Crossed Wires podcast festival gets Python exclusive

• In what is probably the biggest podcast festival in the world, the second edition of the Crossed Wires Podcast Festival took place over the weekend in Sheffield, UK.

  • Michael Palin performed never-heard-before Monty Python material on stage in his hometown to a packed audience, in a chat hosted by long-time fan Greg James. Palin recited the deleted end scene of Life of Brian.
  • The second day saw an on-stage proposal taking place in the recording of Help, I Sexted My Boss. She said yes.
  • We’ve pictures of the weekend, including the conversion, for the event, of the former Coles Brothers store in central Sheffield.

• A new tool for podcasters, the Podcast Knowledge Library launches today. It builds on the popular MethodKit for podcasters, which serves as a roadmap to podcast development, production and distribution. The kit is available in 42 different languages.

• A new tool lets advertisers make a podcast ad in minutes. Klaxon AI says it can generate broadcast-ready ads with no recording studio, voice talent, or audio engineer required.

• Podcast app Metacast has added a web podcast search, automated chapters in transcripts (even in our short daily podcast), and more features. Podnews now links to Metacast for every show in our podcast pages.

• Transistor now shows creator recommendations, using the “podroll” tag, in its podcast websites. Here’s an example; and a video to explain more.

• Why was a podcast the right vehicle to tell the story about Shelley Duvall - the actor best known for her appearance in The Shining? A new article at Good Tape looks at the making of Texas Twiggy, and what podcasts can offer that others can’t.

  • Podnews readers can get money off a print subscription to Good Tape

The Tech Stuff - with RSS.com

• The new podcast:image tag has been formalised, and full documentation is online. The intention is to produce artwork in different sizes and aspect-ratios, and have those visible in the RSS feed: Apple’s proprietary artwork, or YouTube’s 4:3 cover artwork, or other elements.

• A new demo for producing the podcast:location tag has been released by Alberto Betella of RSS.com. The tool follows best-practice for the tag, including populating OpenStreetMap IDs, and differentiating between “creator” (where the podcast is being recorded) and “subject” (where the podcast is about). It’s written in Javascript, and supports autocompletion; it requires a key from LocationIQ (which has a free tier).

• Podcastle has launched what it describes as a premium AI voice API, called Async. The tool allows developers to offer instant voice cloning, broadcast-quality voices, and real-time, low-latency performance.

Tips and tricks - with Podcast Movement

• Thinking about buying a big list of podcasts and then sending them email? From our archive, here’s why that wouldn’t be a very good idea.

• AI tool Podsqueeze has published a free ebook, Earn Money With Your Podcast - 20 Strategies.

Podcast News

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HeadStuff Podcasts has a new show - and it’s perfect for you if you like in-depth explorations of Irish history and culture: everything from Bertie Ahern to Tayto crisps. The show is called Shite Talk: An Irish History Podcast and it’s hosted by comedians Kevin Larney and Jason Brennan. There will be bonus shows in HeadStuff+ as well.

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