6 Top Latine Podcasts Shifting Culture In 2022

Latines grew up in the midst of stories, conversations, and connection — aquí y allá. Some of us watched our older primas get ready for a night out, begging to stay in their room to hear them dish on all things dating, friendship, style, and music. Others eavesdropped on the adults who were catching up in the living room or squeezed in on the couch to watch “El Show de Cristina.” This helped us to become storytellers. We know how to transport others into stories with a good hook, familiar scene, hysterical characters, tasty tension, and impeccable delivery. It’s no wonder that there are now so many Latines behind the mic, podcasting in every genre and across languages. 

According to Edison Research’s 2021 Latino Podcast Listener Report, there has been a 44% growth in Latine podcast listening since the start of the pandemic. In fact, Latines who said they listened to a podcast during the past month rose from one in four in 2020 to one in three in 2022. Unsurprisingly, as the number of Latine podcast listeners grows, so does the number of Latine podcasts and podcast networks. That said, there is an abundance of shows waiting to be discovered. Covering a range of topics, like music, feminism, culture, and politics, and delivering critical analysis and hilarious discussions, our folks are using audio storytelling to shift the culture forward — and we’re here for it.

This Latine Heritage Month, we’ve teamed up with Apple Podcasts to spotlight six Latine podcasters shifting the podcast industry and la cultura.

Perreo 101 is a bilingual podcast detailing the history, analysis, musicology, and evolution of reggaeton. Growing up in Boston, Afro-Panamanian-Jamaican host La Gata always listened and loved reggaeton. In fact, when she went to college, she decided to study the genre. She took what she learned and turned it into her platform Reggaeton Con La Gata, the first bilingual femme brand that bridges academia and entertainment. On the platform, and also on her podcast Perreo 101, she amplifies Black Latines in reggaeton alongside analysis of Latinidad’s connection to white supremacy. 

We suggest starting with episodes Where Da Ladies At? and La Raza Latina is a Fairytale feat. Bad Dominicana. 

Bag Ladiez is a show all about baggage — yours, mine, and ours. Creators and hosts E and Lina are two Bronx-based Afro-Dominican women using their podcast to be vulnerable about the way the world affects them and their ability to live their truest, most authentic lives. For Bag Ladiez, being vulnerable is radical and necessary to build a more inclusive and better world. They talk about a different baggage topic each week, like intent pessimism and capitalism’s role in relationships, and offer news and political analyses, cracking hella jokes throughout. In addition to Bag Ladiez, E is a storyteller, audio producer, and artist combining her gifts to bring light to injustices in the world, while Lina is an attorney working in New York on civil rights impact litigation and an aspiring writer.

We suggest starting with episodes Can We Talk About Loneliness? and Talking Astrology with Mecca Woods.

Locatora Radio is quintessential indie podcasting in Los Angeles. Riding on six seasons of podcasting their own way, the show is all about archiving and celebrating the brilliance of women of color. Diosa and Mala blend pop culture analysis, humor, and interviews with artists and changemakers about feminism, sexual wellness, and arts and culture. Diosa is of Peruvian-Mexican descent, and Mala is a third-generation Chicana. Together, they are committed to co-creating with their community through their podcast episodes, filmmaking, educational workshops, and live events. Their next season is dropping soon as part of iHeartRadio’s My Cultura Podcast Network.

We suggest starting with episodes Capítulo 029: Mi Cuerpo, mis reglas and Capítulo 073: What’s in your bag? with the Bag Ladiez.

Canción Exploder is the Spanish-language spin-off of Hrishikesh Hirway’s hit podcast and Netflix series “Song Exploder,” where musicians take apart their songs and tell the story of how they were made. After almost four years, the show for music lovers has been made a reality for Spanish listeners by Martina Castro and her team. Artists like Bomba Estéreo, Silvana Estrada, and Jorge Drexler take us through their creative process of crafting one of their songs through each lyric, instrument, and moment of inspiration. The show is hosted by the Brooklyn-based Uruguayan-American Castro, who is also the CEO and founder of Adonde Media, a multi-lingual podcast company known for shows like Duolingo and the global community of media makers in podcasting called Podcaster@s. Castro’s hopes for Latine podcasters and listeners: more — more show experimentation, more creativity, more entertaining and interesting shows, and more money to help these stories meet people who don’t know yet that they can fall in love with podcasting. 

We suggest starting with episodes Deja and Mentiras con Cariño.

Code Switch is the podcast for fearless conversations about race, hosted by journalists of color. The show tackles race and identity with empathy and humor. It explores how identity impacts politics, pop culture, history, food, and books — and vice versa. In 2020, Apple Podcasts named Code Switch Show of the Year, and the brilliance co-hosts Shereen Marisol Meraji and Gene Demby brought to the show was a big reason why. Meraji, who is of Puerto Rican and Iranian descent, co-created, co-hosted, and co-produced Code Switch for six years until stepping down in 2021 to focus on a Harvard University Nieman Foundation fellowship, where she explored ways for public media to attract and retain Latine audiences. Currently, she is based in the Bay Area where she is teaching at UC Berkeley’s School of Journalism and is the school’s first woman tenure track faculty member specializing in audio journalism. In September, Code Switch announced that Ecuadorian-Mexican-American journalist Lori Lizarraga would be filling Meraji's shoes on the podcast following her departure.

We suggest starting with episodes Lost In Translation and E Ola Ka 'Olelo Hawai'i.

For more than a decade, Radio Ambulante has offered a sonic portrait of Latin American life with stories of love and migration, youth and politics, and environment and family. Just two years ago, Radio Ambulante evolved into a podcast production company and launched El hilo, a news podcast that offers context and depth to the most important stories from Latin America in partnership with VICE. Born in Peru and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Alarcón began his writing career as a bilingual reporter. Fun fact: He and his wife Carolina Guerrero were in a cafe in San Francisco waiting to pick up their son from school when they came up with the idea for what Radio Ambulante is today. Currently, they both head Radio Ambulante Studios. Meanwhile, Alarcón is also an assistant professor at Columbia University School of Journalism. Last year, he was named a 2021 MacArthur Fellow, an award that recognizes outstanding talent and has provided financial support to help him continue his work of chronicling the social and cultural ties that connect Spanish-speaking communities across the Americas.

We suggest starting with Radio Ambulante’s episode Hagamos esa vaina de la radio and El hilo’s Chile, un tregua por la pandemia.