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  • Are Algorithms the Enemy? AD Hubfest Keynote Speakers and competitions, casting calls and Spooky Season Begins 🦇 🌔 ✨

Are Algorithms the Enemy? AD Hubfest Keynote Speakers and competitions, casting calls and Spooky Season Begins 🦇 🌔 ✨

which means loads of new shows for your podcast queue. Plus, the Young Audio Drama Makers Conference, Bandcamp Friday, AI voices and trust, episode frequency, sound effect packs, and much more. We're chock full of nutty goodness this time.

Author

Lindsay Harris Friel
October 03, 2025

Issue 320 of The Fiction Podcast Weekly is brought to you by Are Algorithms Good for Podcasting?

Algorithms are so prevalent in media now that some marketers describe them in spiritual terms (“you’ve been brought here for a reason”). Katie Paterson explains how they work, what’s good, and what’s bad for podcasts in Are Algorithms Good for Podcasting?

News, Roundups, and Announcements

  • The Fiction Podcast Weekly is changing again (plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose). To make sure you keep getting the Fiction Podcast Weekly in your inbox, I am once again asking for you to click links in this newsletter, so I know how many people get value out of it and how many don’t. Currently, we have over 2,400 in our ranks, and half of you open and read it. Show me who’s showing up!

  • Keynote Speakers have been announced for The Audio Drama Hubfest 2025, and they are (drumroll) Beth Eyre and Felix Trench! “For anyone wanting to learn more about the acting profession (in audio drama and beyond), we are really fortunate that Beth and Felix will be opening the festival with their speech, and they will also be taking part in a panel on voice acting as a career.”

  • TAFCON has surpassed their $15K stretch goal, and now has the funding to make this audio fiction convention available online. Congratulations!

  • How Do Humans Feel About AI Voices In Podcasting? by Tom Webster for Sounds Profitable. “AI may be coming to podcasting, but no one can be made to like it.”

  • When I want curated, concluded spooky fiction, I go to The End, and I just can't get enough, I just can’t get enough.

  • Is it Bandcamp Friday yet? YES, which means today is the best day to purchase audio from Shadows at the Door, Tin Can Audio, Long Cat Media, and many more! If you don’t have ‘Bring a Tofu Turkey Home for Christmas’ on your Winter Solstice playlist, are you even celebrating?

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Opportunities

  • Pitch your live show to The Audio Drama Hubfest! Deadline: October 3rd, which is TODAY, so go get ‘em, Tiger!

  • The Audio Drama Hubfest Sound Design Competition’s theme is “Visitor.” Deadline: 19th October. You can totally do this.

  • Young Audio Drama Makers Conference 2025 is for applicants aged 18-30. Deadline for applications is 12th October 2025. The conference is being curated by Yusra Warsama, and run by audio drama indie, Thomas Carter Projects, in partnership with Factory International.

  • Casting Call: The North American Pantheon. Records remotely in January, listing expires November 15.

  • Casting Call: Imprimatur seeks talent from Illinois, specifically Washington, Chicago, Springfield, and/or Peoria, IL. Listing expires Oct. 20.

  • Are you participating in the 11th Hour Audio Challenge this year?

  • The Tribeca Festival is open for submissions. Tribeca Podcasts’ early bird deadline is the 3rd of December at 6pm Eastern, and entry fees increase after that.

  • SONAR Audio Challenge - an international call-out for original audio stories, no longer than 5 minutes, based on either theme: “Care” or “Unseen.” Submissions can be from individuals or teams of up to 3 people. Deadline: 12 October.

  • Art Omi Artist Residency - an international callout for artists to gather in rural New York from 18th June - 13th July 2026. Artists who have been professionally active for at least the past five years are eligible. Disciplines include visual arts, sound art, performance, and social practice. Deadline: 15th of October.

Milestones & Debuts

  • The Truth Returns October 9, with Operation Skill Shot, a 1970’s period piece about the owner of a pinball arcade who discovers that his passion may be the key to luring a mob boss out of hiding. 

  • End-of-life issues may be difficult to discuss, but Kicking The Bucket’s listening parties make those discussions easier to manage.

  • The Tape Recorder Trilogy A man who has been alive since the last Ice Age bought a tape recorder, and dictated his life story while waiting for a woman to visit who he believes will finally be the death of him. This show debuted over a month ago, but they sent it to me anyway, and they know what a logline is. I should change the word “debut” to “launch.”

  • The Collection of Moira Graves launched on the 19th of September. A solitary, eccentric psychic shares spine-tingling tales from her eerie collection, unintentionally drawing together an eclectic and spirited community.

  • Inside the Lines Paul and Laura try to grow their tiny colouring-in shop into a creative success, while navigating schemes, setbacks, and strange new friends.

  • Haunted: The Van Buren Manor When their staged ghost hunter investigations lead them to the mysterious Van Buren Manor, the so-called “Spirit Sleuths” must confront their first real haunting.

  • Minor Legends, a new Asian American comedy fiction podcast, will launch on Monday, 10/6, as part of the Potluck Podcast Collective.

Keep sharing good stories.

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