Podcasts for Teens
Information below about teen friendly podcasts is taken from the article "Podcast Party: A Curated List of Nine Teen-Friendly Podcasts" by the School Library Journal.
99% INVISIBLE
Roman Mars’s smart, insightful episodes focus on the many ways that design impacts our lives. The title comes from the idea that good design should be mostly unnoticed. We all benefit from good design from our cell phones’ rings to stackable chairs, but we rarely think too hard about the who, the why, or the how of those particular designs. Each episode tackles the history, usage, and innovation of a design, from flags to fonts. Why did the hashtag become the character we now use in social media (and just what did we use it for before, anyway)? Did the inventor of revolving doors really hate people? How terrible is your state flag? For more like this, try Design Matters
Teen-friendly episodes: #8: “Free Parking,” #43: “The Accidental Music of Imperfect Escalators,” #44: “The Pruitt-Igoe Myth,” #93: “Revolving Doors,” #140: “Vexillonaire,” or #145: “Octothorpe.”
Roman Mars’s smart, insightful episodes focus on the many ways that design impacts our lives. The title comes from the idea that good design should be mostly unnoticed. We all benefit from good design from our cell phones’ rings to stackable chairs, but we rarely think too hard about the who, the why, or the how of those particular designs. Each episode tackles the history, usage, and innovation of a design, from flags to fonts. Why did the hashtag become the character we now use in social media (and just what did we use it for before, anyway)? Did the inventor of revolving doors really hate people? How terrible is your state flag? For more like this, try Design Matters
Teen-friendly episodes: #8: “Free Parking,” #43: “The Accidental Music of Imperfect Escalators,” #44: “The Pruitt-Igoe Myth,” #93: “Revolving Doors,” #140: “Vexillonaire,” or #145: “Octothorpe.”
THE ALLUSIONIST
Do you have any word nerds in your library? Helen Zaltzman’s irreverent, sharp-witted podcast investigates the weird and wonderful history of language. Each episodes opens with the etymology of a familiar word or phrase, but the meat of each 15-minute episode digs into a particular aspect of language. Why are puns difficult to pull off and groan-worthy? How are crossword puzzles created? What on earth is a mountweazel? For more like this, try History of English.
Teen-friendly episodes: #1: “Ban the Pun,” #3: “Going Viral,” #7: “Mountweazel,” #10: “Election Lexicon,” or #13: “Mixed Emojions”
Do you have any word nerds in your library? Helen Zaltzman’s irreverent, sharp-witted podcast investigates the weird and wonderful history of language. Each episodes opens with the etymology of a familiar word or phrase, but the meat of each 15-minute episode digs into a particular aspect of language. Why are puns difficult to pull off and groan-worthy? How are crossword puzzles created? What on earth is a mountweazel? For more like this, try History of English.
Teen-friendly episodes: #1: “Ban the Pun,” #3: “Going Viral,” #7: “Mountweazel,” #10: “Election Lexicon,” or #13: “Mixed Emojions”
THE MEMORY PALACE
The Memory Palace shines because of Nate Dimeo’s carefully written, periodically heartrending tales of overlooked moments and people in history. I have used this podcast during school visits to show off just how much you can learn, for example, in the six-minute story of the first elephant to arrive in the United States (# 32: “Gigantic”). Like the nonfiction authors Steve Sheinkin and Deborah Heiligman, Dimeo is most interested in the human stories behind the dates and places students are required to memorize. For years, Memory Palace episodes arrived irregularly, but now the show is a part of the growingRadiotopia network and has a steady release schedule. For more like this, try Radio Diaries.
Teen-friendly episodes: #25: “I Have Not Yet Begun to Rot,” #32: “Gigantic,” #42: “What They Saw,” #45: “Heard, Once,” #60: “400,000 Stars,” or #72: “The Run of the River.”
The Memory Palace shines because of Nate Dimeo’s carefully written, periodically heartrending tales of overlooked moments and people in history. I have used this podcast during school visits to show off just how much you can learn, for example, in the six-minute story of the first elephant to arrive in the United States (# 32: “Gigantic”). Like the nonfiction authors Steve Sheinkin and Deborah Heiligman, Dimeo is most interested in the human stories behind the dates and places students are required to memorize. For years, Memory Palace episodes arrived irregularly, but now the show is a part of the growingRadiotopia network and has a steady release schedule. For more like this, try Radio Diaries.
Teen-friendly episodes: #25: “I Have Not Yet Begun to Rot,” #32: “Gigantic,” #42: “What They Saw,” #45: “Heard, Once,” #60: “400,000 Stars,” or #72: “The Run of the River.”
PITCH
It’s a good bet that anyone willing to listen to stories is also a fan of music. Pitch explores how and why sound works on our ears and our hearts. It features episodes that look at how careful pauses and silence are built in to songs, as well as how one change to CD packaging revolutionized the music industry. For more like this, tryEverything Sounds, or to dig into how individual songs are created inSong Exploder.
Teen-friendly episodes: #1: “The Clearmountain Pause,” #3: “Rock the Longbox,” #6: “Karaoke,” #9: “Somewhere in My Memory,” or #11: “Paintings to Sing”
It’s a good bet that anyone willing to listen to stories is also a fan of music. Pitch explores how and why sound works on our ears and our hearts. It features episodes that look at how careful pauses and silence are built in to songs, as well as how one change to CD packaging revolutionized the music industry. For more like this, tryEverything Sounds, or to dig into how individual songs are created inSong Exploder.
Teen-friendly episodes: #1: “The Clearmountain Pause,” #3: “Rock the Longbox,” #6: “Karaoke,” #9: “Somewhere in My Memory,” or #11: “Paintings to Sing”
RADIOLAB
Whether they are science geeks or not, curious teens will appreciate Radiolab‘s determination to unpack science in all of its uncertainties. As noted above, the show has done everything from investigating why humans laugh (and whether we’re the only mammals that do) to just what makes space worth exploring. The two hosts, Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, approach these questions from opposite sensibilities but when they disagree it’s with respect and a healthy sense of humor. For more like this, try Science Friday or Invisibilia.
Teen-friendly episodes: #2.2: “Musical Language,” #2.5: “Space,” #4.1: “Laughter,” #10.1: “Colors,” #10.5: “The Bad Show”
Whether they are science geeks or not, curious teens will appreciate Radiolab‘s determination to unpack science in all of its uncertainties. As noted above, the show has done everything from investigating why humans laugh (and whether we’re the only mammals that do) to just what makes space worth exploring. The two hosts, Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, approach these questions from opposite sensibilities but when they disagree it’s with respect and a healthy sense of humor. For more like this, try Science Friday or Invisibilia.
Teen-friendly episodes: #2.2: “Musical Language,” #2.5: “Space,” #4.1: “Laughter,” #10.1: “Colors,” #10.5: “The Bad Show”
REPLY ALL
PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman host a weekly look at life on the Internet. As with all the best Internet searches, their investigations often lead them down rabbit holes to people and discussions they could never have anticipated when they first began searching a particular issue. The process and their serendipitous discoveries are related with humor and insight. Whatever happened to the first webcam star? How does an investigation of the Girl Scouts cookie empire lead to an internment camp during World War II? For more like this, try Hello Internet.
Teen-friendly episodes: #6: “This Proves Everything,” #9: “The Writing on the Wall,” #18: “Silence and Respect,” #23-24: “Exit & Return Part I and II,” and #28: “Shipped to Timbuktu”
PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman host a weekly look at life on the Internet. As with all the best Internet searches, their investigations often lead them down rabbit holes to people and discussions they could never have anticipated when they first began searching a particular issue. The process and their serendipitous discoveries are related with humor and insight. Whatever happened to the first webcam star? How does an investigation of the Girl Scouts cookie empire lead to an internment camp during World War II? For more like this, try Hello Internet.
Teen-friendly episodes: #6: “This Proves Everything,” #9: “The Writing on the Wall,” #18: “Silence and Respect,” #23-24: “Exit & Return Part I and II,” and #28: “Shipped to Timbuktu”
SERIAL
Perhaps the most famous podcast of the last year, the first season of NPR’s Serial explores one criminal case over 12 episodes. Host Sarah Koenig retraces the investigation of the 1999 murder of high school student Hae Min Lee to discover if there is room for doubt in the conviction of Lee’s classmate (and ex-boyfriend) Adnan Syed for the crime. This is investigative journalism at its best from reporters who know how to tell a story and keep listeners coming back for more. This is a perfect introduction to the format, giving listeners a definite beginning, middle, and end to an episodic narrative. A resolution to the crime is not guaranteed, but energetic discussion definitely is. For more like this, try its parent podcast,This American Life, or for more true crime, Criminal.
Perhaps the most famous podcast of the last year, the first season of NPR’s Serial explores one criminal case over 12 episodes. Host Sarah Koenig retraces the investigation of the 1999 murder of high school student Hae Min Lee to discover if there is room for doubt in the conviction of Lee’s classmate (and ex-boyfriend) Adnan Syed for the crime. This is investigative journalism at its best from reporters who know how to tell a story and keep listeners coming back for more. This is a perfect introduction to the format, giving listeners a definite beginning, middle, and end to an episodic narrative. A resolution to the crime is not guaranteed, but energetic discussion definitely is. For more like this, try its parent podcast,This American Life, or for more true crime, Criminal.
STUFF YOU MISSED IN HISTORY CLASS
Two journalists and history enthusiasts, Tracy V. Wilson and Holly Frey, romp through the past and pull out all of the best bits—all true but it’s the stuff that’s usually left out of textbooks. Topics range from the doomed attempt to introduce hippos as a new source of protein in America in the early 1900s to overviews of the history of peanut butter or time capsules. The episodes are well-researched, and the hosts take care to note where historical ambiguity exists and discuss the ways that events can be read and interpreted. Most episodes are stand-alones, but the hosts will also tackle more complex issues in several linked episodes such as the history of the Freedom Riders (both in the United States and later in Australia) or the Lindy Hop. For more like this, try Backstory or, for much longer but no less interesting histories, Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History.
Teen-friendly episodes: “The Freedom Riders,” “The Long Winter,” “13 Reasons for the American Revolution”
Two journalists and history enthusiasts, Tracy V. Wilson and Holly Frey, romp through the past and pull out all of the best bits—all true but it’s the stuff that’s usually left out of textbooks. Topics range from the doomed attempt to introduce hippos as a new source of protein in America in the early 1900s to overviews of the history of peanut butter or time capsules. The episodes are well-researched, and the hosts take care to note where historical ambiguity exists and discuss the ways that events can be read and interpreted. Most episodes are stand-alones, but the hosts will also tackle more complex issues in several linked episodes such as the history of the Freedom Riders (both in the United States and later in Australia) or the Lindy Hop. For more like this, try Backstory or, for much longer but no less interesting histories, Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History.
Teen-friendly episodes: “The Freedom Riders,” “The Long Winter,” “13 Reasons for the American Revolution”
WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE
Welcome to Night Vale burst on to the podcast scene in the summer of 2013, and rapidly zoomed up the listening charts to the top spot. One of the rare story podcasts to gain a widespread, devoted audience, this eerie show presents itself as the local community news from a small town somewhere in the desert (think Prairie Home Companion meets X-Files). However, this small town is a burg where blood sacrifices are common, there are hovering helicopters tracking citizens on behalf of multiple secret organizations, and the library is the most dangerous place in town (be very careful of those librarians). The mix of horror, humor, rich world building, and unforgettable characters will entrance fans of stories that hail from somewhere between here and The Twilight Zone. For more like this, try The Thrilling Adventure Hour.
Teen-friendly episodes: #1: “Pilot,” #13: “A Story About You,” #19A-B: “The Sandstorm,” #28: “Summer Reading Program,” #33: “Cassette”
Welcome to Night Vale burst on to the podcast scene in the summer of 2013, and rapidly zoomed up the listening charts to the top spot. One of the rare story podcasts to gain a widespread, devoted audience, this eerie show presents itself as the local community news from a small town somewhere in the desert (think Prairie Home Companion meets X-Files). However, this small town is a burg where blood sacrifices are common, there are hovering helicopters tracking citizens on behalf of multiple secret organizations, and the library is the most dangerous place in town (be very careful of those librarians). The mix of horror, humor, rich world building, and unforgettable characters will entrance fans of stories that hail from somewhere between here and The Twilight Zone. For more like this, try The Thrilling Adventure Hour.
Teen-friendly episodes: #1: “Pilot,” #13: “A Story About You,” #19A-B: “The Sandstorm,” #28: “Summer Reading Program,” #33: “Cassette”
EAR BISCUITS
Internetainers Rhett & Link have a weekly candid conversation with other creators who are making their mark in new media.
Internetainers Rhett & Link have a weekly candid conversation with other creators who are making their mark in new media.