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I just finished listening to the latest episode of The Unresolved and that's renewed my interest in finding a UFO-focused paranormal podcast. I went through the recommendations early in the thread (a couple years out of date at this point), and didn't care for what I found, so I'm hoping that there's something new that folks haven't posted. Most of the podcasts I've found seem to be trying to follow the Coast to Coast AM format, where each episode features some combination of interviews with authors/personalities and a rundown of the last week/two weeks/month in paranormal news, all of which is presented with absolute credulity beyond maybe "we can't know for sure, but look at how many reports were getting, so maybe there's something there...". I get that there's a specific audience that they're playing to with that format, but it's just not for me. I'd like to think that there's a middle ground between wide-eyed true believer and insufferably smug skeptic, to say nothing of the lack of focus and really poor interviewing skills. The couple that I've found where individual episodes are centered around a specific topic are done via the unscripted "let's banter about this" format, where the hosts aimlessly ramble around the topic, go through multiple digressions (which are mostly uninteresting and only sometimes related), and maybe, if the stars align, make an interesting point along the way, all while talking about themselves as much as possible. I understand that that is a popular format, and I get why people like it, but it's not for me. No matter how good the chemistry is between the hosts, the more they stay in the background, the better, as far as I'm concerned. I guess I'm asking for a UFO version of Lore, one where the host seems genuinely interested in getting to the bottom of whatever actually happened, and so sprinkles in just enough skepticism to keep me from going "come on, seriously?" while telling a decent story. I grew up watching Robert Stack on Unsolved Mysteries every Wednesday and checking out breathlessly uncritical books from the local library about UFOs, and there's something that is both fascinating and creepy about it, and I'd like something that explores that. Does any such thing exist?
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Feb 20, 2017 07:18
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LizzieBorden posted:Have you tried Mysterious Universe? It's definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but you might like it.
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Feb 22, 2017 07:25
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Fly Ricky posted:Have you tried Open Minds? It's completely UFO focused. The host falls squarely on the believer side, but he's very fair in terms of finding scientific explanations where applicable. This was the one that I found that was closest to what I wanted, but I just couldn't get past the interviews. I think the problem on that is more with me than with them, as they weren't any better or worse at interviews than a lot of other podcasts that I've tried. The problem that I have is that doing interviews well is a skill and, well, most of the people who try to do interviews just aren't any good at it. I'm not sure what it is, but I can way more easily forgive a narrator who does bad things (think Aaron Mahnke's Shatnerian dramatic pauses) or who just straight up sounds like an amateur than I do an interviewer who interjects themselves too much or steps on an interviewee's story. I think this has confirmed what I suspected to be true, that what I'm looking for doesn't exist. Guy Mann posted:You know, I'm glad that Patreon exists and gives people a way of supporting themselves off of their podcast without having to shill for endless internet subscription services but it's tragic how many podcasts have shot themselves in the foot like this by putting up a paywall on their old content. It seems like all it does is drive away potential new listeners while also not really providing anything new to the existing listeners that are actually supporting you. Yeah, the ones that do it right give bonus content to people who donate, but I've run across a couple of other podcasts that lock up all but the most recent episodes and I'll agree that it's a bizarre business choice. I suspect that it works well for niche shows with a rabid, but small, fanbase who aggressively recruits new listeners, but I think you're right that it's a short-term money grab that I can't see as being anything but harmful in the long run.
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Feb 22, 2017 16:22
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Takes No Damage posted:Any recommendations for a general podcast management app for phones and tablets? Right now I'm using Podbay, and while it seems to be able to find all the different shows I listen to it has some pretty serious limitations. First, it doesn't keep track of what episodes I've already listened to so I just have to remember what show I'm on for each cast which sucks. It's also pretty unstable, crashes about every other time I put my device to sleep.
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Feb 27, 2017 01:55
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Antti posted:It was kinda funny when I realized I listen exclusively to American podcasts and therefore can't ever even buy any of the things that are being advertised on them. Unless you're cranking out hours of content each week like a terrestrial radio show, it's hard to see how advertisers could ever be anything other than supplemental income. Not necessarily a bad thing if the podcast is a side gig, but the Patreon route offers the chance of it turning into a full time thing for non-daily podcasts. On a content note, I just started listening to Casefile and it's definitely scratching that true crime itch.
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Mar 30, 2017 01:06
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RenegadeStyle1 posted:So I caught up with Sword and Scale after quitting last year. It seems that Mike has changed his opinions on the whole "all mentally ill are monsters" thing a little. Could you elaborate? I tried it and he was basically doing the "schizophrenics are all ticking time bombs waiting to murder you and everyone you love because they're monsters" bit from the start and it just came across as really bad editorializing from someone who really didn't understand mental illness, and it marred what was otherwise pretty decent storytelling. Given that a lot of people said that he pretty much went straight off his rocker later on and I couldn't get past it from the start, I'm curious what you mean.
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May 12, 2017 02:49
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I couldn't find it via Podcast Addict's search function either. As far as I'm aware, SoundCloud is basically it's own independent thing and it'd need to be put up on Stitcher or Libsyn or something similar to be found. Not sure why he's not doing that.
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Jul 10, 2017 22:30
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Guy Mann posted:Speak for yourself, I always listen chronologically so I don't miss out on all the running jokes and callbacks. Plus now that people have taken to putting older episodes behind paywalls as time goes on I'd rather get those out of the way first just in case. It's the divide between podcasts that put out hours of content each week vs. ones that release less than an hour and do so every couple weeks. I prefer shorter, less frequent, but higher quality updates but I get that the economics of it mean that, if you want to make a living doing it, you've gotta churn out hours per week of content. On those frequent update podcasts, no one's really gonna try to power through their back catalog, and those seem to be the most popular kind of podcast. That said, I always start at the beginning, but if the first episode is bad and it's not narrative, I'll pick a recent episode to see if it's worth at least cherry picking good episodes. A good example of this, for me at least, is Astonishing Legends, which is great but their first dozen or so episodes are...just not that good, and they were clearly figuring out a lot as they went along, but after that, they're easily the most entertaining of the "paranormal" podcasts that I've found. My rule with podcasts is that they get one and a half episodes to hook me. If they're narrative, I'll power through the first episode no matter what and start the second episode, and if it hasn't given me a reason to stick around by then, I'm done, same process for non-narrative ones. The few times I've ignored the rule because someone said "OMG you just HAVE to keep going, it gets good I promise", I can say without exception that it really does not. Not saying things need to be great out of the gate or even have good production values, but if the performances stink and the writing is bad or the hosts annoying or they try to be funny and fail repeatedly, that's not something that's gonna change all that much. It's probably my general dislike for "2-3 people banter aimlessly with each other about some topic" podcasts where it's literally just listening to people trying way too hard to be funny or interesting until it just gets a bit sad, but that's how I view it.
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Aug 30, 2017 01:59
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Pocky In My Pocket posted:Unrelatedly - whats a good podcast app for android?
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Sep 6, 2017 21:45
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Sidestep posted:I will second this. Has been a solid app for me. The only downside is getting it to shut down properly. Oftentimes I have to force stop it, otherwise it just sits in the background hogging battery juice. The power monitor on my G7 says it eats way more than it's fair share of battery if you don't make sure it shuts down.
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Sep 7, 2017 02:52
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Yeah, if you're gonna do a debate podcast between a christian and an atheist, you may as well start with theodicy and free will, then probably the creation of the universe, because that's pretty much what most of the other questions will circle back to eventually. That said, if the christian podcaster doesn't hew to a particular solution to the problem of evil and also have a corresponding theological position on free will/predestination, it's kinda hard to see how anything interesting is going to come of the debate since those are the building blocks of Christian apologetics and if they can't at least advance a coherent position, they're really not in a place where they're going to be able to debate in any kind of a meaningful way. Not saying that a discussion between a christian and an atheist couldn't be the basis for an interesting podcast, just that it isn't going to be a debate unless both sides are at least reasonably equipped to actually debate.
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Sep 13, 2017 03:37
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Song For The Deaf posted:They’re talking to small businesses. There must be some data out there that people who listen to podcasts disproportionately either run a small business or have a side hustle that they hope to turn into a small business because it seems like half the ads I hear on podcasts, regardless of genre, target that particular demographic.
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Oct 19, 2017 14:55
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I had a problem similar with Podcast Addict that was resolved by clearing out the app cache and then manually deleting everything but the podcast files themselves. Something must have gone wrong with a download and got some bad files stuck. I don't know that it was specific to a particular network, but it seems like a good place to start.
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Nov 7, 2017 02:47
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For nonfiction, I'd recommend Pleasing Terrors. It scratches the same itch as lore, but has its own unique voice and storytelling style. For fiction, I'll make a list: A Scottish Podcast - A former DJ seeks to become a paranormal podcaster and encounters the paranormal. Archive 81 - "A podcast about horror, cities, and the subconscious". Limetown - A Serial-style podcast that seeks to figure out what's behind the mysterious disappearance of all the inhabitants of Limetown. Mabel - A podcast about ghosts, family secrets, strange houses, and missed connections. Tanis - Explores the mystery of "Tanis", the last true mystery of the internet age. Sayer - Sci-fi podcast about an AI named Sayer, who speaks directly to the listener. Told in the second person. The Alexandria Archives - A late night radio show from a university where paranormal/weird stuff happens. I'm only a few episodes in, but it's quite good so far. May best be described as the premise of Welcome to Night Vale played absolutely straight. The White Vault - Found footage documentary telling the story of an ill-fated expedition to repair a remote station on Svalbard. Tribulation - On a deserted stretch of highway, a couple stumbles on a faint radio broadcast at the end of the AM dial. What sounds like your average radio sermon reveals itself to be something far more sinister.
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Nov 30, 2017 22:23
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Scionix posted:is there a good podcast about conspiracy theories/cults/paranormal that isn't from true believers that are trying to sell me brain supplements Astonishing Legends and Not Alone for more "serious" takes and What If? for comedy.
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Feb 4, 2018 11:37
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GoingPostal posted:For Android? (Sorry, I forgot that part.) Definitely go for Podcast Addict. Been using it for a couple years and it's great.
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Feb 4, 2018 11:38
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Guy Mann posted:I guess that makes sense, but it must make it that much more soul-crushing to see someone like the McElroys living comfortably as home owners in cheap cheap West Virginia on top of successfully working in traditional media like journalism and theater. A 2,000 sq ft, 4 bedroom house can be had where I live in MN for under $100k with small houses starting around $25k. There was a place in Michigan that was literally giving houses away to artists if they move there. Legit surprised more podcasters and other artists don't move out to flyover country.
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Apr 12, 2018 16:37
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I have been using Podcast Addict for years and it's great.
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Apr 20, 2018 13:19
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Guy Goodbody posted:I tried that one, it has animated banner ads.
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Apr 20, 2018 13:25
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Season 4 is going on now and I'm really enjoying it.
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Apr 24, 2018 15:18
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In The Dark by APM is about the Jacob Wetterling case. It's from 2016 though, so you might have already listened.
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Apr 26, 2018 15:57
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There's a good new podcast called Swindled that talks about a new case with each episode, so it isn't telling one story, but there's 10 episodes, they release regularly, are all 30-45 minutes, and the host is a good storyteller. Also, I'm guessing you have heard of Someone Knows Something from the CBC. But check it out if you haven't.
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Apr 26, 2018 18:03
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Guy Mann posted:Do you think they just made the whole thing up? A successful international criminal sting on con artists with dozens of confirmed victims seems like a really weird thing to Well, Actually about. The general policy across carriers is that this is the kind of thing that they're happy to reverse exactly one time. I could see a phone company fighting it if the person had a history of trying to get stuff like that reversed. That doesn't necessarily mean they didn't get conned, just that their carrier decided that they had hit their limit on mulligans.
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May 18, 2018 22:01
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There's other good true crime podcasts but I have yet to find one that is episodic like Casefile other than Swindled. I would recommend these: Death in Ice Valley - 10 part series about the Isdal Woman. They don't come to any conclusion about who she was, but they do a good job going over all the evidence and did some DNA and tooth isotope testing that hadn't been done before. Heaven's Gate - 10 part series about, shockingly, Heaven's Gate. Goes deep into the history of the group, and is given an interesting perspective by host Glynn Washington, who grew up in the Worldwide Church of God, a millenarian cult himself. In The Dark - Season 1 is a 9 part series about the Jacob Wetterling case. I grew up in a small Minnesota town, and was only a little younger than Jacob, and so I vividly remember much of this as it happened. Was infuriating to hear about just how mismanaged the investigation was. Haven't listened to season 2, but I hear it is good. Swindled - Episodic series, 15 episodes so far, about "embezzlements, corruption, fraud, con men, and ponzi schemes". The Wonderland Murders - Ongoing series, 6 episodes so far, about the Wonderland Murders, a technically unsolved multiple homicide involving a drug gang, a drug kingpin, and legendary porn star John Holmes.
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Jun 18, 2018 21:08
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Red_Fred posted:I recommend Death in Ice Valley a ways back but I felt like it really dropped the ball pretty soon into it. Just felt like a huge amount of filler and speculation. Still like the style. Yeah, it was a bit longer than it needed to be, but it kinda felt like they were trying to be...I dunno what to call it...the podcast of record for the case? Like, they were going to bring up any theory that was at least plausible, even if there was no evidence just to have it out in the open. Towards the end, they settled on the idea that she was involved in intelligence work and then set about trying to figure out on whose behalf she was working. The results of the isotope analysis, age estimation, and haplogroup testing were, if nothing else, worth the listen. And aside from taking her DNA profile and trying to match relatives via commercial databases like the cops did with the Original Night Stalker / East Area Rapist, it feels like there's not much else that could possibly be done, at least with current technology. As a full exploration of the case, likely the last that will be done before she passes from living memory, I felt it did a good job.
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Jun 19, 2018 01:47
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Is there a particular episode of LPotL that is a good starting point, like "if you don't like this, the show just isn't for you"?
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Jun 26, 2018 17:26
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Cool, appreciate the recommendations. I tried one or two before because I thought the topic was interesting, but none of what I tried are on the list. I will give it another shot.
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Jun 27, 2018 01:17
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At the suggestion of John David Booter, and others, I downloaded Done Disappeared by John David Booter and I must say that this is the finest work I've seen from John David Booter yet. It was quite funny and hit a lot of the same notes as This Sounds Serious (not by John David Booter), but is definitely it's own unique thing. This post brought to you by Hello Fresh
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Jul 24, 2018 20:53
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Cryptonaut is fun for crazy cryptid stuff. Not Alone is good for general paranormal stuff and has a skeptic and a believer going back and forth. What If? is good for making fun of paranormal stuff, but without going full debunking.
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Aug 10, 2018 02:05
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It depends how true believer you want to get. George Noory of Coast to Coast AM fame does a podcast called Beyond Belief. He's been CHUD-adjacent for a long time, so I don't listen but he's still doing his thing and is definitely the spiritual successor to Coast to Coast AM. Whitley Strieber has a podcast called Dreamland and it's what you'd expect from the author of Communion. The hosts of Mysterious Universe and Open Minds definitely fall on the side of true believers, though there is at least occasional skepticism sprinkled on top of a heaping helping of credulity. Most of the woo woo from those comes from a variety of guests who present a whole lot of crazy stuff with little challenge. I've tried all those and while they're not my thing, they're the stuff I know about that probably falls closest to the request. The ones I listen to that aren't skeptical tend to fall towards the hosts believing that something is happening, but without taking a position on exactly what is happening. Of those, here is what I would recommend: Astonishing Legends - Scott and Forrest are definitely true believers, but when they tackle a topic, it is exhaustively researched and they're self-aware about the craziness they present. Not Alone - Sam is a true believer and Jason is not. Sam mostly tells the stories and Jason interjects skepticism, with both presenting their conclusions at the end. Our Strange Skies - Rob made a name for himself being a UFO expert for podcasters and has now launched his own podcast. He mostly relays the stories of various UFO cases and puts context around them, and is definitely a true believer. Cryptonaut - Marc, Chris, and Rob present accounts of various strange creatures and clearly believe something crazy is happening to make people see this stuff. What If? - Spencer and Ryan are, in their own words, skeptical except when it's more fun not to be skeptical and provide a humorous take on the weird.
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Aug 10, 2018 20:02
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What If? took a while to find it's footing. I would start with #24, which is David Paulides and Missing 411, that's a really good intro.
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Aug 10, 2018 23:44
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I'd seriously look into burner phones. You can probably snag a Samsung J3 or similar low end Android for $50. No need to activate it, just use it on wifi. That way you can use one of the many free Android apps to manage your stuff. Otherwise, the cheapest Fire tablet is $50 and occasionally drops to $35. Same deal as the burner, you'll get access to apps to manage your stuff and pay the same as you would for an mp3 player.
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Sep 19, 2018 04:47
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If you're willing to pay (there's an ad supported free version to try) then Podcast Addict is a great choice. Lots of features, frequent updates, never had a reason to look for anything else.
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Nov 8, 2018 04:27
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Lester Shy posted:Any ideas why my downloads are insanely slow on Podcast Addict for Android? I can download a 100MB episode in 20 seconds on my PC, but the exact same episode on my phone downloads at 30 KB/s. They're both on the same WiFi network, 4G is turned off, and everything else on my phone works perfectly/at the correct speed. The problem persists even when I force quit the app or reboot the phone. This affects every podcast in my library, not just once from specific services. I had this problem a couple years ago, there was something screwed up with how it was saving files and the only way I could fix it was to clear the app data. It resulted in losing what I had downloaded. Don't forget to make an OPML backup if you do it.
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Nov 15, 2018 00:39
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Julio Cruz posted:Anything new in true crime lately? Serial S3 lost me when it moved to individual story episodes, Up and Vanished guy seems to have vanished completely up his own rear end, and I've given up on Generation Why since they keep banging the "GUILTY!" drum even in cases with only the flimsiest circumstantial evidence. I'm down to just True Crime Garage on my subscribed list. Done Disappeared is great, and they just started season 3.
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Feb 18, 2019 01:30
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SalTheBard posted:I enjoyed this podcast a lot but as a new parent it really hit Me loving hard Yeah, I'm super glad I listened to it, but holy hell did it dredge up a bunch of poo poo for me.
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Feb 20, 2019 23:57
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Highly recommend The Cryptonaturalist and Victoriocity if you want something that has a nice touch of humor with the weird, Tropical Moon for something warm and surreal, Archive 81 if you want something darker and weird and beautiful, and The Magnus Archives if you want episodic horror, and The Big Loop if you want something for which there is no way to prepare yourself.
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Mar 4, 2019 05:51
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Panic Restaurant posted:I’ve been enjoying the Cryptonaut Podcast, very goofy but informative and covers some obscure cryptids I hadn’t heard of prior.
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Mar 24, 2019 14:21
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sweet_jones posted:I tend to just follow the same podcasts; how do people find out about series like these? Twitter, mostly. Not usually the show accounts themselves but the accounts of the various people who make them. Tend to pick up a lot of good recommendations that way.
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May 17, 2019 19:47
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Seeing hashtag blessed made me think of Christine from Archive 81, and I'll take any excuse to recommend that. Their own description is that it's about "horror, cities, and the subconscious". It's an audio drama for folks who like Jeff VanderMeer and weird fiction in general. Just listened back through it for the upteenth time and I'm still catching little bits and pieces I didn't catch before. Highly recommended.
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Jun 20, 2019 14:25
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