#host of Studio 360 on NPR

[itwasanangryinch]

JCM Projects -- 2019

My aim is to update this at least monthly, ideally weekly with all of the projects John Cameron Mitchell will be working on, debuting, or a part of in the upcoming year. If you know of a project not listed here, please message me thru inbox or IM.  | |  Updated June 19th

This Week (June 19th-23rd)

(DJing) Mattachine – Monthly queer dance party with Amber Martin and Ang DiCarlo at the Julius

The Origin of Love Tour (North American) (ongoing)

New York – June 27th, at The Town Hall (3 left!) New York – June 28th, at The Town Hall – sold out! New York – June 29th, at The Town Hall – sold out! New York – July  27th, two shows! at Fischer Theatre/Bard College (16 left!) Michigan – November 2nd,  at the University of Michigan, (tix on sale in Aug.) Austin – February 7th, 2020, at University of Texas at Austin/Bass Concert Hall (tix on sale in August) San Fransciso – February 29th, 2020, at Berkley University. (tix on sale in Aug.) Salt Lake City – April 3rd, 2020, at Kingsbury Hall (tix on sale in July)  Los Angeles – April 11th, 2020, at UCLA/The Theatre at Ace Hotel (tix on sale in July)

more dates to come!

MERCHANDISE: Junction City Mercantile (launched! all proceeds go to helping John’s mum)

Other Concerts

New York – June 22nd, John will be singing a selection of songs from Anthem as part of the first Topic Talks: Music concert. Tickets on sale now.

TV Shows

Shrill (series regular) – Hulu, first season available now! – RENEWED!!

The Good Fight (guest star) – CBS All Access Trailer  | | Sneak Peak | | Episode 

Movies

Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) – June 25th. Critereon Collection DVD/Blu-Ray release featuring a new 4K restoration of the film, a new chat with the original creatives behind the film, a talk between Stephen Trask and Rolling Stone writer David Fricke, and all of the features from the original DVD release. Critereon.com | | bbfc certification | | watch now

How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017) – May 8th. Transmission Films. After almost a full year since JCM was there and told that there were no immediate plans for distribution, Australia is finally getting HtTtGaP on DVD and digital.

Podcasts

Anthem: Homunculus: A ten episode podcast series written by JCM and HtTtGaP collaborator Bryan Weller and featuring performers such as Glenn Close, Patti LuPone, Madeline Brewer, and Nakhane. All episodes available. Luminary Podcasts. Little Known Facts with Ilana Levine: Upcoming. John was interviewed on April 29th, episode presumably airs soon. iTunes | | Podbean | | Stitcher The Orbiting Human Circus (of the Air): New episodes dropping generally 2019. A fictional series set in the world of a radio show that broadcasts from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Season one, season one remaster featuring interviews with Julian Koster and JCM, and The Second Imaginary Symphony (does not feature JCM) available now. WNYC Studios.

Too Hot For Radio: 2019. John recorded a live reading of a short story for the NPR program. If it follows past airings, it will be included sometime when the new season starts streaming later this year.

Dreamboy: an ethereal monster movie told in podcast form. JCM guest starred in the finale, aired March 25th, and sang a song. NightValePresents Website.

More John podcasts  

Albums

Anthem: Homunculus (Soundtrack) – Out now. Full soundtrack currently available as a digital download from Ghostlight Records. Featuring John, Glenn Close, Patti LuPone, Nakhane, and others, written by JCM and Bryan Weller. Ghostlight Records 

T-Rex Tribute Album – John will be singing ‘Diamond Meadows’ as part of producer Hal Willner’s project. No release date yet. Variety, JCM ig

Interviews

For interviews that are not really part of a podcast or other thing.

Big Think: May 18th. Video. (Different from the 9th) [ YT, BT ]

Psychology Today: May 15th. Text interview with John about one of the key plot points in Anthem. More talking about the show than actual interview. There is a more spoilery interview linked off of it relating to ep 7, though the spoiler is something that’s been hinted at in past interviews. [ PT,  C ]

Big Think: May 9th. Video [ YT ]

BuzzFeed AM to DM: Daily webshow. May 2nd. [ Periscope, Twitter, BFN ]

New York Live TV/The Hub Boston: TV interview. Same interview ran on both programs. About 5 minutes. May 1st [ YT ]

Time Out Mexico: Text interview. Translated into Spanish. April 29th [ TO ]

Backstage.com: John answered questions from the people at Backstage and fan questions left on their forum and social media. April 25th. [ FB ]

Broadway.com Live at Five: John was interviewed to talk about Anthem: Homunculus and Hedwig. April 24th. [ YouTube, text write up ]

Other Projects

Come Back Once More So I Can Say Goodbye –  a theatre piece by Labyrinth Dance Theatre. About gay life in NYC 1965-1995. JCM is part of Julius' Honorary Host Committee for the show. $40 gen. admission. $25 student/senior/artist. June 14-17th.

Broadway: The Next Generation – documentary. No release date yet.

Time Warp: The Greatest Cult Films of All Time – documentary. No release date yet.

TV Series 1: John has talked about this in interviews. Something that he would be writting/showrunning as well as creating. (impending)

TV Series 2: Something that John would be creating, but not as involved in the day-to-day workings of. Has talked about in interviews. (impending)

Other Appearances

Mattachine, June 20th – a monthly queer dance party at Julius’ Bar in New York. Usually the 3rd Thursday of the month, but does vary. John usually shows up, but does not go to all Mattachines. @mattachineparty​ UPDATED!

Filmmaker on the Edge, June 15th – John is going to be honoured with the award, have a conversation with resident artist John Waters, and screen Hedwig. (press release)

                                                     ARCHIVED

After a certain amount of time, older information will drop here so that fans looking for recent, current, and upcoming projects will have an easier time. Things that have already been done will drop down here. And going into 2020, there will be a new list.

The Origin of Love Tour

February 8th -- Washington DC, National Theatre February 22nd -- Chicago, IL, Atheneum Theatre March 2nd -- Boston, MA, Schubert Theatre May 22nd -- Mexico City, MX, Auditorio BlackBerry June 8th -- Miami, FL, The Arsht Center/Knight Hall

Other Concerts

Drop down after performance unless there’s a stream or a downloadable thing for them.

TV Shows

Shows drop down here after three months for guest appearances and six months after the last episode airs for series regular status.

Movies

Movies drop down six months after last release.

Podcasts

Podcasts that John is in the regular cast for will drop here six months after the last episode. guest starring, three months. Interview, one month.

Regular Cast

Guest Starring

Interview

Adulting: an interview format podcast where JCM and another guest star were interviewed. Broadcast live April 12th as part of a celebration for the venue. Watch video on FB | | Periscope | | Youtube

Death, Sex Money: John is guest hosting and interviewing his friend Marilyn Maye while the regular host is on maternity leave. April 17th. WYNC Studios.

Katya and Craig/Whimsically Volatile: April 25th. Podcast hosted by drag star Katya Zamolodchikova and director Craig MacNeil. This week, Craig hosted the show and interviewed John without Katya. Soundcloud | | Libsyn | | iTunes | YouTube

Selected Shorts: April 25th. John reads Fox 8 by George Saunders. Recorded November 9th of last year. NPR | | Stitcher | | SoundCloud | | player.fm

Chapo Trap House: April 29th. Podcast where John talks about Anthem, Hedwig, Shortbus, “the end of sex.” Soundcloud

Stagecraft: April 30. Podcast about acting.  iTunes | | Player.fm | | Libsyn CBS This Morning: April 30. Talks about Anthem, how being openly out in the time of AIDS informed his work, and the benefits and detriments of working in a digital age. iTunes | | Google Play | | Spotify | | Stitcher | | SoundCloud

Laura Heywood Interviews: May 8. player.fm | | Libsyn   

The Frame: May 9. John has a segment talking about Anthem. iTunes | | player.fm | | NPR

Studio 360: May 14th. John and Bryan talking about Anthem and performing a live version of ‘The End of Love.’ Slate | | iTunes

Albums

If John is guest appearing on the album, it will move after four months. If it’s his project, it will move after six.

Interviews

Drops down after one month for text interviews. Three for video.

Rolling Stone Mexico and GQ Mexico: John is interviewed in both for his performance in Mexico City 

Mural: May 18th. Text interview in Spanish. [ M ]

Escandala: May 15th. Text interview with John. In Spanish [ E ] Open Revista: May 14th Text interview with John in Spanish. [ OR ]

TheatreMania: May 12. Text interview with John and Bryan Weller about Anthem. [ TM ]

Metro Source: May 10th. Text interview with John about Anthem. [ MS ]

Time Out: May 9th. Press release/info for Orbital DJing Event [ TO ]

Daily Beast: May 6th. Text interview. [ DB ]

Rolling Stone: Text interview with John and Glenn Close about Anthem. May 5th [ RS ]

Backstage.com: write up of the FB/IG live video that John did the previous week. May 1st [ Backstage ]

Forbes: Text interview about Anthem and transforming it from the Hedwig sequel. John also talks about his writing process, The Orbiting Human Circus, and which Broadway shows he’s excited by this season. April 26th [ Forbes ]

NewNowNext: Text interview. April 23rd. [ NNN ]

Observer: Text interview. April 23rd. [ Observer ]

Queerty: Text interview. April 20th. [ Queerty ]

New York Times: Text interview. April 19th. [ NYT ]

Other Projects

Unless John is featured heavily, these will drop down after a month or two. These projects might also be less available than some of the other programs.

Other Appearances

Too Hot For Radio – January 26th, as part of San Francisco SketchFest, John went out and read a story for NPR’s Selected Shorts radio program. Eventually it will air via streaming like iTunes, NPR’s website, SoundCloud....

JCM interviews Claywoman – March 17th, John participated in a performance art interview of a drag character reported to be the oldest being in the universe who has travelled to our planet from her own.

JCM screens Entertaining Mr. Sloane – March 19th, John screened one of his favourite movies, a British sex comedy called Entertaining Mr. Sloane as part of a Quad Cinema series.

Various Promotion – various times in January thru March, John was on location being interviewed to promote Shrill. These appearances include the Hulu winter TCAs, the New York Shrill premiere, and San Francisco SketchFest.

Jay Brannon, Joe’s Pub – April 9th, John announced attending concert. Presumably did not perform.

Club Cumming – April 15th, John made his first appearance at Club Cumming as part of a star studded benefit for New Alternatives, an LGBT Youth charity. Sold out!

SirusFM//Signal Boost Show – April 25th, interview about Anthem, Hedwig, Uber rides, and sex.

Tribeca Celebrates Pride – May 4th, John was interviewed his Shrill costar Patti Hardison about how his queer identity has affected his work.

Chocolate Babies screening – May 7th. John announced on ig that he was going to be attending a screening of Stephen Winter’s film.

Orbital – May 24th. John and Amber DJed at the Ortibal dance party in Mexico.

Tony Awards - June 9th. Guest.

Nahkane, The Illustrious Blacks - June 20th. John announced on ig he would be attended Nahkane’s performance before June’s Mattachine Party.

[thisstylesguy]

Harry + 2017:

Released his debut single, Sign of the Times, which went platinum in the U.S. and broke the record for fastest time to hit #1 on U.S. iTunes at 19 minutes

Was featured in and was on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, where he was interviewed by Cameron Crowe and talked about the importance of his largely female fanbase

Performed on the Today Show, where he requested that the stage be lowered so he could create an intimate show for the fans

Was the musical guest on the first episode of SNL that was broadcast live from coast-to-coast in the U.S.

Sold out his first solo worldwide tour in a record-breaking 29 seconds

Released a documentary, ‘Behind the Album’ on Apple Music, which shows him playing some of his songs at Abbey Road Studios. Full-length performances of all his songs would later be released on ‘Behind the Album: The Performances’ 

Released his debut self-titled album, which was well received by critics and was #1 in 87 counties. It is the highest first week sales for a British male’s debut album since 1991 and has been certified gold in six countries.

Did a week-long stint on ‘The Late Late Show with James Corden,’ where he participated in Carpool Karaoke and other skits, delivered one of the opening monologues, and performed a different song every night 

Covered The Sunday Times Magazine, where he personally reached out to the writer to arrange the interview

Announced a second tour in arena venues for 2018

Held secret shows in London, LA, and Mexico and donated all the proceeds to charity

During the LA show at the Troubadour, he performed with Stevie Nicks and they sang Two Ghosts, Landslide, and Leather and Lace together

Dedicated his show in Mexico to the victims of the Manchester attacks by doing an intimate acoustic set

Performed ‘Two Ghosts’ on ‘The Late Late Show with James Corden in London’ on a rooftop overlooking the city

Made his acting debut in the Christopher Nolan-directed film Dunkirk in a role for which he auditioned. With its success, he became the first person to have a #1 debut single, #1 debut album, and #1 debut movie

Performed in the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge during its 50th anniversary special, where he covered ‘The Chain’ by Fleetwood Mac and ‘Wild Thoughts’ by Rihanna, DJ Khaled, and Bryson Tiller

Performed at the Grammy Museum, where he was also interviewed on his songwriting process

Began his debut tour in September in front of a sold-out San Francisco crowd 

Recorded acoustic versions of ‘Two Ghosts’ and a cover of ‘Girl Crush’ by Little Big Town for the first ever U.K. version of Spotify Sessions

Released a music video for Kiwi, which features young kids, a food fight, and puppies (lol). He was reportedly heavily involved in the creative process of the video

Had his own hour-long special, ‘Harry Styles at the BBC,’ where he sang his songs and had fun roaming his hometown with his good friend

Performed ‘Two Ghosts’ at the Industry Trust Awards honoring Sony CEO Rob Stringer  

Returned to his roots, the X-Factor stage, to perform Kiwi

Opened the Victoria Secret Fashion Show and performed twice

Was nominated for two MTV VMAs 

Was announced as a performer at the 2018 MusiCares Person of the Year tribute where Fleetwood Mac will be honored

Was in conversation for multiple Grammy Awards (among other music awards), while Dunkirk was nominated for 3 Golden Globe Awards, including Best Picture - Drama

Announced that he is scheduled to perform at Madison Square Garden twice in 2018, with the second show being added due to high demand 

Added more seats to his 2018 North American tour dates to create a 360 setup and added an extra show at Hersheypark Stadium in Pennsylvania

Won the ARIA for Best International Artist, his first award as a solo artist, and performed at the award show     

Performed his first arena show at Auckland’s Spark Arena in New Zealand

Hosted an entire episode of ‘The Late Late Show with James Corden’ with just three hours’ notice after Corden’s wife went into labor

End of year accolades:

#2 on Spotify’s Biggest Breakthrough Artists

#1 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s 50 Best Songs of 2017 - Sign of the Times

#87 on Pitchfork’s 100 Best Songs of 2017 - Sign of the Times

#8 on Billboard’s 100 Best Songs of 2017 - Sign of the Times

#27 on NPR’s 100 Best Songs of 2017 - Sign of the Times

#10 on Billboard’s 50 Best Albums of 2017 - Harry Styles

#5 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s 20 Best Pop Albums of 2017 - Harry Styles

#13 on Fuse’s 20 Best Albums of 2017 - Harry Styles

#4 on GQ’s Best-Dressed Men 2018

#1 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s Reader’s Poll: 10 Best Albums of 2017 - Harry Styles

#33 on Complex’s 50 Best Albums of 2017 - Harry Styles

#21 on Consequence of Sound’s Top 50 Songs of 2017 - Sign of the Times

#6 on TIME Magazine’s Top Ten Albums of 2017 - Harry Styles

#8 on The Most Shazamed 2017 Songs - Sign of the Times

#17 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s 50 Best Albums of 2017 - Harry Styles

#11 on The Genius Community’s 50 Best Albums of 2017 - Harry Styles

#3 on Rob Sheffield’s Top 20 Albums of 2017 - Harry Styles

#13 on Rob Sheffield’s Top 25 Songs of 2017 - Two Ghosts

#10 on Billboard’s 25 Best Rock Albums of 2017 - Harry Styles

#1 on Billboard’s 25 Best Rock Songs of 2017 - Sign of the Times

#9 on Interview Magazine’s 10 Best Songs of 2017 - Woman

#4 on Affinity Staff’s Top Albums of 2017 - Harry Styles

#6 on Billboard’s Best and Worst Album Covers of 2017 (BEST) - Harry Styles

#20 on Yahoo!Sports’ Best Music Videos of 2017 - Kiwi

#2 on FashionBeans’ Best Dressed Men of the Year 2017

Variety’s Best Albums of 2017 (no ranking included) 

Most importantly, he achieved all of this while promoting kindness (and being kind himself), embracing love in all forms, encouraging originality, being authentic and unapologetic with his music and stage presence, pushing the boundaries of pop music, never ceasing to show love to his fans, working extremely hard and making no excuses, and having a bit of fun. 

You’ve got a bright future ahead, kid, and I can’t wait to see what you accomplish next 

[jobsearchtips02]

Top podcasters, power players of original audio production: list

BI Prime

Barstool Sports; Sandy Honig; Eric Lee/NPR; Wondery; Samantha Lee/Business Insider

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Podcasting is on the rise, with the industry expected to generate $863 million in ad revenue this year and more than $1 billion in 2021.

As the medium becomes more popular, media companies are increasing their efforts with on-demand audio, while independent studios dedicated exclusively to podcasting are stepping up to bat against audio veterans.

Business Insider rounded up a list of the most influential people in the podcast production industry, from well-known hosts and founders to executives at major media companies and boutique podcast studios.

Click here for more BI Prime articles.

Podcasts are infiltrating the ears of listeners around the world, with hosts of most popular shows launching entire media companies and entrepreneurs landing increasingly large advertising and acquisition deals. 

In 2019, Spotify spent more than $200 million to acquire podcast company Gimlet Media. And in 2020, the podcast industry is expected to reach $863 million in ad revenue, and top $1 billion in 2021, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau. 

According to “The Podcast Consumer,” an annual series exploring the podcast audience in the US by Edison Research and Triton Digital, more than 50% of Americans over the age of 12 have listened to a podcast.

With podcast content in high demand, Business Insider took a look at the most influential people involved in original content production. This list of power players recognizes those who have topped the download charts, used podcasting to create social change, or are leaders driving the industry forward. 

At podcasting and radio powerhouse NPR, audio leaders Anya Grundmann and N’Jeri Eaton are focused on curating content that will diversify NPR’s storytelling and reach a broader audience. And iHeartMedia’s Conal Byrne is innovating across industries, and capitalizing on Hollywood’s recent interest in optioning podcasts to adapt for the screen.

As the podcasting industry grows, its audience is becoming increasingly dedicated.

Barstool Sports has built a podcast following so obsessive that the vast majority of the company’s merchandise is tied to a podcast. Fans of “My Favorite Murder” and “Pod Save America” loved those shows so much that the hosts were able to launch entire podcast companies of their own. “This American Life” host Ira Glass is a household name, and two of his colleagues on the show went on to launch one of the most successful podcasts of all time: “Serial.” 

At some older podcast companies, content is becoming king. Cadence13 is a longtime fixture in the industry, as founding partner Chris Corcoran helped to launch and monetize several major networks. Now, Corcoran is working to establish Cadence13 as a production studio in its own right, with a focus on influencer podcasts in particular. 

And even with established media companies pushing to dominate the podcast industry, smaller studios are launching and finding success.

Wondery, the top independent publisher of podcasts (according to Podtrac), doubled its audience in 2019, up to 20 million unique listeners per month and more than 50 million monthly downloads total.

Specialty podcast studios are helping to lead the charge for podcasts in genres outside of the daily news briefing, a category dominated by New York Times podcast “The Daily.”

Tenderfoot TV, which has made a name for itself in the true crime genre with unscripted and semi-scripted podcasts, has more then 500 million downloads to its name, including 340 million on mega-hit “Up and Vanished.” Podcast boutique Wonder Media Network is using podcasting to empower women, while Revolver Podcasts’ Jack Hobbs is serving bilingual audiences around the world. 

Here are the key players in podcast production, who are innovating across genres and pushing the industry to new heights (organized alphabetically by company name):

Chris Corcoran, chief content officer at Cadence13

Cadence13

Corcoran leads partner acquisition and content development at Cadence13, where he started as a founding partner in May of 2015.

The company was originally focused on developing and monetizing other networks — like The Ringer and Crooked Media — as opposed to creating its own original programming, but launched an original podcasting arm with the release of “Gangster Capitalism” in 2019. 

The show, which dives into the college admissions scandal, has already been optioned for TV by Entertainment 360, Corcoran said.

Using his expertise fostering business partnerships with networks that Cadence13 helped monetize through ad sales, Corcoran has secured content partnerships with other networks as his company expands into original production.

Cadence13 partnered with Tenderfoot TV for a slate of six exclusive podcasts, including “To Live and Die in LA,” which premiered Feb. 28 and surpassed 20 million downloads on 12 episodes by May, and “Culpable,” which premiered in June and crossed 15 million downloads on 16 episodes by December.

Corcoran’s leadership and inclination for collaboration also led to the creation of Ramble, a joint venture between Cadence13 and United Talent Agency. Ramble is a network of original podcasts hosted by influencers like Emma Chamberlain, The Try Guys, Alisha Marie, and Remi Cruz.

“We are in the hit business, and content is king,” Corcoran said. “I’m in the HBO mindset of creating culturally moving content with influential brands and talent.” 

Cadence13 was acquired by Entercom in August, and now operates under the company’s Radio.com division. It was named as one of the most innovative companies in media by Fast Company in 2019.

Moses Soyoola, senior vice president and general manager of Endeavor Audio

Endeavor Audio

When entertainment and sports conglomerate Endeavor decided to build out its podcast operation around 2017 — officially launching Endeavor Audio in 2018 — it recruited Soyoola to lead it.

Soyoola ran business development at podcast tech company Megaphone (formerly Panoply) from 2015 to 2017, where he worked with talent agents at United Talent Agency and Endeavor-owned agency WME who had begun to represent podcasters. 

Endeavor Audio premiered its first original podcasts in 2019, Soyoola said, and released 12 new shows over the course of the year.

The network doesn’t publicly share download numbers, Soyoola said, but its first two originals topped the Apple Podcasts charts soon after each was released.

“Blackout,” a scripted podcast starring Rami Malek, reached Apple Podcasts’ No. 2 spot the week following its March 19 release, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “The Bellas Podcast,” hosted by former WWE wrestlers Brie and Nikki Bella, was released March 26 and claimed the No. 1 spot one day later.

Endeavor also partnered with legendary producer Dick Wolf to create the “Hunted” fiction podcast starring Parker Posey, and with journalist Christof Putzel for non-fiction show “American Jihadi.”

In 2020, Endeavor Audio is restructuring as it steps away from the podcast ad sales business. The company laid off its in-house sales team in January, according to industry newsletter Hot Pod, and Soyoola said Endeavor Audio will look to ramp up its development work in 2020.

“We want to double down on what we were able to do in 2019 with the projects we did and create even more interesting and robust programming,” Soyoola said.

Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, cofounders of Exactly Right Network

Karen Kilgariff (L) and Georgia Hardstark (R) speak onstage at the 2019 Clusterfest on June 23, 2019.

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic for Clusterfest/Getty Images

Kilgariff and Hardstark’s 2016 podcast “My Favorite Murder” was so popular that it spawned an entire podcast network. The two comedians debuted the Exactly Right Network in 2018, and inked a deal with Stitcher in 2019.

“My Favorite Murder” is a regular feature on Apple Podcasts’ top US podcasts chart, rarely dropping below No. 14, according to Chartable.

Exactly Right is home to six shows including “My Favorite Murder,” which tops 34 million monthly listeners. The network was expected to gross nearly $10 million in 2019 and more in 2020, the Wall Street Journal reported.

That’s at least how much Exactly Right’s deal with Stitcher was worth, according to the Wall Street Journal, which called the agreement “one of the largest ever of its kind.” 

“My Favorite Murder” is also known for its global cult following, dubbed the “Murderinos,” who tune in weekly to hear Kilgariff and Hardstark chat true crime with a comedic twist and turn out in droves for live shows.

Kilgariff has a background in stand-up comedy and acting. Hardstark was previously known for appearances on the Cooking Channel, and for her work writing for Elle and Food Network online.

The podcasting duo published a book in May called “Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered: The Definitive How-To Guide.” The title is based on their “My Favorite Murder” sign-off, and while it touches on true crime, the book is primarily a memoir. 

Theo Balcomb, executive producer of “The Daily” and news at The New York Times

Damon Winter

Not only does Balcomb run production on “The Daily,” The New York Times’ audio phenomenon that draws over 2 million listeners per day, but she also came up with the idea for the show before daily news podcasts really existed. 

Balcomb joined The Times in January 2017, straight off a job as the youngest supervising producer of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” and just several months after The Times debuted its audio team with 2016 election podcast “The Run-Up.”

She spent a month making pilot episodes of “The Daily” that never aired, then the show went live 10 days after the 2017 inauguration.

“It has transformed our audience’s relationship with The Times and brought in an entirely new audience, which has been introduced to and fallen in love with The Times and its journalists in this form,” wrote executive audio producer Lisa Tobin and assistant managing editor Sam Dolnick in a statement announcing Balcomb’s promotion to executive producer in 2019. “So much of that success belongs to Theo.”

As executive producer, Balcomb ensures each episode is posted without issue, sets the news agenda for the show, and provides support for the rest of “The Daily” team, which is about 30 people deep, Balcomb said. And that’s all before she gets into the office in the morning.

She also leads planning meetings, decides who will work on each episode and who gets featured in interviews, records, produces, trains new hires, and works on audio projects outside of “The Daily.”

Over the course of her three years at The New York Times, Balcomb has produced hundreds of episodes of “The Daily,” including a particularly notable episode called “The President and the Publisher,” in which New York Times publisher A. G. Sulzberger interviews President Trump in the Oval Office.

Anya Grundmann, senior vice president for programming and audience development at NPR

Stephen Voss/NPR

Grundmann is credited with the launch of 15 podcasts – four of which are among the top 20 podcasts in the US, according to NPR – since she was promoted to senior vice president for programming and audience development in 2015.

Grundmann started at NPR as an intern in 1994, and has since helped the company expand into digital audio and podcasting.

In the early 2000s, NPR launched its first digital audio program, “All Songs Considered.” Early original podcasts like “Planet Money” followed in 2008, and from there NPR greenlit more originals and worked to transition some pre-existing radio shows into podcasts.

“It’s been a really exciting, important piece of our work as the leading audio newsroom in America to transform that into the on-demand space,” Grundmann said.

Although NPR faces increased competition from for-profit podcast companies, the legacy media outlet continues to hold the top spot among podcast publishers in the US, according to analytics site Podtrac. NPR’s 70 active shows were streamed and downloaded a collective 154 million times in December.

The company’s success in podcasting is in part thanks to its grounding in journalistic principles and ethics, Grundmann said, although she and her team have strived to grow NPR’s podcast network beyond shows in the news category.

“We’re trying to be open to ideas from all directions, and we’re also trying to speak to what our audience tells us,” Grundmann said. “We really want to have a portfolio of shows that really reinforce the brand range of NPR and the ways we can connect with people.”

N’Jeri Eaton, director of programming and new audience at NPR

Eric Lee/NPR

Eaton started at NPR in 2016, and has since been involved in the launch of eight podcasts, including two of NPR’s newest, “White Lies” and “Throughline,” as well as 2018’s “Believed,” which won several industry awards. 

As director of programming and new audience, Eaton works to develop podcasts that will reach younger, more diverse listeners.

“We want to evolve the sound of public radio so it’s more reflective of the public,” Eaton said.

By working with NPR journalists and looking outside the newsroom for podcast ideas, Eaton has been integral in building NPR’s slate of podcasts beyond traditional news shows like “Up First.”

“Believed,” a podcast produced by NPR and Michigan Radio about the team of women who won a conviction in the case of serial child molester Larry Nassar, was NPR’s first limited series and first podcast produced in partnership with a member station, Eaton said.

The show has won several journalistic honors including a Peabody Award, an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award, and a Dart Award.

Eaton greenlit the idea for “White Lies,” about a murder at the center of the civil rights movement, which was pitched to her by two reporters and a filmmaker outside of NPR, and represents the NPR investigative team’s first foray into podcasting.

Eaton also took a gamble on weekly history podcast “Throughline,” as it’s hosted by two NPR producers who hadn’t been on the air before pitching the show, but the decision paid off, as it peaked at No. 2 in the Apple Podcasts history category in the US on Jan. 28, according to analytics from Chartable.

Norman Pattiz, founder and CEO of PodcastOne

PodcastOne

Pattiz is a member of the National Radio Hall of Fame, but he also saw the rise of podcasting coming before “Serial” broke into the mainstream in 2014. 

He founded his company, PodcastOne, in 2012, with a plan to sign as many people who were already doing podcasts as possible at a time when not many of them were attached to a network.

“I didn’t want to go to advertisers and evangelize about a medium until we had programs in every category,” Pattiz said.

Before PodcastOne, Pattiz founded radio giant Westwood One, which owned, managed, or distributed NBC radio networks, CBS News, CNN radio, March Madness, the Super Bowl, and both the winter and summer Olympic Games, as well as music and talk shows.

Pattiz used his own money to launch PodcastOne, then turned to advertisers he worked with at Westwood to land deals and generate revenue.

Now, the network includes 300 podcasts across genres, from true crime podcast “22 Hours: An American Nightmare,” to influencer-led content in the LadyGang network.

Like most podcast companies, the bulk of PodcastOne’s revenue comes from advertising, Pattiz said, but he’s also hesitant to oversaturate the network’s shows with ads.

“The minute you start doing that, then you start getting rid of one of the main things that makes a podcast popular beyond its content, which is that it doesn’t have a lot of commercials,” Pattiz said.

On Feb. 29, PodcastOne announced a deal with Spotify to bring its star-studded roster, which includes hosts like Shaquille O’Neal and T.I., to the platform. 

Kerri Hoffman, CEO of PRX

PRX

Hoffman was one of the first members of the PRX team when the nonprofit was founded in 2003, and has served in several executive positions including COO and CEO.

PRX distributes public radio programs, but also operates a growing network of more than 80 podcasts, which are downloaded more than 70 million times per month, according to Podtrac.

In 2016, under Hoffman’s leadership, PRX launched a training program to meet the needs of independent podcasters. Facilities like PRX’s Podcast Garage in Boston allow podcasters to retain the rights to their shows while granting them access to affordable studio space, technical training, and community support, Hoffman said.

“We have an attitude of openness,” Hoffman said. “We’re very excited about newcomers to the space.”

Podcasters in the PRX network make money through grants, listener support, and ads.

Hoffman managed PRX’s merger with media network Public Radio International in 2018, serves on the board of The Peabody Awards, and was named podcast executive of the year by Adweek in 2019.

She also led the launch of Radiotopia, PRX’s podcast-only network, in 2014, and has since contributed to the network’s tenfold increase in audience and revenue.

PRX produces and distributes shows across content clusters like science and entertainment, but Radiotopia is unusual in the podcast space because it is not anchored by a genre, Hoffman said.

“Most of the podcast networks that existed at the time were similar in topics,” Hoffman said. “It felt so risky at the time.”

Malcolm Gladwell and Jacob Weisberg, cofounders, and Mia Lobel, executive producer of Pushkin Industries

Malcolm Gladwell (L), Jacob Weisberg, and Mia Lobel (R) of Pushkin Industries

Celest Sloman, Kathleen Kincaid, Tatiana Flowers

Gladwell is well-known primarily for his work as an author and staff writer at The New Yorker, but when he and long-time collaborator Weisberg teamed up to launch Pushkin Industries in 2018, he made a name for himself in the audio world as well. 

The company’s inaugural podcast hosted by Gladwell, “Revisionist History,” was racking up about 3 million listeners per episode by mid-2019, according to The New York Times, which is more than even “The Daily” gets in 2020.

Pushkin scooped up several iHeartRadio Podcast Award nominations in 2020, including podcast of the year and best ad read for “Revisionist History,” best music podcast for “Broken Record with Malcolm Gladwell, Rick Rubin, and Bruce Headlam,” and best male host for Gladwell. “Revisionist History” also scored a win for best history podcast.

Weisberg, Pushkin’s CEO, and Lobel, the network’s executive producer, are both former executives of Panoply, the podcast tech company now known as Megaphone. 

Lobel has been making podcasts since 2007, producing shows like “Revisionist History” (pre-Pushkin) and “Empire on Blood” when she was managing producer at Panoply. Weisberg was a cofounder of Panoply, as well as former CEO of the Slate Group and former editor-in-chief of Slate Magazine.

Considering Galdwell and Weisberg’s background in the written word, Pushkin relies on a strong lineup of writers to front several of its shows, such as New York Times media editor Bruce Headlam and journalist and best-selling author Michael Lewis.

“Most of our hosts are writers, and many of them haven’t worked in audio before,” Weisberg said. “We’re helping them turn their strong authorial voices into literal voices.”

Pushkin podcasts span categories, but are united by careful sound editing and hosts with strong points of view, Lobel said. The network is currently home to nine shows, which have either been developed in-house or pitched by creatives from writers to filmmakers.

Julie Shapiro, executive producer at Radiotopia

PRX

Shapiro is the executive producer of PRX’s Radiotopia, which includes the “Ear Hustle” podcast, one of the organization’s most successful shows.

“Ear Hustle,” which explores the stories of people involved with the American prison system and is partially produced from inside the San Quentin State Prison, has been downloaded over 30 million times since its launch in 2017.

Radiotopia’s first seven podcasts came to the network fully developed, Shapiro said, but “Ear Hustle” started from scratch. The show, which is now in its fifth season, won Radiotopia’s Podquest contest out of more than 1,500 submissions from 53 countries. Shapiro led a team of 11 staffers and producers in narrowing down the entries, and eventually chose “Ear Hustle.” 

The podcast has won many awards, including Webby Awards in 2018 and 2019, and the 2019 iHeartRadio Podcast Award for best social impact. It was also a Peabody Award nominee in 2017 and 2018.

Shapiro has also helped several other shows navigate the podcast space, keeping a close eye on diversity of content within the Radiotopia network.

“We’ve been trying to pull more voices in so more people hear themselves reflected in the Radiotopia network,” Shapiro said.

“Adult ISH,” for instance, is a culture and advice show hosted by two 23-year-olds, Nyge Turner and Merk Nguyen, and “Passenger List” was the network’s first original fiction show.

Before joining Radiotopia in 2015, Shapiro was the executive producer of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s creative audio unit, and cofounded the Third Coast International Audio Festival, which has become known as radio’s equivalent to Sundance.

Jack Hobbs, president and CEO of Revolver Podcasts

Beau Bumpas

Hobbs was an early entrant to the podcast space, and launched his company Revolver Podcasts in 2015 after 25 years at Spanish-language TV network Univision. 

Revolver is dedicated to creating bilingual podcasts in English and Spanish for audiences in the US, Mexico, and the rest of Latin America.

With 57 shows in its network, the company averages more than 5 million downloads per month, Hobbs said. About 70% of Revolver’s podcasts are in English, and 30% are in Spanish.

Hobbs, who pitched for the Minnesota Twins and the Seattle Mariners before he began his media career, has also worked for the Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation, where he built the company’s radio network. In 2013, he joined the Spanish Broadcasting System as executive vice president leading the newly launched Aire Radio Networks.

Hobbs said he saw a gap in the audio space when it came to Hispanic audiences, so he sought out his former Univision employees and other diverse talent to build Revolver.

“It’s an incredible and vibrant and young audience,” Hobbs said. “We are getting quite a call for demand to take programs from Latin America, Central America, and South America and put them on our platform.”

Revolver is home to popular hosts like Mario Lopez, Univision journalist and Emmy Award-winner Teresa Rodríguez, and basketball stars like Channing Frye and Richard Jefferson of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Univision became a strategic investor in Revolver in 2017, Hobbs said, and Latin music company Latido Music also invested in Revolver in 2020.

The company also has a deal in the works with another major US media company, which Hobbs declined to name on the record as the details of the deal have not yet been made public.

Sarah Koenig and Julie Snyder, cocreators of “Serial”

“Serial” co-creators Sarah Koenig (L) and Julie Snyder (R).

Sandy Honig

“Serial” revolutionized the world of podcasting and is considered far and wide to be one of the best podcasts of all time, so perhaps it’s unsurprising that cocreators Koenig and Snyder met while working on “This American Life.”

Koenig, who was trained as a newspaper reporter at publications like The New York Times, and Snyder, who started producing “This American Life” in 1997, set out to use their skills to tell an in-depth story in audio with “Serial.”

Serialized installments weren’t yet popular in audio storytelling, but after a year’s worth of reporting on the case of Han Min Lee for season one, “Serial” launched with praise from media outlets like Slate and Buzzfeed. 

Season one was honored with awards like the Peabody in 2014, the first time that prize was given to a podcast.

Now with three seasons under its belt — the latest launching in 2018 — “Serial” continues to hold a spot on Podtrac’s list of top 15 podcast publishers. Together with “This American Life,” the shows had about 18 million global streams and downloads in December, and about 5 million unique listeners in the US.

Serial Productions, which also produced hit true crime podcast and 2017 Peabody Award-winner “S-Town,” is coowned by Koenig, Snyder, and Ira Glass, who serves as an editorial advisor.

In January, the Wall Street Journal reported that the company might be exploring a sale, citing sources familiar with the matter and listing The New York Times as a potential buyer.

Chris Bannon, chief content officer at Stitcher

Stitcher

As head of content development and production, Bannon is leading Stitcher’s charge to ramp up creation of original podcasts.

When it comes to originals, Stitcher is most recognizable by comedy network Earwolf, a pioneer in the audio comedy space and home to popular shows like “Comedy Bang! Bang!” and “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend.”

Stitcher Originals exists as a separate network, which includes Marvel’s “Wolverine: The Long Night” podcast, the “Heaven’s Gate” podcast about the cult of the same name, and shows hosted by Katie Couric and LeVar Burton.

Earwolf was already producing comedy podcasts when it merged with podcast ad sales company The Mid Roll in 2014 to form Stitcher’s parent company Midroll Media, which in turn is owned by EW Scripps.

In 2015, when Bannon joined the company, Midroll acquired Stitcher, which at the time was a podcast platform, not a production company like Earwolf.

“When I arrived here, we had four engineers and one producer, with two networks and a total of 40 shows, and five months to build a premium service,” Bannon said. “That’s a lot of moving parts to pull together.”

Now, Stitcher launches about 10 to 17 new shows per year, Bannon said, and is planning to roll out several non-comedy networks in 2020.

Prior to joining Stitcher, Bannon worked at WNYC Studios, where he helped to develop the “Death, Sex and Money” podcast, as well as Alec Baldwin’s radio show and podcast “Here’s the Thing.”

In his role as chief content officer, Bannon coordinates with agents and talent to grow Stitcher’s list of owned-and-operated shows. Bannon puts special emphasis on developing content for an increasingly diverse audience.

Earwolf launched “Doing Great with Vicky Vox,” a comedy interview show hosted by drag queen Vicky Vox, on Jan. 27 as part of that effort.

Ira Glass, host and executive producer of “This American Life”

Sandy Honig

Glass started working in public radio when he was 19, and has since become known for hosting popular radio show and podcast “This American Life,” and for his work on the legendary podcasts “Serial” and “S-Town.”

“This American Life” was originally created for radio in 1995, and is credited with opening doors for the launch of radio shows and podcasts in the narrative journalism category.

The show now has a larger audience as a podcast than it does on the air, Glass told the Tampa Bay Times.

Glass began his audio career as an intern at NPR, where he filled roles such as newscast writer, editor, reporter, producer, and stand-in host of radio shows like “Talk the Nation.”

“This American Life” won its first Peabody Award after just a year on the air, but Glass told Mashable in 2016 that the show wasn’t financially stable right away. It took four years to reach one million listeners per episode, Glass said.

Now, the show has won six Peabody Awards and reaches over 2.2 million listeners on more than 500 public radio stations each week, with another 2.5 million downloads on each episode of the podcast.

Glass told Mashable the key to the show’s success has to do with the sheer amount of reporting his team does, although as much as half of their work never airs.

“We will kill between a third and half of everything we put into production,” Glass said. “We kill a lot … that’s like the secret sauce to the whole thing, is that to end up with three or four stories, we’ll [pursue] sometimes seven or eight stories.”

Hernan Lopez, founder and CEO of Wondery

Wondery

Lopez got his start in audio at a radio company where he grew up in Argentina, and now heads up Wondery, the largest independent podcast publisher ranked on Podtrac.

With more than 80 shows, Wondery saw about 52 million downloads in December, with more than 10 million unique US monthly listeners, according to Podtrac, rivaling podcast heavyweights like The New York Times and PRX.

In 2019, Wondery doubled its revenue and unique global listenership, up to 20 million listeners worldwide per month, the company said.

Before founding Wondery in 2016, Lopez spent 18 years as president and CEO of Fox International Channels, where he started as part of the company’s sales team.

“For about half of the time I was there, I wanted to be an entrepreneur,” Lopez said. “I was particularly interested in how consumers were going to interact with stories in different mediums.”

Then, like many other founders in podcasting, he discovered “Serial” and “StartUp.” Six months later, he launched Wondery.

The company has since collaborated with major media outlets like The Los Angeles Times and The Boston Globe on podcasts “Dirty John” and “Gladiator” respectively. 

“Dirty John” spent a season as a TV show on Bravo, and popular Wondery podcast “Dr. Death” has already been cast with Jamie Dornan, Alec Baldwin, and Christian Slater leading the limited drama series ordered by Universal Content Productions.

The company’s latest podcast, “WeCrashed: The Rise and Fall of WeWork,” peaked at No. 2 on the Apple Podcasts charts across categories on Jan. 31, according to Chartable.

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from Job Search Tips https://jobsearchtips.net/top-podcasters-power-players-of-original-audio-production-list/

[digital-strategy]

Welcome to Hot Pod, a newsletter about podcasts. This is issue 181, published October 16, 2018.

The state of Slate. Two seemingly conflicting ideas can be true at the same time. Here’s the first idea, which doubts a line of speculation I’ve been seeing a lot lately: Panoply’s divestment from the content business tells us relatively little about the future of the podcast business at Slate, its sister company under the Graham Holdings family. Here’s the second idea: there’s a lot changing at Slate at the moment, and I can’t tell you for certain what its podcast operations will look like this time next year.

Does this paint a worrying picture? Not necessarily. Let’s go over the notes.

Over the past week or so, the veteran digital media company has seen some turnover at the leadership level. On October 4, it was announced that Slate’s editor-in-chief, Julia Turner, is departing for the Los Angeles Times, where she will serve as the newly revitalized paper’s deputy managing editor for arts and entertainment. She will, however, remain as co-panelist on the Slate Culture Gabfest, which means that the podcast will mirror the Slate Political Gabfest in being a Slate podcast stalwart that features three main panelists who aren’t on staff. Deputy editor Lowen Liu takes over Turner’s spot for now.

Then, last Wednesday, Slate’s executive producer of podcasts, the NPR alum Steve Lickteig, announced that he, too, would be leaving the company, to become the executive producer of audio and podcasts at NBC News and MSNBC. (There, he will be joined by senior producer Barbara Raab.)

All this comes on top of the executive-level departure that was announced last month in tandem with the news that Panoply was laying off its editorial team: Jacob Weisberg, chairman of the Slate Group, was leaving to form a new audio company with Malcolm Gladwell, taking the audience-driving Revisionist History with them.

That these leadership exits are clustered is certainly eyebrow-raising, but any overtly glum narrative should be checked against the state of site’s actual podcast portfolio. And on that front, things seem to be quite good.

Consider that Slate has just wrapped up a very successful second season of its narrative documentary podcast, Slow Burn. Not only would I argue that it’s the best nonfiction narrative podcast of the year so far — yes, that includes Serial, In The Dark, and Caliphate, and yes, I’m aware it’s almost certainly recency bias — the sophomore season put up significant numbers. (Some of those numbers, apparently, came from White House aides.) I’m told that, as of Monday afternoon, the second season alone has seen 9.8 million downloads, with an expectation of beating 10 million by tomorrow. It was also an effective driver of subscriptions for Slate Plus, the site’s paid membership program, generating thousands of new members with its offerings of bonus content.

It’s worth noting that Gabriel Roth, previously a senior editor and editorial director of Slate Plus, will be taking up Steve Lickteig’s leadership role over the podcast team. Slow Burn was largely born out of the Slate Plus program, and I’m told that Roth was an instrumental part of the show’s development and strategy. He will hold a new title, editorial director of the Slate Podcast Network, and I, for one, am excited to see what else he brings into the mix.

Consider, also, that Slow Burn’s success comes on top of a well-oiled and sprawling show portfolio that most notably includes all of its Gabfest programming, The Gist with Mike Pesca, and Studio 360 (which it doesn’t own, but houses and co-produces in partnership with PRX-PRI).

That portfolio continues to grow: On Tuesday, Slate will launch its own daily news podcast (The Gist notwithstanding) called What Next with former WNYC personality Mary Harris at the mic, and the site also recently absorbed Karina Longworth’s popular history podcast You Must Remember This, previously housed at Panoply.

Again, two seemingly contradictory things can be true at the same time. In this case, you have dramatic shifts at the leadership level, but you also have a product line that appears to be stable, robust, and reaching for new heights. Take from that whatever conclusions you will, but for me, I’m tempted to put a little more weight on the latter.

The only way is pods [by Caroline Crampton]. How real is reality, really, when it’s captured on a microphone, edited extensively, and then bundled with narration before being presented to the listener?

That’s the Big Question prompted by The Brights, a new British podcast launching this week that presents itself as part of a curious sounding genre: “structured reality.” Behind the production is a producer named Sarah Dillistone, who happens to be the brains behind big British reality TV hits The Only Way is Essex and Made in Chelsea, as well as host Lydia Bright, who found fame as a cast member on TOWIE. (That’s the fun acronym for The Only Way Is Essex, by the way, in case that wasn’t clear to you.) The Brights will follow Lydia and her family over the course of 12 weekly episodes, which will supposedly reveal their everyday highs and lows. It kicks off on October 18.

“[Podcasting] just felt like a really exciting space to be telling this sort of story in this genre,” said Dillistone when we spoke over the phone recently. I had reached out to learn about how she is translating her reality television work into the seemingly more modest audio medium.

“When you go into a family house to film a scene, you have set up your cameras, the lights go on, you have to place people in the exact position for the shot, and then they talk about whatever story is going on,” she explained. “With the podcast, we walked in, popped some mics on, and that was it…It just felt so natural. I can just walk out the room, and life continues being recorded, without the pressures of a camera.”

In many ways, the traditional methods for making a storytelling podcast — identifying characters and scenes, collecting a lot of tape, shaping it into the desired narrative, and then recording narration to go around it — are similar to the methods Dillistone said she uses to create her structured reality TV shows. The difference now that she’s working in audio, she emphasized, is how much less of an intervention the process of recording feels. With no cameras or yells of “action” going on, “the environment just doesn’t change,” she said. “I think it’s completely different to the TV that I’ve made.”

The Brights also strikes me as a straightforward commercial proposition. Lydia Bright has nearly a million followers on Instagram — where she does plenty of sponcon — and appears fairly regularly in the tabloid pages. I’m sure that Acast, the podcast platform that hosts and sells ads for the project, won’t be struggling all that hard to find sponsors who want to follow Bright into podcasting as well.

In the accompanying press release, The Brights is strongly pitching itself as the world’s first ever reality podcast. But I don’t think it can stake claim on being the first “reality podcast” per se. After all, CBC’s Sleepover, Gimlet’s The Habitat, and maybe even something like Megan Tan’s Millennial arguably fall along design lines that are somewhat similar to what we generally talk about when we talk about reality television.

Where the podcast is distinct or unusual, perhaps, is in its focus on harvesting the profile of existing reality stars and the transference of the familiar reality TV aesthetic. Rather than Lydia Bright taking the route of other social media stars and building a generic interview podcast or similar to augment her #brand, she’s actually still doing the thing she’s best known for: goofing around and yelling at her family in public, but in your headphones.

The other chart. I spilled quite a bit of ink last week on the Apple Podcast charts, how they seemed more dysfunctional than usual, and how that complicates the way the industry is represented to the eyes of many newcomers. Apologies for quoting myself, but I posed two underlying questions: “What does it mean when the top of the Apple podcast charts, one of the first touchpoints for many newcomers, features more scams than authentic entries? What signal of values does the chart project to those experiencing their first glimpse of the wider podcast universe?”

Versions of these queries very much apply to the Podtrac Industry Publisher ranker, by the way, which is the other major node of industry representation that functions as a first touch for many newcomers — and which still gets cited as an authoritative picture of the “top end” of the podcast industry without much caveat.

As a reminder: Podtrac’s Publisher ranker continues to work with an incomplete sample. Which is to say, its list of Top Ten publishers only includes those who have chosen to participate in the ranking, and a good number of major players still have not. (The case is different for Podtrac’s podcast ranker, which purports to list shows regardless of whether they opt into Podtrac’s system.) I know nobody really clicks through when I link to my older columns — newsletter analytics, baby — but I wrote about those chart limitations two years ago.

Among the notable publishers that still do not participate in Podtrac’s Publisher Ranker: Gimlet Media, the Vox Media Podcast Network, Cadence13, and Stitcher. That’s not to say that they would all show up in the top 10 if they were included, mind you; I’m just making a point about what the ranker is actually telling you, and many of those noteworthy podcast shops remain excluded at this writing.

This should not be taken to mean that Podtrac’s industry ranker isn’t a helpful resource. I’ve come to find it really useful as a snapshot of the several major publishers that have opted into the list, and it’s generated some interesting questions for research: I, for one, am fascinated by why many companies in Podtrac’s top ten seems to cluster around the 5 million unique U.S monthly listeners mark. All I’m saying is that being “the third biggest publisher on the Podtrac” is far from being the “third biggest podcast publisher,” period — which is an interchanging I’ve seen used a fair bit.

In general, I’d counsel being wary of any industry analysis, ~thought leadership~, or self-congratulations using the Podtrac ranker that:

Doesn’t mention its incomplete sampling;

Doesn’t take into serious consideration the efficiency ratios of listed publishers — a publisher that needs 600+ shows to reach 5 million unique U.S. monthly listeners has a very different industry position than a publisher that reaches the same audience number with only 5 or 6 shows.

Put some nuance on it, y’know?

Locally sourced [by Caroline Crampton]. Repackaged radio content still makes up a considerable chunk of podcasts. Here in the UK, the BBC in particular does a lot of this — the majority of shows that you can see on its Apple page, for instance, went out as radio broadcasts first. Most of the time, they just get sandwiched with a new intro and outro bits. Occasionally, they slap on some extra material, but typically what you hear on the podcast is what you would have heard on the radio. Until the BBC’s recent shakeup to its podcast commissioning efforts (which I’ve written about in more detail here), this is how the corporation initially projected its influence through podcasting.

That was on my mind when I saw the announcement that BBC English Regions was planning to launch its own showcase podcast feed, called Multi Story. For the uninitiated, English Regions is the segment of the corporation that produces local and regional television, radio, and web content for England, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands. (Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have their own operations going on.) I assumed that the feed would be yet another basic radio repackage effort designed to broadly bump up the potential reach of the division’s 43 local radio stations. The project sounded like a budget-friendly way of getting local radio stories out through podcast feeds when individual stations, typically cash-strapped, might not have the time, bandwidth, or resources to produce original podcast content. And you know, I figured that was totally cool.

But when I listened to the opening of “Swallows,” the first episode dropped into the Multi Story feed last Wednesday, I realized that this was something far more than a simple repackage.

Veteran local radio journalist Becca Bryers, who serves as host and producer, had woven hand-picked excerpts of personal stories from various local radio documentaries into a contemplative, act by act structure. It’s vaguely reminiscent of the way a typical episode of This American Life is constructed. The show’s atmosphere feels purely suited to on-demand audio, from the scoring to Bryers interjecting dashes of her personal life experiences. Even more notably, the episode was largely stripped of any local radio promotional effort in favor of a clean, immersive, podcast-first listening experience.

“Local radio gets stories that perhaps some of the networks don’t, almost because they’re not able to, because at a local station you’re coming into contact with people on a really small level all the time,” Bryers told me. The idea of a digital audio project weaving these more lasting, timeless, personal stories together seemed the natural next step to her.

Development for Multi Story began around 18 months ago, when Bryers took that idea of weaving together timeless and personal locally sourced stories to the then English regions commissioner, David Holdsworth. After getting her to make a pilot, he commissioned a ten-episode first series of Multi Story, an out-of-the-box move for a BBC executive heading up a division that had no real track record with podcasting. It’s a stretch play that Bryers is grateful for. “I really appreciate that he took that chance on me,” she said.

Bryers sees Multi Story first and foremost as a chance to make a rgreat podcast rather than necessarily as a direct promotional tool for radio or the local stations that it draws on. “I don’t know if completely the aim is to increase the listenership for the radio stations,” she said. “Obviously you’d hope that it raises awareness of local radio in general…We think of it a bit like the Facebook pages that each of the local stations have. Originally the thinking with those was as a branding strategy for the station, whereas often now we see them as a separate entity, just another service that the local stations offer. Just because you use the Facebook page doesn’t mean you listen to the radio and vice versa.”

She used her contacts in local radio to find “producers who really get podcasting” at each station, who would then populate a farm system feeding her suitable stories. She also did a substantial amount of original reporting, gathering tape for “stories I’ve been working on for a while but haven’t found a place on the station.” With the pieces that had already been broadcast, she worked extensively to “reversion” them in a “podcasty way,” to avoid the sound being that of replayed radio. “That’s not to take away from the original broadcast,” she said. “I think that if you’ve got something that’s two people talking in a studio, there’s ways that you can lift that into a podcast style and put music under it, or give it more pauses, and breathing space.”

The result, I think, is something quite rare — a genuinely fresh piece of audio made partly from cuts of previous broadcasts. Bryers’ personal immersion in podcasting (she counts herself a massive fan of Ira Glass and Radiolab) and determination to do something different have allowed her to break out of the customary “BBC sound,” and hers is a template that others trying to squeeze more out of the BBC’s existing resources could do well to follow. “I’m genuinely passionate about doing this,” Bryers said. “I really hope that it comes across that it’s not just a ‘local radio thinks they should jump on the podcast bandwagon’ thing.”

Speaking of locally oriented media and podcasts…

The national local. Next Monday will see the release of Believed, an investigative series by NPR and Michigan Radio, the state’s network of local public radio stations. The podcast will examine the USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal, one of the largest serial sexual abuse cases in American’s history. Michigan Radio reporters Kate Wells and Lindsey Smith will host the series. Here’s a great Elle write-up outlining the show.

Here’s something that this NPR-Michigan Radio collaboration is making me think about: this scandal was originally vaulted into the national consciousness by The Indianapolis Star, the Gannett-owned daily news organization in neighboring Indiana. Gannett, of course, also owns the USA Today Network, which recently launched its own nationally oriented podcast platform that intends to use Gannett’s ecosystem of local publishing entities as pipelines for potential investigative projects.

I bring Gannett’s national podcast initiative up to highlight what seems to be a noticeable increase in the trend of local-national podcast production partnerships. For some reason, my gut tells me that this isn’t a particularly new development, but I can’t seem to find very many similarly structured productions going back over the past four years. (In other words, hit me up with examples I totally missed.)

Anyway, here are two other contemporary productions that I see fitting into this mold:

(1) Gladiator, a limited series that debuted yesterday from the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team in collaboration with Wondery on the former NFL player Aaron Hernandez, who was convicted of murder and later took his own life in prison. This project continues Wondery’s strategy of partnering with local news organization to produce feverish, nationally eye-catching podcast programming that can be then packaged off as adaptation IP — see: the Los Angeles Times’ Dirty John, now an upcoming Bravo series starring the great Connie Britton. (Give! Connie! Britton! More! Roles!)

Speaking of which, the LA Times is apparently developing two follow-ups to the aforementioned Dirty John, or so the company announced at the recent NewFronts West event. Here’s some info for those projects, as described by AdWeek:

The first new podcast project, tentatively titled Big Willie, will follow a local street racing veteran and Vietnam veteran, examining his eccentric career and checkered legacy; the second, Room 20, centered on an unidentified car crash victim who has been in a coma for 17 years, will piece together clues about the man’s life.

Note that they are both true crime projects. True crime: if it works for them, it works for you.

(2) Last week also saw the release of Underdog, a new weekly podcast documentary from Texas Monthly and Pineapple Street Media tracking the closing days of the Democratic senatorial campaign of Beto O’Rourke — pronounced Beh-to, not Bey-to, as I learned from the first episode — as we crawl into the midterm elections.

Local-national production partnership aside, here’s why I’m in on this show. As I, armchair political analyst Nick Quah, told Fast Company:

[O’Rourke’s] fight with Ted Cruz is increasingly a stand-in for a bigger struggle about the heart of America… I know [O’Rourke] said otherwise, but he’s probably a viable 2020 [presidential] contender for the Democrats [if he wins]. I’d listen the crap out of a Beto-Cruz podcast.

But also: I remain fascinated by Pineapple Street’s continuing adventures with political media and podcasting. Underdog is a strictly journalistic product co-developed with a widely respected monthly, but Pineapple Street is also the shop that produced With Her, the official Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential election campaign podcast that’s essentially a longform political ad/branded podcast, and Stay Tuned with Preet Bharara, an interview show-slash-ideas platform for the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. There’s some line straddling here, but nonetheless, I’m very interested to see where else the boutique studio will take political podcasts, already a vibrant and saturated genre.

Midterms, everyone: it’s a mere three weeks away.

One last local podcast bite —

Last week also saw the final dispatch of WBEZ’s 16 Shots, which sought to document the Laquan McDonald police shooting trial in semi-real time. The production was the latest in a line of similarly structured efforts by MPR News with 74 Seconds, which followed the Philando Castile police shooting trial, and WHYY with Cosby Unraveled.

Betsy Berger, the station’s director of communications, tells me that they’re considering 16 Shots a success “from a journalistic perspective, as a partnership with the Chicago Tribune and critical acclaim.” She noted that it was promoted heavily on social media and through the station’s email newsletter, and that the project garnered more than 30 media placements. However, they declined to share download numbers.

This week in New York. Did you know that New York Magazine is developing not one but two new podcasts?

The Intelligencer, the new site that merged together NY Mag’s politics and business-focused Daily Intelligencer and tech-focused Select All sections, is working on something called 2038, which will “explore eight different visions of how we can expect to live in two decades.” It will be hosted by Max Read and David Wallace-Wells, and it drops tomorrow.

I wrote this up already, but now we have a thread: New York Magazine’s The Cut site is collaborating with Gimlet Media to produce a weekly “what’s happening in the newsroom” podcast, called The Cut on Tuesdays. It’s hosted by Molly Fischer, and the first episode dropped today.

These two projects add to Vulture’s ongoing interview podcast Good One: A Podcast About Jokes, hosted by Jesse David Fox, resulting a New York Magazine podcast portfolio shape that I suppose you can describe as “one-site, one-show.” For now, anyway. This marks the storied media organization’s second wave into on-demand audio; the first came in the form of Panoply partnerships, back when that company was still producing content and generally pursued a strategy of hand-holding non-audio publishers into the medium through Gabfest-style templates. That early wave resulted in the Vulture TV Podcast, New York Magazine’s Sex Lives, and the Grub Street Podcast, all of which are now defunct.

A disclaimer: I contribute to Vulture as a podcast critic, but I have no special insight into these matters. In fact, I didn’t even know these shows were in the oven! Freelancers and contractors, we are an afflicted kind, living in little wells with fleeting views of the sky.

Miscellaneous Bites

Eric Mennel, the co-creator of Criminal and a senior producer at Gimlet Media who hosted a recent season of Startup, is moving to NPR, where he will join the Embedded team. There, he will serve as a supervising producer tasked with making the podcast a “premiere franchise for serious journalism” whose work will be presented through various platforms.

The television adaptation of Crooked Media’s Pod Save America debuted on HBO this past week. Much like Texas Monthly’s Underdog podcast, it runs until the midterms, which means it’s a really limited series.

“Mississippi-based podcast aims to educate, impact local ears.” (AP)

via Nieman Lab