Podcast network Fable and Folly is to close

• The audio fiction podcast network Fable and Folly is to close at the end of this year. The network blames a change in podcast advertising for its closure. However, the network says: “The shows you love aren’t going away; they’re just heading to new homes. Through the end of the year, we’re helping our producers migrate their shows and connect with new hosting and advertising partners, so the series you follow can keep going strong.”

• After we revealed that Apple Podcasts has dropped country-specific editorial in favour of an algorithmic selection, today we carry one example that shows the difference: it was National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada last week. Unlike in March 2025, when Apple Podcasts ran a “Made in Canada” initiative, last week only one indigenous-made podcast was promoted by Apple Podcasts in Canada: from the not-entirely-unknown CBC.

  • Apple Podcasts might suggest that human curation remains at the heart of what they do - and that it’s good news for creators since they can reach wider audiences than before because they’re no longer locally-targeted. However, in our opinion, this is a loss to local producers: and belies a lack of understanding from Apple Podcasts about who pays for podcasting - since in many cases, sponsorship and branded content are sold on a country-by-country basis, where country-specific targeting is vital.

• What would the happy couple like for a wedding present? How about a podcast? Will Coley produces podcasts that focus on a couple’s relationship and upcoming wedding; in this piece from The New York Times, he explains how he makes the shows.

• In the UK, Goalhanger is focusing on newsletters as a way to get closer to its audience.

• Got a Podcorn prefix enabled on your podcast? You’ll need to delete it by the end of this month, because Podcorn - or Audacy Creator Lab, as it was latterly known - is closing down.

• What’s the most important part of a podcast? The host - according to The Podcast Study 2026. 21% of podcast listeners say they’d definitely stop listening to a show if the host left. It’s part of the data revealed at The Podcast Study - there’s a free webinar tomorrow at 2pm Eastern to take part in.

• PodAnalyst is now supporting video performance data for YouTube, along with a new tool called “Readout”, which can produce a polished report for your show.

• Spotted: The Feed, the official Libsyn podcast has posted a new episode. Entitled “ssss”, updated on 24 September but mysteriously backdated to March, it’s a piece of bad rock music, entitled “stop”. Indeed! (Rob and Elsie are on In & Around Podcasting these days).

The Tech Stuff - with RSS.com

• The Podcast Index has launched Podcast Robot, a full MCP server for AI assistants. The tool lets you ask questions to your assistant about podcasts, to discover new ones.

• Castos now supports transcripts.

• A new tool called Shhh will clean speech in video and audio files. For video, it’ll not touch the video portion: and can remove background noise, music, or room echo. It has a limited free tier, and the interface is in English, Spanish and Japanese. The name “Shhh” also goes for whoever’s written it, who has asked not to be named. Mysterious!

Tips and tricks - with Audiencelift

• Where are you storing all your podcast files? Our article from 2024 is still the way we store files; but are you doing it a different way? We’d love to know.

Podcast News - with Airwave

With Airwave: In NerdWallet’s Smart Money Podcast, NerdWallet’s trusted finance journalists answer real-world money questions to help you make smarter financial decisions with confidence. This week, a focus on real estate, and whether it’s worth renting or buying.

Tamara Zubiaty is on PodBiz this week, sharing how programmatic advertising is driving double-digit growth and bringing new brands into audio, breaks down the crucial distinction between brand safety and brand suitability, and offers key insights on industry maturity, measurement standards, and video expansion.

The Yakuza: A History of the Japanese Underworld: In History Hit, a deep dive into one of the world’s most notorious and elusive crime syndicates. Across centuries of profound transformation, this Japanese mafia went from disgraced feudal outlaws to ultranationalist enforces and on to be one of the most formidable and well orgaized syndicated crime groups of the 20th century steeped in tradition and dark activity.

In Kids vs Parents: Your Ultimate Family Trivia Battle this week, the tables are turning. It’s Nostalgia Week, with Gilmore Girls and Back to the Future taking over the family trivia battle and giving parents a rare chance to dominate the scoreboard. Kids have had their turn with Tangled, SpongeBob and Pokémon trivia — now it’s time to see what the front seat remembers.

Secretly Sporty, the podcast where writer Sebastian Langdell talks with authors, musicians, filmmakers, and other creatives about how their fitness practice intersects with their artistic practice, is transforming into Secretly Spooky. Every guest this month works in the horror genre from creatives such as Holly Amber Church, the “scream queen of scoring” to makeup artist and specialty costume builder Dan Crawley, known for his work on several Marvel films, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Terrifier 3, and Ghostbusters. Secretly Spooky brings dedicated episode art, new spooky theme music, and a lineup of horror-themed lightning round questions.

In The Room We Wanted, longtime broadcasters Brian Colburn and Jay Sweet take guests back to the things that mattered when they were growing up: the records they played, the movies and shows they watched, the toys and games they obsessed over, and the food they couldn’t get enough of. Each guest (roommate) chooses four things from their childhood and explores not only why they loved them then, but what those things say about who they are now.

Season four of Crown and Controversy launches today - “Shifting Dynamics” covers the changes the Royal Family experienced in 2016 and 2017, including Harry’s blind date with an American actress, the Queen’s 90th birthday, and a surprise engagement. The Fab Four begin to take shape, and the first hint of what it may cost emerges.