Ear of the Year
December 6, 2016 7:09 PM   Subscribe

100 Outstanding audio stories of 2016. The best podcast episodes & audio journalism of the year, as chosen by the Bello Collective team, in categories including: Investigative journalism; politics & history; first-person storytelling & interviews; out of the ordinary; human behavior, love, & other feelings; science, nature & technology; cool collaborations & serialized stories; audio drama; documentary-style.

Enjoy productions from Reveal, CBC, Home of the Brave, Gravy, Esquire Classic Broadcast, Radiolab, Better Off Dead, Criminal, Random Article, Embedded, Presidential, Keepin it 1600, Candidate Confessional, Giants of History, Revolutions, Stuff you Should Know, The Lonely Palette, Memory Palace, The Land of Desire, Radio National, History on Fire; Death, Sex & Money; Historically Black, Close Encounters, With Her, Another Round, Reply All, Grade Expectations, The Intern, ThisisActuallyHappening, Not by Accident, Switched on Pop, Strangers, The Babysitters Club Club, Awful Grace, Here be Monsters, Witch Please, Ear Shot, Adventures of Memento Mori, Planet Money, The Guardian Long Read, Sleepover, Memory Motel, The Dollop, Note to Self, Why oh Why, Love+Radio, Revisionist History, Invisibilia, Being a Better Man, The Uncertain Hour, This American Life, Us & Them, Rumble Strip Vermont, Only Human, HumaNature, The Real Thing, Reply All, Flash Forward, Anxious Machine, Control Z, 99% Invisible, Outside/In, Outside Podcast, Science Vs., How to be a Girl, Benjamin Walker's Theory of Everything, The Sporkful, The Heart, The United States of Anxiety, Song Exploder, re:Sound, ARRVLS, Startup, Documentary on One, Heavyweight, Invisibilia, Love Me, Whereabouts, A Dancer dies twice, The Bridge, Archive 81, Alice isn't Dead, the Unexplained Disappearance of Mars Patel, The Bright Sessions, Eleanor Amplified, The Truth.
posted by storybored (19 comments total) 102 users marked this as a favorite
 
A huge thank you for posting this.
posted by davebush at 7:53 PM on December 6, 2016 [2 favorites]


I'm a little embarrassed by how many of these I've already listened to; as for the rest, hooray! More to dive into!
posted by jenjenc at 7:56 PM on December 6, 2016


I bought a 64 Gb phone last year and thought I was overdoing it. I now have to ruthlessly edit Overcast every couple of months so that the damn thing can still function.
posted by maudlin at 8:04 PM on December 6, 2016 [8 favorites]


I sometimes save podcast episodes that are that good because I don't want them to be gone forever. I guess I will have to go collect all of these now. :7)
posted by wenestvedt at 8:33 PM on December 6, 2016


Holy Smokes! This is relevant to my interests. Many thanks.
posted by pipoquinha at 8:50 PM on December 6, 2016


Oh well now, this is brilliant! Good find!
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 9:15 PM on December 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


But but I don't have enough ears or hours in the day for all of these! help
posted by rtha at 9:55 PM on December 6, 2016


I'm glad it's individual episodes of podcasts being recommended (well, except for that one category). This looks like an excellent list and I look forward to listening to a lot of these. Thanks so much for posting!
posted by hippybear at 1:23 AM on December 7, 2016 [1 favorite]


This is great! When I read the title the first two episodes that popped into my head were Hello - Reply All and A Girl of Ivory - Love+Radio and they are both on the list. So if the rest are in a similar vein I'm going to enjoy them a lot!
posted by neilb449 at 4:29 AM on December 7, 2016


I'm a bit lost. Where can I find this one listed under 85?

"Two radio producers do something so very perfectly Radio Producer: both keep track of moves across the country through sound, recording everything from thoughts to ambient noise, and then weave all the snippets into this tapestry. It’s lovely, and made me feel a little bit like a newborn."
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 4:49 AM on December 7, 2016


Thank you so much for this. I'd already heard about ten on the list and they were indeed special, which makes me very optimistic about the rest of the list. I am now positively looking forward to the office move that will make my walk to work 20 minutes longer come February.
posted by kelper at 6:07 AM on December 7, 2016


I'm a bit lost. Where can I find this one listed under 85?

It was supposed to be 86 and I can't find it either. (and I searched!)
posted by Obscure Reference at 6:33 AM on December 7, 2016


Thanks for this!

I'll add my favorite roundup of the best audio stories around: the Third Coast International Audio Festival
posted by Grimp0teuthis at 7:06 AM on December 7, 2016


I ask this every year: has anyone started a mefi "best of the year" depository yet? If not, I'd be happy to.
posted by photoslob at 7:46 AM on December 7, 2016


It was supposed to be 86 and I can't find it either. (and I searched!)

Does the link in the post work for you? http://www.arrvls.com/arrvls-podcast/2016/2/25/movements. I was also able to find it by searching "ARRVLS" in my podcast app.
posted by beandip at 8:29 AM on December 7, 2016 [1 favorite]


I wish they included comedy. Every year I go looking for good comedy podcasts.
posted by amtho at 8:33 AM on December 7, 2016 [2 favorites]


I was also able to find it by searching "ARRVLS" in my podcast app.

That was one of them I tried but it isn't about moving across country--it says it's about leaving San Francisco. Thouugh one of the early "sounds" was from NY.
posted by Obscure Reference at 9:05 AM on December 7, 2016


Does the link in the post work for you? http://www.arrvls.com/arrvls-podcast/2016/2/25/movements.

I contacted Bello and this was the link they sent me. Cheers.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 11:32 AM on December 7, 2016 [1 favorite]


49. Fed Ex Flight 705, The Dollop
Independent
THIS. STORY. IS. BONKERS.


OMG YOU HAVE NO FUKIN IDEA HOW BONKERS IF YOU ONLY LISTEN TO ONE STORY IN THIS LIST MAKE IT THIS ONE JEEBUS
posted by hippybear at 10:08 PM on December 19, 2016


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