Episode 4,000 for Adam Carolla

• Adam Carolla celebrated his 4,000th episode with an interview with Jay Leno. His first episode was published on Feb 23, 2009, days after his radio show on KLSX ended.

• Descript has announced a set of new pricing plans, which new subscribers will get from Tuesday next week. There are currently no changes for existing customers; however, all plans will be updated later this year to include charging by “media minutes” and “AI credits”.

• Will Jimmy Kimmel’s cancellation affect podcasting? In the US, the owner of a large number of ABC affiliates, Nexstar, said it would no longer take Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show. (The company is currently in the middle of a $6.2 billion takeover of rival broadcaster Tegna, which needs approval from the US government). Brendan Carr, the chairman of the country’s media regulator the FCC, clarified in an interview that podcasting is not required to serve the public interest; but “broadcast TV is different”. ABC said that they would indefinitely suspend its production.

• ADOPTER Media has called for an industry-standard “majority-AI” disclosure for podcasts. It comes after AI-slop company Inception Point AI bragged about producing 3,000 episodes a week using the technology without human supervision.

• MrBeast is under fire for producing misleading YouTube videos that were unidentified advertising aimed at children. The Children’s Advertising Review Unit says that messages also contained a sweepstake that didn’t comply with rules, and the website had poor privacy procedures that sent children’s telephone numbers and email addresses to third parties.

• ¡Ay, caramba! Audacy launched Simpsons Declassified hosted by Nancy Cartwright, who is the voice of Bart Simpson, who the hell are you? You can start listening today to the show about the world’s most iconic animated series, sharing untold stories, behind-the-scenes moments, and personal anecdotes: and whether or not Bart didn’t do it, nobody saw him do it, and you can’t prove anything!

• PRX unveiled “Dovetail Spots”, a upcoming function to enable podcasters to request and trade promotional spots or custom messages with other podcasts distributed via Dovetail, creating a cross-promotional exchange.

• Triton Digital released its US podcast ranker for August. NPR has three shows in the top 10. The ranker is one of a number in the US which only measures participating podcasts.

• Skye Pillsbury’s The Squeeze is back - but for one last time. The newsletter interviews Kalila Holt on leaving Spotify, and Heavyweight’s new start at Pushkin Industries. We will miss The Squeeze, and we hope/encourage that if she ever gets the writing bug again, she gets in touch.

Enter The Webbys. Share Your Work with the Internet’s Best.

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Tips and tricks

• From earlier this week: there are few simple things to do, today to make sure your keep your digital work available, whatever happens.

Podcast News

NPR’s Throughline has recently concluded a mini-series about ICE and immigration detention - which has become quite the cash cow for the companies involved.

With the stunning news that Jimmy Kimmel’s show has been pulled from the air, Caloroga Shark Media’s Daily Comedy News with Johnny Mac dropped an emergency reaction episode last night, and plans extra bonus episodes with coverage of this massive story. Host John McDermott said, “I won’t be surprised if Kimmel walks away now.”

Vanished: What Happened to Vanessa tells the story of Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillen, who was brutally murdered in 2020. When Vanessa’s family pressured the military for answers, the search for their beloved sister and daughter ignited a movement, and sparked a reckoning. Who was Vanessa Guillen? How did this strong 20-year-old soldier suddenly go missing on a military base? And why did she inspire an international movement?

Have you ever wondered exactly how your favorite movie or book –– or podcast, TV series, documentary film, or magazine article –– got made? Origin Stories has you covered. Each week, veteran journalist Matthew Shaer talks to a different writer or director about the creation of a work close to their own hearts (and to ours). Nothing is off the table: not the frustrations and the joys, not the setbacks and the successes. Origin Stories is the ultimate podcast for anyone curious about the workings of the creative mind.

We Are North Nashville is a powerful storytelling podcast about how one historic Black community endured when a federal highway tore through its heart. Homes were demolished, families displaced, and gentrification piled on top of generations of loss - yet elders stayed, determined to hold their neighborhood together. To conclude the project, the first of two bonus episodes premieres tomorrow.

The hit podcast is back with a bold new season, a new name, and a new host. Tech Tomorrow, formerly known as Data Today, is now fronted by David Elliman — Zühlke’s Chief of Software Engineering. This season dives straight into the biggest questions in AI, data, and emerging technology - from agentic systems and open data to the rapid scale-up of breakthrough tools, Tech Tomorrow explores the innovations reshaping industries, societies, and the way we live and work.

The new season of Giving Done Right arrives alongside changes in US federal policy and funding that profoundly impact both the domestic nonprofit and civil society sector as well as international aid. It has never been more urgent that donors act decisively, urgently, and wisely. This season, hosts Grace Nicolette and Phil Buchanan talk to leaders and experts across the philanthropic and nonprofit domain to shed light on the rapidly shifting landscape of need and the crucial but complex role of charitable giving in filling critical gaps.

What’s stopping the world from addressing the climate crisis is not a lack of data or scientific certainty, or a lack of technological or policy measures available to address it. The problem is a lack of political will - intentionally obstructed at every turn. As we gear up for the 30th UN climate summit, a new book pulls together everything we know about how this happened and what can be done about it. On the new season of Drilled, host Amy Westervelt is reading the whole thing and talking to the researchers along the way.