DoKnow, born Daniel Lopez in Los Angeles, is a comedian who torpedoed the glass ceiling by podcasting his relatable, laid-back way of looking at the world.
Molly O'Shea is a name-dropper. There's good reason for that. I count 29 big names in tech mentioned over our hourlong call. She told me about recently moderating a panel with Kalshi cofounders Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara. Ken Griffin took the stage after her. O'Shea breezily referenced talking about the state of new media with the TBPN bros in Peter Thiel's house.
In podcasting, knowing how your audience stacks up against the competition has always been a bit of a guessing game. And BBC Studios, the content production arm of the British public broadcasting corporation, was tired of guessing. Around two years ago, BBC Studios started working with digital audio monetization and measurement platform Triton Digital, and benchmarking was at the top of its wish list. Triton made good on that request on Thursday with the addition of benchmarking features to its Podcast Metrics publisher analytics dashboard.
There was something different about this one, though. Something about how visible the whole act was. Something about this one coming so soon after the last one. Whatever it was, the Alex Pretti killing seemed to spark a different reaction online. Meanwhile, the counternarrative seemed to move just as quickly, and AI imagery became so ubiquitous that it might have been hard to trust your view of such a heavily documented event. How is anyone supposed to make sense of any of it?
"It's not great, if I'm being honest. From amending my answer to the question "how ya doing Roth" at the very beginning of this week's episode of The Distraction, it is clear that things are not going great. But for the second straight week, we found a way to split our episode between the Not Great stuff and being stupid about sports, with the result being one of the most enjoyable hours of my week."
Three women residents of an elder care home in Birmingham, UK have launched a podcast called "Do You Remember the Time?" They discuss how life has changed across the decades. Known in the home for their entertaining and interesting banter, their podcast grew out of informal and unstructured conversations. The home has been supportive, investing in microphones, lights, cameras, and a visual logo. None of them had heard of podcasting before producing their own.
Spotify Partner Program, launched a year ago ( is widening its participation requirements, intending to bring in more podcasters. Three new criteria now define which podcasts are eligible: One thousand listeners over the last 30 days Two thousand Spotify hours consumed over the last 30 days Three published episodes All three are required. While the new criteria make up the headline news from Spotify, other meaningful updates are in the announcement:
Public media outlets entered 2025 on a wave of unease between declining on-air audience, waning underwriting revenue, post-election news fatigue, and the looming uncertainty about federal funding. The latter sadly became a reality on July 18 when Congress voted to claw back $1.1 billion in public media funding, leaving NPR, PBS, and more than 400 member stations across the country to figure out what to do next.
And since that article was published, I haveseen more teams start to recognize and implement audio as an essential channel for embedding important ideas into the culture. University centers, institutes and nonprofits are launching shows, and some are even building podcast "networks." HigherEdPods, a community for higher ed podcasters, already counts 133 members, and its directory lists 1,205 podcasts from 210 colleges and universities. This is good, and it should definitely be happening.
Emma Ledden began her career in children's TV, working on shows like RTÉ's 'The Den' and BBC One's 'Live & Kicking'. She then became the first Irish presenter for MTV in the UK and Ireland. MTV is now facing the end of an era, with the closure of 24-hour music video broadcasts in every country except the US on December 31.
As such, the Washington Post announced this week that it's launching an AI-based podcast service that allows listeners to pick their own format and even their own disembodied AI host. The "Your Personal Podcast" is now available to users on the newspaper's mobile app as of today - but whether anybody will pick up on the company's offer to be inundated with potentially misinformed AI slop remains to be seen.
This mic delivers Blue's signature broadcast-quality sound with a custom three-capsule array. It delivers clear, powerful, yet balanced sound for gaming, streaming podcasts, and even your calls. You can choose between four preset patterns (cardioid, omni, bidirectional, and stereo) to record exactly the way you need for any setup. Filming a heart-to-heart for your YouTube family? Go with cardioid for focused audio. Hosting an interview? The bidirectional pattern should do the job well!
Radio: Just like burger joints That innovative comparison from the prolific Fred Jacobs in his latest column. Memo toTo Radio: Foccus On Your cravers," Jacobs commends his readers. LIke radio, White Castle has been forced to evolve (as described HERE). "I's notable how similar this burger joint is to broadcast radio," Jacobs observes. Both started about 100 years ago, and have become local and hper local successes. White Castle's new marketing appeals to "cravers" - which Jacobs likens to radio's P1 audience segment.
Then 2019 hit, and he saw the podcasting wave building. Smart money recognizes patterns early. "We started as 'So and Sign' but rebranded to Saspod to focus exclusively on podcasting," Nicolae told me. Translation: they went all-in when everyone else was still hedging their bets. The rebrand wasn't just marketing theater. It was strategic focus-the kind that separates winners from the "we do everything" crowd that does nothing particularly well.
Rode has announced a new version of the Rodecaster Video portable production console it launched just over a year ago, but the Rodecaster Video S isn't a replacement. The Rodecaster Video S offers similar functionality to the original, including switching and mixing multiple video and audio sources and replacing blue or green screens, but with an even smaller footprint and price.
As the host of On With Kara Swisher, her twice weekly podcast for Vox Media, she grills leaders in tech and politics, coaxing them to share the things they may not reveal on any other gabfest. For Pivot, her Vox show with New York University marketing professor Scott Galloway, she keeps the banter between herself and her cohost-but still, she doesn't hold back.
I'm weird. I can be more open in some ways with audiences than I can in interpersonal relationships. Look, I've lived and learned over time. I've been a toxic person in my life. I'm not great at relationships. I used to do a joke where I think I'm about 85 percent woke and the other 15 percent I keep to myself.
Tim Ferriss has been called the Oprah of Audio. His podcast, the Tim Ferriss Show, surpassed a billion downloads and reshaped the digital media landscape. Yet at the height of his success, Ferriss found himself at a crossroads. With podcasting becoming a crowded competitive space, he wondered whether the medium that had defined his career was still the best vehicle for his curiosity, creativity, and impact. How should a creator who has always thrived by reinventing himself decide what's next?
