A new #2 podcast from Wondery

• Hey, weirdos! Morbid, which recently switched from Audioboom to Wondery, has debuted at #2 in Podtrac’s top 20 US podcasts chart for June, its first month with the network. Its old home, Audioboom, doesn’t participate in Podtrac.

• Podio is a service based in Dubai that appears to download podcast audio and then plays a selection of them from its own servers in a radio-like stream. Shows streamed in this way include NPR’s Planet Money, WSJ’s The Journal, and Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. It also appears to stream excerpts of Joe Rogan, and is pulling our podcast into its service somewhere. While we’re sure that site owner Uber Media has organised the right licenses, our email enquiry to them bounced.

• Eddy, the audio editor that works like a word processor, now lets you edit video too. It’s also faster and more stable, the company says.

• What happens if the right person becomes a fan of your podcast? After former world #1 tennis player Billie Jean King discovered The Tennis Podcast, she listened back to many of the episodes over the last ten years, and now, Billie Jean King Enterprises has just signed a deal to represent the show.

• iOS16, the next version of the iPhone’s operating system, will add bigger podcast artwork on the lock screen.

• Let’s Talk about Hard Things, the book from WNYC’s Death, Sex & Money host Anna Sale, is available for free this month in the US.

• Indie podcast Someone Dies in this Elevator, a spoiler-driven anthology series, is crowdfunding for the next season. Your support helps pay for the crew of 65, original scoring, and plenty more.

• PodBean has announced more virtual events - one today at 6pm (“Building Your Audience From the Ground Up”), and one in a week’s time (“Branded Audio: The Best Marketing Tool You’re Probably Missing”). The blog post includes details of two more in August.

• Echoverse has teamed up with PRX for five unscripted podcast pilots. Echoverse had previously focused on scripted science-fiction.

• CBC has announced a number of new releases, including a true-crime show looking at the death of a human rights activist.

Moves and hires

• Rachel Poulos has been hired as Director of Audience Growth and Marketing at PRX. She joins from marketing agency Brainlabs.

• Kevin Turner has started at Linktree as VP of Communications. He was Spotify’s Global Head of Creator Communications (and before that, Global Head of Podcast Communications); and had worked for Spotify and Gimlet for six years.

• Daisy Rosario will be the new Senior Supervising Producer at Slate. She’s worked for WAMU, 60dB and NPR, and joins from Stitcher where she was Executive Producer.

• Narisa Ladak has joined Gumball as Director of Creator Partnerships. She joins from Acast, where she was Creator Network Director.

Podcast News - with Pushkin Industries

Pushkin’s fall slate is anchored by a strong lineup of female-hosted, female-led shows exploring personal, of-the-moment topics from women’s sexual health to neurodiversity to feminist history. We’re proud to provide these talented creators with the platform to share their work.

Corruption and injustice can be found across the globe, but what happens when journalists put everything on the line to uncover the truth? Who Killed Daphne? is new from Wondery, examines the events and secrets surrounding the death of reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was killed by a car bomb outside her house. It was released yesterday.

“We think it’s going to be one of the best shows of the summer”, we’re told about Love & Noraebang, which drops a trailer today. It’s a fun romantic comedy podcast set in contemporary Los Angeles. The immersive sound design and score integrates K-Pop, Reggaeton, Pop Ballads, Latin Trap, and of course, Noraebang (the Korean version of karaoke - we saved you a Google).

Was it Real? The Hills Rewatch is launched today - a walk down memory lane with the first ever cast-hosted The Hills rewatch podcast. What really happened in the hit reality series, and was it all real? It’s new from Kast Media today.

Threatened launches its third season today: a podcast about answering the call to protect the birds and places we love. Host Ari Daniel invites listeners to see how humans are working to protect the birds of Hawai‘i, and how the lives of these birds are connected with the lives of the Hawaiian people.

With a taste of a poison paradise, I’m addicted to you. Don’t you know that you’re toxic? DISGRACELAND is back for season 10 - starting with a two-part opener on Britney Spears, and her stalkers, paparazzi, and conservatorship. One of her stalkers had over 40,000 hours of footage of her. He sounds nice.

Podcast ads in the wild

In the early 1970s, before Roe made its way to the Supreme Court, Shirley Wheeler–for a short time–became the face of abortion rights in America and “Defend Shirley Wheeler” became its rallying cry. Slow Burn's new season focusing on Roe vs Wade is being marketed with billboards in states across the US that have some of the strictest abortion laws throughout the country, like Jackson MS, Boise ID and, pictured above, in Oaklahoma City, OK.

Advertising for podcasts help grow the whole medium - so if you’ve spotted any (or responsible for some), just hit reply and send us a nice picture.