Storm clouds at Cumulus Podcast Network

• Cumulus Media has laid-off a large number of people in the Cumulus Podcast Network; some reports suggested the entire department has been gutted, though the company has said that those reports are inaccurate, and that the company “remains committed” to its network. A LinkedIn post by former VP of Podcast Operations and Production, Jay “PodVader” Soderberg, suggests he is one of those affected; it’s also reported that SVP of Marketing and Podcasting Carolyn Chauncey has also left, as well as Executive Producer Tanya Bustos. A previous team member, John Wordock, looks back at better days.

• In signings, WABC Radio has signed with Spreaker Prime for premium podcast monetisation … Realm is to produce, distribute and monetise Disney, National Geographic Kids and Marvel audio properties in a new partnership … The ADHD Women’s Wellbeing Podcast has joined Mercury for distribution and monetisation.

• Podscribe has added AI optimisation delivery tools and lookalike audience targeting to its SmartServe tool.

• The BBC has announced new presenters for popular science podcast The Infinite Monkey Cage. Described as “guest presenters”, Adam Rutherford and Jessica Fostekew will host the next series. The show has been in the top 25 podcasts in the UK, but hasn’t had a new episode all year after Robin Ince quit the show, citing pressure from BBC executives about his personal views. Professor Brian Cox, Ince’s co-host, is on tour with a live show until the end of March, and will not be taking part.

• One of the best responses to Pod Save America’s Tommy Vietor’s tweet expressing anger at Spotify’s “Skip Ahead” tool is this one - “I skip through every single ad read you guys do. Magic spoon, loomi, aura, better help, helix, bombas, the tree shippers, ziprecruiter, etc. SKIP.” Impressive brand recognition for ads you claim not to listen to, bro.

  People News

• Jenny Tartikoff has been named SVP and Head of Communications for SiriusXM. She joins from Paramount Pictures and Spotify.

  One week left to enter International Women’s Podcast Awards

On October 8 in Toronto, Tink Media will be organizing an invite-only summit focused on a question on every audio creators’ mind – what’s the actual role of video in podcast audience growth? This summit will be held at the CBC offices. 

The Tink Summit will happen the same day as the International Women’s Podcast Awards (IWPAs). This year’s IWPAs are being supported by CBC, Sounds Profitable, RSS.com, Lower Street, True Native Media, Podchaser, and Women in Media, who recognize the value of celebrating and platforming the work of underrepresented creatives in the podcast industry.

The IWPAs celebrate and uplift women’s voices across podcasting and are proudly queer and trans inclusive. Open to independent creators, production teams, and established audio companies alike, the awards are downloads and size agnostic, with 11 categories focused on intention and quality rather than audience numbers. 

You can enter into the IWPAs until Aug 14 midnight ET, and each submission costs US $50. Scholarship options are available.

Tips and tricks - with Podcast Movement NYC

• Libsyn explain what “automatic podcast ads” (its term for programmatic ads) are, and how they fit in a podcast strategy.
• The podcast world is growing up, suggested Traci de Forge and Jenn Trepeck from the Podcast Professionals Association at Podcast Movement last year. The new standards emerging around monetization, audience trust, creator ethics, and brand partnerships — and what independent podcasters, agencies, and networks need to do to stay competitive and credible in a maturing ecosystem.

Podcast News - with Airwave

With Airwave: Curated by Chance is a podcast where creativity meets serendipity. Each episode, filmmaker Neal E. Fischer and art curator Lauren Tagliaferro harness the power of a randomizing algorithm named Chance to generate unique prompts that drive their discussions, inviting listeners to ponder the influence of chance in the creative process.

In the Podnews Weekly Review this week, Buzzsprout’s Jordan Blair outlines the enhanced video service from the company; Morgan Absher talks about Spotify’s EQUAL program expanding to podcasting, and Sam and James talk about Skip Ahead buttons.

Podcast Perspectives this week features an interview with Triton Digital’s Sharon Taylor on how video is changing the podcasting industry and how to adapt to platforms like Spotify, Apple, and YouTube, who are constantly shifting their distribution models.

Bloomberg and iHeartPodcasts have announced Our Town - a new investigative podcast series about a small Tennessee town at the center of a fight over American identity. The show is launched today.

Catch me if you can, cause I’m the England man, and what you’re looking at is the master plan… John Barnes has a new podcast, Defend and Attack: The John Barnes Podcast - new from Liverpool company Virtuopo, and focusing on some of the biggest issues in football.

In You Could Make This Beautiful, a new series from WBUR available in the Dear Sugars feed, poet Maggie Smith and co-host Faith Salie talk to actors, comedians, and poets about how poetry in all its forms — traditional, yes, but also in music, comedy, nature, relationships — can make life more beautiful and, possibly, save humanity! Hear conversations with Henry Winkler, Mike Birbiglia, Peter Sagal, Saeed Jones, and more.

Do you remember the sound of dial-up, renting movies on a Friday night, or building the perfect mixtape? Artifacts: Stories from the Emotional History of the Internet is an award-winning storytelling podcast exploring the emotional history of technology, and the human experiences it quietly changed. Season Two is out now, with a two-episode premiere.

Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest, one of Pinna’s most popular original podcasts, is back with brand-new episodes. New content is now available on both the public RSS feed and the Pinna app, where subscribers can enjoy ad-free, early access to the new season.