True crime topped the top charts of 2021

• True crime rules; but exclusive podcasts don’t much, and nor do any of the big acquisitions - at Pacific Content, Matt Hird took all the “top podcasts of 2021” lists he could find, and analysed all 432 podcasts they mentioned to see what can be learnt. 9/12 is incidentally, the top of the tops.

• Apple Podcasts for Creators has been interviewing a number of podcast publishers. Lemonada’s Jess Cordova Kramer talks about how she has grown the company’s audience; Jordana Abraham talks about how Betches built a community; and Donald Albright from Tenderfoot TV discusses talk tactics, tools, and tough lessons. If you’ve a story to tell, you can pitch it to Apple here.

• Twitter Spaces can now be recorded by anyone - on Android and iOS.

• Podbean has published a list of their live events for Q1/22. Expect speakers from the BBC World Service, Sounds Profitable, and Pacific Content.

• Spotify has won a trademark case in the US against a company called Potify, which offers, um, not music, just real good stuff, you know?

  • Unrelated, Spotifeed is also dead. It was a service that made RSS feeds from Spotify-exclusive podcasts.

• In the UK, Public Service Podcasting has been launched by Jonny Gould. It aims to serve minority communities with reliable news, who are otherwise overlooked or misrepresented by the mainstream media.

• Interesting: The Podcast Fellowship links to “approved” educational Jewish podcasts, and, for Jewish people, pays $15 per podcast they listen to, to help them understand Judaism better.

• Echoverse, a new podcast studio, has signed Minnie Driver to star in the company’s first production, a scripted audio supernatural series. Her Minnie Questions podcast from iHeartMedia is also back for a new season; her first guest is Debbie Harry.

• Canada’s CBC has announced their Q1/22 slate, including a six part show revealing a dark secret from Anna Maria Tremonti’s past; and a new world news podcast … also the Fox Sports Podcast Network launched with its first slate.

• Evergreen Podcasts has walked away with four awards at the MUSE Awards, which recognize excellence in the creative and design fields.

• Why are so many celebrities recording podcasts? The Entertainment Weekly website looks at some of the reasons; and points out “podcasting can be easy money, but only if you have a sustainable, interesting point of view.”

• The Access to Inspiration podcast has published its first Impact Report, showing how much the podcast matters to listeners, guests, and those who work on the show. It’s a good report card for a podcast, and could be emulated by others.

• Podnews was sent press releases about two new podcasts today, and in big red ink was the stipulation that if we covered them, we must embed or link to their player. Nah.

Moves and hires - with Pod People

• Gabriel Roth, editorial director for Slate Podcasts, is leaving the company “to pursue other opportunities”, a week after Slate’s Editor-in-Chief Jared Hohlt departed.
• Tonya Mosley is to leave NPR’s Here & Now as host. Mosley, who is Black, will continue as a correspondent; but will concentrate on her own podcast, Truth Be Told. She’s one of many recent departures from NPR. Separately, a lawsuit has been filed against NPR by a former employee, the second to include allegations of racial discrimination.

This link is no longer available, as at Sep 10 2023
• Brent Weinstein has been hired as Chief Development Officer and Salil Mehta as Chief Financial Officer at Candle Media. Weinstein joins from UTA; Mehta from Disney, ESPN and others.

Sep 10 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

Tips and tricks - with Podpage

• 18Sixty’s Gareth Evans has top tips for recording on location. Checking out where you want to go on Google Maps is a good tip - to help find sheltered places for interviews.

• Zencaster offers 7 tips for creating an accessible podcast. Transcripts are good; an accessible website is good too.

  
  Sep 10 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.
  • This section is sponsored by Podpage, and a Podpage website - here’s ours - has a 97/100 accessibility score.

• Make a best-of compilation for new listeners, suggests Mark Steadman.

Podcast News - with Quill

Produced by Quill: C Suite Join Claudette McGowan, TD Bank’s Global Executive Officer for Cyber Security, as she explores how cyber-attacks happen and what we can do to avoid them. From phishing schemes to robocalls, Claudette meets with C Suite leaders to discuss cyber challenges and ways to help people become more protected.

The Missing has returned for season 3. You can listen to the whole thing on Amazon Music, or weekly episodes via RSS. Each episode in the 10-part series breaks down the case of a long-term missing person, and gives listeners the opportunity to join the conversation and offer new information to aid the search. It’s produced by Podimo. - read more

Sometimes you forget to check what microphone is recording, and you sound like you’re in the loo. In related news, Podland News is back - taking a look back at the news; and co-host Sam Sethi points out that with all this talk about Web3, podcasting is already there - decentralised, with portable data and open to all.