PodMov Daily: Thursday, July 29

Episode 472: Your Thursday Podthoughts

New Voices: AIR Announces 16 Creators for 2021

AIR Media has announced the 16 creators of New Voices 2021, its annual mentorship program for underrepresented and early-career voices in public radio and podcasting. This year’s cohort includes reporters, activists, scientists, and educators with a wide variety of storytelling backgrounds and interests.

“(Re)defining Our Why: Collectively Envisioning the Future of Audio” will run through December, spearheaded by award-winning radio journalist Elena Rivera and Program Coordinator Lynn Casper. Each person will be assigned a mentor and receive a $1,000 stipend in addition to ongoing resources and networking.

The program has aimed to ‘open up’ in the podcast industry since 2009, an effort that’s gaining momentum across independent and corporate spaces. Thanks to paid apprenticeships, fellowships, advocacy training, and initiatives like the Podcasting, Seriously Awards Fund, opportunity looks different in 2021.

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A Preview: Facebook’s Audio Products and Plans

Late Tuesday night, Ashley Carman of The Verge shared a peek into Facebook’s upcoming audio products. The Twitter thread includes screen recordings of a preview presentation for Podcast Movement. To Carman, a planned “audio destination” under Facebook Watch seems like an “attempt at discovery.”

Starting in August, the audio hub will show podcasts and live audio rooms, allowing users to “tap on categories to find shows tagged with certain topics.” One video shows Clips, a short-form product that looks similar to an audiogram, designed to be captioned and shared to feeds or directly to friends.

Other “interesting tidbits”: The RSS feed support first mentioned in June “will come to all US pages in September.” (Linking a feed to Facebook will automatically generate posts for new episodes.) Carman also notes plans to sell “facebook-managed audio ads,” which we’re sure to learn more about next week.

Dynamic Content: A Powerful New Tool from Buzzsprout

With Buzzsprout, it’s faster than ever to keep your podcast fresh — and your listeners up-to-date. The new Dynamic Content tool lets you easily add and remove short pre-roll (intro) and post-roll (outro) content to your episodes. It's the perfect solution for timely messaging.

Whether you’re promoting a virtual event or giving a special shout-out, Dynamic Content makes it simple to swap, automatically add content to new episodes, or apply it to your existing catalog with a click. Old files are removed and replaced, so there’s no clean-up.

For podcasters, this new tool offers more than flexibility. It benefits your audience in more ways than one: Buzzsprout respects your listeners’ privacy. Unlike most Dynamic Ad Insertion, the Dynamic Content tool includes no tracking or targeting. Ready to make the switch?

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Here's what else is going on:

• Curb appeal: Spotify’s Open Access system presents strong competition for subscriptions, writes Podnews editor James Cridland. “Apple Podcasts, iOS-only, with a 100% lock-in model for subscriptions and a hefty commission, would seem to offer less earning potential for creators.”

• Ropes course: Applications for BBC Sounds’ Audio Lab, a new paid development program for UK podcasters, are due in one month. Four free masterclasses will stream before then. The next one is on August 4: “Where Audio Becomes Art: Bringing Your Story to Life Through Sound.”

• Get curious: Jack Rhysider only struggled with writer’s block on the first 10 episodes of Darknet Diaries. 90+ episodes and millions of downloads later, he shares the versatile storytelling exercise that got him through: “This is the question that I ask which got me out of 99% of my jams.”

• Making space: Maria Hinojosa founded Futuro Media 11 years ago out of necessity, writes Hanaa’ Tameez of Nieman Lab. Now a hub for Latino audio storytelling, Futuro began with Hinojosa’s leadership of Latino USA, the award-winning radio show and podcast she’s anchored since 1992.