Ideas for Podcast Subjects
True crime If you haven’t noticed, true crime is all the rage these days. It’s also the perfect topic for a podcast because the freedom of the format allows you to discuss and analyze all the little nuances of each case. Example: Serial, True Crime Garage, Last Podcast on the Left
Slice of life interviews Interview your mailman to see what their job is like, reach out to an old teacher to see how education has changed, or even interview your mom to see how her perspective on life has changed over the years. Example: Beautiful Stories From Anonymous People
Casual comedy conversation Get a couple of funny friends together and just let the good times roll! You could have different guests each week or just use the podcast as an excuse to keep hanging out with your best friends. Example: RIP Jordan Jensen, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, Why Won't You Date Me? with Nicole Byer
DIY tutorials If you’ve got a passion for home improvement or personal projects, you could host a podcast where you go over a project you’re working on. Alternatively, you might host a podcast where you go over a different kind of project each week, including how to do it or why someone might be interested in learning the skills it takes. Example: Around the House Home Improvement
Self-improvement If you’re passionate about becoming the best possible version of yourself, you might share your journey with listeners. Or, you might share a new strategy or mindfulness technique each week. Example: How to Be a Better Human, The Happiness Lab
Technology news If you’re a techie, you could run a show where you’re covering breaking news in technology every week. You might focus on big, breaking scientific stuff, or focus on smaller tech events, like new iPhones or GPUs. Example: The WAN Show
Product reviews It can be a little pricey to start since you’ll have to buy each product, but eventually you should be able to get companies to send you their stuff for review without paying anything. Either way, you might review consumer goods, games, household tools, or whatever else you’re interested in! Example: The Wirecutter Show
Relationship issues You might share a different lesson you’ve learned each episode, or take questions from listeners regarding relationship issues in their life that they might need help with. Example: Stavvy’s World, Savage Lovecast, Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel
Life advice Explore a new life lesson every week, or interview people and ask them what they’ve learned over the course of their life. Your listeners will love hearing different perspectives on how to deal with relatable, everyday life issues, or how to have a good life, generally (whatever that means!). Example: Solved with Mark Manson, On Being with Krista Tippett
Fashion and beauty Are you serious when it comes to how you look? If so, share your secrets with the world! You could look at breaking fashion trends, review popular looks, or share insight on how to use makeup to craft the perfect look. Example: Fat Mascara, The Wardrobe Crisis
Physical health Are you a fitness junkie? Why not cover a new workout or fitness strategy every episode? If you’re into nutrition, you could break down different nutrients or diets. Perhaps you’re not fit at all but need an excuse to get motivated and improve yourself. Why not use a podcast to document your journey? Example: The Dr. Shannon Show, Arnold’s Pump Club
Politics You couldn’t pick a more interesting time to get into the political discourse. You could cover things from a news angle, or bring on guests or a co-host to debate current affairs. Example: NPR Politics Podcast, Best of the Left, Citations Needed
Survival and prepping There’s a huge community of people out there who are constantly thinking about what they can do to survive if the worst happens. If you’ve always thought it might be a good idea to prepare for the future, you could document your journey now! Example: The Casual Preppers Podcast,
Literature Whether it’s book reviews, roundtable discussions covering classic books, or casual writing craft convos, there’s always a rich audience out there for literary conversations. Example: Book Fight, Between the Covers, Ode & Psyche
Therapy There is no replacement for actual therapy with a qualified professional. That said, there’s nothing wrong with talking about a therapeutic journey or discussing the ins and outs of what goes into psychological health and wellbeing. Example: Therapy Gecko, The Thoughtful Counselor
Short stories If you’re a writer, there’s no reason you can’t use a podcast to express yourself and get your work out there! Just hop on the microphone and share the tales you’ve crafted. Example: LeVar Burton Reads, Welcome to Night Vale, Spire
Local news There are tons of podcasts out there that cover national or global news, but there probably aren’t very many podcasts that cover your local news and current events. Not only is this a great way to capture an untapped audience, but it’s a great way to provide an important community service. Example: The Rundown, City Cast Pittsburgh
Entrepreneurship If you’re passionate about business, you’re working at a startup, or you’re interested in interviewing successful business people, why not create a podcast where you cover it? Example: The Diary of a CEO, How I Built This
Pop culture & gossip Celebrity news and pop culture stuff gets a bad wrap. It’s fun! It’s entertaining! You could cover breaking news, debate which celebrity couples are actually going to make it, or speculate on who a specific movie star is going to fall in love with next. Example: The Watch, Pop Culture Happy Hour, The Polyester Podcast
Nerd culture You could dedicate an entire podcast to Marvel films, DC comics, Magic: the Gathering, superheroes, Funko Pops, or all of it! There’s no shortage of interest out there in the nerdy and geeky, so if you’re into it, why not share your passion with others? Example: Geek History Lesson, Comic Geek Speak
Gaming You might cover news in the gaming industry, spend each episode covering a game you love and what makes it special, or review new games as they come out. Example: Nextlander, Retronauts
Sociology There are so many different angles you could take this. You might look at current events through a more sociological framework (i.e. “What does this news story say about the way people think?”) or discuss the various theories of human behavior that might elucidate why life is the way it is. Example: The Social Breakdown, Thinking Allowed, Sounds Like a Cult
Alternative lifestyles Do you live on a boat? Do you work on an oil rig where you’re away from home (and land) for months at a time? Do you spend every weekend volunteering at a soup kitchen? People would absolutely love to hear about your experiences! Example: Soft White Underbelly
Ghosts There is no shortage of ghost stories out there. You could spend each episode sharing a new, creepy tale, or try and disprove the famous ghost events of the past. If you want to get wild with it, you might even start a ghost-hunting podcast! Example: Introducing Haunted, The NoSleep Podcast
Movies and TV If you want to specialize, you could even host a podcast where you show someone your favorite films or shows for the first time, or review classic films for the first time. Example: The Film Vault, Filmspotting, You Are Good, Gilmore Guys
Summaries Are you looking for a podcast that serves a public good? You could summarize other complex topics for people! Start a “5-minute news” podcast where you cover all of the breaking stories, or summarize complex scientific topics for younger readers. Example: Extra History, NPR News Now
ASMR Okay, so it’s not podcasting in a traditional sense, but ASMR is a fun way to get engaged in a niche culture! Example: ASMR by GentleWhispering
Sports Do you know more about the Dallas Cowboys than anyone else under the sun? Are you a giant baseball fan who never misses a game? Why not cover the sports you’re passionate about in a podcasting format? Example: All The Smoke, The Bill Simmons Podcast
Travel This can be a challenging topic because it requires a lot of traveling as a prerequisite, but if you’ve got the time and money to travel a lot, documenting your travels in a podcast can be great fun. Example: Zero to Travel, Amateur Traveling, The Thoughtful Travel
Religion If you’re a religious person, you could cover specific topics, debates, and historical events specific to your religion. Alternatively, if you’re not religious but you’re a spiritual person, you might spend each episode exploring your relationship with your beliefs and journey. Example: The Astrology Podcast, Buddhist Geeks, Turning to the Mystics
Cooking It’s tough because it’s so visual, but you could potentially do a “recipe per week” thing, or do a video podcast where you share how you’re preparing and cooking a specific dish. You might even get super local and do a podcast where you review local eateries. Example: Gastropod, The Sporkful
History If you’re a history buff, podcasts are an excellent format for long-form and in-depth conversation. Alternatively, you could interview people who are experts in particular periods and just ask them questions about their period of study. Example: The Ask Historians Podcast, The Rest Is History
Meditation If you’re trying to be a more thoughtful, mindful person, why not start a podcast where you cover your experience starting out in meditation? If you’re a seasoned pro, you could even make your own guided meditations. Example: Mindful in Minutes Meditation
Animal care If you know something about raising and training dogs, caring for cats, managing an aquarium, or maintaining a farm, people would love to hear about your experience and guidance. Example: No Bad Dogs Podcast, This Podcast Has Fleas
Photography Unlike painting or poetry, there actually aren’t that many podcasts out there about photography and the language of images. If you’re fond of photography, consider making a podcast where you share your love of the art! Example: The Beginner Photography Podcast
Art appreciation Speaking of painting and poetry, a podcast is the perfect format for analysis, appreciation, and reviews. Tackle whatever artistic medium you appreciate the most and then focus on that. Example: Talk Art, The Modern Art Notes Podcast
Mysteries Life on Earth is already complicated enough. Why not spend some of your energy solving some of those complications by covering famous mysteries? From UFOs to unexplained phenomena and medical mysteries, there are so many different areas to explore! Example: Unsolved Mysteries, Unexplained, Coast to Coast with Art Bell
Philosophy If you’re well-read in philosophy, you could craft a podcast where you break down complex philosophical theories and explain them. Alternatively, you could sit down with another philosophy fan and debate which ideas hold merit or not. Example: The Partially Examined Life, Philosophize This!
Finance Stocks, bonds, cryptocurrency, credit swaps, IRAs, what is all of this stuff? How do you actually turn money into more money? How much do you actually need to retire comfortably? If you have the answers to any of these questions, people will want to hear from you. Example: Excess Returns, Planet Money
Science Could you be the next Neil deGrasse Tyson? If you (or a co-host!) know anything about the sciences, you could host a podcast exploring all of the wild scientific facts and theories in your field of choice. Example: Startalk
Ideas for Podcast Formats
New project every week Pick a single thing to build, make, or work on for each episode. Then, next time, spend half of the episode sharing how it went, and the other half of the episode explaining what you’re going to tackle next. This is a fun way to keep yourself motivated and engaged, too.
Share something you wrote Want to push yourself creatively? Every week, review something you’ve written and share it with the audience. Alternatively, you could take a large piece that you’ve constructed and spend large arcs of the podcast sharing the work, explaining what you’ll edit, and commenting on your work.
What you’re learning this week Explore new ideas with a cohost or guest who knows something about what you’re trying to educate yourself on. Alternatively, you could just document your journey as you dedicate yourself to a new skill, idea, or talent each week.
Panel hosting Provide an open invitation to have audience members on to discuss various controversial topics, questions, or political issues. The freewheeling nature of panels and the fact that anyone can join would ensure your audience sticks around.
Listener Q&A Collecting questions from the audience every week and answering them on your show will help maintain a steady stream of content. You won’t have to work nearly as hard to come up with fresh ideas for each episode if your audience is helping you generate all of your content!
Debates Debate content these days is mostly political, but honestly, you could make it big running a podcast debating sports topics, whether hot dogs are sandwiches, or which city in the Midwest is the best. You could host the debates or bring on different challengers every episode. Example: Open to Debate
Behind-the-scenes stories If you’re doing an industry-specific podcast or you’re documenting anything pertaining to your life, you could share something every week that the audience wouldn’t be privy to. This kind of content can keep listeners coming back over time.
New character every week If you’re doing a comedic podcast and you enjoy acting and doing accents, you might invent a new character to play on the show each episode.
Two truths and a lie Two truths and a lie is a simple and fun game that you can play with guests or audience members. It’s a great way to fill in a few minutes of an episode, or as an icebreaker for guests who come onto your podcast. Example: Two Truths Pods
Revisit the classics If you’re doing a podcast focused on a particular type of content, like movies, music, theatre, or some other media, you could have a segment (or frame the show) around looking at key or notable works in the field you’re covering.
Myth-busting People love learning what’s actually true, so if you’re interested in deep dives and research, a myth-busting podcast can be a lot of fun. You could also do a myth-busting segment if you prefer, or dedicate one episode a month to myth-busting. Example: You're Wrong About
Genre swapping True crime comedy podcast? A debate show about your personal choices in life? A show about relationships seen through the lens of politics? There are so many different interesting combinations out there!
First time trying something Every episode, you could spend 10 minutes sharing something brand new you’ve tried since the last episode. Alternatively, you could make an entire podcast dedicated to following your journey as you learn new stuff!
Investigative reporting in real time Everybody loves consuming the final product of research, but it’s rare that people actually get to see or hear about what that research process is like. An in-depth live look at how you actually go about learning something in real time could really be a fascinating community service.
Recording outdoors Nobody said that your podcast had to be recorded in a boring old indoor studio! Take your recording equipment outdoors and do your interviews, episodes, or debates outside. You could even make the location a big part of your production and podcast’s identity!
Awkward interviews Interviews are fun, but awkward interviews are honestly a different breed of special. Basically, you play a little mini-game with the guest where you try to elicit strange reactions from your guest by asking questions that are just slightly off-kilter. It’s a fun format, and audiences seem to really love it. Examples: The Adam Friedland Show, Chicken Shop Date
Weird dreams of the week This is probably more of a segment idea than an entire format, but “weird dream of the week” is a kind of fun little element you could add to keep the content fresh and interesting. Who knows, you might even end up uncovering some hidden truth about yourself by analyzing your dreams with some regularity.
Critical analysis If you’re doing any kind of media-related podcast, picking a work to examine each episode is a fun way to sharpen your critical muscles while providing some interesting content for listeners. Example: Todd in the Shadows
Diary of a podcaster People who are into podcasts are also generally interested in what goes into podcasting. You could create a companion show that comments on the behind-the-scenes stuff of your main podcast, or add a segment where you dedicate a small chunk of each episode to opening the curtains and covering what went into each episode.
Weird Ideas for Podcasts
Hostage interview Explain to your guest that the show requires being locked in a room for recording. Get them to sign a waiver. Really make a show out of it. Then, when the podcast starts, let the tension and weird vibes carry through the interview. For bonus points, you can even have an assistant make weird noises outside the recording room, or turn the heat on to really make the guest uncomfortable. (Of course, your guest shouldn't really be held hostage and should be able to come and go freely—but your audience doesn't need to know that.)
Experimental audio talks Throw on the sound of a thunderstorm, a metronome, or a recording of people talking in the background while you record. See how the audio interference influences the way you record, think, or produce. What you’ll be left with is a strange experiment in how ambient noise drives the way you think.
Re-reading someone’s work Nobody said you have to make a podcast based on original work. Grab a famous book or pick up your friend’s novel draft and start recording! You could even add commentary while you share, or tack on some vibrant review content at the end of each episode.
Real-time prank This one involves enlisting willing friends (it’s not safe or respectful to prank strangers), but a podcast where you record yourself setting up and executing elaborate pranks could be a lot of fun.
Imaginary guest Invent a fake guest and record yourself talking to them. We mean “fake” here literally. There’s no actual guest. It’s just you talking to yourself in different voices—or talking to nobody, leaving listeners to fill in the blanks. The final product is a wacky and strange journey through an odd podcaster’s imagination.
Deep dive into the mundane Spend an hour discussing bottle caps. Interview someone about milk. Pick a random object on your desk and explore the origins of its nature for an entire episode. Weird? Yes. Interesting? Definitely. Example: How to with John Wilson (technically a TV show, but it captures the spirit of this idea!)
Pointless old media analysis Pick a weird, obscure genre of old movies, music, cartoons, or whatever, and just treat it like you’re analyzing The Iliad. Share the work with the audience and then perform some profound analysis as if you’re doing some very important work—and who's to say you're not? Example: Found Footage Fest’s VCR Party Live
Out of context interview Record a normal interview with anyone you’d like. Then, cut the interview up in post. Use your recording software to edit the interview so that it no longer makes sense. See if you can create fresh, weird interactions that sound like they happened in some kind of David Lynch-esque bizarro world.
Bad theories explained Pick a conspiracy theory, a bunk scientific idea, or an outright ridiculous claim. Then, spend the podcast discussing and “explaining” the merits of the idea. If you want to get even goofier, you can just straight up pretend the content is actually true.
Trolling the powerful Pick a powerful person. It could be a celebrity, a politician, whatever. Then, spend the episode assessing their career and discussing whether they’d theoretically deserve being trolled or not. If they do deserve it in your eyes, come up with a fictional plan on how you’d (safely and legally) mess with them most efficiently.
Guest picks the format If you’re the kind of person who gets really bored by doing the same thing over and over, you could have a podcast where you literally let the guest run the show. You could have a bunch of different formats and segments and allow your guest to pick and choose, or you could even have a Jeopardy-style wheel where the guest spins it before starting the show.
How to create a cult Come up with a specific idea for a cult. Then, each episode, have someone new on your show and try to convince them to join your cult. If they join, they get to hop on the next show with you to try and convince someone else. You could either run the show so that you’ve eventually got a hilarious, weird show where 10+ people try to evangelize a goofy cult idea, or a running social experiment where you see how elaborate and silly the cult’s belief system can get.
Front to back You could host an interview podcast where you ask super-specific, intimate questions first, then slowly work your way backwards until you’re ending the show with the basic, introductory questions. Alternatively, you could record an entire podcast and then release the episodes in reverse order for a unique listening experience.
I just woke up You could schedule the podcast to record as soon as you wake up, and drink a cup of coffee on air to see how you move from kind of sleepy and “off” to more coherent. Alternatively, you might host a show entirely about what dreams you did (or did not) have over the course of the night.
Fake radio show Invent a world and create a fictional radio program that would belong in this world. What kind of ads would you air? What kind of music might play in the background? Get as weird and creative as you possibly can! Example: Hell Gate City
Show designed for sleep What would happen if you tried to make the most boring, sleep-inducing podcast of all time? Call it “The Insomnia Cure” or something like that! Every episode, do your best to cover the dullest, sleepiest material of all time.
The SCP is real SCPs are fictional monsters, creatures, and unexplainable phenomena that serve as the subjects of a massive, shared creative writing project. But what if a given SCP were real? Would it destroy the world? What would happen? You could pick a random SCP every episode, or work your way from SCP-001 forward. Example: SCP Archives
The misfit hour You could interview the weirdest people you know just to see what makes them tick, or hit the streets with a mobile mic and try to interview the most interesting people you come across.
Cryptid hunting A cryptid is a fictional creature that is reportedly said to exist (like Sasquatch, or the Chupacabra). You can pick a new cryptid each week and try to analyze or study where the cryptid came from. Alternatively, you could pick one cryptid for each “season” you record and go out to literally hunt it down and see what you can find.
An uncomfortable podcast Who said podcasts have to be good? You could literally try to make a bad podcast that would be uncomfortable to listen to. Like…an anti-podcast for listeners who want to test their patience.
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