Buy Me a Drink and I’ll Tell You a Story: SEASON 2 is NOW LIVE! A bar. A piano playing in the background. In the corner, a mysterious man is waiting. If you buy him a drink… he’ll tell you a story. What follows is a surreal, cinematic tale: life in the wild west, mind-controlling government experiments, a film noir detective and a very special kind of cider.  All stories are connected through an overarching storyline. But you can also just listen to the separate stories. URLAND presents: An immersive audio fiction series by Thomas Dudkiewicz, who voices all characters and writes all episodes.

Congratulations to the winners of The Golden Lobes, particularly Tom Crowley, winner of Big Ears for Funniest Podcast of the Year for Crowley Time with me, Tom Crowley!

Congratulations to the winners of Baltimore Web Fest! There are too many audio fiction winners to mention here: pop over there and check them out!

Sad news: BIPOC Podcast Creators Closes After Five Years, Citing Industry Sustainability and Founder Capacity Challenges. “The organization, founded in 2021, grew to serve more than 2,100 BIPOC podcast creators across the United States and internationally; partnered with major industry organizations, including NPR, Simplecast, The Podcast Academy, Edison Research, Libsyn, Copyright Alliance, and Podcast Movement; and hosted sold-out events across the United States, London, and Riyadh.” Oprah Winfrey probably could have bought and sustained them without even feeling it.

Podnews spoke with Lizzy Hale about how to get your podcast featured on Spotify. Hale said: “We want balance: Evergreen shows you can jump into anytime, but also content that feels current and topical and makes you feel connected to what’s happening right now. The Spotify experience should feel ‘alive,’ so shows that are timely and relevant are imperative to make that possible.” Okay.

Podnews dug a bit deeper and found that the #1 featured podcast in Spotify’s featured list for Earth Day is created by The Government Business Lead at Spotify. Mm-hm. YMMV.

Podcasting Has Already Overtaken TV. Here’s the Proof, by Ben Robins for Sounds Profitable.

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. ​

Mac users: TIL from Packhowl Media about this noise-reduction tool: Hush and Hush Pro.

The Sound Girls podcast interviews Kathleen Chen, freelance and international touring FOH/sound engineer from California, now based in Berlin, Germany.

What Is Loudness? LUFS, LKFS And Delivery Specs Explained 2026 by Mike Thornton

In fiction podcast and audio-drama-adjacent resources: Game Audio Explained: your guide to making sound for games, by Jennifer Walden for A Sound Effect

Quick Look: iZotope RX 12 for Mastering, by Paul Virostek

How to Put Setups and Payoffs in Your Scripts, by Ken Miyamoto

Flloyd Kennedy made me aware that voice artist Tawny Platis posts videos onFacebook (and, I assume, Instagram), explaining best practices for voice acting, using clips from film and TV as examples. Check out her “Why [Character] Sounds Like That” reels.

Wireless Audio Theatre Workshops for 2026! How long have you loved this company? Now, you can learn from them directly. “Three days of in-person practical audio experience and some online workshops on the saturday make this a must-do event!”Go East Studios, London, England, Monday, May 18th through Saturday, May 23rd from 10 AM-8 PM. (Thanks to Alasdair Stuart for the news, and if you haven’t already, check out The Full Lid.)

Casting Call: Now That We Have Your Attention: The Inside Story of a Brazen Attempt to Deliver the Presidency Podcast, “an innovative speculative fictional podcast about overhauling the presidential election in 2028.” Paid job. Listing expires 2nd of June.

The Headlands Center for the Arts offers some pretty sweet opportunities, and the deadline: for both of these is the 1st of June. The Bay Area Artist Residency is a 4-10 week Artist-in-Residence program for approximately 50 international artists at any stage of their career. The Headlands Bay Chamberlain Award is a 6-10 week residency at Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, California for international artists working with non-traditional media in the social practice discipline. They also offer a $10,000 cash prize and cover roundtrip airfare.

Thunder’s Mouth Theatre presents Shakespeare’s Archetypes – Extreme Shakespeare!, a workshop for professional, experienced performers and teachers, drama students, as well as students preparing for drama college auditions. “Archetype training is fully embodied, physical and vocal, a way of experiencing different ways of being, of thinking, of imaginative self expression.” Only ten participants will be admitted, so book this opportunity now. Sunday, May 31st, Liverpool, England, UK. Make your voice shake the Globe.

The South Carolina Emerging Artist Grants award grants of up to $1800 for South Carolina-based artists in the first 1-5 years of their careers. Sound artists are welcome to apply. The grant period for this call is July - December 2026. Deadline: 14th of May, 11:59 pm ET.

The Transmission Roundhouse Podcast Academy is an 11-week program for London-based 18- to 25-year-olds that teaches young people how to make a podcast and supports them in the production of their first series. The course is two hours in the evening each week, in person at The Roundhouse in London. Cost: £25, but financial support is available.

AirCon Is Back For 2026: May 21-23! What You Need To Know, by Asbjoern Andersen for A Sound Effect

Buy Me a Drink and I'll Tell You a Story released the first episode of its second season on May 1st. One man, one bar, infinite stories.

Witchpunk, a new gritty cyberpunk full cast audio drama from Citeog Podcasts (This House Will Devour You, Ten Apocalypses) releases its first episode on May 12th. Available wherever you get your podcasts!

Half Past Blue Noon: A Sapphic Spaghetti Western launched on on the 24th April, and if the title alone doesn’t get you, nothing will.

The Dead Mall Club: A Liminal Space Podcast Colby Baxter finds himself stuck in an endless dead mall with only a tape recorder, where he has to recount his journey each day as he explores the empty halls. Through his time, he must face what is ahead, and face his own past & shortcomings, in hopes one day he will find his way out, and figures out why the mysterious group "The Dead Mall Club" makes him recount his each and every move.

Owlpocalypse. The end of the world, but there’s birds. At least there’s birds.

American Afterlife. When a 9.2 earthquake devastates the Pacific Northwest, 15-year-old Cielo is left alone in a drowned, lawless Oregon city. Her mother—an undocumented Mexican immigrant and devout evangelical—has vanished, likely pulled into the grip of a violent cult known as The Collection of Redeemed Souls. With the streets flooded, food scarce, and danger in every shadow, Cielo begins a relentless quest to find her mother’s body—or save her if she’s still alive.