iHeartRadio comes to Mexico, and Stitcher gets into Waze

• The iHeartRadio app is coming to Mexico, as part of a deal with radio group Grupo ACIR. The app includes podcasts (there’s an add yours link in our big list of directories), as well as radio stations. iHeartRadio is also available in Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

• Waze has launched a new 'audio player’, a way of listening to audio while using the app to avoid traffic on your commute. In addition to Spotify, the partner list includes Pandora, Deezer, TuneIn, and podcast platform Stitcher. Google Maps added Spotify a few weeks ago (but not Google Podcasts, because…).

• The world’s first podcaster? The Greek storyteller Homer, says Panoply’s Andy Bowers, speaking at a Yale University event.

• At the RAIN Summit Europe in London on Nov 7, Jason Phipps is in conversation with RAIN’s Brad Hill. Jason leads the BBC’s podcast strategy, overseeing a portfolio of podcasts across the Corporation: building the BBC’s established shows and developing pure-play podcasts that stand apart from broadcast. Use this link for a complimentary ticket for Podnews readers (that’s you): a £215 value.

• Cary Green argues that A Smart Naming Strategy For Your Podcast Matters More Than Ever, highlighting a few enforced name-changes by changing Apple policies.

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• Event: Cincinnati OH, USA - Cincinatti’s First Podcast Festival, Nov 1 and 2.

• Are Podcasts An Intellectual Wasteland? sniffs Grant McCracken, exhorting us to “ask real questions in the pursuit of real answers.”

Potentially useful info that’s not news

• To learn from 1: UK radio station LBC posts “how to listen to podcasts”, a simple guide that directs people towards Google Podcasts or Apple Podcasts.

• To learn from 2: how the Wall Street Journal have laid out this page for their Instant Message podcast. One big button for Apple, one big button for Google; individual play buttons for episodes; and a smaller list of other apps for power users.

• On the subject of Google Podcasts, we did some research. The player - which pops up if you follow a Google Podcasts link - is part of the Google app, which has been preinstalled in every Android phone (ex China) since Android’s launch. The Google Podcast player is in v8 of the Google app, which is currently available in four versions, almost all target Android 5 and above. Worldwide, 88.9% of active Android devices are running this version. You can therefore be sure that a Google Podcasts button on your website will play on at virtually all Android phones, without any additional software being installed. (You can find your Google Podcasts link by searching Podnews for your podcast; our own research suggests that 97% of podcasts are in their directory.)

  
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Podcasts

The award-winning Alba Salix, Royal Physician, a satirical fantasy in the tradition of Monty Python and the Holy Grail and the novels of Terry Pratchett, returns for a second season. The podcast boasts more than a quarter of a million listeners. (Libsyn)

The WTM Insights Podcast contains global travel trends, analysis and updates, and is run by a travel trade show. (Audioboom)

On the Podnews editorial staff’s Google Pixel at the moment: Rule of Three, a UK podcast where UK comedians and comedy writers talk about other comedy that they really like. (Great Big Owl / Acast)