I’m constantly surprised at how little press podcasts get.  Everyone and their mother has a DVR and has grown accustom to watching TV on their schedule, yet only a small minority see podcasts as the identical concept applied to radio.  Maybe this stems from a lack of interest in radio as opposed to TV.  Maybe it stems from people only using radio for its musical content, in which case mp3s are as far as they need to g.  Either way, its a shame and in hopes of remedying that in some small way, I have compiled my short list of podcasts which everyone should listen to. (download the opml file)

Public Radio

Public Radio is leading the field in providing their content in podcast form.  I have no concept of when any of these shows air on my local station (or even if they air).  Instead they show up in iTunes and I listen at my leisure.

On The Media

As a meta news show, it is the one and only news show necessary to fully understand how media covers (or fails to cover) the important stories of the week.

7AM ET News Summary Podcast

The daily news in under five minutes.  No Britney, no Timberlake, just the basics. 

Marketplace Morning Report

The daily financial news in under 10 minutes.  Increasingly important in the past six months.

Marketplace Money

A weekly one hour program on the financial sector and personal finance.  Everything you need to know for retirement, debt repayment, etc.

WNYC’s Radio Lab

Hands down the best science podcast.  Incredibly produced and riveting.

This American Life

An hour of touching, poignant, humorous and otherwise evocative stories about life in America. 

Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippett

A wonderful hour exploring every possible view on faith, spirituality, religion, ethics, morals, and all the other big questions in life.

Intelligence Squared

Thoughtful, intelligent, persuasive debates on the hot button topics of today in the Oxford style.

Software Development

The Java Posse

Hands down the best developer centric podcast available.  Four friends with four very different view points come together to recap anything and everything JVM related.

Pragmatic Podcasts

Interviews with authors from the Pragmatic Programers publishing company on their upcoming books.

Railscasts

Interviews with influential members of the Rails community.  The only tolerable rails podcast, more a comment about the other podcasts than about this one.

The Accidental Creative

An inspirational podcast aimed at artistic creatives but carries over well to the technical creative.

JavaWorld’s Java Technology Insider

An infrequent Java podcast with some solid content.

Personal Development

Zencast

Weekly one hour dharma talks, always insightful and inspirational

Buddhist Geeks: Seriously Buddhist, Seriously Geeky

Like the name says, these are a bunch of Buddhists who geek out about Buddhism, and occasionally about tech.

The New Man: Beyond the Macho Jerk and the New Age Wimp

A no bs, post-new age approach to manhood.  I imagine this is one of those love it or hate it podcasts.

Arts

IndieFeed: Performance Poetry

A thrice weekly slam poem delivered directly to your ears, improved only by the host genuine love for the genre and community

Philosophy Bites

Occasional podcast delving deep into a particular philosopher or philosophical concept, all with great British accents.

The Moth Podcast

“Real life stories, told live with out notes.”  The story equivalent of slam poetry.

Fora.tv – Audio Program of the Week

About as close as you can get to TED talks in an audio format.

Business

Harvard Business IdeaCast

Business for the thinking person.  No hype, no buzz words, no marketing speak.

Gen Y Marketing Podcast

A great take on marketing from the Gen Y perspective.  Gotta love the aussie accents.

Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders

A fantastic weekly lecture series at Stanford