About

a++ recommends new must-listen episodes from the best podcasts.

Created by Mooj Zadie. Built by Reed Kavner. Our editors are Stan Alcorn, Phil Jasen, Eleanor McDowall, James T. Green, Erin Teare, Liza Yeager, Claire Mullen, Greg Spitz, Mooj Zadie, and Callen Zimmerman. You can contact us at aplusplusfm@gmail.com. Thanks for visiting.

FAQs

What is a++?

You know that feeling of looking at your phone, scrolling through your podcast app, and realizing you've listened to all your favorite shows and there's nothing left to listen to? I never have that feeling anymore. Instead, I'm tapping titles, reading episode descriptions, listening to intros, trying to decide: Is this the one I listen to? Or is this the one I skip?

This is the podcast problem — really, the too-many-podcasts problem — that a++ is trying to solve. The site pools the collective knowledge of award-winning radio makers and discerning radio listeners, known as our editors (see above), to flag only the must-listen episodes.

What is a must-listen episode?

When listening to episodes, we ask our editors to keep a few central questions in mind: Is the story surprising? Does it keep us intrigued from start to finish? If the answers are yes, we recommend the episode. Otherwise, we choose to skip it. Our editors’ tastes sometimes clash with each others’. And that’s OK. This isn’t a definitive list of good radio. Only what we think is worthy of flagging. So the next time you decide to catch up on your favorite podcasts but aren’t sure where to start, you’ll have a road map.

To keep things in order, by reverse chronological date, we will skip re-run episodes.

How soon after a new episode’s release will you review an episode?

We will listen to and either recommend or pass on an episode within 24 hours of its release.

Will you be adding more shows to a++?

Yes! The site is in beta. We plan to add more shows and features in the coming weeks.

Why aren’t you recommending X show?

Lots of reasons. Most likely because we’re still searching for the best editor to curate X show. Or it’s a serialized show — like say Serial — and therefore we can’t recommend an episode without recommending the whole show and that defeats the point. Or I think every episode is stellar — ahem, The Memory Palace — in which case, again, what’s the use?

Can you recommend X show / add X feature / recruit me as an editor?

Maybe. Email us! We’d love to hear from you.


a++ Podcast

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Browse Shows

99% Invisible

Exposing the unnoticed aspects of architecture and design that shape our world.
  • 347- The Many Deaths of a Painting
  • 344- The Known Unknown
  • 341- National Sword
  • 337- Atomic Tattoos
  • 333- Mini-Stories: Volume 5
  • Punk Style: Articles of Interest #6
  • Hawaiian Shirts: Articles of Interest #4
  • Pockets: Articles of Interest #3
  • 323- The House that Came in the Mail
  • 316- The Shipping Forecast
  • 313- Right to Roam
  • 310- 77 Steps
  • 308- Curb Cuts
  • 297- Blood, Sweat and Tears (City of the Future, Part 2)
  • 296- Bijlmer (City of the Future, Part 1)
  • 294- Border Wall
  • 293- Managed Retreat
  • 291- Thermal Delight
  • 287- The Nut Behind the Wheel
  • 285- Money Makers
  • 283- Dollhouses of St. Louis
  • 279- The Containment Plan
  • 275- Coal Hogs Work Safe
  • 274- The Age of the Algorithm
  • 272- Person in Lotus Position
  • 268- El Gordo
  • 265- The Pool and the Stream
  • 261- Squatters of the Lower East Side
  • 260- New Jersey
  • 252- The Falling of the Lenins

The Allusionist

Why we say the things we say.
  • 72. Hey
  • 69. How the Dickens stole Christmas
  • 65. Eponyms III: Who’s That Guy?
  • 64. Technobabble
  • 58. Eclipse
  • 52. Sanctuary

Criminal

Stories of people who’ve done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in the middle.
  • Episode 86: Willie Bosket
  • Episode 84: Masterpiece
  • Bonus Episode: Like a Page from a Book
  • Episode 80: Photo, Hair, Fingerprint
  • Episode 78: The Botanist
  • Episode 75: The Gatekeeper
  • Episode 73: Carry A. Nation
  • Episode 71: A Bump in the Night
  • Episode 68: All the Time in the World
  • Episode 64: 420
  • Episode 62: Wildin
  • Episode 61: Vanish
  • Episode 59: In Plain Sight
  • Episode 56: Don't Let Me See You In The Whirl
  • Episode 54: Melinda and Clarence
  • Episode 53: Melinda and Judy
  • Episode 52: The Checklist
  • Episode 51: Money Tree
  • Episode 49: The Editor
  • Episode 47: Brownie Lady
  • Episode 46: Tiger
  • Episode 36: Perfect Specimen
  • Episode 33: Deep Dive
  • Episode 32: It Looked Like Fire
  • Episode 28: P.D.I.D.
  • Episode 23: Triassic Park
  • Episode 20: Gil From London
  • Episode 17: Final Exit
  • Episode 15: He's Neutral
  • Episode 12: Break The Internet
  • Episode 9: That Crime Of The Month
  • Episode 5: Dropping Like Flies
  • Episode 4: Call Your Mom
  • Episode 1: Animal Instincts

The Daily

Go deep into today's headlines with reporters from The New York Times.
  • Osama bin Laden’s Successor
  • The Origins of Boeing’s 737 Max Crisis
  • The Making of Boris Johnson
  • The Myth That Busing Failed
  • Waiting for the Immigration Raids
  • The Trial of a Navy SEAL Chief
  • Inside the Migrant Detention Center in Clint, Tex.
  • A Military Crackdown in Sudan
  • Trump’s Re-election Rally
  • Part 5: Can Liberal Democracy Survive in Europe?
  • This Drug Could End H.I.V. Why Hasn’t It?
  • Death, Profit and Disclosure at a Children’s Hospital
  • The Bank That Kept Saying Yes to Trump
  • The Freshman: Rashida Tlaib, Part 2
  • A Founder of Facebook Says It’s Time to Break It Up
  • $1 Billion in Losses: A Decade of Trump’s Taxes
  • A Secret in the Navy SEALs
  • The Mueller Report Is Released
  • Two Crashes, One Jet: The Story of Boeing’s 737 Max
  • The Family That Profited From the Opioid Crisis
  • Reckoning With the Real Michael Jackson
  • The Testimony of Michael Cohen
  • What Hollywood Keeps Getting Wrong About Race
  • The Democrats and Israel
  • No Heat, No Power: How a Federal Jail Failed Its Inmates
  • What Motivates Mitch McConnell?
  • Making Peace With the Taliban
  • The Perils of Reporting on an Investigation of the President
  • The Story of Roger Stone and WikiLeaks
  • The Freshmen, Part 1: Rashida Tlaib
  • Trump’s Plan to Withdraw Troops From Syria
  • Day 1 of a Democratic Majority
  • A Mother Talks to Her Sons About Brett Kavanaugh
  • The Year in Sound: An Audio Time Capsule of 2018
  • The Latest Showdown Over a Shutdown
  • What the West Got Wrong About China
  • Nancy Pelosi’s Last Fight
  • Why U.S. Bombs Are Falling in Yemen
  • The California Wildfires
  • White, Evangelical and Worried About Trump
  • The Business of Internet Outrage
  • The Battle for Missouri, Part 1: The Anti-Abortion Democrat
  • The Police Shooting That Rocked Chicago
  • How Trump Really Got Rich
  • The Anguish of Jeff Flake
  • A High School Assault
  • The Accusation Against Brett Kavanaugh
  • Lost in the Storm, Part 2
  • A 30-Year Plan to Transform the Courts
  • An Unexpected Upset in Florida
  • Implicating the President
  • The Economic Cost of Authoritarian Rule
  • A Scorched-Earth Strategy in Ohio
  • How Paul Manafort’s Plans Backfired
  • Roe v. Wade, Part 2: The Culture Wars
  • Roe v. Wade, Part 1: Who Was Jane Roe?
  • How Trump Withstands So Many Controversies
  • Brett Kavanaugh’s Change of Heart
  • How the Opioid Crisis Started
  • The World Cup’s Mysterious Path to Russia
  • The Report on the F.B.I.’s Clinton Inquiry
  • “Charm City,” Part 4: The Police Scandal That Shook Baltimore
  • “Charm City,” Part 1: Baltimore After Freddie Gray
  • What Trump Learned From Clinton’s Impeachment
  • When Facebook Rumors Incite Real Violence
  • Monday, May 7, 2018
  • Wednesday, May 2, 2018
  • Thursday, April 26, 2018
  • Friday, Apr. 13, 2018
  • Tuesday, Apr. 3, 2018
  • Friday, March 30, 2018
  • Monday, March 26, 2018
  • Friday, March 23, 2018
  • Friday, Mar. 16, 2018
  • Tuesday, Mar. 13, 2018
  • Monday, Mar. 12, 2018
  • Friday, Mar. 9, 2018
  • Monday, Feb. 26, 2018
  • Friday, Feb. 23, 2018
  • Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018
  • Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018
  • Friday, Feb. 2, 2018
  • Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018
  • Friday, Jan. 5, 2018
  • Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018
  • Thursday, Dec. 28, 2017
  • Special Episode: The Year in Sound
  • Thursday, Dec. 21, 2017
  • Monday, Dec 18, 2017
  • Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017
  • Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017
  • Friday, Nov. 17, 2017
  • Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017
  • Monday, Nov. 13, 2017
  • Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017
  • Monday, Nov. 6, 2017
  • Friday, Nov. 3, 2017
  • Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017
  • Monday, Oct. 23, 2017
  • Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017
  • Friday, Oct. 13, 2017
  • Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2017
  • Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2017
  • Monday, Oct. 2, 2017
  • Friday, Sept. 29, 2017
  • Wednesday, Sept.27, 2017
  • Monday, Sept. 25, 2017
  • Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017
  • Monday, Sept.18, 2017
  • Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017
  • Friday, Sept. 8, 2017
  • Wednesday, Aug 30, 2017
  • Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2017
  • Monday, Aug. 21, 2017
  • Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017
  • Friday, Aug 11, 2017
  • Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017
  • Monday, Aug. 7, 2017
  • Friday, Aug. 4, 2017
  • Thursday, Aug. 3, 2017
  • Friday, July 28, 2017
  • Friday, July 21, 2017
  • Thursday, June 22, 2017
  • Friday, May 26, 2017

Dear Sugars

Radically empathic advice from Cheryl Strayed and Steve Almond.
  • Emotional Abuse — With Reema Zaman

Death, Sex & Money

Anna Sale explores the big questions and hard choices that are often left out of polite conversation.
  • When We Sent Our Son Away
  • I Wanted To Be A "Good Girl"
  • When A Banker Was Called To The Convent
  • I Served 27 Years In Prison. Now, I'm Out On Parole.
  • Hot Dates: Last Summer Nights
  • Tayari Jones on Frills and Freedom
  • When 'Daddy Dates' Pay The Bills

The Gist

Mike Pesca discusses news and culture.
  • Coal Over Climate
  • Stylometry for Dummies
  • The OG GOP
  • Trump’s Pyrite Touch
  • The Pushback Artist
  • Lights, Camera, Sexism
  • The BS! It’s Everywhere!
  • Are You Being Servered?
  • Don't Forget About Sex
  • The State of State
  • Rejecting Jared
  • America Adrift
  • He Got Trump’s Taxes
  • Killed, Then Counted
  • Hobby Lobby Is Just Getting Started
  • Can You Win as the Party of Purity?
  • Next Falls Franken?
  • The Problem With America’s Rich
  • Prisons of Profit
  • The Family Man
  • Free to Be You and #MeToo
  • Marc Maron and Brendan McDonald

The Heart

Mini docs and docudramas about bodies, feelings, and love.
  • Man Choubam (I Am Good)
  • God + The Gays
  • Bodies: Meat
  • No: Answers
  • No: Inheritance
  • No: Advance
  • Pansy: Twirl
  • Diaries: BFF
  • SE: Salt in the Wound
  • SE: Hands on the Wheel
  • SE: Ten Foot Pole
  • SE: Not the Right Time
  • Mariya
  • Ghost: You
  • Ghost: Emily

Heavyweight

Jonathan Goldstein revisits the moment everything changed, and then confronts it.
  • #12 Jesse
  • #10 Rose
  • #9 Milt
  • #7 Julia
  • #2 Gregor
  • #1 Buzz

Home of the Brave

Mini documentaries from Scott Carrier.
  • Basin and Range

The Kitchen Sisters Present

Stories from the b-side of history.
  • 102 - Archive Fever: Henri Langlois and the Cinémathèque Française
  • 101 - The Keepers: The Pack Horse Librarians of Eastern Kentucky
  • 93 - Prince and the Technician

Longform

Non-fiction writers on how they tell stories.
  • Episode 282: Jenna Wortham
  • Episode 281: Michael Idov
  • Episode 279: Seth Wickersham
  • Episode 277: Kiera Feldman
  • Episode 273: Zoe Chace
  • Episode 271: Kara Swisher
  • Episode 269: Jodi Kantor
  • Episode 268: Jim Nelson
  • Episode 265: Michael Barbaro
  • Episode 264: Vanessa Grigoriadis
  • Episode 260: Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah
  • Episode 257: Jay Caspian Kang
  • Episode 256: David Gessner
  • Episode 254: Maggie Haberman

Love + Radio

Interviews with an eclectic range of subjects, from the seedy to the sublime.
  • 44 Years
  • Reunion
  • The Boys Will Work It Out

More Perfect

Mini documentaries on Supreme Court cases from Radiolab.
  • The Most Perfect Album: Episode 1
  • Mr. Graham and the Reasonable Man

Nancy

BFFs Kathy Tu and Tobin Low discuss queer culture.
  • #26: Different in Two Ways
  • #20: My Brother and Me
  • #18: The Swimsuit Issue
  • #14: Kathy Goes to Camp
  • #12: Everything Changed

On the Media

A weekly investigation into how the media shapes our worldview.
  • Full Faith & Credit

Planet Money

Fun stories about the economy.
  • #871: Blacklisted In China
  • #860: The World's Longest Yard Sale
  • #858: Venezuela's Fugitive Money Traders
  • SPACE 3: Rocket Shopping
  • SPACE 1: We're Going To Space
  • #805: War And Peace And Cows
  • #794: How To Make It In The Music Business
  • #792: The Ransom Problem
  • #786: Rest of the Story 2017, Vol. 1
  • #785: The Starbury
  • #783: New Jersey Bails Out
  • #772: Small Change
  • #767: Georgetown, Louisiana, Part Two
  • #766: Georgetown, Louisiana, Part One

Radiolab

Sound rich stories that blur the boundaries between science, philosophy, and human experience.
  • Post No Evil
  • Border Trilogy Part 1: Hole in the Fence

Reply All

Wild stories from the World Wide Web.
  • #139 The Reply All Hotline
  • #137 Fool's Trade
  • #131 Surefire Investigations
  • #128 The Crime Machine, Part II
  • #127 The Crime Machine, Part I
  • #126 Alex Jones Dramageddon
  • #122 The QAnon Code ⚡️⚡️
  • #120 INVCEL
  • #116 Trust the Process
  • #114 Apocalypse Soon
  • #113 Reply All's Year End Extravaganza
  • #112 The Prophet
  • #106 Is That You, KD?
  • #103 Long Distance, Part II
  • #102 Long Distance
  • #97 What Kind Of Idiot Gets Phished?
  • #96 The Secret Life of Alex Goldman

Rough Translation

Stories that follow familiar conversations into unfamiliar territory.
  • War Poems
  • The Apology Broker
  • Om Alone In India
  • The Congo We Listen To
  • Brazil In Black And White

Still Processing

A culture conversation with Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham.
  • M.J.
  • Liars
  • Becoming
  • We Heard Lauryn Hill, But Did We Listen?
  • We Louvre The Carters
  • We Wouldn't Leave Kanye, But Should We?

This American Life

Explorations of human nature and current events.
  • 640: Five Women
  • #633: Our Town - Part Two
  • #632: Our Town
  • #626: White Haze
  • #625: Essay B

This is Love

Stories of sacrifice, obsession, and the ways in which we bet everything on one another.
  • Episode 2: Something Large and Wild
  • Episode 1: The Run

The Truth

Movies for your ears.
  • Wonderworld, U.S.A.
  • The Hilly Earth Society
  • Brain Chemistry
  • Influencers part 1
  • Hey Bumblebee
  • Commentary Track
  • Sleep Some More
  • The Talk
  • The Death of Poe
  • Domestic Violins
  • Tape Delay
  • Everybody SCREAM!!!
  • They're Made Out of Meat
  • Eat Cake