TED Radio Hour

TED talks changed how ideas spread, and TED Radio Hour takes those talks and builds something richer around them. Host Manoush Zomorodi selects several TED speakers around a common theme and weaves their ideas together into hour-long episodes that feel more cohesive than watching the individual talks would. The show has been running since 2012, with 378 episodes covering themes like creativity, resilience, artificial intelligence, and the future of work. Each episode runs about 50 minutes and features extended interviews with the speakers that go well beyond the 18-minute stage format. You hear the thinking behind the talk, the doubts, the research that did not make the final cut. What makes TED Radio Hour work as a knowledge podcast is the curation. A single episode might connect a neuroscientist, an architect, and a social worker around a shared idea, revealing connections that none of them would have drawn individually. Zomorodi and previous hosts Guy Raz and Alison Stewart guide these conversations with a steady hand, keeping the focus on ideas rather than personalities. The show holds a 4.3-star rating from over 20,000 reviews. NPR's production quality is evident throughout, with clean audio and thoughtful editing. It is particularly good if you enjoy TED talks but wish they went deeper. The format gives speakers room to breathe, and the thematic structure means you come away with a more complete understanding than any single talk could provide.