American Public Media Group has laid off twelve people as part of restructure, according to Current. The development was announced last Thursday, and though the specific job cuts were not formally highlighted, Current pointed out that employees at Southern California Public Radio and Minnesota Public Radio were affected. Additionally, an all-staff email from SCPR CEO Herb Scannell discussing the cuts was posted on the station’s website. More information can be found on the Current report.
Here’s something curious: The New York Times posted a new story yesterday on the state of Andrew Yang’s “some would say unlikely but he certainly wouldn’t” presidential state bid, where it seems to peg the candidate’s campaign to an equally unlikely-but-maybe-not turning point: Yang’s February 2019 appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience.
This is probably a good point to link back to a column I wrote in April about the increasing occurrence of retail politics in podcasting, but I think this specific Yang-Rogan case can be further complicated: in August, The Verge’s Makena Kelly wrote a piece that seems to more tightly associate The Joe Rogan Experience’s bump capacity with the podcast’s prominence on YouTube. For what it’s worth, if we’re dealing with weightage, I’m inclined to buy into the perspective — YouTube likely played a heavier role in this instance.
Uhhh… From Politico: “Giuliani considers launching an impeachment podcast amid public hearings.” I think we should call it a day with the impeachment pods. I mean, sure, I hear you that every constituency and every viewpoint should have their day in the sun or whatever, but seriously, though, no more, please, I beg you.
Speaking of which…
Grandpa Grumps: Not that my opinion matters or anything, but I feel some sort of way about BuzzFeed eliminating its wildly talented PodSquad last Fall and catalyzing an utterly insipid discourse about the “podcast bubble”… only to replace them barely a year later with an iHeartMedia partnership.
Uncle Fun: It’s the season for lists… and discourse about lists. Wait, what? Is it a double-grump week? Why yes, yes indeed.
Uhhhh… (part two): From the New York Times: “The Latest Entry in the True-Crime Serial Market: Copcasts.” Perhaps the thing that’s more unsettling about this trend of podcasts being started by law enforcement agencies… is the lack of substantial discussion about the complexities from this write-up.
What gives, guy. From Gizmodo: “Transcription Platform Rev Slashes Minimum Pay for Workers.”