And we’re on a journey to map them. Because we love podcasts. And we love people who love (and write about) podcasts. In Part I, we’re linking to — and writing a bit about — podcast recommendation newsletters.

We’ll have a few issues in this State of Podcast Discovery series. In Parts II and beyond, we’ll share podcast newsletters for creators, newsletters from brands and companies, newsletters for news and launches, and more.

We’ve searched far and wide, and have enlisted your help along the way, to find as many of these publications as possible.

Note: Most of the newsletters linked below are English-language publications, but we found a few in Spanish, German, Italian, and Mandarin Chinese. We want more in non-English!

There will always be ones that we missed, decided not to include for whatever reason, ones that have since stopped publishing, new ones we didn’t know at the time of publishing, and more. We will update these lists as much as possible.

If we left something out, please let us know!

Leave a comment

Lauren and Arielle here👋 Both of us got our start in the podcast space by sharing podcast recommendations… first with friends and colleagues, and eventually with strangers. Arielle runs EarBuds, and Lauren runs .

P.s. become a Texter today (a paid subscriber of PWTA💜) so that we can tell you about something really cool we’re planning to launch in the summer😘

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Podcast Recommendation Newsletters (as of April 2026)

Here are the podcast recommendation newsletters we’ve rounded up. These are useful both for listeners looking for their next favorite show AND for creators who want to stay on top of trends (plus, learn how to pitch in order to potentially get featured).

Currently Active Newsletters

1. Podcast The Newsletter: from , her love letter to podcasts

2. EarBuds Podcast Collective: from , 5 podcasts on a theme, each week curated by someone new

3. The End: finished fiction podcasts

4. Podcast Rex: from Great British Podcasts, now includes global recommendations

5. Podcast Review: reviews and listicles

6. Find That Pod: weekly roundup new shows

7. : a community for Deaf and Disabled podcasters and their audiences

8. Pod The North from : a look at the Canadian podcasting ecosystem

9. Ear Worthy: recommendations, reviews, and creator profiles

10. : one rec per day from a Black creator

11. Podcast Delivery: one new show per week + a review of it

12. Pod Club from NPR: a list and notes on what to check out from the NPR universe

13. Sounds Good from the CBC: a roundup of what to check out from the CBC universe + notes

14. Sara’s podcast recs: carefully curated lists from a fan’s POV

15. Podcast Plunge: launch news and show + episode roundups

16. Whatspodcasting: shows to try out from curator, Drounz

17. Oh My Pod! (German): curated lists of both German and English language shows

18. Lace Up Tech: tech-specific podcast recommendations

19. Podcasts Curated with Taste: recommendations delivered by way of transcribed guest interviews

20. Escucha Podcast (Spanish): recommendations and creator profiles

21. Fiction Podcast Weekly: recommendations from fiction shows plus industry news and insights

22. Enrich Podwave (Mandarin): media project about Chinese podcasts

23. Pod Up: business podcast recommendations

24. The Guardian: a column featuring podcast recommendations and reviews

25. Podlist: new and trending recommendations

26. Podstack: a stack of recommendations and commentary about them

27. Orecchiabile (Italian): recommendations from Italians, not necessarily about Italian shows, but also about Italian shows

28. Hurt Your Brain from : recommendations that’ll make you think

    ---

Newsletters that aren’t super active / that we wish would come back

1. Bello Collective: brought together writers, listeners, journalists, and others with a passion for podcasts. Ended its run in 2022.

2. Shreya’s Audio Affairs: she falls in love with audio and then writes about it

3. Podcasting By The Moon: curated playlists by a podcast lover and industry person. Ended in 2024.

4. Podcast Promise: recommendations and thoughts about podcasts

5. Audio Drama Gazette: fiction shows and happenings in the world of audio drama

6. Pod Bible: both an online newsletter and a physical magazine, still active with what looks like SEO-articles, but not the recommendations and analysis they used to publish

7. Podcast Gumbo: three podcast recommendations from thoughtful curator Paul Kondo. Ended in 2022.

8. This Week in Podcasts: shared new podcasts, guest appearances, and podcast takes. Ended in 2021.

9. Inside Podcasting: covered news and shared recommendations with brief synopses. Ended in 2021.

10. Indian Podcast List: recommendations for podcasts made in India

In the following articles we’ll publish our State of Discovery series, you may see some repeats of the above newsletters. And that’ll be because those newsletters may also contain podcast news, creator insights, or other bits we plan to list.

If we missed something — and surely, we did! — please let us know.

Leave a comment

Other bits and bobs from us & friends

• Congrats to on the relaunch of Great Pods! Read critic reviews for podcasts and browse thousands of shows. You might even find us on there!

• ’s Podstack is back! Read “podcasts I’ve pondered a while.”

• Jemma Brown of The Signal Awards just launched The Signal Room.

• Do you host a podcast that goes along with your newsletter? Or write a newsletter that goes along with your podcast? Tell us.

• Speaking of podcast things we miss and wish would come back, ICYMI: this article we published:

THANK YOU for reading! Tell us if you found a new podcast newsletter to check out pleaseeee. Or, consider starting one yourself. We need more for the industry to grow.

—Lauren & Arielle💜💛

P.s. if you are launching a podcast in the next 4-6 weeks and want to be considered for an article we’re writing on upcoming shows, email us.

Imagine you’re walking through the woods and you discover a lamp and there is a genie inside, and the genie grants you three wishes… but they must be podcast wishes. And more specifically, you must wish back into existence 3 podcasts that have, in your humble opinion, ended sadly and too soon. Quick! The genie is impatient and you must choose!

We did this little thought exercise1 and are sharing (below) podcasts we loved long ago that have been canceled, dormant for a while, mysteriously vanished, or have otherwise stopped showing up in our feeds. IN THE COMMENTS please tell us your wishes for the genie.2

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👋Welcome to PWTA! & here, delivering an issue that’s one-third love letter to podcasts, one-third recommendations, and one-third a manifestation exercise.

Before we get into all that…

Now’s a good time to become a Texter (one of our paid subscribers💜) because we’re gonna give you wonderful people a sneak peek into something we’ve been working on for (and lightly planting seeds) a long, long time. Hint: 🖌️

We’ll share those teasers in our premium subscriber chat 💬 (oooh, fancy). Join us there!

Subscribe now

6 Podcasts We Miss (come back someday, please!)

Here are just some of the shows we listened to and loved long ago + some commentary on ‘em. Happy reading / listening!

Lizzy Cooperman’s In Your Hands (2022-2023)

Official description: You know those important life decisions that simply can’t be made by others? Lizzy Cooperman asks you to make those for her every other week. Will the “right” choice lead to bliss? Disaster? Marriage? Madagascar? Find out when she places her fate...in your hands.

A note from Lauren: Lizzy Cooperman’s In Your Hands was too good for this world. Literally. Lizzy is a hilarious comedian who didn’t come in knowing tons about podcasting, so I don’t think she knew what she was getting herself into when she agreed to, on each episode, allow her listeners to vote on her social media on what she should do next with her life. Things like getting multiple piercings, becoming an L.A. tour guide for the TV show This Is Us, and burning her journals. These are all things she did for this show. She applied for a job at Victoria’s Secret, was hired, and continued to work there long after the show ended, but had lied about her identity when she started the job and nobody ever knew she was there for a podcast bit.

This show wasn’t just insane, Lizzy is so talented and actually a really great writer. She is a musician and poet, too, and I always say poets are the best podcasters. (I remember her calling someone’s small hands “the size of plumbs” and that is the kind of beautiful detail I truly appreciate.) She had really great comedians on the show to bounce ideas around with and she’d also call an expert in the field of the decisions she was deciding between to help her listeners make a good choice. I became close with Lizzy after I pitched myself as a podcast marketing expert for an episode and was on the show. That led to me marketing her podcast for free for 30 days, something that was written about in Marketing Brew. When I tell you I was invested in this show I mean it. But I can’t say I was sad when it ended. I think I told her to end it! It was killing Lizzie and in the end, I realized I loved her more than the show and I didn’t want her to die.

Anthropocene Reviewed (2018-2021)

Official description: The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. On The Anthropocene Reviewed, #1 New York Times bestselling author John Green (The Fault in Our Stars, Turtles All the Way Down) reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale.

A note from Arielle:

I loved this show so much that I bought a mug from the merch store. Not just any mug! It was a mug that had an entire episode written on it in tiny font. What a great idea for merch! This was a show that totally blew my mind — if you’re a fun-facts-that-have-deeper-meaning-and-tie-ins type person, this one is a must. I listened to it when lived in Los Angeles and was just a few years out of college and when I think about it now, I can picture myself walking to the beach. Not the point but isn’t it the coolest that podcasts (probably great storytelling in general) can do that!? Come back, John Greene!!

Punch up the Jam (2017-2019; 2019-2020; 2021-2022)

Official description: It’s complicated, see below.

A note from Lauren: Well, The original Punch Up the Jam, my Punch Up the Jam, was hosted by comedians and musicians Miel Bredouw and Demi Adejuyigbe, who would invite a guest on to take apart a song like Love Shack or The Boy Is Mine, then rewrite it as parody. In 2019, Demi left for reasons that are unknown / haunting to me and Miel held down the fort OK, but then left in 2020. In 2021, the show was picked up with new hosts, The Gregory Brothers, (the same brothers who had exploited Kelly Dodson and Antoine Dodson in their uncomfortable, viral “Bed Intruder” song of 2010.)

Technically the description there now, if you look it up, reflects the Gregory Brothers’ version of the show:

“Every Thursday, Andrew and Evan Gregory (of The Gregory Brothers*) are joined by a special guest to revisit, review, and revise a song of their choice, and then offer an improved “punched-up” version.”

God. Not my Punch Up the Jam. I miss it so much I have abandonment issues. I miss this show so much I feel like it is the ONLY answer to the question: “Which show should come back?” I miss it so much I considered writing about it THREE TIMES for this newsletter.

Mobituaries (2019-2024)

Official description: “CBS News Sunday Morning” correspondent Mo Rocca has always loved obituaries. Each episode of Mobituaries covers his favorite dearly departed people and things. This season profiles legendary athlete Jim Thorpe in "Death of an All-American", iconic singer/songwriter Peggy Lee in "Death of Cool", and even the death of the mid-Atlantic accent, best known from the likes of Katharine Hepburn, Franklin Roosevelt and Jacqueline Kennedy. Mo even has a few new things in store including an episode that looks back at folks who "Died on the Same Day.” Think: Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett; John Adams and Thomas Jefferson; Jim Henson and Sammy Davis, Jr. – and then there’s Margaret Thatcher and Annette Funicello? Tune in for fresh takes on famous legacies and tributes to people who never got the sendoff they deserved. Even if you know the names, you’ve never understood why they matter until now!

A note from Arielle:

I first heard Mo Rocca on Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me probably around 2016 or so, and thought he was such a goddamn delight. I don’t remember how I discovered his show, which launched just a few years later, but it really felt like it was made for me. It’s part history, part expert interview. I’ve listened to several episodes several times and have annoyed several friends by trying to get them to love it as much as I do. Miss it very much, but thankfully, Mo still makes the podcast rounds as a guest, so I still get my fix.

A few years ago, when we were at On Air Fest in Brooklyn, Mo Rocca was on stage with Connor Ratliff, who had hosted a show called Dead Eyes (yet another show I wish would come back), for a live recording of Mobituaries. I laughed so hard that I cried. Lauren has a picture somewhere.

Go Bayside! (2013-2017)

Official description: April Richardson and a guest watch an episode of Saved by the Bell and then critically analyze it for you, the listener.

A note from Lauren: I have never seen an episode of Saved By the Bell but I carefully listened to April Richardson’s watch-along podcast in its entirety, including the episodes the covered weird spinoffs and eras of the TV show that ran from 1989-1993. I don’t remember how I discovered it but it was during a time when there weren’t very many podcasts to discover in the first place. If I found a show I liked I clung to it like a life preserver. I remember April being so funny and Saved By the Bell seeming so strange to me. April would always remind us when super strange plot lines were unfurling it was probably due to the fact that the writers’ room (for this TV show about high schoolers) was made up of men in their 40s who grew up in the 50s. Why was the principal always in Zack Morris’ room!? I don’t know, or want to know, if Go Bayside! stands up. Maybe I wish it was back, but maybe I wish I could go back to this exciting time when I was in my 20s discovering podcasts, living in a shitty apartment with my boyfriend and staying out until 2am on a Monday night. Who knows.

In The Scenes, Behind Plain Sight (2022-2023)

Official description: On “In The Scenes Behind Plain Sight,” former “Behind Plain Sight” co-stars Ian and Mike rewatch each episode of the hit 2002 - 2007 TV show, sharing behind the scenes stories and secrets and talk about what’s going on in their lives now.

A note from Arielle:

Not only did I find this show to be so ridiculously whimsical and entertaining, but I also learned a lot from it as a creator / show development person. ITSBPS is a perfect example of this could only be made as an audio show. You simply have to buy into the farce, but Mike and Ian make it very easy to do so. Oh, maybe it’s not obvious: ITSBPS was never a real show. So they are making everything up. But they never ever ever break character. I haven’t listened to it in a while so I don’t know how it holds up, but I don’t care! It was perfect. I bet it’s still perfect.

Honorable Mentions

There are so many more we used to listen to and love! If this list was interesting / valuable and you want more podcasts we wish would come back posts, let us know. We’re very down to expand on the following honorable mentions:

• Louder Than a Riot

• Sixteenth Minute of Fame

• Everything Is Alive

• Richard’s Famous Food Podcast

• Keeping Records

• Celebrity Book Club with Steven and Lily

• A Woman’s Smile

• Invisibilia

• The Big Ones

• Tiny Dinos

• Inconceivable Truth

• Classy

• It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

  • Technically still exists and is hosted by Brittany Luse who is amazing too

• 10 Things That Scare Me

• Every Little Thing

• A Very Fatal Murder

• How To Be Amazing with Michael Ian Black

Before we go, a few things: what’s a podcast? | leave us a rating and a review wherever you get your newsletters. Just kidding. But do say hi.

THANK YOU for reading! Tell us what shows you miss, please. Bye!

—Lauren & Arielle💜💛

Leave a comment

Happy reading & listening

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“WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO?”

If you see us at a podcast event, or even just at Key Foods, you had better be prepared for what we will ask you: what podcast are you listening to? We will THEN ask you: do you know what celebrity you look like???? And we will tell you who WE think that is, even though we have been told repeatedly not to do this.

We like to hear what everyone is listening to, that’s why we poll people on the streets and at podcast festivals, even when people again and again tell us to go away.

We want recommendations, selfishly, but we also like to know what normal people are listening to as a barometer for what’s out there… what’s in the zeitgeist. And when we ask someone what they’re listening to and they PULL OUT THEIR PHONE and LET US SEE THEIR LISTENING HISTORY, oh I’m sorry we’ve passed away.

We’ll always show you ours if you show us yours (or even if you don’t), so:

Here are OUR recent listening histories:

We both use Pocket Casts

On the left (white):

• Weirdly Helpful

• Nudge

• PodQuiz

• The Secretly Society

• Who? Weekly

• Heavyweight

On the right (black):

• Everything is Fake

• Podnews

• The Heart

• Adults In The Room

• Who? Weekly

And here’s what we have next in our queues:

On the left (white):

• No Ordinary Monday

• Origin Stories

• Las Culturistas

• The Messy Parts

• United States of Kennedy

• The Ancients

On the right (black):

• Everything is Fake

• Jacob Reed and Me

• 90s Disney

• Maintenance Phase

• Panic World

• Pop Syllabus

• Misquoting Jesus

• The Worst of All Possible Worlds

• Who Blew Up The Guidestones?

In The Ears of On Air Fest Attendees

In the spirit of THAT (queue sharing), was born the idea of our simple installation for On Air Fest... (you better believe we had ideas that were way more complicated, one of them involved a dunk tank…we’ll do them another day, just say the word).

We put up a poster board in the Creator hall that said “What Podcast Are You Listening To?” We put a set of markers nearby, and at first, spent some time encouraging people to come on over to the installation share their recommendation. After a few hours though, we didn’t have to do much beckoning. As you can see, the poster filled up throughout the festival. When you’re at On Air Fest, the podcast people will come!

Read our On Air Fest recap here:

We made a whole dang list on Spotify of the shows that were written down, so you can listen to all of ‘em👇

Two things: 1. some of the writing was hard to decipher, we did our best. 2. some people recommended their own show, which is not our favorite but we’ll allow it.

Our beloved Texters (the people who give us money for PWTA!) will get something a little extra. We each picked three shows from the playlist that we love, one we have questions about, and one we are adding to our queues for the first time.

We’ll include commentary that is HONEST. Not ass-kissey or overly positive. Critical, one may say.

So here’s the Spotify list, and below the sign off, paid subscribers will be able to read more. If you see a paywall it’s because you’re not yet a Texter. If you are a Texter and you see a paywall, something has gone terribly wrong (dramatic) and we will correct is post haste.

Thanks for reading! Happy listening ya goofs💜💛

P.s. We went live last week to discuss trends we’re seeing, shows we’re enjoying, and to answer reader questions (from , , , , and more). The recap here tells you everything you need to know:

OH and one more thing. Here are a few upcoming posts we’re working on.

Finally, Texter extras below here👇

Read more

Lauren recorded her side of the convo from a workspace in Times Square (yes, this is a brag)

We hosted another live session for Podcasts We Text About and came into it with an agenda… and then followed the conversation wherever it wanted to go.

The rough agenda was thus: catch-up on podcast industry trends and things we’re texting about, recap our experience at On Air Fest, dig into the recent Rotten Mango podcast audit we published, and answer some questions readers have shared with us.

We got into all of that and a bunch more! Below is a recap of the conversation, along with some context and links…

On Air Fest & Results From Our Slightly-Biased Podcast Habits Study

What happens when you ask strangers about podcasts

We got into our recent appearance at On Air Fest, where we presented a session moderated by Tom Webster of Sounds Profitable. The session itself was the culmination of an experiment we ran beforehand:

For a few days in NYC in early February, we went out and asked strangers about their podcast consumption habits:

• Do you listen to podcasts?

• Do you watch podcasts?

• What is a podcast?

The people who didn’t want to talk to us DID NOT want to talk to us (👈you must watch that rejection supercut video).

The people that DID want to talk to us REALLY DID want to talk to us. It was not a scientific study, we didn’t intend for it to be. The conversations we had were not representative but they were incredibly revealing, and gave us a lot to think about.

Learn more about the study & our interviews here:

One surprising theme that came up with these interviews: a lot of people told us they sometimes watch podcasts on video, but still prefer listening most of the time. Or that they say they watch podcasts, but when we asked them to get into it a bit more, they described hitting play on the video and then doing other activities while listening.

Then, we also got to conduct interviews at On Air Fest the day before our presentation. In both cases: when we asked people to define what a podcast actually is, the answers were all over the place.

1. From the people on the streets of NYC:

2. From the attendees at On Air:

The shifting / ever-changing / undefined / it’s-what-you-make-it nature of the word “podcast” was a recurring theme in all of the interviews, during our on-stage presentation, during this live session we did, AND in lots of online communities. We expect that to continue.

Why We Did a Podcast Audit of Rotten Mango

We spent a few minutes of our conversation detailing a recent audit we published

During our street interviews, one show kept coming up again and again: Rotten Mango. So we decided to get into it with an audit.

We looked at things like:

• Why the show has become so popular

• How (if at all) it works as both a video and audio experience

• What creators can learn from the show’s structure and format

Read the audit here:

ALSO: we want to do more audits of podcasts… not just of shows we personally love, but ones that you suggest: ones that YOU love (or hate), ones that are so popular and you’re wondering why… anything! We’re open. Suggest a show!

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Interviewing Each Other About Listening Habits

We asked strangers and On Air attendees these questions and then wanted to share our own answers, so we asked each other during our live chat (rapid-fire style)…

• What is a podcast?

• Name 5 podcasts (the first that pop into your head)

• Name a podcast ad / product you remember

• Have you ever watched a podcast?

Turns out it’s pretty easy to recall podcast ads / products, especially ones with catchy jingles.

And when we talked about video podcast consumption, we described a listening behavior we’ve noticed more and more:

Watching the beginning of a video podcast to understand the setup… then switching to audio for the rest.

The Problem With Trying to Define The Word “Podcast”

It’s the mass media that doesn’t want to be defined

Why does the definition keep getting fuzzier? The conversation is becoming philosophical around the web and in our circles. Listeners and industry people often mean different things when they say “podcast.”

For example:

• Some people define a podcast as something distributed through an RSS feed

• Others think of a podcast as anything you listen to on a podcast app

• And many people now call YouTube shows podcasts

We’ve come to find that many consumers don’t worry about these distinctions at all. If it feels like a podcast to them, they call it a podcast.

PWTA Q&A: Feed Strategy, Episode Reruns, and Podcast Apps

We spent some time answering questions from newsletter readers

Thank you to , , , , and for sharing questions.

We discussed:

• Recycled / repurposed / episode reruns and how listeners might feel about them

• How more indie podcasts can get into year-end best podcast listicles

• Why we listen to so many podcasts (as in, why Lauren and Arielle spend so much time listening to podcasts)

• Podcast listening apps and why many dedicated listeners seem to prefer Pocket Casts

Everything is Data

This idea kept coming up during our live. It’s what we started saying to each other when we kept getting rejected while trying to interview NYC strangers about their podcast habits. Every time someone walked by, ignored us, or said “NO” directly to our faces, we said “that’s a data point!”

And the questions readers ask in the PWTA newsletter comments reveal what creators are struggling with, what listeners want, and a whole lot more that we’re gonna continue investigating.

So, come on down for the next live session we do and be part of the data! Is that a weird call to action? Probably.

If you missed the session, you can watch the full recording above. And if you have a podcast question, a show you want us to audit, or something weird you’ve noticed in listening / consumption habits around the web (or in your own headphones)…

WE WANT TO KNOW.

Leave a comment

Thank you to everyone who joined us live, including , , , , , , and many others!

P.s. Recently, Freddy Cruz invited us to be on his show, Your Mic, together! We love doing interviews together. Here’s that episode: "The Bad Podcast Ideas That Refuse to Die.”

Much love & listening,
+ 💜💛

Hey! Lauren & Arielle here👋 When we interviewed people on the streets of NYC about their podcast habits (read more about that here,) one show came up again and again: Rotten Mango.

In this issue of PWTA, we’ll share our audit of the podcast, which includes:

• Rotten Mango show stats

• What the reviewers are saying

• Is it actually a podcast at all?

• Our thoughts / criticism / review

• Why is the show so popular?

• What could be improved?

• 5 things creators can steal from the show

This is our first podcast audit for PWTA. Do let us know what you think of the format. And if you want more posts like this one, feel free to suggest a show!

Leave a comment

We’re going LIVE next week to talk about On Air Fest, upcoming articles we’re working on, podcast consumption habits, and more!

RSVP

The Rotten Mango Podcast Audit🥭❌

Let’s get started with the official description of the podcast:

Rotten but still a little sweet! Rotten Mango is a true crime + all things spooky podcast. We love doing deep dives into the darkest crimes and we tend to not leave out any details - which can get a little rotten at times. If you want deep dives in the psychology of killers, no holding back storytelling of crimes, and stories of lesser known criminals from around the world this is the place for you.

There’s a disclaimer on the RM website that reads:

RM does not conduct our own investigations. Rather we have a team of independent researchers and translators from all different backgrounds who work tirelessly to gather information from the internet and fact-check as much as we can, but there are times when we may get things wrong due to language barriers, sealed court documents, and the information presented online. Please let us know in the comments, and we will make the appropriate corrections as quickly as possible.

About the host: Stephanie Soo is a popular South Korean-American YouTuber and podcaster known for blending mukbang with true crime storytelling. More on her here.

Here are some episode titles to give you a taste:

• Sister Finds Out 18-Yr-Old Brother Has First Time W/ Mom’s Corpse & Did Unthinkable W/ Her Brain

• Teen Boy Mutilates 2 Girls & Throws One Of Their Heads Into The Street In FRONT Of Her Mom

• New Parents Check Baby Monitor & Find Nanny SLAMMING 5-Day-Old Infant Across Room

• Teacher Made 11-Yr-Old Be A Lookout While SAing His Friend In Class- Husband Defends Her

Cadence: Several episodes a week!!!!

Numbers of episodes: 520 and counting

Reviewers say:

• “I absolutely LOVE this podcast!! Stephanie’s voice is so soothing!! I recommend her to everyone!! … love this show!!” — listener review on Apple Podcasts

• “I mean she’s okay but like why does she have to go on these long rants at the beginning??? Also sometimes I feel like she’s a little exploitive.” — listener review on PodParadise

• “Love this podcast… Stephanie’s storytelling draws you in and she covers all the essential details… my top True Crime podcast choice.” — user review from IMDb

But Wait, is Rotten Mango a Podcast?!?

Rotten Mango is probably primarily a YouTube channel, but the reason we’re calling this a “podcast” audit is because this is the show that came up repeatedly when we asked strangers on the street to name podcasts they listen to. It’s a podcast in that… it’s available on podcast listening apps. It’s a podcast in that… people call it a podcast. As we shared in last week’s PWTA, if people think it’s a podcast, it’s a podcast.

BUT much of our criticism stems from the show being tough to follow if you’re listening rather than watching. It seems designed first and foremost with the viewing audience in mind.

This show is one that benefits from the trickle-down effect of video podcasts: someone discovers it on YouTube (the channel is HUGE — 6.27 million subscribers), mostly watches it there, maybe prefers it that way. But occasionally, they opt for the audio and become listeners, even if they’re only listening some of the time.

Both Lauren and Arielle listened on Pocket Casts, our podcast app of choice.

Our Overall Notes on Rotten Mango

We both listened to a few episodes on our own and then listened to one together so we could compare notes.

We’re sharing most of our notes here and will make the rest available to Texters (behind the paywall below).

Lauren’s overall notes:

• In all the episodes I listened to, I heard ads for: Fox Chase Cancer Center, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, State Farm, Mint Mobile, treatmyhives.com, The Bride, and an IBS medication.

• All of the episode names are frightening and seem to be talking to an algorithm, not the consumer. I can’t decide what my least favorite part of this show is: the completely exploitative storytelling, actually listening to it, Stephanie’s husband — who brings nothing other than agreement and validation — or the host, who seems to mix what appears to be light research with her own speculation.

• How is she finding all these absolutely horrible stories?

Arielle’s overall notes:

• I did not realize the show started when it did because the tone of voice sounded so similar to the ad read right before

• Soo and her writing team present a lot of speculative evidence. And when they can’t possibly know what happened due to lack of witnesses, there’s a good deal of conjecture, and even imaging of what the people in the situation might’ve said.

• At first I thought, “wow, the writing and narration is pretty descriptive, I don’t think it needs visuals.” But it quickly became clear that she does refer to visuals and the listener misses out a bit. PLUS, there are algo-speak and bleeps that don’t really make sense in audio.

• The narrative may wander, but Soo’s delivery makes it easy to pay attention. She shifts tones at the right moments and jumps in with mini-monologues that make it clear she’s excited to tell stories.

Our Episode-Specific Notes

Arielle’s review of: “Fertility Specialist Helps Couples Get Pregnant, Then Has Affair with Wives - Mysteriously Found Dead”

Why this episode: I wanted to listen to a recent episode so I chose one whose title was most intriguing to me.

Abridged episode description: Everyone hears about pre-nups but what about post-nups? They’re drafted and signed AFTER two people are legally married and they’re typically much weaker when brought in front of a judge…The specialist is a local acupuncturist named Jon Takuhara who has helped multiple couples successfully conceive. What does Jon have to do with anything? And is it just a coincidence that two weeks after the couple signs their post-nups, Jon is found murdered? (Full description here).

The title of the episode gives everything away! Interesting choice. The YouTube title is a bit different but STILL gives it away: “‘The Healer’ Helps Couples Get Pregnant Then Has Affair with Wives - Mysteriously Found Dead.” There were two ads, which is no big deal. But then, the episode started with a tiny sound cue meant to signify the start, that could’ve easily been missed. I thought it was another ad.

It took a while for Soo to string together the connection between “the healer,” the fertility angle, and the “mysteriously found dead” piece. When it first started, the tone was so upbeat and airy that I almost thought the episode wouldn’t get murdery at all. But alas.

The episode opens with a long detour into pre and postnups. Eventually, the connection between fertility treatments and marital agreements does make sense, but at first these topics are introduced almost as separate threads. Part of the confusion comes from the odd details layered in while explaining things… possibly to clarify, possibly to stretch the story. Soo shares multiple examples of particularly absurd prenup clauses (“for every 10 pounds the wife gained during the marriage, she would lose $10,000 in alimony”). If you’re wondering how this could come back to the story, somehow she does eventually land the plane.

Lauren’s review of the episode “3 Indian Sisters Jump To Death - Dad Claims They Lived In Fantasy World & Adopted Korean Identities”

Why this episode: It was the most recent release when I was looking

I listened to a few episodes, but to be honest I never made it through one of them. (I feel like a failure, but after surveying people Arielle and I have learned two things: 1) the customer is always right and 2) everything is data.) I started “16 Yr Old Boy Accused of CHOKING Step Sister To Death On Cruise - His Parents SECRET Texts Revealed,” which seemed to be part two of something, but I couldn’t find part one, so nothing made sense. Maybe that means Rotten Mango consumers are just listening to or watching every single episode so they’d never be confused—they’ve heard it all. So then I went to “3 Indian Sisters Jump To Death - Dad Claims They Lived in Fantasy World & Adopted Korean Identities” because it was recent.

Abridged episode description: The Kumar sisters, 16, 14, and 12 years old, do everything together… On February 4th, 2026, all three sisters will die together. (Full description here).

Stephanie starts out with a story about three other sisters who killed themselves—the Lisbon sisters. The Lisbon sisters aren’t real, they’re characters in The Virgin Suicides (a 1993 book that was turned into a movie in 1998 that on the show Stephanie refers to as “The Virgin Self-Exits.”) I actually really loved this opening and it made me want to reread the book / rewatch the movie. Stephanie points out that the reason for the girls’ deaths were completely unknown so people flocked into speculate, desperate to solve the puzzle, all to the point that the girls ceased to matter… a perfect metaphor for the disposability of girls. She ties this to the Kumar sisters, explaining that the Kumar sisters, like the Lisbons, died for reasons unknown, and we can sit here and speculate all we want, but in doing that it makes their story about us.

We then get into the Kumar sisters, their strange upbringing and family life, their wacko dad, their phone addiction, identity issues, and obsession with Korean culture. It really feels like Stephanie is reading us a bedtime story, which is pretty much what is happening. She’s telling the story to her husband, who is on mic. He doesn’t add a lot to the conversation. He’s there to listen and sometimes say, “wow,” “oh really,” to clarify things, or to validate Stephanie. It doesn’t feel to me like she is just reading from these notes. (Something a lot of true crime shows are guilty of.) But this is tough for me to listen to. The content is purposely shocking, gruesome, and exploitative. (I mean that’s why we’re all here, right? But I actually wrote in my notes: “Why are we here? What is this for?”) And Stephanie makes a lot of assumptions and judgments.

At one point she does my least favorite thing in true crime reporting: claim that the father wasn’t mourning appropriately so he must be guilty of something. But she does pull us along. Her husband certainly breaks things up. For as little as he technically contributes, I think it would be unlistenable without him. If I had a sip of wine spritzer every time Stephanie said “it’s so weird” “it’s very odd” or “none of this makes sense,” I would have ended the episode wasted. It’s her conclusion to everything. At one point, Stephanie says, and I wrote this down…”If you’ve ever been a 14-year-old girl none of this makes sense.” I mean, the communication with the audience isn’t just casual, it’s poor.

The episode ends kind of without much resolution, just like, “wow isn’t this weird?” Which means we kind of just did what it seemed like Stephanie was warning us against at the beginning—engage in impossible speculation for our own entertainment.

We Both Listened To…

“Daughter of Diplomat Found Beheaded In Nepo Baby’s Mansion”

Abridged episode description: The team of therapists was making their way over to the mansion. They never really did house calls, but when one of the most powerful business tycoons in the entire city calls you - you pick up. (Full description here).

Why this episode: Arielle was scrolling really fast and stopped on it randomly – wanted to find something from a while back – it’s from 2023.

LP: This episode, more than the other one I listened to, heavily focused on the brutality of the death of Noor Mukadam. We hear a play-by-play of her torture and murder told with such familiarity it’s as if Stephanie was reporting on the sidelines. Similar to the one I listened to and wrote about above, there was a lot of speculation. When explaining how guilty Zahir Jaffer is, and possibly Zahir’s father, Stephanie says, “on the day of the death he called his dad for 30 minutes. That’s a lot. For a 30-year-old man.” I mean what a thing to say. ½ of the episode is speculation like this, 25% is super hard-to-listen-to brutality porn, maybe 8% is Stephanie’s husband going “wow” and the rest is information that Stephanie dug up on websites and social media posts.

AN: The host includes many personal details about Noor Mukadam that at times felt unnecessary or fluffy, as if they were meant to counterbalance the graphic descriptions of her murder — a way to humanize Mukadam while still leaning heavily into the shock value of the crime. It felt like she must’ve gotten feedback on past episodes and this is the correction. This was the first episode I listened to, so I was caught off guard by mystery man’s voice that occasionally interjects with questions or comments. I found that without any introduction or context, the dynamic was confusing. It made sense after another episode or so, but it reinforced an inkling I had that that the show isn’t especially designed with first-time listeners in mind (or listeners at all). If I put all of that aside, the pacing and dramatic delivery are compelling, and it’s easy to see how the host quickly pulls new fans in and turns them into regulars — especially if those regulars don’t yet know that ethical true crime reporting exists.

Wrapping Up The Rotten Mango Audit

We could go on all day! And we will share bonus stuff at the end of this post.

Why does this show work? Why is it so popular?

Soo is mainlining gruesome storytelling into her fans’ veins. She knows what they want and she is going balls to the walls with it. The gruesomeness is the rotten and she’s the sweet mango. She talks to us like she’s our best friend and it feels like we are at a sleepover. (I just wish we were talking about something else! Can’t we talk about boys or farting or swim team like I used to talk about at my sleepovers?)

Watch this quick video from a fan (and read the comments)

What could make the show better?

Actual journalism? Lol. Adding literally anything to the story other than what Soo and her team have been able to dig up online? We just listened to an episode of You’re Wrong About where Sarah Marshall is telling her survival-correspondent Blair Braverman the story of a young girl who was the only one in her family to survive an accident at sea. Blair is telling Sarah the story, like Soo tells stories to her husband, but Sarah has so much to add about what it means to survive, how trauma carries through our lives, and the spirit of the eternal 11-year-old girl. She isn’t just gawking at the story. Anyhoo, it’s hard for us to think about what could make this better because we are just so not the target audience. We write a bit more about possible tweaks and improvements in the bonus section of this post.

5 Things Creators Can Learn from Rotten Mango

1. Lean into what your audience wants. The grotesque sensationalism sells, man. And Soo has enough traffic to test and test and test — episode titles, cold opens, thumbnails, and much more.

2. Keep the gimmick alive. Soo’s husband, the mysterious MrMangoButt, is great shtick. We never see him, we only know his voice. (Maybe he’s the one element that really makes this a podcast lol).

3. Segmenting. There aren’t too many segments in each episode, but Soo’s cold opens are distinct and hooky.

4. Naming conventions:

   1. “Rotten Mango” as the show’s name goes against everything we recommend to podcasters when advising on title and branding. BUT BUT BUT, this show is big enough that it doesn’t matter.

   2. The episode titles are absurd, inflammatory, sensationalist… and they are packed with keywords.

Where’s the 5th thing? — we’ll share that below.

Thank you for reading our Rotten Mango Audit — our first PWTA audit. And now, we must know…

We also must know what you think of this show. If you listen (or have listened) to it, please share your thoughts with us.

We’ll be back soon with more PWTA.

💜💛Lauren & Arielle

P.S. There’s more below the sign off for Texters…

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Lauren & Arielle here 👋

Happy Friday! We just spent the week at On Air Fest, Brooklyn’s annual celebration of audio storytelling. It’s a cultural festival where podcasters, creators, and industry folks gather to talk craft, community, and the future of sound. (They, not us, call it the "Coachella of Podcasts.” We do not refer to it as this because… we like it a lot).

If you’ve been following us at all, you know that we spoke at the event yesterday. This issue of Podcasts We Text About is about that, the festival itself, and the podcast industry dinner we hosted at our favorite restaurant, Málà Project.

EVEN EARLIER IN THE WEEK, we attended the Podcast Business Summit, the unofficial kickoff to On Air Fest. It was a full day of panels, interviews, and discussions about the wider world of podcasting and media-making — and the money that makes it all go ‘round.

We spent the day furiously typing into a shared note so that we could share our takeaways with you! That stuff is saved for our Texters (our our paid subscribers — we 💜 you). We’ll also expand on ALL of this in an upcoming live session.

The Coachella of Podcasts

On Air Fest 2026 - From Our Ears to Yours

On Air Fest has been around for almost 10 years. We look forward to it every single year and we’re so honored to have been given a stage this year. We took the responsibility very seriously and (to pat ourselves on the back) put together a pretty cool presentation. More on that below. First, we’ll recap the festivities, speakers, and atmosphere.

The Vibe / Setup

The event takes place at the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It’s a chic spot (that we feel like we know really well at this point after attending OAF for almost 10 years!) with aesthetic, vibey furniture, art installations in the bathrooms, two cozy and delish restaurants, and skyline views. Over the years, On Air Fest gets bigger and bigger while the venue stays the same size. BUT NOT THIS YEAR — in addition to the Wythe’s presentation rooms and stages, the festival expanded to the Arlo Hotel. And for the second year, there was a space dedicated to creators in a building right next door.

OAF is one of the rare events that takes feedback seriously and genuinely iterates (and improves) from one year to the next. Last year, for the first year of Creator Space, there was one extremely slow-moving elevator shepherding people up to the presentation space. This year, same situation, BUT they made clear signs pointing to the stair option. Small things like that make this festival a truly great one.

We were set up in the Creator Space — asking people about their podcast consumption habits, as we are wont to do. Here’s what that looked like:

We ALSO interviewed event attendees on camera about their favorite podcasts, how they discover new shows, how they feel about ads, and more. Our goal was to then cut together a video to show on stage to cap off our informal, slightly biased study of podcast consumer habits — comparing answers of those out in the world with those inside On Air Fest. We’ll post those videos soon.

ICYMI: find our early “out in the world” videos and insights here

Our Session, “A Hyper-Local, Slightly Opinionated Study of Podcast Listening”

Here’s the webpage with the official description

We shared videos from our on-the-street interviews and then capped it off with a video from the festival. We wanted to display the differences and similarities between the outside world and event attendees — and how the respondent’s answers would potentially inform creators’ approaches to their work.

A few things that stuck with us:

• Big Tech seems to want us to believe everyone is watching podcasts. But when we asked, people mentioned they watched them just sometimes… more of a glancing situation. Most of the people we spoke to report that they listen when doing other things.

• People said they skipped ads, but did they? Just because they couldn’t remember specific advertisers when we asked doesn’t mean they didn’t hear them. Tom Webster, the moderator of our session, pointed out that it’s tough to remember an ad when someone is just throwing a microphone in your face, and that for some people, it’s cool to proclaim you aren’t into the ads.

  • P.s. Dan Misener of Bumper Media wrote about this recently

• Someone’s entry point to podcasts is important, and many of the young people we talked to got that entry point via their parents. “Apple Podcasts? Oh yeah, my dad listens on that.” “My mom made me listen to Serial.” “My mom listens to Radiolab.” For many of us who’ve been listening for a while, our entry point was certainly not our parents! For us, it was the other way around! (Some of us are STILL trying to get them to listen.)

The main juxtaposition between our interviews with people on the street and our interviews with OAF attendees was: how do you define the word “podcast.” So many thoughts, here! Is it something on-demand? Does it need to come from a podcast app? Is it a file that exists on an RSS feed? Is it two guys with a microphone? Is it anyone talking, anywhere? Is…everything a podcast?

And the main takeaway is that… no one knows right now. But at the same time… everyone knows. As Tom Webster shared, the customer is always right.

Ultimately, it’s not up to us to define what a podcast is. But it is up to us to decide if we need to differentiate between chat shows, video shows, narrative shows, and others. Do they need separate names? If so, what would you call them? (Shout out in the comments!)

Leave a comment

THANK YOUs:

• To Amanda McLoughlin, our incredible producer. Thank you for being the steady hand behind the camera and for making sure we were well-positioned for success! You are SO GOOD at what you do and everyone should work with Multitude.

• To Tom Webster, our session moderator. The perfect straight man to our ridiculousness. Thanks for hearing about our idea and jumping right in. Subscribe to Sounds Profitable.

• To On Air Fest. We got to work WITH the organizers to dream up this cool project. Thank you to Jennifer Sendrow and Scott Newman for their early ideas and to Erin Keating for making sure we had all we needed on site. And to the behind-the-scenes organizers who corralled us, you rock.

• To the folks who attended our session. You had the best questions and insights! And made us think even more. (We smell loads of follow-up articles and discussions).

There were so many sessions we wish we could’ve attended but just did not have the time! We’ll discuss what we did see and hear on an upcoming LIVE, stay tuned for that link.

ALSO TO COME:

• Notes on our Málà dinner and future partnerships ideas

  • Shoutout to our dinner sponsors, PodSEO and Disco by Headliner

• More videos! We recorded a bunch of interviews and we’ll roll ‘em out over the coming weeks

• That big list of podcast recommendations we promised via the sign we installed at OAF

• Other things, we’re sure we missed in this one

Next up, for the paid subscribers (our Texters), you’ll see our notes from the Podcast Business Summit.

Thank you for reading our recap! Have any questions? Hit the comments, please.

💛💜Lauren & Arielle

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This week’s article is straight out of the texts (see image below)… it’s something we’ve been thinking about and discussing for a while. Finally, we’re getting it out on the page.

BUT FIRST, some notes:

• Thank you to the new Texters who joined us as paid subscribers after reading last week’s article, which was chock full o’ sneak peek videos! We are excited to dance for your money🕺🏻

• Come to On Air Fest next week! Use code w3lcom3-study for 30% off tickets

• Shoutout to subscribers , , , , and for leaving thoughtful (and kind) comments + questions on the past few issues

  • We’re planning to go live soon to answer your questions, and also to just say hey!

On with it!

🙋🏼‍♀️ Lauren, here. I’ve been wondering:

When you see recycled content on a podcast feed, like when a show reposts an episode from before, what do you do? Do you skip, do you read more? Do you always listen?

I think recycling content is a great idea. Since podcasters can’t organize their content the way YouTubers can (playlists, community tab, other features), great/standout episodes can get lost in the feed. And when podcasters need a break, their best stuff is a great thing to highlight.

But as a listener, when I’m flying through my feed in the morning and I see a (probably-great) recycled episode phrased or titled the wrong way (or in a way that’s not particularly enticing), I am likely to keep speeding by. I’m not saying that’s good, I’m saying it’s something people do — including me.

I want to both train myself to stop doing this and ALSO train podcasters to think a little bit harder on the way they frame their episode re-airs. I don’t have an answer for the second part, but Arielle and I made a list of the TYPES of recycled episode naming we’re seeing.

Re-Airing Podcast Episode Naming Conventions

1. “A Fond Memory: ________” (I Said No Gifts)

   1. Example: A Fond Memory: Adam Rippon Disobeys Bridger

   2. Note!: Calling a rerun a “fond memory” is so on brand for Bridger. I can hear him saying it.

2. “________ (Greatest Hits)” (UnF*ck Your Brain)

   1. Example: How to Solve Insecurity (Greatest Hits)

   2. Note!: Kara records a special intro and gives context to why this re-run is relevant, which is why it is high up on the list

   

3. “________ - Classic” (Spooked / Snap Judgement)

   1. Example: Rome & Juliet - Classic

4. “Best Of: ________” (Fresh Air)

   1. Example: Best Of: Mixed Marriage Project / How Racism Costs Everyone

   

5. “Rewind: ________” (Endless Thread)

   1. Example: Rewind: Love in Transition

6. “Selects: ________ (Stuff You Should Know)

   1. Example: Selects: How Charles Darwin

   

7. “Play It Again: ________” (Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso)

   1. Example: Play It Again: Ramy Youssef Tells a Muslim American Story

8. “________ (Reheat)” (The Sporkful)

   1. Example: Lunchtime With The Simpsons (Reheat)

9. “Refried Beans | ________” (The Daily Beans)

   1. Example: Refried Beans | Bootleg Grover (feat. Barb McQuade) | Feb 15, 2024

10. “Throwback Episode: ________” (The Sarah Silverman Podcast)

    1. Example: Throwback Episode: Your Valentine’s Day Questions, Answered!

       

11. “Real Friends Classic: [episode number] - ________” (Fake Doctors, Real Friends)

    1. Example: Real Friends Classic: 203 - My Case Study With Ken Jenkins

12. “________ (Rerun)” (The Lazy Genius)

    1. Example: How to Get Stuff Done When You Don’t Feel Like It (Rerun)

    2. Note!: I think that most people have a bad association with the word rerun in general. I associate it with the cable-TV watching days, when “oh it’s just a rerun” was what you’d say when you saw recycled content.

13. “Encore: ________” (Antique Roadshow Detours)

    1. Example: Encore: That Time the FBI Called

More Podcast Episode Titling Thoughts

👋Arielle here now with some more thoughts (p.s. when Lauren shared this article idea with me, I was like “wow, you really are my partner in podcast enthusiasm.”)

• You’ll notice some podcasts will re-air an episode and introduce them with a canned note at the top of the show. Something like “we’re off this week, here’s an episode to tide you over.”

  • But why did you choose that episode? Maybe it’s one that really gets into the inside jokes you have with your audience and would be a great spot for new listeners to start.

• This American Life recycles episodes but doesn’t let listeners know in a visual way. See photo below for an example. You have to look at the episode number in order to see if its a net new episode.

  • To be fair, even when they re-air, they let us know why it’s relevant AND they often include updates and other addenda information.

• There’s also the question of the artwork creators use when they recycle an episode — is it new artwork? Is it artwork they always use for these types of episodes? Is it the same as always?

  • All of these may have an impact on whether or not someone tunes in to that re-air episode

The Content Machine and Its Effects

👋Lauren’s back

I have to say… scrolling my podcast feed for this exercise made me realize HOW MUCH content at any given moment is not new, or even an episode of the podcast I’m trying to listen to. It’s a lot of recycled stuff, feed swaps and drops, Patreon previews...

This says a lot about the content machine creators think they have to be on. They feel like they need to put something in the feed even if they don’t have something great to put there. I have never agreed with this, and my feed would be a lot easier to wade through if other people were with me. But that is for another day.

What we learned from this exercise (and want to pass on to creators)

• Brand yourself. “Classic” & “Rerun” are boring.

  • “A Fond Memory:________” from Bridger of I Said No Gifts is exciting because it’s different.

• But don’t make it weird just because you think it’s cute!

  • (I’m sorry, I think “Refried Beans” and “Reheat”) are weird. Also hasn’t Dan Pashman and the team heard the phrase “reheating your nachos?” Maybe they need to do an episode on that!)

• We need to know WHY you chose to re-air this episode. I tend to like “Classic” because that makes me feel like it has made some sort of list. But tell me more.

  • Is there a list of classic episodes somewhere / a playlist we can check out? What about “Listener Favorite” or “Editor Favorite” or “Host Favorite?” Build a bridge from this recycled content to your listener.

• Make it make sense. If something is timely, explain why.

• Add context. Recycling content doesn’t take much time. Take a few minutes to write a new description and make a little audio intro explaining why the listeners are hearing what they are about to hear.

• Speaking of: If you really do take a few minutes to record a new intro and let us know why you chose this episode for this particular re-air situation, you might not even have to name the episode using “re-air,” “classic,” “rerun,” or others.

  • You might just be able to name the episode for what’s actually inside it — and even try a different title from the first time you published it.

What Do You Think as a Listener? A Creator?

Feel free to answer these questions in the comments of this post, in a reply to us by email, or just in your own head (or with your team / collaborators)…

For podcast creators:

• How do you name and/or frame recycled content?

• Are you recycling content consistently? (Once a month? Every 6 months? Every other week?)

  • How do your listeners respond to those episodes?

  • Do you hear from them at all?

• If you’re a big podcast listener yourself, do you tend to skip episodes that are titled using some of these conventions?

For podcast listeners:

• Do you listen to recycled content? Do you scroll on by?

  • Most likely, it depends on the situation. Tell us about that!

• What’s a good example you’ve seen of the way creators have named recycled episodes? A bad one?

And another question for readers…

Who are you?

Mostly a creator? Mostly a listener / consumer? We want to know because we want to know how to address you. It’ll also help us figure out what topics to write about / dive into.

Leave a comment

That’s it! Thank you for reading.

-Lauren & Arielle💜💛

We’re so grateful that you’ve decided to support us so early in the life of this newsletter. We’re hopeful that you’ll evolve with us as we figure out what our premium offerings look like.

In this special Texter issue, we’re sharing links to some of the interviews we captured last week in Union Square and Washington Square Park in Manhattan.

ICYMI: we spent a few hours at Washington Square Park and Union Square, holding up signs and asking people passing by about their podcast lore. Details here.

Peep the signs:

After the screener question (to be honest, sometimes it was more of a barked command) that we beckoned people over with:

“Come talk to us about podcasts!” or “Are you listening to a podcast right now?”

…We asked them some of these questions:

• Do you remember how you discovered your current favorite podcast?

• How do you describe what a podcast is — can you define “podcast” for us?

  • There’s no right or wrong answer here, of course, we’re just asking questions!!

• How do you feel about ads on the podcasts you watch or listen to?

• What are you doing when you watch or listen to podcasts?

• Do you ever hear about other podcasts on the shows you watch or listen to?

We had a lot of really eye-opening and podcast-life-affirming chats with strangers. We’re officially presenting our findings at On Air Fest next week, but for our paid subscribers, we’re sharing a few early videos below the paywall.

P.s. if you want to come to On Air Fest, a discount code is available here.

Now, let’s get on with it. Venture into paywall territory below!

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Shoutout to the people we spoke to who then subscribed to our newsletter <3

💬Welcome to PWTA!

In This Issue of PWTA:

• Why did we take to the streets to ask people about podcasts?

• What is On Air Fest? (Plus, a discount code to attend)

• A sneak peek of our findings (+ a blooper reel)

• When to expect more interview clips

Back in 2023, we declared April Adopt-A-Listener Month, and as part of it, we went to Washington Square Park, held up signs, and beckoned people to talk to us about podcasts (see clips here).

We always dreamt of doing it again. Then, an opportunity came up in the form of a speaking opportunity at On Air Fest, so we pitched a session to the programming team. Here’s the pitch we sent:

• We conduct vox pop interviews with passersby on the streets of NYC, asking them about their podcast habits

  • do they listen to podcasts?

  • what do they listen to?

  • how do they discover podcasts?

  • how do they define “podcast”?

    • + more

• We then conduct similar interviews with attendees at On Air Fest (during the event itself)

• And the finale: we compare and contrast our findings during an on-stage presentation

✅ We got the go-ahead, so we made a plan and headed for the streets, along with our camera person — the incredibly organized and creative Amanda McLoughlin (founder and CEO of Multitude Productions).

We’re scheduled to speak at On Air on February 26th — the title of our presentation: A Hyper-Local, Slightly Opinionated Study of Podcast Listening.

If you want to see the presentation live (and attend the event), use our discount code: w3lcom3-study for 30% off of tickets.

👀Sneak Peek: Our Initial Findings

We don’t want to give too much away — since we’re premiering our videos, insights, and anecdotal findings at On Air Fest — but we wanted to give PWTA readers the first look.

An Overview of NYC’s Podcast Habits

• On discovery of new shows: word of mouth rules the roost, BUT there were other, oft-cited methods that pleasantly surprised us.

• On awareness of podcasting on the whole: everyone we spoke to was familiar with what a podcast is, where to find them, and that they are generally free.

  • ‼️This is different from our 2023 findings

• On the maturity of the podcast industry: we’re getting to the point where people who listen to podcasts were introduced to them by their parents. We love those parents!

• There were fascinating insights on listening vs. watching, how people feel about advertisements, most popular genres, and lots more.

• One of our interviewees happened to be a podcaster who we’d both heard of — and who has almost 1 million followers on Instagram!

  • If you can guess who, we’ll give you a prize. We’ll give you one hint if you message us.

While we were lucky that every single one of the interviews we reeled in and conducted were pleasant, eye-opening, and made us fall in love with humans (and New Yorkers), we did receive A LOT of rejection. Of course, this is to be expected when you stand on the street with signs yelling questions at people.

Just for you, PWTA-ers (and obviously, anyone that finds this and becomes a subscriber😘), here’s a supercut of rejections, as a lil treat. Enjoy!

Aside from the rejections, we spoke to more than 20 people, captured more than 1.5 hours of interview footage, and will have a lot more insights to share with you after our presentation at On Air.

But, Wait! There’s More!

We’re only 1/3 of the way through this grand experiment. We wrapped on the vox pop, street-style interviews. But next, we’ll tape at On Air Fest, and then present on our findings at the fest. Once we’ve done all that, we’ll come back here and write it all up for you!

Before we bid you adieu, some reminders:

• Come to On Air Fest! Use code w3lcom3-study for 30% off your tickets

• For more early sneak peeks, become a Texter (support us by becoming a subscriber)

• Tell us what you’re listening to!

  Leave a comment

💜Ok! That’s it. We hope you enjoyed this look into the podcast consumer population of NYC. And if you are one of those consumers that we spoke to, THANK YOU, WE LOVE YOU.

Chat soon,

Arielle & Lauren

If you choose to watch the video attached to this post, you will notice immediately that there were two camera angles of Arielle for a minute (don’t ask). We start off with some light NPR-core nostalgia. Then we got into a lot of extremely inside-baseball podcast talk. Whether you watch or just read this post, here’s a recap of our conversation…

Our goal was simple. We wanted to talk through our latest post (find it here) and answer some questions, such as:

• Do these lists actually matter?

• Which shows were overhyped?

• Which shows totally crushed it on the marketing side of things?

• Which shows do we demand you listen to and then come back here to talk with us about them?

• Would you rather be listed as a show of the year or win a podcast award?

• When is the optimal time to launch a podcast in order to secure best-of list placement?

Lots more.

How This List Came Together

has been tracking “best of podcast” lists for years (shoutout to Galen Beebe and Bello Collective, forever influential). For this piece, we pulled together 24 different year-end lists — big publications, indie critics, newsletters, blogs — and tallied which shows appeared most often.

Then, we looked for patterns among them and presented them via charts and graphs like these:

These shows floated to the top:

Fela Kuti: Fear No Man, Heavyweight, Good Hang with Amy Poehler, The Retrievals Season 2, Embedded: Alternate Realities, Camp Swamp Road, Wisecrack, Sea of Lies, Final Thoughts: Jerry Springer, and Pablo Torre Finds Out. Some of the shows listed above were limited series, some ongoing, some brand new, some revivals.

Do “Best Of” Lists Grow Your Show?

Being on a best-of list doesn’t necessarily move the download needle in a dramatic way for creators.

But it does help with:

• Long-term SEO

• Industry credibility

• Getting your next project green lit (Dan Taberski told us this outright with his show, Hysteria)

Awards and lists aren’t total hype and no substance, they’re just not growth hacks. If you’re an indie creator spending your last dollars chasing trophies, that’s worth rethinking. If you’re playing a long game around reputation, press, and future opportunities, that can be a different story.

Patterns That Stood Out To Us

A few things surprised us when we visualized the data:

• Genres were narrow: Society & Culture and True Crime dominated

• New shows did well: ~half of the top shows were new in 2025

• Feeds matter: several of the showed mentioned most frequently were launched inside existing feeds (Embedded, Serial, Uncover)

• Geographical spread was LIMITED: 9 out of 10 top shows were U.S.-produced

The Creator Takeaway

There were a few takeaways we landed on:

• Timing matters

  • Launching a show in November means the show has to BE SO GOOD and have an AMAZING marketing campaign in order to make it to next year’s lists

• Ongoing shows benefit differently than limited series

• We need more podcast writers to show up beyond the best-of roundups! It’s awesome when November / December rolls around and we see these huge publications writing about podcasts, but it’d be groovy if this attention to podcasting extended beyond.

  • Shoutout to our fellow podcast and culture writers who keep it going year round:

    • ’s Bingeworthy

    • ’s Mentally a Magpie

    • ’s Pod The North

    • ’s Open In a New Tab

    • AND MORE

      ---

More things we mentioned:

• Proxy with

• Ben Cannon

• Think Twice: Michael Jackson

• Amazon / Wondery details

• Podcast Reddit

Thank you for reading and watching and listening and then coming back and letting us know what you listened to (leave a comment). We’re going to do more of these lives. With fewer camera angles, hopefully.

💌Lauren & Arielle

Leave a comment

Thank you , , , , , and many others for tuning into our live video with and !

If you like what we do and want to support us, become a paid subscriber! Thanks for considering. Hit us with ideas of what would make this worth it for you.

Welcome to PWTA. Lauren and Arielle here, this time with an exploration into a phenomenon we’ve been experiencing — as both readers (listeners) and as marketing strategists who pitch our clients to be featured — for a long while: the “best of” podcast list roundup.

We often complain that not enough people write about podcasts, but boy do they come out of the woodwork at the end of the year. It’s a time that we brace ourselves for the barrage of best-of and roundup podcast lists!

The New York Times is on it, Vulture had two lists this year, we loved ’s write-up on Bingeworthy, and the Crime Writers On…team members each had their own list of the best true crime, which they compiled into one mega list.

Lauren wrote a list for Lifehacker, then dedicated two issues of to the best episodes of 2025. And of course, Tink’s Audio Delicacies was a treat, or like 100+ treats.

So now you have TOO MANY lists, right? Too many people writing about podcasts? Impossible. And there’s even this website that aggregates all of the lists across media — yearendlist.com.

Well, here’s the one list you should definitely be talking about.

Introducing… The Listies

✨The Listies✨ is the list of the shows that made it onto the most best-of lists. Welcome to The Listies! (Or, Lauren here, I just called it that, maybe Arielle will edit this out. Note: I will not, I like it).

See The Listies Mega Spreadsheet

So, which shows appeared on the most best-of podcast lists? We’re sharing the podcasts below, along with notes and commentary from us. And since we can’t get to everything here, we're getting into the list on a Substack Live event. We’ll touch on things like:

• How did THIS podcast get such pickup if it dropped late in the year?

• Oh, this one absolutely deserves to be there

• A few notable absences

• How are there no independently-produced shows here?

Join us on Friday, January 30th at 11:30am ET HERE to discuss. Or watch the video anytime after.

Best Of Best Of Lists Spreadsheet

P.s. for our methodology and disclaimers, (because we couldn’t gather perfect data — there’s no such thing!) skip to the “More On The Listies” section below.

Quick 2024 podcast list recap

We did this exercise in 2024 and things were way more spread out. Some notes on those podcast lists and the most-mentioned shows:

• The show that was on the most lists, Empire City, only made 5 lists

• In second place were both Hysterical and The Wonder of Stevie, with 4 each

• Tested and The Lonely Island were on 3

• In the Dark, Strangers on a Bench, and Noble were each on 2

The Best of 2025: The 10 Most Frequently Mentioned Shows

Pulling from the 24 best-of or roundup lists we found, these are the shows that appeared the most:

1. Fela Kuti: Fear No Man - 10 times

2. Heavyweight - 9

3. Good Hang with Amy Poehler - 7

4. Final Thoughts: Jerry Springer - 7

5. Wisecrack - 6

6. The Retrievals (Season 2) - 6

7. Embedded: Alternate Realities - 5

8. Sea of Lies - 5

9. Pablo Torre Finds Out - 4

10. Camp Swamp Road - 4

Here’s what we noticed about the top 10 shows of 2025:

• There are no indie productions

• 2 Audible Originals

  • Final Thoughts: Jerry Springer

  • Fela Kuti: Fear No Man

• 3 were series published within existing feeds / were series within ongoing feeds

  • Embedded: Alternate Realities (series)

  • The Retrievals Season 2 (season)

  • Camp Swamp Road (series)

• 4 were hosted by women

• 0 fiction shows

• 7 were also mentioned in Lauren’s Lifehacker article

So… who makes these shows?

• Meadowlark’s Pablo Torre Finds Out

• The Journal’s “Camp Swamp Road”

• NPR Embedded’s “Alternate Realities”

• CBC’s Sea of Lies

• Serial Production’s The Retrievals Season 2

• Tenderfoot TV’s Wisecrack

• Prologue Projects / Audible Original’s Final Thoughts: Jerry Springer

• Paper Kite Productions / The Ringer’s Good Hang with Amy Poehler

• Pushkin’s Heavyweight

• Higher Ground / Audible Original’s Fela Kuti: Fear No Man

More on The Listies

AKA the disclaimers and methodologies section — because perfect data is impossible to come by…

We make a distinction between editorially-curated best-of lists and top charts roundups. We didn’t include lists like “Spotify unveils top 50 shows of 2025,” because those are based on download numbers or follower counts.

We included as many lists as we could find, but there’s no chance in the world that this is exhaustive. It’s possible some great lists were hidden by search engines because their keyword strategy wasn’t top notch. There were also lists we didn’t include because they were written by brands or companies or were too niche in scope.

The following notes are more about SEO and keyword strategy than anything else really, but it’s still interesting to note:

• The word “best” appears in 18 of the 24 titles of the lists we looked at

• 12 of the 24 lists tell us the number of shows they included (i.e. “top 10 shows of the year”). Numbers range from 8-100.

• Some outlets published lists early in the year and then did not return to update them (Spotify), while others did (Vulture).

• Some lists (maybe intentionally?) don’t say that they’ve selected the best, per se, but rather “most essential,” “…that made us stop and really listen,” “most memorable,” and “narrative podcasts we loved.”

That’s the roundup of the podcast roundups

So, what do we think about these findings? What do we have to say about these shows? Well, lots. You’ll have to join us live to find out. But don’t worry if you’re not around at that time — we’ll share the replay. And we want to hear from you!

A few questions we’d love to get your take on:

• Have you listened to any / all of these top 10 shows?

  • Which were your favorites?

• Does placement on a best-of list impact whether or not you decide to listen?

• Which indie podcast should have made the list?

• Which fiction podcast should have made the list?

Leave a comment

THANK YOU FOR READING THIS. PWTA readers, in our book, you’re the best of the best of newsletter readers🤗

P.s. here’s Lauren wearing an Arielle mask. And the real Arielle next to her. We were at the Podcast Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which now includes Arielle! Lauren gave the induction speech. Watch it here, starting at the 10-minute mark.

Oh! And you can chat with us anytime by becoming a paid subscriber.

Thanks, BYE! Love ya!

Lauren & Arielle

Hi, paid subscribers, we see you and we love you! Soon, there’ll be exclusive stuff here, just for you. Any special requests? What shows should we review? Can we review YOUR show?

Dear YOU. Welcome to the first issue of Podcasts We Text About. In this one, we’re bringing you the fourth installment of a list that we publish in every year called “what’s in & what’s out for podcasts?”

But first, you might have a question: WHO ARE WE?

And indeed, it’s a good question.

is the founder of Tink Media, an audio growth company that specializes in podcast PR and marketing. Before that, back in 2019, she founded , her podcast recommendation newsletter that is still going strong. She teaches podcast growth in classrooms and on stages all over the world. She listens to about 25-30 hours of podcasts a week. Here are five of her favorite podcasts: Imaginary Advice, Text Me Back, Straightiolab, Who? Weekly, and The Daily Zeitgeist.

starting writing about podcasts through her newsletter, , in 2017. All she wanted was a job in the audio world. Since then, she’s worked at podcast listening apps, for creator software companies, and on marketing and audience growth campaigns for clients. Currently, she’s an audio and audience growth strategist who works with clients to develop sustainable podcasts that reach their ideal audiences. Here are five of her favorite podcasts: The Daily Zeitgeist, Who? Weekly, Savage Lovecast, Hello Puzzlers!, Pod Quiz, and The Dream.

Now we’ll stop writing in the third person

We met in 2020 at Podcast Movement Evolutions in Los Angeles for just a few minutes and have been texting ever since. We’ve traveled together, ate a lot of dry pot together (come to dinner with us at Màlá Project), danced together, laughed together, spoken on stages together. This whole time, we’ve been listening together. We are colleagues, best friends, and two of the biggest podcast enthusiasts you’ll meet.

We both write and post and talk about podcasts a lot but we text each other even more. And that’s where the real juicy stuff is:

• What shows are we actually loving?

• What do we think missed the mark?

• What audio trends are we really sick of?

• What will we love no matter what even if it’s terrible?

• What are we just plain excited about?

This newsletter will be a glimpse into our texts.

What to expect when you’re expecting Podcasts We Text About

You’ll get an issue when we feel like there’s something for us to dig into. Not all of our podcast-related texts are ripe for commentary. We’ll spare you of those. That said, PWTA will arrive rather randomly, but each time, it will arrive with PASSION!

So join our texts and text us back in the comments at any time.

So about that ins & outs list

For our first PWTA, we’re publishing some of our fourth annual podcast IN / OUT list. We started publishing these a few years ago and it’s one of our favorite traditions. For the full list, we’ll link you to below.

P.s. we’re going live on Friday (the day this releases) to discuss this list! Join us live at 12:00 PM ET or catch the replay forever and always here.

Happy 2026, podcast creators and fans! We’re back with our annual list of trends and anti-trends that attempts to share actionable insights for those seeking to improve their podcast marketing and audience engagement game for the year ahead.

😜This list is also an opportunity for us to share some petty grievances / things we wish creators would stop doing AND to celebrate the things we love from our podcast heroes. Shall we?

True podcast in-and-out heads (not these) will note that while this year’s list wasn’t written at our favorite restaurant, MáLà Project, our love for that joint is still strong. And we invite you to join us there in 2026! (Really, comment on this post letting us know if you wanna get some dry pot with us).

Leave a comment

Here’s what’s OUT.

1. Feed drop blasts

   • AKA when a podcast network drops the first episode of a new show on all of their shows at the exact same time using the exact same copy or… however you choose to interpret “feed drop blasts.” And you know what, we’re adding feed drops in general. (Go to the “in” section for how we can do better)

2. Boring bonus content that isn’t actually that much of a bonus, just clearly a place for you to put leftover stuff

   • ALSO, heads up on labeling bonus content: do you tend to skip over episodes that are labeled as bonus episodes? Or does it feel like an extra treat? Think about those questions as you label your episodes. You may or may not be telegraphing to your audience that your bonus episodes are less important than your main ones.

3. Giving up on promo swaps or other collabs because they didn’t convert in huge numbers

   • If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again… but with a different approach.

   • Consider changing up the copy, placing the promo read in a different part of the episode, trying out a different call to action.

Here’s what’s IN.

1. Pitching yourself to speak at events

   1. We’ve been speaking at podcast-related events for a few years now (both as a duo and separately). And it’s all because we started pitching ourselves years ago. There’s no special sauce to this other than a. Find the submission form, b. Write a kick-ass pitch that delivers value, c. follow up! And d. BE GREAT so they invite you back.

   2. This year, we leveled up. After submitting the regular pitch form to Podcast Movement, we boldly (if we say so ourselves) suggested that they bring us on as keynote speakers.

      1. It worked! Here’s proof:

         Podcast Marketing Magic

         The Best Podcast Growth Tips: 🔥Rapid Fire🔥 Edition (from our keynote at Podcast Movement 2025)

         Hi! Lauren Passell and Arielle Nissenblatt here. We just got back from Podcast Movement in Dallas…

         Read more

         8 months ago · 19 likes · 12 comments · Tink Media, Lauren Passell, Arielle Nissenblatt, and Arielle Nissenblatt🎧

   3. Action item: don’t just pitch to podcast conferences. Search for events, conferences, get-togethers in your area of expertise!

2. Marketing. Seriously. If you want to grow an audience, you have to invest time into your marketing (we tend to recommend that you spend 50% of the time you take making the show on marketing …hope you’re subscribed to Podcast the Newsletter for more tips).

   1. If you don’t have that kind of time, you might need to invest money to get someone else to do it.

      1. Or cross your fingers and hope for a random runaway hit (difficulty level: hard).

3. Capturing email subscribers even if you don’t start a newsletter

   1. It’s worth it to have a direct line to the people that listen to your show.

   2. Action item: find a free platform (Substack is totally free, beehiiv, Mailchimp, Ghost and others have free plans up to a certain number of subscribers), and create a landing page with a subscriber capture form.

We’re gonna leave it at that and shuffle you over to Podcast Marketing Magic to read the rest of the article:

Podcast Marketing Magic

👍👎Podcasting: what's in and what's out for 2026? | Creator trends, audience growth tips, monetization ideas

What’s in & what’s out: podcasting edition…

Read more

3 months ago · 3 likes · 2 comments · Lauren Passell and Arielle Nissenblatt🎧

👋We’re back soon with another edition of PWTA, in which we’re gonna focus on the best of the best of lists.

That’s not a typo. You’ll see! In the meantime, tell us what you’re listening to in the group text…

It’s a space for subscribers. and will share our thoughts about the show’s we’re loving, not loving, and have some thoughts on. And you’re welcome to be in on it with us.

Join chat

How to join the thread

1. Get the Substack app by clicking this link or the button below. New chat threads won’t be sent sent via email, so turn on notifications if you want to be alerted when we post something.

Get app

2. Open the app and tap the Chat icon. It looks like two bubbles in the bottom bar, and you’ll see a row for my chat inside.

3. That’s it! Come on in and introduce yourself.

For more from Arielle & Lauren, subscribe to our newsletters:

Podcast The Newsletter

Podcast The Newsletter is your weekly love letter to podcasts and the people who make them.

By Lauren Passell

Podcast Plunge | Podcast Recommendations & Media News

Plunge into this user-generated podcast recommendation newsletter, curated by Arielle Nissenblatt.

By Arielle Nissenblatt🎧

💜Love, Lauren & Arielle

In the meantime…

• Subscribe to ’s newsletter:

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