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This is Part 1 of my picks for the best podcasts of 2019. Once you're finished reviewing this list, be sure to check out Part 2.
I came into 2019 with a very specific goal regarding this exact blog post: to carefully keep track of the best podcasts throughout the year.
I knew that 2019 was going to be a big year for podcasts. 2018 saw massive growth in the number of new podcasts created, as well as the number of people who knew what a podcast was and listened to one regularly.
There were no signs of that snowball slowing down for 2019, so it meant that I had to be even more intentional about a) listening to as many new shows as possible, and b) keeping track of the standouts.
This was a lesson learned from almost 3 years of podcast blogging.
In 2017, I took on the tricky task of naming the year's best podcasts in each of the respective categories here on the blog. It was brutal.
And last year, I asked fans to contribute their nominations for the best podcasts of 2018 post, which turned out to be both helpful and overwhelming.
So this year, I have taken much more care to curate a list of the best podcasts all year long. I created a list in an app, and every time I added a new podcast to the list, I did a quick scan of the shows I had already listed.
By reviewing the list frequently, I was able to keep to the standards that I had set for this year's best podcasts.
So what are those standards?
My best podcasts of 2019 list includes shows that:
- blew my mind in terms of the story
- have a truly unique concept and executed it well
- I couldn't stop talking about
You might think that list is too vague, but it's what I got. This list isn't about technical stuff like sound mixing, and it certainly isn't about who has the most reviews on Apple Podcasts.
I'm a sucker for a good story, and 2019 delivered. Any podcast that causes me stop an episode multiple times to talk about it —or to rewind to make sure I heard it right— is a winner.
This was the year that really saw investigative podcasting go beyond the true crime niche, as you'll see from many of my selections.
And there are a lot of limited series that made the list (6-10 episodes and done), but I've found that fewer episodes can often lead to high quality. And when a show leaves you wanting more, you know it deserves high marks.
So, in no particular order, here is the first half of my list of the best podcasts of 2019.
7 of the Best Podcasts of 2019
Patient Zero
I stumbled upon Patient Zero in my podcast app and didn't even see the subtitle about Lyme disease. I simply downloaded the first episode to try it out. After the hit show Bear Brooke, New Hampshire Public Radio had earned my trust.
Halfway through that first episode of Patient Zero, I paused to tell my husband about it. This would be the first of many times when I would stop the show in order to relay something fascinating — often shocking — that I had just learned.
Patient Zero is more than just interviews with scientists and those affected by Lyme disease. It takes you on a journey to understand one of the most prevalent diseases of our time.
From the origins of Lyme disease and the first cases discovered in the United States, to the anatomy of a tick and the science behind a cure for Lyme, Patient Zero digs into all the questions — and all the speculation — that run rampant around this epidemic.
The high-quality storytelling in Patient Zero both entertains and informs. It's all at once scientific and human, heavy and light, gross and engrossing. I can't recommend it enough.
Bonus: The Patient Zero website has transcripts that accompany each episode, as well as photos, articles, and images of people and items that are key to the story.
Family Secrets
If I were giving out awards, Family Secrets would receive the award for "Podcast that touched a nerve with practically everybody."
Episode 1 of the podcast features host Dani Shapiro as she recounts the moment when she found out that the man who raised her was not her biological father (she's also written a book about it). I won't spoil the rest; I'll let Shapiro take you on the emotional roller coaster that she's still riding.
Subsequent episodes feature well-edited interviews between Shapiro and individuals who have discovered their own family secrets. The stories vary, and some are less dramatic than others, but each has a slap-in-the-face moment when the secret is discovered.
Although her own experience brings Shapiro to a state of genuine empathy for each guest, she only occasionally brings it up with them. She doesn't steamroll with her own emotions or story, but leaves room for the guests to tell theirs. Shapiro has a melodically soothing voice that ties it all together.
It seems that the team making Family Secrets knew that this show about love and pain would hit home with a lot of people. At the end of Season 1, they opened up phone lines to allow listeners to call in with their own family secrets. These anonymous recordings have been turned into several short bonus episodes of the show while they created Season 2 (and now, on break before Season 3).
The Big One
The Big One makes the list for Best Podcasts of 2019 for its unique concept and format, as well as for its ability to both entertain and inform.
This is a podcast about California earthquakes; in particular, the inevitable catastrophic earthquake that is due to hit the Los Angeles area. When? No one is sure. But history tells us that it's going to happen, as host Jacob Margolis — and multiple experts — explain.
The show is a mix of hypothetical situations and hard facts. Episode 1 puts you in the imaginary world of a typical Californian. You're meant to pretend that you're going about your day, when the ground beneath you suddenly starts to shake.
The hypothetical scenario is a thread throughout the nine episodes of this podcast, meant to keep you thinking about what you'd really do when this happens in real life.
And if you're thinking, "Interesting, but this doesn't affect me, I don't live in Cali", think again. Because the worldwide economy won't fare well when this earthquake hits. So why isn't anyone taking precautions?
That's one of the many questions asked — and not always well-answered — in The Big One. This show is eye-opening and startling. After listening to every episode, I practically re-hashed all of the content to my husband. Do yourself a favor and go listen.
Noble Blood
There are a lot of history podcasts out there, covering practically every era, event, and reign. Noble Blood, produced by award-winning podcaster Aaron Mahnke, and hosted by Dana Schwartz, niches down to something very specific: the tragic and deadly events of royals.
Let's pause a second to admire the cover art for Noble Blood. Few podcasts have artwork so telling. Both the short title and the simple artwork effectively communicate that this is a dramatic podcast.
Schwartz's approach to telling the stories of kings, queens, and other nobles is similar to Mahnke's style in his long-running podcast LORE, but there's something more haunting about Schwartz's voice and cadence. The plot twists are exciting, the sad moments are heartbreaking, and when a lady-in-waiting is planning something sinister, you can really feel how conniving she is.
Somehow, Schwartz makes the podcast lighthearted at the same time. After listening to episode one, about the horrific treatment of Marie Antoinette, I recounted the episode to my husband in a cheery tone. Then, I listened to the episode again the next day, because it was just so good.
In telling these often ill-fated tales, Schwartz inevitably has to shake the branches of a royal family tree. Keeping track of all the Edwards and Catherines is a difficult task for the listener, but Schwartz understands this and does a fantastic job connecting the dots for the rest of us.
The Pay Check (Season 2)
The second season of The Pay Check — a podcast about women, money, and work — focuses on how being a mother affects how much women are paid.
While I've heard this issue — often called the Motherhood Penalty — discussed on other podcasts, in segments or single episodes, Bloomberg dedicated six episodes to exploring this unfair phenomenon both in the United States and around the world. And they did it well.
Host Rebecca Greenfield and a team of journalists from around the world dug deep to understand the historical precedents for underpaying women, often before they become mothers at all. The podcast features interviews with women of all classes and cultures, and blends a lot of hard and complicated facts with storytelling and raw emotion.
I reviewed this podcast back in May, when it was still releasing new episodes. My review coincided with Mother's Day, which was being celebrated in dozens of countries around the world. I couldn't help but notice the extreme contradiction between celebrating and valuing women based on their roles as mothers, while also punishing and devaluing them in the workplace for the same reason.
Like many of the podcasts on this list, Season 2 of The Pay Check explores a heavy and frustrating topic while achieving high ranks for entertainment. The stories of many different women are well mixed, and the episodes always seemed to end too soon.
This Land
I've been wanting to write a podcast review about This Land for weeks, ever since my husband and I listened to it on a road trip.
The only reason I haven't written a review is because I have so many thoughts about this podcast that I literally cannot form them into a clear piece of writing. I've been afraid that I won't do it justice.
This Land starts with an episode about a murder in Oklahoma. The murder case opens the door to a defense strategy that leads all the way to the Supreme Court, and the host of the show — a citizen of the Cherokee Nation — gives you the context behind it all.
This podcast explains the history of Native tribes in the U.S., the laws and inner workings of the tribes, and the intentions of the treaties between the tribes and the U.S. government. It also explores what it means to be a citizen of a tribe in 2019, and how misunderstood Native culture is throughout the U.S. today, even by the sitting US Supreme Court justices (it will make your jaw drop).
My husband was equally affected by This Land, and is also regularly badgering people to go listen to it. While binging it, there wasn't a single episode during which we didn't pause (multiple times) to comment on something that struck us as unbelievable, infuriating, or fascinating.
Many times we paused the show to comment about facts and history that we never learned of in school, or just as people living in the United States. We were both humbled by this podcast, and it left us searching for more related content to educate ourselves with.
This Land also won me over with it's clever title, which any child raised in the United States knows as a happy folk song (although there's a lot of political and social justice influence behind it, but no one ever taught us kids that). The irony was not lost on me, and only made me love this podcast more.
This Land might be the best podcast I listened to in 2019. Every American should listen to it.
Running from COPS
If you don't get hooked on Running from COPS right from episode 1, please write to me to explain why.
This was one of those podcasts that I found right when it came out, and regretted that I didn't have all of the episodes to binge. Waiting for the next episode was frustrating, mostly because the story itself was so aggravating, but also because it was entertaining as hell.
Running from COPS pulls back the curtain on the long-running television show COPS. My personal experience with the TV show is minimal; I've probably never watched an entire episode. If you fall into the same category, you'll be stunned to learn of the cultural influence that this show has had on American society.
Host Dan Taberski (he also hosted the Missing Richard Simmons podcast) speaks with former police officers, fans of COPS, people who have been featured (aka, arrested) on COPS, and the actual producers of the TV show, all to determine just how real the aired footage really is.
At times, it was like Taberski was in my head, asking the exasperated questions that were whizzing through my mind. He's right there with you, wondering how and why we have a society that values this show (values it so highly, in fact, that there are multiple spinoffs).
This show is absolutely one of the best of 2019, for both having a truly unique concept and for executing it so well.
Read Part 2 of the Best Podcasts of 2019
The rest of this list is available now! Check out the Best Podcasts of 2019 Part 2.
Your Turn to Recommend
Which podcasts do you think were the best of 2019? Leave a comment (and a link) below. Or share this list on Pinterest by pinning the image below!
