These were my two, too. (of course, they were the OGs!) This American Life at least I think started as a radio show on NPR, but I really got into it once it became a podcast!
I remember when the whole Smod network were the best podcasts going. High production and consistently funny content. I don't know how I consumed that much Kevin Smith. I was very happy when other podcasts started stepping up their game and I kind of haven't listened to a smodcast in almost ten years.
The Ricky Gervais show, must have been 2005 or 06 given my commute into London. Back when you had to download the show, get it into iTunes and then sync it to your iPod. (And with an episode of the Sopranos on the PSP for the trip back)
I was wondering what year it was! Not quite sure how we found it (maybe it was on Audible as well) but we loved it. We still use some of the catch phrases like āI could eat a knobā and āNeilās gone missingā and āPush the red button.ā God, good time.
The first podcast I ever got into, but it was a few years later. I was lucky enough to see a live taping 10 years ago. He hasn't been back to Oklahoma since.
Answer Me This!, in 2008. I got an iPod shuffle as a present from my boyfriend at the time, and since I don't really listen to music, I had to find a use for it. I've never looked back. That podcast ended a few years back, but I actually still listen to one of the presenters' current podcast (Helen Zaltzman's The Allusionist).
I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats, followed pretty shortly by Welcome to Nightvale.
Those were my only 2 podcasts for a while. Now I listen to like, 10.
I started listening before they hit episode 10, even went to a few live shows years back. Now I'd bash my head against my desk if I had to listen to a full episode.
I forgot at what point I hit a hard wall and had to stop listening forever, but the length of time itās gone on beyond that is truly shocking.
Letās Go To Court! recently ended, and it was so sad because it was about to blow up, but at least it never became what my favorite murder has become
They talk for like, an hour at the beginning, just banter stuff. They don't do the research themselves anymore, it just doesn't feel the same as 2 best friends getting together to tell each other these cases, it just feels like it's gotten way too big and, I don't know, impersonal or commercial maybe? Like they got big and it just doesn't feel the same anymore.Ā
Ah okay I see what you mean. I remember getting to a point where I would skip the beginning when it dragged for too long. But a whole hour of banter? Thatās too much
My first too, I started at the beginning around 2017 and hmm probably within 6 months to a year I was over it. I donāt really remember what it was that did it. My tastes are so much more refined these days.
I listened to MFM regularly for longer than I should have. Right around Covid is when you could tell they didn't really want to do it anymore and were phoning it in (literally and figuratively) Doing an episode a week is a lot--most podcasts that involve some kind of research aren't on that kind of schedule.
It was either The Sound of Young America (now Bullseye) back when it was a college radio show that also released as a podcast, or The Ricky Gervais Show, which was also started as a radio show on Xfm. Where my fellow 2005ers at?
Reply All - Long Distance.
My wife was big into podcasts, I hadn't delved into them yet, but she had told me about this episode and it sounded intriguing. Bored on nightshift one night, I started listening and was hooked.
I do miss Reply All, haven't quite found a podcast to fill that hole yet.
Yeah thereās nothing quite like it. I hear Search Engine by PJ and Sruthi is pretty good, but I havenāt gotten to listen to it. Nothing will ever capture the magic of PJ and Alex together.
He posts a lot in this sub and the Darknet Diaries sub, and he readily engages. I'm sure he'd love to put more out more frequently but I imagine they're a ton of work to produce.
If you don't count old episodes of Car Talk, it was probably Pottercast way back in like 2007 or 2008.
Edit: I think maybe it was Mugglecast, not Pottercast. Same timeframe but based out of a different fan site.
The first two podcast I listened to was (stuff you should know) with Josh and Chuck and (Brown Ambition) with Mandy and Tiffany. Itās amazing to watch these podcasters grow and get better with time.
Itās Laura and Andrew from Mugglecast along with Pam who is lovely as well. Just really grounded great conversations about all sorts of stuff. Hereās the [website](https://millennialshow.com)
donāt remember specifically but it was either Doug Loves Movies, Comedy Bang Bang, or The Nerdist. All around like 2012ish. Used to be a loyal listener to all 3, but CBB is the only one I still listen to.
If it's strictly in a podcast format using a podcatcher, it would be Welcome to Night Vale, but I was listening to BBC audio dramas and downloading them for offline listening a long time before that and I've no idea what would be the first of those things.
I went through a long phase of taking lunch breaks at 2pm so I could listen to The Archers at 2pm and then the 45-minute drama until 3pm.
The idea of having a random play every weekday is still quite magical I think.
I haven't listened to them in years but I did a similar thing when I'd drive back from work in that hour to collect my daughter from school and got quite addicted to the Archers for years.
The dramas could be really good - you'd get a series of Pilgrim or McLevy every so often which were both top notch.
Sound of Young America
then Doug Loves Movies + Never Not Funny + Podictionary + Savage Lovecast + On the Media, leading to a slew of NPR podcasts, was there for the heyday of Radiolab.
Skeptics Guide to the Universe and The Classic Tales. Followed shortly thereafter by The History of Rome. Had to download to my laptop and synch to my iPod Video 5th Gen (around 2006, I think? A long time ago, anyway).
I still have that iPod, and except for one dead line through the screen, works great. Sometimes I pull it out for my kids (now late teenagers) and let them watch the videos I kept on it for them as toddlers. Itās a fun way to pass time when we lose power.
First exposure was NPR before podcasts really blew up.
I remember listening to Wait Wait Donāt Tell Me in my chefās car while we were on our way down to cater the Emmys in LA. The rest was history.
I hated podcasts with a passion until I moved into the forest and had an 1.5 hour drive to civilization and found Valley Heat in 2002.
I don't like shows that have hosts who just babble on and laugh with each other with seemingly little output for actual listeners, inside jokes and chitchat. They do seem popular since they are all I'd ever heard before... but not for me!
Valley Heat made me realize it's worth sifting through to find the ones for me. š
I think it was "Dice Funk." I found it by accident on TVTropes halfway along season 1, never bothered with podcasts before, but I was itching for a D&D fix at the time.
Mugglecast back in like 2005! Iād have to transfer the episodes via cord to my iPod so I could listen on my commute and at work. They were the best and I still love the #millenial podcast even if Iām a Xennial.
Think it was a History of Westeros podcast when I first heard of R+L=J. Opened up a whole new world for me and made driving machines in the outback a lot more bearable instead of dodgy AM/FM or cds lol
This American Life. First downloaded to computer, then burned to CD, downloaded to mp3 player, and now streamed. Been listening off and on for 25 years.
Several technical podcasts on the TWiT Network, starting in 2011.
My career has been in broadcast media, as a video tape editor and audio engineer. As that was winding down, I started to produce some independent DVD documentaries in my hobby, ham radio. I made several between 2005 and 2011.
I was aware of YouTube, and used it for some promotion, but not to publish my programs. At that point, I would have been limited to a 10-minute upload.
But I had never heard of podcasts. My first smartphone was a Motorola Droid X, which was first produced in 2010, but I probably didn't get one for a couple years.
In 2011, I got a phone call from microphone guru Bob Heil. I didn't know him personally. I certainly knew of him. And he knew of me apparently from the DVDs I had been producing. He needed a fill-in host for a podcast he was about to start on the TWiT Network.
I checked it out and quickly learned there was this whole world of media I was unaware of.
I agreed to the fill-in gig, and sat in on about a half dozen shows before it was clear that my style and Bob's were not compatible. So in 2012, I pivoted my little DVD empire and began making YouTube shows and audio podcasts.
Now I continue to listen to several of the TWiT Network shows, and produce a few of my own. And my podcast playlist is extensive, holding far more than I'm capable of listening to in any given day or week.
This American Life and Radiolab, in the mid-aughts.
Plus one for This American Life!
Me too. but we're they called podcasts then?
Yes. I was slow to get in to them because I thought they were an apple only thing pod - iPod. Obvs just for apple. I was wrong š¤·āāļø
These were my two, too. (of course, they were the OGs!) This American Life at least I think started as a radio show on NPR, but I really got into it once it became a podcast!
This American Life. I remember discovering podcasts on my iPod Classic/iTunes, back when it was just called an "iPod."
This. Back before podcasts even existed TAL was what I looked forward to!
This American Life and NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour for me, starting around 2010?
The first season of Serial
Same. Itās still my favorite. No one has done it as well as she did.
Yup Groundbreaking for podcasting
Same
Yes! Same here.
Yep, same.
Mine too.
Same!
Yup same!
Same.
First it was just NPR on air eps loaded as podcasts. Serial woulda been my first proper podcast I believe.
Same here. Serial was my first podcast and a good one to start with!
Welcome to Night Vale
That must have been a hell of a discovery š
I had heard about it before and knew it was weird but I loved it from the start. Itās a good brand of weird. :)
same got recommended by a family friend didn't even know what a podcast before that
Smodcast 2009.
Oh man do I miss the original Smodcast! Smodcast + Jay & Bob get old is what got me hooked on podcasts.
I remember when the whole Smod network were the best podcasts going. High production and consistently funny content. I don't know how I consumed that much Kevin Smith. I was very happy when other podcasts started stepping up their game and I kind of haven't listened to a smodcast in almost ten years.
Same. Actually am relistening to those early episodes. Gold.
Ricky Gervais podcast
The Ricky Gervais show, must have been 2005 or 06 given my commute into London. Back when you had to download the show, get it into iTunes and then sync it to your iPod. (And with an episode of the Sopranos on the PSP for the trip back)
I was wondering what year it was! Not quite sure how we found it (maybe it was on Audible as well) but we loved it. We still use some of the catch phrases like āI could eat a knobā and āNeilās gone missingā and āPush the red button.ā God, good time.
Same! I had a Monkey News t shirt.
Doug Loves Movies back in 2006! I learned about it on Best Week Ever on vh1!
This was mine too (along with the Bugle in John Oliver days) and was the gateway to so many other podcasts!
Love it!! DLM was my gateway for sure lol
Cah-caww!!!
Woot! woot! I love DLM and it also just brings me joy to find someone back in 2006 that was also bingeing podcasts.
I listened to DLM when I was in labor with one of my kids lol, it comforted me. It was in 2014 and the first episode with fake Mark Wahlberg!
The first podcast I ever got into, but it was a few years later. I was lucky enough to see a live taping 10 years ago. He hasn't been back to Oklahoma since.
NPR before they were podcasts- this american life, fresh air etc. Serial was my first podcast followed by Invisibilia.
The Nerdist
Man brings back memories
Mine too! Also how I found Reddit because he talked about it fairly often.
Answer Me This!, in 2008. I got an iPod shuffle as a present from my boyfriend at the time, and since I don't really listen to music, I had to find a use for it. I've never looked back. That podcast ended a few years back, but I actually still listen to one of the presenters' current podcast (Helen Zaltzman's The Allusionist).
Yes, loved that show and the Allusionist
Did you also follow Olly's projects? For some reason, they never appealed to me.
I listened to the Modern Mann for a while but got tired of it
As a total grammar nerd, I love the Allusionist. She manages to bring such a wooden subject to life really smoothly.
wtf
For me it was either "You Made or Weird" or "How Did This Get Made". Gave up on YMIW a few years ago but still listen to HDTGM!
I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats, followed pretty shortly by Welcome to Nightvale. Those were my only 2 podcasts for a while. Now I listen to like, 10.
I absolute loved I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats! Iāve tried to get other people I know to listen to it but nobodyās taken me up on it.
My favorite murder... started at the very beginning in 2019 and now I can't stand the new stuffĀ
I started listening before they hit episode 10, even went to a few live shows years back. Now I'd bash my head against my desk if I had to listen to a full episode.
Same. I canāt even imagine listening now.
I forgot at what point I hit a hard wall and had to stop listening forever, but the length of time itās gone on beyond that is truly shocking. Letās Go To Court! recently ended, and it was so sad because it was about to blow up, but at least it never became what my favorite murder has become
Same, that was my first podcast! I havenāt listened in a long time but whatās wrong with it now? Jw
They talk for like, an hour at the beginning, just banter stuff. They don't do the research themselves anymore, it just doesn't feel the same as 2 best friends getting together to tell each other these cases, it just feels like it's gotten way too big and, I don't know, impersonal or commercial maybe? Like they got big and it just doesn't feel the same anymore.Ā
Ah okay I see what you mean. I remember getting to a point where I would skip the beginning when it dragged for too long. But a whole hour of banter? Thatās too much
My first too, I started at the beginning around 2017 and hmm probably within 6 months to a year I was over it. I donāt really remember what it was that did it. My tastes are so much more refined these days.
Same. I think I stopped sometime early covid. Iāve tried listening here & there & nope. Grew out of it
I listened to MFM regularly for longer than I should have. Right around Covid is when you could tell they didn't really want to do it anymore and were phoning it in (literally and figuratively) Doing an episode a week is a lot--most podcasts that involve some kind of research aren't on that kind of schedule.
Canadian True Crime. She got me hooked.
It was either The Sound of Young America (now Bullseye) back when it was a college radio show that also released as a podcast, or The Ricky Gervais Show, which was also started as a radio show on Xfm. Where my fellow 2005ers at?
Simon Mayo& Mark Kermodes film review podcast on BBC and Adam&Joeās 6music podcast-this would have been back in 2007/8 !
S Town
I loved that one!
No Such Thing As A Fish
Radiolab
Did you then just assume *every* podcast was that good?
Haha, for real. Their production quality and episodes were amazing. I remember the Color one vividly, learning about the power of the mantis shrimp.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
āItās got a really dirty sound, like a rusty steak knife, cutting through a well-agedā¦ steak.ā
Eye of the Sports Guy lol he needs to bring it back
Bill burrs Monday morning podcast
I donāt even know how I stumbled upon it but it was called the dead authorās podcast and it was hilarious
I still listen to the william s burroughs episode every few months!
The Adam Carolla ShowĀ
Mike Duncan's The History of Rome
Same here, wild how long ago that was. And Iām still a big fan of his work. Hopefully we get a release date for his new pod soon!
Reply All - Long Distance. My wife was big into podcasts, I hadn't delved into them yet, but she had told me about this episode and it sounded intriguing. Bored on nightshift one night, I started listening and was hooked. I do miss Reply All, haven't quite found a podcast to fill that hole yet.
Yeah thereās nothing quite like it. I hear Search Engine by PJ and Sruthi is pretty good, but I havenāt gotten to listen to it. Nothing will ever capture the magic of PJ and Alex together.
Serial
Darknet Diaries
Never heard of this one, sounds intriguing!
Very good stuff, well-produced, occasionally humorous, indepth stories of people who got in a little too deep.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
He posts a lot in this sub and the Darknet Diaries sub, and he readily engages. I'm sure he'd love to put more out more frequently but I imagine they're a ton of work to produce.
If you don't count old episodes of Car Talk, it was probably Pottercast way back in like 2007 or 2008. Edit: I think maybe it was Mugglecast, not Pottercast. Same timeframe but based out of a different fan site.
How Did This Get Made
S Town...I really started with a bang!
Serial
Welcome to Nightvale
This podcast will kill you
British history podcast
welcome to night vale.
Welcome to Nightvale on SoundCloud in like 2013
Bill Simmons in 2006
The first two podcast I listened to was (stuff you should know) with Josh and Chuck and (Brown Ambition) with Mandy and Tiffany. Itās amazing to watch these podcasters grow and get better with time.
The Bugle back when it was Andy Zaltzman and Jon Oliver. That must have been 2010ish.
Stop Podcasting Yourself or Comedy Bang Bang. Maybe 2009?
I think Dan Savageās Savage Lovecast.
mugglecast!
I still listen to them now on #millenial š
They have a new show?? This is the best news I've ever heard.
Itās Laura and Andrew from Mugglecast along with Pam who is lovely as well. Just really grounded great conversations about all sorts of stuff. Hereās the [website](https://millennialshow.com)
Amazing, thank you!
The first series of Serial, like a few others here.
Serial then Generation Why.
donāt remember specifically but it was either Doug Loves Movies, Comedy Bang Bang, or The Nerdist. All around like 2012ish. Used to be a loyal listener to all 3, but CBB is the only one I still listen to.
Harmontown
Monday Morning Podcast with Bill Burr
No Such Thing as a Fish
If it's strictly in a podcast format using a podcatcher, it would be Welcome to Night Vale, but I was listening to BBC audio dramas and downloading them for offline listening a long time before that and I've no idea what would be the first of those things.
I went through a long phase of taking lunch breaks at 2pm so I could listen to The Archers at 2pm and then the 45-minute drama until 3pm. The idea of having a random play every weekday is still quite magical I think.
I haven't listened to them in years but I did a similar thing when I'd drive back from work in that hour to collect my daughter from school and got quite addicted to the Archers for years. The dramas could be really good - you'd get a series of Pilgrim or McLevy every so often which were both top notch.
The rest is history
Tobolowsky Files from /Film and Stephen Tobolowsky.
Sound of Young America then Doug Loves Movies + Never Not Funny + Podictionary + Savage Lovecast + On the Media, leading to a slew of NPR podcasts, was there for the heyday of Radiolab.
The Dawn and Drew show. Back when you had to get podcasts from RSS feeds.
This American Life and The Moth
Skeptics Guide to the Universe and The Classic Tales. Followed shortly thereafter by The History of Rome. Had to download to my laptop and synch to my iPod Video 5th Gen (around 2006, I think? A long time ago, anyway). I still have that iPod, and except for one dead line through the screen, works great. Sometimes I pull it out for my kids (now late teenagers) and let them watch the videos I kept on it for them as toddlers. Itās a fun way to pass time when we lose power.
I'm glad to see someone else mentioning the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe, that was one of my first as well and I listened to it for years.
The Paul F Tompkast
First exposure was NPR before podcasts really blew up. I remember listening to Wait Wait Donāt Tell Me in my chefās car while we were on our way down to cater the Emmys in LA. The rest was history.
Stuff you should know.
Wait wait don't tell me
Either the indoor kids or comedy bang! bang!
Technicality no down boo over
This American Life, Astonishing Legends, the Moth and Lore.
Drunk tank
Office Ladies. Was a huge fan of the office and that was the only reason I started listening to podcasts. I've really branched out since then lol
Smartest Man in the World - Greg Proops.
Hometown Tales
I loved that show.
The Dropout. Got me totally hooked. Thereās not a scam or true crime classic pod I havenāt listened to in the last couple of years since.
Up and vanished by Payne Lindsey Second- serial.
Same! Pretty good for a first podcast.
Not my first, but Up and Vanished was one of the best.
Jay Mohr. The show was really interesting and funny until he became a ālife coachā. That is where it went if the rails.
I found The Crab Feast through Jay Mohr.
This American Life
Stuff you should know
This is a good OG suggestion, definitely.
Missing Richard Simmons
Prosecuting Donald Trump
Sick and Wrong podcast.
The Lost podcast with Jay and Jack
The Official Lost Podcast way back in the mid aughts
36 questions, from the same producers of Limetown
Serial or S Town. Kinda blurred in my mind timeline-wise
Serial season 1 and then Truth and Justice about the same case. Serial was amazing.
Dating myself, I listened to some super early tech ones and Adam Curry. Had to download the mp3 files and move them manually to my ipod.
Adam Curry
Dirty John
Comedy Bang Bang!
Marc Maron
My favorite murder
WTF with Marc Maron
I hated podcasts with a passion until I moved into the forest and had an 1.5 hour drive to civilization and found Valley Heat in 2002. I don't like shows that have hosts who just babble on and laugh with each other with seemingly little output for actual listeners, inside jokes and chitchat. They do seem popular since they are all I'd ever heard before... but not for me! Valley Heat made me realize it's worth sifting through to find the ones for me. š
2002?
Oops! Lol, I don't even know why I would put the year in!!! I meant two years ago... maybe? š¤£š¤£
AM radio.
I think it was "Dice Funk." I found it by accident on TVTropes halfway along season 1, never bothered with podcasts before, but I was itching for a D&D fix at the time.
It was either āRock Schoolā or some Swedish podcast
Call her Daddy, with the original cast
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Scene Unseen.
The Co-Optional Podcast.
Smodcast. Kevin Smith.
27 Clubā¦I loved it.
Galacticast, a comedy sci-fi parody show from 2006.
Strangers /Lea Thau ( 2013) I think
The Forcecast (now known as Rebel Force Radio)
A couple of Cold ones with Korey and Carlisle
2014 road trip, when my daughter introduced me to "Lies" and "Serial."
Sword and Scale. Itās know a lot of people donāt like the host but, I love his podcast!
I can't remember which was actually first, but my first two were Mysterious Universe and Sword & Scale (though I don't listen to either anymore)
The Moth
538 Politics podcast
IGN Gamescoop back in the 360 era, so probably like 06 or 07. Good times.
Dear Sugars
Heaven's Gate!
Mugglecast back in like 2005! Iād have to transfer the episodes via cord to my iPod so I could listen on my commute and at work. They were the best and I still love the #millenial podcast even if Iām a Xennial.
Do You Need a Ride? It was covid and I needed cheering up.
Serial S01
Star Talk, around 2010 I believe. It was a long time ago.
S-Town, then This American Life.
Think it was a History of Westeros podcast when I first heard of R+L=J. Opened up a whole new world for me and made driving machines in the outback a lot more bearable instead of dodgy AM/FM or cds lol
Finding warhead
This American Life. First downloaded to computer, then burned to CD, downloaded to mp3 player, and now streamed. Been listening off and on for 25 years.
Small Town Murder
S-Town
This American Life
This American Life, U.S. Senator Barack Obamaās podcast
The Dream. About MLMS lol
"You Look Nice Today" - absolutely hilarious, this one became a favourite for sure.
Several technical podcasts on the TWiT Network, starting in 2011. My career has been in broadcast media, as a video tape editor and audio engineer. As that was winding down, I started to produce some independent DVD documentaries in my hobby, ham radio. I made several between 2005 and 2011. I was aware of YouTube, and used it for some promotion, but not to publish my programs. At that point, I would have been limited to a 10-minute upload. But I had never heard of podcasts. My first smartphone was a Motorola Droid X, which was first produced in 2010, but I probably didn't get one for a couple years. In 2011, I got a phone call from microphone guru Bob Heil. I didn't know him personally. I certainly knew of him. And he knew of me apparently from the DVDs I had been producing. He needed a fill-in host for a podcast he was about to start on the TWiT Network. I checked it out and quickly learned there was this whole world of media I was unaware of. I agreed to the fill-in gig, and sat in on about a half dozen shows before it was clear that my style and Bob's were not compatible. So in 2012, I pivoted my little DVD empire and began making YouTube shows and audio podcasts. Now I continue to listen to several of the TWiT Network shows, and produce a few of my own. And my podcast playlist is extensive, holding far more than I'm capable of listening to in any given day or week.