10 Podcasts We Can’t Wait to Hear This Spring🪻

Sometimes the best podcasts don't hit your radar until they've stopped publishing. Not today!

Apr 24, 2026

These Podcasts Are Dropping Soon!👂

Sometimes we don’t hear about incredible new podcasts until weeks after they’ve launched. Or maybe if we’re lucky, we find out when the trailer is live. But we want to get excited NOW! What’s coming to our ears in four weeks, even five, and beyond?

We did some digging and reached out to the podcast creator community to find out what we can expect to hear later this spring. We rounded up a bunch of podcasts dropping in the next few weeks that we’re pumped to explore.

👋Lauren and Arielle here! One of our favorite things about podcasts is the packaging – the artwork, title, episode naming conventions, website – the visual elements that tell us what to expect from the show.

Speaking of podcast artwork, we have a big announcement coming in a few weeks, and we want to tell you about it. Our Texters (paid subscribers😘) will get details sooner. Become a Texter!

10 Podcasts Dropping This Spring We Can’t Wait To Hit Play On

This list shares 10 shows, both from network productions and from independent creators. We hope you find something you’ll love!

Ganja Granny

ABOUT THE SHOW: Ganja Granny is an experimental podcast combining a sonic environment and auditory exploration with solid information aimed at seniors and curious others wishing to explore the new cannabis territory. Older adults (50+) are the fastest-growing population of cannabis users — and the most underserved when it comes to real, no-nonsense information.

WHY WE’RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Ganja Granny isn’t just an intriguing premise, it’s also a structured show – each episode is about 15 minutes and includes field recordings and dispensary visits. Giveeee ussss field recordings! Also, ever since Lauren started getting old, she has become a huge advocate for stories about seniors.

The Defendants

ABOUT THE SHOW: The Defendants is a series that seeks to understand HOW sexual assault cases move through the justice system, and get underneath WHY it’s so hard for “justice” to be served. It’s the product of two years of interviews with survivors, lawyers, legal experts and activists and is being released independently by Aster Roe Productions.

WHY WE’RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Too much true crime tells a juicy story but doesn’t offer support for victims or any sort of real takeaway for listeners. It’s cool that this podcast is trying to do something that could inform the true crime podcast listening we do in the future. Plus, the trailer gave us the chills. The writing, the voicing, the music.

playing god? A bioethics podcast

ABOUT THE SHOW: After a three-year hiatus, playing god? is returning for a new season. Should medical aid in dying be permitted in the name of end-of-life autonomy for the terminally ill? What are appropriate limits for risks to astronaut health when their mission is for the benefit of humanity? How does the exclusion of pregnant women from drug safety research impact patient decision making? The new season drops on May 19th.

WHY WE’RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: It’s always exciting when a show that you think is gone for good returns, and this one is back after a long hiatus! It’s a challenge for podcasts to come back from time away, so it’ll be interesting to listen for how the production has changed.

The Last Resort

ABOUT THE SHOW: A troubled influencer looking for rest and rejuvenation at a private wellness resort gets more than she bargained for when a mysterious sound causes the guests to turn violent.

WHY WE’RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Do you really have to ask? Did you read that description? It doesn’t even matter, we’re big fans of Davy Gardner of Tribeca Audio. This show is an official selection of the festival this year. Therefore… we trust it’ll be worth your time.

This Ends Here

ABOUT THE SHOW: This Ends Here is a show about solutions to domestic violence. For too long the default solution has been to lock people up, but the data show that’s not actually solving the problem. This show spotlights community leaders who are taking a different approach to ending violence.

WHY WE’RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: We’re into any show that gives resources to folks who are struggling with or who’ve been in domestic violence situations. Or any media in general that can bring these stories out of the shadows. This first episode in particular sounds super compelling. Sounds like the kind of stop-what-you’re-doing-and-listen kind of episode.

Kitchen Trenches

ABOUT THE SHOW: Kitchen Trenches shares the untold stories of the food industry to promote authenticity, relatability, and direct listeners to supportive resources. Where most podcasts in the food world center on buzzy brands and decorated chefs, we’re taking a deliberate step out of the limelight and focusing on stories from hostesses, dishwashers, bartenders, and line cooks.

WHY WE’RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: First of all, we love a segmented show (this one is gonna have 5), in which each segment is unique and has a name. Second of all, one of the segments “Guest Check,” is gonna be like Normal Gossip, but for the food service industry, we can just feel it. Also, we’ve had enough of the podcasts that interview famous chefs. We think the servers have possibly more interesting, definitely less heard stories.

ONLYFANTASY

ABUT THE SHOW: ONLYFANTASY is about the wide world of OnlyFans -- what it’s like buying and selling intimacy on this massively popular platform that has radically lowered the barrier to entry for sex work (on both the “buy” and “sell” side). Co-hosted by Leon Nayfakh and Gracie Canaan, a comedian and OnlyFans creator herself.

WHY WE’RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Everything Leon Nayfakh has ever made has been some of the best stuff we end up hearing all year. So we are bracing ourselves for one of the best things we’ll hear all year. No pressure, Leon! This also seems like a topic with huge power in culture and society today but is pretty untouched when it comes to in-depth journalistic treatments.

Are We Doomed?

ABOUT THE SHOW: Nuclear war. Asteroids. AI. The Yellowstone supervolcano. Are We Doomed? explores a question growing in the American psyche: are we doomed? Each episode takes on a different slice of existential dread—from alarmingly plausible threats (how nuclear war could start even when everyone knows it ends the world) to widely held myths (why the post-apocalypse “wandering with a dog and a shotgun” fantasy isn’t much of a plan). Are We Doomed? looks at what scares us most—and what might make it okay.

WHY WE’RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: We’re Ben fans. He made two REALLY good shows, Landslide and Engines of Outrage. We got to listen to a bit of advanced stuff and it feels extremely important — tackling heavy stuff — while at the same time, it’s fun and voicey. And super well-made. Again, Ben fans.

Kissing Frogs

ABOUT THE SHOW: Guided by clinical psychologist, relationship expert, and USC professor Dr. Molly Burrets, guests share honest, heartfelt stories about an important relationship—from the first spark to the messy middle to whatever came next—and reflect on how it changed them along the way.

WHY WE’RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: There are a lot of podcasts about relationship advice, this one is about how those relationships have changed people. Love that niche angle to such a universal theme, love.

pilot. princess. trash collector

ABOUT THE SHOW: pilot. princess. trash collector. is a show about work — the jobs we do, the jobs we wanted to do, and all the jobs that did or didn’t happen between point A and point B. Hosted by audio producer Nick Andersen, this show explores Dr. Seuss, Studs Terkel and Richard Scary, but not necessarily all in the same breath.

WHY WE’RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: The biggest reason? Nick Andersen. He’s behind Ministry of Ideas and Hub & Spoke Audio Collective. The prompts in this show are fun… we want to hear everyone’s answers to them. Plus, look at the cover art. Curious! A lot of career podcasts feel very businessy and advicey. This show takes a storytelling approach we’re hungry for.

Spring 2026 Podcast Launches - PLAYLIST

6 Honorable Mention Podcasts We’re Queuing Up:

Foundering: The Killing of Bob Lee - a five-part documentary about how a personal tragedy became a national story about the decline of a city.
A Fighting Chance - Emmy-winning filmmaker/host Charles Loi bridges the hard realities of climate change with the optimism of new possibilities and solutions.
Writing Forward - Candid conversations with writers connected to Wisconsin, a state with a rich and often under-recognized literary tradition.
Call to Mind - Exploring the vital mental health issues that shape our lives through first-person stories of people living with mental illness and expert interviews.
Greener Pastures - The Midwest region’s farms are facing some big challenges — eroding soils, extreme weather, economic hardship — and the grass certainly looks greener on the far side of this crisis. But how do we get there?
Feedback with Ira Madison III (June 2026)- A weekly pop culture digest show that treats the week’s mess not just as entertainment, but as evidence that the internet has fully rewired our relationship to fame, taste, and relevance.

Happy listening! If you found a show that caught your ear, please let us know which one. Leave a comment! That’d make us happy. And ⭐️bonus⭐️: it’d probably make the hosts / producers of these shows happy too.