Three Ear-Worthy Podcasts For The Weekend

In this article, we offer three ear-worthy podcasts that cover deepfakes causing human damage, survivors of a devastating fire, and crime solvers who use TikTok as their forensics tool.

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Levittown is A real-life horror story for the AI generation, this six-part series from Bloomberg, Kaleidoscope and iHeart Podcasts sees reporters Olivia Carville and Margi Murphy take listeners from quiet suburbs of New York to as far as New Zealand and into the darkest corners of the Internet -- where tech moves faster than the law, and it’s up to everyday people to hold back a rising tide of explicit deepfakes.

Dozens of recent high-school graduates are finding out that their photos have been scraped from their social media accounts, manipulated and posted to a porn website.

Who would have done this? And can the women get the images taken down? Told there isn’t much the police or anyone else can do, they set out to catch whoever did this.

Along the way, they get some help from a global band of investigators and hackers who could take risks that police and prosecutors sometimes couldn't.

Check out Levittown. There's no telling which town they could come to next. This podcast has to be good. It took three large companies to develop and produce it.

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The Eaton Fire was a highly destructive wildfire in Los Angeles County, Southern California. The fire began on the evening of January 7, 2025, in the Eaton Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains, and was driven by powerful Santa Ana winds into foothill communities, particularly Altadena. The fire killed at least 17 people and destroyed more than 9,000 buildings, becoming the fifth deadliest and the second most destructive wildfire in California history.

To Altadena, With Love is a five-part series on resilience and rebuilding blends history, education, and personal stories to highlight Altadena’s legacy and the devastating impact of the Eaton Fire in January.

Through firsthand accounts, the show explores the fight to rebuild not just homes but a community that has survived against all odds. Created and produced by Black Information Network News Anchor Mimi Brown, this series honors the people who built this community, the history they fought to preserve and the future they refuse to let go of. Tune in Wednesdays.

“Most people only learned about Altadena after the fire, but its history was rich long before the flames,” Brown says. “This podcast isn’t just about what was lost — it’s about what must be remembered. Because even after the news cycle moves on, this community’s story will still matter.”

The producers say To Altadena, With Love will also showcase how the fire devastated homes and families while also highlighting the courage and determination of Altadena’s residents as they fight to rebuild their community.

In episode one, titled “The Fire That Changed Everything,” Brown will recount her personal experience evacuating during the fire and learning about its devastating impact on Altadena. Listeners will also hear stories from survivors like Edgar Johnson, a longtime resident who tried to fight the fire with a garden hose before realizing he had to flee, and 81-year-old Willie Johnson, who discovered the body of his neighbor who stayed behind to defend his home and tragically didn’t survive.

“We are honored to share the stories of the people of Altadena — stories of strength, loss and the incredible resilience that shapes the community,” says BIN President Tony Coles. “This series is a chance to not only educate listeners about the impact of the wildfires, but to celebrate the history and spirit of Altadena as it rises from the ashes.”

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This is just another in a long, long line of true-crime podcasts. After 19-year-old Daisy De La O was murdered outside her Compton apartment, her friends and family looked to authorities to make an arrest.

In My Friend Daisy, when that didn’t happen, they took matters into their own hands -- with TikTok as their secret weapon. From London Audio, iHeartRadio and executive producer Paris Hilton, My Friend Daisy is a ten-part investigative series diving deep into the murder investigation and its fallout, exposing what went wrong, how it went viral and why American communities are turning to social media to find justice.

Hosted and written by journalist Jenn Swann, My Friend Daisy launched on March 26. Tune in Wednesdays.