Boston produces an unusual amount of audio for its size: two large public radio newsrooms a few miles apart, three sports stations arguing about the same four teams, and a long tail of museums, universities and neighborhood groups publishing on their own schedules. This page collects the 50 podcasts worth a listen if you care about the city — because they are made here, or because Boston is their subject.
The list is grouped by theme, not ranked. There is no first place; the numbers run 1 to 50 only so entries are easy to reference. Visiting? Start with history. Just moved here? Start with news and city affairs.
How this list was built
We are a travel publication, not a podcast reviewer, and we will not pretend we heard every episode of 50 shows. We did verify that each entry is real, still running and actually about Boston, reading the RSS feed for the latest publication date rather than trusting a directory page. Several well-known local shows were cut because the feed had gone quiet.
- Active. Every show published within the last 18 months; most within the last month.
- A real Boston link. Made in Greater Boston, or with the city as its actual subject.
- Listenable. Automated feeds, sermon archives and marketing channels were excluded.
- Spread out. We capped entries per network so one newsroom could not take a third of it.
- No invented numbers. We describe what a show does, never how many people listen.
News and city affairs
1. Boston Public Radio Podcast · GBH's midday talk show, in full
Margery Eagan and Jim Braude, callers included: a running record of the day's local argument.
2. Under the Radar with Callie Crossley · What the daily cycle skips
Panels of local reporters and community voices, with a standing focus on immigrant and Black Boston.
3. The Curiosity Desk · Listener questions, answered
Edgar B. Herwick III takes questions left on a voicemail line and chases the answers. Short, near-daily episodes.
4. In Common · Massachusetts beyond Route 128
Jeremy Siegel hosts a collaboration between GBH, NEPM in Springfield and CAI on the Cape.
5. Say More · The Boston Globe's interview show
Shirley Leung interviews the people running, funding or fighting the city. A business columnist's podcast, and it shows.
6. The Codcast · State politics, in detail
From nonprofit newsroom CommonWealth Beacon: MBTA financing, housing bills, the state budget.
7. Uncovering the News with NBC10 Boston · Local TV investigations, explained
Matt Fortin walks through how the station's investigations were reported, Market Basket included.
8. NightSide with Dan Rea · WBZ's late-night call-in show
Four hours of Boston-area callers a weeknight. An acquired taste, and an unfiltered read on local opinion.
9. Last Night at School Committee · Boston Public Schools, meeting by meeting
The Shah Family Foundation recaps each School Committee session — almost the only consistent coverage of it.
10. What Works: The Future of Local News · Why your local paper died
Northeastern's Dan Kennedy and former Globe editor Ellen Clegg on local news experiments nationwide.
11. Six Hundred Atlantic · The Boston Fed's own podcast
Named after its Seaport address. Fed economists on tariffs, instant payments and college affordability.
History and true crime
12. HUB History · Boston history, weekly since 2016
Jake Sconyers and Nikki Stewart are past 350 episodes, each published with a full source list.
13. Revolution 250 Podcast · The 250th anniversary, week by week
Historian Bob Allison interviews authors and curators on the Revolution as it happened here.
14. The Object of History · One artifact per episode
The Massachusetts Historical Society pulls a letter, a ledger or a lock of hair from its vault.
15. Brattlecast · Old books, from West Street
Ken Gloss of the Brattle Book Shop on rare books, appraisals and what walks through the door.
16. The Big Dig · How Boston buried its highway
Ian Coss's Peabody-winning GBH series on the costliest highway project in American history.
17. Catching the Codfather · Fishing, fraud and New Bedford
GBH News on Carlos Rafael, who controlled much of the region's groundfish fleet until the feds arrived.
18. Crime of the Truest Kind · New England cases, reported locally
Anngelle Wood, long a fixture of Boston rock radio, favors cases that were handled badly at the time.
19. Empty Frames · The Gardner heist, still unsolved
Three seasons on the 1990 theft of 13 works from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, still unrecovered.
20. Last Seen · WBUR on things that vanish
Season one was the Gardner heist; the latest followed the Harvard morgue case through to sentencing.
21. Boston Confidential · The city's criminal back catalog
Barry J. Maguire on the Boston Strangler, the Patriarca family and the rest. Publishing has slowed; the archive is deep.
Food, drink and neighborhood life
22. Food for Thought with Billy & Jenny · Where to eat, weekly
Billy Costa and Jenny Johnson have covered the local restaurant scene on air for years.
23. Connoisseurs Corner with Jordan Rich · Dining and drinking, WBZ style
Short segments on Greater Boston restaurants and breweries. Over 1,200 episodes deep.
24. New England Weekend · WBZ's community round-up
Nichole Davis interviews the people behind local nonprofits, festivals and restaurants.
25. Boston Found · The tourism board's show
Produced by Meet Boston, so promotional by nature — but the neighborhood episodes are well sourced.
26. Explain Boston to Me · A transplant asks the obvious questions
Lee Stabert moved to Cambridge and started asking locals why the region works this way.
27. South End Stoop Sessions · One neighborhood's businesses
South End Local and the neighborhood business alliance talk to shop owners on Tremont and Washington.
28. DotLife · Dorchester, weekly
Neighborhood headlines, one issue in depth and a "Tiny Dot Concert," with the Dorchester Reporter's Bill Forry.
29. The GetUp Crew · HOT 96.9's morning show
Ramiro, Melissa and Leroy, posted daily. Not a guide to anything — just what much of Boston hears at 7am.
Sport
30. Toucher & Hardy · 98.5 The Sports Hub, mornings
The market's dominant sports morning show, posted in full, sport interspersed with long comedy bits.
31. Felger & Massarotti · The afternoon argument
Michael Felger, Tony Massarotti and Globe columnist Chris Gasper, four hours a day, deliberately combative.
32. Section 10 · Red Sox, from the fan side
Jared Carrabis, Coley Mick, Steve Perrault and Tyler Milliken, independent since their Barstool years.
33. Baseball Isn't Boring · Long-form baseball interviews
Rob Bradford uses years of Red Sox beat access to get players and executives talking at length.
34. The Fenway Rundown · MassLive's Red Sox beat podcast
Straight coverage from reporters who are actually at the park. A counterweight to the opinion shows.
35. Garden Report · Celtics postgame, from TD Garden
CLNS Media records straight after games, often from the arena. Past 1,200 episodes.
36. Cedric Maxwell Boston Celtics Podcast · A Finals MVP with a long memory
Maxwell won two titles as a Celtic and has called their radio games for years. Memory no beat writer has.
37. Poke the Bear · Bruins analysis, weekly
Conor Ryan of Boston.com on the roster, the cap and the rumors, plus a regular mailbag.
38. Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast · Boston Sports Journal on the Patriots
Bedard has covered the NFL since the dynasty years. With Nick Cattles, heavy on film and roster building.
39. Patriots Unfiltered · The team's own show
Officially produced, so read the framing accordingly — but with access nobody else gets.
40. Revolution Recap · The city's soccer team
Past 500 episodes on the Revolution, including whether it will ever play closer than Foxborough.
Culture, campus and ideas
41. Endless Thread · WBUR's internet-culture show
Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson report out online communities and unsolved mysteries.
42. The Culture Show · GBH's arts daily
Jared Bowen and colleagues on exhibitions, theater and music, favoring local artists over touring acts.
43. Rooted · Black Boston, weekly
Paris Alston hosts conversations on Black intellect, culture and joy, from the neighborhood to the national.
44. Stories from the Stage · Live storytelling, recorded here
A GBH and World Channel production of people telling true stories on stage, often about arriving here.
45. Open Source with Christopher Lydon · The original public radio podcast
Lydon has recorded conversations from Cambridge for two decades. Long-form and unhurried.
46. Love Letters · The Globe's advice column, in audio
Meredith Goldstein on dating in a city full of graduate students and three-year residents.
47. College Uncovered · How universities actually work
GBH News and The Hechinger Report on endowments, admissions and higher education finance.
48. The Harvard EdCast · Education research, translated
Jill Anderson interviews Harvard Graduate School of Education researchers. Nearly 500 short episodes.
49. Curiosity Unbounded · MIT's president interviews her faculty
Sally Kornbluth talks to newly tenured professors — a rare look inside an institution that speaks in press releases.
50. The Readout Loud · Biotech, from the newsroom that owns the beat
STAT is based in Boston and covers Kendall Square: drug pricing, FDA decisions, trial data.
How this list is maintained
We update this page as things change, not once a year — which is why there is no year in the title. Podcasts go dormant quietly, and a show can look alive on a directory eighteen months after its last episode, so we re-check the feeds and drop anything that has stopped. If an entry is dead or a description is wrong, tell us.
How to get added
Shows are added because we think they belong, not because someone asked — but we read everything that comes in. To make a case, send facts: what the show covers, how often it publishes, what it does that nothing else here does. Adjectives will not help. A link to the feed will.
If you are on this list
Say so, and please link back to this page when you do. That is the mechanism: we send listeners to shows we think deserve them, and a link back means the next person searching for Boston podcasts lands here rather than on a scraped directory.
Frequently asked
What should I listen to before a first trip to Boston?
HUB History for the past, Explain Boston to Me for the present. For one narrative series, make it The Big Dig: the city center makes more sense once you know what was torn down and rebuilt. For where to sleep, our neighborhood tool is faster than any podcast.
Why so many public radio shows?
Because GBH and WBUR both invest heavily in podcasts and their output is genuinely about this region. We capped entries per network, which is why strong shows from both were left out.
Are they free?
All 50 are free on standard podcast apps. A few sell ad-free feeds or bonus episodes, but none requires payment to hear the main show.
💡 More lists live in our top 50 collection; the numbers behind our Boston coverage sit in the data room.
