Podcasts are personal. Unlike the wide public broadcast of radio, a podcast begins whenever you touch “play,” then courses through your headphones and directly into your ears. Listening to a great podcast can feel like falling into conversation with a new best friend or eavesdropping on an infatuating crush. A bad one is like sitting next to the wrong stranger on the subway. Here are 10 good ones that debuted in 2016.

Comedy

‘2 DOPE QUEENS’ Each week, the comedians and besties Phoebe Robinson and Jessica Williams — plus guests like Hannibal Buress and Ilana Glazer of “Broad City” — tear through popular culture, bantering and arguing about Tinder etiquette, being black at a Billy Joel concert and the questionable attractiveness of Lenny Kravitz (Phoebe says he’s hot; Jessica, not). Episodes are recorded at live shows in Brooklyn, then published in podcast form by WNYC.

‘WHO? WEEKLY’ A new class of barely recognizable “celebrities” has come to dominate tabloid coverage, and the hosts Bobby Finger and Lindsey Weber are here to guide you through their obscure self-promotional world. The podcast feels delightfully absurd and truly vital in the Trump era, when castoff reality stars are suddenly in the presidential sphere of power.