Rnz: The Podcast Hour

If you could eat anything at all...anything...what would your dream meal be?! It's the simple question that British comedians Ed Gamble and James Acaster pose to their guests in 'Off Menu', as they ask diners at their imaginary restaurant to choose their favourite starter, main, side dish, drink and dessert. James Acaster and Ed Gamble speak to Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge on the 'Off Menu' podcast, produced by Plosive Productions.

Baltimore in Maryland (Population: 611,000) is the birthplace of baseballer Babe Ruth and of the US national anthem 'The Star Spangled Banner'. It's a historic port and manufacturing centre, with more heritage buildings per capita than any other US city. But Baltimore's also got an unwanted reputation for crime, drugs and violence. 'Out Of The Blocks' started up as a short audio project 6 years ago: an experiment to collect stories by chance, and to capture the distinctive sounds of individual city blocks. We play some of an award-winning episode of the show called 2100 Edmondson Avenue and speak to host and creator Aaron Henkin, who makes the show with photographer and musician Wendel Patrick.

You encounter a rude shop assistant, there are fireworks in your neighbourhood at what is quite clearly the wrong time of the year, or the parking space you had your eye on is lost because somebody cuts in front of you...have you ever let yourself stew on something?! Going into a bit of a downward spiral is the theme of a recent story called 'The King and I' by Natalie Kestecher on the BBC's 'Short Cuts', produced by Eleanor McDowall and presented by Josie Long (a Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4).

'Switched On Pop' goes deep on some of today's biggest hits, with musicologist Nate Sloan and songwriter Charlie Harding joined by a musical guest. We share a couple of clips: one (with guest K.Flay) about Ariana Grande's 2016 hit 'Into You' and the other where Janelle Monáe's hit "Make Me Feel" is dissected with with guest Lizzo.

Some people worry that technology could be changing the way we read. So are we all becoming skimmers and headline grasping multi-taskers, losing our ability to concentrate on a long form article, or to read a whole book?! It's a topic tech journo Manoush Zomorodi gets into in the IRL podcast from Mozilla, in an episode called 'TL;DR' (an acronym for Too Long; Didn't Read) with journalist and author Derek Thompson, Ernie Smith of Tedium, and librarian Nancy Pearl.

The English language is full of weird and wonderful words and 'The Allusionist' (Radiotopia) delights in finding the stories behind them and discovering how we're using language today. We share some of episode called 'Yes, As In' that speaks to people with unusual names, and chat to host Helen Zaltzman about her podcasting past, and what it's like to take the show on the road (she's in New Zealand next week for 3 live shows).

Getting to grips with language in 'The Allusionist', the 'IRL' podcast asks how technology's changing the way we read, and 'Switched On Pop' goes deep on today's biggest pop hits.

It's a far out true story featuring New Age thinking, The Space Race, dream telepathy, the Grateful Dead, and ESP. With the world living under the threat of nuclear attack, the idea was to bypass Cold War diplomats and the censors and link up people in America and Russia using two-way satellite link-ups called "Spacebridges".

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward by the American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft is a story that only got published after his death. Now it gets a modern makeover 90-odd years after it was written and gets re-told like a true crime podcast, using conventions listeners will be familiar with from shows like Serial and S-Town.

In 'Chat 10 Looks 3' two well-known Australian journalists and media personalities- Leigh Sales and Annabel Crabb- share their friendship, and details of their lives outside work. We play some of Episode 80 of Chat 10 Looks 3 called The Frump Nightie, with Annabel Crabb about to head off to a party and Leigh Sales wearing that well known item of clothing, the Frump Nightie!

Twenty Thousand Hertz is the highest frequency the human ear can hear. It's also the name of a podcast for anyone who's interested in why things sound the way they do. Host Dallas Taylor's a sound designer and studio engineer who mixes TV shows, video games, and films. And each episode takes you "behind the world's most recognisable and interesting sounds", so its back catalog of 60-plus episodes covers topics like movie trailers, Siri, muzak, ASMR, and noise pollution. We share a few examples about cartoon sound effects, sonic branding, and sounds in space.

Stories in sound from Twenty Thousand Hertz, broadcasting banter from Chat 10 Looks 3, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, and a story of DIY alternative diplomacy in Spacebridge.

The US talkshow host Conan O'Brien worked as a comedy writer for Saturday Night Live and on The Simpsons before getting his own show back in 1993. In November he started his podcast 'Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend' and we play some of his interview with the actor, jazz musician, and Renaissance Man, Jeff Goldblum. 'Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend' is produced by Sona Movsesian and Matt Gourley, and thanks to Matt and Adam Sachs for helping us to share it.

RNZ colleague Kim recommended a podcast she's enjoying called Paname. All about Paris, it uncovers the city's hidden histories, exploring all manner of strange and interesting stuff about the French capital, and the people who have lived there. The show's made by Amber Minogue who's from England but who's lived in Paris for the past 18 years. We play some of Episode 7 of Paname called La Guillotine.

It began as a bit of a joke. The writer and journalist Jon Mooalem started recording the walks he took near his home on a wooded island in the north western US. All you can hear on his podcast 'Walking' is the sound of his footsteps, and his breathing (plus the odd ad). But with some industry buzz and new listeners finding the show, people have started looking for meanings in what he's doing. Is 'Walking' some kind of mindfulness tool? Or with Jon's interest in nature, is it a coded environmental message? We speak to Jon Mooalem to find out.

His children's books have sold more than 25 million copies in just 10 years. As well as being a writer, he's an actor, comedian, talent show judge, and a long-distance swimmer: so is there anything that David Walliams can't do?! Well now he can add 'podcaster' to his CV too, with 'David Walliams' Marvellous Musical Podcast' from Classic FM.

Crew members on giant container ships crossing the world are singing karaoke to combat homesickness and loneliness. Richard Scott checks out a recent BBC programme that allows listeners rare access to one of these super-sized ships – and the sounds overheard onboard.

Karaoke battles on giant container ships, David Walliams wants to get more kids into classical music, a show that's just one guy going for a walk, a Parisian podcast telling the French capital's hidden histories, and talk show host Conan O' Brien chats to some of the biggest names in showbiz to see if they'll be his friend.

From the outside, it looked like the perfect marriage. Dan was an Ivy League-trained lawyer and academic who seemed to be on the fast track to success when he met Wendi, another bright and accomplished lawyer with aspirations to write a novel. The couple married, moved to Florida, and had children. But then things started going wrong: Wendi moved out with the kids while Dan was away at a conference, they got divorced, and things turned nasty. Then one of them ended up dead, murdered at their own home. 'Over My Dead Body' from Wondery puts journalist and writer Matthew Shaer on the trail to find out what really happened after the couple's break-up. We play some of Episode 1 of Over My Dead Body called The Husband.

Long, long ago, in a time before bagless vacuum cleaners and Marie Kondo, sweeping with a brush was the best way we had to tidy up the places we work, rest, and play. To this day, some people still derive pleasure from the simple act of using a brush or a broom. And perhaps because sweeping is such an everyday, commonplace activity it's got symbolic, even spiritual, meanings attached to it in many cultures too. All this gets explored by host and poet Imtiaz Dharker in a BBC doco called 'Sweeping The World' produced by Emma-Louise Williams, a Loftus Media production for the BBC World Service (discovered via The Documentary Podcast from the BBC).