We'll answer this question right after this break (Podcasting)

Well, at least they placed a marker so the ad wasn't mid-sentence

Let’s begin with The Podnews Weekly Review. I was walking the dog in a light rain (neither good for video podcasts, which PWR is not anyway) when the voice of James Cridland started asking questions about Apple and Acast.

I’ll jump in and react to the news that Acast’s HLS podcasts are doing well on Apple! Yes. If Apple promotes your podcasts you are going to do well. We know this. The real question is what’s the deal with those two companies who seem really chummy right now.

That beings me to the topic I got distracted from last week: Parasocial reationships. You know, the thing where you think you actually know the person in your ears.

In Dreamland I was working out a thought I have related to the podcast industry, and was trying to determine my strategy for speaking publicly about it, as I don’t aim to tick everyone off. My sub-conscious conjured up “James Cridland” which of course is not the actual James, nor necessarily how Actual James would behave, think or feel. However Head-James DID help me sort out my feelings. I do consider Actual James a friend, even though we live 8300 miles apart and I’ve spent maybe an hour and half with him in real life. Maybe I am just delusional….

…which brings us to THIS item I have been sitting on for a year because I didn’t know how to bring it up….

…at double speed (which is how one listens to podcasts) Actual James kinda sounds like Baltar from the Battlestar Galactica reboot and I can’t unhear it. He doesn’t sound like Baltar at all in real life, but at double….well that’s who I picture now speaking to Sam Sethi every week.

Nice job by the AI there except podcasts are not “on-air.”

Next…I found THIS interesting. I wanted to gather some intel about the Acast thing, so I opened up Apple Podcasts (logged in) here on my M1 Mac running Tahoe 26.3 and it didn’t put ANY video in front of me. Maybe it knows!

I did see this in the second box under Home…note the word LISTENS

These seem to be “audio” podcasts so maybe there is hope for humanity despite the Video Cylons.

I was on this version of Podcasts if you’re a curious journalist with a newsletter.

I switched to mobile which stuck video under my nose, although to be fair it didn’t seem very Acasty.

Yep, once again I can’t hold my tongue about sloppy podcasting production. There I was, sitting out in the sun, enjoying one of my favorite podcasts when suddenly some commercials interrupted the flow.

Your milage may vary depending on dynamic ad-insertion but when I listened to Richard Deistch on Saturday, I was served an ad BETWEEN a question and answer (for me it was around the 16 minute mark.) As I texted a former co-worker, I wondered if I should be more impressed by that or by the candy wrapper or whatever I heard at the 12 minute mark, even with a clogged ear. Also, is it really a “roundtable” with one guest? I tried to find a video version to see if perhaps there was a table which is round on-screen, but this podcast seems to be audio only, and for that I salute them as Podcast Of The Year.

I have been enjoying Are We Doomed although I wish it could 5% less corny.

Ezra Klein also had an episode about the environment, but I can’t keep track of what is paywalled or not with that show and I don’t see it on Spotify to embed. If you are still reading you can probably find it wherever somewhere you get your podcasts.

Colin and Samir had on Tom Segura (prior to the news that Tom and his wife are separating). This one about building out his own platform.

Mick Jagger was on various NYT feeds (I think. Again, I can’t figure out what they do.) I caught the interview on The Daily

And the new Stones album is fantastic (see review below). Mick was also on Conan but I didn’t get to that yet.