Podcast discovery is largely an unpleasant experience. This is no mystery to habitual listeners, but it is also becoming apparent to those who are new to podcasts.

Here is an all too common pattern:

I’ve just finished the most recent Radiolab, but this week’s This American Life hasn’t been released yet. I’m caught up on a whole host of other thought-provoking NPR favorites, but I’m still yearning for a new story or a fresh idea. I’ve been to the common podcast charts — each one different than the next, and I’ve tried to make sense of cluttered discovery tools. In the end, I’ve made no progress. I’ve tried nothing new. I’m overwhelmed by the sea of unfamiliar faces (or in this case, cover art).

After this cyclical, unfruitful search, I usually just wait for the next Radiolab.

In lieu of this inundation, I would like an easily digestible summary of the best episodes making a buzz in the community right now. What is piquing our collective interest this week?

I want to find new, invigorating shows outside of the iTunes charts, and I want to know what you’re listening to. Did you just uncover a hidden gem from a podcast with only a dozen subscribers? Could that episode be his or her big break? Essentially, I want a place where listeners can democratically discover podcasts.

We’re continuing to work on a long-term solution to the isolated listening experience here at Fireside. In the short-term, we thought we could do our part to help.

We put up a website at toptenpodcasts.com and would love for you to vote for the best episode you heard this week. We’ll tally up the votes every Sunday and publish the top ten episodes from the week. No formulas, no promoted posts, just votes.

The idea is to help the community discover fresh faces in podcasting, and hopefully this is a small step towards social discovery.

Let us know what you think.

Christian — from Fireside