PodMov Daily: Tuesday, November 5

Episode 80: Your Newsday Tuesday

Minnesota's Green Card Voices: Immigration Stories as “Audio-Biographies”

The Minneapolis-based storytelling project Green Card Voices has been “chronicling the experiences of immigrants and refugees in the Twin Cities since 2013.” Frederick Melo for the Twin Cities Pioneer Press reports, “With $10,000 from the East Side Funders Group and the Minnesota Twins, Green Card Voices is breaking new ground for immigrant storytellers in the realm of podcasting.”

“The nonprofit’s archive of 400 recorded autobiographies has become ripe canvas for audio-biographies, a series of first-person storytelling ventures that airs every other week online,” writes Melo. Mechanical engineer Fadumo Yusuf, who emigrated to Minnesota from Ethiopia as a teenager, became the first to share her story in the new biography series.

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Wai Ting of POST Wrestling: Listener-Supported MMA Podcasting

POST Wrestling, operated by John Pollock and Wai Ting, is for serious professional wrestling and combat sports fans. The Canadian site and series of podcasts is completely listener-supported via Patreon. Darren Paltrowitz of Sportskeeda spoke with Wai Ting about the state of pro wrestling and the path to daily podcasting from the landscape of “late-90s internet audio streaming.”

“We’re a group of knowledgeable and dedicated followers of pro wrestling and MMA who gather on a nearly-daily basis to have thorough and honest conversations about shows we’ve just watched, and news we’ve just discovered,” Wai Ting explains.

How does the network reward premium-tier patrons? Among other treats, with “secret show” audio cassettes: “It’s become a pretty fun and creative part of the job that sometimes makes me feel like we’re in a DIY punk band.”

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Ozy Media Set to Expand Podcasting with $35 Million Round

Variety reports that the 7-year old digital magazine and lifestyle company Ozy Media has “raised $35 million in a new round of financing to support the expansion of its TV production, live events and podcasting operations.”

Ozy began its podventure with history series The Thread, now in its 5th season. They’ve expanded into a well-rounded slate including OZY Confidential, hosted by Eugene S. Robinson.

“The company bills itself on introducing readers to ‘the new and the next’ in politics, business, pop culture and other broad sectors,” writes Cynthia Littleton.

Former CNN host Carlos Watson, a co-founder of Ozy, is focused on podcasts as a means to reach millennial audiences. Is the company’s uberhip NYC summer festival just the beginning?

Tuesday Front Porch Social Hour: Your Latest Listens

Get the week started with your favorite podcast! What are you listening to? #ImListeningTo

— Podcast Movement (@PodcastMovement) November 4, 2019

Happy Tuesday, readers. While podcast creation is clearly one of our favorite topics, most all of us listen to way too many shows. Tell us, what’s got your headphones humming? (Besides your own show, but we won’t judge.)

Cheers,
Team PM

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Here's what else is going on:

• Insta zeitgeist: The podcast DXBabies, hosted by Lana Makhzoumi and Maram El Hendy, is “all about speaking directly to the young people of the UAE.” The Dubai-based friends learned to record topical conversations on the fly, and their ninth episode reached nearly 6,000 listeners.

• Feedback loop: Renee Wang, chief executive and co-founder of Castbox, shares how the platform was inspired by social integration features of Chinese apps. With “28 million users across 175 countries,” Castbox is billed as a “one-stop shop for searching, creating and listening to podcasts.”

• Stadium sound: In May, the Kansas City Chiefs began In The Trenches, their first team podcast. “The Chiefs official podcast network has racked up more than 500,000 downloads in five months,” writes Michael McCarthy for Front Office Sports. Another two shows are “in creative development.”

• Frosty treats: In a review for Android Central, Jennifer Locke details, with crisp photo examples, pros and cons of the MXL Blizzard 990 microphone. How does it compare with a Blue Yeti? Should you consider an XLR to USB converter? How important is that mute button?