The Podcast Playlist team has done a lot of listening over the past year. So today, the whole team joins Leah to give our picks for the best podcasts of 2022.

Featuring: Media Circus with Kim Goldman, The Loudest Girl In The World, Best Laid Plans, Kuper Island, True Crime Byline

For links and more info, head to http://cbc.ca/podcastplaylist

Sweet Bobby host Alexi Mostrous is back with a new podcast about a satanic panic in the UK. This week, he sits down with host Leah-Simone Bowen to talk about the hoax and how its repercussions are still being felt eight years later.

Plus, we’ve got more noteworthy series: from a deep dive into the fashion trend that never goes out of style, to why more fire can help save California’s sequoias, to the new CBC podcast that uncovers how a labour dispute at a northern mine turned deadly.

Featuring: Hoaxed | Articles of Interest | Giant: Murder Underground | The Big Burn | Run, Hide, Repeat

For links and more info, head to http://cbc.ca/podcastplaylist

Splashed on magazine covers, all over Instagram feeds, and getting clicks on TMZ, celebrity gossip is a steady presence.

But fame and fortune have their downsides, and from the experiences of stars from Marilyn Monroe to Britney Spears, it's clear there's a dark side to the gossip mill. So, what if there was an ethical way to satisfy our curiosity about the lifestyles of the rich and famous?

Comedians Ashley Hamilton and Claire Parker created a podcast to do just that. In Celebrity Memoir Book Club, the co-hosts recount the juicy details as recorded by stars themselves. From Victoria Beckham to Mariah Carey, the duo reads the memoirs, recounts the highlights and recommends which ones are worth a look.

This week, Leah chats with Ashley and Claire about their favourite memoirs, getting on TikTok during the pandemic, and finds out what podcasts they can't get enough of.

If you're craving a pop culture deep dive, this episode is made for you!

Featuring: Celebrity Memoir Book Club, Beyond The Blinds, My Therapist Ghosted Me, Sentimental Garbage, Dunzo!

For links and more info head to http://cbc.ca/podcastplaylist.

The podcast Unladylike explores how being a woman impacts every aspect of lived experience – from career, to choosing birth control, to medical care, to which beauty standards to buy into.

This week, Unladylike creator and host Cristen Conger opens up. She shares how she accidentally found herself in podcasting, how she approaches intersectionality, and how the frustration of having to continually fight for her idea (and some fan encouragement) drove her to create Unladylike.

Cristen also takes us through what she's listening to – from the TikTok lifestyle trends that are setting feminism back, to the internet feud over fibre, to the awful discourse incorrectly linking the violent attack on Salman Rushdie with cancel culture. We've got your soundtrack for staying curious, building empathy, and raising hell.

Featuring: Unladylike, Fed Up, Shameless Acquisition Target, ICYMI, Cancel Me Daddy

For links and more info head to http://cbc.ca/podcastplaylist.

Adam Conover has made his career in comedy. Now, on his podcast Factually, he interviews some of the world’s most brilliant minds. Every week, the show features a different expert – from scientists to authors to philosophers and journalists – and invites them to dive deep on fascinating topics.

This week, Adam joins Leah-Simone Bowen to share how the show came about, what it was like to work with Barack Obama, and his tip for conversing with intimidatingly well-read folks and asking them ignorant questions (spoiler alert: you’ve got to embrace the ignorance).

He’s also sharing his favourite podcasts. We’ll hear the story of how his friend was once fired from an acting gig by Tom Hanks for having “dead eyes,” and a snippet from the scripted comedy podcast about Edith Wilson, who secretly ran the U.S. after the First World War, while her husband Woodrow was sick.

Featuring: Factually! With Adam Conover, Dead Eyes, Edith!, The Cooligans

For links and more info head to http://cbc.ca/podcastplaylist.

This week on Podcast Playlist, we listen to the latest and greatest in new podcasts.

Lauren Ober has worked in podcasting for 20 years, making award-winning shows about other people’s stories. But her latest series is all about a breakthrough moment in her own life: In her 40s, Lauren learned that she is autistic.

Her show The Loudest Girl in the World explores what this new revelation has meant to her. She’ll join us to talk about the show.

Plus, Frank Dumis was nervous when he signed up for his 4th grade spelling bee, but he won. And after that, he just kept on winning. This is Love has his story.

That and much more on the show this week!

Featuring: The Loudest Girl In The World, Terrestrials, This Is Love, Pop Chat, Africville Forever

For links and more info on all these shows, head to http://cbc.ca/podcastplaylist.

On the water, international boundaries – and legal jurisdictions – are murky. And, when journalist Ian Urbina was handed video evidence of murder at sea, he learned that pirates are making the most of that lawlessness and wreaking terror.

This week we’re highlighting engrossing stories about crime. How an investigation into sexual assault allegations against director Bryan Singer was botched by editors at Esquire magazine, a look at the victims of a WWII serial killer, and a conversation with a former true crime fanatic who says surviving an attack changed her mind about the genre. This episode will make your heart pound and give you something to think about.

Featuring: Bad Women: The Blackout Ripper | The Outlaw Ocean | Killed | On The Media

For links and more info on all these shows, head to http://cbc.ca/podcastplaylist.

Every winter, Chuck and his family rented a cabin in the mountains of North Carolina's Valle Crucis.

One year, he and his uncle drove to town – a trip they'd made countless times before – only this time, they were stalked by an unwanted presence. Out of the darkness, all they could discern were the red eyes chasing them down, so they fled for their lives. As the years passed, Chuck is haunted by what he saw that night ... the demon dog.

Spooky season is upon us and, this week, we've got frightful (in a good way) podcasts to get you in the mood for All Hallows' Eve.

We'll also learn how "Halloween" got its name, beginning with the ancient Celts who recognized the day as a spiritual celebration to placate vengeful fairies.

You might want to turn on a light – maybe a jack-o'-lantern – before you listen to this one: things are about to get scary.

This week’s guest curators have never met a self-help method they wouldn’t try. In their podcast, By The Book, Kristen Meinzer and Jolenta Greenberg have made a name for themselves living by the rules of a different self-help book. Now, for their new series, they’re getting even more personal.

For Romance Road Test, every week for 15 weeks, Kristen and Jolenta each tried out a new strategy for revitalizing their relationships with their partners — with their tape recorders running. This week, they share what they learned with Leah.

We’re also benefiting from their listening experiences as they share some of their favourite podcasts. From an inside look at some of the ethical challenges posed by assisted reproductive technology (ART), to the dynamics at-play behind social media hate for Meghan Markle, to the series that dives deep into all things reality TV … and more!

Featuring: Romance Road Test, Biohacked: Family Secrets, Why Won't You Date Me?, Cancelled, and Reality Life with Kate Casey

Fore links and more info on these podcasts, go to http://cbc.ca/podcastplaylist.

It's our monthly New and Notable episode for October, and this month we’ve got intriguing new podcasts and exclusive interviews with some of their creators.

True crime is one of the most popular podcast genres, but the stories we hear don’t often centre the victims or the people left in the wake of tragedy.

That’s what the new podcast Media Circus with Kim Goldman aims to change. The course of Goldman’s life changed when her brother, Ron Goldman, was murdered alongside OJ Simpson’s ex wife, Nicole Brown Simpson. In the media circus that ensued, and her enduring grief, Kim was struck by the disparity between how the media covers crime and what it’s like to be personally affected by it.

This week, Kim joins us for an interview about her hopes for the podcast and what she’s learned from speaking to so many families stricken by trauma.

Plus, a conversation with one of the creators of Hot Money, the series that takes listeners inside the porn industry. And, Serena and Venus Williams are revered as tennis greats, but it hasn’t always been that way. This week we’re bringing you the inspiring minds behind the latest and greatest podcasts – and, of course, a sampling of their work.

Featuring: Media Circus with Kim Goldman, Hot Money, All American: Venus & Serena

For links and more info, head to http://cbc.ca/podcastplaylist.