Edison Research has released The Infinite Dial 2026, and consumption of online audio has left 2020’s boom in the dust. About 219 million Americans listened to online audio in the past week, and Americans age 55 and up drive the most recent increases in consumption. Remember back in 2022 when awareness dipped to 38%, how the podcast industry talked about people over age 50? It’s okay, Gen X doesn’t expect an apology, but a thank-you note would be nice.

Podnews reports that “Podbean has abruptly pulled its dynamic ad insertion tool across the whole of Europe. No notice was given; the affected countries imply that there is a concern with GDPR compliance.” Gee, I sure hope nobody’s podcasts depended on advertising income.

Netflix Just Got an Extra $2.8 Billion. Here’s What It Should Spend On by Max Cutler for the Hollywood Reporter. “Netflix’s real competition isn’t Paramount or Disney+. It’s human attention. And right now, YouTube is winning more daily hours of that attention than any streaming service on the planet.” The hell with vertical video. Why not offer annual seed grants and distribution and become the Netflix of Audio Fiction Podcasts?

Wondery’s Circle of Life by Katie Clark Gray for Good Tape

Famous Audio Drama Producer Shares Craft with Lander Students. Congratulations, John Ballentine!

Flowers From Texas South by Southwest is happening now in Austin, TX, through the 18th of March. If you’re there, artist, writer, and resident Austin Kleon has strategies to help you make your SXSW more enjoyable and unique.

Roundup: Struggling For Sanity is a collection of stories about mental health challenges, curated by Evo Terra, and updated on the 13th of March.

The Top: Be the main sponsor of an issue for $99 per week or $340 for four weeks.

The Middle: Purchase a Classified Ad for $28. These sit in the middle of the email and have no accompanying graphics.

The Bottom: Get your link and logo in our Supporter Gallery for $4.99 a month or $50 a year. ​

NYC audio drama meetup on the 22nd of March, 1pm-4pm. RSVP to get the location, and remember, there’s no such thing as bad weather, only dressing for the weather badly.

I Built Three Podcast Management Tools in Two Days (And You Can Too) by Stephanie Elie shows how she built three custom tools to manage Alpha 8 Season 2, cast What Happened in…, and find production partners for The Last Uprising. What production issues would you want to build software to solve?

How to Record Ocean Sound FX: Putting a Plan Into Action, by Airborne Sound. “First, why record ocean sound effects on Bali?” So you can write an article about it online, categorize your trip to Bali as a professional expense, and claim it on your taxes.

Nothing happens. Everything happens: why state change matters more than story in immersive experiences, by Lou Pizante for Blooloop. How can we make immersive audio more meaningful for audiences?

Doubling Down on Audio by Benjamin Cannon for Good Tape. How Audio Flux, Written In Air, Signal Hill, and other production groups cope with “the notion that the longing for capital robbed podcasting of much of what made it special in the first place. Falling victim to this kind of King Midas syndrome, podcasting hit new highs in terms of cultural penetration and listenership, but one could argue it was at the expense of its artistic soul.”

The Austin Film Festival Fiction Podcast Award is an international competition for independent fiction podcast scripts. Early bird deadline: 26th March, Late deadline: 24th April. Final deadline: 27th May.

The Wave Farm Research and Production Open Calls seek proposals from international artists, researchers, and tinkerers for new radio art commissions, residencies, and fellowships in transmission arts, spatial sound, and radio art. Stipends available. Deadline: 31st of March.

Native Arts and Cultures Foundation’s LIFT Early Career Support for Native Artists are grants for Native artists in the U.S. at an early stage of their careers to develop and realise new artistic projects. Deadline: 19th of March.

The British Podcast Awards are for podcasts that have been either produced in Great Britain and Northern Ireland or designed for U.K. audiences. They have 31 categories, including a Rising Star Award, for people with under two years’ experience in the podcasting industry. The entry fee is £210+VAT or £50+VAT for independents/freelance producers, charity podcasters or companies with less than 10 full-time employees. Deadline: 30th of April. Late Deadline: 21st of May.

Get Your Four-Page Twisted50 Screenplay Recorded As An Audio Drama At LondonSWF “OK, we are running a last-minute competition. At the London Screenwriters Festival this year, Audio Drama LEGEND Dirk Maggs is returning to deliver a session on Audio Drama. But we have a twist! And a Twisted twist at that. To demonstrate just how to make an Audio Drama, we will, LIVE and in front of the audience, perform, record, edit, post-produce, and premiere a five-minute horror audio drama in the session. Dirk will direct it at the start of the session, then, as we chat all things audio drama, the editor will work their magic, and then we will premiere the completed show at the end.” Deadline: March 24.

The Calgary Arts Grant Investment Programs are one-time project funding to individual artists and artist collectives in Calgary/Mohkinsstsis working in any artistic discipline who pursue a professional practice. Deadline: 23rd of March.

The Felix Stone Mysteries. London’s Most Affordable Detective, Felix Stone, Private Detective, offers reliable investigative services at modest rates. No job too small, too peculiar, or too delicate.

Coming Soon? Wasteland Broadcasting Network. In a world where radio has been silent for fifteen years, the Wasteland Broadcasting Network becomes the first signal to break through the static. WBN brings news, stories, survivor commentary, and the kind of entertainment only a post‑apocalyptic world could inspire. Enter At Your Own Risk.

Is your newly-launched podcast missing? You know you can send it in, right?