Congratulations on your podcasts. Seriously.
As a Pennsylvania taxpayer you are, perhaps unwittingly, a megaproducer. Update your resume accordingly.
Publicly paid legislators are jumping on the mic and firing up the pun machines for shows like state Rep. Frank Ryan’s Frankly Speaking and state Sen. Art Haywood’s Ask Art. (Those are just the tip of the iceberg.)
But the Pennsylvania pod-scape runs deep — a veritable ocean of content that, much like Pennsylvania TikTok, clearly favors hauntings, crime, and aliens as fodder, with lots of notable exceptions. Here are a few worth checking out before the bubble bursts. Thanks for listening.
Editor's note: Some of the episodes linked below include profanity.
1. Atlas Obscura
What to expect: This American Life meets a tour of Pennsylvania’s roadside oddities.
Where to start: This episode on Pennsylvania’s Firefly Festival, a gathering of mating fireflies in the Allegheny National Forest that’s become one of the most sought-after tickets in the state. Included in the episode: how the winged stars of the annual light show almost got “burnt out.”
2. Black Tribbles What to expect: Philly’s favorite geeks geeking out about comics, pop culture, and the future. The show signed off in 2021, but not without first attempting to set the world record for longest-ever podcast — 60 hours straight with no more than five consecutive seconds of silence.
Where to start: This episode on everything that went wrong with the bid. 3. Drinking Partners What to expect: Pittsburgh funnymen Day Bracey (you may recognize that name) and Ed Bailey talking about beer, art, and diversity; crowdsourcing shots of Henny; and riffing endlessly.
Where to start: This interview from last month with Necromancer’s head brewer, Lauren Hughes. It’s a dive into “dead styles” of beer with laugh-out-loud detours on student-made wine, motorcycles, and more. 4. Fresh Air What to expect: You’re probably familiar with this Philly-born institution already. It’s arguably the mother sauce that launched a billion podcasts. But have you ever scanned the archive?
Where to start: This interview with award-winning children’s book author and illustrator Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are) in which Sendak, months before his death, reflects on everything. “Live your life, live your life, live your life,” he implored. 5. Ghoul on Ghoul What to expect: A “supernatural sex-positive, horror-comedy podcast featuring first-person encounters with the paranormal." It’s funny and clever because it’s helmed by Pittsburgh City Paper editor Amanda Waltz and “writer, baker, and trouble-maker” Sarah Cadence Hamm.
Where to start: This episode covering the “yassification of rocks,” “earth farts,” and Cary Grant. 6. PA BOOKS on PCN What to expect: Hour-long conversations with authors of books “on Pennsylvania people, history, sports, business, nature, and politics.” The subjects are interesting and the atmosphere of the show is soft-spoken, minimalist, and C-SPAN-like — aka relaxing.
Where to start: This episode with author Jennifer Lin discussing her book Beethoven in Beijing on the Philadelphia Orchestra’s groundbreaking 1973 tour of closed-off China. 7. Small Town Murder What to expect: Two bro-ey comedians talking about true crime. While that may seem incongruous, there is this disclaimer: Jokes aren’t made at the expense of victims but rather bumbling police, old newspaper headlines, local governments, and small-town eccentricities.
Where to start: This episode about a case out of Daugherty Township, Beaver County, that begins with hosts James Pietragallo and Jimmie Whisman riffing on the audacity of Pennsylvania’s width (around the 6:40-mark). 8. The Dollop
What to expect: Two more comics, this time talking about history. The show, helmed by Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds, isn’t always Pennsylvania-centric, but it has covered the forever fire in Centralia and the other side of Pittsburgh magnate Henry Clay Frick.
Where to start: The Frick episode, recorded in front of a live Pittsburgh audience, includes lots of stuff that wasn’t covered on my recent guided tour of Frick’s Pittsburgh mansion.
9. What I Learned From The Amish What to expect: Anabaptist expert and researcher Donald Kraybill discusses lessons gleaned from his decades spent researching and writing about Pennsylvania’s Plain communities.
Where to start: This episode on “Amish Hackers” explores the “fascinating ways that Amish adapt technology to fit Amish values and practices.”
—Colin Deppen, PA Local editor
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