Apple’s announcements include more for podcasting

• Apple made a number of announcements at WWDC. Among those relevant for us in podcasting:

  • Apple Podcasts will add a new “enhance dialogue” feature in playback, just like independent apps like Overcast and Pocket Casts have had for some time. The description is “Amplify just the voices in an episode for clearer listening”.
  • Apple Podcasts will also offer more playback speeds - anything between 0.5x and 3x. More importantly, the app will let you save your preferred speed per show - again, a feature already present in other apps. Overcast’s Marco Arment jokingly reacted by saying “I’m screwed”; but it should be noted that Apple Podcasts still lacks silence-skipping, a key feature of Overcast.
  • The “Browse” button in Apple Podcasts has been renamed “New”. “Discover the best of what’s new and what’s popular in podcasting”.
  • The new themeable icons perhaps mean that Apple Podcasts won’t always be “the purple app”. (Probably will be by default, though).
  • In other audio-related news, newer versions of Apple’s AirPods will be upgraded to add “studio quality audio recording” - good for interviewees who insist on using AirPods to chat with you.
  • iPadOS 26 will include audio input controls allowing you to choose different microphones for each app.
  • If you’re listening to a podcast using AirPods while you’re in bed, the audio will pause when you fall asleep.
  • And finally, there’s an animated now-playing widget for the lock screen, and if we’re really lucky, it might work with podcasts in the future maybe.

• Exclusive: Former US Navy Seal Shawn Ryan is working with IRONCLAD on a new audio docuseries due for release later this year. The podcaster, who hosts the Shawn Ryan Show with Cumulus, beat Joe Rogan’s show to #1 for a time last year, and was also contacted by the person suspected of the Las Vegas Cybertruck explosion.

• Zeno Media has just been certified for the IAB Podcast Measurement Guidelines v2.2.

• The 2025 winners of the NZ Radio & Podcasts Awards were announced. The podcast of the year was Sportscafe-ish, which appears to have lost the “ish” in the last year, from NZME’s iHeartRadio NZ. Public service broadcaster RNZ won the most awards, gaining six winners.

• The New York Times reports that Youtube has relaxed its moderation rules, following the lead from Meta and Musk’s X.

• The Podcasting 2.0 website has undergone a rebuild, to allow anyone to edit and improve it, using the power of Markdown.

• Indie podcast studio Goalhanger has announced a new free monthly masterclass, called Goalhanger’s Greenroom. Sessions from the company’s producers, editors and commercial leads will be streamed live and free to watch.

• Sports podcast producer Sport Social has partnered with Audacia Audio to boost podcast advertising across the Asia-Pacific region.

• So, you’d like to add some Podcasting 2.0 features to your podcast, but your podcast host doesn’t support them; or maybe you’d just like to keep your RSS feed under your own domain, rather than the podcast hosting company’s? ProxyFeed is a new service that says it’ll give you back control of your own RSS feed.

• In January 2023, VICE Audio’s Havana Syndrome and Project Brazen/PRX’s The Sound: Mystery of Havana Syndrome were both launched, with the Project Brazen show winning international awards. But, a story about a mysterious unexplained sound that made people ill in Cuba is clearly too good to pass by for podcast commissioners - so it’s the BBC’s turn from today, with the Havana Helmet Club. The first episode is exclusive to BBC Sounds for now, the rest of us have to wait a week for it to be available on BBC Audio and open RSS.

Tips and tricks - with Memberful

• A podcast trailer is important to help promote your show. Transistor’s Justin Jackson takes a look at where podcast trailers show up in different apps.
  • Trailers also mean, when we cover your show, it’ll go into our New Podcasts podcast feed.

Moves and hires

• Alex Watson has joined Platform Media’s Listen as Senior Executive Producer. He joins from Pixiu Podcasts.

Podcast News - with Podcast Movement

Exclusive: The Layover is new from travel brand LOST iN - it’s a new travel culture podcast launched with a weekly newsletter. The show, hosted by Dylan Conroy, will unpacks the travel industry’s biggest challenges, shifts, and ideas shaping the future of how we move through the world.

Russia knows our weaknesses. But do you? Starting today from Sky News and Tortoise Media, The Wargame is something unusual from a news organisation - it’s a new podcast series that simulates a Russian attack on the UK. The scenario may be fictional, but the people involved in the podcast are all highly experienced people from the British Government.

I Feel That Way Too explores life’s trickiest questions. Through candid storytelling and insightful conversations with experts and everyday people, each episode unpacks the doubts, fears, and quiet longings that shape our lives. Whether it’s questioning monogamy, navigating political divides, or redefining who you are beyond your job, host Michelle MiJung Kim invites you to feel seen, understood, more empowered, and, ultimately, a little less alone.

CBS National News Correspondent and CBS Weekend Anchor Jericka Duncan is covering the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs in I Am That Reporter. Jericka is in the courtroom every day of the trial, with a front row seat to the action in and outside of the courtroom - and explores different aspects of the case, including cultural impact and psychology. This week, hear a deep dive with psychologist Dr. Thema Bryant to discuss typical survivor responses to abuse - and how what might seem like odd behavior to those on the outside is very normal for abuse victims.

A $1 million reward has been offered to help solve the case of a crime in Giles County, Tennessee - and the case is the subject of True Crime Reporter, the podcast from Peabody Award-winning investigative journalist Robert Riggs. Investigators have discovered more than 200 possible connections: but is this a perfect crime that nobody will be held responsible for?

What happens when you’re not NewlyWeds any more - and, in fact, are NearlyParents? You rebrand your podcast, like Sophie Habboo and Jamie Laing have, after the couple announced their pregnancy.

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