In today’s podcast news roundup, Cole Sprouse is returning for more nightmares in QCode‘s “Borrasca” Season 2; Ricki Lake will look back at her TV talk-show legacy in an upcoming podcast from Lemonada; the first-ever Sports Podcast Awards are out; “Dead and Gone” is coming back with a second season to dig into more cases of murdered or missing Grateful Dead fans; and more.
GREENLIGHTS
Podcast studio and network QCode announced that thriller podcast series “Borrasca,” starring Cole Sprouse(“Riverdale”), will return for a second season and is slated to premiere later this year across all major podcast platforms. Season 2 picks up 10 years after Sam Walker (Sprouse) discovered the unspeakable secrets of Drisking, Mo., when a ghost of the past arrives to drag him back for revenge — and back to the cadaverous forests that color his nightmares… and back to the gates of Borrasca. The series is written and created by Rebecca Klingel (writer on “The Haunting of Hill House”). Sprouse serves as a producer on the series and stars alongside Sarah Yarkin, Daniel Webber, Lulu Wilson, Beau Knapp, Lisa Edelstein, Aramis Knight, Cara Santana, Seychelle Gabriel and Peyton Kennedy. Sprouse can be currently seen on CW’s “Riverdale” and stars in the new HBO Max film “Moonshot.” He’s repped by WME, Greenberg Traurig and Brillstein Entertainment Partners.
Lemonada Media has ordered “Raised by Ricki,” hosted by the former talk-show host, actor and filmmaker Ricki Lake, slated for a fall release. Described as a cross between a rewatch podcast and a cultural reexamination of “The Ricki Lake Show,” the podcast will dive into Lake’s life, exploring how she came to host her eponymous TV show at the age of 24. Lemonada also announced upcoming podcasts including “Burnout” from Connor Franta (May 2022) and “Mental Health Hotline Project” hosted by Zak Williams, the son of the late Robin Williams (summer 2022).
Dan Abrams’ Law&Crime live-trial and true-crime network is launching an investigative podcast series exploring the case of Heather Morgan and Ilya Lichtenstein — aka the “Bonnie and Clyde” of crypto — who were were arrested in their Manhattan home earlier this year and accused of attempting to launder $4.5 billion worth of Bitcoin. The podcast will be hosted by crypto-journalist Laura Shin, author of “The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze” and host of the popular “Unchained” podcast. Law&Crime will publish the initial episodes in the coming months as part of an ongoing series on crypto-crimes, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, LawandCrime and most other audio platforms.
DATES
True-crime investigative podcast “Dead and Gone” Season 2premieres April 6, featuring Tenderfoot TV’s Payne Lindsey and Double Elvis’ Jake Brennan returning with more deep dives into the mysterious cases of murdered and missing Deadheads that have tragically occurred over the past five decades. Joining the co-hosts this season are Dean Budnick, editor-in-chief of Relix and author of “Might as Well,” a fictional historical novel detailing the Grateful Dead; Todd Matthews, internet sleuth and adviser for the NamUs.gov (National Missing and Unidentified Persons System) database project; Dennis McNally, official historian and publicist for the Grateful Dead; and Billy Jensen, a true-crime journalist who hosts podcasts “The First Degree” and “Jensen & Holes: The Murder Squad.” The first episode will recap Season 1 and share an outline for the second season, including an introduction to the season’s first story — that of Adam Katz, a 19-year-old Deadhead who was killed outside the Brendan Byrne Arena (now known as New Jersey’s Meadowlands Arena) in East Rutherford, N.J., during a Grateful Dead concert there on Oct. 14, 1989. The show is produced by Tenderfoot TV, Double Elvis and Audacy’s Cadence13.
Shining City Audio, a history-focused podcast studio joint venture between Cadence13’s C13Originals and historian and bestselling author Jon Meacham, announced “Reflections of History,” a short-form daily podcast series on which Meacham reflects on critical moments in global history and how they continue to impact the world today. The series will launch April 4, with the first episode marking the anniversary of NATO’s creation on April 4, 1949. Other key events Meacham will cover in “Reflections of History” include the polio vaccine’s approval; the birth of Francis Ford Coppola; Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in Major League baseball; Paul Revere’s ride; the sinking of the Titanic; William Shakespeare’s Macbeth staging at the Globe; the beginning of the Battle of Shiloh; LBJ’s signing of the 1968 Civil Rights Act; and the birth of Queen Elizabeth II. New episodes will be released Monday-Friday on all major audio platforms.
WarnerMedia’s HBO Max on March 31 launched “Dishing on Julia,” hosted by Cherry Bombe’s Kerry Diamond, as the companion podcast to HBO’s “Julia” drama series about the famous culinary personality Julia Child. The podcast will feature a range of series cast, celebrity, and food-industry guests who knew and loved and/or are inspired by Child. The first episode features multihyphenate Ina Garten, with other notable guests joining throughout the season including Claire Saffitz, Alex Prud’homme (Child’s great-nephew), Chef Nancy Silvertonand Dorie Greenspan.
Conan O’Brien‘s Team Coco on March 31 premiered “The Juice With Solomon Georgio,” a weekly podcast featuring the comedian sourcing the juiciest tales from comedians, performers and listeners. His first guest on the show is comedian-actor-host Nicole Byer.
DEALS
Realm, an indie audio entertainment company focused on original fiction podcasts and audiobook series, announced a deal with author Charlaine Harris to write a yet-to-be-named, multi-episode project set to launch in 2023. Harris made her mark with “The Southern Vampire Mysteries,” which was adapted into HBO hit “True Blood,” and to date her books have sold nearly 40 million copies. Harris is only author to have ever had nine books at the same time on The New York Times bestseller list. In addition to “True Blood,” two other TV series were adapted from works written by Harris: NBC’s “Midnight Texas” and the “Aurora Teagarden” series for Hallmark Movies and Mysteries. Her most recent novel, “The Russian Cage,” is the third of her Gunnie Rose series and combines elements of sci-fi, mystery and Westerns in an alternate history set in a broken-up United States.
AWARDS
The Signal Awards, a new program honoring the top podcasts in the industry, announced that is now accepting nominations for the inaugural awards ceremony slated for January 2023. HBO Max and Pod People have signed on as early founding partners. The Signal Awards is now accepting entries for shows, limited series and specials, individual episodes and branded podcasts across a range of categories at signalaward.Inaugural judges for the Signal Awards include: DeRay Mckesson, co-founder & executive chair, Campaign Zero; Michael Gluckstadt, director of podcast content, HBO Max; SuChin Pak, co-host, Add to Cart; Jessica Cordova Kramer, CEO and co-founder, Lemonada Media; Maurice Cherry, host & creator, Revision Path; Anna Hossnieh, executive producer, iHeartRadio; Trevor McNeal, global social lead for podcasts, Amazon Music; Ray Chao, general manager of audio, Vox Media; Rachael King, CEO, Pod People; and Rae Votta, global editorial and publishing/podcasts, Netflix.
The inaugural Sports Podcast Awards were announced Thursday in a virtual ceremony streamed on YouTube and hosted by NFL Network host Colleen Wolfe and former England International rugby player James Haskell. The biggest award, the Sports Podcast of the Year, went to CBS Sports’ “Morning Kombat,” hosted by Luke Thomas and Brian Campbell, which covers the worlds of boxing and MMA. A total of 128 podcasts from 13 countries and more than 50 different podcast networks made the Sports Podcast Awards shortlist; the category winners were then determined by fan vote.
Here’s the full list of winners from the 2022 Sports Podcast Awards, which are run by London-based Benchmark, the company behind the Sport Industry Awards:
- Sports Podcast of the Year: Morning Kombat
- Esports Podcast: The Football Manager Show by The Athletic
- Fitness Podcast: The Running for Real Podcast
- Golf Podcast: Sky Sports Golf Podcast
- Motorsports Podcast: WTF1 Podcast
- Olympic & Paralympic Podcast: Off The Podium
- Rugby Podcast: The Rugby Pod
- Soccer Podcast: Transfer Talk
- Tennis Podcast: Control the Controllables
- Urban & Adventure Podcast: Tough Girl Podcast
- Winter Sports Podcast: The Ski Podcast
- Equality & Social Impact Podcast: TWS Sports Podcast
- News & Current Affairs Podcast: Football Social Daily
- Performance and Wellbeing Podcast: The High Performance Podcast
- Sports Business Podcast: Are You Not Entertained?
- Sports Comedy Podcast: The Socially Distant Sports Bar
- Sports documentary Podcast: Defiance
- Team Podcast: Two Woods Four Quarters: A Harlequins Podcast
- The Big Hitters Award: The Fantasy Footballers
