Podsights releases “Open Downloads” spec

• Podsights have released an Open Downloads specification, designed to be open and comparable with others. They have cited their problems with the IAB v2 standard, and explained that they have “decided to open source a spec for how we count downloads and share our blacklists with the podcast community as a whole.” The company has also released code to calculate downloads according to the simple spec on Github.

• 'Podcast Live: Politics’ is returning to the UK this Autumn on Saturday 5th October. Already part of the live event is For the Many with Iain Dale and Jacqui Smith; Chopper’s Brexit Podcast; and The Week unwrapped. Tickets are available today.

• Who’s the best podcast host? is a question often seen in podcasting Facebook groups. We’d like to answer that question by helping people make an informed choice. Feedback on this is very welcome.

• Pod Hunt has quietly soft-launched, describing itself as “Product Hunt for podcasts”.

• HelloCast, a podcast planning tool, has unveiled enhancements and new pricing plans, including a free forever plan for solo podcasters.

• Cast Feed Validator has released an updated, v3, version of their podcast RSS validation service, which checks for a number of new issues including Apple Podcasts categories. (We’ve added links from our podcast pages, too).

• Podtrac has published July 2019's top podcast publishers. It’s opt-in and US-only, but NPR has increased its lead over iHeartRadio.

  
  Aug 15 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Event: The New Media Summit, in September, in San Diego CA, USA, is the fifth such event, where “150 attendees have the opportunity to take center stage to pitch 40 top podcasters and get booked on their shows on the spot”.

Thank you to John Lee Dumas for becoming Podnews’s latest personal supporter. Known as “JLD” to many, John produces the award-winning Entrepreneurs On Fire where he interviews entrepreneurs “who are truly ON FIRE” (we assume in a metaphorical sense rather than actually being burned alive, but if it’s the latter we’ve a few business people we’d like to suggest for interview). You should be like JLD.

Opinion

• Podcast interviews need to take the next step forward, says HelloCast’s Brandon Hull:

  "The world doesn’t need another 60-minute interview that’s bland or lacking in any flair from the host, with all the pressure put upon the guest.

• What does podcast addiction look like? Stuart McGurk from GQ magazine subscribes to at least 50 podcasts.

  I can’t remember the last time I had a bowel movement that wasn’t accompanied by the voice of Jon Favreau, Barack Obama’s former chief speechwriter, who hosts Pod Save America.

Podcasts

Spreaker Prime: Southern Fried True Crime explores historical and contemporary true crime in the South. Join native Tennessean, Erica Kelley, and her Southern sass to see just how fried the justice system can be in the Deep South. She’s using Spreaker Prime to earn money and cut her hosting costs.

If you love jokes and hate misogyny, this is your podcast. Dude talks to a lady has reached episode 100, with comic Janet Hyde inviting (mostly) male comics to tell her a joke about women or gender, and having “surprisingly intellectual conversations with men that really need to happen.” (Blubrry)