Happy autumn interlude, readers. PM Daily’s on a brief Thanksgiving break, but we’ll be back with a live events Special Issue on Monday and continuing regular programming on Tuesday.
The Los Angeles Times has released the latest edition of Audiosphere, its occasional podcasting series “on the people who are making some of the genre’s most fascinating shows.” Margy Rochlin and Wendy Lee’s well-crafted interviews reveal lucky-break backgrounds and genuine friendships behind influential podcasts.
Audiosphere’s run since last year aims to track the evolution of podcasting culture. This collection includes this fall’s profiles of A Date With Dateline hosts Katie Mitchell and Kimberly Arnold, Mob Queens hosts Jessica Bendinger and Michael Seligman. An in-depth conversation with Spotify chief content officer Dawn Ostroff rounds out the industry focus.
In Hot Pod, Nicholas Quah explores a viable alternative to the binary of “artisanal host-read ads” and a “fully programmatic future.” He’s “paying some attention” to Gumball, Headgum’s new podcast advertising marketplace, which has positioned itself as champions of host-read sponsorships.
Marty Michael, one of Headgum’s co-founders, emphasized the platform’s efficiency and transparency in an interview. Quah explains that “In a nutshell, Gumball is an attempt to articulate (and structurally advocate for) a future where the fundamental value of host-read ads, podcasting’s long-time edge in advertising, isn’t only preserved and protected, but modernized and emboldened.”
“The key idea is that podcasters, particularly those operating independently, wouldn’t have to pitch themselves to a network or a sales rep in order to potentially get in front of advertisers, because they’d be able to present themselves to advertisers directly on the Gumball platform.”
Lifehacker’s new podcasting series continues with a video guide on how to make your show “sound like NPR.” Following producer Abu Zafar’s “no B.S.” pre-launch checklist video, this installment goes in-depth into microphone placement, vocal performance, and mixing audio.
Zafar combines NPR’s audio training resources with commentary from experts including Brendan Baker, director of Wolverine: The Long Night and Misha Euceph, host of Tell Them, I Am. He demonstrates skills like matching levels of vocal tracks and adding compression to reduce dynamic range.
“You know how reality TV isn’t actually reality? Podcasts are just like that,” explains Zafar. “Most good podcasts are very tightly edited — this is a crucial step in the process that you can’t skip.”
Happy Wednesday, readers, and heads up: Registration prices for both 2020 events, Evolutions in February and Podcast Movement in August, will go up on Monday, December 2. Get your passes and hotel rooms booked now for the easiest, breeziest, most affordable experience.
Cheers,
Team PM
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