The Best of Times, The Worst of Times, and the New York Times
The latest in the podcast industry this week
🙌 (New Things)
We’re starting to see the fruits of the New York Times’ push to build out a podcast team in 2016. This week marks the launch of their own daily news podcast called, appropriately, The Daily.
Daily (and even hourly) news podcasts are not a new phenomenon, but with the deluge of news from the first 100 days of the Trump administration, the increase in political activism, and the desire to meet readers (and now listeners) where they are, the Times has moved into a unique form of podcasting. As Michael Barbaro, host of The Daily wrote,
“It isn’t quite a podcast — although you can listen wherever you listen to podcasts. It isn’t quite the radio — although the mechanics are largely the same. It isn’t quite the newspaper”
Get ready for a deluge of new daily podcasts.
“Serial” Grows Bigger
In Serial news, they’re now more than just a podcast. They’ve formed a production company called Serial Productions. Their first non-”Serial” show S-Town follows a small-town mystery in Alabama & will release all episodes at the same time in March. Probably because part of the mystery involves a real-life treasure hunt. Also of note, S-Town’s editorial triumvirate comprises 3 This American Life members: Sarah Koenig, Ira Glass, and Starlee Kine, the former host of Gimlet’s Mystery Show whose cancellation was announced last October after a long hiatus.
Radiotopia Grows Older
Podcast network Radiotopia (launched out of the Public Radio Exchange) turned 3 years old on February 1 and celebrated by also launching a redesigned website. Since their founding, Radiotopia has launched two successful crowdsourced fundraising campaigns to sustain & grow their show count, which sits at 17 (Ear Hustle, the winner of their talent contest, will be added later this year when it officially launches).
Here are a few other new & interesting launches you need to know:
- The Players’ Tribune is building an athlete podcast network
- ABC Picks Up Zach Braff’s ‘Start Up’ (which will not be a beat-for-beat reenactment of the podcast)
- iHeartRadio Hooks Up With Art19 To Bring Better Measurement To Podcasting
😢 (Sad Things)
Undone is done
Citing a lack of editorial support,Gimlet Media shuttered Undone, a show about “how big stories we thought were over were actually the beginning of something else” and hosted by Radiolab contributor Pat Walters.
The Great Podcast Wall
Podcasting in China is struggling to take off like it has in the West. Here’s an analysis on how censorship, transportation, and copyright laws are holding it back.
🤓 (Things to Know)
See the Future According to The Knight Foundation
The Knight Foundation released a lengthy analysis on their investments and the podcast/radio market at large. Dig into that one here.
Hear the Present with NPR
And for budding/professional audio producers, NPR dropped a guide to training yourself to recognize bad, but easily preventable audio.
😂 (Humorous Things)
And on a final note…
Harkening back to a line from President Trump’s inaugural speech, The New Yorker parodied This American Life with This American Carnage.
The Bello Collective is a publication + newsletter about podcasts and the audio industry. Our goal is to bring together writers, journalists, and other voices who share a passion for the world of audio storytelling.
