Welcome to Hot Pod, a newsletter about podcasts. This is issue 183, published October 30, 2018.
The new independence of Los Angeles. Here’s a refrain I’ve encountered with some regularity: “New York is the heart of the podcast industry.” I’ve been hearing this for years and I hear it still from producers, podcast execs, would-be producers, would-be execs, and even New York City itself. And it’s almost certainly true, given that New York is home to many of the big companies we tend to talk about here at Hot Pod along with a staggering proportion of working freelancers.
One can properly contest that claim, however, and note that Los Angeles is increasingly giving the empire city a run for its money. Long the heart of the comedy podcast world (and the birthplace of Earwolf and Midroll Media, pre-merger), the Southern California mega-city has been rapidly expanding its influence over the industry for a good while now. The bulk of this rise comes from the growing…
