Transom→ Salt at 50!

2023-09-26 One day, a bunch of years ago, I was sitting in the kitchen of a women who lived in Phippsburg, Maine, over by Small Point if I remember correctly. As I was asking her questions about life on the Maine coast, I was startled to see on the bookshelf behi …›

Transom→ Starting Out: Issue 23, with Mitra Kaboli

2023-09-19 Hi y’all!  Lately I’ve been trying to make a habit of reaching out to people when I love their work. Not because I want a job from them or their co-sign on a new project or anything else. Just to say, this was great, it meant something to me.& …›

Transom→ Revisiting: Dead Mom Talking

2023-09-12 Some ideas are just so maddeningly simple. You think “Why didn’t I come up with that?!!” I felt like that when I first heard Rachel Matlow’s “Dead Mom Talking.” It was a forehead slap moment. On the face of it, Rachel took some tape she’d …›

Transom→ All Hear, September 2023

2023-09-07 Hello! I’m Talia. Welcome (back) to All Hear, the Everything List for Audio Opportunities. If you’re new here, in this column, you’ll find international audio opportunities with upcoming deadlines, as well as a couple of Spotlights for in …›

Transom→ So You STILL Want to Start a Podcast, Eh?

2023-08-29 Anytime I’ve spoken to friends and colleagues in the radio and podcast world this year, the conversation inevitably turns to all the layoffs and closures. One friend said “It’s a bloodbath out there.” It’s into this risky world for new podcas …›

Transom→ Starting Out: Issue 22, with Kelsey McKinney and Alex Sujong Laughlin

2023-08-22 Introduction   As you’re reading this, I’m on a plane to the Online News Association’s conference in Philadelphia. It’s my first ever fancy professional conference and as I write this I’m trying to source professional looking clothe …›

Transom→ A Legacy in Sound – Building an Archive

2023-08-17 A Time Capsule of Stories and Soundscapes Forty-five years ago, I began recording things that few others were paying attention to, like the sounds of a wine riddler, the slowed-down calls of a wood thrush, or an interview with a directory assistance op …›

Transom→ Going Behind the Mic on Climate Change Reporting

2023-08-15 You know how you go through your interview tape and you discover a lot of great moments, quotes and ideas that stand out and you say to yourself  (or out loud) “Oh, I’ll put that in.” And, “Wow, that’s a good one. I’ll include that.” …›

Transom→ All Hear, August 2023

2023-08-03 Hello! I’m Talia. Welcome (back) to All Hear, the Everything List for Audio Opportunities. If you’re new here, All Hear is both a Transom post and a monthly Substack newsletter. Over on my newsletter, I list as many upcoming opportunities for i …›

Transom→ Revisiting: Sound Art Meets Poetry Meets Cicadas

2023-08-01 (This is a rebroadcast of an episode of The Sound School Podcast from 2020, back when it was called HowSound. These notes about the episode are from that time as well.) The other day, I dropped off some computer speakers at a friend’s house. She came …›

Transom→ Starting Out: Issue 21, with Jonathan Menjivar

2023-07-25 Introduction   Hey y’all! We’ve got a bunch of new subscribers, so I thought I’d do a little housekeeping!  I’m Alice, a podcast producer in Durham, North Carolina. I write this newsletter in partnership with Transom, the best tr …›

Transom→ Next Level Scoring

2023-07-18 Music is emotional fascism. I often say that when I’m teaching. It’s a warning about scoring stories with music because music is incredibly dangerous — it commands an emotion. It’s almost as though we have no control over what we feel when …›

Transom→ All Hear, July 2023

2023-07-11 Hello! Welcome (back) to All Hear, the Everything List for Audio Opportunities. If you’re new here, my name is Talia, I’m an audio producer based in London. Last year, I created a Google Doc compiling international audio resources. In this news …›

Transom→ Lean In and Listen Like It’s Music

2023-07-05 Sometimes I yell at podcasts. I’ve grown weary of narrative series that use the same tropes again and again. Haven’t you? Surely, you’ve heard this too many times: “To understand, we need to go back in time.” What about this: “When I first …›

Transom→ Starting Out: Issue 20, With Priska Neely

2023-06-27 Introduction I try not to think too much about the day that I got laid off. It was during the early days of COVID. After I got the news I called my favorite union steward, who called the SAG-AFTRA lawyers. Then I logged off Slack, ignored texts or call …›

Transom→ Revisiting: Avoiding Pesky Recording Problems

2023-06-20 When I think back on it, I had a positively appalling approach to field recording when I first started out as a producer. A problem would present itself in the field and I would think “I’ll fix it later.” Wow. What a mistake. For instance …›

Transom→ All Hear, June 2023

2023-06-13 The first cohort of the CBC’s Indigenous Pathways programme. Welcome (back) to All Hear, the Everything List for Audio Opportunities. If you’re new here, my name is Talia, I’m an audio producer based in London. Last year, I created a Goog …›

Transom→ The Best Audio Storytelling According to Pushkin

2023-06-06 “Driveway moment.” That’s a term used for a captivating audio story. The story is so good, so well told, a listener can’t get out of their car until they finish listening. A “driveway moment” is something all audio producers strive for. Bac …›

Hot Pod News→ Insider May 26, 2023 — How Kids Podcasts Compete with Screens

2023-05-30 Hi all, Happy Friday! I have a two-parter for you today. First off is a Q&A with Tinkercast — one of the leading publishers of kids podcasts — about the state of children’s audio and the challenges of adapting the medium for YouTube. How do y …›

Hot Pod News→ Insider May 25, 2023 — Is YouTube’s RSS plan a dealbreaker for podcasts?

2023-05-30 The week is almost over, and I hope it will end on a good note. Today, I dive into a YouTube pilot for RSS that likely will have a major impact on podcasters if it becomes adopted, and a…very wild night on Twitter Spaces! Will YouTube’s RSS lea …›

Hot Pod News→ Why YouTube is a tough place for kids podcasts

2023-05-27 Hope everyone at The Podcast Show is enjoying the conference (and ignoring their jet lag). While I’m still very much across the pond (like, way across) in LA, this issue of Hot Pod leads with some news from BBC Radio. I’m also digging int …›

Transom→ Happy 15th Sound School!

2023-05-23 We were digging into some numbers the other day. By “we,” I mean, Jay Allison and Jennifer Jerrett at Transom and Kerri Hoffman at PRX. And by numbers, I mean “How many episodes of Sound School have there been?” The answer is simple — 20. …›

Hot Pod News→ Insider May 18, 2023 — Why this former iHeartMedia exec is launching a podcast investment firm

2023-05-19 Hi all, Hope everyone is surviving the week. Today, I have an exclusive interview with one of the co-founders of DWNLOAD Media, a new investment firm focused on the audio industry. I’ll also take a look at the new audio app by The New York …›

Hot Pod News→ Why companies still shy away from podcast ads

2023-05-19 Hi all, Today we’re mixing it up a bit. First off, I have a post-Podcast Upfronts Q&A I conducted with SiriusXM’s Lizzie Widhelm and Scott Walker. Both Widhelm and Walker are a part of SXM Media, the massive ads operation that powers SiriusXM, …›

Transom→ All Hear, May 2023

2023-05-16 Welcome (back) to All Hear, the Everything List for Audio Opportunities. If you’re new here, my name is Talia, I’m an audio producer based in London. Last year, I created a Google Doc compiling international audio resources. In this newsletter, …›

Hot Pod News→ Insider May 12, 2023 —AI was a hot topic of conversation this month

2023-05-12 Hi all,  Hope everyone is recovering well from yesterday’s Podcast Upfront.  For today’s issue of Insider, I’ll go over the AI hype cycle, layoffs at PRX, and some announcements and deals.  AI was topic du jour in podcasts over the pas …›

Hot Pod News→ Insider May 11, 2023 — Here’s what went down at the 2023 Podcast Upfront

2023-05-12 Today was the first in-person Podcast Upfront since the pandemic, and it started off with a bang. Well, maybe not. A glitch — in the very beginning — caused presentations from last week’s IAB NewFronts to briefly air for remote attendees (“Shou …›

Hot Pod News→ Live audio is getting another go on Bluesky

2023-05-10 Hi all,  This week is an exciting one for the audio industry, with Podcast Upfront around the corner and awards season underway. This week we’ll look at a new community audio project on BlueSky and Spotify’s expansion of its audio ad network i …›

Hot Pod News→ Insider May 5th, 2023 — YouTube is (seriously) not for every podcast

2023-05-10 Hi all, Hope everyone is looking forward to some rest this weekend. For today’s Friday issue, we’ll look at how traditional podcasts are faring on YouTube, the Vox Media Podcast Network’s debut on Podtrac, and a lightning round of new deals …›

Transom→ What’s Grabbed Antonia’s Ears?

2023-05-09 Remember back in high school, when a student would raise their hand and ask the teacher “How long does the report need to be?” I clearly remember one teacher saying, “Long enough to answer the question!” Good one, right? The teacher was clearly …›

Hot Pod News→ Insider May 4, 2023 —Podcast ads are saving the audio biz

2023-05-04 Hi all,  There’s been a whole flurry of earnings reports from the audio industry over the past couple of weeks — so I dove into what we’ve learned about the state of podcast ads today. I took a closer look at iHeartMedia’s earnings, as wel …›

Transom→ Starting Out: Issue 19, with Stephanie Foo

2023-05-02 Introduction Hey y’all,  Welcome back to Starting Out, from me and Transom. It’s season four of the newsletter! And my first season of the newsletter on Substack.  I switched platforms because I want us to be able to connect more — and …›

Transom→ The Fingerprint of Chris Brookes

2023-04-25 For this episode of The Sound School Podcast, I took Chris Brookes’ advice. “I believe in finding a talisman,” Chris wrote on Transom back in 2011. He says he digs up a talisman for a story he’s producing, something that’s “connected in som …›

Transom→ All Hear, April 2023

2023-04-18 Hello! Welcome back to All Hear, the Everything List for Audio Opportunities. If you’re new here, my name is Talia, I’m an audio producer based in London. Last year, I created a Google Doc compiling international audio resources. Every month, I …›

Transom→ Producing a Non-narrated Obituary

2023-04-11 “You don’t want the music to take over or even be noticed very much.” I think that’s the most important observation Quil Lawrence made when we talked about a non-narrated, audio obituary he produced. Quil reports on veterans for NPR. The obitua …›

Transom→ What’s Next for Munira?

2023-03-28 If a podcast drops in Tanzania, does it make a sound? Munira Kaoneka is asking just that question when producing a podcast from her home in Dar es Salaam. Some days she wonders who’s listening because, as she puts it, “podcasters are struggling out …›

Transom→ All Hear, March 2023

2023-03-21 Hello! Welcome (back) to All Hear Hello! Welcome (back) to All Hear, the Everything List for Audio Opportunities. Before I get into this month’s Spotlights and opportunities, Transom has some exciting news! They are considering (re)starting some prog …›

Transom→ Starting Out: Issue 18, with Alana Cassanova-Burgess

2023-03-16 Introduction    Welcome back to Starting Out, from me and Transom!  There won’t be an issue of Starting Out next month, since I’ll be hard at work preparing the next season of the newsletter for you. Do newsletters have seasons? …›

Transom→ Still More Darts and Laurels

2023-03-14 If a humpback whale could talk to us, what would they say? Dr. Geraint Rhys Whittaker decided they might say the same thing someone who lived through a bombing would say. And then he made an audio piece called “First Contact.” It’s intriguing rig …›