Liquid Content, Skip Buttons, and a Memory Walk -

Episode Summary

This week Marv shares a personal reflection on a memory walk marking one year since his mum's passing, then runs through a jam-packed week in podcasting news — TrueFans, Spotify's skip button backlash, YouTube's tougher monetisation rules, a new AI voice platform, African podcast monetisation struggles, Disney's deal with The Overlap, and more. Plus: Marv reveals he used Claude AI to help tighten this week's script.

Timestamps

• [00:00:00] Intro — Marv's memory walk for his mum, and getting a shoutout from Sam Sethi on Podnews Weekly Review
• [00:01:00] Monday — TrueFans in Forbes, RSS.com's HLS video distribution, BBC's Acoustic Kitty episode, Stephanie Fuccio's discoverability experiment, the Spotify "skip forward" debate
• [00:03:00] Tuesday — YouTube's doubled monetisation requirements, Apple's fuzzy play-count data, BionicVO's AI voice cloning, the citation problem, Dave Campbell's "start where you are" message
• [00:05:00] Wednesday — John McDermott's radio stress dream and shrinking listening feed, a self-replicating LLM on AI Girls Club, Too Long Didn't Listen's season finale, a new Buzzsprout WordPress plugin, African podcast revenue ($3.1bn industry)
• [00:09:00] Thursday — Disney signs The Overlap for Disney+, a survey on "what is a podcast," Substack's Stripe/Africa payment problem
• [00:10:00] Friday — RSS.com's HLS video plans on Podnews Weekly Review, an Obama "podcast" from Audible, Sam Sethi's feedback on newsletter length
• [00:13:00] Sign-off — Format experiment notes, where to find the show
• [00:14:00] Trailer — Fallacious Trump

(Timestamps are approximate, taken from the transcript's minute markers — worth a quick check against the actual audio before publishing.)

Mentioned This Week

• Frank Racioppi (Forbes) / Sam Sethi — TrueFans
• James Cridland — Podnews Daily / Podnews Weekly Review
• RSS.com — HLS video distribution
• John Scott Dryden — Central Intelligence (BBC)
• Stephanie Fuccio — discoverability experiments, Substack
• Neal Veglio — Podmastery
• Dan Price — BionicVO
• Dave Campbell — Substack
• John McDermott — newsletter, "Cridlandism"/"McDermottism"
• Grace — AI Girls Club
• Dubble Audio & Josh Craggs — Too Long Didn't Listen
• Gavin Gaddis & Jim Ballas — Sounds Profitable / Podbiz
• Tony Doe & Israel Usolor — Into The Podverse
• Rob Greenlee — New Media Show
• Ben & Alberto — RSS.com

Credits

Distributed and sponsored by RSS.com. Find "Pods Like Us" wherever you get your podcasts, and all links at themarvzone.org

Risk, Rears, and Reverb

Marv reunites with two old friends from the Nottinghamshire music scene — Dolby Atmos mixing engineer Kurt Martinez and music educator/dementia-charity worker Rob Huskinson — for a wide-ranging chat about immersive audio, career risk-taking, and what it actually means to teach music in 2026.

Kurt walks through how he backed into podcast/audio-drama mixing via Audible's early Atmos launch, why documentaries and scripted drama get treated completely differently in the mix (stage-setting vs. free-roaming immersion), and the gunshot-and-bullet-trajectory example that shows just how precisely spatial audio storytelling can get. He also talks through mixing Kylie Minogue's latest album in Atmos — commuting with it on AirPods Max, checking it on a Sonos speaker while doing housework, and revisiting it recently on 7.1.4 headphones to see how it's held up.

Rob brings the conversation into music education, talking about designing a curriculum that starts from what's relevant to students now rather than working backwards from music history, and his work with Open Door, a Nottinghamshire dementia day service, where he helps organise carer support events (money management, physiotherapy, nutrition) alongside the day-to-day group sessions. There's also a candid stretch on ADHD, time management, and the different but complementary ways Kurt and Rob each work in a studio.

The three of them close on the value of informal networking ("smooshy events"), the risks each of them took to build a freelance/portfolio career, and what's next for each — including Season 2 of I Am Not Nicholas, out now.

In this episode:

• How Kurt got into Dolby Atmos, from a Guinness cinema ad to mixing I Am Not Nicholas for BBC/Audible
• The difference between mixing music, scripted audio drama, and documentary in Atmos
• Mixing Kylie Minogue's latest album in immersive audio
• Building a curriculum around student relevance vs. music history
• Open Door — a Nottinghamshire dementia day service, and Rob's work with carers
• ADHD, time management, and studio workflow
• Career risk-taking, freelancing, and the value of informal networking
• What's next: I Am Not Nicholas S2, new Alfie Duke and Meek singles, The Script's new album

Guests:

• Kurt Martinez — Dolby Atmos mixing engineer (Audible, BBC, I Am Not Nicholas, Kylie Minogue) — find him on LinkedIn and Instagram
• Rob Huskinson — music lecturer and grants/events lead for Open Door dementia day service — find him on LinkedIn

The Skip Heard Around the Podcasting World -

Spotify's "Skip Forward" fallout The big story of the week: Spotify's new ad-skipping option for premium users, first flagged by James Cridland (PodNews) and picked up by Elsie Escobar and Rob Walch on In and Around Podcasting. Marv unpacks why it's such a headache for ad-supported podcasters, traces it back to Spotify's 2018 "Active Media" experiment in Australia, and previews Neil Veglio's upcoming Podmastery episode (Monday 10th August) on how creators might respond — including making shows "less skippable."

Sodajerker Songwriting Lab — quick announcement A special one-day workshop from Bri and Si of Sodajerker on Songwriting, Friday 4th September at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, with songwriters Sacha Skarbek and Ben Parker. Small groups, hands-on writing, open to songwriters of any level. Details and booking: sodajerker.com/lab

Meta's $942 million New Mexico ruling A New Mexico judge has ordered Meta to pay $567 million on top of an earlier $375 million penalty, bringing the total to $942 million over harm to children and teens on Facebook and Instagram. The ruling also mandates stronger age verification, safety education, and deletion of under-13 user data. Marv connects this to the wider question of platform design and engagement, and what it might mean for podcasters who rely on social media for discoverability.

Musical tangent: Yazoo, Alison Moyet, and Prefab Sprout Prompted by a Stephanie Fuccio Substack post about the band Yazoo (Yaz in the US) and singer Alison Moyet ("Alf"), Marv goes down a musical trivia rabbit hole — including a nod to Paddy McAloon of Prefab Sprout, whose reported perfectionism has allegedly kept several albums unreleased.

Around the podcasting Substacks

• Frank Racioppi on the new International Advisory Board for Eurowaves, and a review of fiction podcast American Afterlife
• Neil Veglio (Podmastery) on letting go of the "consistency is key" myth
• Stephanie Fuccio on perfectionism vs. creating, and on how a podcast's real direction often only becomes clear in hindsight
• Rob Walch explaining the AMP Accords and the IAB's role — guidelines, not commandments
• John McDermott's newsletter and listening round-up
• Tony Doe's Into the Podverse — new podcast launches, PodGround funding news, and Elsie Escobar's 20 years in podcasting
• A shared surprise that no black woman appears on Forbes' highest-earning podcasters list
• Paul D Brazil's Substack piece on actors who've had songs named after them

Housekeeping An apology for a missed Wednesday episode due to a tricky multi-part edit, plus thanks to sponsor RSS.com.

After the sign-off A trailer for Keep the Flame Alive, the Olympics and Paralympics podcast.

Marv opens with a trailer for the podcast, But You Can't Stay Here, about a move from the US back to Lima, Peru in 2024 and the pull between two homes as their three-year anniversary approaches. He follows with two bonus clips: a 2025 conversation with Arielle Nisenblatt about her podcast-listening habits, and a fresh chat with old bandmates Rob and Kurt about mixing immersive/Atmos audio for podcasts. The rest of the episode is Marv's usual week-in-review of the podcasting world — new gear patches, industry layoffs, newsletter drama, and a stack of recommended listens.

Shows & People Mentioned

• But You Can't Stay Here

• WTF with Marc Maron, On with Kara Swisher, Daily Zeitgeist, The Brian Lehrer Show, Secretly Incredibly Fascinating, Today Explained, The Puzzler

• Earbuds Podcast Collective newsletter — Arielle Nisenblatt

• I Am Not Nicholas (Audible/BBC)

• Podnews Daily — James Cridland

• The Download — Sounds Profitable, Gavin Gaddis

• Ken Michael's Radio Hour

• Toppermost of the Poppermost (Marv, Ed, Kit)

• Open Door (dementia support charity)

• Podbites newsletter

• Royal Swindle — Blanchard House, Becky Milligan

• Stephanie Fuccio / GeoPats podcast

• Comicbook Nation

• Into the Podverse — Tony Doe

• Belief in the Future

• AI Girls Club

• Jacob Reed and Me

• The Good Quest

Links

• themarvzone.org

• newsletter.earbuds.audio

On the Tip of My Tongue: Jonathan Hirons on Aphasia, Advocacy, and Podcasting

This episode, Marv sits down with Jonathan Hirons, host of the podcast On the Tip of My Tongue, to talk about aphasia — a communication disorder that affects language but not intelligence or memory — and how it shaped his life and work.

Jonathan shares the story of the sudden stroke that left him with aphasia, the speech and language therapy that followed, and the vital role his wife played early on using flashcards to help rebuild his vocabulary. He and Marv discuss why aphasia remains so poorly understood despite affecting more people than Parkinson's disease, and why groups and community support make such a difference for people relearning to communicate.

The conversation also traces how Jonathan's aphasia documentary evolved into a podcast, why he brought on co-host Rob Edwards to handle scripted segments, and how the show balances lived experience with expert insight. They wrap up comparing notes on production workflows, episode artwork, and the "teaser hook" technique both shows use to draw listeners in.

In This Episode

● What aphasia is, and why it's known as a "hidden disability"

● Jonathan's personal story: sudden onset, hospitalization, and diagnosis

● The road through speech therapy and relearning to read, write, and speak

● Why community groups are key to rebuilding confidence

● How a documentary film became a podcast

● Behind-the-scenes: recording with Zoom, editing in Reaper, publishing via Buzzsprout

● The importance of podcast artwork and episode "teasers"

● Where to find On the Tip of My Tongue and how to support the show

Links & Contact

On the Tip of My Tongue: tipofmytonguefilm.com

Email Jonathan: [email protected]

Find Jonathan on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn

Pods Like Us

Contact: [email protected]

All links and socials: themarvzone.org

Mercedes vs. Ford: The Great Podcast Artwork Debate -

Marv (Martin Quibell) rounds up a busy week in podcasting, featuring a special roundtable on episode artwork with NJ Belenky (PodBiz) and Neil Veglio (PodKnows, Podmastery), plus the usual roundup of podcasting news, links, and listens.

Panel: Should You Change Your Episode Artwork? (The "Mercedes vs. Ford" Question) Marv is joined by NJ Belenky and Neil Veglio for the first in an occasional series answering listener questions. Kevin Brown (host of Seaside Pod Review, The Tom Petty Project, and Ultimate Catalog Clash) asks whether shows should use one consistent piece of artwork ("Mercedes approach") or unique artwork per episode ("Ford approach").

Trailer A trailer for Creatures of the Wind, created as part of the July Podcast Prompt Challenge, plays out the episode.

Links & Mentions

• Pod Biz — NJ Belenky
• Pod Knows / Pod Mastery — Neil Veglio
• Kevin Brown's shows: Seaside Pod Review, The Tom Petty Project, Ultimate Catalog Clash
• When They Was Fab (with Ed Chen)
• Podbites newsletter
• Stephanie Fuccio / Melanie Goodman — LinkedIn/Substack flywheel article
• Sounds Profitable — The Download
• Podnews Daily — Kids Pod
• Frank Racioppi — Streamlined Solopreneur
• Caleruega Media — John McDermott's newsletter
• Rick Beato's YouTube channel
• James Cridland — Radio Land newsletter
• Leftlion Podcast, Notts Rock Cast
• Stephanie Fuccio — "Five Podcast Discoverability Elements That Help Old Episodes Get Found"
• Andrea Coscai — Euro Waves newsletter
• MIC Media — Vic Elizabeth Turnbull
• Tony Doe — Into the Podverse
• Ethan Alexanian (artwork design)
• Trailer: Creatures of the Wind

Get in touch: Questions for future roundtable episodes → [email protected] Find the show: themarvzone.org Sponsor: RSS.com

Access All Areas: Bee France on a Lifetime of INXS

Marv sits down with Bee France, host of not one but two INXS podcasts — INXS Access All Areas and Listen Like Fans — for a sprawling, story-packed conversation about the band that has shaped her life for nearly 40 years. From an accidental introduction via a friend's Duran Duran fandom to becoming genuine friends with band members like Tim Farriss and Kirk Pengilly, Bee shares how a teenage concert obsession turned into a thriving podcasting career and a global fan community spanning 40+ countries.

They cover the band's early history and lineup origins (Guinness and Doctor Dolphin!), dig into album-by-album favourites, revisit iconic live moments (Wembley Stadium, the Aria Awards, the Brit Awards Oasis controversy), and talk candidly about the harder topics fans avoid — Michael Hutchence's death, the misconceptions around Paula Yates, and the emotional weight some fans still carry. Bee also opens up about the mechanics of podcasting: production tools, working with a co-host across cities, AI-assisted editing (and why she won't let AI fully edit a show), and her hopes for INXS's 50th anniversary and their long-overdue nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Devil Loose: The Life and Music of Harry Vanda podcast

This week on Pods Like Us Chronicles, Marv sits down with Jamie East — Head of Podcast at DGM, and creator/host of Bad Blood: Life of a Cancer — for an unfiltered conversation about turning a chronic myeloid leukaemia diagnosis into one of the most honest podcasts around.

Jamie talks about recording the first phone call within days of diagnosis, why he refused to cut the swearing out in the edit, using dark humour as a coping mechanism, his trip to Glasgow with Leukaemia UK to meet the researchers behind the science, and why he called out a rival podcast's trailer for peddling "big pharma" conspiracy nonsense. He also explains why, one year on, he's not sure there's more to say — and why that might be exactly the right place to end a show.

Content warning: this episode contains strong language throughout.

After the interview, a trailer for fellow July Podcasting Month show Fallacious Trump, followed by Marv's usual round-up of the week's biggest podcasting news and views — and closing out with a trailer for Sports Are Dumb.

The back half of this episode is Marv's usual whirlwind tour through the podcasting industry's week, pulling together insight from across the newsletter world. He touches on backing up your archive for new formats via Mia Kuroki, the discipline of staying in your lane rather than chasing every platform via Neal Veglio, and the shifting landscape at Buzzcast, Spotify and Megaphone via Gavin Gaddis. There's a nod to James Cridland's spot on Tom Holland interviewing Tom Holland, Frank Racioppi's Forbes piece championing shows that genuinely help people through hard moments in life, and Stephanie Fuccio's reflections on using AI to wrangle scattered thoughts and on the value of a good trailer. Rounding it out are GoodPods' most-viewed shows, John McDermott's take on parasocial listening habits and Netflix's secretive podcast numbers, and Tony Doe's look at AI discoverability, a rap-format chat show, and the growing podcast scene across Africa — a genuinely packed, "something for everyone" segment for anyone working in or around the medium.

From a University Dorm Room to RSS.com: The Alberto Betella Story -

Marv sits down with Alberto Betella, co-founder of RSS.com, following a chance meeting at the Podcast Show in London. Alberto traces an origin story that stretches back two decades — from building the open-source Podcast Generator as a university literature student in Italy in 2005, to a serendipitous 2017 email from RSS.com co-founder Ben that led to the launch of RSS.com's podcast hosting platform in 2018.

The conversation ranges widely: the technical and philosophical roots of the RSS feed, why the podcasting industry is unusually collaborative rather than cutthroat, the psychology (and neuroscience) of why listeners trust podcast hosts, the promise and risk of AI in podcast production, why niche shows may outlast viral hits, the future of podcast discovery, and the thorny problem of music licensing in podcasts. The episode closes with a run of listener-submitted questions and Alberto's own podcast recommendations.

Key Discussion Points:

The origin story: Podcast Generator (2005–2018)

How RSS.com came to be

Why podcasting's competitors collaborate

The psychology of the podcast listener relationship

AI in podcasting

Listener Q&A:

• Cam (Jacked Up Review Show): How does podcasting's technology compare to other engineering fields? → Discussion of Podcasting 2.0 tags, the location tag, and Alberto's own project, Atlas (atlas.rss.io), a visual network map of cross-podcast recommendations built on Podcast Index "PodRoll" data.
• Gill (The Mindbuzz Podcast): What separates shows that last 10 years from those that vanish? → Alberto's "niche over virality" thesis, and RSS.com's free-forever plan for local/niche shows.
• Phil Better (The Podcast Mogul's Playbook): How will podcast marketing change? → Preference for human-to-human cross-promotion and guesting over automated "feed drops," plus a nod to Apple Podcasts auto-linking recommended shows found in transcripts.
• Stephen Nicholson (Sheer Pod Attack): What's next in podcast discovery, especially for niche music podcasts? → Human recommendation networks (again, Atlas/PodRoll) and the unresolved global licensing problem for music-in-podcasts, including a tangent comparing it to how international postal services reconcile costs.

Alberto's own listening habits

• Regulars: Podnews Weekly Review, Podcasting 2.0, The New Media Show, Podbiz (by Norma Jean).
• Personal favorite outside the industry: Acquired, especially its long-form deep dives (F1, Hermès, etc.).

From CIA Cats to Community: This Week in Podcasting -

This week on Pods Like Us Chronicles, Marv reflects on two long walks, a moving new podcast about cancer, and sits down with two brilliant guests shaping the future of audio drama and scripted podcasting.

In this episode:

• 🚶 A seven-mile walk, a heatwave, and an intro built entirely out of numbers
• 🎙️ A powerful recommendation for Bad Blood: Life of a Cancer, Jamie East's raw, honest podcast about his CML diagnosis
• 🗣️ Talib Jasir (founder of Afros in Audio and creator of The Fussings — Until One of Us Is Dead) on launching Down the Road Media, a new directory and creator ecosystem for audio drama
• 🎬 John Scott Dryden (director/EP of Central Intelligence, Goldhawk Productions) previews Season 3, Kim Cattrall, the real Eloise Page, Kelsey Grammer as LBJ, and yes — the CIA's infamous cat-spying project
• 📰 A roundup of the week in podcasting: newsletters from Tony Doe, Dave Campbell, and Stephanie Fuccio, the British Podcast Awards diversity numbers, and this week's Mercury Podcast prompts

Guests:

• Talib Jasir — downtheroad.media · Instagram/LinkedIn: @TalibJasir · Afros and Audio on Instagram
• John Scott Dryden — Director & Executive Producer, Central Intelligence (Goldhawk Productions for BBC); Season 3 launches July 10

Also mentioned this week:

• Bad Blood: Life of a Cancer — Jamie East
• 99% Invisible — em dash episode
• Desert Skies & Strange Air — Jared Carter
• Into the Podverse newsletter — Tony Doe
• "We Are Not the 51st State of Podcasting" — Dave Campbell's Substack
• Daily Tips That May or May Not Help You — Arielle Nissenblatt
• When There Was Fab (with guest David Guerrero, on his Beatles-in-the-Philippines book)
• Harry's Home — with Helen Quigley & Hannah Puddefoot
• Podcast Editors Mastermind — filler word tips
• Pod Mastery: Podcast Insights — Neal Veglio on listener attention & discovery stats
• Pod News Daily — James Cridland (British Podcast Awards, London Podcast Festival, Sept 3–13)
• Stephanie Fuccio's Substack — podcast titles, ChatGPT vs Gemini

Support the show: Pods Like Us is distributed and sponsored by RSS.com. Find all links and socials at www.themarvzone.org