Pods Like Us

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

Pods Like Us — Harry's Home: Bringing Alzheimer's to Audio Drama

Host: Martin Quibell ("Marv") Guests: Helen Quigley (Producer, B7 Media) & Hannah Puddefoot (Writer)

Episode Summary

Marv sits down with producer Helen Quigley and writer Hannah Puddefoot to talk about Harry's Home — an audio drama adapted from Hannah's 2013 stage play, starring Phil Davis as Harry, a man returning home after a stay in care, and Nicola Bryant as his daughter Theresa. The drama follows a family navigating Harry's Alzheimer's, and the very different ways his children and grandchildren relate to him as a result.

Helen and Hannah talk candidly about the personal experiences that shaped the story, the years-long journey from stage to studio, the crowdfunded and entirely independent production process, and why they chose to release the finished drama for free. They also dig into the craft of writing and producing for audio — sound design, restraint in performance, and what makes a drama "immersive" without ever visualising it.

Cast & Crew Mentioned

• Phil Davis as Harry
• Nicola Bryant as Theresa
• Timothy Blore and Rose Quentin as grandchildren Keith and Laurie
• Josh as Rob, Harry's carer
• Andrew Mark Sewell — Director
• Colin Brake — Script editor
• Alex (Marco) — Sound design
• Sophie Cotton — Composer

Where to Listen to Harry's Home

• B7 Media's Bandcamp page
• audio.com
• Heard+ platform
• Care Radio (from June 2026, online and on digital radio in parts of Manchester and London)

Connect with the Guests

• Helen Quigley: Instagram @hqvoice · Bluesky @soundliness.com
• Hannah Puddefoot: Instagram @h.puddefoot

More From Pods Like Us

Find Pods Like Us wherever you get your podcasts. Links to social media and contact details are on the show's homepage at themarvzone.org. Pods Like Us is distributed and sponsored by RSS.com.

Pods Like Us Chronicles — 5th July 2026

This week, Marv brings a re-recorded conversation, two guest-spot clips from other shows, and a full round-up of his week in podcasting.

He opens with an improved re-recording of his chat with Tobiloba Sulaiman, creator of AuTrans, a transcription tool built for African languages like Hausa, Pidgin, and Nigerian dialects. Tobiloba explains how the app grew out of his own struggle transcribing recordings in languages most tools don't support, how organic word-of-mouth marketing (rather than big-budget promotion) has driven steady sign-ups, and what's next for AuTrans — including a mobile app and features inspired by tools like Otter and Fireflies.

Marv then shares two clips from other podcasting projects: a segment from Review It Yourself, featuring his partner Louise discussing the Sacha Baron Cohen film Ladies First, and a preview from When They Was Fab, where Martin and co-host Ed Chen dig into the Beatles' final 1966 tour.

The episode wraps with Marv's regular newsletter-style round-up: shout-outs to podcasting writers and creators he's been following, an update on new artwork for the show, and a report on his progress through the July Podcasting Challenge (from posting a relaxation photo to building a new trailer for Season 11 of Pods Like Us). He closes by playing a trailer for a fellow challenge participant's show, Jacob Reid and Me — a documentary-comedy series about one man's search for others who share his name.

In this episode:

• Building a niche transcription tool for underserved languages (AuTrans)
• Growing a product through organic, word-of-mouth marketing
• Behind-the-scenes clip: Ladies First film discussion (Review It Yourself)
• Behind-the-scenes clip: The Beatles' 1966 farewell tour (When They Was Fab)
• Weekly podcasting news and community shout-outs
• Progress update on the July Podcasting Challenge
• Trailer preview: Jacob Reid and Me

Show notes and title created with assistance from Claude AI

On Thursday the 2nd of July 2026 Marv spoke with Ana for what was intended to be around five or six minutes for a segment of a Chronicles episode, but it lasted a little bit longer.

He decided instead of portioning off a five to six minute piece of the conversation to include it as a segment of the episode, that he would put out the longer discussion as what will now be episode one of season eleven!

In this bonus episode, host Marv catches up with podcast producer and coach Ana Xavier, prompted by a LinkedIn post about her plans to meet fellow podcasters during her stay in London. The conversation opens with a look back at Ana's recent episode on ten ways to repurpose podcast content with less effort — including her standout tip of re-using clips from guest appearances on other shows as content for your own. Ana explains why these "guest spot" moments often reveal a more personal, less rehearsed side of a host that resonates strongly with listeners.

The conversation then shifts to community: Ana talks about her history organizing podcast meetups (in Dallas, and now London), why in-person podcast conferences are worth prioritizing despite the cost or effort, and how genuine, lasting collaborations — not just networking — come out of them. Both Ana and Martin swap stories from The Podcast Show and Podcast Movement, including the value of finding a small "buddy group" to lean on at big events, overcoming first-timer nerves, and managing social battery at multi-day conferences. Ana closes by plugging her own episode on maximizing conference attendance and boosting downloads beforehand.

Key themes: repurposing podcast content, imposter syndrome/fear around first conferences, building community as an underrepresented voice in a male-dominated industry, and the real-world friendships that come from podcast events.

Coming soon: Marv speaks with more people from the world of podcasting and online creatives, to find what you are looking for, whether it be a new show to get addicted to, tips for podcasting, or anything else.

This week Marv did more podcast editing, started writing articles, and more, but as the image shows, has still not got the new show art.

Also this week he eats crow by apologising for a mistake the previous episode about listening times (thanks to Neal Veglio's Podmastery podcast), and received more inspiration from King Crimson's Robert Fripp. He also agreed with Dave Campbell's Substack article about getting more comfortable with show guests/friends, and yet again entered the AI debate, thanks to AI Michael Caine and John McDermott of Caloroga Shark Media.

Marv is joined by filmmaker, archive film researcher and founder of Stag Film Productions Mike Davis to discuss his new Green Film 'Dead, White And Blue'.

In his filmmaking Mike reuses stock and archive footage that he pieces together, removes all of the sound from, and then creates a narrative around.

As well as his work as a filmmaker in his own right, they also discuss his work as an archive and stock footage advisor for films such as American Made, The Lighthouse, Midsommar, Marvel's Eternals, and many more films.

The discussion is filled with so much, that any creative person or film buff with find some fascinating insights from.