely, soulful electronica.
- Radio Eye
Radiophonic features from RN.
- Read/WriteTalk
From the excellent blog on Web 2.0 etc., this podcast is good when they’re not recording from a speaker phone.
- SALT – Seminars About Long Term Thinking
Interesting lectures from people such as Brian Eno, Joline Blais & Jon Ippolito.
- Some Assembly Required
A musical fix for the Negativland/John Oswald style cutup scene.
- Stephen Fry’s Podgrams
I wish I could live in Stephen Fry’s world.
- The Book Show
Reviews and interviews.
- The Economist
A recent subscription, I’m still making up my mind about this. Mainly short but serious political commentaries.
- The Media Report
When the topics interest me, this is a great program, with insights into the media industries.
- The Music Show
Andrew Ford is a respected classical composer who is open-minded enough to engage with all sorts of music makers on this program.
- The Night Air
Radio art is increasingly rare on the ABC, but The Night Air maintains the tradition. Its emphasis is on collage and remixing from the ABC’s archives.
- The Science Show
An Australian national treasure, the ABC’s flagship science program.
- The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe
Your escape to reality. The panel of rogues turn debunking feeble-minded superstition into laugh-out-loud fun. Cruel, but fair.
- The Sound of Young America
One of my faves. Entertaining interviews with smart people – mostly writers, comedians and media makers.
- The SubGenius Hour of Slack Podcast
Church of the SubGenius. Nuff said.
- The VFX Show
Mainly concerned with feature film CGI and compositing. One of the hosts is Australian, which is nice.
- this WEEK in TECH
I’m a big fan of Leo Laporte – he’s the consumate, charming tech broadcaster. The panel usually includes John C. Dvorak and others with plenty of personality, chatting about the week’s tech news.
- WFMU’s Codpaste with People Like Us and Ergo Phizmiz
Amusing mixing from two well-known collagists. See also their individual shows below.
- WFMU’s Do or DIY with People Like Us
- WFMU’s Phuj Phactory with Ergo Phizmiz
- WNYC’s Radio Lab
Essential. This is one of the most interesting programs anywhere. Ostensibly a science feature program, the radiophonic production techniques take it into the realm of art.
- You Look Nice Today
Merlin Mann and friends being silly.
Video netcasts:
- Boing Boing TV
Xeni Jardin is a good presenter, and there’s plenty of the weirdness one would expect from Boing Boing, but I want more from this show. Maybe longer, less frequent episodes, rather than the current morsels which leave me remembering the ads more than the content.
- Cranky Geeks
John C. Dvorak is indeed a very cranky geek, which makes this otherwise typical discussion of tech news entertaining. Some of the guests are interesting, too.
- Diggnation
I watch this so that I don’t have to read Digg.com. Like many Revision3 shows, it can be painfully frat-boy, but Alex Albrecht & Kevin Rose have enough charisma to carry it off.
- Epic Fu
At last, a Revision 3 show that has a clue about art and music. This is quickly becoming a favourite.
- iFanboy
I don’t have time to read comics these days, so I watch this instead.
- Lynchland: The Liam Lynch Podcast
The guy who sang ‘The United States of Whatever’ and directed ‘Jesus is Magic’ makes this amazing-looking show full of music and humour.
- Rocketboom
I love this show. One never knows whether to expect serious news or something completely whimsical. Often it’s somewhere in-between.
- Tekzilla
Hosted by Patrick Norton, this Revision3 show isn’t sure what it is yet, but I think it’s intended to become a relatively mainstream, viewer-friendly tech show. UPDATE: The wonderful Veronica Belmont, whose talents had been wasted at Mahalo Daily, is now co-host of Tekzilla. Roger Chang is getting more screen time too. This bodes well.
- The Digg Reel
A compilation of popular videos from around the net. It’s funny downloading a huge HD file to watch lo-res YouTube videos.
- The Totally Rad Show
Reviews of TV, films, comics, etc. by ‘three rad dudes’. Good production values.
- Tiki Bar TV
A very silly show featuring Dr Tiki, Johnny Johnny and Lala.
- UChannel Video Podcast
Video recordings of lectures. Sometimes fascinating, sometimes dull.
- Wallstrip
A humorous show about the stock market? It shouldn’t work, but it kinda does, mainly cos it keeps things short and punchy, with each episode focusing on a single stock.
- Web Drifter
Martin Sargent meeting Internet weirdos again, this time on their turf.
- XLR8R TV
Whether it’s checking out Matmos’ record collection, or getting Ableton Live tips from Christopher Willits, this is a cool show for music geeks.
- Yacht Rock
A brilliant, melodramatic piss-take of the world of 70s smooth rock.
Any others you’d recommend?
