iHeartMedia buys HowStuffWorks

US radio and podcasting company iHeartMedia is to acquire HowStuffWorks, spending US$55m for the company which is behind Atlanta Monster and Stuff You Should Know. Their headquarters will remain in Atlanta.

Endeavor, a talent agency headquartered in the US, is launching a new division, Endeavor Audio. Variety reports “The division will focus on developing, producing and distributing podcasts with a wide range of talent. Among the company’s first projects will be a crime-genre vehicle from Dick Wolf and Magical Elves production company. Wolf is a client of WME, the talent agency powerhouse also owned by Endeavor.”

Queerly Beloved is a new podcast series that debuted earlier this week. “It’s a multifaceted portrait of LGBTQ chosen family—the people who help us figure out who we are and inspire us to live as our most authentic selves”, and is from Broadly, a platform from Vice for under-represented (or mis-represented) groups. (Acast)

Is Spotify doing passthrough for some publishers? Recent announcements of BBC and Turner Podcasts joining the platform led Todd Cochrane and Rob Greenlee to speculate in the New Media Show that Spotify are not caching podcasts for larger networks like these, thus enabling dynamic ad content and other elements. They cache all audio for others, though.

Neil Cowling, founder of the UK’s Fresh Air Productions, posts a call-to-arms to podcasters. “A constant stream of series involving two men talking to each other for a bit too long is not the future for a vibrant medium,” he says, in a piece with a fruity title

• A Colombian podcast, La trilogía de las crispetas, is a movie podcast with a difference - one version contains spoilers, for those who have seen the film; another version has those spoilers edited out, for those who haven’t.

The New York Times covers Adventures in New America, a “politically charged dystopian fantasy”, with a glowing review. (Night Vale Presents / PRX)

Feminists Don’t Wear Pink is launched today: “Journalist and activist Scarlett Curtis interviews inspiring women about what feminism means to them, and why it matters.” (Audioboom)