Brad Smith promoted at SiriusXM

• Simplecast founder and CEO Brad Smith has been promoted: he’s been named Head of Podcast Products for SiriusXM. Simplecast was acquired by SiriusXM last year; SiriusXM also owns Pandora, Stitcher and Adswizz. Smith will be responsible for podcast strategy across platforms for creators and listeners. SiriusXM’s CEO, Jennifer Witz, said on Monday that the company plans a broader set of podcasts available to Pandora listeners, and will continue to publish across multiple platforms, though also suggested some opportunities for exclusivity.

  
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• Evergreen Podcasts has unveiled its Q3/21 slate, including a set of business shows with a show from Minter Dial, and “popular shows geared towards listeners who just want some guy talk.” Finally! Podcasts with guy talk!

• All Active Asset Capital has withdrawn its offer to buy Audioboom. It had requested a further extension to its deadline; Audioboom declined. The investment company’s statement grumbles about corporate governance, and hints that they might be back.

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Sep 7 2023

• Podpage can now automatically post your new reviews and episodes to Twitter and Facebook.

• Pitches on fire! Studio Ochenta has announced the next round of pitches for its fiction series Ochenta Cuentos. They want your pitches for stories related… to fire.

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• We hear a lot about podcasts becoming TV shows, or even books: but stage plays? The Merely Roleplayers podcast is behind Lights Out - a night of tense and intimate theatre at The Pleasance, part of the London Horror Show.

Tips and tricks

• Headline Studio might be a thing to help you write more compelling podcast episode titles, according to Polymash.

  
  Sep 7 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Eight ways smaller newsrooms can make audio pay, from the Reynolds Journalism Institute, is written for journalists and newspapers, but is a good overview of the different mechanisms for earning money from your podcast.

Podcast News

Talk Money To Me is new from Australia’s Equity Mates Media: an all-female-hosted podcast about money. It’s with Acast. (Logowatch: this doesn’t have an Acast logo on the thumbnail at all.)

Cerebral Conversations is a new podcast from the Cerebral Palsy Alliance, tackling the big issues about disability, access and inclusion. It launched today.

Armored is a new original series with Disgraceland’s Jake Brennan - the untold stories of murder, mayhem and million-dolllar heists. It’s the first collaboration between audiochuck and Brennan, and launches today.

Shortcasts are one thing; but “mythlets” are another - Live from Mount Olympus has announced it returns with a full second season in February 2022, but is posting “mythlets”, bite-sized audio stories focusing on Greek myths, until then.

From LWC Studios, 70 Million returns for a fourth season, looking at jail reform across the US. The show is Peabody-nominated, and supported by the MacArthur Foundation.