The best ‘boring’ podcasts

I am a big fan of podcasts. According to my phone, I listen to about 14 hours of podcasts per week and an additional 5 to 6 hours of long-form magazine articles via Audm. But funnily enough, I don’t listen to finance-related podcasts. I am busy reading academic papers on the latest research all week, so I use podcasts to focus on politics, history and other hobbies of mine. 

But I am a geek, even when it comes to podcasts. I don’t listen to many popular podcasts but instead have become a fan of some of the lesser-known ones. In fact, I am drawn to what you could call ‘boring’ podcasts. As I mentioned in a previous post, we live in an age of infotainment where information has to be condensed to soundbites and short bits and pieces. In this age, I think reading in-depth articles and books on a subject will give you a competitive advantage as an investor because you get a deeper understanding of the topic at hand and learn about quirky details, that often don’t get mentioned in the more popular articles.

And the same is true for podcasts. There are great podcasts for people interested in politics, science, and history. The best of them manage to be informative and entertaining at the same time. The banter on the FiveThirtyEight Politics Podcast is great, but never supersedes the insights of the team. Similarly, the sound effects and music used by Jad Abumrad in the Radiolab podcast create an immersive experience that can be mesmerising. 

And then there are the podcasts that, on paper, seem like they won’t work, but somehow manage to do anyway. These are podcasts where a small group of experts sit on a table and have an earnest discussion about a topic for one hour. No banter, no soundscapes, not even the incredible storytelling ability of Dan Carlin. Just the power of facts and expertise. 

I know, I am an old man and facts are so 20th century, but what can I do? I still believe that if you want to have a competitive advantage as an investor, a better understanding of politics and history cannot hurt.

So, here are a couple of boring podcasts that you might want to check out:

Talking Politics

Two professors of politics from Cambridge University (David Runciman and Helen Thompson) sit together with a guest expert and discuss the political developments of the day. From Brexit to elections, you get deep insights into how the British political system works, the difficulties of international trade agreements and the like. Focused mostly on the UK but also on US and European politics, these people will give you insights and details about the difficulties of modern politics that you won’t get anywhere else. And in the process of doing so, they show you what kind of BS so-called ‘experts’ try to sell on TV. I cannot tell you how often in the last three years I have been mad at people on TV or other podcasts who were invited as experts on Brexit or the UK constitution and who clearly didn’t know more than the basics on the subject. Especially the US coverage of Brexit and European politics is so abysmally bad that I would recommend every one of my US readers to stop listening or reading any American outlet trying to educate you on what is going on the other side of the pond. Listen to these guys instead. It is miles better than anything else.

KCRW’s Left, Right & Center

The equivalent to Talking Politics in the United States. Josh Barro hosts a panel of a conservative pundit (typically Rich Lowrie from the National Review), a liberal pundit (often Elizabeth Gruenig from the New York Times) and a special guest. Their tagline is the civilized yet provocative antidote to the opinion bubbles on TV and that is exactly what they do. It is a calm discussion between left-wing and right-wing pundits that focuses on facts and goes beyond the headlines and slogans you hear everywhere else. I wish political discourse would be like that all the time. An hour of this show every week and you will not only regain your belief in civility but learn more about US politics than anywhere else.

BBC’s The Forum

I don’t know how it is possible to make a one-hour discussion on history between four academics interesting, but Bridget Kendall and Rajan Datar somehow manage to do this week after week. And unlike the two podcasts I mentioned above, in this case, the experts are often not good at public speaking. Some of them are the typical academics who cannot communicate their expertise to laypeople. But thanks to the surprising angles from which history is discussed in this podcast, it somehow works. The podcast covers topics like Eleanor Roosevelt, The Russian Civil War or the history of Indigo dye. If you like history, this is a must-listen.

Lifetime Achievement Award: BBC World Service

Let’s face it, the coverage of politics and current events is focused on the country you live in and that’s it. US investors often never even hear about developments in Asia or individual European countries because US media only cover US events. Similarly, British media cover mostly British events with a little bit of US politics and European politics mixed in. But if you want to be aware of political developments that are happening under the radar screen of other investors then you need to listen to the BBC World Service. It is the most boring radio station you can think of. They play no music and have almost no entertainment programs. Instead, they focus on news and deep dives on history, science, technology, and business. And because their news programs (in particular Newsday) are syndicated to radio stations in Africa and Asia, their focus is on current events in these regions with events in Europe and the United States mixed in. You cannot get more comprehensive and unbiased coverage of the news than BBC World Service. It is a thousand times better than the regular BBC programs or NPR in the United States. Download the BBC Sounds App on your phone and get access. You won’t regret it.