Round Out the Year with Some of the Best Shows iHeartPodcasts Has to Offer
iHeartPodcasts has shows for every kind of podcast fan. As the year comes to a close, we’re celebrating four of the best original shows that caught the ears of listeners across the country – and made it into Apple’s “Shows We Love In 2023” year-end recap:
“Skyline Drive,” in partnership with Kaleidoscope, follows Mangesh Hattikudur (Part-Time Genius, Humans Growing Stuff) who set out to do a big, sweeping show on astrology – only to get horrible news right at the beginning. But as he tries to put his world back together, he realizes the incredible ways astrology presents itself in modern society. Over the course of eight episodes, Mangesh tries to decipher why we keep looking to the stars for answers, and what happens when you don’t believe in astrology, but astrology keeps happening to you.
Few artists have managed to craft a career so intrinsic to the very history of music. Lyrical genius Paul McCartney did just that, and “McCartney: A Life In Lyrics” offers listeners the rare opportunity to sit in on conversations between McCartney and poet Paul Muldoon dissecting the people, experiences and art that inspired his songwriting. Over two seasons and 24 episodes of “McCartney: A Life in Lyrics” – a co-production between iHeartPodcasts and Pushkin Industries – listeners will hear a combination master class, memoir and improvised journey with one of the most beloved figures in popular music. Each episode focuses on one song from McCartney’s iconic catalog – spanning early Beatles through his solo work.
iHeartPodcasts and Novel’s “The Girlfriends” tells the story of Carole Fisher, a high-flying divorcee looking for love in Las Vegas who meets a seemingly perfect plastic surgeon who sweeps her off her feet. There’s just one lingering problem about Bob: He never talks about his ex-wife, who is presumed dead. Following Carole and Bob’s break-up, Carole stumbles into a group of women who all have strange tales about their time with Bob and dedicate themselves to figuring out what happened to his wife. In this riveting nine-part series, hosted by Carole, listeners will uncover the truth beyond Bob’s wife's death, the systems that failed her and all the girlfriends that brought her justice.
“You Feeling This,” a fiction anthology show about love presented by iHeartPodcasts and James Kim, renowned podcast creator of the critical darling MOONFACE, tells the stories that define the more than ten million people who make up Los Angeles County. It’s easy to feel alone in such a vast city, but the struggles that everyone experiences in L.A. are ones that everyone shares. It’s in those moments, where it seems like you’re going through it alone, that everything is connected. “You Feeling This” is about how the heartbreak, the yearning and the need for connection is something everyone is searching for.
iHeartPodcasts’ “Dear Alana,” in collaboration with Tenderfoot, explores a true story at the intersection between LGBTQ+ culture and faith. Host Simon Kent Fung explores the life of Alana Chen, a 24-year-old woman who disappeared from Boulder, Colorado in 2019. Alana left behind two dozen journals chronicling a deep faith, love of fashion, and dream of becoming a nun. She also harbored a secret. At 14, she confessed to her priest that she was attracted to women and was instructed not to tell her parents. Over the next seven years, Alana covertly received conversion therapy which her family believes played a role in her fate. Simon, who sought to change his sexual orientation through conversion therapy for nearly a decade in his efforts to become a priest, is compelled to understand the truth of what happened to Alana—and finally face what happened to him.
We’re also proud iHeartPodcasts was named the Top Free Channel of 2023, while “The Girlfirends,” “Stuff You Should Know,” “On Purpose with Jay Shetty” and “Just B with Bethenny Frankel” were all recognized as top shows. Click here to see the full list.
Help us celebrate these shows by tuning in now on the iHeartRadio app and anywhere podcasts are heard.
