The Pod Files - Friday 16 January 2026

 

The ‘casts -

(Notes spoken to Siri, and edited later if I remember

(Changed tactic now where starred dialogue denotes quoting from the show’s own notes

Happy Distraction - 12 January 2026: *Brucey Bonus Episode: Greatest Hits - The wait is almost over. / After nearly two and a half years, Happy Distraction is returning to your feed. Before we dive into the new stuff, we're revisiting the "Best Bits" of Season 1. Re-live the funniest moments and the best conversations as we gear up for our biggest season yet. / Inside this episode: 

• The Greatest Hits: A curated look back at the moments that started it all.

• The Vault: We've included never-before-heard outtakes and behind-the-scenes chaos that didn't make the original cut.

New Episodes Coming Soon: 2026

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - 14 January 2026: delegate

StarDate - 13 January 2026: Moon and Antares

Apocalypse Radio - Season 3, Episode 1: 14 January 2026: *Intro: Earth, Again - In Episode 1 of Season 3, Mason and Will make it back to Earth and make some new friends. [It’s a new year, so here is another show I follow returning.] 

New Podcasts - 13 January 2026: *Startup CFO Insights 28° - From building investor-ready financial plans and creating winning pitch decks to understanding how data drives better decisions, Startup CFO Insights is your go-to guide to startup finance. The latest episode looks at fundraising expectations for 2026; in other episodes they break down complex financial topics into simple, practical insights you can actually use, based on real startup experience. 

The Inner Light - 14 March 2025: a podcast about George Harrison by relatively new fans. It is great that there are younger people finding the music of George and other ex-Beatles. They need to learn how to edit their show, because there’s too much of them trying to work out what to say, and a lot of uses of the word “like” - more than a dozen times in under thirty seconds. Well, I don’t need to invite them on to Pods Like Us, because they’ve told us more in this than they needed to about themselves. When they mention the song Cheer Down from the Lethal Weapon 2 soundtrack, I know it wasn’t featured on an actual George Harrison album, as there was no album at that time that it could have gone onto. After the 1987 album Cloud Nine, there wasn’t another studio album by George until Brainwashed came out, and that was after George died many years later. This is going to sound hypocritical perhaps, but a lot of this they could have actually have made individual episodes with guests joining them to discuss the subjects. “Overlooked” not “underlooked” - one is a real word and the other one isn’t. I’m being very negative here. I’m sorry, but I’m trying to be constructive. 

Daily Tips That May or May Not Help You - season 3 episode 33: 14 January 2026: A Tip For Starting Even When It's Uncomfortable (w/ Emily Griminger) - Emily Griminger shares why moving forward matters more than waiting for everything to be perfect. Launching something "good enough" beats getting stuck in endless refinement. Progress requires letting go of the small details that only you notice. As she puts it, "Done is better than Perfect." / Emily Griminger is the founder of Semmi, a female-founded brand changing the way we think about bathroom essentials. She spent the last 9 years in Financial Services in banking and lending before officially working on Semmi full time in May 2025. She's building Semmi to make everyday routines feel more elevated, approachable, and a lot less taboo. https://www.getsemmi.com/ 

Breaker Whiskey - Episode 277:  14 January 2026: From Rusty (Listener Message)

The Stupid History Minute - 14 January 2026: Dolphins - Guest Host: Cam Sully from The Jacked Up Review Podcast

Disability Daily Podcast - episode 14: 14 January 2026: *January 14: Clarence Carter - Today we celebrate blind American musician and singer-songwriter Clarence Carter.

New Podcasts - 13 January 2026: *Code Story: Insights from Startup Tech Leaders - The Code Story podcast is releasing a new Season starting today, chock full of amazing episodes and interviews with the founders and builders themselves - telling us about their tech, their products... and their stories. / Tune in for episode one today, with Dylan Ratcliffe of Overmind.

Happy Place - series 9 episode 2: 1 March 2021: *Rhonda Byrne - Do you believe the thoughts in your head without question? Rhonda Byrne explores why you shouldn't believe any of your negative thoughts, because none of them are true. In this chat with Fearne, the iconic author of The Secret explains why embracing your inner child might just be the key to everlasting happiness. / If you feel ready to remove all negative thoughts from your life, Rhonda's latest book, The Greatest Secret, is out now.

BirdNote Daily - 15 August 2023: *What's Behind Those Lustrous Red Feathers? - Male Northern Cardinals, Scarlet Tanagers, and House Finches all have striking red plumage that's thought to play a role in attracting mates. Males with the brightest red feathering tend to have the best luck with the females. Scientists think that a male's redness signals to females that he has just what it takes to help produce superior offspring. But just because a male is a brilliant shade of red... does that mean he's stronger or more fit than his duller-colored competitors? It might be so, but it's complicated...

Daily Dad Jokes - 2 August 2025

Odd One Out - 7 January 2026: Engineer or Chef?

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - 15 January 2026: cloying

StarDate - 14 January 2026: Stormy Future?

Enzology - season 1 episode 5: 4 October 2012: *Frenzy (1978-1979) - The band gets fired up after the Luton session and records 'I See Red' with whiz-kid producer David Tickle; they lose the plot by recording the Frenzy album with Jimi Hendrix's tea boy; and get fired up again by losing gear in a fire, one day before their Nambassa Festival performance in NZ. / Songs in this programme include 'Carried Away', 'Next Exit', 'I See Red', 'Give It A Whirl', ‘Stuff And Nonsense', 'True Colours' plus rarities 'Evelyn', 'Up Against A Brick Wall' and others. / Album Trivia: Frenzy - 

• Producer John Leckie visited Split Enz while they were rehearsing at the Old Mill Studio in Devon and was interested in producing Frenzy. Mallory Earl ended up with the job, while Leckie went on to produce The Stone Rose's debut album and Radiohead's The Bends.

• A jammed song from the Old Mill House sessions, 'Who's Got The Biggest Bumhole of Us All', was considered unsuitable for the album. It was also unsuitable for airing in Enzology!

• Eddie Rayner: "Tim and I had a to-do during the making of that record. I told him to f... off, he told me to f...ing write my own singles then. He left for three or four days and we carried on without him."

• The lyrics in 'Abu Dhabi', which take a swipe at "greedy westerners" and "oil barons", weren't printed on the album's lyric sheet in case they caused offence to rich people or were considered racist.

•The vocals were also mixed low.

• The album cover was painted by Raewyn Turner, the band's lighting operator and Eddie's partner at the time.

• Due to the original version of the album sounding "like it was produced in a milk shake machine", Frenzy was completely remixed by Eddie in 1981 for its debut release in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K.

• Side 1 contained songs from the Mallory Earl sessions, plus the Tickle-produced ' See Red'. Side 2 used mainly Luton recordings. The northern hemisphere version had the same album cover as the original Australasian LP.

• Mal Green had a hard time kicking the bass drum fast enough during rehearsals for 'I See Red'. He felt so paranoid about it, he thought he might get sacked from the band.

  [note: one clip I’ve placed here is a song demo that with different lyrics would become Catherine Wheel by Neil Finn’s band Crowded House many years later.] 

BirdNote Daily - 16 Aug 2023: *Lilli Holden on the Ecology of Vacant Lots - In her grandmother's neighborhood in Chicago, Lilli Holden made an early connection with the outdoors by playing in a vacant lot with a large old tree. Now an emerging environmental leader in Chicago, Lilli has a different perspective on vacant lots, many of which were properties destroyed in the city's 1968 riots that were never rebuilt due to a lack of investment in Black communities. Because they're such a big part of the landscape in Black communities on the West and Southside, Lilli wants to rethink how vacant lots fit into the ecology of these economically-challenged neighbourhoods.

Sounds Profitable - 13 January 2026: *SuperAwesome Acquires Starglow, Deloitte's Podcasting Predictions, & More - This week in the business of podcasting: Deloitte's 2026 predictions for podcasting, seeking syndication with content creators, and SuperAwesome acquires Starglow Media.

Science Quickly - 18 Mar 2015: *Smoke Makes Twisters More Likely to Strike - Smoke wafting north from the Gulf of Mexico worsened the already stormy weather brewing across the southeastern U.S. on April 27, 2011. Julia Rosen reports. 

MinuteEarth - 8 May 2025: *Why Are Adults So Bad At New Languages?

Podnews Daily - 13 January 2026: *Simplify goes indie - and three senior leadership hires for Goalhanger

Phase Hero - 15 January 2026: Brandon, Jenna, Aaron and Jamie presenting. “All four Avengers Doomsday teaser trailers are now available.” “These aren’t even teasers, they are clues.” So many theories. Jamie asks when we will get a Spider-Man 4 trailer? Mention of the Chris Claremont interview where he said that Famke Janssen is in Avengers Doomsday. Ryan Coogler says that his next project after the X-Files reboot is going to be Black Panther 3. Colman Domingo talked with Kevin Feige. Blade cancellation is only a rumour. Brad Winterbaum announcing things for Marvel Television on the Marvel Official Oodcast. Daredevil Born Again season two. VisionQuest “is about fathers and sons.” Sebastian Stan is definitely portraying Harvey Dent in The Batman Part 2. James Gunn confirmed that Mr Miracle series is a part of DC canon. Superman and Homelander fighting in a DC comic coming soon. Tom Cruise filmed a lightsaber fight sequence for Star Wars: Starfighter. New characters for Disney’s Galaxy’s Edge ride. Brandon’s non-spoiler review of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. 

Daily Tips That May or May Not Help You - season 3 episode 34: 15 January 2026: *A Tip For Refreshing Your Workspace - Feeling stuck in your work routine? Try relocating your portable setup-laptop, monitor, and all-to a different spot in your home. A fresh view and new background can spark creativity and shake up your day. No heavy lifting required.

The Stupid History Minute - 15 January 2026: The Stupid History of Quilts with Guest Host: Jill ChaCha from Well, That's Interesting

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - 16 January 2026: vendetta

StarDate - 15 January 2026: Informative Beads

BirdNote Daily - 17 August 2023: *Bellbirds Turn It Up to 11 - The four species of South American bellbirds can make a real racket, including this Bearded Bellbird. Hidden in the tree canopy, males cannot see one another as they sing - but they sure can hear each other! Their ear-splitting songs carry over long distances. The loudest of the species is the White Bellbird, reaching an ear-splitting 125 decibels - louder than a rock concert! It's the loudest bird song ever documented.

The Official Marvel Podcast - 14 January 2026: *2026 Marvel Television & Animation Preview - It's a brand new year, and with it comes an exciting slate of Marvel Television series! Join us as we sit down with Brad Winderbaum, Marvel Studios' Head of Television, Streaming & Animation, for the latest updates on Marvel Television's Wonder Man, Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, VisionQuest, and more. Plus, we celebrate the debut of Wonder Man by revisiting Earth's Mightiest Heroes' legendary West Coast adventures with Marvel Comics Associate Editor Danny Khazem. And finally, we dive into the newest IRON MAN comic book series with its writer, Joshua Williamson. 

Daily Shower Thoughts - 23 October 2025

7 Good Minutes - 29 October 2025: *Letting Go of Yesterday with Self-Kindness: A Fresh Start - Discover how self-kindness becomes your most powerful tool for releasing yesterday's mistakes and creating authentic fresh starts. / Learn practical steps for letting go with compassion while honouring both your humanity and your potential for growth.

Daily Life Pro Tips - 14 November 2025

The Slowdown - episode 1247: 26 November 2024: Today's poem is A Garden and a Street by Teresa Cader.

Womanica - 22 June 2021: Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon

Daily Facts - 12 November 2025 

5 Good News Stories - 8 June 2025: *Jet Airbnb, Rubik's Cube Robot, and Cat Quinceañera - Johnny Mac shares five uplifting news stories. / A man converts a 1970s private jet into an Airbnb in Wales. Purdue students create a robot that solves a Rubik's Cube in just 0.103 seconds. Jennifer discovers the only known prototype of the first Chinese typewriter in her basement, which is acquired by Stanford University. A cat named Holly Marie Gonzalez celebrates a quinceañera, helping to raise funds for an animal rescue shelter. Lastly, Oklahoma City police deal with an escaped cow causing a traffic delay on Interstate 40.

7 Good Minutes - 29 October 2025: 7 Good Minutes: Extra - The gentleness you offer yourself...

The Daily Poem - 24 October 2025: *The Wounded Dancer and the Moonlit Dirge: A Tragic Ballet of Shadows and Scars - Today's poem is about Hurt in the style of Federico García Lorca. / Poems generated from OpenAl ChatGPT API with proprietary prompts. / This podcast is produced by Klassic Studios. 

Literally! With Rob Lowe - episode 298: 15 January 2026: Kenny Chesney: Every Rut of Every Highway  - Singer, writer, and Country Music Hall of Fame member Kenny Chesney joins Rob Lowe to discuss seeing each other in New Orleans, the importance of gratitude, how a failed courtship led him to songwriting, why he decided to write a memoir, life on the road, how "The Boys of Fall" reinvigorated his creativity, and much more. Kenny's memoir, "Heart Life Music," is available now.

The Puzzler with AJ Jacobs - 10 June 2025:  "Pop's Music" w/Margot Pliska

The Puzzler with AJ Jacobs - 11 June 2025: "Stock Phrases" w/Jasper Jacobs