About Steadcast

Steadcast is a curated magazine of podcasts worth your time. We are not a directory and not a chart. Every show here was reviewed by a person before it earned a place, and shows that stop earning it are removed.

What we look for

We favor shows that teach — long-form conversations, narrative reporting, and deep explainers across science, history, business, philosophy, technology, health, society, and craft. We look for durability over novelty: a show earns a place because its back catalog rewards a new listener, not because it is trending this week.

What we leave out

We exclude shows that are mostly promotional, shows with no substantive back catalog, and shows whose value depends on being current rather than being good. A show can be popular and still not belong here; popularity is not a criterion.

We also leave out politics. Not because it does not matter, but because you can find it everywhere else, and a magazine that carries it becomes a magazine about it. Shows about philosophy, history and economics stay, including where those subjects touch political questions. Shows whose subject is politics itself do not.

How transcripts work

Each episode page carries the full transcript as its editorial body. Transcripts come from the show’s own published transcript where one exists, and otherwise from our own transcription. Every transcript-bearing page attributes the episode and links to the original audio. The transcript serves discovery and reading — it is not a product sold apart from the show.

Who’s behind each show

Every show here says who publishes it, and where we can establish it, how it is funded. We state the funding mechanism and nothing else — who pays for a show is a fact; what that does to its judgment is yours to weigh. Where a publisher has a stake in what it covers, we say so plainly. Where we have not established how a show is funded, we name the publisher and stop rather than guess.

How shows leave

A show that stops publishing loses its place. After six months without a new episode it moves down; after a year it comes out of the catalog. A show that starts publishing again returns to where it was. We keep a record of every removal and why, and none of it is permanent — a decision we get wrong is a decision we can undo.

Nothing is removed for going quiet over a season, and nothing is removed because our own systems failed to read its feed. Editorial lists are refreshed as they are written, and the homepage editor’s note is updated weekly.

Suggest a show

If there is a show you think belongs here, tell us: hello@steadcast.co. We read every suggestion.