7 Magazines (And A Presidential Candidate) That Need Podcasts

I'm always thrilled when a big name enters the podcasting fray -- it seems to add just a bit more weight to the medium. But for the much-loved pubs below, I've been waiting (and waiting) in vain.

1. Entertainment Weekly. While it appears that the magazine tried podcasting oh-so-briefly in 2006, they need a jump start. The publication's writers some of the most lucid and inventive takes on entertainment and pop culture around, and they could do the same with a podcast.

2. McSweeney's. Author Dave Eggers blew everyone away back in the late 1990s when he began publishing the achingly hip quarterly mag (or book, or CD, or whatever format seemed cooler than the last). It attracted some of the brightest writers around and included plenty of ground-breaking ideas. Instead of pouring resources into the destined-for-failure DVD pub Wholphin, McSweeney's should look to reinvent the podcast in the same way they reinvented the magazine. Please?

3. Bust. Though the women's magazine has ties to the delightfully zany Threadbanger DIY site and podcast (which I hope to review soon), it would benefit from its own podcast, too. I think the kind of smart and snarky environmental news podcast that Grist offers up every couple weeks would be the perfect model.

4. Esquire. So many options, Esquire! Do readings of all those famous stories from the magazine's heyday in the 60s and 70s. (There are still ways to milk that much-loved Gay Talese classic, "Frank Sinatra Has A Cold.") Maybe do more in-depth interviews with the folks who are part of those popular "How To Be a Better Man" and "What it Feels Like" stories. Talk with your mag's best-selling authors, like Chuck Klosterman and AJ Jacobs. I'm sure it would be a hit.

5. Men's Health. Men's Health, you are king of the health factoid, the fitness factoid, the "Eat This, Not That" factoid. Now turn those all into two-minute podcasts, and people will eat them up like so many pretzels at the bar. (Because they are healthier than the honey-roasted peanuts, dontcha know.)

6. Women's Health. Same as above.

7. Readymade. DIY+hipster+humor. That sort of trifecta that almost guarantees podcast success.

+1. Oh, and John McCain? You need a podcast, too. Obama has *four* if you include his senator podcast and the poorly-updated BarackTV. A 71-year-old trying to convince America he can connect with younger voters should put a podcast on his to-do list. Just saying.

Anyone you'd like to see?