New podcast host RedCircle launches; Parcast cost Spotify $55m

• RedCircle launched. It’s a podcast host offering tools like free hosting, analytics and a cross-promotion marketplace to help smaller podcasts get heard. The company has $1.5m of funding, and is built by five ex-Uber software people; it plans to earn revenue by selling advertising within podcasts. The Verge has more.

• The RØDEcaster Pro, a podcast mixer, has a new firmware update. It enables multitrack recording on SD card, and a few other enhancements.

• Magellan published the top 15 (US) podcast advertisers earlier this month for March. New advertisers included Hulu, HelloFresh and Article. The recruitment site ZipRecruiter is still at #1.

• Whooshkaa, a podcast host, has announced availability of integration with Amazon Alexa smart speakers. They claim they are “the first global podcast hosting platform to enable podcasters to deploy their own Alexa skill for their podcast”.

• Luminary has announced 26 new premium podcast episodes in a press release. The useragent for Luminary’s Android app is now correctly announcing itself as Luminary/1.0.2 build 57/Android SDK 28.

  • Meanwhile, Podiant, a podcast host, has emailed their customers with details of a tool to remove their podcasts from Luminary. It’s in customer dashboards under Settings > Directory Listings; it produces a “polite but firm” email that you can edit.
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• Spotify paid €50m (US$55m) for Parcast, their financial results say. More than 50,000 shows have been submitted through their podcast portal - and there are 250,000 podcasts in their system overall (the differences being Anchor’s catalogue, presumably, as well as automated API-driven submissions from partner hosts like Libsyn or Omny Studio). Apple has over 700,000.

  
  Aug 12 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.
  • Meanwhile, a Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter claims that Spotify, a Swedish company, is publishing an extreme right-wing podcast, Vita Pillret (“White Pill”). The podcast is also available on Apple and Google, and is run by an organisation called Nordic Alt-Right: we’d note it’s classified in Apple as “comedy”, and calls itself “a family friendly show”. (We list it too.)

• Patreon, a crowd-funding service used by many podcasters, has updated its terms, privacy policy, and community guidelines.

• Editing podcasts on a Chromebook has historically been quite hard: but that changes with ChromeOS v74, now in the beta channel. In this release, Linux programs now have access to the soundcard for playback only (not capture). Reaper, and Audacity, both work fine: however, you need to do some work resetting your sound settings if you’ve used Linux before v74.

  • We’re using a Chromebook this week for Podnews, and our podcast, while our MacBook is being repaired. We’re using the simple Auphonic Edit Android app, with our Røde Podcaster USB microphone.

Podcasts

From the world of Archive 81 comes a new fiction mini-series, Left of the Dial. “Left of the Dial tells the story of Nicholas Waters, a small-time sorcerer on a quest to find a body for his intangible companion Static Man. Their road trip takes them deep into a world that proves even more dangerous and horrifying than the one he left behind. Road trip tropes like diners, motels and radio channel-surfing are made uncanny through stunning performances and unreal sound design.” Good for fans of horror, noir, and experimental audio, it launches tomorrow. (Multitude / Libsyn)

Cigarettes and Rocket Fuel is a fun idea - a fictional talk show on a radio station in 1969, telling the story of putting a man on the moon. Come for the story of Apollo 11; stay for the 39 cent bacon. (Houston Chronicle / Libsyn)

13 Minutes to the Moon is the BBC’s podcast covering the same event. They’ve got music specially composed by Hans Zimmer - the first for any podcast. The press release goes into detail of who is interviewed for the series, but doesn’t mention bacon. (BBC)

KPCC is launching Tell them, I am next week, with a new episode every day this Ramadan. The stories are universal; the guests are all Muslim. Tan France, star of Netflix’s hit show Queer Eye, actress Alia Shawkat, best known for her role as Maeby Funke in Arrested Development, and Iqbal Theba from the Oscar-winning movie Greenbook are among the many high-profile guests. (Megaphone)

Democracy Works features Sarah Koenig as their special guest this episode, telling us what she learnt about the US criminal justice system while working on season three of Serial. (Blubrry)

Boardroom Bound focuses on inspiring and preparing the next generation of board directors - the tips, tactics, and strategies they need to bring their best selves to the boardroom. (Podbean)