I’m a big podcast listener. Maybe it’s because I do 4 hours of commuting per day, so I get a fair amount of time to listen to them. And there’s never been as much podcast choice for us geeks as there is right now. There is a plethora of geek and retro podcasts out there at the moment. Here are the main ones that I enjoy the most or listen to most regularly. Roughly speaking I’ve put the ones that I listen to the most at the top of the list and the ones I don’t listen to less regularly, for whatever reason, are nearer the bottom of the list. But it’s not in a strict ranking order.
The first two on my list are my go-to podcasts. Weekly podcasts that are ‘appointment listening’. I try to listen to both of them as soon as they come out each Tuesday. They’re both part of the same network and I really can’t pick one over the other so I’ve lumped them together here. The first one is the daddy of the Atomic Geek network, called ‘The Atomic Geeks‘. Three Canadian guys, Digio, Downs and Christian who wax lyrical about all things geeky. Personally I think these guys really do come across like professional entertainers. They’ve all got the gift of the gab, they’re very funny and have great personalities that bounce off each other extremely well. It’s just great fun to listen to them banter with each other while they enjoy a tasty beverage. They actually used to do it as live Google Hangouts which was great fun to watch live as you got to watch all the outtakes as they happened and you could interact via Twitter. Pretty groundbreaking for a podcast I would say. It felt like you were hanging out with a bunch of mates when you could see Downs rock out on his own before the others arrived or you would see the full unedited version of the podcast before some bits might get cut for the final audio version. Unfortunately as I’m in the UK it was always too late for me to watch the Google Hangout regularly, but I think they’ve stopped it anyway now due to the sound quality of Hangouts or something. Although they’ve already being doing the podcast for about 6 or 7 years I really do hope they keep this up for a good few years yet. They’ve already gone down from four presenters to three and I would be very sad if they ever had to call it a day. Their topics are great too. Whether it’s choosing what pop culture heroes you would want on a desert island with you, to reviewing the latest comic and movie offerings, or passionately debating about the latest social media trend, there’s always something here to entertain. If I ever won the lottery I would probably offer them money to setup their own cable show!
For Nerd Lunch I could pretty much repeat everything I’ve said above about The Atomic Geeks. It’s the Ken to the Atomic Geek’s Ryu. They look very similar but have some subtle differences. Three Americans this time, CT, Pax and Jeeg and they have the fantastic feature of inviting a ‘fourth chair’ guest each week to join them on a chosen topic. Their topics are often slightly more serious or drill down more into a specific topic, but they have exactly the same sort of banter, professionalism and ‘podcasters next door’ vibe that the Atomic Geeks have. You just feel like you are listening to a bunch of your friends having a chat about your favourite topics. They all sound like great guys and you really do get to know them through the medium of the podcast. They’ve had some really clever or entertaining episodes too, such as The Trial of M. Night Shyamalan or the Time Travel episode where they released a ‘lost episode’ that had been recorded a year previously. And they have some great drill downs such as the special episode on Run DMC. One of the best bits about the show too is that Fourth Chair Army. It’s a great feature and it’s led to what feels like a really close-knit group of podcasters who all know each other, which gives the show a sense of scale. They’re very welcoming to having other people on the show and I’ve discovered many other great people who I now follow regularly too on social media such as Shawn Robare, Jaime Hood, Michael May, Jay from The Sexy Armpit, the Schlock Treatment guys, Tim Lybarger and many more. I certainly can’t pick my favourite between The Atomic Geeks and Nerd Lunch but I look forward to listening to both every Tuesday. Top notch podcasting. Long may they both continue!
Another podcast in The Atomic Geeks Network. Great in-depth discussions from the retro legends that are Paxton Holley, Shawn Robare and Jamie Hood. Pax and Shawn in particular, in all their podcast guises, together seem to address most of my main interests and retro passions such as 80s cartoons, toys, ephemera, stickers, hip hop, martial arts films, and even running. This particular podcast is great as some classics such as Zapped and Rad are discussed here with wit, in-depth knowledge and just a little bit of V8. I just hope they cover WarGames one day. Not completely cult I know but it’s my all time favourite film and I only know a handful of people who have seen it more than once, which is a travesty. Fingers crossed.
On to retrogaming now. “The UK’s no.1 retrogaming podcast”. This the first UK podcast on my list here too. It’s focussed on retrogaming and covers everything from the 80s and 90s, 8-bit to 64-bit, computers to arcades and everything inbetween. They also have some high quality interviews with big names in the industry such as John Romero, Lorne Lanning, Dino Dini, Kevin Toms and the Oliver Twins. I’m lucky enough to know some the guys that do this podcast now (Dean ‘Swainy’ Swain, Paul ‘Paul’ Davies and also Ally ’The Retrohunter’ Hogg who has now left to focus on his retro business) as most of them live within about a 30 minute drive from me and we occasionally meet up for the odd beer, retro arcade game or car boot sale hunt. They have a large number of hosts from across the UK and this allows them to mix up the presenters and the subject matters every episode to keep things fresh. I particularly loved the 8-bit Wars episode and the incredible 3-part Star Wars episodes where they reviewed every Star Wars game and Paul Driscoll produced an astounding 300 page PDF on all the Star Wars games. This is seriously the best retro gaming podcast in my opinion so make sure you check it out if you have an interest in the UK gaming scene.
Andy Godoy, who originally launched the aforementioned Retro Asylum podcast has now moved on and is producing this cool podcast. Like he says, you feel like you’re listening to your mates chatting about retro games in the pub. Keep up the good work, Andy.
One of the first podcasts I listened. The mysterious, nameless host, only known as ‘The Retroist’ talks in great detail about TV shows, movies and toys. Very educational, very professional, very entertaining. The Retroist is one of the champions of retro on the internet and this podcast is top quality. I love his style. Can’t recommend it enough.
I dip in and out of the Nerdist podcast to be honest. Chris Hardwick gets a bit of a bad rap for being a bad interviewer from some people. Granted, he does talk about himself a lot, but I’m generally ok with that because it’s often relevant and it does make it more like a discussion instead of a straight interview which is how he keeps it relaxed. But what I don’t like is when he has his mates on the show too and they just act immature and say private jokes all the time which alienates the guest and the audience. The best shows are where it is only, or mostly, Chris and the guest talking. And it is the guests that make me listen to the show. I pick and choose which episodes I listen to but he has had some amazing guests on there including Neil Gaiman, Patrick Stewart, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Arnold Schwarzenneger. To his credit Hardwick is actually a really switched on guy and has the ability to empathise with his listeners no matter what they are talking about and extremely quickly come back with very appropriate questions. In that regard he is a very good interviewer indeed. Just a pity he has to keep inviting his friends on. Respect to what he has done building up the Nerdist network though.
Another retrogaming one here. Two Americans and one Brit. Scott, SoCal Mike and UK Mike. These guys are old school gamers and they know a LOT about old arcade machines in particular. Some of their sections are fascinating look backs at machines of old, or extremely informative bits on how to build your own MAME cabinet for example. They are a powerhouse of retrogaming podcasting as their monthly episodes often clock in at over 6 hours. It’s very handy that they timecode the sections as I do often jump around and just listen to the segments that I enjoy such as the Top Ten discussions. They’ve got a great camaraderie and a madcap sense of humour. They quite often attend events even in the UK so I’m looking forward to meeting them one day.
This podcast isn’t really on much any more but if you’re into Masters of the Universe or Princess of Power at all you should definitely check out all the back episodes. Very funny and informative chats between people like Val Staples, Pixel Dan, Eamon O’Donoghue, Emilio Santalucia, Danielle Gelehrter and even some of the Four Horsemen toy makers.
The other main, and original, Masters of the Universe podcast. More He-Man banter this time with John Kallis, Katy Cartee Haile, Josh de Lioncourt and Martin Penny. It’s also not a regular now but there are lots of back episodes to listen to.
Rob O’Hara is one of the backbones of the online retro community in my opinion. He just keeps cropping up on websites or podcasts. Goes to show how respected he is in his field. But I just really like his demeanour and writing style (he’ll probably enjoy hearing that as he’s now doing a creative writing course I believe). His blog is a great read. Very well written, humorous and informative. His podcast is more of the same. And it’s all topics that may sound slightly boring but they get me excited and he is able to really bring them to life. I’m talking about episodes on subjects such as Cassette Tapes, VHS or MUDs. Keep up the great work, Rob.
These guys are crazy, and I love it. Their podcast is great. Like the Atomic Geeks and the Nerd Lunch crew, these guys make it sound like you’re just hanging out with your friends and talking chatting about geeky nostalgia topics. They regularly cover things like He-Man, M.A.S.K. and ThunderCats or talk about 80s movies etc. Great fun every time they record an episode.
Another backbone to the online retro community here. Jason Gross has a fantastic site and although his podcast isn’t as regular as other podcasts I totally love what he has done with the first two mega-episodes. He took a bunch of questions and posed them to several retro people and put all the answers together into a fascinating montage show. I’m sure it’s a lot of work making these but I can’t wait for the next one.
This is one purely for designers. James White is my new favourite retro artist. His work is focussed big-time on the 80s and the various styles that were used back then. Check out his work if you haven’t seen it before. His podcast delves into the process of his design work and is really only for anyone with an interest in design but it’s a fascinating insight into how he works on his 80s-inspired art.
I’ve only recently discovered this podcast as I was searching for ones that focussed more on arcade machines while I’m embarking on building my own MAME cabinet. It’s a great fun podcast run by two guys who seem to know everything there is about arcade machines. Very informative.
Hats off to Carlin Trammel (from the aforementioned Nerd Lunch podcast) and Michael May who have started this podcast where they bring their children onto the show and discuss how they are passing down their retro pop culture to the next generation. A fascinating insight for any parent out there to hear other children’s reactions to franchises such as Back to the Future and Flash Gordon. I often think about what order to show my son the Star Wars films once he is old enough. Or what age he should watch the Terminator films. Now there’s a podcast that helps answer these questions!
Another member of the Atomic Geeks Network. This time with Digio and Andrew Bloom. I pick and choose my episodes here as not all the films tickle my fancy but they do a fantastic job of reviewing or even recasting some great films such as Ghostbusters, Young Frankenstein, Bladerunner etc. I’d love to listen to more episodes but I don’t have time to watch all the films that I haven’t seen yet. One day!
Pixel Dan is a bit of a legend on the internet now, getting recognised at conventions etc, and this podcast is a fun chance for him to unwind and wax lyrical with his friends about the latest marvel movie or a recent pop culture trend. I do pick and choose my episodes but some of them are real humdingers.
Do you have any geeky or retro podcasts you can recommend? Hit me up in the comments.