This episode we’re playing the shows we kept coming back to in 2021. The ones we binged all the way through. The ones that had us constantly checking our feeds for new episodes. And you’ll get to hear why we love them in our own words. 

Keep an eye on our website for our extended list of the Best of 2021— this episode is only the beginning! 

Featuring: Story Time with Seth Rogen, Aack Cast, Do You Know Mordechai?, Here Lies Me, ICYMI, Hanging Out With Audiophiles

Our team picks their top podcasts of 2021

Hosted by Leah-Simone Bowen, Podcast Playlist's podcast obsessed producers help you find the best podcasts out there. Each week we curate fresh, exciting and thoughtful stories to help you unearth new podcasts to add to your rotation. From true crime to comedy, from current affairs to audio fiction and everything in between. Each week we take you on a journey with lots of discoveries along the way. 
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The Moth is one of the oldest shows in podcasting. In fact, it pre-dates the medium by several years, having begun in the founder’s living room in 1997.  
 Today, The Moth is an internationally touring live storytelling production and a popular podcast and radio show.  
 This week Leah sits down with The Moth’s senior director Meg Bowles to talk about The Moth’s new book, "A Point of Beauty: True Stories of Holding On and Letting Go," and about 27 years of helping everyday people bring their stories to life.  
 Plus, we’ll have more storytelling podcasts. Like Mortified, where we’ll hear host David Nadelberg read an extremely cringey love letter he wrote as a teenager in front of a live audience.   
 All that and more, this week on Podcast Playlist.  
 Featuring: The Moth, Grown, Mortified, Normal Gossip  
 Check out our episode with Kelsey McKinney from Normal Gossip  
 For links and more info, head to cbc.ca/podcastplaylist 


The magic of storytelling with The Moth's Meg Bowles

This week on Podcast Playlist: Yo, Is This Racist has hilariously tackled questions about racism since 2011. Creator and host Andrew Ti tells us about the show’s evolution and shares his podcast picks. 
 Plus, every summer, the best and brightest teen girls in the US compete in the lucrative “Distinguished Young Women” competition. We get a direct look into the competition with podcaster and former competitor, Shima Oliaee.  
 Featuring: The Competition, Forever Is A Long Time, Yo Is This Racist?, Past My Bedtime 
 For links and more info head to cbc.ca/podcastplaylist.

Shima Oliaee (The Competition) and Andrew Ti (Yo, Is This Racist?) on their shows and what they're listening to

This week, we’re asking three podcasters to pitch their show to listeners, and we’ll hear a sample of each one.   
 We’re starting with George The Poet. His show is called Have You Heard George’s Podcast? It’s won tons of awards, including a Peabody—and if you haven’t heard it, we promise you’ve never heard another show like it.  
 Then, Leah sits down with Arshy Mann, host of COMMONS, to talk about why the new season of his show is all about work — the jobs we do, the conditions we work in, and why things feel like they’ve gotten so much harder for working people.  
 Plus, actor and comedian Allan McLeod will tell us about his new show, Walkin’ About. It’s a loving and funny tribute to the simple act of walking, the places it can take us, and the people we do it with.  
 For links and more info, head to cbc.ca/podcastplaylist.  


Pitch, Please: George The Poet, Arshy Mann and Allan McLeod tell us about their podcasts

In the early days of the war on terror, the US captured thousands of alleged “enemy combatants” overseas, but they needed somewhere to hold and interrogate them… without worrying about those pesky Geneva Conventions.  
 Guantánamo Bay was the perfect solution. But not long after it opened, the truth of its makeshift justice system started coming to light.  
 The new season of Serial offers an unprecedented look behind the scenes at the island prison. Today, Leah sits down with co-hosts Sarah Koenig and Dana Chivvis to hear the story behind their reporting.  
 Plus, you know the song "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell? Well, did you know it was actually an obscure soul song written in the 1960s? We'll hear that story from Lost Notes, plus Leah talks to co-hosts Novena Carmel and Michael Barnes about the show.  
 All that and more this week on Podcast Playlist.  
 Featuring: Serial, Lost Notes, Broomgate, White Devil  
 For links and more info, head to cbc.ca/podcastplaylist. 


A peek behind the bars at Guantánamo Bay, the untold story behind "Tainted Love", and more great new podcasts (ft. Sarah Koenig, Dana Chivvis, Novena Carmel, Michael Barnes)

This week on Podcast Playlist, Leah is joined by Josh Gwynn, host of the new CBC podcast Split Screen: Kid Nation.  
 The podcast revisits the 2007 reality TV show Kid Nation, where 40 children were left in the desert to fend for themselves for more than a month. Through interviews with former contestants, producers and parents, Josh tries to piece together how this show actually got made, and what impact it had on those kids now that they’re all grown up.  
 We’ll hear from Josh about that show’s legacy. Plus, we’ll listen to some of his favourite podcasts.  
 Featuring: Split Screen: Kid Nation, Today Explained, The Stoop, Classy, Scam Goddess  
 For links and more info head to cbc.ca/podcastplaylist. Have a podcast to recommend? Send us an email! 


Our team picks their top podcasts of 2021

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