International Podcast Day 2018 has Begun!

International Podcast Day is on September 30 every year. At the time I am writing this post, there are Australian podcasters participating in the live stream event. Anyone who is interested can watch 30 plus hours of free online sessions.

International Podcast Day is September 30th and is an international celebration of the power of podcasts! The celebration is a great opportunity to connect with fellow podcast listeners, podcast enthusiasts, and leaders in the podcast industry.

There are several ways to get involved with International Podcast Day:

  • Use #InternationalPodcastDay to engage with others worldwide talking about the event
  • Grab your mic and camera and ask someone about their favorite podcast. Share the response on social media!
  • Join in numerous events in your region and around the world
  • Promote by posting the official banner image on your website
  • Explain to someone what a podcast is and get them hooked
  • Subscribe to a new show and talk about it using #InternationalPodcastDay

There is an official International Podcast Day streaming schedule you can check out.

Saturday, September 29, 2018:

  • 9:00PM – 10:00PM PDT – Freedom of [Creative] Speech – Taku Mbudzi – Australia
  • 10:00PM – 11:00PM PDT – India, Podcasting and Change – Chhavi Sachdev – India
  • 11:00PM – 12:00AM PDT – Forget About the Email List… I have a WhatsApp List that Subscribes to my Podcast – Bijay Gautam – India

Sunday, September 30, 2018:

  • 12:00AM – 1:00AM PDT – How to Monetize Your Podcast in an Underdeveloped Podcast Scene – Giorgio Minguzzi – Italy
  • 1:00AM – 2:00AM PDT – Podcasting the World’s Museums – Hannah Hethmon – Poland
  • 2:00AM – 3:00AM PDT – Building the Middle East Podcast Scene for the First Time – Hebah Fisher – United Arab Emirates
  • 3:00AM – 4:00AM PDT – Podcasting Politic: Bringing People and Politics Together – Cláudio Fonseca – Portugal
  • 4:00AM – 5:00AM PDT – Let’s Have Brunch! Using Live Events as a Podcast Growth Strategy – Ileane Smith – United States
  • 5:00AM – 6:00AM PDT – Life Behind the Mic – Why I Can’t Live Without My Podcast – Joanne Sweeney-Burke – Ireland
  • 6:00AM – 7:00AM PDT – Global Platform, Local Focus – Ian Farrar – United Kingdom
  • 7:00AM – 8:00AM PDT – Building a South African Podcast Network – Tayla Welsch & Quintus Potgieter – South Africa
  • 8:00AM – 9:00AM PDT – Why International Brands Should be Paying Attention to France’s Growing Podcast Scene – Lory Martinez – France
  • 9:00AM – 10:00AM PDT – GOLD SPONSOR – PODCAST SUCCESS ACADEMY – Top Tips for Growing Your Show You Haven’t Thought Of Yet – Jessica Kupferman from Podcast Success Academy – United States
  • 10:00AM – 11:00AM PDT – The Unexpected Benefits and Value Gained from Podcasting – Rob O’Donohue – Ireland
  • 11:00AM – 12:00PM PDT – PLATINUM SPONSOR – BLUBRRY – Podcast Best Practices and Common Mistakes – Todd Cochrane from Blubrry – United States
  • 12:00AM – 1:00PM PDT – 5 Pillars to Creating The Ultimate Podcast Brand – Stephen Hart – Jamaica/USA
  • 1:00PM – 2:00PM PDT – La Fraternidad del Podcasting en Español – Pato Lopardo – Argentina
  • 2:00PM – 3:00PM PDT – The Power of Podcasts in Education – Chris Nesi – United States
  • 3:00PM – 4:00PM PDT – Reasons to Podcast – Brian Crawford
  • 4:00PM – 5:00PM PDT – How to Conduct Better Podcast Interviews – Annamarie Cross – Australia
  • 5:00PM – 6:00PM PDT – 13th Annual People’s Choice Podcast Awards Ceremony – Todd Cochrane – United States
  • 6:00PM – 7:00PM PDT – PLATINUM SPONSOR – BLUBRRY – Growth Focus for your Community – Todd Cochrane from Blubrry – United States
  • 7:00PM – 8:00PM PDT – Podcasting is Just the Start … How to Market Yourself & Your Podcast – Sean Callanan
  • 8:00PM – 9:00PM PDT – Audio Fiction as a Diverse Gateway to Podcasting – Elena Fernández-Collins – Puerto Rico
  • 9:00PM – 10:00PM PDT – How Podcasting Has Exponentially Grown in the Phillippines & How Filipinos Are Now Telling Stories Through Podcast – Issa Perez – Philippines
  • 10:00PM – 10:30PM PDT – International Podcast Day Wrap Up – Podcast Day Team & Platinum Sponsor – Steve Lee, Dave Lee, Todd Cochrane from Blubrry, Daniel J. Lewis – United States

The Sporkful Seeks an Associate Producer

The Sporkful is a podcast about food. It isn’t for foodies, it’s for eaters. The Sporkful is hosted by Dan Pashman of Cooking Channel’s “Your Eating It Wrong” and the book “Eat More Better”. This podcast is a Stitcher Production. Stitcher is seeking an Associate Producer to join The Sporkful in NYC.

The ideal candidate will have at least two years of experience in creating, producing and editing compelling audio programs, a passion for innovative storytelling, and familiarity with the current podcast landscape.

The Associate Producer will:

  • Pitch ideas and research show topics
  • Cut host tracks and interview
  • Identify, pre-interview and book potential guests
  • Research and write detailed interview prep for host. This includes: offering editorial feedback to Senior Producer/Host, helping manage social media accounts and listener engagement, producing live events, participating in weekly editorial meetings, and more.

Requirements:

  • At least two years of experience in a deadline-driven media environment
  • Superb organization and time management, ability to work with remote teams
  • Proficiency with audio editing
  • Creative problem-solving in editing stories and interviews
  • Experience working with diverse populations preferred
  • Proficiency with a range of social media
  • A love of eating is required, but deep knowledge of food is not

For more details, including how to qualify for an interview, please visit the Scripps website where the Stitcher job posting is located.

BuzzFeed News Cuts Podcast Production Team

BuzzFeed logoBuzzFeed is cutting its in-house podcast production team and is shifting to creating original shows similar to the ones it produces for Netflix, Twitter and Facebook. This was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Vice President of News and Programming at BuzzFeed News, Shani Hilton, said in a memo to staff that most of Buzzfeed’s podcasts would be shutting down. This includes See Something Say Something, The News, and Reporting To You.

See Something Say Something was hosted by Ahmed Ali Akbar. In the podcast, he covered everything that American Muslims are talking about right now. Topics included misrepresentation in the media, equality in the mosque, Asahd memes, and much more.

The News was hosted by BuzzFeed News reporters, who released a show every Saturday about the latest news. It was described as “news that’s smart, not stuffy.”

Reporting to You was the Buzzfeed News daily news and culture debrief. It was hosted by the BuzzFeed News team. New episodes were released every weekday with a summary of what you need to know.

On September 19, 2018, Tracy Clayton (@brokeymcpoverty), who hosted Another Round with Heben Nigatu, tweeted: “ADDITIONAL INFO RE: BUZZFEED’S PODCAST CUTS: i am also being let go. as of october 21, my position is being eliminated, and i will be leaving the company. as my name was not in the internal email detailing this fact, i was only now made aware through clarification.”

On September 20, 2018, the BuzzFeed News PodSquad posted a tweet that included the following: “@BuzzFeedNews has made the decision to dissolve our team and end most of our shows with it, including The News, Reporting to You, and @seesomething. @ThirstAidKit will continue through the rest of its season.” The next tweet in the thread included: “Our producers are now looking for work.”

Thirst Aid Kit is hosted by Bim Adewunmi and Nichole Perkins. They explore the public ways that women express their desire, particularly in this moment when we are all asking more pointed questions about Hollywood, representation, and opportunity. The show included an examination of why we desire who we desire, original fanfic, and fantasies “that take us by surprise.”

The Wall Street Journal article stated that the cuts would only affect “a handful of employees”. BuzzFeed News still plans to continue producing podcasts, but without a dedicated in-house production team (according to a representative from BuzzFeed).

I noticed that the hosts of See Something, Say Something, Another Round, and Thirst Aid Kit are all people of color, four of whom are black women. It wasn’t clear to me who was hosting The News or Reporting to You.

Kim Komando Show Seeks a Podcast Writer/Producer

The Kim Komando Show is seeking a talented podcast writer/producer. The project is described as “not for beginners”. Applicants should be someone who knows how to write conversationally for the ear, and is a true storyteller.

We provide the topic (tech-related), you research it, interview the appropriate people including nationally recognized newsmakers or experts, write it, edit the audio and copy, and prep it for V/O. We put all the elements together on our end.

They need someone with experience “writing around actualities”, and they do not have time for major rewrites. The ideal person is intuitive, resourceful and knows now to honor deadlines. The final podcast time averages 16-18 minutes.

It is worth knowing that the position(s) are for freelancers. The pay is $275 for each approved script with actualities. The freelancers would have to sign an agreement to insure ethical standards and best practices, and would also have to send them an invoice.

For more information, including what they would like you to send them in a cover letter, please visit the Kim Komando Show website.

SiriusXM to Acquire Pandora

SiriusXM Holdings and Pandora Media today announced a definitive agreement under which SiriusXM will acquire Pandora in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $3.5 billion.

The combination of these two companies creates the world’s largest audio entertainment company. The combined company will engage in cross-promotion between SiriusXM’s base of more than 36 million subscribers across North America and 23 million-plus annual trial listeners and Pandora’s more than 70 million monthly active users.

The acquisition will enable leveraging of SiriusXM’s exclusive content and programming with Pandora’s ad-supported and subscription tiers to create unique audio packages while also utilizing SiriusXM’s extensive automotive relationships to drive Pandora’s in-car distribution. The press release mentioned “expanded monetization opportunities through both ad-supported and subscription services in and out of the vehicle.”

The press release says: “Following the completion of the transaction, there will be no immediate change in listener offerings.” I think the key word here is “immediate”. This is not a promise that things will not change.

The acquisition could bring up some issues for people who canceled their SiriusXM subscription because they strongly disagreed with the hiring of Steve Bannon. It may also be problematic for the people pushing SiriusXM to cancel Pearl Jam Radio. People who don’t want anything to do with SiriusXM, but who do want to continue using Pandora, face a moral dilemma.

Now might be a good time to find out if your favorite podcasts that are on SiriusXM or Pandora are available somewhere else. That will make it easier if the podcast disappears after the acquisition is final.

Buzzsprout Offers Transcription of Buzzsprout Podcasts

Buzzsprout is a podcast hosting company that makes it easy for podcasters at every level to upload, share and track a show, without any technical training. Buzzsprout will transcribe episodes of podcasts for podcasters who have a paid plan.

Buzzsprout allows people to get started on a free plan, which provides hosting for 90 days and allows 2 hours of upload each month.

All of Buzzsprout’s paid plans include:

  • Unlimited Storage
  • 250GB Bandwidth Per Month
  • The Podcast Migration Tool
  • No Advertising
  • Hosted Indefinitely

The $12/month plan allows 3 hours of uploads each month. Overage costs $4 per hour. The $18/month plan allows 6 hours of uploads each month. Overage costs $3 per hour. The $24 plan allows 12 hours of uploads each month. Overage costs $2 per hour.

Those with paid plans, and who have their podcast on Buzzsprout, can have their podcast episodes transcribed. The process starts via the Buzzsprout dashboard. First, select the episode you want transcribed.

It gets sent to Temi. They will send you an email when your episode has been transcribed. After that, the podcaster can update their Buzzsprout site to let people know that a transcript is available.

Transcripts are billed at 10 cents per minute. The charge will appear on your next Buzzsprout invoice.

Con Before the Storm Revealed World of Podcasts Participants

Con Before the Storm is a fun event that takes place the night before BlizzCon. Part of the Con Before the Storm event includes World of Podcasts. This year, over 55 podcasts are being represented for 2018’s World of Podcasts.

Full disclosure, I will be attending Con Before the Storm this year and representing the Shattered Soulstone podcast (which is about Diablo III) in a World of Podcasts panel. I am not being paid to attend the event. This is just for fun.

There are several World of Podcasts panels that will be happening before and after BlizzCon 2018. The first two panels will be live on Twitch.tv/conbeforestorm

Pod Before the Con – Blizzard (October 28, 2018, 4pm ET)

  • The Bard’s Tavern– Jay the Bird
  • Freezing Nomad Podcast– PerfectNomad
  • Kulle Story Bro– Dean
  • Off Curve – Steve Lubitz
  • Realm Maintenance– Rho
  • The Sundering– Ceraphus
  • Technically PVP – Andallyn
  • The Nexus Trolls– Aurumis

Pod Before the Con – Warcraft (October 28, 2018, 7pm ET)

  • All Things Azeroth– Medros
  • Dungeon Fables– Aliandras
  • FrazlCast– Frazley
  • Halfhill Report– Toshmifune
  • Unshackled Fury– Berzerker
  • WoW Challenges– Stone
  • WoW! Talk!– Nick Zielenkievicz

BlizzCon Kickoff & Podcasting (November 1, 2018, 5pm-6pm, Anaheim Hilton)

  • Azeroth Coast to Coast– Akari
  • Convert to Raid– Pat Krane
  • Well Met!– J.R. Cook
  • Dark Moon Herald– Kevin Oldscratch
  • Lagging Balls– Thyst
  • The Starting Zone – Spencer Downey
  • Westmarch Workshop– Leviathan

Heroes of the Storm (November 1, 2018, 6:15pm – 7:15pm, Anaheim Hilton)

  • CORE– Scott Johnson, Jon Jagger, and Beau Schwartz
  • Gankbush Squad– Bacon
  • Heroes News– Jules Scott
  • Lords of the Storm– Ryan Reider and Gizmo
  • Into the Nexus– Kyle Fergusson

Hearthstone (November 1, 2018, 7:30pm – 8:30pm Anaheim Hilton)

  • Around the Hearth– Adam
  • Blizzlet– Stormraige
  • Coin Concede– RidiculousHat
  • The Happy Hearthstone– Andrew Brown
  • HearthCasual– Kevin Ellis
  • Legend of the Innkeeper– Espo
  • Value Town– Chris Chan

World of Warcraft (November 1, 2018, 8:45pm -9:45pm Anaheim Hilton)

  • Azeroth Roundtable– Ben Bumhoffer
  • Countdown to Classic – Josh Corbett
  • For Azeroth!– Jocelyn Moffett
  • Merely a Setback– Shoeboots
  • The Training Dummies– Rob
  • The Tauren & The Goblin– Katie Grace
  • The Worgen’s Howl– Frostee

Overwatch(November 1, 2018, 10pm – 11pm Anaheim Hilton)

  • Enter the Iris– Icy
  • It’s High Noon Somewhere– Blevins
  • Omnic Lab Podcast – Rob May
  • The Owl Recap– Andres
  • Overwatch League Network– Totemlydrunk
  • Watchpoint Radio-Bob Schissler

The Storm (November 2, 2018 – Time and Location: To Be Announced)

  • Behind the Avatar – Leeta
  • The Cavalry– Melisaa Schissler
  • Corpse Run Radio– Grandnagus
  • The Game Case– Cuddles
  • Hero Power – Zerotio
  • PWNCast– Belle
  • Shattered Soulstone– Jen
  • Twister Nether Blogcast– Hydra

PodSquad is Seeking Beta Testers

PodSquad is a podcast app for growing audiences on social media. They are currently looking for podcasters who would like to be beta testers of the PodSquad app. PodSquad is for podcasters, producers, and influencers.

Engage in social media in step with your normal listening experience. Create memes and audiograms to turn social media followers into new listeners.

The founder of PodSquad is named John Lee. He is building PodSquad, a podcast app for indie podcasters to grow their audiences on social media. If you are an indie podcaster, then John is inviting you to get early access to PodSquad and help them shape the final product of the PodSquad app.

As you might expect, there isn’t a whole lot of details out there about PodSquad. That’s not unusual for something that is not yet in beta. The beta app is coming.

If you want to be a PodSquad beta tester, then you need to visit their website and enter your email address. Your email will be shared with Podo (the maker of PodSquad).

Blubrry Podcast Directory Tops 600,000 Shows

Blubrry Podcasting, a podcast services leader in the industry, recently celebrated 600,000+ shows in their directory. The directory, allows for anyone, Blubrry user or not, to listen to a podcast and see a list of the show’s episodes, all for free.

The directory, which was introduced in 2006, has seen significant growth in the podcasting industry since 2014. In 2017, the directory included more than 120,000 new shows; they project over 180,000 new podcasts this year, an increase of 50 percent over the previous year.

Podcasts are updated hourly, show hosts can claim their show, which includes a link to their show’s website. As opposed to other directories, there are also multiple ways for listeners to subscribe via Android or Apple devices and most importantly share the podcast.

“Surpassing 600,000 shows in the Blubrry Podcast Directory, which has been around since we launched Blubrry, provides infinite opportunities to podcast listeners and allows us to track ongoing in the podcasting space,” said Todd Cochrane, CEO of Blubrry.

Blubrry will continue to monitor trends in the market, release data and relevant information on the podcasting industry based on discoveries made analyzing the hundreds of thousands of podcasts and the near 50,000 podcasts measured by our IAB compliant Podcast Statistics.

As much growth as the industry has seen, however, there is a great deal of room to grow in specific categories.

“Many of the typical topics are covered well by various podcasts,” said Angelo Mandato, CIO of Blubrry. “But the directory, as large as it is, shows us that there are many categories that are underserved.”

“Categories such as ‘Kids and Family’, “Games and Hobbies’, and ‘Government and Organizations’ are severely underrepresented,” Mandato said. “This presents notable opportunities for podcasters to fill these topics.”

In fact, Mandato said, “The largest category is ‘Religion’. Many congregations have gravitated toward podcasting in recent years, and made it an essential component of their service.”

Anchor Adds Smart Background Music

Anchor has introduced smart background music that can be used in podcasts that are on Anchor. There are 100 background tracks to choose from that intelligently mold to your audio. In addition, Anchor added brand new Sound Effects and Interludes tools.

Anchor points out that the perfect blend of voice, music, sounds and transitions in a podcast can be difficult to pull off. It takes time to find the perfect music and to ensure that you have the rights to use it. Not everyone knows how to create unique sounds or to properly edit a podcast. This is why Anchor has added smart background music.

The smart background collection library had over 100 beautiful, podcast-ready background tracks, free to use with no restrictions. A lot of the new tracks come from Blue Dot Sessions. The library can be browsed by mood, name, or keywords.

Each track will intelligently adjust in volume so that it sounds natural with your recording. Here’s how it works: the background song automatically starts at full volume. Then after an intro, the music dips and your recorded audio comes in. The song loops until your segment is done, and then at right at the end, the music swells back up, and fades out. This means your background music sounds really polished, never outshines your voice, and takes just a second to apply.

The new Sounds and Interludes include sound effects or musical interludes. Many of the interludes are short “stingers” that match the background tracks. Anchor says that you can also import your own background music, sounds, or interludes to easily reuse whenever you want to.