According to Edison Research, 44%, or 124 million Americans, have listened to a podcast, with 26% listening to podcasts on a monthly basis. Many listeners now rely on podcasts as dependable sources of news and information. With over 540,000 podcasts available–and that number is increasing each week–it can be difficult to narrow down the choices; this list explores 16 podcasts focused on business and technology topics that are worth checking out.
1. Recode Decode: Host Kara Swisher is the co-founder of Recode.net, a tech journalist for The New York Times, and considered by many to be a leading authority in the field. She interviews influential tech leaders, media personalities, and politicians; some of her guests in 2018 include Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bad Blood author John Carreyrou. Swisher also co-hosts the Pivot podcast with NYU professor Scott Galloway where they discuss technology’s influence on business, culture, media, advertising, politics, and more. Recode Decode features new episodes on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Fridays. Pivot airs every Friday.
SEE: 25 tech influencers to follow on Twitter (TechRepublic
2. This Week in Tech: Commonly known as TWiT, Leo Laporte hosts this roundtable-style discussion that focuses on tech news and reviews, consumer electronics, and the internet. The show’s panelists vary from week to week; recurring guests include Wil Harris, Tom Merritt (a TechRepublic contributor), and Kevin Rose, and there have been notable appearances from Steve Wozniak, Kevin Mitnick, LeVar Burton, and Wil Wheaton. Laporte is the founder and owner of the TWiT Netcast Network and hosts several other tech-themed podcasts, which can be found on his Radio Leo feed. To catch live TWiT episodes, tune in every Sunday at 3:00pm PST.
3. TED Radio Hour: Created and hosted by Guy Raz and co-produced with NPR, the TED Radio Hour is a weekly podcast where Raz discusses various topics with top thinkers, scientists, artists, and visionaries. Raz has covered subjects such as: “How did the internet take over our lives?,” “What’s the future of food?,” “How space technology can change life on Earth,” “Wacky, weird art made by AI,” and many more. The TED Radio hour airs new episodes every Friday.
SEE: The Future of Food (ZDNet/TechRepublic special feature)
4. How I Built This: Another NPR/Guy Raz collaboration, How I Built This features interviews with founders, CEOs, entrepreneurs, and idealists behind well-known businesses, including Airbnb, Lyft, Stitch Fix, Whole Foods, DoorDash, Slack, Flickr, and Lululemon, to understand how these flourishing companies have achieved such great success. The podcast airs every Monday and Thursday.
5. The Tim Ferriss Show: With over 300M downloads, The Tim Ferriss Show has received numerous accolades and rave reviews, including being deemed the top business podcast by Fortune Magazine’s Term Sheet readers. Ferriss, a successful author, angel investor, and advisor to several tech startups, asks guests about their favorite books, exercise habits, time-management tips, and more. Some of his past guests include Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Reid Hoffman, Ray Dalio, and Tony Robbins. Be on the lookout for new episodes of his podcast, which usually airs every week on Mondays and Thursdays.
6. Masters of Scale: Recipient of the 2018 People’s Voice Webby for Best Business Podcast, Masters of Scale is hosted by Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and Greylock Partners investor. Hoffman discusses the ways companies grow from nothing and go on to achieve great success. With a high-profile and gender-balanced guest list, Masters of Scale explores topics that include working with millennials, how to hire the right people, how company founders spend their free time, building trust with employees, and formulating business ideas. New episodes are usually available twice a month and can be downloaded directly from the website, or on iTunes and Google Play.
7. Exponent: Hosts Ben Thompson, a tech and business analyst and Stratechery founder, and James Allworth, a New York Times bestselling author and head of innovation at Cloudflare, discuss the Facebook privacy scandal, Apple’s Supreme Court case, Amazon’s focus on the customer experience, Aggregation Theory, and other important topics that revolve around technology and society. All previous and future episodes of Exponent are available for download on the website, iTunes, or on @exponentfm on Twitter.
8. Decrypted: Bloomberg Technology’s Brad Stone, joined by his fellow Bloomberg reporters, hosts this weekly podcast that explores the silent rivalries, hidden projects, and uncomfortable truths within the tech industry. Episodes include: “Making Sense of Tesla’s Deepening Crisis,” “A Canadian Ghost Town Takes a Gamble on Bitcoin,” “How Tech is Harming its Most Vulnerable Users,” and “The Race to Teach Robots How to Do Our Jobs.” New episodes air every Tuesday.
9. The Future of Everything: This weekly Wall Street Journal podcast hosted by Jennifer Strong offers a comprehensive look at the ways science and technology affect our daily lives; topics include AI, mobile payment apps, smart cities, quantum computing, and blockchain. Airing every Wednesday, Strong interviews the leaders and innovators behind the technological revolution.
10. a16z Podcast: The official podcast for venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz features tech trends and news about robotics, automation, AI, machine learning, cryptocurrency, and more from industry experts, business leaders, and other great minds. With multiple episodes airing every week, a16z is a great addition to any podcast playlist. Previous and new episodes can be found on the company’s website or downloaded via Soundcloud.
11. Daily Tech News Show: Tom Merritt (a TechRepublic contributor) and Sarah Lane break down the top tech stories as well as talk to regular contributors and some of the top names in the industry. Along with companion show Daily Tech Headlines, which is a 10-minute update on essential tech news, these podcasts offer a cohesive picture of what’s happening in the ever-changing world of technology. Both shows air new episodes Monday through Friday.
SEE: Tom Merritt’s Top 5 (TechRepublic Flipboard magazine)
12. The Chase Jarvis Live Show: Photographer, artist, and entrepreneur Chase Jarvis interviews New York Times best-selling authors, Pulitzer Prize winners, and top innovators and entrepreneurs to get an inside look at what makes them so successful. Listeners can learn insightful new ways to achieve their own career and life goals. The show airs every Wednesday.
13. 3:59: In this podcast from sister site CNET, hosts Roger Cheng and Ben Fox Rubin discuss the top tech stories about Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Elon Musk/SpaceX, Facebook, Twitter, 5G, NASA, and more. 3:59 airs new episodes Monday through Thursday.
14. Make Me Smart: Former CNET staff member Molly Wood co-hosts this weekly podcast with Marketplace host and senior editor Kai Ryssdal. Wood and Ryssdal cover topics related to the economy, tech, and culture. Previous topics are: The possible risks associated with VR, how Google search results are biased, Amazon’s effect on the job market, news services powered by blockchain technology, and understanding the “cult of personality” surrounding Elon Musk. Make Me Smart airs every Tuesday.
SEE: Photos: 45 books every techie should read (TechRepublic)
15. American Innovations: Steven Johnson, best-selling author of How We Got To Now, brings to life the stories of scientists, engineers, and ordinary people who made some of the biggest discoveries in modern times. Listeners will hear about the teamwork, competition, and surprising moments behind the creation of AI, smartphones, 3D printers, and other current technologies. American Innovations is available for download on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, and TuneIn.
16. Epicenter: Hosts Brian Fabian Crain, founder and CEO of Chorus One, and Sébastien Couture focus their discussions on cryptocurrency and, more specifically, Blockchain, Ethereum, and Bitcoin. Their weekly show features interviews with experts in the field such as Cloudflare’s Nick Sullivan, Brian Behlendorf, the Executive Director of Hyperledger, Ethereum’s Justin Drake, and Guy Zyskind, founder and CEO of Enigma, along with many others. Epicenter airs every week on Tuesdays.
TechRepublic and ZDNet podcasts
Be sure to check out the following podcasts from Tom Merritt, Bill Detwiler, Tonya Hall, and J Squared with Jason Perlow and Jason Cipriani:
17. Tom Merritt’s Top 5 (TechRepublic)
18. TechRepublic’s Dynamic Developer with Bill Detwiler (TechRepublic)
19. Tonya Hall (ZDNet)
20. J Squared: Two Nerds Talk Tech (ZDNet)
Image: iStockphoto/avdyachenko
