Where are all the podcast archives?

• Preserve This Podcast has released a cautious look at the results of a survey into podcast audio archiving, claiming that in 50 years, the golden age of podcasting could turn into a dark age. While only 7% of podcasters don’t keep any backups at all, many don’t store full backups of original material. 18% only keep backups of their final edited episodes. The full survey results are here (pdf).

• Switched on Pop has joined the Vox Media Podcast Network. It’s Vox’s first music-based podcast: the company now has a roster of eight shows.

• Himalaya has been formally announced as Presenting Sponsor for the Podfest Multimedia Expo in Orlando FL, USA next month. Last week we highlighted that Himalaya are paying for 50 podcasters’ travel to attend the event.

• A preliminary schedule for the RAIN Podcast Business Summit, in New York NY next month, is highlighted in RAIN. (James Cridland, our editor, is moderating a panel on analytics.)

• Spotify+Gimlet: Paul Colligan thinks that Gimlet will contain ads for Spotify, and that this is a valuable part of a purchase (if it comes). HotPod today contains lots more about the deal, and the promise/threat that “we’re going to [be] talking about every implication of this for a long time”. Spotify has an investor’s call today, so we’ve not heard the end of this story yet.

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• Google have released Live Transcribe, an app in limited release that automatically transcribes a conversation. Looks interesting; though applications for podcasting are limited - text cannot be copied for privacy reasons. Its primary focus is for the hearing impaired.

• The Podcast Host has a full review of the RØDE Rødecaster Pro.

• Anchor now allow you up to three podcast sponsorships per episode with their Anchor Podcast Sponsorships service. “Placing three segments all together in the middle of your episodes is, for most podcasts, likely going to be the most efficient path to profit,” the company advise.

Podcasts

Fall of the Shah is a new, nine-part drama starring Diana Rigg and Iranian actors Moe Bar-El and Bijan Daneshmand, Fall Of The Shah tracks the downfall of the Shah of Iran in the late 1970s and the rise of a forceful new Islamic Republic. (BBC World Service)

Alone: A Love Story, the award-winning audio memoir by Michelle Parise, has just started its much-anticipated final season. “Last we checked, her post-divorce podcast had 5.3 million downloads,” say the team. (CBC)

Playable Characters, “funny interviews with video game characters”, is nearing episode 100, the creators - Brian McGuinness and Calvin Cato - say. King Bowser and Diddy Kong are two past guests.

Stupodity is a new podcast from Dan Le Batard’s co-host, “Stugotz” (Jon Weiner). The first episode went live on Jan 31, and reached #1 in the Apple Podcast Charts.

Thank you

• Thank you to Kontekst & Lyd, a podcast producer in Denmark, for your kind personal support. You enabled us to install code to fix the “quotes” in this newsletter, so they’re typographically correct (anything to avoid doing the accounts); and update our podcast recommendation newsletter list.
• Thanks to the former reader who unsubscribed from Podnews earlier this week but then gave us this really helpful piece of consumer insight.