Radio Rental - Podcast Rankings and reviews

I have shuffled through many-a-true crime/spooky stories podcasts and definitely haven’t found anything that compares to Radio Rental!
It’s the only podcast that I can proudly say I binge listen to. I LOVE the production and how the scary stories are told in a very cinematic way. The sound design is next level spooky and really adds to the ambiance of the creepy tales.
Terry Carnation is the best host too. I love hearing Rainn Wilson’s voice in between the stories. It brings me back to the calming sensations I get when watching my favorite comfort show (which I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about) and really helps add a touch of humor to otherwise quite freaky personal stories.

I was really sad the other day when I went to see which “unplayed” episodes I had left and saw that there were only three left! Ahh! What will I do until there are more stories?! Re-listen to them all again, of course, but I hope you continue to come out with more of these episodes as they are just overall so well done and produced and really help make my lil nostalgic heart feel like I’m visiting a vhs movie rental store again. These episodes are truly like little movies! Love that.

Thank you so much to all who help make this podcast. I love it, Payne Lindsey, and ALL that Tenderfoot puts out into he world. Spooky hugs from Portland, Oregon! <3

I think I’m trying to set a record for how many times I listen to each episode. It is truly unreal how wild the world we live in is, and this podcast captures it so well through stories that are captivating, compelling, and creepy asFFFF. Beyond the quality of the content, the quality of the show itself is superb too, episode after episode. Cannot recommend highly enough. Thank you, Tenderfoot team, for sharing this with all of us!

This is one of my favorite podcasts I have ever listened to! It has the perfect blend of the lovable, quirky, fictional character that has made me laugh out loud (not just blow air out my nose but actual laughter) on more than one occasion, as well as chillingly captivating real-life stories ranging all the way from true crime to the supernatural. I can’t get enough of this podcast! Please keep up the great work, everyone - I’ll be listening.

I think I’ve listened to every episode AT LEAST 4-5 times. Not an exaggeration. It sets the perfect vibe for spooky storytelling. I also end up retelling a lot of these stories as if they were my own because they are so good and chilling!

Revising my earlier four-star review to reflect something that has been really not sitting right with me- the story about the homeless man entering the waxing salon made my stomach churn. Not out of fear, but something did not sit well about a story about a “demonic homeless person.” I thought way more of this show than publishing something like that, especially given the activism-oriented journalism that Payne has historically been involved in. I initially wondered if I was being too sensitive, but the truth of the matter is that homeless people are constantly dehumanized, demonized, and routinely killed by housed people in the broad light of day- this has been made especially evident by the merciless public lynching of Jordan Neely which occurred in the last 48 hours. I don’t care how bizarre or scary the story was. I am writing this because I genuinely hope the producers think twice about publishing subject matter that literally demonizes an already severely at-risk population.

I’ll start by saying that the first hand stories told by the guests are always great. Sometimes the music is a little bit much, but the stories are always really fun to listen to and most of them are strange and unpredictable. So I’d like to give them credit for sourcing great stories and interviews.
However, the “in character” portions throughout are really hard to sit through. I like Rainn Wilson but this character isn’t working. I guess it’s supposed to be funny, but it’s always cringeworthy and awkward. I end up finding myself skipping about five minutes into EVERY episode, which is a real shame because the episodes are usually only 25-30 minutes. I wondered if it was just me who couldn’t stand the Rainn Wilson segments, so I got my wife to listen. She felt the exact same way and called the Rainn Wilson parts “unlistenable” which is the perfect word. I’ve found that many times he will follow up a true crime story (many of which contain stories where people were nearly murdered or had close calls with real world criminals and rapists) with a goofy commentary like “ooh that was spooky wasn’t it?” It’s not just a little inappropriate, it completely kills the unsettling tone that the story tellers have built up.

Every now and then, especially in early episodes, Payne Lindsey would chime in and try to elaborate on some lesson or theme from each story and discuss why they mean something. I really enjoyed those, but unfortunately it seems like they gave up on doing that.

My second biggest issue, which is the case with most big podcasts, is the amount of advertisements per episode. I get that they need sponsors to maintain a level of quality, and I respect that. I usually fast forward through them anyway. But it just seems a little excessive how many ads will play during such short episodes. I’d say at least 4 minutes of each episode are just ads for other podcasts. I understand why some ads are necessary, but when Rainn Wilson is joking around for about 7-8 minutes, 4 are advertisements, and the episode itself is 30 minutes, that’s over a third of the runtime that has nothing to do with why you’re listening.

And if the ads weren’t relentless enough, sometimes Rainn Wilson will do parody ad reads for fake companies. For instance, I just listened to one where he read a fake ad for a business that dry cleans toupees or something. It would be one thing if it was unfunny but on brand, but what do toupees have to do with creepy or supernatural stories???

And another thing, more of a nitpick, the concept of the show doesn’t make any sense. The idea is that Rainn Wilson works for a video store that rents out movies, but he plays some of the tapes for the audience and their first hand accounts of strange events. Why are they supposed to be video tapes if it’s just people telling stories? That’s not what video stores are. It’s definitely lower on my list of complaints because it doesn’t really change how good the interviews are. I just hate how unnecessary It is to jump on this trend of vapid 80’s nostalgia, and it’s not even taking the funny parts of shows like Red Letter Media that have been using that idea for years and years now.

I know this is a long review at this point but I just want to say that the core part of the podcast is really good and it’s really working. But there are so many unnecessary elements that get in the way. It could easily become a 5/5 podcast if Payne Lindsey hosted alone and they did maybe one less ad per episode.