--- description: Find out why "Welcome to Night Vale" is on TIME's list of the 100 best podcasts of all time. title: 'Welcome to Night Vale' Is on The 100 Best Podcasts of All Time image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt995bff7a0ded0f78/6998c87a83ec3756dac7acb5/Best-Podcasts-2025-Welcome-to-Night-Vale-093.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Jul 23, 2025 # Welcome to Night Vale An eerie paranormal world by [Rachel Brodsky](/author/rachel-brodsky/) ## Rachel Brodsky Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Brodsky is a contributor for TIME.  **_Comedy and Fiction_** Since 2012, co-creators Jeffrey Cranor and Joseph Fink have welcomed listeners into the eerie, fictional world of [Night Vale,](https://time.com/5808881/podcasts-coronavirus-social-distancing/ "undefined") a fictional Southwestern town with strong [_Twin Peaks_](https://time.com/4775452/how-twin-peaks-changed-tv-forever/ "undefined")vibes "where every conspiracy theory is true" and residents live among supernatural beings and events. Even as Night Vale townsfolk regularly experience the unexplainable, a small-town mundanity permeates the mood, making it so that UFO sightings are as common as the daily traffic report. Narrated by longtime host Cecil Baldwin, _Welcome to Night Vale_ echoes the public-radio format of [_A Prairie Home Companion_'s](https://time.com/3965277/garrison-keillor-retiring/ "undefined") “News From Lake Wobegon" but world-builds with bizarre paranormal characters like the Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home and Deb the Sentient Patch of Haze. Topping off the twice-monthly experience are regular live shows and tours, which tend to be stand-alone recordings that don't require newcomers to have any prior knowledge of this strange and unusual world, where "time is weird" and "your listening experience can be, too." Replete with awards, the pod was pioneering in the fictional audio space and led to Cranor and Fink starting a production company named for their flagship creation, which remains the best of the bunch. 'Welcome to Night Vale': 100 Best Podcasts ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-podcasts/7303133/welcome-to-night-vale/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-podcasts/7303133/welcome-to-night-vale/"},"headline":"Welcome to Night Vale","datePublished":"2025-07-23T11:14:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:52:14.233Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-podcasts/7303133/welcome-to-night-vale/","keywords":["podcasts","list","Podcast","Special Project"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt995bff7a0ded0f78/6998c87a83ec3756dac7acb5/Best-Podcasts-2025-Welcome-to-Night-Vale-093.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rachel Brodsky","jobTitle":"Brodsky is a contributor for TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/rachel-brodsky/"}],"creator":"Rachel Brodsky","articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt995bff7a0ded0f78/6998c87a83ec3756dac7acb5/Best-Podcasts-2025-Welcome-to-Night-Vale-093.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/podcasts/","name":"podcasts"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-podcasts/7303133/welcome-to-night-vale/","name":"Welcome to Night Vale"}}]}] ```