'Seems to be insane' - more on the BBC block; and StreamGuys enables RAD

• Our story yesterday about the BBC blocking its podcasts from Google Assistant and Google Podcasts has got significant coverage from publications like Voicebot, RAIN, ShortMag, RadioToday, and NU·nl. We also hear that French pubcaster Radio France have done something similar, though they’ve not responded to our questions.

  • Journalist and futurist Ben Hammersley, who coined the word “podcast”, tweeted that “this seems to be insane”. Dave Winer, who added the concept of enclosures to RSS feeds, and thus is held by many to have invented podcasting, also tweeted a link to our story, highlighting the BBC’s requirement for a licence and user data. Juleyka Lantigua-Williams tweeted that the BBC are “setting a bad example and a dangerous precedent, especially for smaller producers like me. RSS feeds are the most democratic way to keep podcasts accessible and manageable.” Francisco Izuzquiza likens it to shooting yourself in the foot before going for a walk, though he doesn’t think it’s bad news for the industry as a whole. And we liked Jonathan “JB” Webb’s alternative headline: BBC says “Not OK, Google”. Top marks.
  • Meanwhile, the European Union’s new Copyright Directive, to be voted on this week, could make it illegal for podcast apps to link to podcasts (or anything more than a “snippet” of text) without a licence or payment; and hard for podcast hosts to effectively operate without large fines for copyright infringement, and a filter for uploads.

• StreamGuys have announced support for RAD across their platform. RAD is NPR’s podcast analytics technology; Podnews itself already tags our podcasts with RAD tags.

• Language-learning company Babble has signed Voxnest as the exclusive distribution partner for Babbel’s first US-based podcast, “Multilinguish.”

• Apple has released iOS 12.2, which displays episode numbers more clearly in the Apple Podcasts app. We’d recommend you use the episode tags - they’re good for accessibility. Meanwhile, Apple announced a lot of things yesterday including a new credit card and a Netflix imitation; there was no news about podcasting.

• The makers of S-Town have failed in their bid to dismiss a lawsuit claiming they exploited the story of John B McLemore .

• Radio World, an industry publication, carry seven myths that broadcasting believes about podcasting.

  
  Aug 11 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Player FM is keen that we all know that it does not want to be 'the Netflix of podcasting’. “Podcasts were born open and we’ll play our part to keep them open”, says the podcast app.

• Laudable is a new project which aims to kickstart UK local news in an audio form. The organisation is working with Reach plc and JPI Media, two of the country’s largest regional news publishers, and Entale, an interactive podcast platform. It received a US$560,000 grant from Google’s Digital News Initiative.

• If podcasting’s future is to be provided by Luminary, Brew or Patreon, a note of caution: 85m Americans do not have a bank account or only have access to basic banking services.

• Mark Asquith asks whether the widening gap between “indie” and “big” podcasting is cause for concern.

Podcasts

March Madness is in full swing, and Andy Katz, college basketball analyst and correspondent for the NCAA and host of the March Madness 365 is joining in on the madness. This week, Andy has an exclusive interview with LSU interim head coach Tony Benford, whose team just made it to the Sweet 16, and Loyola Of Chicago Head Coach Porter Moser, whose team was the “Cinderella” of last year’s NCAA tournament. (Turner Podcast Network / knit)

The Last Laugh: A Daily Beast Podcast launches today in Himalaya: The Daily Beast’s Matt Wilstein interviews some of the biggest names in comedy about what it’s like to be a comedian in this current cultural and political moment. The first guest is Sarah Silverman. (Megaphone)

Paste magazine has launched The Paste Podcast, again with Himalaya. They promise a mix of artist interviews, discussions with their writers, and exclusive performances by some of their favourite musicians. (Megaphone)

Pinstripes and Bright Lights launches today: hosted by veteran broadcaster and voice of the New York Yankees, John Sterling. In each episode John reads a heartfelt letter from a fan and then shares sports stories he’s collected over the course of his career. Of note: the website is one of those RadioPublic PodSites websites, which we noted in Feb.