Hey CreativeMornings!: A roundup of your favorite podcast episodes

A few weeks ago, we introduced Hey CreativeMornings!, our experiment for swapping knowledge and recommendations with you, our people. Every other week, we pose a question in our Weekly Highlights newsletter and here on the CreativeMornings blog, and we invite you to email us with your answer.

When we called on you to answer the fifth question in the series — What is your favorite podcast episode? Why? — you filled our inbox with sound recommendations to satisfy ears, hearts, and minds. It can be hard to select only one memorable episode in a world with seemingly endless listening options, yet you all came through with thoughtful picks to add to our podcast playlists.

(If you didn’t get a chance to email us with a favorite podcast episode, it’s not too late! Share your recommendation in the comments section.)

Taken together, the podcast episodes you selected represent an interesting dynamic: eclectic interests that, despite the expanse of subjects, reflect the tender threads of our shared humanity through core themes. There are episodes that revolve around ways to better our work, our lives and our communities. Stories of the weird and the wonderful abound. Food, art and design, music, and language offered plenty of fodder. And, there were even three recommended episodes about kelp!

From the ocean waves to the soundwaves, we hope you enjoy these podcast episodes as much as the audiophiles who took the time to write in and enthuse about them. We have compiled these recommendations from the global CreativeMornings community into a collection organized roughly by subject matter. Of course, a lot of ground can be covered in one episode and many could easily fit into multiple categories. Nonetheless, we hope these groupings will help match you with stories, conversations, and advice that speak to your interests. You might just find a new favorite episode below!

Gripping storytelling

“I have listened to a lot of podcast episodes over the span of my lifetime, but no episode stands out in my memory like episode #102 Long Distance from Reply All. You basically enter the world of telephone scamming. It’s fascinating, suspenseful, and so hilarious. There is also a follow-up podcast episode where the producers fly to India to meet these scammers in episode #103.” — Rukmini P.

“Greetings from Coney Island by Love and Radio is a gorgeous, haunting narrative that twines together a mysterious postcard from 1938 and a shocking, personal loss. It’s moving, surprising, and features the transfixing voice of Nate Dimeo.” — Jenna H.

“Meditative Story’s episode, A Cowboy’s Rules for Living, featuring cowboy poet Wadi Mitchell. Love all the episodes. Gorgeous production.” — Deron T.

“One of my favorite podcast episodes is The Wubi Effect from Radiolab. It’s a fascinating episode about one professor who set out to jam 70,000+ Chinese characters on a Latin-based QWERTY keyboard and, more broadly, how so many other languages bend over backwards to fit a Western-centric hardware device!”— Janey L.

Behind the music

“Reply All’s The Case of the Missing Hit is one of the greatest episodes of any podcast of all time. Ever have an earworm — a song stuck in your head — that you just couldn’t get rid of? So you go and listen to the song to take care of it? Well, what happens when the song seemingly doesn’t exist?” — Michael M.

“My favorite podcast episode is jazz and gospel singer Lizz Wright in conversation with Tanya Holland on the Tanya’s Table podcast. A beautiful, heartfelt and inspiring dialogue between two creative geniuses about the nourishing quality of food and music to uplift us and ground us in community and storytelling.” — Jocelyn A.

“I am obsessed with Song Exploder. It helps me feel more confident as a musician, because it gives a glimpse into the incredible process that artists who I admire go through to create their work! Specifically, these episodes about Jewel’s ‘You Were Meant for Me’ and Semisonic’s ‘Closing Time’.” — Alexa K.

Inside the art world

“I really enjoyed an episode of Sway, in which the host Kara Swisher interviewed Beeple, the artist who just sold an encrypted digital collage for $69 million. The episode is called What the Heck are NFTs? Let’s Ask Beeple.” — Virgina H.

In the workplace

“I recommend Creativity: How to stop executive interference in your creative process from the Crazy One podcast. This was an amazing episode for in-house designers because he gave real-life advice and some very helpful tools to help deal with a huge obstacle. But what really made it stand out was that he didn’t mince words. If the executive/leadership in question is outright obstinate then there’s not much one can do except look elsewhere. I think a lot of people would benefit from hearing that from a mentor. I loved this episode so much I shared the episode and the transcript with my team!” — Mandy M.

“I loved the interview by Books That Work founder Anna Hughes with Gail Kelly, author of the book Live Learn Lead. In this interview, Gail Kelly defines her warm and genuine people-centred leadership style, backed up by examples and stories of her experience leading Westpac Australia and executive roles in other major companies. She talked about generosity of spirit in leadership, gave handy tips to strike the right balance between work and life, and discussed being ambitious in one’s career while treating each other like human beings. It was very timely for me with lots of inspiration and motivation to be a better leader and all-round human. And it landed right in the week of International Women’s Day — a great way to celebrate female heroes!” — Sandy R.

Unusual jobs

“One of my favorite episodes was a short story from 2008 called Aftermath on Love and Radio. To put it simply, it’s about a crime scene clean-up specialist in Chicago. It’s not for the faint of heart but it’s truly a fascinating look at the jobs not often talked about. Needless to say, it resonated with me after all these years.” — Caitlyn D.

“Steven Levitt of Freakonomics fame met Marina Nitze at a dinner party where he was asked to introduce the guests. Being Steven Levitt, he told them they had five minutes to introduce themselves and they had his permission to brag unabashedly about themselves and their achievements. No holds barred! Marina was seated next to him and her story stuck with him. When he started his new podcast People I Mostly Admire, he invited her. The episode is called Marina Nitze: ‘If You Googled ‘Business Efficiency Consultant,’ I Was the Only Result.’ Marina’s life stories will make anyone listening believe that ‘tout est possible!’” — Jean C.

How to better your life

“I’m a big fan of NPR’s Life Kit. I recommend their episodes on deep clean routines and building tiny habits, as well as the episode on making big decisions. All are so good.” — Rob G.

“Jessa Reed’s podcast Awakening OD offers so much humor, wisdom, and weirdness. The episode Literally What Do You Want? sticks out to me because of its focus on self-love and knowing outside sources won’t ultimately fulfill us. I think as artists this is super important for many of us to hear over and over again.” — Rob T.

“This Buddhist Geeks conversation The Utter Perfection of Everything with Trudy Goodman of InsightLA stands out for its sweet humor and emotional honesty.” — Emerson D.

Social justice

“Last summer after George Floyd’s murder I listened to so many podcasts to help me learn to be a better ally. This episode of The Sporkful, called When White People Say Plantation, resonated with me because it takes a look at the word ‘plantation’ and how it’s been commoditized to elicit a white-washed version of the South. It told the story of how some businesses were willing to change their use of it and others dug in their heels. To me, it wasn’t just about the word; it is an example of everything that is wrong with America’s treatment of Black people.” — Adrianne B.

What’s cooking

“Smart Mouth’s Diversity in Native American Food with Loretta Barrett Oden is a fascinating episode and made me want to learn more (and mourn what passes for US history education).” — Anne F.

Shoutout to seaweed

“Kelp Farming for the Planet, episode 1 and episode 2, on How To Save A Planet. It’s a fun introduction to a beautiful and exciting climate solution: kelp.” — Sally M.

“I loved the recent episode of 99% invisible, Mini Stories, Volume 10, which features a few short, fascinating pieces. I especially loved the first story about the rugged sheep who evolved to live off of kelp and the old stone wall that keeps them beach-bound on their island home in Scotland.” — Julie S.

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We’ll be back next week with a brand new question, so be sure to subscribe to our Weekly Highlights newsletter to receive it straight into your inbox.

In the meantime, let’s keep the conversation going in the comments section below. What is a podcast episode that you love, and why?

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