Ranging from news and politics to arts and culture, Los Angeles has a vibrant scene of podcasts and radio shows that are bound to soften freeway traffic
Los Angeles is a city constantly on the move. Whether its sprawling, active population likes it or not, there’s hardly a moment’s rest. A sit-down with a cup of joe and a leisurely look at a copy of Los Angeles Magazine isn’t always in the cards — and when it isn’t, whether it’s while driving, working or exercising, a podcast can come in handy to stay entertained and informed. Luckily for Angelenos, their hometown’s podcast scene is abundant and exciting.
Staying informed
A wide variety of news shows hit the radio waves and podcast apps every day across L.A. Among its most regular and lauded providers of the latest are LAist with its daily LA Report and LA Forward’s LA Podcast — each with its unique perspective on keeping listeners updated on the goings-on around the city, whether it be a general news perspective or a politics-first analysis of the city today, respectively.
Elsewhere, LAist is also joined by KCRW in supplying a different look at what L.A. is — and isn’t. The weekly LAist show Imperfect Paradise and KCRW’s Welcome to LA differ in their approach: the first follows a more traditional, news-focused format while the second focuses on personal, documentary-style stories. But they both strike at the heart of the city’s promises, and whether or not it keeps them.
More specialized shows also color LAist’s lineup, among them the now-defunct but still illuminating How To LA, and a pair of podcasts by way of Jacob Margolis made to prepare Angelenos both for lived-through crises and those still to come, The Big One (alluding to the hypothetical earthquake due to hit the San Andreas Fault) and The Big Burn (specific to how to navigate wildfires).
Staying cultured
A hub of culture and entertainment worldwide, L.A. has also drawn podcasts about the many cultural experiences the city has to offer. KCRW’s Good Food, which, in their own words, “explores the world through the lens of food,” but host Evan Kleinman often touches on restaurant recs and specs out the scene of food in L.A. specifically.
Elsewhere, Karina Longworth’s award-winning show You Must Remember This touches on the forgotten histories of early Hollywood, combining a relationship with cinema as one of L.A.’s most vibrant art scenes with a deep, highly researched creative nonfiction style given some of the murkier, muddled details of a complicated history.
A more general look, however, at the goings-on of the city in arts and entertainment as much as in science and general city culture, comes by way of LAist and Larry Mantle, in the weekday AirTalk.
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