Squadcast launches v4.0

• Squadcast launched v4 on Friday. The remote recording service adds integration with Dolby․io, spatial audio, 1-click audio mastering, up to ten people in a session, screensharing, an updated green room and plenty more.

• In the US, iHeartRadio has launched a climate category in its podcast app: the first major podcast app to do so. In February, Podcasters Declare launched a campaign to get Apple Podcasts to open a climate category; in spite of excitedly sharing their green credentials for Earth Day and having an environment section of their website, Apple has yet to do so.

• In Australia, ARN’s iHeartPodcast Network and The New York Times have agreed a podcast ad sales deal. ARN’s iHeartPodcast Network is the country’s biggest commercial podcast publisher.

• Podcast Ad Reps, PAR, has a new look and a new logo. They worked with Brandsmith, in Dallas TX.

• NPR has added paid subscriptions to some of its biggest shows, like Fresh Air, How I Built This, It’s Been a Minute, Planet Money, Short Wave and Code Switch. The subscriptions are done show-by-show; the paid-for versions are sponsor-free.

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• Other newly-launched channels include the French-language podcaster Bababam+, describing itself as “the best of Bababam, with exclusives and without advertising”.

• Hello Audio is a new podcast host, focusing on private feeds (but also offering public ones). v1.0 has just gone on public release.

• Assuming you can get into Apple Podcasts Connect, approval of new shows into Apple Podcasts now takes less than an hour, we’re told by some publishers.

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• The Mac version of audio editor Hindenburg Journalist Pro now encodes Opus files all the way down to 12kbps. For podcast apps supporting podcast:alternateEnclosure, it means a recent podcast of ours was just 383KB in Opus, compared to 2.1MB in 64kbps AAC, and 3.6MB in 112kbps MP3. The program has also added a built-in virtual audio device for Mac users too.

  
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• Podcast host Podserve․fm now supports the podcast:chapters and podcast:transcript tags.

• On Podcasting 2.0, Adam Curry believes that a podcast requires an open RSS feed, and that other shows should be called a “netcast”. (Sounds familiar.) He also says that there will never be an Apple Podcasts for Android. We bet him 100,000 sats that there will be.

• The Podcast Index, at the time of writing, lists 3,999,001 podcasts. 422,354 have been updated in the past 30 days.

• Help We’d like to get embedded episode images working in our AAC audio for Apple Podcasts. We’ve used a variety of command-line tools like mp4box or mp4art in our production flow, but none work in Apple Podcasts (though many work in Apple Music, or VLC). Have you managed it? What are we doing wrong? Here’s our latest audio if you reckon you can help the community.

Podcast News

The etiquette and manners podcast Were You Raised By Wolves has launched merch: but along with mugs, stickers and, um, flip-flops, they’re also offering stationery. Rather beautiful stationery.
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The Happy Podcast for Kids launches tomorrow: an ad-free podcast encouraging children to ask questions about the world around us and learn and provide a shared experience with those who have the answers.

SmartLess is apparently being shopped around for $20m. As Bloomberg says, “The market for podcasting rights is growing a lot faster than the actual market for podcasts.”

Neutrinowatch is an interesting fiction podcast, which changes its episodes a little bit every day. If you stream the show, you’ll get the latest version - the website warns you not to use Spotify.

Million Bazillion returns for a second season today. It’s a kids’ podcast from Marketplace, produced by American Public Media, that tackles big questions from little people about money.

“I Have Alternate Personalities; I’m Just One of Them.” Diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), Melissa begins each episode of The Bag System podcast with an intro reel that features a few of the genuine voices of her Headmates, and aims to reach those who share the condition and those who are supportive.

Windfall is a new series from NHPR’s Outside/In podcast - looking at offshore wind and the brand-new American industry that has sprung up around it.