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Audio insights don’t stay in Vegas – The Short Stack

It’s hard to cover everything I learned from so many great thinkers – from what’s working in audio now, to what needs more help, to where this never-boring space is headed. But here are a few highlights:

Collaboration is key to healthy public radio - Part 3

Given the commonalities of the industry, there's no reason to go it alone…there's no easy answer to engagement and turning a listener into a member, but through collaboration and the sharing of ideas and efforts, successful or not, it’s a step in the right direction.

Live365 Expands Its Internet Radio Services to Mexico

Keeping live audio listeners loyal – The Short Stack

Public radio and other segments are going through a uniquely tricky time right now. With the future of funding uncertain and other ongoing challenges, delivering a smooth listener experience is one thing that public radio should never have to worry about.

Collaboration is key to healthy public radio - Part 2

I think there’s a whole generation of people who don’t understand what public radio is, how it’s funded, or that it’s even nonprofit. There could be a collective effort around educating younger audiences around why we exist in the first place and why it’s worth supporting.

Extra: Rockie Thomas from SoundStack

Public radio leaders talk knowledge sharing – The Short Stack

The knowledge that gets shared can come in many flavors, from listener patterns and engagement, to guidance on the easiest ways to disseminate your audio content across other channels and attract as many listeners as possible.

Collaboration is key to healthy public radio - Part 1

That same independence that gives local public radio its magic also presents challenges -- more competition for the world’s attention than ever (from the biggest digital audio services, streaming TV… not to mention big commercial radio), less institutional support for small stations, and more.

Minimizing turbulence along the supply path – The Short Stack

A new year represents a fresh opportunity to shout out to all of our compatriots in this space who are continually helping to raise the ship for audio. It’s been said quite a bit at this point –but many still need convincing that audio should play a primary role in every media plan.

John Morris Adds To SoundStack as Chief Product Officer

Podnews Weekly Review: Predictions and Reflections

Stand up for your partners in ‘25 – The Short Stack

One of the reasons I love these year-end posts is that they force me to take stock and really focus on what mattered the most this year. Spoiler alert: it’s about the people.

Stand up for your partners in 2025

Why do independent tech platforms really matter? The above quote from Mediaocean CEO Bill Wise (made in reference to their acquisition of Innovid a few weeks ago) focuses on a core part of it – the commitment to keeping media and technology separate. It’s about fairness – removing any biases to ad transactions so every buyer and seller has an equal shot at success (and it is, of course, just as core to audio as it is to video).

SoundStack appoints Rockie Thomas Chief Strategy Officer

It isn’t just for podcasts anymore

The ability to listen whenever you want is the central tenet of “non-linear” audio ... As we’re in the business of offering audio publishers as many technology options as possible to help them grow, it made sense for us to develop more on-demand functionality for streaming too

The heroes of audio – The Short Stack

Why does our team focus so much on service? Because they know that, even with the best innovations, powering a podcast or radio-related business can be super complex. The double-edged sword of our industry’s explosion over the past several years – particularly in podcasting...

A Podcast Host and a Sales Manager Walk into a Bar…

“Back in the day, there used to be a much bigger separation between sales and show creation,” Ira continued. Those kinds of disconnects, among other things, made it harder for hosts to know that their vision was being delivered effectively. “If I had my way, I would’ve been on way more sales calls,” he exclaimed.

Ira Glass joins us at Advertising Week NY – The Short Stack

While the technology in question is on the fairly basic side, the piece spawned a lot of conversation about hosts’ perceptions of podcast tools overall. Particularly, how do creatives (and others) – look at the innovations that are continually being built to make podcasting more effective for everyone involved?

Walk (run) this way into Podcast Movement - The Short Stack

Some of you children of the ‘80’s surely remember that moment when your MTV started to look a little different. It went like this: you were sitting there watching hard rock stalwarts Aerosmith start to bang through the re-release of their ‘70’s hit “Walk this Way.” Suddenly, rap innovators Run-DMC cut into the song, and what starts as a little stylistic battle turns into a beautiful collaboration. 

SoundStack announces new clients

Why We’re Excited About HLS Interstitial

You got your direct-ad chocolate in my programmatic peanut butter - The Short Stack

Everyone in this business is by now familiar with the fact that there can be some friction between direct and programmatic advertising, whether that’s in podcasting or linear audio, display, video, or any other segment. Proponents of direct often point to custom brand engagements, cross-channel executions, more uniqueness, and similar benefits of more “premium value.”

Sound Decisions Made Simple with Streaming Trends

Insights about your stations need to be comprehensive and robust to give you a true understanding of how they’re performing. But they also need to be simple, so it’s easy for you to learn what you need to do quickly.

Barometer and SoundStack partner to enhance audio ad market

The future of better audio ad experiences is now.

While proponents of traditional server-side and client-side audio ad insertion constantly “battle” over which method is better, both are inefficient to some degree and add complexity. They attempt to do things that they weren’t built to do.

Keeping audio advertising’s pants up – The Short Stack

A lot of people use advertising technology in a similar way. Both server-side and client-side methods of ad insertion ensure that an audio ad gets served properly into a live stream. The question of which of those two methods is more effective is an age-old debate. But ultimately, both are imperfect. Why?