Hi Friends,

We have an update to share with you today: later this summer, Julie Shapiro, VP of Editorial with us at Radiotopia and PRX, will be embarking on a new endeavor. Beginning in August, she’ll join the team at Novel, a UK-based podcast production company. 

We want to take a moment to express our gratitude to Julie for her profound contributions to Radiotopia, today one of the most successful and creative podcast networks in the world. 

Julie joined PRX nearly seven years ago as Executive Producer of Radiotopia. During her time, Julie oversaw the launch of podcasts such as Over the Road and Radiotopia Presents and has helped to welcome new projects from remarkable creators across the network like Everything is Alive, Passenger List, and Oprahdemics. In 2016, she helped oversee Radiotopia’s Podquest, an open call for new podcasts that concluded with the creation of Ear Hustle.

Julie’s creativity, mentorship, and advocacy for independent creators will continue to guide the work we do here at Radiotopia. We want to be sure to share this sentiment directly from Julie:

“I’m eternally grateful to Radiotopia and PRX for the opportunity to push the creative boundaries of podcasting, and to have worked alongside exceptional colleagues and producers, all along. Radiotopia is a very special force for good in podcasting, and will no doubt continue to excel at supporting creators, nourishing community, and enriching the lives of curious and adventurous listeners everywhere — including myself!”

There is so much ahead for us that we’re excited to share with you. Today, please join us in wishing Julie the best in her extraordinary next chapter.

— Kerri Hoffman, CEO of PRX, Audrey Mardavich, Senior Director of Content at Radiotopia, and Yooree Losordo, Manager of Network Operations at Radiotopia

Tribeca Recap

(L-R, me, Mark Pagán,  Jason Reynolds, Julie Shapiro, Audrey Mardavich. Photo: Jason Falchook)

The entire team is still riding a high from our whirlwind week at the Tribeca Festival. Even though audio is a fairly recent addition to the festival lineup, it has quickly become a highlight of the Radiotopia calendar. We made a strong showing last year with a live taping of Ear Hustle and inaugural official selection Radiotopia Presents: Blind Guy Travels; we doubled down this year with TWO marquee events (each with audio royalty guests), another Official Selection (Radiotopia Presents: My Mother Made Me); AND the honor of being the first work to be featured in Tribeca Audio’s flagship curatorial podcast, Tribeca Audio Premieres. Whew!

Let me allow you in on a secret - working in podcasting is mostly not glamorous. Just like a lot of you, we do Slack and spreadsheets and slide decks, staring at little Zoom squares from our homes or our nondescript low-rise office building, with schedules that can look something like this:

So even though we haven’t won the top prize in Tribeca’s awards (yet), it is immensely gratifying to be recognized by our peers this way every so often… and to get to rub elbows with a living legend or two. But the best part of all this was celebrating our successes with our colleagues IN PERSON!

Here are some of my favorite pics from the week.

After the Oprahdemics live taping (with Wesley Morris! - EPISODE OUT NOW!!), we caught up with new and old members of the Radiotopia universe over tapas.

(L-R, Audrey, Love + Radio’s Brendan Baker, Oprahdemics entourage, Jody Avirgan, This Day producer Brittani Brown’s topknot, Jonathan. Photo: Alima Cole)

Three masters of their art, in a conversation for the ages:

(L-R, Jad Abumrad, Jason Reynolds, Julie Shapiro. Photo: Jason Falchook)

The secret to artistic success might be in…a chair? Turns out, both Jad and Jason are owners of the Aeron. #contentthatyouneed

Check out Newts!

I met Ian Coss in person for the first time in February when a bunch of us PRXers met up at On Air Fest. I knew of him from his well-respected work on Radiotopia projects such as Over the Road and Radioptia Presents: Blind Guy Travels, but I was a fan from Forever is a Long Time. I asked him what he was up to next, and I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was definitely not Newts!.

I can tell you what Newts! is — a surf rock musical podcast based on the 1936 novel by Karel Čapek, about highly intelligent amphibians who are on the brink of taking over the world — but for why you should listen, take it from our CEO Kerri:

Newts! is technically not a Radiotopia show, but it is a feast for the true Radiotopia buff — made in partnership with The Truth, Jonathan Mitchell is executive producer and story editor, and the cast includes Avery Trufelman (Articles of Interest) and Joshua Malina (The West Wing Weekly).  

Find Newts! wherever you get your podcasts.