James Cridland 0:00

It's Friday , the 28th of June 2024 .

Speaker 2 0:04

The last word in podcasting news . This is the Pod News Weekly Review with James Cridland and Sam Sethi .

James Cridland 0:13

I'm James Cridland , the editor of Pod News , and I'm Sam Sethi , the CEO of True .

Sam Sethi 0:18

Fans .

James Cridland 0:18

In the chapters . Today , buzzsprout launches an app on Android . Why has the New York Times put its podcast behind a paywall ? Google Podcasts is it finally dead ? Youtube adds a your Podcasts page Plus .

Russell Harrower 0:33

Hi , I'm Russell Harrow , the founder of Pod2 , and I'll be on later to talk about turning podcasts into radio .

Alban Brooke 0:40

And I'm Albin Brooke , head of marketing at Buzzsprout , and I'll be on later to talk about Buzzsprout Weekly and the new Android app we just launched .

James Cridland 0:47

They will . This podcast is sponsored by Buzzsprout . Podcast Hosting made easy with easy and powerful tools , free learning materials and remarkable customer

Buzzsprout launches Android app

James Cridland 0:56

support From your daily newsletter , the Pod News Weekly Review .

Sam Sethi 1:01

So , james , let's kick off . Buzzsprout has launched their app on Android . So , unlike Apple , buzzsprout has managed to find a way to get an app to Android . Imagine that . What's going on ?

James Cridland 1:12

Imagine that . So Buzzsprout launched for iOS a couple of months ago . It's been downloaded over 20,000 times , apparently has hundreds of reviews and a 4.9 star rating in the App Store . So Buzzsprout for Android is out now . What I quite liked about all of this is that Buzzsprout spent quite some time making sure that it wasn't just a lazy iOS port but actually copied over a bunch of useful stuff from the iOS app but also made it work properly for Android , which is good . All kinds of stuff in there . You managed to catch up with Albin Brook .

Sam Sethi 1:49

Yeah , I know I caught up with Albin Brook . I thought I'd ask him , you know , what the Android app was all about . I asked him also what they're doing in regards to video , and so , yeah , a really interesting chat with Albin .

Alban Brooke 2:00

We just launched Buzzsprout for Android . We launched Buzzsprout for iOS a few months ago , and as soon as it came out , we got hard to work on Buzzsprout for Android . I guess we'd started a bit earlier , but we wanted to have a native experience , all the native Android functionality , not just be like a reskin of an iOS app , and so we worked with a team that really understood Android , and now we have a really cool Android app . Lots of podcasters are on Android . I'm excited for them to have the same experience that our iOS customers have been using this whole time .

Sam Sethi 2:34

Now look , let's go back to so feature parity . So remind us what features the iOS and Android app have then .

Alban Brooke 2:41

So the apps we launched to be the best companion you could get for your podcast . The way we thought about it was so many podcasters , podcasting isn't their day job , so they're not at their computer all day and we want you to be able to release your episode where it's still best to create it , which is on your computer . But now you have this companion app so you can check stats , you can get real-time notifications , you're able to share directly from the app and then you're able to effortlessly manage your podcast . So change a title , publish an episode , update a link , fan mail now works in there . You can manage your pod role tons of little things , but those are kind of the main categories .

Sam Sethi 3:22

Yeah , and I've found it really useful . I remember when you first launched the ios app and with fan mail and it was over a weekend that I got it and then we started to get ping and it was like suddenly all these fan mails are coming through and they are little dopamine hits , they're great . And again just getting a notification saying that james has finished uploading the episode and that the transcripts just finished . So , as a podcast creator , those little steps on the notification post-production are always good to know as well uploading the episode and that the transcripts just finished . So , as a podcast creator , those little steps on the notification post-production are always good to know as well . Now , the other thing that you guys have been working on is some new podcasts . You obviously have Buzzcast , which is your main podcast , but you've got a new one out as well . What's that one ?

Alban Brooke 3:58

We just launched a podcast called Buzzsprout Weekly . We've done a weekly newsletter . I think we've sent it every Tuesday for I don't know six or seven years and at some point I think I was listening to Pod News Weekly Review or maybe James's Daily podcast , where he read his newsletter and I went why don't we do this for our shows ? And so we started recording that newsletter and producing it as a podcast and it's wonderful because we've already done all the hard work . The hard work is picking the stories , is writing the newsletter is thinking about what do we really want to communicate to the indie podcaster , to the Buzzsprout podcaster ? And so we put all that together and now it takes us about an hour to go from okay , the newsletter's done to the episode is published . Today is the second episode . You can download it in your podcasting app and listen along with the Buzzsprout newsletter .

Sam Sethi 4:55

Now , who's producing this for you ? I mean , it's not you and it's not Kevin , so who's working on it ?

Alban Brooke 5:00

Well , jordan is the podcast producer for Buzzsprout , so this is now the third active show she has . We do Buzzcast , we're doing Buzzsprout Weekly and we also have a show that's about how Buzzsprout does customer support , so that's called Happy to Help . It's not podcasting specific . So if you are a customer support team or you're just helping customers , you want your team to lead with empathy , to understand the customers . Priscilla , who leads our customer success team , does that podcast and definitely check it out . But those are the three shows Jordan does . And the host of Buzzsprout Weekly is Megan , and so Megan writes our newsletter and so we're leaning a little bit more into having some more personality in some of the podcasts . We don't want it to all just be Kevin and I on Buzzcast , so now we're having a bit more people involved in creating the shows .

Sam Sethi 5:53

You've had AI now for a while . Have you seen a rapid adoption of usage ? Have you got plans to make enhancements to it ? What's the planning around AI ?

Alban Brooke 6:06

We have made enhancements , so we've changed some things with how you edit the transcript . We've added social sharing so that we can write tweets , we can help write blog posts . We want to create that social content for your podcast . I mean , it's something we're really interested in . Co-host AI is now over a year old and we want to keep improving every part of us .

Alban Brooke 6:30

I do think that there is a lot of AI hype right now , which you kind of need the AI hype to get everybody to start building the real use cases . People are suggesting lots of ideas that I'm not 100% sure are useful for the podcaster , and so the way that we built co-host was here's some real definitive pain points . I do not like finding my chapter spots when I'm creating the episode . I know that they're out there , but I don't know the exact timestamp . It's nice for it to find it . I don't love transcribing . It's great that it can find it . I don't like coming up with catchy titles and descriptions . It's wonderful that co-host AI can write those for me . So , as we discover new use cases , specifically because we are using Buzzsprout every week and we're noticing this is a place for AI , I think we'll implement it , but I don't want to end up putting the cart before the horse and saying , oh hey , I could do this . Let's start trying to force its way into my podcasting workflow .

Sam Sethi 7:31

Last question , then , on podcast movements coming up the middle of August in Washington Buzzsprout , I assume , will be there Is the whole team going , because you weren't at the one in LA , so can we expect to see you all there this year ?

Alban Brooke 7:44

Well , I was there in LA , but just me . Sometimes , with the ones out in LA which are a little bit smaller and mostly are more industry focused , we were sending smaller teams , but I think it'll probably be three or four of us will go up to DC this year . I am super excited . Podcast Movement largest podcasting conference in the world recently had a friend from law school reach out and said hey , I want to get into podcasting and he now works in DC . So it's like , well , good for you , you got to come over and check out this incredible conference and it's just a wonderful time . You know , podcasters love to talk and we all have something in common that we love audio , we love creating and everyone's unique because they're creating shows about something totally different , and so you meet tons of interesting people and it is really one of the best parts of my job .

Sam Sethi 8:35

Will you be presenting at the event ?

Alban Brooke 8:38

I think Tom has a couple talks . I sometimes will pitch them . Sometimes they're accepted , sometimes they're not . So we will see Brilliant .

Sam Sethi 8:46

Alban Brook , head of marketing at Buzzsprout . Thank you so much .

Up the Vote 8:49

Thank you for having

Up the Vote in the UK

Up the Vote 8:51

me Are you voting in this general election ? Of course you are , but some of your friends might not be , so help them out . It's simple Get your phone out , text free friends and ask them to vote . Whatever you're voting for in this election the NHS , affordable housing , decent jobs , the climate , human rights or any other issue close to your heart £14.50 . Two copies and a sausage roll .

James Cridland 9:15

Yeah .

Up the Vote 9:16

What there's more you can do than just vote . Enough is enough . The topic needs to change . I want to say it , mate Triple the vote . Oh , and don't forget to bring your ID . July 4th , the . And don't forget to bring your ID , july 4th .

Speaker 2 9:27

The Pub News Weekly Review with Buzzsprout .

YouTube adds podcasting tab

Sam Sethi 9:34

Podcast hosting made easy . Now YouTube . We're not quite sure , or at least I'm not quite sure . Are they fully into podcasting or are they just sort of dabbling on the edges ? But they've added a your Podcast page , james . Does this mean that they are now really going for it ?

James Cridland 9:56

Well what it does . So this is on YouTube , not on YouTube Music . For a start , I thought that podcasts were going in YouTube Music , not really on YouTube , but no it's . I mean , you know , obviously they're available in both , but you'd have thought that the audio app would be the place where they would put lots of their podcast stuff , but no , this is a your Podcasts page . If you're on YouTube on mobile , then hit the you tab on the bottom and you'll find a your Podcasts page there . If you're using the web , then it's on the sidebar and that just gives you a list of shows that you're subscribed to .

James Cridland 10:26

I'm guessing if you're not subscribed to any , you might not see that In the YouTube Music app . When I went to have a look , if I scrolled down 17 screens long , then I eventually found a thing called your Shows in the YouTube Music app , so it does exist in there as well . Not quite sure why it's not called your Podcasts , to be honest , but still there we are . Consistency has never been one of Google's strong points , and yes , so I mean there is something there and a little button . If you want to add more podcasts , it links you straight to youtubecom slash podcasts .

Sam Sethi 11:05

Hmm , that worries me . That reminds me of the days in Microsoft . You often got two teams developing . I remember with the Microsoft Office team we would have the Word team and then the Excel team putting different icons for different things , and they were actually similarly in function and then eventually somebody went no , no , no , stop . And then they actually got a Microsoft office czar who would then dictate what was going to go into the product . But blimey , yeah , your shows , your podcast , that's two teams , that's for certain .

James Cridland 11:36

Yeah , I mean that's not great . And then , when you link through to YouTubecom slash podcasts , well , what do I see in there ? I see something marked popular episodes . Now I'm in Australia , I I see something marked popular episodes Now I'm in Australia , I'm a YouTube premium subscriber . So what would you expect ? I saw you would expect to see a bunch of popular things called podcasts , but what you actually see is something from a company called Midas Touch talking about Trump and all of that , which has got nothing to do with Australia .

James Cridland 12:08

Next , philip DeFranco , wealthy white couple used adopted black children as slaves . I think that's more American nonsense . The NBC News nightly news full broadcast . That's not a podcast . What on earth is that doing in there ? From June the 26th that was yesterday as we record this and then somebody called Dr Mike I can't believe . I have to say this it's got nothing to do with podcasts at all . There is then a rail which shows popular podcasts , and the popular podcast that it is promoting is the Diary of a CEO , which I suppose is popular in the UK . It's not popular here . Lex Friedman , pbd Podcast whatever that is never heard of it . Rotten Mango not heard of that . The H3 Podcast , which I have heard of and Lo-Fi Girls Radios , and there is nothing in here with the exception , possibly , of Diary of a CEO and Lex Friedman that I actually recognise at all in here , and I write about podcasts all the time .

Alban Brooke 13:13

So it's kind of ?

James Cridland 13:15

I'm kind of there thinking really is this , really is this really the thing that's going to work ? But I don't know . I'm sure that Google know what they're doing .

Sam Sethi 13:26

Yeah , yeah , we'll talk about that in a minute . In fact , let's talk about it now

Zombie Google Podcasts

Sam Sethi 13:33

Google Podcasts . What is it doing ? What is it ? Is it alive or is it dead , james ?

James Cridland 13:39

Shock of putting it back together seems to have been too much for him , he's dead , jim .

James Cridland 13:50

Yes , google Podcasts was supposed to have died on either Sunday or Monday , depending on which bit of Google Podcasts you looked at , whether it was the email that we got , which said June the 23rd , or whether it was actually having a look at Google Podcasts Manager , which said June the 24th . Either way , it was supposed to die outside of the US on one of those two dates . And well , here we are . We're recording this on Thursday night , my time in Australia , and zombie Google Podcasts is still alive . If you've got the app installed , then you can play podcasts in it . If you don't have the app installed , then you can install it . It's still in the iOS and Android app stores outside of the US . Google Podcast Manager is still accepting new shows as well , so I don't really understand what on earth Google is playing at . I don't know if you remember this , sam , but I remember when Google actually cared about things . It's very clear that they don't care about anything anymore .

Sam Sethi 14:55

Was that when they were in their don't be evil phase before they became ?

James Cridland 14:59

evil ? I think so . I mean it's just bizarre . I mean Google podcasts of all of the write-ups that I've seen , everybody says , oh , it closed over the weekend , it didn't , it's still there . And all of the write-ups I say say Google Podcasts failed to be successful . It was the number three most popular podcast . Yes , it was only doing 4% of total downloads , but it was the number three most popular podcast app in the world . Three most popular podcast app in the world . So it was doing , frankly , better than every other podcast app out there , apart from Spotify and Apple . But they've managed to kill it , except they haven't killed it . I mean , I just do not understand what Google is playing at . So it's another thing which is still not quite in the Google graveyard , but very close , I think .

Sam Sethi 15:49

I've found the answer , james . What's that ? It's when John Spurlock left . That's it . When John Spurlock left , google , it all fell apart .

James Cridland 15:58

That was the answer yes , yes , no , I think you're absolutely right .

iHeart is #1 twice

Sam Sethi 16:02

Now , james , I never understand this , so you're going to have to explain it to me again .

James Cridland 16:14

Who's now number one ? Oh yes , so PodTrack have always claimed that the iHeart audience network that's all the shows that iHeart sell is the number one network in the US . So that's how iHeart gets to turn around and say number one for podcasting . It's nothing to do with the iHeartRadio app . It's all to do with reaching more people than anybody else does , and I'm sure that that's the case . What's always been interesting and quite amusing is that Triton , who also have a US podcast ranker who , by the way , are owned by iHeart they have never measured iHeartMedia , so they've always said that SiriusXM is number one . That must have annoyed somebody at iHeart rather considerably , because they are now being measured by Triton , which means that the iHeart audience network is now number one according to both PodTrack and now Triton .

Sam Sethi 17:07

So for the first time , iheart is now number one in both , which is nice so there we are , so we don't have to look again , because they're going to be number one forever now .

James Cridland 17:18

I think that they will . Be given that they have 76% more than SiriusXM in terms of average weekly downloads , I think that there is definitely something there to have a look at . So , yeah , really really interesting numbers , and I am currently working on a story around what those numbers are and , who knows , maybe this time next week we'll have a little bit more to say about that .

Round the world

Sam Sethi 17:45

Let's whiz around the world . Germany , james is another one . Germany has launched a podcast ranker from MA Podcast . I'm going off for a coffee . Tell me all about it .

James Cridland 17:58

You can just be very , very quick . It's just another podcast ranker . This is a German one . It's been going actually for the last couple of years , but May 2024's Ranker is out . Maud Lust is number one , which is a true crime show . 5.4 million downloads in May , which is pretty good . Given that there are only 132 million German speakers in the world . To get 5.4 million downloads , which is about 1 million downloads per episode , is not bad . So congratulations to Maud Lust being number one there .

James Cridland 18:33

Ma podcast , like all podcast rankers of this type , only measure participating publishers . In the UK , podcasts have more listeners than ever , according to a new study from Edison Research . Some really nice data from the UK . In their Podcast Consumer UK edition . The data says 42% are monthly podcast listeners , 30% listen weekly . And in people news , jess Mott has joined AdLarge Media as Director of National Digital Partnerships . There's an SVP of Client Services at Adopter Media , adam McNeill . He's been working for that company for quite some time . Some interesting things going on in Australia , with Lizzie Young being the new CEO of Commercial Radio and Audio . That's the company that looks after radio broadcasters but also runs the Australian podcast ranker here as well . Also , billy Hartman has joined workflow automation and ad management company Frequency . He is apparently an audio ad veteran , so good for them . And Azil Enriquez recently joined Salem Web Media as the new podcast marketing coordinator . Lots of exciting things happening

Events

James Cridland 19:46

there .

Sam Sethi 19:46

So events James Podcast Movement is coming up August the 19th in Washington . James , you wrote you've been hearing intriguing discussions about a podcasting 2.0 event . Who's that from ?

James Cridland 20:00

I'm just basically trying to get you to spill the beans out there .

Sam Sethi 20:04

Oh yes .

James Cridland 20:06

I wonder what it was was . I was very careful with it . I said either virtual or perhaps in a physical space . Is there anything going on about a podcasting 2.0 event ?

Sam Sethi 20:16

yeah , you will be the first to know . You know that . But yes is the answer , it will be both and it looks like we've got the green light , but I'm now putting together the final discussion pieces . But yes , the answer is there will be both a physical and virtual event . So watch this space . I promise by next week I will have the final details for you .

James Cridland 20:40

Oh well , that's all . Exciting Also happening Podcast Day Asia taking place on September 3rd in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia , which is where I'm going next week . Podcast Asia is programmed by Pod News and lots of very exciting people who already signed up for that . The keynote is from NPR's Emily Kwong , but we also have a bunch of other people speaking , including somebody from Indonesia who has translated their show into English using a company in the Philippines . We have got , I think , somebody from the ABC who will be talking about whether video is actually a thing in terms of podcasts , so that'll be interesting . Anyway , if you fancy a journey into the sweltering heat of Malaysia , then please do September the 3rd . Tickets just $99 and you can use the code PODN10 to save even more on that . And there are more events , both paid for and free , at PodNews Virtual events or events in a place with people . And if you're organising something , tell the world about it .

James Cridland 21:48

It's free to be listed at podnewsnet slash events

The Tech Stuff

James Cridland 21:51

the tech stuff on the pod news weekly review yes , it's the stuff you'll find every monday in the pod news newsletter , and here's where sam talks technology

Interview: Russell Harrower

James Cridland 22:01

.

Sam Sethi 22:01

I thought I'd whiz down to your part of the country on the other side . I've now got the geography of australia worked out , where you are and where Perth is . It's nowhere near you really . You're nearer to London than you are to Perth in some cases . But that said lovely guy Russell Harrower over at Pod2 . So I thought I'd ping him . We've been chatting for a little bit , but I want to find out first of all who or what is Pod2 ?

Russell Harrower 22:28

So Pod2 is a hosting platform that allows people who want to get their radio shows syndicated to radio stations around the world in an easy URL method . One of the advantages for us is that we're actually able to track listeners live , so we actually report back to the radio show and say , look , you got for this episode 3000 listeners . The beautiful thing about Pod2 is that we also podcast all of the radio shows , so it allows people to be on demand , and I guess the whole system was basically use Dropbox or send the file manually through WeTransfer , and when you've got 700 radio stations that you need to syndicate a show to , that gets time consuming very quickly .

Sam Sethi 23:17

First part is you are a standard podcasting host . You've got lots of clients . Second part is you've got this cool , I suppose , broadcast to podcast solution , but in your case it's podcast to broadcast . It's the other way around , right ? Yeah , so basically it's make a show and then get it on radio as quickly podcast to broadcast , rather than afri pods , which we were talking to kevin last week , taking a live radio feed and then putting that out as a podcast , and what you're doing is helping podcasters syndicate their content to multiple radio stations , correct ?

Russell Harrower 23:50

Yeah , very correct . So basically , the idea came from me . I had to have brain surgery to remove a growth , not cancer , thank goodness . My background is I own a radio station and I need that radio station to run without me . So it needed my syndication partners that we get shows from to be able to upload the shows somewhere where I could program all of the data that needed , all the shows , so that I knew for that time period , even if I was dead , my station would keep going . So so that's how it came about . Honestly , there's no real like oh , I was bald one day , it was literally you might die . Let's go and create something that will keep your radio station on it okay , so in perpetuity , right , okay , um , now fast forward .

Sam Sethi 24:37

So that's really how the idea came about . So we've sort of covered off . Why pod 2 ? And where you came from . What is your technical background in all of this ? You said you were in radio , but were you in radio as a broadcaster or as a technician , or both , or what was it ?

Russell Harrower 24:50

so I loved radio since I was a kid . I was that typical kid with a tape deck and playing the song , and then with the microphone , the commentating , and so I've been volunteering a radio station since I was 16 , on and off . My actual background is coding and developing , so I'm just a nerd at heart and to me it was like here's a problem , we can fix it , let's fix it . Radio is so powerful . It's a way of telling stories , it's a way of connecting to the community , it's a way to just let people in your local area know what's happening . And that's kind of been lost , I hate to say it . Like commercial radio is literally about shouting ring up now to win $10,000 . It's not about that breast cancer survivor or that nonprofit or the homeless . Where's those stories ? Those stories , sadly , have been moved to podcasts . I'm not saying sadly , but meaning it's actually harder to find those stories because you're competing with god knows how many podcasts . They're sometimes really hard to find and a lot of our clients who use pod 2 they go .

Russell Harrower 26:01

I just want to be found . I want to be connected to people . I want to be able . I want to be connected to people . I want to be able to make a business out of this . I want to be able to share my knowledge with the world and this is where , if done correctly , radio can be the voice for the people . It can be the place where you share ideas . It can be the place that you connect A lot of people . A lot of people go oh , radio can't be interactive . Drm1 is the first to basically bring comments and polls and questions and all that kind of stuff into radio so that when you're listening , if you like something , tap it and it will take you somewhere .

Sam Sethi 26:40

We are all about trying to make radio as interactive as possible , and it's powered by pod 2 but you and I have been talking about over the last couple of weeks is a thing that we're proposing to the podcasting community . So it's not a standard yet . We hope it will be called Medium equals Radio and what we're trying to create , and what we have created manually , is a DRN1 radio feed , a publisher feed , but it's a radio feed . We try to differentiate between different feeds . So Wondery would be a publisher feed and then you might get an audio book feed and then you might get a other feed . So DRN1 has at the moment 12 shows in that publisher radio feed . And what we're talking about now is you going to use what has been made part of the podcast in 2.0 standard , the publisher feed format . So you're going to take each RSS feed and you're going to add a podcast publisher with a URL link to this feed that you're going to create so as a business pod .

Sam Sethi 27:53

Two will manage the hosting , manage the technical challenges of adding this new publisher feed and then managing that publisher feed on behalf of DRM one , and we're going to see if that works . Step one Then we're going to add the live item tag to the shows and then see if we can create a schedule out of that . And then thirdly , and the bigger challenge is how do we take syndicated shows that you've got across multiple radio stations ? And finally , the fourth big problem problem , just to add to the pie , is we're then going to try and geolocate those in a way that means that if it's they show syndicators across multiple geographies as well that it's not made available . Let's just take a step back . Podcasting 2.0 where do you think the world is right now ? Sorry , I just realized that's a massive question to address , right ?

Russell Harrower 28:48

No , no , hang on . Let me answer it , because I think this is a really good question , because I literally did a post on copyright and I spoke with a great lawyer , a friend of mine and to me . I'm very anti big corporate platforms that take podcasters who , let's be honest , we pay rent , we have to put food on the table , we have to pay for the mixes , we have to edit . It costs us creators a lot of time to make these great shows .

Russell Harrower 29:20

The problem we have with platforms and I won't mention names is that they will put ads all over our content and they will not pay us , so they'll ingest our content , they will tell us that we're not allowed to put our own ads in it or programmatic ads in it , I should say and then they will put their own programmatic ads in it and if you do not meet the minimum requirement to generate revenue , that company will take those dollars and use it for them . Now this is where it bugs me , because podcasters are no different to musicians . We are creators , we create beautiful content . We deserve to get paid . As simple as that no , I fully agree .

Sam Sethi 30:09

I fully agree and and I think actually , the way that podcasting is going , with live shows of their podcasts , with merchandising , um , looking at multiple revenue streams different ways , I think podcasters and musicians are in the same boat that you know , in the the long tail , they are trying to find their audience . They're trying to find the audience who will then support them . That support can be in micropayments , it could be in subscriptions , it could be through buying merchandising or tickets to events . So , yeah , it's all going the same way .

Russell Harrower 30:42

Look , I'm most probably the odd one out where this is my view , and some people will hate me for it , but that's okay . I just think that if a company is going to make money off of well , let's be honest platforms have to pay musicians for the music , whether whether or not they play an advert or not . That youtube pays dollars per stream or cents per stream . If they're ingesting our content , then I expect that they would be paying our content creators . Even if it is just pennies or not even a cent , like if it's 0.0008 cents , that is still better than nothing . And that's where I just think that we need , like a podcast creators association , to actually say look , we need to be treated like a creator , because it is our copyright material that we are giving a platform and we're happy to give it . But if you're not going to support V4V , then pay us through some sort of means and don't put these stupid rules saying you have to get 10,000 subscribers or whatever . It is Like you're making money , let us make money .

Russell Harrower 32:02

So these are real conversations that we're having with creators , and this is why it's exciting to be part of the Podcasting 2.0 community , because we can see that our creators want this . It's just how do we educate the listeners ? There has to be that we work together as a community . We can't just go oh well , I'm not talking to you because you're a competitor of mine . I love talking , like some of the best people I talk to is todd from blueberry . It's a fantastic conversation we have . Just because it's not about competition , it's about okay , well , this is what we're doing . What are you doing , like ? Help each other ?

Sam Sethi 32:43

It's . The rising tide raises all boats strategy fundamentally in the community , and the community is very good at that , russell . Look , if anyone wants to find out more about Pod2 , where would they go ?

Russell Harrower 32:54

They can head over to podtoocom . You can find me on the podcastindexsocial under Russell . You can stalk me on 2Fans I'm on there , so yeah . You can find me on LinkedIn , so , russell Harawar . So yeah , that's where they can find me .

Sam Sethi 33:11

Russell . Thank you so much , mate , and yeah , we'll have an ongoing conversation about radio to podcast or podcast to radio .

Russell Harrower 33:19

Look forward to it .

James Cridland 33:19

Russell Harrawer from Pod 2 . There are full versions of that interview and all of the others in the Pod News Extra channel . What else is going on , Sam ?

Sam Sethi 33:29

Well , I saw you talking about something called skip days . I mean , we were talking with Russell about adding the update frequency to his shows , but you used something called skip days . God , I had to get an old 1.0 website out and flick back through it to find what you were talking about . What is skip days ?

James Cridland 33:49

Yes . Well , it turns out that the RSS standard includes two things one called skip days and one called skip hours , and this is the standard , so you can add these into your RSS feed today . And what it basically says is in the podnewsnet slash RSS feed , I have skip days of Saturday and Sunday because I never publish on those days and so therefore , please don't even bother coming to my RSS feed and having a look . And I thought to myself well , that's interesting . That's a piece of information in terms of the spec that was added in 1997 . And I was basically thinking no one will support this at all . It's a complete waste of time , but it's also tiny and so therefore I might as well add it to the RSS feed anyway . I added it to the RSS feed and it turns out that that has dropped the traffic to my RSS feed by 4% on Sunday compared to the previous Sunday , so it does seem to have worked 800 fewer requests , which is a nice thing . So , yes , just sort of worthwhile having a look at the actual spec . Hence why I get a little bit grumpy when I see people trying to reinvent wheels that have already been invented in the RSS specification . But I think you know , skip days is a really simple and straightforward one .

James Cridland 35:15

Sorry , are you becoming Dave Weiner now ? I'm not becoming Dave Weiner . Dave Weiner now that he's podcasting again . Gosh , he's turned into the grumpiest man on earth in terms of podcasts , hasn't he Moving on ? Congratulations , john Spurlock . Op3 , now measuring over 17 million IAB style podcast downloads a month .

Sam Sethi 35:36

Nicely , nicely phrased , john , very impressive A headliner , Neil Modi , out of the New York area . He's now announced that you can also post your podcast to TikTok . You can already do that to YouTube using Headliner to TikTok . You can already do that to YouTube using Headliner . I thought this was quite cool because TikTok really is getting a high volume traffic . Should we set ours up , James ? Should I put TikTok as one of our end points ?

James Cridland 36:06

for this show . I mean you're welcome if you like . I gather that what it does is it grabs individual clips and shares those . It doesn't automatically post the entire show , because nobody will listen to this show entirely on TikTok , but I think it'll do some quite clever things . Yes , by all means , have a play with the headliner . They very kindly put this show onto YouTube for us , so it's worthwhile having a play with , I think .

Sam Sethi 36:34

Now this one I do want to ask you a little bit more about . Castro now supports WebSub . Now I do know what WebSub is and I do know what PubSub Hub is , which was the original name for WebSub , but Pocket Cast also supports WebSub and Podping . My question is is why should we support both ?

James Cridland 36:55

um , I think we support both , because we kind of have to support both . Um , web sub is used far more widely than pod ping is . Web sub is also used by rss readers and there are an amount of people who listen to shows using rSS readers as well . And so I think actually supporting you know , supporting WebSub , it takes no additional time really . It's one line in the RSS feed and then it's an additional ping that you're making anyway . If you're making a pod ping , then just make an additional ping to the WebSub hub that you are currently currently using . So I don't see that there's any particular issue with supporting both of those no , it's just um who doesn't support pod ping now though .

James Cridland 37:42

Oh , I mean , plenty of people don't support pod ping um the um . You know , if you have a look . I mean , you know apple doesn't support pod ping um , spotify doesn't support Podping . There's a bunch of people who don't support it . It's much more complicated on the podcast aggregator's end than it is if you are a podcast host . There are a bunch of podcast hosts who do support it . There are a bunch that don't , and from that point of view then it's easy enough to support it if you're a podcast host . It's nowhere near as easy if you are an aggregator . But that's fine , we don't have to worry about any of that stuff .

James Cridland 38:21

But you know , I'm a big fan of if it doesn't cost any more to support multiple standards that are out there . I mean Dave Weiner . Talking about Dave Weiner , as we were earlier on , dave Weiner is very grumpy about WebSub , which he's only just found out about , and he says that this is a rebuild of RSS Cloud , whatever that was . And I noticed that his new show has an RSS Cloud link but doesn't have a WebSub link . I mean it must be amazing , waking up after a long snooze to find out that things have moved on without you . But yeah , so , yes , but I think WebSub is a fine thing . Pocket Casts , for example , supports both , so

Boostagram Corner

James Cridland 39:09

that all works .

Speaker 2 39:09

We've only got one boost this week as well . Has anything gone wrong ? Sam Instagrams , boostergrams and Fanmail on the Pod News Weekly Review .

James Cridland 39:15

We've only got one boost this week as well . Has anything gone wrong ?

Sam Sethi 39:18

Sam the Olby apocalypse yes , we've got 500 sats from Alan C Paul .

James Cridland 39:28

He's basically just yes , he's just basically given us 500 sats as a boost .

Sam Sethi 39:31

Yeah , I was trying to read what was the message . No , there's no message . There's no message . Alan C . Yeah , I was trying to read what was the message . No , there's no message .

James Cridland 39:34

There's no message . Alan C .

Sam Sethi 39:36

Paul , thank you .

James Cridland 39:37

Thank you also to streams from people listening the Late Bloomer actor , brian Entzminger , cole McCormick , alan C Paul , dave Jackson , frillis that's a good name Frillis Gene Bean , nick Adam Curry I've heard of him C Brooklyn 12 and Dwev . We got a total of 14,078 sats in boosts and if you add all of those up then that's a total of $8.86 this week . So thank you very much . That is shared by Sam and I and we normally just spend it on a beer for other podcasters , so that's a nice thing . Thank you also to our power supporters , who are paying mostly $5 a month Dave Jackson , mike Hamilton , matt Medeiros , marshall Brown and Cameron Moll . If you want to join them , weeklypodnewsnet is where to go

Sam and James's week

James Cridland 40:27

. So what's happened for you this week , sam ?

Sam Sethi 40:29

Quite a bit really . I've spoken with Guy Martin and Nathan about a new merchant proposal , so we enabled events . This week we did our first event with Podlife that's now totally live on True Fans and we sold our first tickets . So that all worked perfectly . We're now putting in a new merchant tab onto every podcaster and we will enable artists and podcasters , if they want , to upload merch and then to be able to buy it directly through either Stripe or use fiat currency if they have it in their wallet . So , yeah , that was quite cool . We'll have that working . James , you might be able to help . I tried to find blogs from podcast publishers that existed , so I went to wondery and I went to um , the rest is politics and various others , and none of them have blogs anymore . I mean , is is , is it official ? Blogs are dead now .

James Cridland 41:30

Um , yes , and I saw you posting about this on Mastodon earlier on there are a ton of RSS feeds from podcast companies . I mean Acast has one , osha has one , audacity has one , blueberry has one , and so on and so forth . But yes , they are really sometimes can be really hard to find . Quite a lot of the newer companies just don't bother with RSS feeds at all anymore . And you know , I notice a bunch which have stopped working for some reason . I mean Fountain , for example . You'd have thought that Fountain would have had an RSS feed and it did at one point . It doesn't anymore . So you know there are a bunch of these , of these tools . But yeah , I mean I , I follow I'm trying to work out how many RSS feeds that I follow to put the Pod News Daily together . Quite a lot , is the quick answer . It's yeah so , but yeah , they're just not very easy to find and they don't do them in a very easy way .

Sam Sethi 42:38

It was only . I thought it'd be a really interesting idea to get a RSS feed , let's say from Wondery , about what they're up , to add that to a tab . So we work with you to have the news feed for Wondery and then maybe we'll put their blog feed next to it . Again , just aggregating things around where you're listening . Couldn't find it .

James Cridland 43:00

Yeah , of course that makes perfect sense . Makes perfect sense and unfortunately , it's very hard to find many of those . Quite a lot of them haven't used the automatic . I mean , you know , there certainly won't be a little orange RSS button on most of these sites , which , as you'll notice , there is one on the PodNews website on virtually every single page . But , yeah , so you need to look quite hard to find out where those RSS feeds are . I'm currently following 241 RSS feeds into the big list that I currently look through , and I'm sure that I'm missing a ton of them as well .

Sam Sethi 43:38

So , uh , yeah , the other thing that I was really interested in your toy glasses . Oh , my toy glasses are superb . I mean , talk about freak people out , um , yeah , but the cool thing about it is , uh , yes , they're Ray-Ban Metban meta sunglasses with video , audio and live streaming and ai , um , but meta turned on um fediverse support in threads . So now I can be in threads with my uh account and I can post automatically to mastodon or plex or anywhere else , and that's really cool . Except they don't on sport . Except you can't , though .

James Cridland 44:14

Can you because because threads haven't haven't to Mastodon or Plex or anywhere else , and that's really cool . Except they turned on sports . Except you can't , though , can you what ? Because threads haven't Facebook meta ? Haven't they done something with threads just for the Europeans , which mean that it doesn't work ?

Sam Sethi 44:28

Oh no , they haven't turned it on for Europe , but clearly UK's no longer in Europe . So hurrah , the first ever benefit of being in Brexit . Yes , that is it . We are no longer considered European by Facebook . So they gave us access .

James Cridland 44:43

You might not be able to afford to eat anymore , but at least you can get access to threads on your toy glasses .

Sam Sethi 44:51

Oh God , yes , that's about it .

Alban Brooke 44:53

So yes .

Sam Sethi 44:55

Anyway , what happened for you this week , James ? Oh , there , help us . Yes , that's about it .

James Cridland 44:56

So yes , Anyway , what happened for you this week , James ? Oh , there's a thing . So today was quite fun and you'll hear from her next week the podcast professor Kim Fox , who is based out of Cairo and does Podfest in Cairo every year . She was in Brisbane and so we went to have a look at kangaroos and things and did all of that , so that was fun . It coincided with school holidays , so my daughter ended up coming along and we showed her the crocodiles and all of that , and the kangaroos and the Tasmanian devils and all of that . So that was fun . So enjoyed doing that . And what else has happened for me this week ? Not an awful lot else , really , apart from that , next week I'm off to Kuala Lumpur to speak at the Asian Broadcasting Union , which should be fun . And oh no , there was one other thing that happened this week which was quite fun . I voted , sam . I voted for your country .

Sam Sethi 45:58

Hang on a minute . You're an Australian citizen . Now , why are you getting a vote ?

James Cridland 46:02

But I'm a British citizen as well , and the good folk of Southgate and Wood Green , as the constituency is now called , the good folk of Southgate and Wood Green deserve me , somebody who lives 10,000 miles away , choosing their next MP . So I went to . What I loved about it is I went to the . There's a website in the UK where you can see what the you know what the calculated guess is of who is going to get in , and I went to have a look for Southgate and Wood Green , which is the constituency where I used to live and therefore the constituency where I still vote , and it says there is a 100% chance that this is going to be held by Labour . 100% chance that this is going to be held by Labour .

James Cridland 47:02

100% chance I actually get in to Australia . What time do I get in ? I get in . Oh how exciting . I get into Australia at just after nine o'clock at night , UK time on the 4th of July , and so I get in . It's very early in the morning and so I can then get home . I've got an hour to get home . Then I can sit in front of BBC News and I can watch your entire country falling to bits .

Sam Sethi 47:29

Yes , I'm going to be doing the same or , if you like , it better that way reassembling itself .

James Cridland 47:31

I'm going to be doing the same or , if you like it better that way , reassembling itself . But yes , that's going to be hilarious . So , yes , I'm very excited about the fact that I'm flying during voting where there's never any election news because there can't be by law , and so I land just before they can start saying and according to the exit poll , reformer in or whatever it is .

Sam Sethi 47:58

So , yes , I'm looking forward to that . Oh God , if that's the case , you better get a spare room mate , because I'll be on the first flight out .

James Cridland 48:04

Yes , I would doubt that very seriously , but anyway . So that's all of that is exciting , isn't it ? And all of that is going on , so , yes , so we'll need to work out when to record this show next week , but that's it for this week , though . If you enjoy the podcast , the Newsletter's better , you can find it at podnewsnet and the Pod News Daily , wherever you get your podcasts , particularly if you're a fan of Shaun of the Dead this week , and there are longer interviews in the Pod News Extra podcast as well .

Sam Sethi 48:31

I was just going to say just a hint to America . We do our elections in six weeks . It's done , it's over , Not a whole bloody year . Anyway you can support this show by streaming sats . You can give us feedback using fan mail or send us a boostgram . No one would have heard that part , James .

James Cridland 48:47

We're okay , and I would say just as a hint to both the US and the UK here in Australia , you get fined and a criminal record if you don't vote Exactly . So there you go . Our music is from Studio Dragonfly , our voiceover is Sheila Dee , and we're hosted and sponsored by Buzzsprout . Podcast hosting made easy .

Speaker 2 49:07

Get updated every day . Subscribe to our newsletter at podnewsnet .

Alban Brooke 49:13

Tell your friends and grow the show and support us , and support us the .

Russell Harrower 49:18

Pod News .

Speaker 2 49:18

Weekly Review will return next week . Keep listening .