𤳠10 podcasts I texted my friends (fits, Etsy witchcraft, a cemetery, Satanic Panic)
đ đ Ghosts donât vomit, youâre alive. Even though you shouldnât be. đ đ¤¸ââď¸
Bonjour.
Today is Monday October 27, 2025.
If you have ever picked up a recommendation from me or Podcast the Newsletter, I want to hear about it! Iâm compiling a special issue of my recommendations that have worked and want to include you. (That means Iâll shout out your show or whatever youâre working on.) Respond to this email if you have one.
xoxo
lauren
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Every other week, Lacey chats with young professionals across industries like entertainment, finance, education, and everything in between. Think of it as an unfiltered informational interview, minus the awkward LinkedIn cold message. Guests share what their day-to-day really looks like, how they got their start, what they wish theyâd known earlier, and what itâs actually like behind the job title.
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Tink is working with RESONATE to co-produce a podcast called Pitch Party, which features a bunch of incredible podcast pilots from the best independent producers in the biz. We are doing this in hopes to get them in front of the right people who can offer these creators funding. If thatâs you, give it a listen. But even if itâs not, listen anyway. You might hear one of the best things youâll hear all year. The latest drop on the Pitch Party feed isâŚ
I first met Tania Mohammad when she made Undiscarded, a beautiful podcast that featured objects that told stories of New York City. She was able to capture this city I love so much via a subway token or a very old shove. (When you have time go listen to the episode âLetters to a Hero,â itâs my favorite.) For Karachi Nights, Tania and cohost Shahjehan Khan are taking us to her birthplace, Pakistan, to make us feel like we are experiencing Karachiâs forgotten nightclub era of the 60s and 70s. This show is rich with storytelling, Tania and Shahjehan have family members that were there âdancing like lunatics.â (Thatâs a direct quote and god I love it.) Taniaâs dad was part of The Abstracts, one of the bands making music in the City of Lightsâ heyday, and we get to hear from them about what it was like. But still, we have to wonder. This is a time before all the air pollution and overpopulation of Karachi now, before Pakistanâs tilt toward conservatism. At the time it was âan ideal model of a post-colonial thriving port city on the verge.â This is a history podcast, but as I wrote in my notes, âhistory but it sparkles.â It feels as sparkly and lively as a nightclub. Tania and Shahjehan are trying to capture these nights for us because they are trying to keep them alive. These nights that are in their DNA. Because how else will we remember them?
notes
â¨The second edition of Good Tape is here! This is the THREAT issue, and the cover features THEE Nicole Byer, a triple threat at least. You can use promo code (TINK10), your readers will receive 10% off our new subscriptions or 10% off single purchases for The Threat Issue!
â¨GAZE UPON THE BEAUTIFUL ARTWORK FOR If She Can Make It Here, a new podcast from Amplify HerÂŽ Foundation that celebrates the bold and fearless women leading across New York City.
â¨Tal Minear is hosting a 3-hour workshop on crowdfunding! For $40, youâll get a crash course from their wealth of knowledge and expertise â and half the proceeds go towards the legal funds for a member of the podcasting community in need. The event is on November 15 starting at 10am PST, and youâll get a recording of it after.
â¨Ask Us Anything! On November 14 Arielle Nissenblatt and I are hosting an Open Podcast Growth session for Radio Boot Camp. Weâll give you specific tips for your show, tell you who to partner with, who to pitch,
â¨Yesterday, Arielle featured 5 business podcast recommendations in EarBuds.
đpodcasts i texted to friendsđ
đOn the first episode of Avery Trufelmanâs newest series of Articles of Interest, about how and why 20th century militaria is embedded in almost all American garments, Avery admits that in talking to one expert she broke her record for interview-length. She talked to this guy for 14 hours, 10 hours, and 45 minutes. And that makes sense!!! The notes I took for episode one are loooooong. There is so, so, much, and Avery took us to places I never thought weâd go. She starts talking about how the clothing of the frontiersmen was basically performancewear that was made to look like the stuff that actual people indigenous to the land were wearing (think: fringe)...you absolutely must hear her explain this. It made me laugh so hard hearing her talk about how all this manly outdoor stuff involves a ton of shoppingâŚand a lot of that is for clothes. Shop till you drop, boyyyyys! (Remember, step one on the Oregon Trail was to buy your supplies.) So: itâs always been a thing to shop for gear. But then we learn how the military started getting involved and this includes a long, fascinating Teddy Roosevelt tangent that explains why the Spanish American War was a significant change to the American military uniform. I texted a quote from Avery, âalmost all classic menswear is based on 20th century military memorabilia,â to my husband along with a link to the episode, and pretty quickly he texted back, âthe bit about men wearing buckskin suits is so fascinating and kind of funnyâŚif history class in school was explained and taught in these types of ways I would have been an excellent student.â (Checking our texts, my response was âI cannot believe she got me to understand why we went to war in Cuba by talking about clothes.â) And thatâs the thing. The research here is nuts, the topic is fascinating, but Avery is just so natural on the mic itâs magical. Itâs like the mic is Averyâs world and we are all just visiting it. She ties things together I never saw coming, has funny and perfect ways of saying things, and will switch up her cadence and bring us these tiny moments of laughter or excitement that makes this all just such a pleasure to hear. Listen to âGear: Chapter 1â here.
How I discovered it: Longtime subscriber
đIf youâve been listening to Youâre Wrong About for 150 years you remember that Sarah used to say in her introduction that she was working on a book about the Satanic Panic, and this is a book that I have been waiting for and will still wait for. But! For now we have a podcast, from the CBC, that sheâs hosting about the Satanic Panic called The Devil You Know. You turn it on. You hear Sarahâs voice. But itâs jarring! This isnât how you are used to hearing Sarah Marshallâs voice, and you have heard it a lot. And youâre like, is this going to work? Maybe we shouldnât. Go back, Sarah! Run! But then pretty immediately she mentions that she has given one of her interview subjects the pseudonym âDianeâ for privacy but also because she loves Diane from Cheers, and that calms you, because you thinkâŚthis is still a Sarah Marshall podcast, and she is really good in this role. Episode one gives us the precursor to the Satanic Panic, how the world was so ripe for it. We were primed for this, we were looking for Satan in everything. The Satanic Panic is a manifestation of a belief system we already had and these episodes are about the kindling that fed the flames. Sarah explains where this obsession with Satan began and why we so badly needed some kind of threat to our children, towns, and country. Episode two is an in-depth episode about a topic usually brushed overâthe book Michelle Remembers, which helped kind of kick off the Satanic Panic by claiming, without evidence, that the author had survived horrific Satanic ritual abuse. And guess who has been commissioned to read from the book! Youâll never guess, Iâm telling you. Itâs Jamie Loftus. I told you this is still a Sarah Marshall show! This is a hard, awful story but told to us by someone famously compassionate and funny who has been following it for years and years and years. Just like we were primed for the satanic panic to happen, Sarah is primed to tell us about it. Itâs like she was born to do this. Listen to âEpisode 1: Did Swayze Start the Fire?â here.
How I discovered it: Press release awhile ago will full slate of CBC shows
đSince 2023, Julie Shapiro and John DeLoreâs Audio Flux has been a place for the most innovative audio producers of our time to experiment with short-form pieces in creative ways that they just canât for their jobs or even just longer-form passion projects. Twice a year they announce a circuit that is in collaboration with a creative partner who designs prompts, and anyone can submit a piece for consideration. The selected pieces, âfluxworks,â have been shared online, across social channels, and at live events. Before, fluxworks did not live on RSS, but say hello to The Audio Flux Podcast, which Julie and John are bringing to us with host Amy Pearl. This is exciting because I truly believe that the more people can listen to these things the better the world will be. Yes, itâs slightly, only slightly more confusing-to-grasp than your traditional podcast, but doesnât that make it extra special? And the extra work you have to go to is worth it. Julie, John, and Amy roll it out really well in the new feed, with a trailer and an intro piece that not only explains exactly what you must know but is really fun to listen to. Because all of this is so beautiful. It might be among the most cared for seconds of audio youâve ever heard. Yes, even the intro episode is cared for and nice sounding and fun. You COULD listen to the following episodes, which contain a single fluxwork and interview with the person who made it, knowing nothing, they are just gorgeous. But it helps to know the context. Julie calls Audioflux a âsonic trampoline, a zine for your ears,â which I prefer to Johnâs description, âsandbox,â which is technically accurate but for some reason makes me think of my catâs litter box but if that helps you then there it is. Here are the rules the producers had to follow for the circuit which you are about hear: The pieces had to be three minutes long, they had to draw from the theme of âletting go,â they had to include previously unshared personal archive tape (this is my favorite rule) and they had to take inspiration from an illustration by artist Wendy MacNaughton. Remember how in grade school, open ended essays were impossible to even begin? These creative rules are obstacles that allow skilled producers to get creative but stay in a shared boundary. The fact that they can only be three minutes long means that every second is precious and necessary. You can enjoy the first fluxwork now, âA Study in Blueâ by Chloe Prasinos, about Chloeâs grandmother, a bubbly painter, slowly letting go of language as dementia pulls her deeper into the shadows. Listen to âCircuit 01: A Study in Blue, by Chloe Prasinosâ here.
How I discovered it: Email from Julie
đFor Gabriel Urbinaâs newest audio drama The Harbingers, we meet Adam Blackwell and Amy Stirling, different-in-every-way grad students who hated each other at first sight, in a real âwill they or wonât theyâ way. Eventually they become the first two people with magical powers, making them the most powerful people in the world. This time-sweeping, sound rich podcast kips around through time to show us how while Adam and Amy are critical of each other, they use their powers in different but equally terrifying ways. We find out whatâs going on by eavesdropping on conversations with their lawyers, we know something has gone terribly wrong (something about Boston being sent to space and almost a million people dying) but we donât know too many specifics. I love this show for the same reason I love the best fiction books, itâs so technically well done that you can focus on the huge, philosophical questions itâs asking. It is written so well, the acting is so good, the sound is so believable, that itâs not a stretch to imagine this happening now. And speaking of that! The timeline is around now, some of the events take place in November 2025. SpoooOooooky. Adam gets his powers first, and at one point Amy says, âno one has changed the world by sitting in an ivory tower, your magic is being wasted on you.â The question is what would you do with yours, and the answer is more complicated than you think. Listen to The Harbingers here.
How I discovered it: Apple Podcasts carousel?
đConversations with Ghosts, the new audio drama from the makers of Archive 81, lets us eavesdrop on conversations between mausoleum attendant Mal Fleming and residents of Grey Briar Cemetery, ghosts who for one reason or another are struggling to cross over to the other side. I listened to the first episode several times in a row, it is so layered, there was something for me to find each time. There is history and humor and messages of loss and redemption. Strong storytelling. Incredible sound and voice acting. The kind of fiction I was just writing about for The Harbingersâthe kind of fiction so well written that it becomes nonfiction, it becomes universal and timeless. In the first episode, Mal is there to help a motorman get over the baggage that is keeping him in the Grey Briar Cemeteryâin his life he caused an accident that killed people. Mal seems anxious in his new role as mausoleum attendant, a role that is more like a therapist. Heâs trying perhaps a bit too hard. You can picture him sitting there asking his textbook questions, with his legs crossed a bit too tightly, sitting up a bit too straight. I have a sense that in episodes to come we will see him evolve. (At one point the motorman says, âYou thought this was an easy one to get started with, didnât you? A good one to get your bearings with?â) The first thing I thought when I heard the trailer was that this show is a little like Everything Is Alive, and I still believe that to be true. These are fictional conversations that are actually real and get to us about real human things, the realest. But I think we will grow with Mal, here. I dunno, I donât have advanced audio, Iâm guessing. Weâll see. Listen to âThe Motormanâ here.
How I discovered it: Nick Quahâs newsletter
đI talked to Remoy Philip about his new podcast, Performing the Revolution, and at the time he was a little unsure when to release it. I think he accidentally released it at a perfect time, right after Jad Abumradâs Fela Kuti: Fear No Man became available on Audible and in the middle of it being dripped out via RSS. I just wrote about Fela Kuti last weekâitâs a breathtaking look at a man who changed the world with his music and explored the power of art and what makes it truly political as opposed to cosmetically political. Performing the Revolution is about not just what others who have done that around the world, but exactly what we can learn from them. (Episode one opens with the question: âhow can a person be killed for doing a play?â) Host Meropi Peponides and her partner Beto are studying theater companies around the world who are doing what Fela Kuti didâspark a political revolution, but via plays performed from truck beds, factory gates, and refugee camps. In this first episode, âin India,â we hear about Jana Natya Manch aka Janam, a troupe in India set up in 1973 best known for its radical, politically left-wing street theater. Partially because the story is just great, and partially because this podcast is using amazing sound production, âin Indiaâ is a joy to listen to. We feel like we are observers of this street theater, which at the time was bringing important issues to the doorsteps of the people being impacted by them in an uncomfortably relatable but fun/absurd way in order to dodge censorship of media. (One act displayed how workers are cogs in a machine that cannot function without them.) It wasnât unusual for these plays to be met with violence from the authorities, one of them led to the death of Safdar Hashmi, one of Janamâs founders. Fela Kuti the podcast was about Fela Kuti and all he did, it was pretty much left to us to think about how we can revolutionize our own communities with art. But Performing the Revolution is bluntly looking at these movements and asking the people who were part of them, âhow do we recreate this in the states?â At the end of this episode they literally ask this to a woman named Mala, who was Safdarâs partner, and her answer is this: less selfishness, more guts. Lol, America. Do we have what it takes? Listen to âin Indiaâ here.
How I discovered it: Email from Remoy (who was sent to me via Lory Martinez)
đI am not a YouTube consumer but every time I listen to FUN FUN FUN I wonder if I should be. (And every time Wil Williams tells me about a YouTube series they watched I wonder the same thing.) Disney Dan Becker is a YouTuber with a podcast, and itâs slightly annoying because the listener is made well aware that they are not Disney Danâs first priority. We really should be watching. But these YouTube essayists really know their shit and they are willing to go deep. On a recent episode Dan brought on Babbity Kate to talk about all things Disney Princesses, which is something I turned on to kind of waft around in, I just wanted some comfort listening as I braved my flight to LA. I didnât think Iâd be writing about it but here we are, I think you should listen. Dan, Kate and Danâs producer Nathan get into all sorts of illuminating thoughts about Disney princesses, including their cultural connection to the American Girl Dolls and even Catholic Saints. Kate is about to embark on a journey to Walt Disney World where she will try to meet, IRL, all 13 canonized Disney Princesses, which takes more planning than youâd think. And we learn about who these princesses are and why they have been canonized and why the ones who havenât been havenât been. That part is fascinating and political and all tied up in marketing and gross stuff I donât want to think about. When I was in my twenties I was able to confidently state, âI loved Disney princesses and look at me, I turned out fine!â And as the years go by I have been able to say this with less and less confidence. In my 30s it was âI loved Disney princesses and I turned out pretty OK?â And now I have a daughter and so all this stuff feels especially important. My daughter is two and the Disney (princess + Mickey) indoctrination has already begun. Earlier this week I was carrying her to bed while she held her Mickey Mouse stuffie (that I originally bought for myself, itâs bigger than her) AND her Mickey bath toy and as the four of us snuggled I whispered over her head to my husband, âitâs working.â Wow what a tangent, go listen to âDisney Princess Deep Dive with Babbity Kate!â here
How I discovered it: Kim Winder, who was on the âDisney Nipplesâ episode, mentioned it when she was a guest on The Daily Zeitgeist
đOn the heels of the Heavyweight live show I attended earlier this month with Justin and Arielle at Caveat in NYC, Phonograph dropped an episode, âHey Jackie,â tracing the career of its host Jonathan Goldstein from his early work at This American Life and Wiretap, up to Heavyweight. What struck me, seeing certain pieces under the microscope like this, watching how the experiments he was doing with Wiretap influenced his work on This American Life, was what a good writer Jonathan is. How much of his brilliance comes down to that. Itâs the same thing I noticed at the Caveat event, which opened with Jonathan reading something he wrote, a retelling of the Cain and Able story. Itâs something I donât think we talk about enough in podcasting, how important the writing is. (How many times have you heard me say that the best podcasters are poets!?) But itâs so much more than that, itâs about the playful nature of Jonathanâs work, like in the Heavyweight episode âJesse,â how Jonathan contrasts the gravity of a meeting with someone who hit a cyclist with his car, to Jonathan spinning a fidget spinner to music that sounded like, what can only be described as fidget-spinning music, to an inner dialogue that is also spinning wildly out of control. To quote Rob, âI donât know how the interview would play if we didnât have the fidget spinner.â Also in this Phonograph episode, we get a better understanding of Jackie, who you often hear on mic in contentious conversations with Jonathan in Heavyweight introductions. (Rob and Brita nailed itâhe ritualistically starts to annoy her and then tries, every time, to win her back.) I went back to relisten to certain episodes of This American Life, like âKid Logic,â âBuddy Picture,â and âAllure of the Mean Friend,â that Rob and Brita discussed. That last one is the episode about Jackie that should be recommended listening for any Heavyweight fan. (Jonathan actually mentioned it on the stage of his Caveat event.) Listen to âHey JackieâJonathan Goldsteinâ here.
How I discovered it: Originally a DM from Rob
đAt the beginning of every episode of Never Post, host Mike Rugnetta states the exact time and date of the intro recording, then intros with a quick, interesting, internet-y, Never Post-y news debrief. (In last weekâs episode âPractical Magic: A Witchâs Guide to Etsy Witches,â it was updates on an app that fakes your summer vacation photos, X selling inactive usernames, floppy discs, a Chicago ICE-sightings Facebook group getting suspended at Trumpâs request, the Chicago rat hole, and nothing being real in general.) But that is only the beginning. At the end, Mike Rugnetta tells us that we just heard something that represents a couple hundred person hours of work by a team of six people, hand-researched, hand-written, hand-scored, hand-sound designed, hand-spoken into a microphone, and then hand-edited. (I think all podcasters should be this transparent.) This podcast is not only well researched and packed with the kind of creative segments that makes it feel like youâre holding an old school zine in your hands, the sound that connects the creative segments and decorates them (but never overwhelms them) is so wonderfully delightful. You can never get bored listening to this show. Before we even get into the biggest chunk of the content, we hear audio of producer Hans Buetow talking about how much he loves podcasts, and how you can take them anywhere like the woods (you hear him creeping into the woods) or when youâre running through the woods (now he is literally huffing and puffing, running through the woods!) or when youâre later washing your hands from stuff on âem (hear the washing!) or when youâre on Reddit learning how to dispose of something you left in the woods. This is like an ad for the podcast but also an inside joke that you will not truly appreciate until later in Georgiaâs interview with a witch. That is an easter egg Iâll let you pick up yourself. There is an entire music interstitial that includes songs like the NES version of Beetlejuice, âPinball Jamâ by Elvira and the Party Monsters, Gauntlet Dark Legacy (The Arcade Version) and more. Do you see what I mean about never getting bored? Georgiaâs interview about the business of digitized witchcraft is energized with screams and other spooky sounds. She talks with Mahigan St. Pierre about witches Etsy-and-not and forensic psychologist Alex Frampton about the image of witches today, and how digital spaces are both great environments for witches but often tarnishing their craft. Itâs a thoughtful and curious interview about witchcraft, something you donât so often get. Listen to âPractical Magic: A Witchâs Guide to Etsy Witchesâ here.
How I discovered it: We helped launch this show and now I just get to enjoy as a fan





Wiretap was such an outstanding show. It was ahead of its time in terms of primarily being available as a radio broadcast. The stories with Howard were laugh out loud funny.
Thanks for the shoutout for Karachi Nights! Thrilled to see performing the revolution on here too.