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.
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?
After some de rigeur prefatory Carson Wentz Chat, we got right to the stuff that would make up most of the episode, which was a conversation about the business and practice of doing comedy that was frequently interrupted or derailed when one of us thought of something stupid or funny that we wanted to bring up. There's some substance in there about the hidden and less-hidden economics of comedy, how Instagram has upended every long-established aspect of that industry,
Unsurprisingly called PodRoll Video Promos, the program enables podcasters to deliver short-form videos directly into Apple Podcasts feeds, where they appear as standalone promotional episodes. The company calls this "a significant opportunity for first movers to introduce video into an audio-first environment, giving creators the ability to engage audiences with standout promotional content." CEO Jason Cox evangelizes the product as accessing "one of the most valuable audiences in media, listeners already engaged with podcasts and long-form storytelling," skipping the need to evangelize podcasting generally.
One channel that has quietly become a game-changer is podcasting. Once seen as a niche hobby, podcasts are now a mainstream platform where thought leaders, brands, and professionals share insights.
Adam Curry is the modern-day Prometheus. His discovery of podcasting and sharing it with the world was as significant of a development as when Prometheus stole fire from the gods to give to humans. Podcasting has quickly evolved into one of the most popular ways to communicate valuable information, completely disintermediating the CIA-controlled media apparatus. While Bitcoin seeks to separate money and state, podcasting seeks to separate syndicated news organizations and information.
