Jon Stewart to launch The Weekly Show podcast

• “After much reflection, meditation, and prayer, I have decided to extend my work week to two days.” Jon Stewart is to launch a new podcast, The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart, next month. The show, from MTV Entertainment Studios, will be produced by Paramount Audio and Busboy Productions.

• Digiday covered the IAB’s annual Podcast Upfront, which took place yesterday in New York City.

• Audacy released its Q1/24 financial results. The company, which didn’t hold an earnings call, didn’t release podcast data.

• Headliner has added free captioning for full-length episodes.

• You’ve three weeks to enter The Independent Podcast Awards, which close at the end of the month. The awards are in London in October.

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• Want a big guest for your podcast? TYX Studios has Jordan Schwarzenberger, the manager of YouTube powerhouse The Sidemen, and you could get the opportunity to interview him in the pop-up studio at The Podcast Show in London later this month.

• Storytel, a Swedish audiobook and publishing company, is to add 6,000 Swedish-language podcasts to its service.

• SpeakUp AI, a tool that takes textual articles and produces podcasts with your cloned voice, has raised $500,000. It’s based in Redmond WA, USA.

• Apple has apologised for its much-criticised iPad ad. The company, traditionally the first choice for creatives including many podcasters, said that it “missed the mark” with the video, which showed creative symbols like a piano, a metronome and tins of paint being crushed by a hydraulic press. However, the ad - which is a copy of a fifteen year-old TV spot for an LG Android phone - still remains on Tim Cook’s Twitter account, and on YouTube, where the company has turned comments off.

• Further reading: Don’t believe the doom and gloom, says Chris Petersen’s DWNLOAD Media in an article: the overall health of the podcast space is good.

Moves and hires

• Julie McNamara is reported to be leaving Spotify. She is Head of Studios; she joined in Sep 2021.

Tips and tricks - with Ausha 🚀

• Ausha suggests: Explore 5 innovative ways to use transcription to enhance your podcast’s accessibility and SEO

• Ausha suggests: Find out about the top podcast transcription services of 2024 with Ausha’s detailed review."

• Want to add your podcast to all the podcast directories out there? We’ve just updated our big list. (And, would welcome your feedback!)

• Website SEO is important for podcasters and Platform Podcasting gives some tips and tricks

Podcast News - with Airwave

With Airwave: What If World’s Eric O’Keefe says: “Airwave cares about their podcasts and podcasters equally and supports us through thick and thin. I’ve tested out a few networks over the years, and only Airwave has led with absolute kindness and candor from day one.”

The Mi3 Audio Edition this week focuses on LiSTNR’s tech stack - and features an interview with Kim Loasby, SCA Head of Digital Ad Product & Operations and Luke Minto, National Head of Audio Sales. LiSTNR is the radio, music and podcasts app from Australian broadcaster SCA.

The takin’ a walk podcast has been accepted into The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Library and Archives. “Preserving these conversations in the Rock Hall’s archives ensures that future generations can continue to be inspired by the power of music,” said the host, Buzz Knight.

Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (sometimes) was announced yesterday from SiriusXM. The podcast will see Ted and Woody reconnect 30 years after the end of their acclaimed sitcom “Cheers,” joined by a plethora of exciting guests. It launches on June 12; there’s a trailer out now.

Inheriting is new from NPR and launches on May 23. A journey through the lives of seven families reckoning with major moments in Asian American and Pacific Islander history, the podcast is from LAist Studios and hosted by Emily Kwong, who will keynote at Podcast Day Asia in Malaysia in September.

A new BBC podcast, Intrigue: To Catch A Scorpion, has traced a people smuggler back to Iraq. Barzan Majeed, nicknamed 'Scorpion’, admits to smuggling thousands of migrants across the English Channel in small boats and lorries.