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Nine months after Robert Krulwichs retirement,Radiolabhas added two new co-hosts: Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser.
Molly Webster has also been named as the shows first Senior Correspondent.
Hillary Clintonsreturns to podcastingtoday, apparently.
But were more excited than ever about the future of ART19.
(Wow, apologies for the many mixed metaphors.)
A sale was always going to be the likely endgame for a company like Wondery.
The mix was rounded out by some miscellaneous add-ons, likeLife is Short with Justin Long.
Late capitalism is wild, folks.)
(Again, not that it matters, but I thought it was pretty okay.
Connie Britton definitely deserves more roles, though.)
Wonderys capacity as an intellectual property factory will likely feature heavily in its argument to potential buyers.
(Im thinking, specifically, of QCODE, which has already cranked outtwo adaptationdeals overthe past year.)
as an abundant source of intellectual property itself.
Hernan Lopez, Wonderys founder and CEO, insists that he has the luxury of time.
Theres all sorts of corporations on the outside looking now; even Amazonhas been agitating on the sidelines.
To them, $200 million might be a relative pittance.
Then again, a handful of other sources raised skepticism, pointing out the legal situation currently surrounding Lopez.
Lopezpled not guiltyand was allowed to remain freeafter posting bail of $15 million.
The indictment includes a single paragraph that alleges nothing remotely improper.
Lopez has continued to deny those charges and has generally gone about his business.
In June, he appearedon the Recode Media podcast, talking shop about the podcast industry and the pandemic.
He remains Wonderys most public face, recently hosting the companys presentationat the IAB Podcast Upfrontsearlier this month.
The finance-familiar industry insiders viewpoint supports the picture.
Besides, they could always swap the chief executive out.
Meanwhile, in Cupertino.The Wondery news wasnt the onlyBloombergpodcast scoop last week.
Weve historically seen this artificial split between podcasts and radio, Carlin said.
What happens when those two modes of listening converge with voice?
Thats probably the same thing that interested Apple enough to acquire (or acqui-hire) them.
Anyway, this isnt the first sneaky podcast-related acquisition that Apple has made.
This is a pretty big deal, and its worth unpacking.
Radio and podcasts are free to listen to, but crossfunded by this charge for TV.
At the heart of this whole issue is, of course, BBC Sounds.
But it has thrivedduring the years lockdown, with lots of archive and homeschooling content added to the platform.
It now sees 3.4 million weekly users.
Its worth noting that BBC Sounds is a walled garden.
This review isnt yet a major headache for the BBC, but it has the potential to become one.
The corporation is essentially fighting a war on two fronts.
Monetising podcasts hosted by footballers and Love Island contestants isnt exactly difficult at the moment, after all.
There is a balance to be found between doing that and harming the commercial sector, though.
The Ofcom review is due to report by the end of this year.
Share, leave a review, so on.
Was AIR seeing a malignant trend pop up in the podcast labor marketplace?
Hickman tells me that AIR had been getting more requests for insight lately about seemingly imbalanced work contracts.
That puts independent contractors in a pretty untenable position, said Hickman.
But thats not really the case with podcasting, because every podcast is effectively competing with every other podcast.
The difficulty with non-solicitation clauses in podcasting requires more background.
But the problem with applying these clauses to podcasting, she says, is that theyre often remarkably broad.
But Hickman would rather the attention be focused on a more basic problem.
Independent producers and editors wind up spending a lot of time arguing about unrealistic contract language, she said.
Id rather see them put that energy into making amazing podcasts.
