Podcast recommendations that aren’t Serial or This American Life

Looking for podcast recommendations, but tired of people suggesting Serial or This American Life like you haven’t heard of them already?
Here’s some of the podcasts that the Australia Institute team have been listening to this year.
Australian True Crime with Meshel Laurie & Emily Webb
from Meshel Laurie
Think nothing ever happens in your town? Australia’s suburbs are home to some of the most mysterious and disturbing true crime cases in the world. Meshel Laurie is a true crime obsessive. Emily Webb is a true crime author. And together with expert interviews with writers, victims, investigators and perpetrators, they probe the underbelly of our towns and suburbs, and uncover the darkness at the heart of Australian life.
ChangeMakers: Stories of people changing the world
from PodcastOne
ChangeMakers tells stories of people trying the change the world. Each week, host Amanda Tattersall travels the globe, talking to the people involved in extraordinary campaigns, finding out what works — and what doesn’t. Hopes, fears and regrets are revealed. Story by story, the lessons of how to change the world are teased out. Over ten episodes ChangeMakers looks at twenty campaigns, in 14 countries across the globe. From anti-Putin activists in Moscow, to democracy advocates in Hong Kong, to environmental farmers in northern NSW, ChangeMakers shows change is possible.
Code Switch
from NPR
Ever find yourself in a conversation about race and identity where you just get…stuck? Code Switch can help. We’re all journalists of color, and this isn’t just the work we do. It’s the lives we lead. Sometimes, we’ll make you laugh. Other times, you’ll get uncomfortable. But we’ll always be unflinchingly honest and empathetic. Come mix it up with us.
Follow the Money
from The Australia Institute
In The Australia Institute’s own podcast, Follow The Money, we aim to explain the economy: but in plain English. We’ll bust some economic myths, dissect and interpret econobabble, and do our best to help you sound really smart at your next dinner party.
It’s a Long Story
from the Sydney Opera House
Hear the stories behind the big ideas of some of Sydney Opera House’s most influential and acclaimed guests. Uncover the formative moments and early careers of thinkers and culture creators such as Jad Abumrad, Lindy West, Lionel Shriver, Alicia Garza and Giulia Enders, It’s A Long Story is produced at the Sydney Opera House as part of the Talks and Ideas program.
It’s Not A Race
from ABC Radio National
Race, racism, identity, culture, difference — let’s talk it out. It’s Not a Race, with host Beverley Wang, is the ABC podcast Australia needs right now.
The Lucky Country with Richard Denniss
from Schwartz Media
Join Richard Denniss as he tackles Australia’s most important political and economic issues in a new weekly podcast from Schwartz Media. This is an insider’s outside view, making sense of the country and where it’s headed.
Radiolab presents: More Perfect
from WNYC Studios
Radiolab’s More Perfect is a series about the Supreme Court. More Perfect explores how cases deliberated inside the rarefied world of the Supreme Court affect our lives far away from the bench. Produced by WNYC Studios, home of other great podcasts such as Death, Sex & Money, Freakonomics Radio, On the Media, and Here’s the Thing.
The Outer Sanctum
from ABC
The Outer Sanctum is an all-female footy podcast that features six passionate fans — broadcaster Emma Race, lawyer Kate Seear, author Nicole Hayes, poet and author Alicia Sometimes, and business owners Lucy Race and Felicity Race — who focus on stories and voices rarely heard around the great game of AFL. Guests have included Western Bulldogs marquee player Katie Brennan, Indigenous author Tony Birch, Richmond president Peggy O’Neal and women’s football advocate Susan Alberti and many more.
In their first year on air, The Outer Sanctum sparked a national debate about the treatment of women in football when they discussed derogatory comments made by Triple M commentators, including Collingwood president Eddie McGuire, about The Age chief football writer Caroline Wilson.
Pretty For An Aboriginal
from BuzzFeed Australia
Nakkiah Lui and Miranda Tapsell have conversations Australia is uncomfortable having — about sex, relationships, dating, power, and, most difficult of all, race.
Tall Tales & True
by ABC Radio
Tall Tales & True brings together the very best of live storytelling from across Australia. Courageous storytellers front up to the microphone to bare their soul and share their life-changing moments in front of a live audience. Captivating, jaw-dropping and thought provoking, these pure Australian stories will make you laugh, cry or gasp, or maybe all three at once.
There Goes the Neighborhood
from WNYC Studios & KCRW
This season of There Goes the Neighborhood looks at how Los Angeles has gone from the place to chase your dreams to one of the least affordable cities in America. Housing prices are soaring, developers and landlords see opportunity, and many longtime Angelenos are getting squeezed out. Is there a place for you here?
Plus, catch up on the award-winning first season of There Goes the Neighborhood, which looked at the gentrification of Brooklyn, including the integral role that race plays in the process.
Warm Regards
from Eric Halthaus
Warm Regards is a podcast about the warming planet. The show is hosted by meteorologist Eric Holthaus. Co-hosts are Jacquelyn Gill, a paleoecologist at the University of Maine, and Andy Revkin, a veteran journalist at ProPublica.
And oldie but a goodie — especially if you’re heading on a long road trip these holidays.
Rum, Rebels and Ratbags
from ABC Radio
Rum, Rebels & Ratbags is history not for the faint-hearted. Historian and author of Girt David Hunt and ABC Radio Sydney’s Dom Knight uncover the characters and events left out of your high school history class.
And finally. If all you want for Christmas is: Even. More. Federal. Political. Analysis.
Australian Politics Live
from Guardian Australia
Katharine Murphy, Gabrielle Chan and Guardian Australia’s political team examine what’s happening in Australian politics and why it matters to you.
Is it On?
from BuzzFeed Australia
Alice Workman and Lane Sainty take you into the corridors of power at Australian Parliament House to dissect the latest goings on in federal politics.
The Party Room
from ABC Radio National
Join Fran Kelly and Patricia Karvelas as they analyse all the latest news from Parliament House with some of the sharpest minds in journalism.
Between the Lines Newsletter
The biggest stories and the best analysis from the team at the Australia Institute, delivered to your inbox every fortnight.
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