Ad agency podcasts, subscription podcasts apparently work, Adam Curry's Podcaster Pro

The story of The Basketball Jones, a podcast started in 2006, now turned into a TV show on NBA TV called The Starters, now in their fourth season. Interesting long-form piece, showing the power of sheer hard work.

Stitcher charges $4.99 for ad-free podcasting, a product soft-launched last year called Stitcher Premium. The service is seeing good results, according to the CEO, Erik Diehn.

Mike Francesca, New York sports radio personality, is leaving WFAN at the end of this year, and might be eyeing up a podcast of his own. What interests him about podcasting? “Right now, nothing. They’re doing it so wrong.”

Another former broadcaster now turned podcaster: “TV legend” Norman Lear.

Adam Curry is producing a portable studio for podcasters, Podcaster Pro. Noise-gates, compressors, dual mic inputs and dual headphone jacks in one little unit.

The Economist notes that 63% of US podcasts, and 58% of the top Brit podcasts, are hosted by men; and only 13%/12% hosted by women (the rest by mixed teams). They write a piece about why women excel in podcasting. “Women are making podcasts that are smart, conversational, emotionally honest”.

Advertising agencies are making podcasts (which is good news for the potential of the medium to attract revenue). Here are four US agency podcasts highlighted by Digiday.