A podcast app just for audio fiction

• Fiction podcasts are rarely served well by existing podcast apps - which is where Bard comes in: a new podcast player just for audio drama. Significantly expanded categories, a focus on human-generated shows, better episode navigation, and a clearer link to Patreon and Ko-fi links to help creators produce self-sustaining work. It’s free on the Apple App Store and on the web - and Android is coming soon. Sorry - we’re told fans of Joe Rogan will be disappointed.

• Freakonomics Radio published a new episode focusing on podcasting - particularly, “the strange economics of this thing we do”. Guests include Will Page, the former Chief Economist at Spotify; Jeanine Wright, formerly of Inception Point AI; and Jenna Weiss-Berman from Paper Kite Productions (who refers to Inception Point AI as “the devil”). Meanwhile, Podcast Advertising Playbook interviews Christiana Brenton from Steven Bartlett’s Steven.com about the rise of the creative entrepreneur.

  • (When we listened to Freakonomics Radio, from a Brisbane IP address, we very much enjoyed the selection of ads intended for Ireland.)

• The Ankler posted its inaugural Future of Entertainment 25 - a list of the people “reshaping the rules of the entertainment business”. YouTube, Spotify, Netflix, TikTok and Roblox make it to the top platforms (no Apple, then?); UK podcast company Goalhanger also makes an appearance.

• Mateusz Sójka from podcast host Podigee takes us through the thinking about its redesign in a YouTube video.

• Grand Theft Auto VI will have a set of podcasts in-game: and, for the first time, you’ll be able to listen to them via headphones as you walk round the city of Leonida.

• An independent podcast is to debut a 90-minute live performance at Birmingham’s NEC. The show, Haunted UK, was launched in 2021; creator Steven Holloway is bringing it to the stage for the first time as part of the Mind Body Spirit Festival. The November date? Friday 13th - naturally.

• beet.tv has recorded a number of interviews with people after the IAB Podcast Upfront 2026. There are interviews with the IAB, iHeartMedia, NPR, Jomboy, and YouTube - who tell us that podcasts are “up there with premium content on TVs”.

• Apple TV has released details of a new podcast called Heart, featuring Karen Kilgariff. The series recounts the extraordinary true story of two men linked by a single heart—and the families left to make sense of their loss. It’s on Apple Podcasts - in full for Apple TV subscribers, released weekly for free - and is not in video.

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People news

• Laura Mayer is “looking for my next leadership role while also taking on consulting clients in audio and video podcasting”. (You’ve read her book, right?)

Tips and tricks - with Audiencelift

• Should you podcast by yourself, or podcast with a team? Blubrry’s Podcast Insider takes a look.
• Evo Terra writes Fixing your Fiction Podcast’s Feed for a Better Listener Experience - and highlights one of the big podcast hosts who doesn’t support one fundamental building-blocks for fiction podcasts.

Podcast News - with Airwave

With Airwave and TWiT.tv: iOS Today focuses on all things iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and plenty more. The latest episode looked at time - tools for your Apple Watch and iPhone.

When a fire at the BioLab plant in Georgia set a toxic cloud of smoke across the community, residents started wondering what was in the smoke - and what that meant for their long-term health. Manufacturing Danger: The BioLab Story is new from Georgia Public Broadcasting, getting answers on what people were actually exposed to.

In video, Dollars & Sense is new from The Washington Post today, with award-winning personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary offering practical, nonjudgmental guidance on the psychology behind everyday money decisions.

What’s harder than running a marathon? Motherhood. Mother Runner is a new independent podcast from award-winning podcast and video producer Dana Wiker. The show explores the often-overlooked emotional terrain of postpartum motherhood: identity loss, isolation and the search for a sense of self beyond caring for a child.

In Betwixt the Sheets: was Mary Magdalene a sex worker? Kate Lister peels back the myths and stereotypes surrounding the biblical figure of Mary Magdalene. SPOILER: No. The church invented that hundreds of years later.

A new podcast from the team behind American Railroad -- Silkroad and PRX -- now brings listeners a new podcast called “Sanctuary: The Power of Resonance and Ritual.” Hosted by acclaimed artist Rhiannon Giddens, the series explores music’s power to heal, build community, and create sanctuary across traditions and cultures.

13 Minutes: Trouble with Hubble is the latest season from the BBC’s space podcast. The show returns with the extraordinary story of the Hubble Space Telescope, hosted by space scientist Dame Dr Maggie Aderin. The show follows the telescope from its final preparations for launch, through its deployment in orbit, the discovery of a devastating flaw in its primary mirror, and the extraordinary mission to repair it in space. With archive mission audio and oral histories from the NASA History Office, it will bring you into the control rooms, workshops and spacecraft at the heart of the crisis.

The Onic Originals hit series Are We There Yet? with Kathryn Thomas returns for a 3rd season. Upcoming guests include Marco Pierre White, Mary Lou McDonald, Kyla Cobbler and many more. It’s also in video, too. Expect inspirational guests, exploring their life-changing moments and the occasional wrong turn.