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LISTEN: Left of Dial Media’s Alan Black on the Essential Listening Poll

August 19, 2025

Alan Black would like his newly-founded venture Left of Dial Media to be for podcasting what Criterion is for film.

In a world of popular podcasts like The Joe Rogan Experience, Call Her Daddy and Theo Von, Black is on a mission to champion the things that are strange, new, weird, trailblazing and genre-defying – shows that will be remembered a decade from now.

The problem is unlike film, podcasting doesn’t have a canon. That’s why he’s created the Essential Listening Poll, a rundown of the Top 100 Greatest Podcasts of all time, curated by a cross-section of leading audio makers, journalists and academics that’s been unveiled at Podcast Movement, with the support of Amazon Music.

We welcome Alan Black back to Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast to talk about discoverability, the broken economics of podcasting, and why he believes there needs to be more tastemaking in the audio space.

Read more about the Essential Listening Poll, here.

Connie Thiessen https://broadcastdialogue.com

Connie has worked coast-to-coast as a reporter, editor, anchor and host at CKNW and News 1130 in Vancouver, News 95.7 and CBC in Halifax, and CFCW Edmonton, among other stations. With a passion for music, film and community service, she led News 95.7 to a 2013 Atlantic Journalism Award and regional RTDNA award for Best Radio Newscast. More recently, she was nominated for Music Journalist of the Year at Canadian Music Week 2019. To report a typo or error please email - corrections@broadcastdialogue.com

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LISTEN: Left of Dial Media’s Alan Black on the Essential Listening Poll

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