The Best Rural & Regional Podcasts
A List of What to Listen To From Far and Wide
With an early job writing radio ads, I became involved in podcasting during its very first wave. I always loved audio as a format—dialogue, structure, the theatre one could create with voice and sound design. As podcasting took off, I started to help companies such as Johnson & Johnson and CIT create podcasts for their brands—and then later launched two directly.
One of the two shows I currently host, Cidiot, was just announced as first place for Regional Podcast by readers of Chronogram arts magazine. It’s a wonderful honor to be chosen by audiences, and also the first time the publication has podcasts as a category. I feel like a pioneer.
Cidiot is rooted in the personal experience of moving from New York City to a small town in the Hudson Valley. Its themes of appreciating the land and adapting to rural life can be applied nearly anywhere there are more cows than cars, and more trees than telephone poles.
There are many more podcasts based in a particular geography, so I’m highlighting a few favorites with appeal far beyond their physical borders:
Rural Revival: One of my early favorites, Rural Revival and its host Danna Larsen interviews small business owners across the Midwest and Plains states who often move back to their hometowns…
