Ideas & Culture Podcasts

Ideas/Issues

• Alan Watts Podcast iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Alan Watts helped interpret and popularize Asian philosophies/religions for Western audiences. These podcasts give you access to his archived talks/public lectures.
• Big Ideas iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Big Ideas offers lectures on a variety of thought-provoking topics which range across politics, culture, economics, art history, science. The program is produced by TVO, Canada’s largest educational broadcaster.
• Bill Moyers Journal iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Veteran journalist Bill Moyers returns to PBS with Bill Moyers Journal, a weekly program that takes a deep look at a wide range of subjects, including politics, arts and culture, the media, the economy, and important issues facing democracy.
• Brian Lehrer Show iTunes Feed Web Site
  • A solid public radio broad/podcast with excellent interviews with many important thinkers. Comes out WNYC in NYC.
• CBC: The Best of Ideas iTunes Feed Web Site
  • A Canadian program that explores everything from culture and the arts to science and technology.
• Common Sense with Dan Carlin iTunesFeedWeb Site
  • A blend of audio commentary and news analysis by one of the leading thinkers among today’s politically independent crowd. A fiscally conservative, socially liberal approach to solving problems.
• Commonwealth Club Radio Program iTunes Feed Web Site
  • The oldest radio program in the country — dating back to 1924 — this weekly program features some of the most prominent speakers in the country.
• Council on Foreign Relations (Video) iTunes Feed Web Site
• Council on Foreign Relations (Audio) iTunes Feed Web Site
  • You can get inside this elite body and hear some of what the world’s leading politicians and political thinkers have to say.
• Deutsche Welle
  • Inspired Minds iTunes Feed Web Site
    • A collection of portraits on the world’s great thinkers.
• Entitled Opinions (About Life and Literature) iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Hosted by Robert Harrison, a Stanford professor, this podcast is a weekly literary talk show that ranges broadly on issues related to literature, ideas, and lived experience.
• FORA.tv Daily FORAcast
  • Audio: iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Video: iTunes Feed Web Site
    • In French, this podcast, led by the well known philosopher Alain Finkielkraut, features a panel discussion on a different cultural topic each week.France Culture: Répliques iTunes Feed Web Site
• Get Illuminated iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Boing Boing’s editors interview creative people within fringe culture.
• Guardian Unlimited
  • Culture on Guardian Unlimited iTunes Feed
  • Media on Guardian Unlimited iTunes Feed
• Forum with Michael Krasny iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Coming out of San Francisco, this public radio broad/podcast features excellent interviews with major cultural figures.
• In Our Time iTunes Feed Web Site
  • On this BBC program, the best minds explore the big issues that form the intellectual agenda of our time.
• Leonard Lopate Show iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Coming out of WNYC in New York City, this public radio podcast offers daily interviews with a diverse collection of great thinkers and talkers.
• Morning Stories iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Presented by WGBH in Boston, this program presents “unforgettable stories by everyday people.”
• My History Can Beat Up Your Politics iTunesFeedWeb Site
  • Exactly what it sounds like; it puts current political events in a historical perspective and analyzes the history to allow us to understand our politics.
• New York Public Library iTunes Web Site
  • An extensive collection of cultural media produced by one of the world’s great libraries.
• NPR: Intelligence Squared iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Intelligence Squared U.S. brings Oxford-style debating to America– one motion, one moderator, three panelists for the motion and three against. Past topics have included religion in America, Hamas, and Hollywood.
• NPR: Fresh Air iTunes Feed Web Site
  • The NPR favorite with Terry Gross.
• NPR: Koppel on the News iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Like Nightline, but better.
• NPR Shuffle iTunes Feed Web Site
  • A daily sampling of different NPR programming.
• NPR Talk of the Nation Opinion Page iTunes Web Site
• Open Source iTunes Feed Web Site
  • This daily program, hosted by Christopher Lydon, uses the internet and interactive technology to talk about the world. One of our favorites.
• Partially Examined Life – iTunes – Feed – Web Site
  • A philosophy podcast by some guys who were at one point set on doing philosophy for a living but then thought better of it.
• PBS Podcasts iTunes Feeds
  • This general collection gives you access to all PBS podcasts.
• Philosophy Bites iTunes Feed Web Site
  • A British podcast featuring interviews of top philosophers and that delves into some essential philosophical questions — what is the meaning of life? what is the nature of reality? what is evil?, etc.
• Philosophers’ Cafe Feed Web Site
  • Comfortable surroundings for vibrant street level discussions on burning issues of the day. No formal philosophy training required; real life experience desired. Come early, stay late. Presented by Simon Fraser University.
• Public Radio Podcast Catalogue Web Site
  • This web site contains links to feeds for over 900 public radio programs available via podcast.
• ResearchChannel iTunes – Web Site
  • Based out of the University of Washington, the Research Channel aggregates content from many universities and research institutions.
• Salon.com Conversations iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Salon has a nice collection of audio conversations with figures from the higher echelons of the pop culture world. David Lynch, Pedro Almodóvar, Amy Sedaris, the list goes on.
    • Also check out Salon’s Weekly Download Podcast iTunes Feed Web Site
• SALT – Seminars About Long Term Thinking iTunes Feed Web Site
  • An award winning monthly speaking series hosted by Stewart Brand and organized by the Long Now Foundation, which hopes to provide a counterpoint to today’s “faster/cheaper” mind set and promote “slower/better” thinking. The podcasts features many well known thinkers.
• Start the Week iTunes Feed Web Site
  • A BBC production, Start The Week “sets the cultural agenda for the week ahead, with high-profile guests discussing the ideas behind their work in the fields of art, literature, film, science, history, society and politics.”
• TED Talks Video iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Talks from an annual conference that brings together major thinkers and doers.
• The Chronicle of Higher Education: Interviews iTunes
• The Economist iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Audio content from one of the higher quality journals out there.
• The New York Review of Books iTunes Feed Web Site
  • The podcast from the biweekly book review and journal of intellectual currents.
• The New York Times Podcasts (Main) iTunes Web Site (see web site for individual feeds)
  • A fairly large collection of daily and weekly podcasts from the major US daily.
• The New York Times – TimesTalks iTunes Feed
  • Conversations with people of note as well as NYTimes journalists and editors.
• The New Yorker: Comment (iTunes – Feed)
  • A weekly reading of the magazine’s well-known “Comment” essay.
• The Sound of Young America iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Interviews with important figures in the world of pop culture, arts, literature and comedy. A highly-regarded podcast.
• This American Life iTunes Feed Web Site
  • First-person stories and short fiction from the award-winning show hosted by Ira Glass.
• To the Best of Our Knowledge iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Interviews with nationally and internationally-known guests with a passion for ideas.
• Yesterday is Gone iTunes Feed Web Site
  • “Yesterday Is Gone” is Charles Binder’s personal perspective about politics, art, science, health, the past, the present, and what will probably happen…now that Yesterday Is Gone.

Books & Writing

• Amazon Book Clips iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Lets you keep tabs on bestselling and up-and-coming authors.
• Barnes & Noble: Meet the Writers iTunes Feed Web Site
  • A wide range of writers discuss their favorite books, influences, and the reasons they write.
• C-Span – After Words iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Interviews with important authors of recently published hardback non-fiction.
• Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Each day Keillor reads a short poem or two and recounts what happened on this day in history.
• Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing iTunes Feed Web Site
  • I think the title says it all.
• Guardian Unlimited – Books iTunes Feed Web Site
• NPR Books iTunes Feed Web Site
  • A collection of NPR author interviews and book reviews.
• NPR Story of the Day iTunes Feed Web Site
• Poetry Foundation iTunes Feed Web Site
  • A daily podcast featuring high-quality recordings of poems, interviews with poets, and poetry documentaries.
• Random House Podcast iTunes Web Site
  • Lets listeners check out excerpts from new book releases.
• Shakespeare-upon-iPod iTunes Feed Web Site
  • A series of 9 discussions on, and readings from, Shakespeare.
• Simon Says iTunes Feed Web Site
  • A weekly podcast on the books and audio books from Simon & Schuster.
• Slate Audio Book Club iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Critics discuss important and popular books.
• The New York Times Book Review iTunes Feed Web Site
  • This fledgling podcast features the editor of the NYT Book Review speaking about newly reviewed books.
• The New Yorker: Fiction iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Each month, a New Yorker fiction writer chooses a story from the magazine’s archives for a New Yorker Out Loud podcast.
• The Poetic Voice iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Houghton Mifflin presents a monthly poetry podcast.
• The Washington Post Book Review iTunes Feed Web Site
• The Writer’s Block iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Aired on KQED in San Francisco, this weekly reading series featuring writers and performers of all stripes reading the latest short fiction, non-fiction, theater and poetry.
• Times Online Book Podcasts iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Book podcasts from another British daily.
• Word for Word iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Presented by American Public Media, this podcast reviews the best of the nation’s recent speeches.
• World Book Club iTunes Feed Web Site
  • World Book Club invites the globe’s great authors to discuss their best known novel. This monthly programme, presented by Harriett Gilbert, includes questions by World Service listeners.

Film

• BBC: Mark Kermode’s Film Reviews iTunes Feed Web Site
  • From the BBC, this podcast takes a no-punches-pulled look at UK cinema.

• NPR Movies iTunes Feed Web Site
  • NPR reports, reviews and interviews on the movie front.
• Sundance Film Festival Podcasts iTunes Feed Web Site

• The Treatment iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Film critic Elvis Mitchell turns the tables and gives the “treatment” to some of the most influential and innovative forces creating movies and popular art and entertainment.

Museums

• Art Institute of Chicago Musecast iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Experience the Art Institute of Chicago’s museum through the words of artists, curators, musicians, and educators.
• Metropolitain Museum of Art iTunes Feed Web Site
  • A solid collection of podcasts from America’s finest art museum. Includes reading by well known actors.
• MoMa iTunes Feed Web Site
  • The Museum of Modern Art gives you podcasts that let you hear artists and curators discuss modern and contemporary art.
• MoMA Think Modern Lectures iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Offers recordings of artists, critics, scholars and writers sharing their knowledge of the museum’s art collections as well as their views on comtemporary art issues.
• National Museums Liverpool Feed Web Site
• Philadelphia Museum of Art iTunes Web Site
  • The museum offers multiple podcasts. They’re all centralized in iTunes, or you can find the individual rss feeds on the museum web site.
• SFMOMA iTunes Site
  • A notably strong collection of museum podcasts.
• Smithsonian Museums
  • Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden iTunes Feed Web Site
• The National Gallery Podcast iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Podcasts from the National Gallery art museum in London.

Sundry

• Car Talk iTunes Feed Web Site
  • An NPR classic.
• The New Yorker Cartoons iTunes Feed.
  • Catch animated versions of The New Yorker’s famous cartoons.