Many podcasters have been receiving phony “cancellation” notices. These messages are being sent from a source identifying itself as “Podcast Authority,” using the e-mail address podcastauthorityofficial@gmail.com. The “cancellation” notice reads:

Hello (name of podcast producer),

I hope you are well. Unfourtunately I do not bring good news today. I regret to announce that as of today we have choosen to cancel your podcast. There will not be any further episodes of (name of podcast).

We understand this may come as a shock to you. Unfourunately some of the content in the last few episodes has been absolutely unacceptable. We are therefor left with no choice but to discontinue your podcast as of immediately.

I hope you understand why we have had to make this difficult decision and we wish you the best of luck with further ventures going forward.

Yours Sincerely,

Alex

A Google search for “Podcast Authority” and its attendant e-mail address turned up no useful information as to who’s behind these notices. Regardless, these messages are fake and can be safely disregarded by any podcaster who receives them. At this time, these cancellation notices appear to be nothing more than a harmless prank.

Considering most podcasters are independent producers, those producers would be the ones to decide when their shows would be “cancelled.” And while a podcast hosting platform could drop a podcast from its service for any number of reasons, it still couldn’t truly “cancel” the show.

If you’ve received this message from the so-called “Podcast Authority,” just delete it and move on.

Tip of the hat to Andrew from AB Film Review, who forwarded the message to me.

Original image by Widjaya Ivan on Flickr, used under Creative Commons license.