EarBuds Podcast Collective

EarBuds Podcast Collective is a weekly podcast-recommendation newsletter founded by Arielle Nissenblatt in 2017, now in its eighth year of continuous publication. The hook is the format: every week's email is themed (e.g. "podcasts about food," "episodes about loss") and curated by a different volunteer — anyone can sign up to curate a future week — with five episode recommendations and a brief intro from that week's guest curator.

Each edition is thoughtfully assembled by podcast lovers, creators, journalists, and industry experts in a community-driven initiative made by people, not AI algorithms. There are also topic-specific spinoff newsletters for History and Kids content, plus a podcast "Feedback with EarBuds" that complements the recommendations.

Useful for: discovering shows outside your usual algorithmic feed, finding episodes (not just shows) on a specific theme, and seeing what working podcasters and audio enthusiasts are listening to. Less useful for: tactical podcast-creator advice or industry news — this is a listener-oriented publication, not a how-to-make-a-show resource.

The community aspect is part of the appeal — curators are often working in audio themselves, so reading EarBuds for a year is also a soft way to keep tabs on who's active and recommending what. Founder Arielle Nissenblatt is also a well-known industry connector in her own right, which adds context to the curatorial choices.