36 podcasts for comms and PR pros, for when you’re strategizing and/or spiraling
Tune in for tips on PR, internal comms, social media strategy and more.
While comms and PR pros are thinking on behalf of their organizations, they often forget to feed their own minds and tend to their professional development. Between media monitoring, policy development, social pivots, crisis responses, and the constant content churn, who has time to stay sharp, news savvy and inspired?
Podcasts can be a helpful medium by which to absorb a knowledge nugget or two while your hands are busy with something else. The right podcast at the right time can help you level up your skills, stay plugged into industry shifts, and even laugh, all while commuting, walking the dog, working out, mindlessly pulling data, spam-purging your inbox, doing the dishes, or lying on the office floor in a fugue state.
Below, you’ll find a curated listening list for communications professionals. These shows range in topic from media literacy and brand strategy to internal comms, crisis management, and even a bit of petty gossip. Some are essential listening for people in the business of messaging. Others are just good for your soul.
Consider this your audio survival kit for the comms world for when you’re crafting your next narrative arc or recovering from an organizational maelstrom.
PR and reputation management
- The PR Breakdown with Molly McPherson — A crisis comms expert dissects the week’s biggest reputation battles, media meltdowns and brand controversies.
- The Spin Sucks Podcast — Hosted by Gini Dietrich, this show dishes on modern PR, marketing, and how to handle crises with credibility intact. Essential listening.
- On Top of PR — Jason Mudd of Axia Public Relations talks about all the PR and marketing tips and trends you need to know
- The Defuse Podcast — Hosted by Philip Grindell, this show explores crisis communications and strategic advisory for high-stakes environments.
Internal comms and workplace culture
- Think Fast, Talk Smart — Matt Abrahams, a lecturer of strategic communication at Stanford Graduate School of Business, talks with experts about real-world strategies for better communication.
- The Internal Comms Podcast — Katie Macaulay interviews industry leaders on building effective internal communications.
- Workplace Stories — A podcast from RedThread Research covering culture, leadership and employee experience.
Social media, marketing and digital strategy
- Savvy Social Podcast — Andréa Jones demystifies social media for entrepreneurs and comms pros alike.
- Social Pros Podcast — This long-running podcast owned by Convince & Convert has a deep archive of real talk from real social media pros revealing how they brought some of the most recognizable campaigns together.
- The Amy Porterfield Show — Amy Porterfield delivers no-nonsense strategies for digital growth and online marketing featuring input from experts, leaders and unexpected entrepreneurs.
- Marketing Over Coffee — John Wall and Christopher Penn chat about everything marketing centric from email to AI — over coffee.
- Campaign Chemistry — Host Luz Corona and guests offer behind-the-scenes looks at agency-client relationships and creative work.
Leadership and professional development
- Lead With That — From the Center for Creative Leadership, this show extracts leadership lessons from current events and pop culture.
- The Insightful Leader — A long-running latest research and ideas from the faculty of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
- HBR IdeaCast — Harvard Business Review brings you conversations with today’s top thinkers in management and strategy.
- The Look & Sound of Leadership — Executive coach Tom Henschel offers tactical advice to sharpen your leadership presence.
Media, journalism and public affairs
- On the Media — This Peabody-winning podcast hosted by Brooke Gladstone & Micah Loewinger examines the press, public narratives and free speech.
- The Press Box — Bryan Curtis and David Shoemaker unpack major media stories across news, sports and culture.
- Pod Save the People — DeRay Mckesson explores the intersections of news, culture and social justice.
- The Weeds — A deep-dive policy show from Vox that untangles the impact of legislative and political decisions.
- Recode Media — Peter Kafka tackles the convergence of tech, media, and business.
Emerging technology
- TechMagic with Cathy Hackl — A futurist helps listeners navigate the future and make sense of today’s rapid technological change.
- Emerging Tech Unpacked — Hosted by Lucy Lin, this show unpacks emerging tech with a focus on women leaders in STEM.
- Uncanny Valley — WIRED’s flagship podcast on the latest in tech, AI, and the weirdness of modern innovation.
- Emerging Tech Horizons — Dr. Arun Seraphin explores defense and national security tech innovations.
Grammar and writing
- Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing — Hosted by Mignon Fogarty, this classic podcast makes tricky grammar rules funny and easy to remember. Note: Mignon teaches for us here at Ragan and PR Daily, but that’s not why she’s on the list. The podcast really is that good.
- Learning English Grammar — BBC’s bite-sized grammar refreshers are perfect for a quick brush-up.
- A Way with Words — A wildly entertaining and extremely long-running call-in show about language, etymology, and how we actually use words.
- Everyday Grammar — From Voice of America, this one tackles English grammar in a casual, everyday context.
Fun and informative podcasts for comms pros
- Lingthusiasm — Linguists Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne take an accessible approach to revealing why we communicate the way we do, from internet memes to patterns you didn’t realize you use every day.
- Code Switch — NPR’s podcast hosted by journalists of color who talk about how race affects communications, politics, pop culture, history and more, all with empathy and humor.
- You’re Wrong About — Journalists re-examine misunderstood cultural moments with sharp wit and surprising empathy.
- Side Hustle Pro — Working on something outside of work? Learn from host Nicaila Matthews Okome, the “Side Hustle Pro,” as she spotlights Black women entrepreneurs who have scaled from side hustle to profitable business.
- Everything Is Alive — Imagine a can of soda with existential angst. This unscripted show brings inanimate objects to life and makes it weirdly moving.
- Decoder Ring — Hosted by Willa Paskin, Slate’s cultural mystery show explains how weird obsessions take root.
- The Moth — True personal stories told live—raw, funny, heartbreaking and utterly human, with an archive that dates back to 1997.
Did we miss your go-to listen? Comment or tag us with your favorite. And don’t forget: every great comms pro should be part strategist, part sponge and part human B.S. detector — and podcasts help with at least two of those.
Jess! Thank you so much!
Hi,
You definitely want to include Jen Berson’s “Pitching Powerhouse” Pod!
It’s packed with great tips from the founder of the successful agency Jeneration PR and the PR Agency’s Go-To Resource for top PR Education Jeneration Academy.