Top Podcast Critics of 2022 📊
+ one recommendation & 2023
Hey Poddy People,
Wow. This was the first time I took two newsletters off since September 2020. Traveling to see family and a friend’s wedding made me do it, plus travel sickness of course. Recharging for the new year and so this end-of-year edition is short and sweet.
In this week’s newsletter:
Top Clicked Critics
One recommendation
Happy New Year!
News: Seeing how I was just in India - Audible signed a deal with The Foundry to bring podcast versions of popular books to India. Read more here. So is it a podcast or an audiobook…?
Chris Harrison who left hosting The Bachelor is well, you guessed it, now starting a podcast. Read more here and the trailer here.
You can peruse the archives on a lot of podcast recommendations throughout the year here. Our most opened newsletter of 2022 was this.
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The Top Clicked-Through Podcast Critics of 2022
Technically it’s six months since tagging started in July of 2022, but it’s a start.
James Marriot - Times UK
Hilary Rose - Times UK
Hollie Richardson - The Guardian
Miranda Sawyer - The Guardian
Ximena Smith - Stuff.NZ
Patricia Nicol - Times UK
Kara Kennedy - The Spectator
Freddy Gray - The Spectator
Joe Pompeo - Vanity Fair
Nicholas Quah - Vulture
Dristi Sharma - DailyO
Olivia Petter - Independent.ie
Major publications like the Times UK or The Guardian will have a podcast critic and an audio critic that will cross over, hence why multiple people are sometimes listed.
On to my one pick this week…
Podcast: The Evaporated: Gone with the Gods
Genre: Society
Publisher: Campside Media, Sony
About: What if someone close to you just … vanished one day? That happens to tens of thousands of families a year in Japan, and it happened to Jake Adelstein, too, back in 2018 — when his accountant disappeared, just before tax day. Adelstein, the author of Tokyo Vice, and co-host Shoko Plambeck go in search of that missing accountant, and take us on a journey into the fascinating and bizarre world of Japan’s johatsu, or “evaporated” people.
The first episode have been around Adelstein’s accountant and laying down the history and society of johatsu. Episode 4, which I have yet to listen to, goes back to the accountant. So far, so good.
Fiona Sturges • Financial Times
“The series nonetheless reveals much about the human capacity for shame, something felt not only by those who vanish but by those they leave behind.”
Alright, folks, this is it. Looking forward to a growing year, not only for Great Pods but to all the great reviews writers big and small. I am looking forward to your good health as well. A lot of podcasts are launching in January and we will see you next week in your inbox.
Stay safe, drink water, and listen (to podcasts, yourself, and others).
Happy New Year and listening with you,
Captain Ron
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