In today’s podcast news roundup, Wondery launches a subscription service for kids; Alice Cooper and Eddie Vedder are joining Audible’s “Words + Music” series; OWN launches “The SonRise Project” podcast for Black parents and families with children struggling with depression; and more.
LAUNCHES
Amazon’s Wondery launched Wondery Plus Kids on Apple Podcasts, a premium, ad-free subscription podcast service priced at $4.99/month. The serviceprovides early access to new episodes and exclusive access to select episodes of their favorite shows. Wondery Plus Kids subscribers will get access to Wondery originals “Little Stories Everywhere,” “Imagined Life Family” and a new show premiering Oct. 6, “Melon’s House Party.” The service also will include popular Tinkercast original podcast “Wow in the World, “a journey into the coolest new stories in science, technology and innovation hosted by Guy Raz and Mindy Thomas, as well as Tinkercast’s “Who, When Wow!” (Sept. 29) and “Flip and Mozi’s Guide to How to Be an Earthling” (Nov. 11). In addition, Wondery Plus Kids will include podcast series “Stories,” a bedtime story show for kids of all ages, as well as select Audible originals including “Grandma for President,” “Highlights Mystery Theater,” “The Jungle Book: The Mowgli Stories” and Jamie Lee Curtis’ “Letters from Camp.”
DATES
OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network on Sept. 27 launched the first three episodes of “The SonRise Project,” a weekly podcast that is a resource for Black parents and families to engage and share personal experiences with children struggling with depression, anxiety and addiction issues. The podcast is an extension of Kelli Richardson Lawson’s “The SonRise Project,” an online space she created for parents of children struggling with mental wellness that was inspired by her family’s personal experiences with addiction and depression with their eldest son. “The SonRise Project” is presented by the team behind Oprah’s “Super Soul” podcast and is available on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, SiriusXM, iHeartRadio and Amazon Music.
Global entertainment company Sonoro and iHeartMedia are co-producing a slate of podcasts for My Cultura, iHeartMedia’s new podcast network dedicated to elevating Hispanic voices and creators. First in the slate will be “Princess of South Beach,” a 36-part modern audio telenovela podcast series available in both English and Spanish. The first three episodes will debut Monday, Oct. 4 with new episodes dropping each Monday, Wednesday and Friday following the launch on all major podcast platforms. Listen to the trailer at this link.
Dan Abrams’ Law&Crime live trial and true-crime network premiered a new American spinoff hosted by the team behind British podcast “They Walk Among Us.” The new show, “They Walk Among America” premieres Sept. 28. Launched in September 2016 and produced by Benjamin and Rosanna Fitton, “They Walk Among Us” covers crime cases from the U.K. “They Walk Among America” will follow a similar format and cover tales of murder and mystery in the U.S. The podcast is distributed and monetized by Acast, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, lawandcrime and other major audio platforms.
Alice Cooper and Eddie Vedder are the latest artists to join Audible’s “Words + Music” slate. Cooper’s project, “Who I Really Am: The Diary of a Vampire,” is set to launch Thursday, Oct. 7. Cooper trips through a life of the unsavory haunts of legendarily shambolic good times on a Sunset Strip where only vampires are found lurking. In Vedder’s project, “I Am Mine,” premiering Thursday, Oct. 21, the Pearl Jam frontman dives deep in reflecting on a life at the intersection of art, sensitivity, masculinity, and ascendant pop/rock-super stardom that defined an age.
Audible will exclusively release the newest audio adventure from J.K. Rowling, “The Christmas Pig,” on Tuesday, Oct. 12. The story is described as a heartwarming adventure about one child’s love for his most treasured thing and how far he will go to find it.
Veteran journalist Soledad O’Brien hosts “Growing Up P.O.C.” on Audible, premiering Oct. 7. The six-interview podcast series featuring an array of diverse luminaries discussing their journey to self-racialization, formation of racial identity and racism.
Comedian and writer Scott Aukerman is teaming with Acast to launch “Comedy Bang! Bang! World,” a slate of premium podcast programming, starting Oct. 1. Powered by Acast, the programming will be made available across all major podcast players and apps. Listeners will be able to sign up at comedybangbangworld for two different subscription plans, with different programming and benefits depending on tier: the Legacy tier at $4/month or Maximus at $7/month. Subscribers will get exclusive access to new comedy series, ad-free listening, full back-catalog episodes of the popular “Comedy Bang! Bang!” podcast and other shows. “Comedy Bang! Bang! World” is co-founded with Brett Morris, who will executive produce the programming alongside Aukerman. Aukerman previously co-founded Earwolf, where Morris had led production; Earwolf will continue to distribute ad-supported episodes of the “Comedy Bang! Bang!” podcast free for listeners.
Business magazine The Economist launched “To a Lesser Degree,” a new eight-episode podcast examining how to address climate change, on Sept. 27. The series is hosted by Vijay Vaitheeswaran, The Economist’s global energy and climate-innovation editor, who will be joined weekly by expert guests to explore how everything — from finance to farming, transport to trade — must change to slow the pace of global warming.
