Indie podcaster takes show to TV

In Sounds Profitable with Claritas, Caila Litman looks at what we know about women podcast listeners - including new data from the Infinite Dial.

• Is Robert Riggs the first independent podcaster to turn a podcast into a TV show? (For the record, no, he isn’t). But FOX Nation will debut a new docuseries, Freed to Kill, on Friday. It’s fronted by the host of True Crime Reporter, Robert Riggs. The program will focus on serial killer Kenneth McDuff - a death row inmate, freed on parole under a cloud of corruption.

  • In October 2020, Riggs shared with Podnews how he makes his show, which revisits stories he’s covered over the past 30 years.

• What is Twitter’s new Podcast tab going to be? Currently, it looks like a feed of podcast episodes shared by people you follow on Twitter - according to app researcher Jane Manchun Wong.

• Libsyn has $4.75m of new equity financing, and now has $13m in the bank. And, AdvertiseCast’s revenue exceeded $18m in the calendar year of 2021, the company says.

• Am I leaving Spotify? That question is dumb, says the writer Damon Young, writing in The Washington Post. Mind - he thinks lots of other things are dumb, including the fact that “a man best known for hosting a show where people ate rats for money is now influential enough to cause a company to lose $2 billion in market value in a single week.”

• PRX has published its first ever annual report. The company signed a podcast partnership with Sensical, a streaming service for kids aged 2-10.

• Agua Media has launched a podcast network aimed at “the Latino+™ and New American Mainstream communities”. It’s been cofounded by Emmy Award-winning content creator and author Rick Sanchez.

“I think we want to be the number 1 destination, so to speak, for creators in the podcast space. And I think we occupy that today and expect to maintain that position.” - Sean Sullivan, EVP and CFO, SiriusXM, talking yesterday.

• Clubhouse is testing a 'wave bar’ in its app, where you can easily see who is online and wave to start a public room with them.

• In February, we covered Dan Snow who was taking his podcast to Antarctica in search of the lost Endurance shipwreck. Looks like they found it.

• Baltimore police have been required to send some clothing recovered in the investigation of Hae Min Lee’s murder for a DNA test, after a successful request from Adnan Syed’s attorney and Baltimore prosecutors. Syed was convicted of Lee’s murder in 2000, but has maintained his innocence. If you’re unclear why this news is in a podcast newsletter, you’ve not been paying attention, have you? ;)

Moves and hires

• John Rosso has been promoted to President and CEO at Triton Digital. Neal Schore will take an advisory role.

Sep 12 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

Tips and tricks

• Proving that the closet isn’t the only place to record, HeadStuff covers How to choose the right recording studio, pointing out that a cheap place away from the centre of town isn’t always a saving.

Sep 12 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.
• Fed up of random cold pitches to appear as a guest on your show? Steal this from Jay Acunzo. (Or, check that Podchaser doesn’t erroneously think you accept guests, like it did with our four-minute podcast).

Podcast News

MASHUPS - by Kids Listen is a new podcast from Kids Listen, which acts as a showcase for podcasts available from the kids publisher. Season one includes the creators and hosts from 20 independently produced podcasts.

The Adventures of Captain Radio is the first-ever drama from Obscure Studios. The scripted, full-cast science fiction drama set in the future pays homage to the radio shows of the 1930s. Jonny Eberle, one of the show’s producers, says “Especially now, when there’s so much darkness in the world, we could all use a dose of hope for the future.”

Dig — The Ring In is the first of the Australian ABC’s history series, telling stories from Australia’s past. Like “The Fine Cotton Ring In” - a plan to swap a slow horse with a much faster look-alike, involving small-time crooks, a couple of horses and quite a lot of women’s hair dye. Seriously. The complete series is available now to binge.

Downton Abbey: The Official Podcast is a brand-new weekly rewatch podcast, and the first ever official podcast from the popular British TV series. It’s to coincide with a new movie, or “film”, as the uptight Brits call it.

Lowbrow is a brand new comedy podcast from Australian women’s media brand Mamamia, promising a cheat-sheet to the biggest celebrity moments from two funny women 25 years apart: for whom “Fergie” either means a royal wedding or one of the Black Eyed Peas. It launched today.