Exclusive: On Air Fest reveals 2025 schedule

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• Exclusive: On Air Fest has revealed its 2025 schedule, which it calls the most expansive lineup yet. The event, between Feb 19-21 in and around Brooklyn NY, will include more than eighty performances, podcast tapings, panel conversations and workshops. Among the third wave of featured talent announced today is Anderson Cooper, Jemele Hill and Anna Martin. There is also an invite-only Podcast Business Summit with Bloomberg’s Ashley Carman. This will be the event’s eighth year. Tickets are available on the website.
• Podcast monetisation company Audioboom published a 2024 Trading Update. In 2024, the company beat analyst forecasts to show an EBITDA profit of $3.4mn. Total revenue for the year was up by 13% to $73.4mn. The company has signed new content partnerships and renewed existing ones, but also managed to reduce minimum guarantee obligations by more than $3mn. The company’s CEO, Stuart Last, joins us in the Podnews Weekly Review this Friday.
• For the first time, the Australian Podcast Ranker has a clear, uncontested #1. ARN’s iHeart is number one for podcasting in podcast publishers and in sales representation. It comes as the BBC, represented by ARN’s iHeart, joins the Australian Podcast Ranker for the first time. The BBC is the tenth biggest participating publisher, with 3.3mn downloads. (The ranker is calculated using monthly listeners; the #1 publisher for monthly downloads remains the ABC, who’s podcasts are commercial free in the country.)

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• Sounds Profitable unveils new research today. With American Public Media, The Business Podcast Consumer looks at the audience for business podcasts, and what makes them different to the audience for any other genre. It’s a free webinar at 3pm Eastern: you can register here.
• Radio and podcast directory service TuneIn has apparently made another 25 layoffs this week. Earlier this month, TuneIn erroneously removed a number of radio stations in the UK; and as Podnews covered in December, the company hasn’t accepted new podcasts for almost twelve months after multiple rounds of layoffs. Along with the TuneIn app, companies like Amazon, Apple, Google and many auto manufacturers rely on TuneIn’s directory.
• Is video podcasting just making podcasting even harder for women? Neil Veglio returns to our story from Jan 1 about the gender bias in video podcasting.

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Focus

The Webby Awards have been honoring the very best of the Internet since 1996, celebrating everything from independent audio experiments to tentpole podcast sensations.

By participating in The Webbys, you place your work on the same stage as boundary-pushing podcasters and companies, like past Webby Winners Michelle Obama, Audible, Crooked Media, iHeart Podcasts, PRX, Jason & Travis Kelce, The New York Times, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Wondery, and Keke Palmer to name a few.

This year’s categories cover a wide range of topics, including News & Politics, Sports, Business, and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging, across Limited-Series & Specials, Shows, and Individual Episodes. And for the first time, The Webby Awards will also honor History in Individual Episodes.

Don't miss your last chance! Enter the 29th Annual Webby Awards by the Extended Entry Deadline, February 7th, 2025.

People News

• Kate Lindsay has been announced as a new host for Slate’s ICYMI. The author of the Embedded newsletter, she joins co-host Candice Lim.

Tips and tricks

• It’s easy, quick (and free!) to get good quality transcripts these days - really helpful for interviews or accessibility. We show you how to install whisper-cpp (for the geeks), or a free and good piece of software from Spreaker.

Podcast News

• New on Airwave: How Success Happens tells the inspiring, entertaining, and unexpected journeys that influential leaders in business, the arts and sports traveled on their way to becoming household names.
• All 50 states of the USA produce wine - and Wine Across America, which launches today, is dedicated to educating wine lovers about the amazing wines being produced across the country, featuring engaging interviews with winery owners, winemakers, and wine industry experts. It's hosted by Alan Kraft and Sandra Guibord of Bin 113; and the first two states are Virginia & Maryland. Bad news, though: we've checked, and there is no wine produced in Greenland. Canada, though? Yes, lots.
• New today from iHeart is Arroyo Grande with Raymond Arroyo. In each episode, through surprising conversations with celebrities, thought leaders, and culture-makers, Arroyo unearths life lessons, practical advice, and inspiring examples to live by. Guests coming up include Frankie Avalon and Mel Gibson.
• The Boston Globe's Love Letters is back for a new season. This season focuses on the possibility of change. Host and longtime Globe advice columnist Meredith Goldstein will attempt to answer the complicated questions: Can people really change? And if so, how?
• The Louis Theroux Podcast returned for a new season yesterday. Louis kicks off series four with a wide-ranging conversation with screen legend Willem Dafoe. Other upcoming guests include scandal-hit Armie Hammer, popstar Jade Thirlwall, Sharon Horgan, UFC champion Leon Edwards, Jamie Oliver and 'Hot Ones' host Sean Evans – the man usually asking the spicy questions himself.

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Image: On Air Fest