Playground →
Podcasts, journalists, and a Jesuit priest form the core of America's Test Kitchen's nearest audience neighborhood — not other food or cooking properties. Across the top 10, scores span a narrow band from 0.93 to 0.91, with no single neighbor pulling away from the rest, which is the defining feature of a flat shape.
Three of the ten neighbors are podcasts and radio programs: Wait Wait Don't Tell Me (0.92), Fresh Air (0.91), and The On Being Project (0.91) — all public-media properties with a strong NPR-adjacent character. Two more are journalists: Nina Totenberg (0.93) and Daniel Dale (0.92). The remaining five span TV personalities (Mo Rocca, 0.92), spiritual leaders (James Martin, SJ, 0.92), TV shows (Bravo Top Chef, 0.92), politicians (Pete Buttigieg, 0.92), and actors (Bradley Whitford, 0.91). No other blogs appear in the top 10, and no food or culinary properties appear either.
The pattern points to an audience defined less by culinary interest than by a particular media diet — one centered on public radio, civic journalism, and thoughtful long-form content.
