To find podcasts excruciatingly dull?

[everythingisginandroses]

Just that, really. Am I just listening to the wrong ones? I have tried podcasts about stuff I am interested in (books, fashion, popular culture) but within minutes I am thinking "Why am I listening to these people? I am not learning anything here, what is the point?"

I don't think I have a terrible attention span (I have to listen to people for a living, or is that part of my problem?) Full disclosure: there may be an element of class prejudice in some of my reactions. I have just tried an apparently popular podcast by two writers whose essays I generally enjoy, but there's something about their effortless assurance that people will want to listen to their commentaries that I just find really off-putting...

I should just move on and accept that podcasts are not for me, right?

@LadyOfTheCanyon

Lore is definitely American, Aaron Mahnke. It's gone off the boil since the first twenty or so but I think his delivery, attention to detail, music and measured tone is almost hypnotic.

It's not exactly the same, but fans of Lore may like Something True:

"Incredible and bizarre true stories from the footnotes of history. A dog in the US Cabinet? A leading rocket scientist who quit his job to create a moonchild? Virginia Woolf donning blackface to prank a navy? They're all true. They're all Something True."

I like tha narrator's delivery (he's British), which is often very funny.

It's an individual thing, but at least OP gave it a try.

I like them a lot when the lights are off and am heading off to sleep. Gosh I often dream I am in the podcast itself because I'm drifting off but obviously my brain still hears it, although I'm not processing it much lol!

My fave at the moment is pure escapism. As a Francophile, and unable to get there this year, I enjoy "Join us in France"

Was just looking at my library of podcasts and there are so many I really enjoy, and some that I just dip in and out of occasionally. Like others I prefer the independent productions. The crime podcast "They walk among us" is really very good, and the narrator's voice is so soothing, even though they are talking about often unpleasant topics.

I won't bore you with the rest, but they are history and travel related. More escapism. Do I need help here lol!

Love them and have from day one. Not all obvs. My top are a bit mixed.
Reply All
This American Life
In the dark (series one absolutely amazing investigative journalism)
We’ve got this
Stuff you should know.
Bitchsesh - review of reality us tv - hilarious
Teacher’s pet was excellent. Not available in Australia for reasons which would be a spoiler.
The complete guide to everything
The Perez Hilton podcast
Every little thing
Serial (series one adnan syed case excellent)
Red handed - crime
Settling the score - dissection if film scores
Craig’s list - discussion of favourite films - industry savvy
Oh no Ross and Carrie - but only the episodes on Scientology - where they joined and reported. Excellent eye opening brave.

Lots of US things interestingly.

@waterjungle

I love finding out about new podcasts. I've recently enjoyed Behind the Bastards. Although it's quite American-centric it means I've found out a lot about American history and culture that I didn't know about. I don't tend to do comedy ones, I prefer stuff where I learn something or a bit of true crime. S Town was great, so was the one about the mustered woman in Cork and the Radio 5 one about the people thrown off a boat in South America? (Terrible with remembering titles as you can see!) What puts me off some immediately is that awful formulaic delivery style, I listened to an Australian one (May have been Lore) and it almost sounded like a puss take of itself. I lasted about two episodes before switching off.

If you love Behind the Bastards (I love it too!) have you tried The Dollop? It’s two guys, one telling the other all about a completely bizarre incident from history - e.g. the guy who invented lobotomies

At the start of lockdown I downloaded tons of podcasts but then I discovered shagged married annoyed. Am still on that one, I love it, though the later ones aren't as good as the first few

The Ancients is pretty good for those interested in history.

Listen to Crime Junkie if you're in to true crime. Someone on MN recommend it. I listen every week.

Some great ones have been recommended - I'll add 13 Minutes to the Moon! It's a BBC World Service one about the time between leaving the rocket that took the astronauts into space and the lander touching down on the moon. Each episode focuses on a different thing - the engineers, the astronauts themselves, how the lander looked inside... It's so well done and I learned loads!

And, definitely not for everyone, but the Balance arc of The Adventure Zone is phenomenal. It's 3 brothers and their dad playing Dungeons & Dragons - no, don't run away, I'd never played D&D and knew nothing about the rules or the game. But you don't really need to, and what unfolds is this lovely, hilarious, emotional story that I had to actually stop listening to at one point because I was crying so hard in the last few episodes and I thought I'd crash my car. ❤️

[quote Plussizejumpsuit]@TellingBone but what I mean is you are saying you'd rather read about a thing than listen to a podcast about it. But you can't read while also doing something else. Which is why podcasts are so popular. The time you spend cleaning for example can be enhanced with a podcast using it as learning or entertainment time. But you can't just not clean and sit down and read. So it's not an either or thing. Just feels like you don't quite get the role podcasts are fulfilling.[/quote]
Oh I do get it - I'm not saying podcasts are A Bad Thing. Clearly many people get a lot of pleasure from them and that's great.

They're just not for me and it's not, as others are suggesting here, that I just haven't found the 'right one'. I prefer to read simply because I love reading, and I prefer my music as background when doing other stuff.

I love them while doing other things. But there can be a lot of self congratulatory filler, especially at the start of an episode. It's annoying. Get straight into the content and maybe have some chat later! Also most music used is terrible and I skip. In Our Time is the model for me: 10 second welcome and straight into a summary of today's subject. Although that 'BBC Sounds: Music Radio Podcasts' shit they tack on at the start can do one!
But on the whole I have learnt so much from so many podcasts, I love them. It is satisfying deleting the ones that don't hit the mark though.

YANBU I feel exactly the same and disagree with those saying you're listening to the wrong podcasts. Like a PP I love reading and if I'm driving/walking etc I listen to music. I hate listening to the spoken word, don't like audio books and didn't enjoy being read to as a child. It might be because I'm a fast reader and impatient. I tend to zone out when I'm listening! DH, on the other hand, is obsessed with podcasts.

I thought you must be talking about the high low, I feel exactly the same about them. I saw them live too and just felt so self indulgent.

My favourites are
Desert island discs
Elis James and John robins
Adam Buxton
Malcolm gladwell revisionist history
This American Life
Reply all (the episode about the ear worm is probably the best podcast I've ever listened to)

Reply all ‘boy in photo’ and ‘posted to Timbuktu’ are the best pods I’ve ever heard followed by many other episodes. It is an absolutely unexpectedly beautifully wonderful podcast.

Good podcasts are great, I guess ones that are more like a radio programme. Loads just has too much dull chat between the hosts which doesn't interest me. You have to try lots to find good ones.

Horses for courses really.

DH and I love Radio 4 podcasts. More or Less, Political Thinking and some Drama.

However I don't like music!

I absolutely love podcasts.... they have honestly greatly enhanced my life. I especially love the true crime genre. I run daily, simply to consume my podcasts which are deeply inappropriate for my two girls

Shipped to Timbuktu - reply all. My mistake.

I love podcasts. I can never listen to music now whilst doing something.

I find I prefer the in-depth investigative podcasts and not the jokey, chatty, teach you something ones.

I loved Untold - The Daniel Morgan murder (although it's quite an old one now). Totally gripping and extensive. I actually had to re-listen to a few episodes as the investigation just got wider and wider.

I also loved - The Last Days of August (about the uS porn industry and suicide/abuse/media)

Crypto Queen.

The Dropout.

I love all these types. Like a binge boxset in podcast form!

I also randomly really like -
David Tennant does a Podcast with.....(great, in-depth interviews with a lovely natural atmosphere).

BBC History Extra

BrexitCast/Coronacast/Newscast is always good for a listen.

Liadan I love a true crime podcast. Any recs?

YABVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVU

Either that or you don’t ever do any long drives.

Podcasts are amazing. I find I can immerse myself in them in a way that I can’t if I’m reading or if I’m watching the television.

I love the fact that I’m generally not wasting time while I’m listening, I can easily be gardening, driving, running or doing chores while I’m listening. I even listen to podcasts while I swim.

Podcasts are free.

There are podcasts on anything and everything. I listen to some really random stuff, if I don’t like it then I just turn them off -no harm done.

I’m don’t read the Guardian but THE Guardian audio long reads are excellent. There are hundreds of them. Literally hundreds. They cover all,sorts of things.

Here is an example on the dangers of working in a betting shop “Bookmakers have become a fixture of the British high street. But the savage murder of a lone employee at a London betting shop has revealed the risks that their workers face“ 2017

I'm trying to get into podcasts.... so following

@SunsetBeetch
Ooo I love a recommendation! Thank you so much!

I love a good podcast but I can’t just sit and listen to one without also doing something else like cleaning or driving for example. I think we’re so used to either visual stimulation from watching a programme or the act of actually reading and getting lost in a book that podcasts can be boring if just sitting around listening.

My dd11 loves them I had to listen to the French and Saunders one the other day, thought it might be quite funny, nope BORING as shit.

@waterjungle

I love finding out about new podcasts. I've recently enjoyed Behind the Bastards. Although it's quite American-centric it means I've found out a lot about American history and culture that I didn't know about. I don't tend to do comedy ones, I prefer stuff where I learn something or a bit of true crime. S Town was great, so was the one about the mustered woman in Cork and the Radio 5 one about the people thrown off a boat in South America? (Terrible with remembering titles as you can see!) What puts me off some immediately is that awful formulaic delivery style, I listened to an Australian one (May have been Lore) and it almost sounded like a puss take of itself. I lasted about two episodes before switching off.

Was the Radio 5 one Paradise, about Chris & Peta? That was utterly gripping. I burst into tears at one particular point towards the end.

I love podcasts. When the DC are away, it's so nice to have voices in the house. It gives me a frame to the day, because I can listen along whilst doing boring stuff. Most of mine are cricket related, but I do really enjoy Great Lives from Radio4, as well as Kermode & Mayo. The best podcasts feel like a natural conversation, not a presentation.