5 Podcasts I’m Loving (that aren’t political)
My day job gives me schedule changes a lot. Like, in the last seven months, I’ve worked three very different shifts. At first I closed (noon-9), then I opened (7 AM-4 PM), and now I’m working weekends, so I can’t get mad when people don’t remember my work schedule.
One of the consistent things about my job is that I’ve listened to podcasts as I worked. I’m not required to make many phone calls in my job, so when we were in the office, my team could listen to music or podcasts on our phones. Back in 2018 when I started, most of those podcasts were either crime related or politics related.
After the pandemic, I’ve really struggled with crime podcasts. Then, after working the opening shift at my job, I’ve dropped a lot of political podcast that come out at evening like *Pod Save America* or *The 538 Politics Podcast.*
Instead, I’ve found that I’m turning to other podcasts to listen to, ones that aren’t political. There are still a few podcasts that I make sure I listen to every time they come out, and most of them aren’t political (though a few are related).
PODCASTS I’m LOVING THAT AREN’T POLITICAL
1. You’re Wrong About
I got on this one because a friend recommended that I listen to the Diana series they did. I also listened to the O.J. Simpson series, too. I usually wait for them to finish a miniseries before listening (Diana’s miniseries was five episodes) but they’re super in-depth. They also did an episodes about losing family members to fake news and misinformation and it was brilliant, they had statistics and numbers and evidence to back up this idea. As someone who worked in Republican politics before shit hit the fan, as my political views get more and more left and I see the changes in both parties, it’s a fascinating and depressing topic to me. If you want to dive into a cultural topic, start here and see if they have a series for that topic. It will be well worth the listen.
2. Royally Obsessed
As someone who has been obsessed with royalty since third grade when I discovered Elizabeth I and the hot mess that was her dad, Henry VIII, I love getting a weekly dose of updates on what the royals are doing. The hosts are fun and bubbly and I’d love to have drinks with them. Another great royals podcast is The HeirPod.
3. Thank you for asking
This is a new one by one of my favorite bloggers, Amber Burns. Since launching a few months ago, she’s talked about not starting a new year off strong, toxic positivity, and romanticizing your own life. It’s been fun to start listening to podcasters who are my age and have something in common with me, but are still their own people. As a fan of Amber’s for years, I love being able to listen to her on these podcasts and dig deep into different topics.
4. Read It or List It
This one is pretty new to me, too, but it’s a book podcast! They just started a mini series on indie romances and I love it! I followed Phoebe, one of the cohosts on Instagram, for probably close to a year now, so when she announced her podcast was coming back, I decided to give it a try. While it’s still new, I’m enjoying the banter and the recommendations! The to read list gets longer and longer.
5. Country Shine with Graham Bunn
I grew up listening to country music and 90% of my playlists are country music (much to my boyfriend’s dismay), so a podcast all about country music is a lot of fun. The show just wrapped up the first season, but they did a great job of talking about a variety of different topics and bringing on many guests through the first season.
I also have a ton of miniseries that I need to go through and listen to on Spotify, and now that spring football season is finally over (my alma mater finally won their national championship!), I might have to listen to some of those. The list includes things like Tom Brown’s Body; Fiasco: Bush v. Gore; Mommy Doomsday; In God We Lust; Son of a Hitman, and This Land.
My Spotify podcast queue is like the Netflix queue. I just keep adding and adding and adding, without going back to listen to some of them.
Tell me, what’s on your list?