Jake Shapiro goes to Apple Podcasts

Our Cover Story - Optimal Living Daily hits 100 million downloads. See more in Podcast News, below.

• Amazon Music launched a podcast service in the US and the UK just after we went to press. We’ll have more details tomorrow.

• RadioPublic’s Jake Shapiro joins Apple Podcasts as Head of Creator Partnerships, in a significant hire for the company. Shapiro co-founded PRX in 2002. New leadership for both RadioPublic and Podfund will be “announced shortly”.

• SiriusXM announces a new CEO and CFO. James E Meyer will retire at the end of this year to be replaced by Jennifer C Witz, who is currently the President of Sales, Marketing and Operations. Sean S Sullivan is appointed the new CFO; David J Frear is “pursuing other opportunities, effective immediately”. The company owns Pandora, Simplecast and Stitcher.

• The 25th annual Webby Awards opens for entries. The awards have added six new “Individual Episodes” categories for podcasts, and three new categories for “Limited-Series and Specials”.

• The Publisher Podcast Awards also opens for entries: open to publishers and media organisations worldwide.

• In The Netherlands, the Podcastfestival - on this weekend - publishes its full programme. Part physical, part virtual, the virtual event has a session by our Editor.

  
  Aug 27 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Apple announces iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, which will both be available today. The Apple Podcasts app, which is updated as part of the OS, gets new features offering personalised suggestions.

• In Australia, PodcastOne Australia makes two appointments - Sam Cavanagh will look after “entertainment and news content” for the company, while Jennifer Goggin will focus on specialist content. PodcastOne Australia is owned by broadcaster SCA.

• Nick Randall, who co-founded Australian podcasting company Ranieri & Co, joins a partnership automation business. He’ll continue being Chair of the company, which represents Wondery in the country.

Following campaigns like Show the Salary in other industries, our Podjobs jobs board now asks for salary ranges when advertising new jobs, in an attempt to help diversity, tackle pay gaps and inequality, and treat people fairly. Thank you to Hannah Hethmon for raising our awareness of this issue. We know an optional question like this isn’t perfect, but hope it’s a start.

Tips and tricks

• How Multitude’s new show Meddling Adults got made during the pandemic
• Best practice for increasing podcast subscribers through social media (Omny Studio)

Podcast News - with 70 Million

70 Million is back for Season 3. For its season premiere, 70 Million takes you inside Chicago’s Cook County Jail during a rapid outbreak of COVID-19. Learn of the unprecedented steps officials took to control the outbreak, and how COVID-19 is directly confronting structures within the criminal justice system. Listen to Episode 1. (ad)

Minimalism and personal development podcast Optimal Living Daily has hit 100 million downloads. The podcast narrates content from personal development experts like Joshua Becker, The Minimalists, and Marc and Angel Chernoff. They sent us a t-shirt or two to celebrate. That’s how easily bought we are.

All Things Covered with Patrick Peterson & Bryant McFadden is a new weekly podcast from CBS Sports featuring a future Hall of Famer and a 2-time Super Bowl champion. Peterson will go from the playing field on Sundays to the podcast studio on Mondays to offer a unique perspective on this unprecedented NFL season. It launches next week. They didn’t send us a t-shirt.