Many pop songs seem to be more potent now than in their heyday.
— David Hepworth
Fortunately... 'With Fi and Jane' features BBC veterans Fi Glover and Jane Garvey sitting in the BBC cafe, nattering about whatever interests them.
Radio 3 shows such as 'Between the Ears' also make the kind of podcasts that draw the most from your noise-cancelling headphones. The programme commissions ideas that make adventurous use of sound.
There are lots of podcasts that look at films from the audience's point of view. There are also plenty that look at it from the combatants' point of view. It's invariably the case that the less likely you are to have heard of the people talking, the more interesting they'll be.
The 'Sodajerker' podcast is the work of Liverpool songwriting duo Simon Barber and Brian O'Connor.
It's been a while since I checked in with Malcolm Gladwell's 'Revisionist History' podcast. The episode 'The King of Tears' suggests the author is raising the bar. His argument is that country music is the genre that makes us cry because, unlike rock, it's not afraid of specifics.
An interesting way into the celebrity interview podcast is via their dogs. Celebs may not be keen to let us into their homes, because they don't like us to see how wealthy they are. However, tell them you want to go for a walk on Hampstead Heath with them and their mutt, and they're only too happy.
Songwriters often seek the company of fellow songwriters to help finish what they've started, and these days, many do it at songwriting camps.
Podcasting is a personal medium, and I savour those moments where details of the podcasters' lives glint through.
If you don't work near a water cooler and hanker for the company of fellow natural history enthusiasts, 'The Blue Planet II Podcast' has Emily Knight and Becky Ripley enthusing infectiously about and delving deeper into the most recent episode.
Karina Longworth, the genius behind 'You Must Remember This', has quite correctly spun off her series about the Sharon Tate murders as a separate podcast called 'You Must Remember Manson' to mark the passing of the man who unleashed hell because he couldn't get a recording contract.
Christmas is a time for slipping into familiar patterns.
All political careers end in failure, but few did it so quickly as David Cameron's. He came to power promising not to 'bang on about Europe' and ended up having the continent's name chiselled into the lid of his political coffin.
Richard Hoggart's cultural analysis 'The Uses of Literacy' was published in 1957, but its influence still hovers over anyone setting out to write seriously about people's affection for things that aren't serious, such as the products of pop culture.
Radio people can't entirely shake off radio habits when they start doing podcasts. They sometimes bring with them things we don't need, like producers and explanatory voiceovers.
'Constitutional' is an unashamedly educational podcast from the 'Washington Post.' Sub-titled 'a podcast about the story of America,' it's presented by Lillian Cunningham, who engages scholars to explain the fascinating story of how a nation is designed from scratch.
'I Was There Too' talks to people who played non-starring roles in big movies. That means the likes of comedian Jimmy Pardo, who didn't make it to the finished 'Dreamgirls.' Still, he recalls that when an actor is put on hold for a movie, he gets paid for two weeks just for sitting at home waiting to be called.
If, like me, you've never watched 'Game of Thrones', the podcast 'Binge Mode: 'Game of Thrones'' ought to be unlistenable. It isn't, thanks to the energy of the two expert presenters Mallory Rubin and Jason Concepcion, who have the wit to laugh at their own deep-dive devotion and are helped out by some smart editing.
If you listen to 'Pod Save America', which is run by former Obama staffers and Democratic party partisans, you'll be exposed to ads for home delivery of everything from gourmet meals to underwear, presumably in the belief that you're too busy being fabulous to go near a shop.
Anyone born in the year 1950 who grew to fancy themselves as a soulful 18-year-old bought 'Songs of Leonard Cohen' upon its original release in 1968. For many of them, it was the beginning of a lifelong friendship.
'How I Built This With Guy Raz' asks entrepreneurs to tell the story of how they made their name and, in some cases, their fortune. Whether they're in the business of selling burritos or dating apps, there's inevitably something you can learn from their stories.
In 'The High Low', in some respects an audio version of 'Grazia,' Pandora Sykes and Dolly Alderton wonder whether they missed something in their survey of the Harvey Weinstein story. Maybe they did, they decide.
'Athletico Mince' started life as a football podcast but has dropped the football, unless the latest on the state of the 'hair island' atop Steve McLaren's head is your idea of football coverage.
The podcast most likely to encourage you to fully appreciate your food is the episode of BBC World Service's 'The Food Chain' in which Antonio Carluccio talks to Emily Thomas about his life in five dishes.
'The Canon' is a film podcast that also has much in common with books podcast 'Backlisted.' Both suggest you can get a lot of pleasure out of things that aren't new.
'Spectator Books' is presented by the genial Sam Leith. Leith has a little catch in his delivery that quickly becomes addictive. It's things like this that give podcasts their charm.
'Adrift With Geoff Lloyd and Annabel Port' features Absolute Radio escapee Geoff and erstwhile colleague Annabel doing something similar. All are appealing individuals with plenty to say, tentatively getting used to their new freedom to talk about anything.
Justin Hayward was a teenager when he was drafted into the Moody Blues in 1966. He brought with him one song he had written for his girlfriend. This was called 'Nights in White Satin,' which subsequently made a fortune for a lot of people.
Jim MacLaine was the hero of Ray Connolly's 1973 movie 'That'll Be the Day', about a young man turning his back on a university education at the turn of the '60s in order to try his hand in a rock n' roll band.
The people who talk on the edgier 'Song Exploder' have often made their entire record on their desktop. It's never been easier to compete, but it's never been harder to win, either.
For magazines seeking to extend their reach into podcasting, half the battle is finding members of staff who don't sound like the kind of people you wouldn't care to be stuck in a lift with.
As more podcasts become available, it's becoming a challenge to keep everything in order.
According to the producers of gripping podcast 'Death, Sex & Money', these are the three things we think about a lot but need to talk about more.
When Shanthi Ranganathan was the featured turn on 'Hip Hop Saved My Life With Romesh Ranganathan,' we learned she didn't allow him to have a girlfriend until he'd finished university, and she learned - to her unfeigned horror - that he used to sneak girls into the house when she was out.
'Podcasting House' is pivotal to the BBC's plan to scatter the seed of its various non-broadcast audio products beyond the narrow silos of the people who happen to listen to the programmes from which they arise.
The neurologist calls it 'Non-REM parasomnia'. For the sufferer, it might mean rising in the middle of the night, getting your motorbike out, going for a ride, and waking in the morning with no memory of the experience.
The opening solo on 'Once in Royal David's City' is still the most dramatic radio moment of the year.
Mongolia is a country of only three million souls. One million of them live in Ulaanbaatar, where, despite the skyscrapers, half the population sleep in tents. One of the few Mongolians to become famous outside his home country is Ariunbaatar Ganbaatar, who won the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World prize.
