2015.12.22 2015年50个最佳播客

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The 50 Best Podcast Episodes of 2015
A year’s worth of highlights from an increasingly vibrant genre

By Laura Jane Standley, Devon Taylor, and Eric McQuade

Shutterstock / Kara Gordon / Paul Spella / The Atlantic
DECEMBER 22, 2015
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More than 300,000 podcasts exist in the world as of the close of 2015. They range from products made by someone pressing record in their closet to million-dollar outfits with sterling sound engineering. Objectives span from shining a light on underheard voices to the audio equivalent of a selfie. But when Serial liberated the form, powerhouses like NPR and Gimlet Media began pumping real money into the medium, making space for shows with broad appeal and qualities people could judge empirically. A list of the 50 best podcasts might have been nothing more than a desperate shuffle until now, but no more: At our website The Timbre, we’ve spent numerous hours every week poring through podcasts and making recommendations, which allows us to say confidently that these are the best of the best. The following works are ranked in order for their exemplary craftsmanship, entertainment value, and je ne sais quoi, all available for your binge-listening pleasure.


1. “Belt Buckle” by Mystery Show

Mystery Show proved the most endearing podcast to debut in 2015. The host and producer Starlee Kine plays the part of a sleuth who tackles the befuddling everyday mysteries that dog her guests. On “Belt Buckle,” a friend enlists her to track down the original owner of a belt found lying in an Arizona gutter decades earlier. Finished with metalwork depicting a miniature breakfast feast and emblazoned with the names “Hans Jordi” and “Bob Six,” the belt seemed like the last thing anyone would toss to the side of the road. With her trademark whimsy and earnest curiosity, Kine digs deep into the world of European chefs living in the southwest, hot on the trail of a Swiss cowboy. The episode is unrelenting in its playfulness and joy, but a sense of profundity lies just beneath the surface, bobbing up in the final minutes, when you won’t be sure whether to grin or weep.

2. “New York After Rent” series, highlighting “New York After Rent II” by Benjamen Walker’s Theory of Everything


In a three-part series, “New York After Rent,” Walker examines a crucial period in New York City’s history: 2008, right after Rent the musical closed and Airbnb began to invade the rental market. While Rent’s title song famously proclaimed, “We’re not gonna pay rent!”, Airbnb led to the commodification of every square inch of the city, making it impossible for many residents to afford to pay rent. Blending fiction, reporting, memoir, and essay, Walker showcases different takes on the changing New York. The pièce de résistance of the series is part two, in which he describes attending an elite Manhattan party in 2008, during the financial collapse, when the city he knows starts to slip from his grasp. The scene unfolds like a fever dream, with a deeply stoned Walker wandering room to room, trying to piece together a reality where advertising and art are interchangeable and artists like him no longer belong. In Walker, the podcasting world has found its Hunter S. Thompson.

3. “The Living Room” by Love + Radio

The winner of Third Coast International Audio Festival Director’s Choice Award, “The Living Room” was arguably one of the most talked about shows of the year. In it, the writer and filmmaker Diane Weipert explains what happened when a couple moved into the apartment across the street and failed to hang curtains. Through the large bay windows in their home, she and her husband had an unimpeded view of their new neighbors, whose daily comings and goings became something of a fascination for Weipert. Channeling a touch of John Cheever’s “The Enormous Radio” in the narrative as fascination spirals into obsession, Weipert becomes deeply invested in the fate of her neighbors. “The Living Room” finds its heart at the perfect intersection between voyeurism and empathy.




4. “How to Become Batman” by Invisibilia

Studies show that rats perform better in cognitive tests if their handlers project certain abilities onto them. From this, Lulu Miller and Alix Spiegel build an argument for fundamentally changing the way we treat blind people. Rather than limit their mobility out of a misguided desire to protect them, they should be encouraged to get outside and engage with the world, to climb and touch and tumble—to find new ways to “see.” And this isn’t just feel-good pseudoscience either. After listening to Batman, the idea of a real superhero no longer seems farcical. Meet Daniel Kish, America’s very own Batman, who’s been blind since he was an infant and has developed a click he uses to bounce sound waves off his surroundings. The episode barrels forward, punch-drunk on the possibility of its own suggestions, until listeners find themselves standing on the roof of a building, seeing the world anew.

5. “Shine on, You Crazy Goldman” by Reply All

Reply All claims to be a show about the Internet, but regular listeners know that’s just a ruse. The show is actually about people. “Shine on, You Crazy Goldman” begins as a straightforward story, with the host P.J. Vogt examining a website called TripSit, a place where people too high on drugs can find a shepherd. From here, the episode dives into recent research about the therapeutic effects of acid and mushrooms. Curiosity becomes too much for Vogt who decides to try microdosing LSD with the producer Phia Bennin. The story would file under “self-indulgent acid trip” if it weren’t so in tune with the underground conversation about the benefits of hallucinogens. The members of the Reply All crew have so much trust in themselves, the message to listeners seems to be: Curiosity certainly won’t kill these cats, nor will fear prevent them from pursuing stories to their end.


6. “Najibullah in America” by Home of the Brave

The consummate pro Scott Carrier may be the indie bad boy of the old-school audio world, but that doesn’t mean his outlet Home of the Brave lacks vulnerability in his work or shine on the finish. Quite the opposite. “In Najibullah in America,” which is set up by the episode that precedes it, “Over There,” Carrier helps a young man named Najibullah move to America and enroll in a college near him in Utah. The two met while Carrier was reporting in Afghanistan, and Najibullah became his translator. We not only witness Najibullah’s personal evolution through Carrier’s own, but the story also gives the listener new stakes for pushing past their own limitations. While the episode takes on elements of a fish-out-of-water tale, it merges Carrier’s and Najibullah’s narratives in one of the finest moments in all of 2015’s podcasts: Carrier learning to teach, and Najibullah at last grasping, the lesson of freedom.

7. “Sight Unseen” by Radiolab


Radiolab tackles the natural sciences through stories that tend to have unexpected complications, and listeners follow along as the hosts untangle the knot. “Sight Unseen” begins with a photojournalist in Afghanistan who captures a series of images of a marine as he dies. While the photographs portray the cold reality of war in stunning specificity, one problem remains: Laws strictly forbid Lynsey Addario from publishing photos that feature the soldier’s face without permission from the next of kin. “Sight Unseen” fosters a deep intimacy between Addario and the marine’s family, and all the while, the listener wonders if they’ll agree to sign off. The story pits an individual against the greater good and leaves listeners uncertain of the most dignified way to honor one man’s legacy.

8. “Madam Secretary, What’s Good?” by Another Round

Another Round premiered in March 2015 as a “happy hour with friends you haven’t met yet.” Right from the start, the show proved to be whip smart on gender issues and racial politics, and it didn’t take long for hosts Tracy Clayton and Heben Nigatu to turn their podcast into a serious cultural affairs show—all without sacrificing its signature frivolity. The ladies didn’t pump the brakes when they landed an interview with Hillary Clinton, asking her if she thought Bill Clinton “fucked [things] up for black people” during his presidency. You’d be hard-pressed to find another show that does a better job balancing scholarship with laugh-out-loud humor.


9. “DUSTWUN” by Serial

Serial faced serious expectations for its season two, which boiled down to whether the show could catch lightning in a bottle twice. It’s too early to say, but if “DUSTWUN” gives any indication, prospects look good for producer Sarah Koenig and her team. The new season centers on Bowe Bergdahl, the sergeant who disappeared one night in Afghanistan, only to resurface as a prisoner of the Taliban. What exactly sent Bergdahl packing is the subject of the season debut, and listeners will be spellbound by the show’s signature narrative style and disquieting details.

10. “The Problem We All Live With Parts 1 and 2” by This American Life

Much of what the podcasting world loves about the form comes from the style and former employees of This American Life and Ira Glass. But “The Problem We All Live With” was an ambitious undertaking even for TAL, chronicling segregation and integration in public schools. The show gets help from the New York Times reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones, who succinctly shows how racial integration has solved much of the disparities in public schools in the past—and how geographic segregation unravels this hard work. Of special note is an outlandish PTA meeting with parents spewing a subtle brand of racism. Listeners will feel as though they’re seated in the packed gymnasium as one black student breaks down while trying to muster the courage to simply introduce herself to the angry white crowd.


11. “The Hurricane” by The Heart

The Heart asks its audience to confront the rawness of human vulnerability through controlled, artful narration. “The Hurricane” recounts an intense love between the producer Mitra Kaboli and a visitor she met when New York shut down for Hurricane Sandy, trapping them together. The passion the two shared fizzled almost immediately after her lover went home—the usual excuses about the expense of plane tickets and time were made, and Kaboli was left to wonder how something that fit so well could fail. She puzzles through this loss for listeners, and it’s not just Kaboli doing the retelling, either. She’s enlisted her partner to reexamine the tryst, too, adding to the aching complexity of this missed connection.

12. “Terry Gross to Marc Maron: ‘Life Is Harder Than Radio’” by Fresh Air

A public-radio professional meets a casual Friday podcaster in this conversation between Fresh Air’s Terry Gross and Marc Maron of WTF. Gross is famously elusive with a low-key style that opens up her subjects without requiring her to share too much of herself; Maron is brash and irreverent, often turning interviews into something akin to confessionals between friends. Rather than clash, their two styles make for a marvelous 96-minute game of cat-and-mouse with Maron as host playfully pursuing Gross’s private persona, spinning the interview into a discussion about the interview. These two are in top form for this charmed occasion.


13. “695BGK” by Criminal

True crime sells for a reason, but Criminal doesn’t deliver tabloid fodder. The producers Phoebe Judge and Lauren Spohrer carve out their own form of elegant, tightly paced crime documentary, a much-welcomed addition to the podcastsphere. “695BGK” isn’t political, but it reflects a trend in podcasts that adds a gripping new layer to of-the-moment discussion on policing and race. Podcasting also proves a vital outlet for those who would otherwise take to the streets with a megaphone. From the chilling opening line, “Lately, we’ve been hearing a lot about police officers shooting unarmed black men,” Judge tells listeners that this isn’t going to be a Sunday ride. While the subject is thorny, the audio work is unassailable.

14. “Welcome to Millennial” by Millennial

Millennial could not be more … millennial—it’s entrepreneurial, digital, indie, and, essentially, a series of selfies. But its producer, Megan Tan, is far from shallow. On the debut episode, Tan introduces herself as a 20-something fresh out of college, jobless, and uncertain of the next step. That the next step will be to create the very podcast we’re hearing might be obvious, but Tan so thoroughly translates a sense of herself—and is so darn likable—that listeners will want to follow her story to see how she fares. Serialized podcasts are still relatively rare, especially memoir-style ones like these, and especially ones that are this good. Be warned: You’re going to want to binge season one.


15. “Taylor Negron: Portrait of an Artist as an Answering Machine” by Fugitive Waves

As a portrait of an artist as an answering machine, this episode takes us back to a time when voicemails were the connective fabric of our lives. And in this case, it’s all for the sake of eulogizing Taylor Negron, who died in January, in the form of voicemails hoarded by the comedian, actor, and artist. Fugitive Waves, in collaboration with Negron’s friend Valerie Velardi, selected the most standout—hilarious and personal, calculated and weird, even some that sound like monologues—and then sewed together the ones that best reflected Negron. That such an extensive archive exists is itself a treasure, but the craftsmanship required to whittle the trove into a portrait deserves recognition, too. There’s even a precious posthumous appearance from Negron himself in the end.

16. “An American Life” by Rumble Strip Vermont

In March 1968, a 118-pound barber named Vaughn Hood answered his draft board and reported to boot camp. As a non-ideologue who fretted over violence, Hood didn’t fit the mold of a hard-charging grunt. In “An American Life,” the host Erica Heilman collects Hood’s Vietnam War on tape. The conversation goes beyond the melancholic, coming-of-age, war-as-hell narrative. All the horrors of Vietnam are here, sure, but it’s the dignity of one man and that his voice still trembles at the mention of his service decades later that demands attention.

17. “Why is Mason Reese Crying?” by WireTap

“Why is Mason Reese Crying?” revolves around a former ’70s child actor, famous for his old man face, who served as the adorable spokesperson for the likes of Dunkin’ Donuts and Raisin Bran. Later he parlayed his acting career into strange appearances on The Mike Douglas Show. On one such booking, Reese collapsed in his chair, hysterical at the mere thought of guest Harry Chapin playing “Cat’s in the Cradle.” In the hands of producer Jonathan Goldstein, the Wes Anderson of podcasting, Reese’s spellbinding breakdown demands nothing less than an exhaustive search into the heart of a man who never grew up.

18. “Episode 7” by The Message

Fiction, despite its long tradition on airwaves, isn’t the norm in today’s podcasting scene. Decent writing and sound engineering are a tall order in the low-budget state of affairs, let alone employing talented voice actors. Enter General Electric to turn it all around, with money to burn in the branded-content arena and a history in audio storytelling (GE created General Electric Theater in the 1950s, starring Ronald Reagan). The Message follows the protagonist Nicky Tomalin as she and a team of scientists decipher and decode a 70-year-old message from outer space that infects people with a deadly illness after they hear it. Listeners won’t understand the seventh episode without starting from the beginning, but it’s the penultimate installment that most demonstrates that imagination and solid writing—art and craft—can come directly from sponsors.

19. “In the Left Pocket, by My Heart” by ARRVLS

“In the Left Pocket, by My Heart” relays the sorrow of a couple who lose their baby. Sure, friends and family offered words of support, but the narrator, the producer Sara Brooke Curtis, guides—and prepares—listeners to see what these conciliatory gestures don’t touch. The couple’s grief needs acknowledgment, it needs to be taken out for a walk, to be asked to dance, play, and thrive. It’s important not just in terms of the vacancy it leaves behind, but in recognizing that their little girl existed. Their baby girl died, yes, but more important to Curtis and her husband is that she lived, too.

20. “I Want My MTV” by Between the Liner Notes

Finding great indie podcasts can be a head-scratching challenge to listeners combing through the thousands of iTunes offerings. Between the Liner Notes is the succulent fruit of that labor. Taking us from the rough-and-tumble, pre-launch MTV into its iconic 1980s heyday, “I Want My MTV” pinpoints decisive moments that led to the birth of Music Television, with the host Matthew Billy interviewing key players from the network’s origin story. MTV once reigned over youth culture with nothing more than four-minute videos, and now, there’s a great documentary-style podcast to show for it.


21. “A Red Dot” by Love + Radio

The chance to try on another person’s consciousness keeps many on the hunt for the next great podcast, but “A Red Dot” transports listeners into a headspace they have no desire to occupy. Spoilers will take away from Love + Radio’s brilliant craft choices, particularly in its first few minutes, which bait you into venturing down an unpalatable path. The discomfort comes mostly from the fact that it challenges listeners to contemplate controversial realities that nobody wants to consider, from a person nobody wants to acknowledge. The subject matter is heavy, the flourishes of language intriguing, and the questions hard. Suffice it to say, the producers know the listener needs to be bent into an unnatural sympathy in order to give this particular outlier an ear. “A Red Dot” forces its listeners to rise to the occassion, whether they like it or not. It’s one of the most infuriating and masterful pieces to date.

22. “Source Code” by Mystery Show

Pressing play on “Source Code” transforms listeners into laughing fools, incapable of containing themselves. Jake Gyllenhaal himself makes an appearance, both challenging and acquiescing to the host Starlee Kine’s charm—and saying as much won’t spoil the fun. Kine’s quick wit coupled with her basic goal of solving an Internet-agnostic mystery—that of Gyllenhaal’s exact height—takes the listener through a discovery process they’d never seriously consider on their own. Mystery Show validates that age-old atavistic hunch that the Internet does not, in fact, know everything.


23. “The Facts” by How to Be a Girl

“The Facts” stars a 5-year-old transgender girl, whose maturity belies her age, and her mother, who dives headfirst into the subject of gender identity while recording under the name Marlo Mack. At first, Mack resists her child presenting as a girl, but after months of difficult conversations aimed at changing her daughter’s mind, she considers the possibility of acceptance. How to Be a Girl demonstrates how, if you can’t rely on your interpretation of gender—this is a 5-year old baring her soul, after all—then you’re left with trusting that the person standing before you knows her own heart. And the child here survives an emotional gut-check that would level most 30-year-olds. “The Facts” distills the essentials of the How to Be a Girl series into a primer of sorts , the perfect starting point for newcomers who want to find someone under the age of 6 who can give them a master class in personal growth.

24. “Rukmini Callimachi” by Longform Podcast

Longform satisfies writers’ great desire to understand their fellow creators. When it goes beyond its own bubble, though, it has the power to inspire anyone willing to take their time with good journalism. Rukmini Callimachi wrote many of the most important stories about ISIS published in The New York Times this year. Her social media savvy helped her track down sources in an unprecedented way, and, in so doing, alerted the world of the fact that one vapid Western preoccupation—Twitter—had been commandeered for much darker purposes. Breaking down her motivations and know-how, Callimachi offers a humble, fascinating exploration of the modernization of news—and confirmation that hard work and determination still rule the day.

25. “Rebel Yell” by Home of the Brave

No other podcast sounds like Home of the Brave, and “Rebel Yell” is an especially rollicking episode that dares to be funny, dangerous, and immediate. Scott Carrier invades New York with drops of blotter acid and a plan to cover the Republican National Convention. But he never makes it to the main event, because he’s too busying protesting “the enemy” and then smooth-talking his way into a Kid Rock concert brimming with young conservatives. He immerses himself in the open bar, fist-pumps with Republicans, and delivers a gonzo-style belly laugh, all in a taut 13 minutes. By the end, you won’t believe who Carrier is endorsing for president.

26. “Milk Carton Kids” by 99% Invisible

99% Invisible knows how to take a tidbit of the design world and expand it into into a sleek exploration of society at large. For a few years in the 1980s, kids’ morning cereal came with a generous helping of stranger danger as dairies featured information about missing children on the backs of their milk cartons. This was a time when law-enforcement officials waited three days before considering a child officially missing. After 12-year-old Johnny Gosch didn’t return from his morning paper route, his mother lobbied for reform, and Johnny’s was the first face to appear on a milk carton. 99% Invisible—a podcast that bills itself as “a tiny radio show about design”—finds beautiful ways to expand its scope and explore the larger social and historical context behind innovations.

27. “Instaserfs” by Benjamen Walker’s Theory of Everything

Following up on his success examining Airbnb in “New York After Rent,” Benjamen Walker once again takes aim at the sharing economy in another three-part series, “Instaserfs.” To explore the world of Uber drivers and Task Rabbits, he partners with a 25-year-old San Francisco native, Andrew Callaway (who turns out to be pure radio gold), as Callaway dives into life as an independent contractor. Callaway races around the city, delivering groceries and chauffeuring coked-up venture capitalists, often spending more on gas than he makes in tips. Walker doesn’t offer any pat conclusions about the share worker economy, but after riding along with Callaway for three episodes, listeners will realize this is not the route to milk and honey.

28. “Birthstory” by Radiolab & Israel Story

What’s the most straightforward—and legal—way for a same-sex Israeli couple to father siblings, one child each, outside of the very expensive American channels? Apparently through a couple of companies that coordinate one Ukrainian egg donor and two Indian surrogates who stay the course of their pregnancies in Nepal. “Birthstory” walks listeners through these complexities, both moral and logistical—and then an actual earthquake shakes up Radiolab’s and Israel Story’s reporting, unveiling a vast baby-making network. “Birthstory” is the culmination of a year’s worth of reporting and a welcomed demonstration of how much the listener benefits when show producers don’t try to shoehorn their findings into a tidy narrative just for the sake of a prettier package.

29. “Every Night Ever” by The Memory Palace

The Memory Palace makes its bones digging out small, forgotten moments in history and breathing new life into them. On “Every Night Ever,” the host Nate DiMeo describes a night in 1953 when something strange visited the sleepy town of Austell, Georgia. It’s an interesting enough little story, but it’s the quiet, wistful scoring and careful attention to detail that elevates this account from a textbook footnote to a timeless tale about the human desire to find meaning in our lives.

30. “No Place Like Home” by Criminal

It’s fun to listen to people talk about kiting checks and living double lives, especially when you know that person got busted, but this particular episode of Criminal takes a turn that sits outside the realm of possibility for the listener. Those who haven’t read Neil White’s memoir, In the Sanctuary of Outcasts, will find themselves especially seduced in the first moments of the show. White-collar criminals on the East Coast used to be sent to a place that housed a different type of inmate, one that, unlike White and his nonviolent inmates, had no desire to get out. The perspective the listener gets from these disparate populations coexisting, how they influence one another, will make you want to hug your mother, or at the very least, reach out and touch someone.

31. “Soundtracker” by Generation Anthropocene

Think of “The Soundtracker” as an audio version of a lauded nature program. According to the man who made his living recording the world’s sounds, in the wilderness, those who can really listen stay alive—and those who don’t will get eaten. “The Soundtracker” proves how a sense of hearing is as essential as food and water, and that, baby, the Earth is music. Hempton DJs and interprets his vast collection of nature sounds, precious treasures since noise pollution has made reproducing them impossible. His guidance nuances and brings to light the surprising and sad realities in bioacoustics, and how the sun is what turns up the volume.

32. “Today’s the Day” by Reply All

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Reply All’s “Today’s the Day” is that, on paper, it has all the makings of a dud. It features the hosts Alex Goldman and P.J. Vogt recording themselves riding roller coasters and performing karaoke under the simple guise of the idea that sometimes you need to get outside. Yet the effect is inexplicably magical as listeners tag along on a day where the subtext has more to do with friendship than cabin fever. The podcast should come with a “don’t try this at home” warning, as few producers can pull off such a carefully crafted show while maintaining a freewheeling sense of joy. That the episode also features a cameo by a goat living near an abandoned building in Brooklyn is just a bonus.

33. “Greetings From Suicide Bridge” by The Light in the Attic Podcast

For many music enthusiasts, Light in the Attic Records does God’s work, sifting through discount bins and stalking flea markets in search of undiscovered, forgotten, and obscure albums to reissue. One such record is “Songs From Suicide Bridge,” a moody, plaintive folk album quietly released by David Kauffman and Eric Caboor in 1984, and all but ignored for the next 30 years. The writer Sam Sweet tells the story of these two loners, read directly from the liner notes, and interspersed with tracks off their haunting album. Like “Songs From Suicide Bridge,” the podcast doesn’t call attention to itself, maintaining instead a somber, melancholy tone that will break your heart if you let it.

34. “Entanglement” by Invisibilia

The show hosts Lulu Miller and Alix Spiegel shatter all the known rules of the universe in the first 10 minutes of “Entanglement,” proving the interconnected nature of the world, down to the atom level. Everything is one thing, according to their indisputable, sometimes inexplicable, findings. For people generally cast aside as paranoid wackadoos for believing that one day people will download others’ thoughts from a cloud, “Entanglement” all but confirms such a future reality. The hosts call in science, stand-up, and even something called mirror-touch synesthesia for evidential support.

35. “The Worst Part About Our Sport” by The Season

On its face, The Season is about the 2015 Columbia University Lions—a notoriously underperforming Ivy League football team with a famously long losing streak. Though the podcast remains true to its promise, following the team and cataloging the final scores of games over a 10-episode season, its purpose deepens as the show evolves. In “The Worst Part About Our Sport,” the reporter Ilya Marritz probes the ugly side of the game, considering the devastating head injuries and inherent violence endemic to football. Though he owns up to his initial indifference to the sport, Marritz doesn’t take the easy way out here and condemn football; instead, he grapples with its contradictions, even defending the illogical devotion the game inspires, proving to listeners this is a podcast that has loftier ambitions than tidy conclusions.

36. “Unforgiven” by Snap Judgment

There’s a moment in the first 20 minutes of “Unforgiven” that will make your blood run cold. The theme of the episode is forgiveness, and the first act chronicles the correspondence between two women, a widow and the wife of her husband’s killer. Great documentary storytelling has long had a home in the world of podcasting, and Snap Judgment regularly surpasses typical cocktail-party anecdotes with its sweeping narratives. But “Unforgiven” pushes the show to new heights, layering in surprises and drilling down to the hard questions about how far the reaches of grace should extend.

37. “House on the Hill” by HOME: Stories from L.A.

Home: Stories from L.A. launched in 2015 as an anthropological study of the people who created the dreamscapes and mythologies of southern California. In its first installment, “House on the Hill,” Bill Barol drenches his story in the Golden Age of Hollywood as seen through the weird, beautiful, and sometimes macabre orchestra of Herman Stein, a composer of dozens of monster-movie and sci-fi soundtracks. To understand Stein, Barol, a journalist-turned-podcaster, chases ghosts in the cavernous home to which the composer retired after he grew disillusioned with the business. While “House on the Hill” charms you on the surface with Hollywood lore, it’s actually an understated love story about Stein’s tender devotion to his wife Anita.

38. “I Am in Here” by Rumble Strip Vermont

Imagine hearing and understanding words, but being unable to speak any for the first 30 years of your life. Mark Utter, the subject of “I Am in Here,” explains this reality, in no easy terms and not without incredible effort. Utter communicates through supported typing, a slow process that the host Erica Heilman demonstrates in real time, giving listeners a rare taste of just how impressive it is that Utter is not only able to hold onto his thoughts, but also express them. Mostly, the episode offers a vignette into an isolated and othered sect of humanity, one that demands a lended ear. But, listen for the moment when Utter talks about the sheer helplessness and danger inherent to his wordless life, listen for when he and Heilman argue. Both prove that deep thinking need not be verbal, and that words aren’t the only path to love, sorrow, or even self-actualization.

39. “Joe Frank: Downfall” by UnFictional

To understand “Downfall,” you’ll have to put down your devices, stop cleaning the bathroom, and avert your gaze from the world. The legendary Joe Frank made poetry in this episode of UnFictional, through an audio collage that stitched together peculiar soundbites, including an interview with a corrupted mayor and voiceover work from David Cross. It’s hard to pinpoint the takeaway—the listener must do some of the heavy lifting to that end—but it’s not clear if that even matters. Certainly natural disaster intersecting with the limitations of man creates enough engaging satire for listeners to give it one, if not a few, go rounds.

40. “The Accidental Gay Parents” by The Longest Shortest Time

When John got a call from a social worker who informed him that foster care would soon take possession of his sister’s children—unless he intervened—he had no choice but to act. Until then, he and his boyfriend Trystan had lived a carefree 20-something lifestyle. All that was all gone in a flash as they became adopted fathers to two kids from an abusive household. The men stepped admirably into their new roles, even as it meant rupturing the relationship they shared with John’s sister. “The Accidental Gay Parents” is an affecting episode that showcases the transformative power of love and family—in all its forms.

41. “Splash” by Awful Grace

The Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida has the unfortunate distinction of serving as one of the country’s most popular places to commit suicide. “Splash” explores the romance and reality of this grim site, examining it through hotline operators, rescue workers, and a man who tracks the yearly suicides—each with a unique understanding of the fragile contract some people make with life. We also hear from Hanns Jones, a jumper who survived, about what it’s like to stare down into that blue water and then step out, into the abyss.

42. “The Last Place: Diary of a Retirement Home” by Radio Diaries

Long before podcast was a word and streaming audio a reality, the team at Radio Diaries was helping people tell their stories by giving them recorders and editing their tape. Decades later, the formula still works. In “The Last Place: Diary of a Retirement Home,” we hear from the residents of The Presbyterian Home in Evanston, Illinois, who describe their frustrations with their failing bodies and their secrets to aging (one woman eats a regimented diet of gin-soaked raisins every day). But for them life isn’t merely reduced to the art of growing old—these are people with opinions and memories and plans.

43. “Burnout” by StartUp

Listening to the frazzled employees of a podcast company hit a wall shouldn’t play this well. StartUp markets itself as a franchise about “what it’s really like to get a business off the ground,” but it’s obvious now how its reality-show format worked best when it turned the mics on itself. With unlimited access, “Burnout” wanders the halls of Gimlet Media checking for vitals. Given the testimony by worker bees like Starlee Kine, Alex Goldman, and P.J. Vogt, you might think this is a new season of The Walking Dead. Slogging through endless grunt work, Gimlet Media discovers what happens in a startup after the romance dies.


44. Entire “Charles Manson’s Hollywood” series, highlighting “Charles Manson’s Hollywood Part 3: The Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson, and Manson the Songwriter” by You Must Remember This

You Must Remember This gives listeners an outlet for indulging in the Golden Age of Hollywood. With Karina Longworth at the helm, the “Charles Manson’s Hollywood” series doesn’t feel like scholarship because it’s too gripping, too addictive, and too easy to follow. The series is a slow reveal of Manson’s ego, influence, and crimes, chock-full of details that sharpen the well-known events.  Of particular fascination is part three of the series, which describes Manson’s relationship with the Beach Boys’ Dennis Wilson, a man who was easy prey for Manson. The revival of this little-known relationship translates into equal parts nostalgia and terror.

45. “Paul Thomas Anderson” by WTF With Marc Maron

If a championship belt were awarded to best podcast interviewer every year, Maron would have defended his title in 2015 with this showing. As a standup comedian-turned-podcaster, Maron doesn’t just enhance how a guest and host communicate, he creates a new form of human expression, one where he filters his guest through his own neuroses to arrive at what makes a person successful. When the filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson kicks open the door to Maron’s garage-turned-recording-studio, the host may have finally met his match. Anderson’s appearance on WTF places everything that is compelling about Maron’s podcast in a box with a floppy bow: conversation as a manic tug-of-war tell-all, and Maron’s compulsive plunge into what drives a person to pursue an artist’s life.


46. “Grace of the Sea” by UnFictional

UnFictional is no stranger to a story that burrows inside you and takes up residence in your head, pushing aside the clutter and white noise. “Grace of the Sea” is all about the memories people hold most dear. It taps into the intoxicating days of youth as seen through the seascaped daydreams of Luis Gutierez Sanchez, a man from small-town Mexico who moved to Cozumel and worked in a drag show under the name Grace of the Sea. Hypnotic and nostalgic, this episode finds its cadence in the rhythm of Caribbean waves off the coast of Mexico.

47. “Terrible Parents” by Black List Table Reads

Into a field crowded with documentary-style reporting enters The Black List Table Reads, a fiction podcast built around real Hollywood screenplays and performed by professional actors. Hosted by Franklin Leonard, the man behind the legendary collection of unproduced screenplays known as the Black List, the show gambles on the idea that these scripts can come to life through solid voice acting. Though not the only show attempting to tell fictionalized stories, it’s one of the most ambitious, with episodes clocking in at feature-film length. “Terrible Parents” is a comedy about two parents who are hell-bent on ensuring their young son’s success, to the point that they fail to notice what nightmares they’ve become. The “movie” paints its scenes so vividly that you’ll quickly forget you’re hearing a table read.

48. “Pete Davidson” by You Made It Weird With Pete Holmes

The comedian Pete Holmes aims for an unconscionable two hours per episode and hopes to “make it weird” by talking about life after death, ayahuasca, astrophysical travel, and the like. By controlling his interviews, in a loose way and with extraordinary playfulness and total lack of judgment, he often creates unguarded conversation that can captivate listeners who don’t buy into New Age ideas. Pair him with someone like Saturday Night Live’s ingenue, Pete Davidson—a straight shooter whose father died working as a firefighter in the aftermath of the attacks on September 11—and You Made It Weird can’t fail. Davidson, 21, is inexplicably mature for his age and demonstrates the value of dark humor. The unsavory throat-clearing up top redeems itself—stick with it for a handsome reward.

49. “Lionel Shriver Reads T.C. Boyle” by The New Yorker’s Fiction

There’s nothing groundbreaking about this podcast’s premise in which authors are invited to read and discuss a short story from The New Yorker’s archive. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t occasionally exceptional. Take this episode, in which Lionel Shriver reads T.C. Boyle’s “Chicxulub,” an unsettling story about a tragic accident involving a teenage girl. It’s a story that sneaks up and offers a gut punch, and while the reading is enough to make this a must-listen, it’s the ensuing conversation between Shriver and the host Deborah Treisman that seals the day. The discussion extends beyond the pages of the story, to grief and empathy and humanity’s shared, collective fate.


50. “Take a Little Ride With Coors Light” by Pitch

The producers at Pitch comb through music in search of a narrative, but they also look underneath and around the industry, scouring the bit players and rainmakers dishing out records and fulfilling rock and roll dreams. In its best installment of 2015, Pitch explores how some hits by songwriters double as jingles for their corporate sponsors. As you hear the host Alex Kapelman tell it in “Take a Little Ride With Coors Light,” product placement sneaks its way onto more albums than you might recognize. Pitch finds a story in a Nashville backroom, where the songwriters in Jason Aldean’s 2012 hit “Take a Little Ride” tweaked the lyrics to include a shoutout to Coors Light, helping the country rocker perform the double duty of topping the pop charts and pleasing his corporate overlords.

Laura Jane Standley is a writer whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Believer, and 303 Magazine. She was previously a partner at The Timbre.
Devon Taylor is a co-founder and the editor in chief of The Timbre. She has written for CutBank and The Tottenville Review.
Eric McQuade is the host of the podcast Good Sport. He was a co-founder of The Timbre.




2015年的50个最佳播客剧集
一个日益活跃的流派一年来的亮点

作者：劳拉-简-斯坦德利、德文-泰勒和埃里克-麦奎德

Shutterstock / Kara Gordon / Paul Spella / The Atlantic
十二月 22, 2015
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截至2015年年底，世界上有超过30万个播客。它们的范围从某人在衣柜里按下唱片制作的产品，到拥有一流音响工程的百万美元的服装。目标从照亮被忽视的声音到相当于自拍的音频。但是，当Serial解放了这种形式时，像NPR和Gimlet Media这样的大公司开始向媒体注入真正的资金，为具有广泛吸引力和人们可以凭经验判断的品质的节目提供空间。直到现在，50个最佳播客的名单可能只是一个绝望的洗牌，但现在不是了。在我们的网站The Timbre，我们每周花无数个小时来研究播客并进行推荐，这使我们能够自信地说，这些是最好的中的最好。以下作品因其堪称典范的工艺、娱乐价值和je ne sais quoi而依次排列，可供您狂欢收听。


1. 神秘秀》的 "皮带扣"

事实证明，《神秘秀》是2015年首次亮相的最可爱的播客。主持人兼制作人Starlee Kine扮演了一个侦探的角色，解决了困扰她的客人的令人费解的日常谜团。在 "皮带扣 "节目中，一位朋友请她追踪几十年前在亚利桑那州水沟中发现的一条皮带的原主人。腰带上的金属制品描绘了一个微型的早餐盛宴，并印有 "汉斯-乔迪 "和 "鲍勃-塞克斯 "的名字，这条腰带似乎是人们最不愿意扔在路边的东西。基恩带着她标志性的奇思妙想和认真的好奇心，深入挖掘生活在西南地区的欧洲厨师的世界，热衷于追踪一个瑞士牛仔。这一集的游戏性和欢乐是不间断的，但一种深刻的感觉就在表面之下，在最后几分钟里晃动起来，当你不确定是笑还是哭。

2. "出租后的纽约 "系列，突出本杰明-沃克的《万物理论》的 "出租后的纽约II"


在 "出租之后的纽约 "系列的三部分中，沃克研究了纽约市历史上的一个关键时期：2008年，就在音乐剧《出租》闭幕和Airbnb开始入侵租赁市场之后。虽然《房租》的主题曲著名地宣称："我们不会支付租金！"，但Airbnb导致了城市每一寸土地的商品化，使许多居民无法支付租金。融合了小说、报道、回忆录和散文，沃克展示了对纽约变化的不同看法。该系列的精华部分是第二部分，其中他描述了在2008年金融崩溃期间参加曼哈顿的一个精英聚会，当时他所熟悉的城市开始从他手中滑落。这一幕就像一个发烧的梦一样展开，深深沉醉的沃克在一个又一个房间里徘徊，试图拼凑出一个广告和艺术可以互换的现实，而像他这样的艺术家不再属于这里。在沃克身上，播客世界找到了它的亨特-S-汤普森。

3. "爱+广播的 "起居室

第三海岸国际音频节导演选择奖得主 "起居室 "可以说是今年最受关注的节目之一。在其中，作家兼电影制片人戴安娜-韦珀特（Diane Weipert）解释了一对夫妇搬进对面的公寓后没有挂窗帘所发生的事情。通过他们家的大窗台，她和她的丈夫可以不受阻碍地看到他们的新邻居，他们每天的来来往往让韦珀特着迷。在叙述中，由于着迷变成了痴迷，韦珀特对邻居的命运产生了深深的关注，这也是约翰-契弗的《巨大的收音机》的一个亮点。"起居室》在偷窥和同情之间找到了它的核心。




4. "如何成为蝙蝠侠》，作者：Invisibilia

研究表明，如果饲养员将某些能力投射到老鼠身上，老鼠在认知测试中表现得更好。由此，露露-米勒和阿里克斯-斯皮格尔提出了一个论点，即从根本上改变我们对待盲人的方式。与其出于保护他们的错误愿望而限制他们的行动，不如鼓励他们走到外面，与世界接触，攀爬、触摸和翻滚，找到 "看 "的新方法。而这也不仅仅是感觉良好的伪科学。在听完蝙蝠侠的演讲后，真正的超级英雄的想法似乎不再是闹着玩的。丹尼尔-基什是美国自己的蝙蝠侠，他自幼失明，并开发了一种用于反弹周围环境的声波的点击。这一集向前推进，在其自身建议的可能性上冲得醉醺醺的，直到听众发现自己站在一栋大楼的屋顶上，重新看到了这个世界。

5. 阳光下的疯狂戈德曼》，作者是 "全民回复"。

Reply All声称自己是一个关于互联网的节目，但普通听众知道这只是一个诡计。该节目实际上是关于人的。"闪耀吧，你这个疯狂的戈德曼》以一个直接的故事开始，主持人P.J. Vogt考察了一个名为TripSit的网站，这是一个让吸毒过量的人可以找到牧羊人的地方。从这里开始，本集深入研究了最近关于酸和蘑菇的治疗效果的研究。沃格特的好奇心变得太强，他决定和制片人菲亚-本宁一起尝试微剂量的LSD。这个故事如果不是与关于致幻剂的好处的地下谈话如此一致，就会被归入 "自我放纵的迷幻之旅"。Reply All团队的成员对自己非常信任，给听众的信息似乎是。好奇心当然不会杀死这些猫，恐惧也不会阻止他们将故事进行到底。


6. 勇敢者之家》的 "纳吉布拉在美国"

精湛的专家斯科特-开利可能是老派音频界的独立坏小子，但这并不意味着他的出口 "勇敢者之家 "在作品中缺乏脆弱性，或在完成时缺乏光泽。恰恰相反。"在美国的纳吉布拉，"这是由前面的一集 "在那里 "设置的，开利帮助一个名叫纳吉布拉的年轻人搬到美国，并在犹他州附近的一所大学入学。两人是在开利在阿富汗进行报道时认识的，纳吉布拉成为他的翻译。我们不仅通过开利本人见证了纳吉布拉的个人演变，而且这个故事还为听众提供了突破自身限制的新赌注。虽然这一集具有水落石出的元素，但它将开利和纳吉布拉的叙述融合在一起，是2015年所有播客中最精彩的时刻之一。开利学会了教学，而纳吉布拉也终于掌握了自由的教训。

7. Radiolab的 "Sight Unseen "节目


Radiolab通过故事来处理自然科学问题，这些故事往往有意想不到的复杂情况，听众跟随主持人一起解开这个结。"看不见的风景 "从一位在阿富汗的摄影记者开始，他捕捉到了一位海军陆战队员死亡时的一系列照片。虽然这些照片以惊人的具体方式描绘了战争的冷酷现实，但仍有一个问题。法律严格禁止Lynsey Addario在没有得到士兵亲属许可的情况下发表带有士兵脸部的照片。"Sight Unseen "在阿达里奥和海军陆战队员的家人之间建立了深厚的亲密关系，同时，听众不知道他们是否会同意签字。这个故事将个人与大局对立起来，让听众不知道用什么最体面的方式来纪念一个人的遗产。

8. 另一回合》的 "秘书女士，什么是好的？"

Another Round于2015年3月首播，是一个 "与你还没有见过的朋友的快乐时光"。从一开始，这个节目就被证明在性别问题和种族政治方面很聪明，主持人特雷西-克莱顿和赫本-尼格图没过多久就把他们的播客变成了一个严肃的文化事务节目--所有这些都没有牺牲其标志性的轻浮性。当她们采访希拉里-克林顿，问她是否认为比尔-克林顿在担任总统期间 "搞砸了黑人的事情 "时，两位女士并没有踩刹车。你很难找到另一个节目能更好地平衡学术研究和笑料十足的幽默。


9. 连续剧 "DUSTWUN"

连环画》第二季面临着严重的期望，这归结为该剧是否能在瓶子里抓住闪电两次。现在说这些还为时过早，但如果 "DUSTWUN "有任何迹象，制片人萨拉-科尼格和她的团队的前景看起来不错。新的一季以博韦-伯格达尔为中心，这位中士在阿富汗失踪了一个晚上，后来作为塔利班的囚犯重新出现。究竟是什么让博格达尔离开的，是本季首播的主题，听众将被该节目标志性的叙述风格和令人不安的细节所吸引。

10. 美国生活》的 "我们共同生活的问题 "第一和第二部分

播客世界对这种形式的喜爱，大部分来自《美国生活》和艾拉-格拉斯的风格和前雇员。但 "我们共同生活的问题 "即使对TAL来说也是一项雄心勃勃的事业，它记录了公立学校的种族隔离和一体化。该节目得到了《纽约时报》记者Nikole Hannah-Jones的帮助，他简明扼要地展示了种族融合如何解决了过去公立学校的大部分差异--以及地理上的隔离如何解开了这一艰难的工作。特别值得注意的是，在一次离奇的家长会上，家长们大肆宣扬一种微妙的种族主义。当一个黑人学生试图鼓起勇气向愤怒的白人人群做简单的自我介绍时，听众会觉得自己就坐在拥挤的体育馆里。


11. 心》的 "飓风"

The Heart通过有控制的、艺术性的叙述，要求观众正视人类的脆弱的原始性。"飓风》讲述了制片人米特拉-卡波利和她遇到的一位游客之间的强烈爱情，当时纽约因飓风桑迪而关闭，将他们困在一起。在她的爱人回家后，两人共享的激情几乎立即消失了--关于机票和时间费用的惯常借口被提出来了，卡博利不禁要问，如此合适的事情怎么会失败呢？她为听众解答了这一损失，而这也不仅仅是卡博利在复述。她还邀请了她的伴侣来重新审视这次尝试，为这次错过的联系增加了痛苦的复杂性。

12. 泰瑞-格罗斯对马克-马龙说："生活比广播更难"，作者：新鲜空气

在《新鲜空气》的泰瑞-格罗斯和《WTF》的马克-马龙的对话中，一位公共广播的专业人士遇到了一位休闲的周五播客。格罗斯以其低调的风格而闻名，在不要求她分享太多自己的情况下打开了她的话题；马龙则是粗暴和不敬业的，经常把采访变成类似于朋友之间的忏悔的东西。他们的两种风格非但没有冲突，反而形成了一个奇妙的96分钟的猫捉老鼠的游戏，马龙作为主持人俏皮地追问格罗斯的私人身份，把采访变成了对采访的讨论。这两个人在这个迷人的场合处于最佳状态。


13. 刑事》的 "695BGK"

真实犯罪的销售是有原因的，但《犯罪》并没有提供小报的素材。制片人Phoebe Judge和Lauren Spohrer创造了他们自己的优雅、节奏紧凑的犯罪纪录片形式，是播客领域一个备受欢迎的补充。"695BGK "不是政治性的，但它反映了播客的一个趋势，为当下关于警察和种族的讨论增加了一个扣人心弦的新层次。播客也证明了对于那些本来要拿着扩音器上街的人来说是一个重要的出口。从开场白 "最近，我们经常听到警察枪杀手无寸铁的黑人 "开始，贾奇告诉听众，这不会是一个星期天的旅程。虽然这个主题很棘手，但音频作品是无可置疑的。

14. 千禧年》的 "欢迎来到千禧年"

千禧年》不能再......千禧年了--它是创业的、数字的、独立的，而且，基本上是一系列自拍的。但它的制作人Megan Tan远非浅薄之辈。在首集节目中，谭女士介绍自己是一个刚从大学毕业的20多岁年轻人，没有工作，不知道下一步该怎么走。下一步将是创建我们听到的播客，这可能是显而易见的，但谭是如此彻底地诠释了她自己的感觉，而且是如此可爱，听众将想跟随她的故事，看看她的表现如何。连载的播客仍然比较少见，特别是像这样的回忆录式的播客，尤其是这样的好播客。请注意。你将会想要狂欢第一季。


15. "泰勒-尼格隆：作为答录机的艺术家的肖像》，作者：Fugitive Waves

作为一个作为答录机的艺术家的肖像，这一集把我们带回了一个语音邮件是我们生活的连接结构的时代。在这种情况下，这都是为了悼念泰勒-尼格隆，他在一月份去世，是以喜剧演员、演员和艺术家囤积的语音邮件的形式。Fugitive Waves与Negron的朋友Valerie Velardi合作，选择了最突出的--搞笑的和个人的，精心策划的和奇怪的，甚至一些听起来像独白的，然后把最能反映Negron的内容缝在一起。如此广泛的档案存在本身就是一种财富，但将这些档案细化为一幅肖像所需的工艺也值得认可。最后甚至还出现了内格罗本人的珍贵遗照。

16. 轰隆带佛蒙特州的 "美国生活"

1968年3月，一个名叫沃恩-胡德（Vaughn Hood）的118磅重的理发师应征入伍，前往新兵营报到。作为一个对暴力感到忧虑的非思想家，胡德并不符合一个强硬的步兵的模式。在 "美国生活 "中，主持人埃里卡-海尔曼收集了胡德在越南战争中的录音。谈话内容超越了忧郁的、成长的、战争即地狱的叙述。当然，这里有越南的所有恐怖，但需要注意的是一个人的尊严，以及他的声音在几十年后提到他的服务时仍然颤抖。

17. "梅森-里斯为何哭泣》，作者：WireTap

"为什么梅森-里斯在哭？"围绕着一个前70年代的儿童演员，他以他的老人脸而闻名，曾为邓肯甜甜圈和Raisin Bran等品牌担任可爱的代言人。后来，他将自己的演艺事业转化为在《麦克-道格拉斯秀》上的奇怪亮相。在一次预约中，里斯瘫倒在椅子上，仅仅想到嘉宾哈里-查平演奏的 "摇篮里的猫 "就歇斯底里。在制作人乔纳森-戈尔茨坦（Jonathan Goldstein）的手中，播客界的韦斯-安德森（Wes Anderson），里斯迷人的崩溃要求不亚于对一个从未长大的人的内心进行详尽的搜索。

18. 信息》的 "第7集"

小说，尽管它在电波中有着悠久的传统，但在今天的播客领域并不是常态。在低预算的状态下，像样的写作和声音工程是一个很高的要求，更不用说雇用有才华的配音演员了。通用电气公司的出现扭转了这一切，它在品牌内容领域拥有大量资金，并在音频故事方面拥有丰富的经验（通用电气在20世纪50年代创建了通用电气剧院，由罗纳德-里根主演）。信息》讲述了主人公尼基-托马林和一队科学家破译和解码一条来自外太空的70年历史的信息，人们听到后会感染一种致命的疾病。如果不从头开始，听众就无法理解第七集的内容，但倒数第二集才最能证明想象力和扎实的写作--艺术和工艺--可以直接来自赞助商。

19. ARRVLS的 "在左边的口袋里，在我的心边"

"在左边的口袋里，由我的心 "讲述了一对失去孩子的夫妇的悲哀。当然，朋友和家人提供了支持的话语，但叙述者，即制作人萨拉-布鲁克-柯蒂斯（Sara Brooke Curtis）引导并准备让听众看到这些调和的姿态所不能触及的东西。这对夫妇的悲痛需要被承认，需要被带出去散步，需要被邀请去跳舞、玩耍和茁壮成长。重要的不仅仅是它留下的空缺，而是承认他们的小女儿曾经存在。他们的宝贝女儿死了，是的，但对柯蒂斯和她的丈夫来说，更重要的是她也活着。

20. 我想要我的MTV"，作者是 "唱片公司"（Between the Liner Notes）。

寻找优秀的独立播客对听众来说是一个令人头疼的挑战，他们要在数以千计的iTunes产品中进行梳理。Between the Liner Notes是这项工作的丰硕成果。我想要我的MTV "将我们从粗犷的、上市前的MTV带入其标志性的80年代全盛时期，指出了导致音乐电视诞生的决定性时刻，主持人马修-比利采访了该网络起源故事中的关键人物。MTV曾经以四分钟的视频统治了青年文化，而现在，有一个伟大的纪录片式的播客来展示它。


21. 爱+广播的 "一个红点"

尝试他人意识的机会让许多人一直在寻找下一个伟大的播客，但 "一个红点 "将听众带入一个他们无心占据的头脑空间。破坏者会从 "爱+广播 "出色的工艺选择中消失，特别是在它的前几分钟，它诱使你在一条不愉快的道路上冒险。这种不适感主要来自于这样一个事实，即它挑战听众去思考那些没有人愿意考虑的有争议的现实，来自一个没有人愿意承认的人。这个主题是沉重的，华丽的语言是耐人寻味的，而问题是艰难的。可以说，制作人知道听众需要被扭曲成一种不自然的同情心，以便给这个特殊的异类以听觉。"一个红点 "迫使它的听众去适应这个场合，无论他们喜欢与否。这是迄今为止最令人气愤和最精湛的作品之一。

22. 神秘秀》的 "源代码"

按下 "源代码 "的播放键，听众就会变成笑傻子，无法控制自己。杰克-吉伦哈尔（Jake Gyllenhaal）亲自出场，既挑战又默许主持人斯塔利-凯恩（Starlee Kine）的魅力--说这么多也不会破坏乐趣。Kine的机智加上她解开互联网之谜的基本目标--吉伦哈尔的确切身高，使听众经历了一个他们自己从未认真考虑过的发现过程。神秘秀》验证了那种古老的直觉，即互联网事实上并不了解一切。


23. 如何做一个女孩》之 "事实"

"事实 "由一个5岁的变性女孩主演，她的成熟度与她的年龄不符，她的母亲在以Marlo Mack的名义录音时，一头扎进了性别认同的话题。起初，麦克抵制她的孩子以女孩的身份出现，但经过几个月旨在改变她女儿想法的艰难对话，她考虑了接受的可能性。如何成为一个女孩》表明，如果你不能依靠你对性别的解释--这毕竟是一个5岁的孩子在袒露她的灵魂--那么你就只能相信站在你面前的人知道她自己的心。这里的孩子经受住了一次情感上的检查，这将使大多数30岁的人平息。"事实》将《如何做一个女孩》系列的精华提炼成了一本入门书，对于那些想找一个6岁以下的人给他们上一堂个人成长的大师课的新人来说是一个完美的起点。

24. 长形播客的 "鲁克米尼-卡利马奇"。

长篇小说满足了作家们对了解他们的同伴的巨大愿望。不过，当它超越自己的泡沫时，它就有能力激励任何愿意花时间做好新闻工作的人。Rukmini Callimachi写了今年《纽约时报》上发表的许多关于ISIS的最重要的故事。她的社交媒体知识帮助她以一种前所未有的方式追踪消息来源，并在这样做的过程中提醒世界，一个虚无缥缈的西方关注点--Twitter--已经被用于更黑暗的目的。Callimachi对她的动机和知识进行了分解，对新闻的现代化进行了谦逊而迷人的探索，并证实了努力工作和决心仍然是主宰。

25. 勇者之家 "的 "反叛的呼喊"。

没有其他播客听起来像 "勇敢者之家"，而 "反叛的呼喊 "是一个特别热闹的情节，它敢于搞笑、危险和直接。斯科特-开利带着一滴记事本酸和一个报道共和党全国大会的计划入侵纽约。但他从未参加过主要活动，因为他忙于抗议 "敌人"，然后顺利进入充满年轻保守派的Kid Rock音乐会。他沉浸在开放的酒吧里，与共和党人握拳，并发出冈萨雷斯式的大笑，所有这些都在13分钟内完成。到最后，你不会相信开利支持谁当总统。

26. 26. "牛奶盒儿童"，99%隐形人制作

99%隐形人知道如何将设计界的一个小细节，扩展为对整个社会的时尚探索。在20世纪80年代的几年里，孩子们早上的麦片会伴随着大量的陌生人的危险，因为乳制品公司在他们的牛奶盒的背面有关于失踪儿童的信息。那时候，执法官员在考虑一个孩子正式失踪之前要等三天。在12岁的约翰尼-戈什（Johnny Gosch）早上送报纸后没有回来后，他的母亲为改革进行了游说，约翰尼是第一个出现在牛奶盒上的人。99%的隐形人--一个自称是 "关于设计的小广播节目 "的播客--找到了美丽的方式来扩大其范围，并探索创新背后更大的社会和历史背景。

27. 本杰明-沃克的《万物理论》之 "Instaserfs"

继他在《出租后的纽约》中对Airbnb的成功研究之后，本杰明-沃克在另一个由三部分组成的系列节目《Instaserfs》中再次瞄准了共享经济。为了探索Uber司机和Task Rabbits的世界，他与一位25岁的旧金山人Andrew Callaway（他被证明是纯粹的广播黄金）合作，Callaway潜入了作为独立承包商的生活。卡拉威在城市里奔波，送杂货，给喝醉了的风险投资家开车，花在汽油上的钱往往比他赚的小费还多。沃克并没有对共享工人经济提出任何可观的结论，但在与卡拉威一起工作了三集之后，听众会意识到这并不是通往牛奶和蜂蜜的道路。

28. "诞生的故事》（Radiolab & Israel Story

对于一对以色列同性夫妇来说，在非常昂贵的美国渠道之外，有什么最直接、最合法的方式来为兄弟姐妹各生一个孩子？显然是通过几家公司，协调一个乌克兰卵子捐赠者和两个印度代孕者在尼泊尔的怀孕过程。"诞生的故事 "带领听众了解这些复杂的问题，包括道德和后勤方面的问题--然后一场真正的地震震动了Radiolab和以色列故事的报道，揭开了一个庞大的婴儿制造网络。"诞生的故事 "是一年来报道的高潮，也是一个值得欢迎的示范，表明当节目制作人不为了更漂亮的包装而试图将他们的发现塞进一个整齐的叙述中时，听众会受益匪浅。

29. 记忆宫殿的 "每一个夜晚"

记忆宫殿以挖掘历史上被遗忘的小时刻并为其注入新的活力为己任。在 "Every Night Ever "中，主持人Nate DiMeo描述了1953年的一个夜晚，一些奇怪的东西造访了乔治亚州的沉睡小镇Austell。这是一个足够有趣的小故事，但正是这种安静、俏皮的评分和对细节的仔细关注，将这一叙述从教科书的脚注提升为一个关于人类渴望找到生活意义的永恒的故事。

30. 犯罪乐队的 "无家可归"。

听人们谈论风筝支票和双重生活是很有趣的，特别是当你知道那个人被抓了的时候，但《犯罪》的这一集转了个弯，超出了听众的可能范围。那些没有读过尼尔-怀特的回忆录《在被遗弃者的庇护所》的人，会发现自己在节目的最初时刻特别受到诱惑。东海岸的白领罪犯曾经被送到一个关押不同类型的囚犯的地方，这种囚犯与怀特和他的非暴力囚犯不同，没有出狱的愿望。听众从这些不同的人群共存中得到的视角，他们是如何相互影响的，会让你想拥抱你的母亲，或者至少，伸出手去触摸某人。

31. "Soundtracker"，作者是 "人类世"（Generation Anthropocene）。

把 "Soundtracker "想象成一个受赞誉的自然节目的音频版本。根据这位以记录世界上的声音为生的人的说法，在荒野中，那些能够真正倾听的人能够活下去，而那些不能倾听的人将被吃掉。"录音师 "证明了听觉是如何像食物和水一样必不可少的，而且，宝贝，地球就是音乐。汉普顿主持并解释了他收集的大量自然界的声音，这些声音是珍贵的宝藏，因为噪音污染已经使它们无法复制。他的指导细化并揭示了生物声学中令人惊讶和悲伤的现实，以及太阳是如何将音量放大的。

32. 32. "今天是个好日子"，作者：Reply All

也许Reply All的 "Today's the Day "最令人印象深刻的方面是，从纸面上看，它具有所有哑巴的特征。它的特点是主持人Alex Goldman和P.J. Vogt录制了自己乘坐过山车和表演卡拉OK的过程，其简单的幌子是有时你需要到外面去。然而，当听众们在这一天跟随他们，潜台词更多的是与友谊而不是小屋热有关的时候，效果是莫名其妙的。这个播客应该有一个 "不要在家里尝试 "的警告，因为很少有制作人能够完成这样一个精心制作的节目，同时保持一种自由的快乐感。这一集还有一只住在布鲁克林一个废弃建筑附近的山羊的客串，这只是一个奖励。

33. 阁楼之光播客的 "来自自杀桥的问候"

对许多音乐爱好者来说，阁楼之光唱片公司做着上帝的工作，在折扣箱中筛选，在跳蚤市场上跟踪，寻找未被发现的、被遗忘的和晦涩的专辑来重新发行。其中一张唱片是《自杀桥之歌》，这是大卫-考夫曼和埃里克-卡布尔在1984年悄悄发行的一张情绪化、朴素的民谣专辑，在接下来的30年里几乎被忽略。作家Sam Sweet讲述了这两个独行侠的故事，直接从衬页中读出，并穿插了他们令人不安的专辑中的曲目。就像 "自杀桥之歌 "一样，这个播客并没有引起人们的注意，而是保持着一种阴郁的、忧郁的语调，如果你让它打破你的心。

34. Invisibilia的 "纠缠"

节目主持人露露-米勒和阿里克斯-斯皮格尔在 "纠缠 "的前10分钟里打破了所有已知的宇宙规则，证明了世界的相互关联性，直至原子层面。根据他们无可争辩的、有时是无法解释的发现，所有的东西都是一个东西。对于那些相信有一天人们会从云端下载他人思想的人来说，《纠缠》几乎证实了这样一个未来的现实。主持人呼吁科学、站立，甚至是一种叫做 "镜面触觉 "的东西来支持这一证据。

35. 季节乐队的 "我们的运动最糟糕的部分"。

从表面上看，《季节》是关于2015年哥伦比亚大学狮子队的，这是一支臭名昭著的表现不佳的常春藤联盟橄榄球队，有着著名的长连败。尽管该播客仍然忠实于它的承诺，在一个10集的赛季中跟踪球队并记录比赛的最后得分，但其目的随着节目的发展而加深。在 "我们的运动最糟糕的部分 "中，记者伊利亚-马里茨探究了比赛中丑陋的一面，考虑到毁灭性的头部伤害和足球中固有的暴力。虽然他承认自己最初对这项运动漠不关心，但马利茨并没有采取简单的方式来谴责足球；相反，他努力解决其矛盾，甚至为这项运动所激发的不合逻辑的奉献精神进行辩护，向听众证明这是一个有着更远大志向而非整齐结论的播客。

36. "不可饶恕"（Snap Judgment

在 "不可饶恕 "的前20分钟里，有一个时刻会让你血脉喷张。这一集的主题是宽恕，第一幕记录了两个女人，一个寡妇和杀害她丈夫的妻子之间的通信。伟大的纪录片故事在播客世界中早已有了归宿，而《快评》经常以其全面的叙事超越了典型的鸡尾酒会轶事。但 "不可饶恕 "将该节目推向了新的高度，加入了惊喜，并深入探讨了关于恩典的范围应该延伸到多远的艰难问题。

37. "山上的房子》，作者：HOME。来自洛杉矶的故事

家：洛杉矶的故事》于2015年推出，是对创造南加州梦境和神话的人们的人类学研究。在它的第一部分 "山上的房子 "中，比尔-巴罗尔将他的故事浸泡在好莱坞的黄金时代，通过赫尔曼-斯坦的怪异、美丽、有时甚至是可怕的管弦乐来看待，他是几十部怪物电影和科幻原声带的作曲家。为了了解斯坦因，由记者转为播音员的巴罗尔在这位作曲家对这一行业感到失望后退休的洞穴中追寻鬼魂。虽然 "山上的房子 "在表面上以好莱坞的传说吸引你，但它实际上是一个低调的爱情故事，关于斯坦因对他妻子安妮塔的温柔奉献。

38. 轰隆隆地带佛蒙特州的 "我在这里"

想象一下，在你生命的前30年里，你能听到并理解文字，但却不能说任何话。我在这里》的主人公马克-乌特解释了这一现实，这并不容易，而且不乏令人难以置信的努力。Utter通过支持性打字进行交流，主持人Erica Heilman实时演示了这一缓慢的过程，让听众难得地体会到Utter不仅能够坚持自己的想法，而且还能表达出来，这是多么令人印象深刻。大多数情况下，这一集提供了一个小插曲，让人们了解到人类中一个孤立的、另类的教派，一个需要被借来的耳朵。但是，当厄特谈到他无言的生活中所固有的纯粹的无助和危险时，请听他和海尔曼争论的时刻。两人都证明了深刻的思考不需要用语言来表达，语言也不是通向爱、悲伤、甚至自我实现的唯一途径。

39. "乔-弗兰克。堕落"，作者：UnFictional

要理解 "Downfall"，你必须放下你的设备，停止清理浴室，并将目光从世界上移开。传奇人物乔-弗兰克在这一集《虚构》中做了诗，通过音频拼贴，将奇特的声音片段拼接在一起，包括对一个腐败的市长的采访和大卫-克罗斯的配音工作。很难确定其收获--听众必须为此做一些繁重的工作，但不清楚这是否重要。当然，自然灾害与人类的局限性交织在一起，为听众创造了足够吸引人的讽刺，如果不是几轮的话，也会给它一个。

40. 最短的时间》的 "意外的同性恋父母"

当约翰接到社会工作者的电话，告诉他寄养机构很快就会接管他姐姐的孩子--除非他干预，他别无选择，只能采取行动。在此之前，他和他的男友特雷斯坦一直过着无忧无虑的20多岁的生活。当他们成为来自虐待家庭的两个孩子的养父时，这一切都在瞬间消失了。这两个人令人钦佩地进入了他们的新角色，即使这意味着他们与约翰的姐姐之间的关系被破坏。"意外的同性恋父母 "是一个有影响的情节，展示了爱和家庭的变革力量--所有形式。

41. 可怕的恩典》的 "飞溅"

佛罗里达州的阳光天桥有一个不幸的特点，那就是成为该国最受欢迎的自杀场所之一。"飞溅 "探讨了这一严酷场所的浪漫和现实，通过热线电话接线员、救援人员和一个追踪每年自杀事件的人对一些人与生命签订的脆弱契约的独特理解来考察它。我们还听取了跳伞者汉斯-琼斯（Hanns Jones）的发言，他讲述了盯着那片蓝水，然后走出深渊的感觉。

42. "最后的地方。广播日记》的 "最后的地方：养老院日记

早在播客这个词和流媒体音频成为现实之前，《广播日记》的团队就在帮助人们讲述他们的故事，给他们提供录音机并编辑他们的磁带。几十年后，这个公式仍然有效。在《最后的地方》中。在《最后的地方：养老院日记》中，我们听到伊利诺伊州埃文斯顿的长老院的居民讲述了他们对自己衰弱的身体的挫败感和他们的衰老秘诀（一位妇女每天吃浸泡过杜松子酒的固定饮食）。但对他们来说，生活不仅仅是变老的艺术--这些人有意见，有记忆，有计划。

43. "倦怠"，作者：StartUp

听着一家播客公司焦头烂额的员工碰壁，不应该玩得这么好。StartUp将自己推销为一个关于 "让企业起步的真实情况 "的特许经营项目，但现在很明显，当它把话筒对准自己时，它的真人秀形式效果最好。在没有任何限制的情况下，《倦怠》在Gimlet Media的大厅里徘徊，检查生命体征。鉴于Starlee Kine、Alex Goldman和P.J. Vogt等工蜂的证词，你可能会认为这是新一季的《行尸走肉》。通过无休止的粗活，Gimlet Media发现，在浪漫的爱情逝去之后，创业公司会发生什么。


44. 整个 "查尔斯-曼森的好莱坞 "系列，突出 "查尔斯-曼森的好莱坞第三部分：海滩男孩、丹尼斯-威尔逊和作曲家曼森"，作者：你必须记住这一点

You Must Remember This为听众提供了一个沉溺于好莱坞黄金时代的渠道。在卡琳娜-朗沃斯的掌舵下，"查尔斯-曼森的好莱坞 "系列并不觉得是奖学金，因为它太扣人心弦，太令人上瘾，太容易跟上。这个系列是对曼森的自我、影响和罪行的缓慢揭示，充满了细节，使众所周知的事件更加鲜明。 特别吸引人的是该系列的第三部分，它描述了曼森与海滩男孩乐队的丹尼斯-威尔逊的关系，这个人很容易成为曼森的猎物。这段鲜为人知的关系的恢复，转化为同等程度的怀旧和恐怖。

45. "保罗-托马斯-安德森》，《WTF With Marc Maron》，《WTF》杂志。

如果每年都有一条冠军腰带颁发给最佳播客采访者，马龙会在2015年以这样的表现卫冕。作为一个由喜剧演员转为播客的人，马龙不只是加强了嘉宾和主持人的沟通，他还创造了一种新的人类表达形式，他通过自己的神经质来过滤嘉宾，得出一个人的成功之道。当电影制片人保罗-托马斯-安德森踢开马龙的车库变成录音室的门时，这位主持人可能终于遇到了他的对手。安德森在WTF上的出现，将马龙的播客的所有引人注目的东西都放在了一个带软质蝴蝶结的盒子里：对话是一种狂躁的拉锯战式的讲述，马龙强迫性地陷入了一个人追求艺术家生活的动力。


46. "海的恩典》，作者：UnFictional

UnFictional对一个故事并不陌生，它能钻进你的内心，在你的头脑中占据一席之地，将杂乱无章的白噪声推到一边。"海的恩典》是关于人们最珍视的记忆。它通过路易斯-古铁雷斯-桑切斯（Luis Gutierez Sanchez）的海景白日梦，挖掘了令人陶醉的青春岁月，他来自墨西哥小镇，搬到了科苏梅尔岛，以 "海的恩典 "为名参加了一场变装表演。催眠和怀旧，这一集在墨西哥海岸的加勒比海浪的节奏中找到了它的节奏感。

47. "黑名单读物 "可怕的父母

在一个挤满了纪录片式报道的领域，黑名单表读进入了一个小说播客，它围绕着真实的好莱坞剧本，由专业演员表演。该节目由富兰克林-伦纳德主持，他是被称为 "黑名单 "的传奇性未出版剧本集的幕后推手，该节目赌的是这些剧本能够通过扎实的配音表演而变得生动。虽然不是唯一一个试图讲述虚构故事的节目，但它是最有野心的节目之一，其剧集的长度达到了电影的长度。"糟糕的父母》是一部关于两位父母的喜剧，他们一心想要确保他们年轻儿子的成功，以至于他们没有注意到他们已经成为了一个噩梦。这部 "电影 "将其场景描绘得如此生动，以至于你很快就会忘记你是在听表读。

48. "皮特-戴维森》，作者是皮特-霍尔姆斯，你让它变得怪异了

喜剧演员皮特-霍尔姆斯（Pete Holmes）的目标是每集两个小时，不近情理，并希望通过谈论死后的生活、死藤水、天体旅行等来 "让它变得奇怪"。通过控制他的采访，以一种宽松的方式，以非凡的游戏性和完全没有判断力的方式，他经常创造出不设防的谈话，可以吸引那些不买新时代观念的听众。将他与像《周六夜现场》(Saturday Night Live)的女主角皮特-戴维森(Pete Davidson)这样的人搭配在一起，他的父亲在 "9-11 "袭击后作为消防员去世，而《你制造了怪事》不会失败。21岁的戴维森对他的年龄来说莫名其妙地成熟，并展示了黑色幽默的价值。上面不怀好意的清嗓子为自己挽回了损失，坚持下去会有丰厚的回报。

49. "莱昂内尔-施莱弗读T.C.博伊尔》，《纽约客》的小说

这个播客的前提是邀请作者阅读和讨论《纽约客》档案中的一个短篇小说，这并没有什么突破性的内容。但这并不意味着它偶尔不出众。以这一集为例，莱昂内尔-施莱弗阅读了T.C.博伊尔的 "Chicxulub"，这是一个令人不安的故事，涉及一个少女的悲惨事故。这是一个偷偷摸摸的故事，给人以强烈的震撼，虽然朗读足以使这本书成为必听书目，但接下来施莱弗和主持人黛博拉-特里斯曼之间的对话才是最重要的。讨论超出了故事的范围，延伸到悲伤和同情以及人类共同的集体命运。


50. 50. "与科尔斯之光一起兜风"，作者：Pitch

Pitch的制作人在音乐中寻找叙事，但他们也在这个行业的下面和周围寻找，搜寻那些发行唱片和实现摇滚梦想的小人物和雨人。在其2015年最好的一期节目中，Pitch探讨了一些歌曲作者的作品是如何作为企业赞助商的广告词的。正如你听到主持人亚历克斯-卡佩尔曼在《和库尔斯啤酒一起兜风》中所说的那样，产品植入悄悄地出现在更多的专辑中，你可能不知道。Pitch在纳什维尔的一间密室里发现了一个故事，杰森-阿尔丁（Jason Aldean）2012年的主打歌 "Take a Little Ride "的词曲作者对歌词进行了调整，加入了对库尔斯啤酒的呼喊，帮助这位乡村摇滚歌手完成了在流行音乐排行榜上登顶和取悦其企业主的双重任务。

劳拉-简-斯坦德利是一位作家，她的作品曾出现在《卫报》、《信仰者》和《303杂志》上。她曾是The Timbre的合伙人。
Devon Taylor是The Timbre的联合创始人和主编。她曾为CutBank和The Tottenville Review撰稿。
Eric McQuade是播客Good Sport的主持人。他是The Timbre的联合创始人。