When Dawn Ostroff began working the graveyard shift at a Miami radio station, her parents assumed her career in radio would be short-lived. The college student was awkward reading the news, but she honed her skills and kept her job. Four decades later, Ostroff is transforming the next generation of radio for the world’s largest music-streaming subscription company.
Since she was tapped as Spotify’s chief content officer about a year ago, Ostroff has been charged with building an arsenal of podcasts to catapult the Swedish business to become a leader not just in music but also audio storytelling. Under her watch, the number of podcasts available on Spotify has grown to more than 450,000 titles, up from 185,000 in February.
The company, with offices in New York and L.A., has earmarked up to $500 million this year to buy podcast-related businesses, and already Ostroff has snapped up podcast studios including New York-based Gimlet Media and L.A.-based Parcast to create exclusive…
