Schein signs for four more

Adam Schein renews with SiriusXM - see our people news, below

• A new noise-reduction app is now available on the Mac app store. Hush uses AI to remove background noise and reverb from spoken audio, “with greater precision and fewer artifacts than previous approaches”, says the developer.

• Spotify is rolling out a special experience for those observing Ramadan. The daily-changing, geo-personalised tool includes Ramadan-specific podcast episodes, as well as music.

• YouTube has confirmed our story/guess yesterday that podcast creation and analytics tools in YouTube Studio are now rolled-out to all creators. (Confusingly, those tools are still described as a test by YouTube, but we’re told it’s a full roll-out.)

• Maximum Fun, a podcast network, is to become a worker-owned co-op, after founder Jesse Thorn sells the company.

• Nina Robinson from the Birmingham Podcast Festival is interviewed by PodBible.

Moves and hires

• Tyler Moody has been named as Director of Digital Content for Cox Media Group’s radio division. While at CNN, he was the creator of the WarnerMedia Podcast Network.
• Ari Shapiro, the host of NPR’s All Things Considered and Consider This, is releasing a book this week: The Best Strangers in the World: Stories from a Life Spent Listening. Spotify has released a playlist and interview.
• Adam Schein has signed a new four-year deal with SiriusXM. He’ll continue hosting the Rise and Schein podcast, as well as a three-hour daily show on SiriusXM radio.

Tips and tricks - with Phantom Producer

• Jennie Lyon writes how to outsource your entire podcast team.

Phantom Producer

Paid content

For the first time, Phantom Producer, the cloud-based Radio Imaging service used widely in the US, has expanded its services to International markets like the UK, Canada and Australia.

Users can create customized sweepers, links, and production elements with the click of a few buttons on their phone, tablet or desktop. The tech platform was created by Australian producer Jeff Thomas, formerly of Howard Stern/SiriusXM, KIIS-FM Los Angeles, Virgin Radio and 2MMM-FM.

As programming executives and production teams find themselves covering more stations over wider territory and often off-site, Phantom Producer allows the freedom to work from multiple locations while still being connected to their studio play-out systems. Phantom Producer is poised to alter the way many stations create customized imaging by offering the ability to choose, mix and create elements - along with their station voice or jingle – completely ‘in-the-box’ without the need for any additional equipment or training. Learn more at phantomproducer.com

Podcast News - with Left Over

Marco Arment, the developer of Overcast, is interviewed by The Verge in The Vergecast. “I think what sets the Overcast apart today is it is designed by a podcast lover for podcast lovers and it puts your needs above any kind of weird data, analytics, tracking, promotional algorithm kind of stuff.”

Production company This Is Distorted has produced a podcast series entirely designed and created by artificial intelligence. The show is called Synthetic Stories - even the show name was designed by AI - and episode one is available now.

In their podcast, The Tip JAR, we learn what the JAR Audio team learnt at Podcast Movement. AI features heavily.

The final episode of the three-season podcast Equal Parts is posted today. Each episode tells the story of a couple meeting and falling in love, with partners interviewed separately then woven together. The final episode tells this story. However, with the last episode comes potentially a first: an exhibition of artwork from the show, which will be at KERB wine bar in Ancoats, Manchester, from 6 Apr to 9 May. Images for each episode are produced by different artists from the audio alone.

As any self-respecting European knows, this year the Eurovision Song Contest will be in Liverpool, UK. Douze Points was launched this week, hosted by TV magazine journalist and Eurovision superfan Steven Perkins. Expect the latest headlines, event previews, and deep dives into the history of the contest. It’s from the Bingewatch family of shows.

Hear Me Out is brand new today from Slate, hosted by veteran radio host Celeste Headlee, who has devoted years to reinvigorating the art of civil conversation and debate. Each week, she’ll invite a thoughtful guest to discuss their controversial perspective on a current issue, and engage in a tough, good-faith dialogue about the merits and drawbacks of their argument.

Podcast ads in the wild

Spotted by Devin Andrade, this sticker for the Two Planker podcast couldn’t have been in a better place: on a ski chairlift. “That’s some targeted podcast advertising,” she tweets: the show showcases all aspects of the freestyle skiing community. Nice!