On Friday evening, iHeartMedia held its inaugural iHeartRadio Podcast Awards ceremony, and The Daily Wire’s own “The Ben Shapiro Show” took home the award for Best News Podcast.
Hosted by syndicated columnist, New York Times bestselling author, and Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro, “The Ben Shapiro Show” is the largest conservative news podcast in America and is now syndicated in top markets around the country. Shapiro’s show was one of six finalists, along with “Pod Save America,” “Today Explained, “The Daily,” “Caliphate,” and “Up First.”
“This is really a testament to our audience, which is the best and most supportive in the business,” said Daily Wire co-founder and “Ben Shapiro Show” executive producer Jeremy Boreing.
The team behind “The Ben Shapiro Show” includes Producer Senia Villarreal, Senior Producer Jonathan Hay, Supervising Producer Mathis Glover, Technical Producer Austin Stephens, Editor Adam Sayovitz, Audio Producer Mike Coromina, Hair and Makeup Specialist Jesua Olvera, and Production Assistant Nick Sheehan.
The awards ceremony Friday was the first of what will be an annual awards show produced by iHeartMedia. The ceremony featured 21 categories of podcasts, including Podcast of the Year (winner: “Slow Burn”), Best Business Podcast (“RISE Podcast”), Best Comedy Podcast (“The Joe Rogan Experience”), Best Crime Podcast (“Up And Vanished”), Best Food Podcast (“Sips, Suds, & Smokes”), and Best Entertainment TV Podcast (“Whine Down with Jana Kramer”). In addition to announcing the winners of the diverse podcast categories, iHeartMedia honored NPR as a “pioneer” in the podcast industry and producer Marc Smerling as a “podcast innovator.”
Below is the complete list of categories, nominees, and winners:
Podcast of the Year
- “Atlanta Monster”
- “The Daily”
- “Dirty John”
- “The Habitat”
- “Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History”
- “The Joe Rogan Experience”
- “Radiolab”
- “Serial”
- “Slow Burn”- WINNER
- “Stuff You Should Know”
Best Business Podcast
- “Business Unusual with Barbara Corcoran”
- “Business Wars”
- “The GaryVee Audio Experience”
- “How I Built This with Guy Raz”
- “Planet Money”
- “RISE Podcast” – WINNER
Best Comedy Podcast
- “2 Dope Queens”
- “Anna Faris Is Unqualified”
- “The Brooklyn Boys Podcast”
- “Monday Morning Podcast”
- “The Joe Rogan Experience” – WINNER
- “WTF with Marc Maron”
Best Crime Podcast
- “Atlanta Monster”
- “Crimetown”
- “Criminal”
- “Dirty John”
- “In The Dark”
- “Up And Vanished” – WINNER
Best Food Podcast
- “Burnt Toast”
- “Gastropod”
- “House of Carbs”
- “The Kitchen Sisters Present”
- “Sips, Suds, & Smokes” – WINNER
- “The Sporkful”
Best Entertainment TV Podcast
- “Bachelor Party”
- “Inside Jaws”
- “Movie Crush”
- “Pop Culture Happy Hour”
- “Whine Down with Jana Kramer” – WINNER
- “You Must Remember This”
Best Curiosity Podcast
- “99% Invisible”
- “Radiolab”
- “Revisionist History”
- “StarTalk Radio”
- “Stuff To Blow Your Mind”
- “Stuff You Should Know” – WINNER
Best Health & Fitness Podcast
- “10% Happier with Dan Harris”
- “Almost 30 Podcast”
- “The goop Podcast”
- “Mental Illness Happy Hour”
- “Sleep With Me” – WINNER
- “TEDTalks Health”
Best History Podcast:
- “Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History” – WINNER
- “Lore”
- “Revisionist History”
- “The RFK Tapes”
- “Slow Burn”
- “Stuff You Missed in History Class”
Best Kids & Family Podcast:
- “Pants on Fire”
- “Reading With Your Kids”
- “Stories Podcast”
- “Story Pirates”
- “Wow in the World” – WINNER
- “Young Ben Franklin”
Best LGBTQ Podcast:
- “Dumb, Gay Politics”
- “Food 4 Thot”
- “Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness” – WINNER
- “The Heart”
- “Nancy”
- “Throwing Shade”
Most Bingeable Podcast:
- “Atlanta Monster”
- “Dr. Death” – WINNER
- “Serial”
- “Slow Burn”
- “Stuff You Should Know”
- “This American Life”
Best Multicultural Podcast:
- “2 Dope Queens”
- “The Breakfast Club” – WINNER
- “Latina Rebels Radio”
- “The Nod”
- “Radio Ambulante”
- “The Read”
Best Music Podcast:
- “All Songs Considered”
- “Bobbycast” – WINNER
- “Cocaine & Rhinestones: The History of Country Music”
- “Disgraceland”
- “Song Exploder”
- “Turned Up”
Best News Podcast:
- “The Ben Shapiro Show” – WINNER
- “Caliphate”
- “The Daily”
- “Pod Save America”
- “Today, Explained”
- “Up First”
Best Scripted Podcast:
- “A Very Fatal Murder”
- “Alice Isn’t Dead”
- “The Control Group”
- “Mission To Zyxx”
- “Welcome to Night Vale”
- “Wolverine: The Long Night” – WINNER
Best Sports Podcast:
- “30 For 30 Podcasts”
- “Against All Odds with Cousin Sal”
- “The Bill Simmons Podcast”
- “Footballers: Fantasy Football Podcast” – WINNER
- “The Herd with Colin Cowherd”
- “Pardon My Take”
Best Science & Tech Podcast:
- “Crazy/Genius”
- “WSJ The future of Everything”
- “Note to Self”
- “Recode Decode, hosted by Kara Swisher”
- “Reply All” – WINNER
- “TechStuff”
Breakout Podcast:
- “Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard” – WINNER
- “Atlanta Monster”
- “Dirty John”
- “Dr. Death”
- “Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness”
- “Happy Face”
- “The Habitat”
- “Sandra”
- “Slow Burn”
- “The Wilderness”
Best Branded Podcast:
- “#LipStories” (Sephora)
- “Closer than They Appear” (Jetty)
- “DTR – The Official Tinder Podcast” (Tinder) – WINNER
- “The Future According to Now” (Fidelity Investments)
- “Hackable?” (McAfee)
- “Inside Trader Joe’s” (Trader Joe’s)
- “IRL: Online Life Is Real Life” (Mozilla)
- “Spit” (23&Me)
- “Trained” (NIKE)
- “You Can’t Make this up” (Netflix)
Best Social Impact Podcast:
- “Ear Hustle” – WINNER
- “Impact Boom”
- “On Being”
- “Stanford Social Innovation Review”
- “Tiny Spark”
- “Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom”
Podcast Pioneer Award: NPR
Podcast Innovator Award: Marc Smerling