Welcome to the first edition of the 2019 TOA Awards! Today’s post will take a closer look at the podcasts I listened to in the past year. As usual, I find organizing these a little tougher than my music or my reading. This is, of course, mostly due to my reluctance to simply say ‘here are my favorite podcasts, in order’. Longtime readers will know that for these awards, I usually end up resorting to wild analogies or convoluted ranking systems that serve no purpose whatsoever.
This year, I’ve decided to simplify my approach. First, I studied how I listen to podcasts and realized that I tend to do one of two things with each new episode – I either listen to it right away or I don’t. I then grouped each show based on this criterion to get an idea of how urgently I listened to new episodes of each show. Next, I gave bonus points if I listened to every single episode of the podcast and took points away if I only listened to shows with certain guests, topics, or urgency. Finally, I ranked the shows within their peer group to create a rough idea of how I valued the podcasts in my rotation.
The logic behind the system is based on one overriding idea – the shows I listen to right away are more important than the shows I save for later. And in theory, every time I choose one show from two podcast choices, I learn everything I need to know about the two shows. I’ve made this decision countless times over the past year and hopefully I’ve accurately aggregated those decisions to produce, for the first time in TOA history, a fully data-driven list.
Below are my two groups from the shows I listened to this year – those I listened to right away and those I saved for later. The shows are listed in alphabetical order. Over a couple of upcoming posts, I’ll order the lists, add some comments about the shows, and hand out an official ‘TOA Pod of the Year’ award.
The Storage Bin
Bookfight
Call Your Girlfriend
EconTalk
Hardcore History
House of Carbs
The Luke and Pete Show
The Rewatchables
The ASAPs
Against All Odds
Common Sense
Men In Blazers
More Or Less
Revisionist History
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The Football Ramble
The Tim Ferris Show
Now, one final thought about the above. The system still avoids directly answering a very simple question – what’s the best podcast you listen to? But I think in the case of podcasts, the beauty is in the ear of the beholder. Podcasts tend to be so varied that the topic or focus of the show is often good enough to determine whether someone will want to hear more. Therefore, unlike with music or (especially) reading, I think the general suggestion of a ‘best podcast’ is inappropriate and the idea that I’m capable of identifying the objectively best podcast seems highly unlikely.
