The best podcasts of 2024: Hysterical, Heaven’s Helpline, and Murder in the Hollywood Hills

While politics consumed a decent chunk of the airwaves in the run up to the US election, the beauty of this medium is its versatility.

The beauty of the podcast medium is its versatility. Picture: istock

This was the year that — in my view — podcasts emerged as a genuine political force. For a long time, podcasts’ pop-culture adjacency has meant they’re not always taken as seriously as traditional media. But podcasts are an intimate medium. Creators are quite literally in someone’s ears, with them when they’re cooking or driving or cleaning the house or even falling asleep. And podcasts have a unique ability to attract a loyal and engaged audience — and that is why podcasts played such a significant role in the recent US election, in particular. Name another time the words “Call Her Daddy” featured so prominently in the democratic discourse – I’ll wait. But while politics consumed a decent chunk of the airwaves in the run up to the US election, the beauty of this medium is its versatility, and a stack of wonderful new series and investigations were released in 2024. Here are my favourites:

We Live Here Now

The Atlantic

 

What do you do when the grieving mother of a killed January 6 rioter moves into the house next door? You make a podcast about it. This series by The Atlantic senior editor Hanna Rosin and her podcast-producer partner Lauren Ober is compelling in its honesty, its fear, and its humanity. It’s the kind of story we’ll look to when we want to understand the ways in which democracy was challenged – and how it prevailed – in 2024.

Heaven’s Helpline

The New Zealand Herald 

 

“Follow the money”: It’s good advice for journalism, and for life. And it’s how journalist Murray Jones uncovered the darkness festering at the heart of the Mormon Church in New Zealand and beyond. Heaven’s Helpline is the product of a years-long investigation into the finances of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that led not to financial wrongdoing, but serious and far-reaching allegations of abuse. This is pure, painstaking journalism – hard, at times, to hear, but vitally necessary to listen to.

Hysterical

Pineapple Street Studios 

 

It’s a story that has everything: Erin Brockovich. Sigmund Freud. A marching band. And a possible mass hysteria event. Over seven compelling episodes, former TV producer Dan Taberski revisits the 2012 outbreak that afflicted residents of LeRoy, New York, and made national – and international – headlines. In his conversations with former students, parents, teachers, and friends, Taberski’s style is chatty and conversational, but Hysterical’s content is anything but. A must-listen for anyone fascinated by the inner – and outer – workings of the human mind.

Who Trolled Amber?

Tortoise Media

 

There’s a unique kind of pressure that comes with producing the follow-up to a smash hit but, with Who Trolled Amber?, Tortoise Media pulled it off. The production company behind one of my all-time favourite podcast investigations, Sweet Bobby, has become a genuine power player in the new media industry, and it’s driven by slow, meticulous journalism and masterful storytelling. And, in Who Trolled Amber?, every inch of that investigative nous is on display.

Murder In The Hollywood Hills

Dateline Originals

 

Only good things could come of Dateline’s decision to parlay its long history news and current affairs into true crime podcasting. And Murder In The Hollywood Hills is indeed a very good thing. This series does pretty much what it says on the tin, but with all the might of Dateline’s massive production operation behind it. Even better, it’s as good an excuse as any to spend a few hours enjoying one of the best voices in broadcasting – that belong to long-time Dateline presenter Keith Morrison.

Kristen Amiet is the producer of The Australian’s daily news podcast, The Front.