Your next podcast might be made using AI

• Stavros Korokithakis used a lot of artificial intelligence tools to make an entirely AI-built podcast. It tells you a relaxing bedtime story (written by AI), with music (composed by AI) and even artwork (drawn by AI).

• Podnews is rolling out direct links to listen to shows on Amazon Music in our podcast pages. An example is on Podland. Our pages will also highlight if you’re missing from that directory; and you can search Amazon Music’s podcasts from our search pages.

• Rob Greenlee predicts the future of podcasting… in 2006.

• Thank you to Storic Media for becoming our latest supporter. From NYC and LA, Storic are “proud to empower our passionate storytellers weekly in an environment inspired by no boundaries”, making a number of great shows. They’re supporting our independent journalism; you can support us here.

  
  Sep 9 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

Moves and hires - with Pod People

• Joe Inzerillo has joined SiriusXM as chief product and technology officer. He helped launch the Disney+ streaming service.

This link is no longer available, as at Sep 9 2023

Tips and tricks

• The Podcast Host has launched multi-language articles on their website. Os melhores microfones para podcasts em 2022: para todos os bolsos is the Portuguese version of The Best Podcast Microphones to Sound your Best in 2021: For Every Budget & Level.
  • If you’re a Spanish-speaking podcaster who wants to work with them on Spanish translations - it would be paid work - they’re keen to hear from you.

The Tech Stuff - with RSS․com

• Buzzsprout now supports the podcast:person tag for hosts and co-hosts. It’s available to everyone (and added to Podland).
• Podbean has switched all its RSS feeds from unique domains like podcastname.podbean.com/feed.xml to feed.podbean.com/podcastname/feed.xml. This is good news for privacy: domain names are never encrypted, so you can be tracked as a listener to a specific podcast every time your phone checks the RSS feed for a new episode. Libsyn is now the only major podcast host still using unique, trackable domain names for its feeds.
  • We’ve asked Podbean why they’re using 302 temporary redirects, not 301 permanent redirects. We’ll report back!
• Podverse has added episode comments to their new website. They’re using the decentralised ActivityPub comments sent in the RSS feed, using the new podcast:socialInteract tag.
• NewsBTC writes a long piece about Podcasting 2.0 and its relationship with the lightning network.
• Google Podcasts doing odd things? Our RSS Helper is a little bookmarklet which lets you see what RSS feed Google Podcasts has decided to use for your podcast this week. (For Podland, it’s currently preferring an old podcast feed that’s correctly 301-redirecting to the right one. Stupid Google Podcasts.)

Podcast News - with Memberful

HISTORY This Week has hit 100 episodes, and to celebrate, today’s guest is Ken Jennings, a Jeopardy! legend, who takes listeners through the history behind quizzing contests like Trivial Pursuit, a game created by two Canadian journalists over a beer “this week” in 1979, and offers insight into what it is about recalling trivial facts that keeps people coming back for more.

In a recent episode of the New Media Show, Todd Cochrane asked us to mention their podcast in our newsletter. “That would be nice,” he added. Of course we will. Rob Greenlee and Todd Cochrane this week take a look at the latest podcast consumption numbers from the UK. Both have been talking about podcasting since October 2004.

We Interrupt This Broadcast features Brian Williams as narrator and executive producer. Perhaps because Williams left MSNBC a few days ago, the show has seen a surge of success. The docuseries is planned to have 72 episodes; the first season was released earlier this year, including the Hindenburg disaster and the 2000 Presidential Election. Produced by i4 Media Ventures, it’s represented by Crossover Media Group Sales.

Shifting the Narrative is a new podcast from The Opportunity Agenda, looking at how the dominant narratives on major political issues have changed over time. Hosted by Ellen Buchman and Will Coley, the show has a mix of interviews interlaced with historic recordings from iconic events such as Resurrection City, the anti-poverty protest of 1968 that Martin Luther King Jr. was organizing before his assassination. - read more

Open-Door Playhouse is a new podcast bringing new plays from new writers. Produced in the style of living Radio Plays popular in the 1940s & 1950s, plays are promised right through the holiday period; the latest available is 'Santa’s Secret’ - a young boy searching for the truth about Santa Claus.