The year is nearly half over, and, yes, there is another recent season’s worth of new podcasts to tap into. Spring featured a number of new releases and the return of some popular shows. Here are a few of the best springtime podcasts to catch up on as we leave the season behind.
Frozen Files (Independent)
True crime podcasts remain a popular podcast genre, with new ones cropping up often. Madison McGhee’s Frozen Files takes on unsolved crimes, with a weekly deep dive into overlooked cold cases. The show is “already a hit with listeners,” Podcast Review said. “The format is clear, the mission admirable.” The host doesn’t just “examine the facts behind failed investigations.” She questions “why cases remain cold and whether systems have failed these victims.” (Spotify, Apple Podcasts)
Raven (Drum and Monkey Media)
True crime and the arts collide in this narrative podcast from host Gavin Whitehead. The series is “part character study, part investigation” and tells the “tale of Raven Chanticleer, founder and owner of the African American Wax Museum in Harlem,” said The Guardian. The show’s focus “flits between Chanticleer’s wild life story” and the “whereabouts of the waxworks which disappeared after his death in 2002, all of which is full of entertaining detail.” (Spotify, Apple Podcasts)
Saigon (iHeartPodcasts, Thoroughbred Studios and Goldhawk Productions)
The new fiction podcast Saigon is a must-listen if you are looking for strong emotional storytelling. The eight-part series, adapted from the bestselling novel of the same name by Anthony Grey, stars “Star Wars” actress Kelly Marie Tran and “Supernatural” actor Rob Benedict.
The pair comes together to tell this “epic story that spans four decades of Vietnamese history,” said Podcast Review. The characters are “entangled in a tale of love and betrayal,” set against the backdrop of “WWII, Japanese occupation, the rise of Vietnamese nationalism and America’s war in Vietnam.” Personal family experience drew Tran to narrate “Saigon,” a story about “family, distance and the ties that endure across generations,” she said, per Variety. “I see my parents as heroes, much like the people you’ll meet in this drama.” (iHeart Media, Spotify, Apple Podcasts)
Stories from a Stranger (Higher Ground)
The content-creator-to-podcaster pipeline doesn’t always deliver the best shows, but Hunter Prosper’s Stories from a Stranger stands out. Prosper, a former nurse, first went viral on TikTok, interviewing strangers during the Covid pandemic. He followed that with a bestselling book chronicling his street interviews. The podcast is a “decidedly earnest brand extension, featuring polished chats with unusually candid folk,” said The Guardian.
His first episode centers on three love stories, including “one from sprightly 96-year-old Sally.” Higher Ground, the media company founded by former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, launched the show this spring. Prosper has a “remarkable gift for creating space where people feel safe enough to share the moments that shaped them,” Higher Ground’s Dan Fierman said, per The Hollywood Reporter. (Spotify, Apple Podcasts)
We Regret to Inform You: The Rejection Podcast (Apostrophe Podcast Network)
If you are looking for tools to fight imposter syndrome, this podcast is here to assist. For those “plagued with people-pleasing tendencies” or “afraid to start a creative project due to crippling perfectionism,” We Reject to Inform You delivers lessons about rejection from some of the greatest writers, actors and entrepreneurs, said Podcast Review. The seventh season premiered this spring with an episode dedicated to Joan Jett and George R.R. Martin. (Spotify, Apple Podcasts)
This season, true crime, rejection exposure therapy and a fictional tale of Vietnam rule the earbud roost
