356 - Taylor Swift Announces Album Release On New Heights & Ausha Unveils New SEO Tools

0:03 Good morning podcasters. It's Thursday, August 14th, 2025, and today we're going to be finishing up some news stories that we actually didn't get to yesterday. And perhaps if there's time, we might do a couple of mailbag questions as well. And if you're listening via podcast, please share this episode with the fellow podcasters and give us a bell 30 seconds or so. It might be longer than 30 seconds, and we'll get things rolling. And as always, thanks for being here. Woo, good morning.

1:25 You know, every time I say that, I think of Robin Williams in that good morning, Vietnam thing. So as you can tell, Mark is still away. He is a camp counselor with his friends. You're going to have to help me with the name again, Ashley. He's helping out his friend Jonah Berger, and he is at Camp Footprint, which is in western Pennsylvania. It's a sleepaway camp for kids with a very rare peripheral nerve disease that's called Charcot Marie tooth disease. I believe that this is the same thing that Alan Jackson, country singer Alan Jackson has as well. So that's that's why I know it. And and of course, he does this every year for his friend Jonah.

2:07 Anyway, we are going to be get to getting to some news stories. And if there's time after, we're probably also going to be touching on a couple of mailbag questions. But before we do, Ashley found a little bit of an icebreaker. So why don't you go ahead and and Rev that one up, Ash? Thanks, Dr. So as a recovering wreck of a person, I have found that habits have helped me get through my day much easier as a podcaster and as a person. And I was just thinking, what habits have you incorporated into your daily routine that have made an impact on your podcasting? And I won't leave you all in the cold. One of the habits that I've taken on is I do everything I possibly can to get a good night's sleep.

2:54 So if I've got an interview the next day, but especially if it's early, I try to go to bed before my bedtime. I try to shut down all the screens early. I try to get really good quality sleep. Another one that I just simply can't let go is the night before an interview, especially if it's on location. I'll go through all my gear, make sure all the batteries are charged, make sure all the cables are working properly, make sure everything is where it's supposed to be in the storage containers that I carry all my gear in, and. Those are some habits. That have helped so. Yeah, that's a that's a good practice to get into though. That's a good practice to get into. I was trying to think of this because we came up with this ice breaker last night and I was trying to think of what habits I do. The only thing I think when I have, OK, I'm, we're going to be talking about this podcast that I have, that I actually don't have yet, but did some preliminary work on it and I'm obsessed with making spreadsheets for it. The person's name, the person's podcast name, what they're asking for.

4:01 I mean, I'm obsessed about this spreadsheet that I made for it. And like I said, I am really prepared for it. I just haven't done it. So how about that, Nick? Can you think of something that maybe that you would do? A habit that maybe you're podcasting life has gotten you into. Probably waking up early since I started doing the podcasting and content creation and all that. I'm obviously with me working a nine to five job, that doesn't leave a whole lot of time to do that. So I usually wake up at 5:00 AM knockout. A lot of the content creation, the editing, like that type of stuff that I can do in the early morning hours.

4:44 And it's made a huge difference because I usually get all my stuff knocked out, or at least most of it knocked out in the hour or two before I have to take off from work. So that's been a huge help, giving me those extra hours. But how early were you waking up when you had the baby? I mean we do this for Really Lucky. She's blept beautifully since like month 2. We put her down at 7 and she'll usually sleep until 6:00 or 7:00 in the morning. And she's still maintained that. Yeah. So we we've been lucky in that regard. So I'm usually gone before she even wakes up. That's great.

5:28 I think we should dive into some of the stories that we didn't get to. And Ashley, you have the the first story today. Thanks Dr. This is for all the Swifties out there. Taylor Swift drops her 12th album surprise on Travis Kelsey's podcast Taylor Swift made her first ever appearance on the New Heights podcast, which is hosted by her boyfriend Travis Kelsey, and unveils her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, in one flirty orange themed teaser that has fans buzzing. Her involvement has greatly increased the podcast popularity, with engagement on its Instagram post soaring After Swift announced her new album with the podcast account, their post received 4.5 million likes in under 12 hours.

6:17 Wow, wow. This. Whole Taylor Swift thing is out of control. It is completely out of control. I just saw and I'm. I'm not trying to put anyone on a blast like this. Is this across the board? Swift DS are out of control. Someone posted in I think it was the Riverside group talking about how because they actually record their episodes with Riverside and this person was like, I can't believe I'm using the same platform that Taylor Swift recorded on. Oh. My gosh. And the, the whole, the conspiracy of the Swifty's and the conspiracy theories and her subtle reveals and hints at all the stuff that she's doing. Like it sends people in an absolute frenzy. I'll just go into the comments of different posts and there are so many theories and I she's done great. She has the that formula locked down where everyone's totally obsessed.

7:17 But it's, it's insane. It's ridiculous. Well, you know, a lot of people would say we're not giving the Kelsey's they're due. It's they're they're popular on their own. And yes, Taylor has certainly jumped up that popularity. But people are saying that so much spotlight is put on Taylor Swift that the talent of the Kelsey's are actually getting looked over. What do you think about that? I think that they had a good podcast, but it would have never even been close to what it is right now. Nobody would have cared about their podcast so it wasn't for Taylor Swift and they should be thanking every little swifty. Little God.

8:02 That they are together because their life has changed one bazillion percent because of Taylor. Swift I agree there's there's so many people that never would have even known who Travis and Jason were had it not been for Taylor. They would have not had. Half of the opportunities. That they would have had. And the proof is in the pudding. They've had the podcast for a while. They had it before Taylor was in the mix. And it was doing. OK. Because it's a good sports. It was like a good, funny podcast. But then when she came on the scene, forget it. I mean, she basically have a whole generation of people that like football because of her. In that whole realm of the theories and conspiracies and everything around the stuff that Taylor Swift does. So largely I feel like people feel like sports and the Super Bowl and all that stuff is kind of fixed and rigged and it's predetermined ahead of time and it's not actually them playing the game.

9:03 It's all just a show. My wife was telling me this. I didn't see this personally, but she said that there were people theorizing that based on some of the colors in the backdrop of the episode when Taylor was speaking, that meant the Browns were going to win the Super Bowl this year. Well. Let's not get crazy here. It's interesting though, they pick the colors and there is some coincidences about the Super Bowl colors that I guess they try to take a chance on who's going to be there and it just always matches up for some reason.

9:45 I mean, there's, there's a little. There's a little. I don't want to say conspiracy theory, but it is kind of interesting how it always works out kind of thing. And didn't it spawn? Is it one of their wives or their sister that also has a? Podcast, it's Kelsey. Well, the other guy, not Kelsey, but. Kylie. Yeah, Kylie. Kylie. Yeah, it's Jason's wife who has the podcast, and she's killing it as well. I mean, you know. So can we attribute her podcast? To. Taylor as well. Absolutely. I mean, they're in industry now and he better not screw it up because who knows it will happen. Well, he's going to wind up in a song if he screws it up.

10:25 Everyone knows about that. If he ends up in a song, that podcast is doomed. That's right. So we're just going to move on from there. Now, in the crowded world of podcasting, most listeners only make room for three shows in their weekly lineup. And that's according to a study. And this study is called the Podcast study. Colon Growth, that's what it's called. And the full results of this will debut next week at Podcast Movement on Wednesday at 12:15 PM on the keynote stage, Tim Bronzell told Pod News. In a world where shelf space is limited, the podcasts that combine strong content with active relationship building have the best shot at claiming a top spot.

11:15 The study is a collaboration between strategic solutions research and point to point marketing. So the ratio was what, 3 shows per week? How does that line up with everyone? Ashley, how many shows do you listen to a week? And I'm not talking about the ones you work on. OK. I'm glad you you differentiated because that's a different question. Yeah, ones that I listen to of my own choice, probably. Maybe 5 if I'm being generous. OK. And Nick, what about you? Not the shows that you work on, you're. Going to have to revert back to a previous answer I had I think last week. I I haven't been listening to really any podcasts lately because I've been all in on audio books lately.

11:58 But when I was listening, I'll say I'd probably it was about two to three shows that I was consistently listening to. I fit within that statistic. Alex, how about you? I listen on a pretty regular basis to about 3 YouTube channels that are podcasts. So I'm not really listening to the podcast on that platform. I'm listening to the YouTube channels or watching them as a. That's what I was going to say. Are you watching them as or listening to the usual? No, I'm listening to them because I'm driving. But they're putting out content that's probably 20, you know, 15 to 20 minute clips. So it's not like it's, you know, I mean, we can go down that road.

12:46 But I mean, they're not, they're not big episodes. When you first say that, I was like, I really, I have, I'm kind of like Nick, I really haven't been listening to a lot, but lately I have been and it's all basically the same type of content. So it's not like it's, you know, varied content. But yeah, they're they're kind of quick clips. I could totally see people doing that just because of the fact that you kind of get into a routine and, and if they're short episodes, I think that's the key to listening to a lot of different podcasts. And it's also a lifestyle if you have the time, like I'm like, like Nick, I'm, I'm also listening to an audio book right now. So I'm trying to squeeze both in, which is kind of, you know, when you're on the road, it's a lot easier. So what I've done, I have invested in Speechify. I think I've mentioned this on the show before. I've invested in Speechify because there are some books that are not out on audio, but I do want to read them. So I have because of Speechify.

13:47 I have Gwyneth Paltrow and I wish they would come up with another voice because I'm not the biggest fan of Gwyneth. But I have Gwyneth Paltrow reading some of these books that are not actually meant for audio. And I'm getting through all of my chores around the house, you know, washing the dishes and making dinner and blah, blah, blah. So I'm getting through all of those and I can listen at the same time. Is that where? You take a picture of it and it reads it. No, I think that's something different. I think that's something different. I've seen those commercials, but I don't think that's Speechify. But this one you have, you have your Kindle and you have all your books that you've, you're like your library in Kindle. And you go through the Speechify app. Once you tap on that, you are hit with a bunch of icons. Do you want it to read your e-mail? Do you want it to read some something on Kindle? Do you want it to read APDF?

14:46 Do you want it to so it can, it can read an enormous amount of things digitally, you know, the digital things. So it's just, it's really interesting. Cost about $100 a year. So for me, it's worth it because I can still do stuff and get in those books that I meant to get in. Hey everyone, it is my kitchen time. I'm going to turn the job openings over to Ashley. OK, So the first job opening that is on the list is with I believe you pronounced this Zoe. It's Zoe and it's based in the in London, UK and this is for a podcast production coordinator. The salary is between 25 and 30 K EUR plus stock options and benefits.

15:27 The deadline to apply is August the 31st 2025 and this is lead production of Zoe Science and Nutrition podcast and they have 3,000,000 plus listeners a month. The key tasks are guest booking, managing production, coordinating with freelancers, show notes and all that good stuff. They want you to have one year of podcast production experience and strong project management and communication skills. This next position we found is for a podcast producer in Cabin Radio 4 Cabin Radio in Yellowknife, Canada and it's a 12 month contract. The salary is 65 to 75 K plus health benefits and flexible working and the deadline to apply is August 22nd.

16:16 The description is lead a new podcast series covering the Northwest Territory Circuit Court with significant travel and remote communities. You'll be reporting and producing a year long series on the NWT justice system. You'll travel with the Circuit Court to isolated communities. That's interesting. You'll record, edit and produce high quality audio and you'll be doing in depth interviews. And let me see if I've got another one. I think that might be all I. Have and just go to the next story. That's OK. Asha is opening a pro level podcast search optimization to everyone. Once reserved for big networks like BBC Studios and major agencies, Asha's revamped PSO Control Panel is now available to any podcaster on any hosting platform, giving independence the same powerful visibility tools as the industry giants. There's a full rollout to all creators. Previously exclusive to large media groups, the PSO suite can now be integrated by indie podcasters small B to B publishers in emerging studios without switching hosts. Apple and Spotify optimization helps creators boost visibility directly inside podcast apps, where 50% of listeners find shows and 70% use search tabs.

17:40 There are SEO style tools for podcasts, including AI keyword suggestions with difficulty scores, real time optimization and feedback for episodes, titles, notes and tags, Competitor tracking by keyword, category, country and platform. And there are also been proven results. There was a case study from Black Rocks the Bid podcast, which showed notable subscriber growth from PSO driven changes. There's two options. One is the self-serve PSO Control Panel for All or the Asha Pro. With consulting and strategy support from their marketing team, Asha launches a new version of the PSO Control Panel available to all August 10th, 2025.

18:25 Actually, is there anything in there about what that costs? That seems like a pretty awesome. I'm not seeing any monetary information in the notes that I've got here, but yes, it does to. To me, like I've been in the FCO space, there are a lot of really, but premium SEO tools like A, a refs and some rush and things like that, that get into a lot of the stuff that you were talking about, like the competitor analysis, keyword research, all that kind of stuff. But it seems very similar to that and I think that is awesome. Like they're you can get so much value out of those tools specifically to help you rank better, get more traffic to your content on your websites and everything like that. And if they are bringing that kind of visibility into your shows, I can see that being a huge benefit to podcasters. It seems like at least up until this point, has primarily been for the large large business than large podcasts. So based on that article, it sounds like it's opening up to more smaller shows.

19:36 Am I getting that right? Yeah, it says right here. Small business to business publishers and emerging studios without switching hosts. So yeah. That that would be really cool to look into. I'll have to look at the show notes for that article, that page article specifically, and dig deeper into that because I I'm a huge SEM Rush fan and it's helped me a whole lot when it comes to ranking, so I'm curious how they. Yeah, that is cool. How how do you use that? I've only vaguely heard of it. It has a whole suite, you probably could spend weeks just learning the platform itself, but I primarily used it for keyword research.

20:18 It basically gives you difficulty scores based on how many people are using those keywords or what websites are actually ranking for specific keywords. And usually you you target the ones that bring in traffic because it'll give you a traffic score, like how much traffic on average per month a specific keyword like people are actually searching for. As a smaller website, you focus on the keywords that have a low difficulty score, meaning that many people are really optimizing for that keyword, but yet still bring in traffic. But then it goes even deeper as far as like you can see what websites are ranking for those places, what, what websites are linking to articles that rank for those websites. You can then reach out to other website owners and be like, hey, I see you're linking to this specific article on this topic. I also have a more in depth article on this topic if it if it would help your readers or viewers, like if you want to link to ours as well.

21:20 It allows you to build links and authority online and ultimately rank higher in search engines, which I feel like is now kind of changing a little bit with AI. But there's so much in it. I think there's social media statistics and things like that, like how many people are sharing your articles and all that. Like it's a very powerful and robust tool. So it's a you. Spend a lot of. Time trying to understand it, but once you do understand it, it's invaluable. That went over my head, the simrush thing. Just I checked out what you mentioned that way over my head. So I have a story here and it is the sound bite trap how editing in radio and podcasting creates a legal risk. Editing just isn't an art.

22:06 It's actually a legal minefield. New research is sending up a red flag for creators who think just a quick trim is harmless. Whether it's cutting dead air or creating that spicy sound bite for socials, your edits shape the story, and that can kind of get you sued. While the SEC handles indecency and fairness on traditional airwaves, podcasters aren't off the hook. Defamation, false light, misrepresentation laws apply across the board no matter your platform. So some of the big names that have had to pay the price. Of course, everyone knows about Alex Jones. He was hit with nearly 1 billion. That's with AB $1 billion in defamation judgments after spreading Sandy Hook conspiracy lies, partly through distorted edits.

23:00 Katie Couric has had to face some backlash and a defamation lawsuit after her documentary inserted an awkward pause to make gun rights advocates look stumped. The case was tossed, but the reputational damage kind of stuck. And of course, Fox News shelled out a jaw-dropping 787,000,000 to Dominion Voting Systems for airings, selectively edited interviews that suggested election fraud. And even the podcast Serial, the beloved, you know, true crime podcast, drew fire for framing facts to build its story, raising eyebrows and if and if not lawsuits. So what's the message here?

23:51 Edit with integrity. It's not just an FCC you should worry about. It's the civil courts. Because the second you hit publish, you own the consequences. So let's start a conversation around this. Have you heard of a podcast getting sued because of a clip made someone look bad? Does does that feel like false news or just editing gone wrong? Anyone have something to say about that? I had a guest on my show back when I was doing the 95 podcast that talked about it a little bit and he had a very high profile guest on his show. And maybe that's that's where this kind of came in. But I'm not going to name names.

24:35 We didn't share the name on the episode, but we kind of got into it after the fact. But the guest was very, I'm going to say condescending towards his audience as a whole. And this guy, he's got probably millions of people following him. And the the host of the show was basically like, I can't publish this, Like this is basically just rude. And he came after him legally and basically said, you need to turn over all the recordings and all this stuff, otherwise we're taking you to court. And luckily the guy he was, I think he's based in the UK and this high profile guest is based in the US.

25:16 And the, the host was basically like, go for it. You're going to have a real hard time getting me over here. And then ultimately nothing happened. They basically threatened him a ton and then never went to a a legal battle But it it did happen. Wow. Nick, did he publish it or did he not publish it? No. He didn't even publish it. They just wanted him. They didn't want him having the recording because it made this guest look really bad actually is what it came down to. You know, to your point, I mean, it's if you want to go down to the rabbit hole of propaganda, I mean, you know, creative editing can do a lot and if people want to, I mean, it's kind of a slippery slope, but I mean, you can paint anybody in a good or bad picture. We talk about this all the time with editing. You can have a speaker like what I'm doing right now, not on purpose, but where there's a lot of spaces and there's a lot of problems with the audio and you can't. We've all had to piece it together sometimes and it's for good, but you can do it for bad.

26:28 And I think nowadays with all the click bait that we have out there, you could have a discussion on YouTube covers. You know, just having the right YouTube cover will get you actual likes. So editing this kind of stuff in a certain way doesn't surprise me at all. Should they get sued for it? I mean, that's something for the courts to deal with, but I can't see why not in some ways, especially if the intent of the original statement had nothing to do with the intent that's being. Brought up there there's. Probably a case of some kind. You know, it's interesting. I saw an interview on News Nation last night and it was on the Elizabeth.

27:15 She was interviewing someone about these robots that are like policing the area. They take pictures, they take video of what's going on. And those videos go to the police, the FBI, everything. This is actually thwarted a lot of crime going on. It's it's helped save lives on domestic abuse. And she interviewed this guy. There is some place in New Hampshire that is having a fit about these robots roaming around and they don't want them. And so that's the premise of this, of this interview. You know, what do you have to say to this town? You know, And he, he was so condescending to her.

27:59 I didn't really notice it at the time. But after the interview, she told the next host for the next show, because they do like this blending thing. She goes out and he comes in. She told the next host, OK, that is someone who is never going to be on this show again. He was very condescending. He was a lousy guest. She kept going on and on about how bad of a guest he was. And I'm thinking, can he, I wonder if he has any recourse about what she is saying about him because he's an expert in his field. And I'm not quite sure if it was defaming or not about what she said. And I like her. She's a good interviewer, but this was out of character and it just, it caught me by surprise.

28:45 The only ones that I that I truly know about is Alex Jones. And I got to tell you, I'm I'm not a huge, not a huge fan of Alex Jones. So when he got hit with that defamation judgment, I was pretty much jumping for joy. However, and I know that this is contradictory, I am all for free speech. And I guess I yeah, I guess I do have my boundaries. I mean. That's. But that's the whole problem with, you know, when you talk about social media or all this content that's coming out and, and where's the line and what's real and what's not real. I mean, we're at a point now where AI is getting to the point where it your eye can't tell in some cases or your ears can't tell if you have a situation where and I'll use your boy Joe Rogan endorses something and says something about that product.

29:47 That's a lot of ears and that's a lot of eyes on that. When you have a freedom of speech, there's a very slippery slope that can go either way. It's like with this technology, all this wonderful technology is great as long as it's in the right hands. And I know maybe that's not the actual topic that we're talking about, but I think it's all kind of relative. I know everybody's supposed. To do your research. Well, people sometimes just don't have time to do their research. They're expecting other people to do that, which I know, maybe not be the the best answer. That's why we have a court system and hopefully it gets sorted out, but I have. I doubt it will. Where is your line, Alex? When does free speech start to get into? Nope, that's where I draw the line.

30:29 That's a good question because this type of app also brings out the best and worst set of people. My opinion isn't probably the best opinion, which is not everybody's opinion should be shared. But that's a whole different conversation. You don't know where the line is. But I go back to the saying when you see something, you know, when it comes to freedom of speech, maybe I'm a little bit more conservative and there's a fine line between public safety and having the public. Now, I still battle with that myself. It's such a hard question. He just now. And I think also we're in a time where we want to hear what we want to hear.

31:10 So if you want to hear your views, you go to a channel that shows your views. If you're left, you're going to go to MSNBC. If you're right, you're going to go to Fox and you're going to hear what you want to hear. The problem is you can't find the actual truth. And I think that's the biggest problem. Do we need to get into people's business the way we do? I don't think we do, but we do. I I think bringing it back to kind of the, the core topics like podcasting specifically like if, if you're coming on a show. As a guest. And you are sharing information, knowing that this episode is going to be public. The guest, like if they come out and say a bunch of stuff that they look back on and they're like, oh, I don't want that coming out. They really can't come after the host and be like, hey, I'm going to sue you for putting that episode out because it made me sound like.

32:01 A jerk. When it's like, well, that's what you said. You made yourself look like a jerk. But in the same token, like if the host is or the whoever's editing the podcast kind of to Alex's point, cuts it to a point where it kind of changes what the actual guest was saying, then I can see there being potential legal issues because the guest can come back and be like, that was not a conversation. I did not say it. That was not the point I was making. And I mean, we see it all the time on television. I mean, look at any reality TV show. Like if you were to watch the raw footage of any reality. TV show that exists. You'd be bored out of your mind. So they cut it, they edit it, they make it interesting for the viewer, but it also paints a bad light on the people that are on the show.

32:49 But they know what they're getting into when they go on those shows. So it I don't think they have much of A battle when it comes to. Legal issues. Have you ever been in a situation where a guest has asked you to cut stuff out after the interview? I luckily have not. Yeah, I have, and I cut it out. I've talked about it before and what it was. It wasn't a big deal in terms of what it was. I think the biggest question is, and this is something that podcast hosts have to realize, is what's on and off the record. If you're doing a live, then everything is on the record. If you want to be a gotcha podcaster, that's a slippery slope.

33:31 If you want to have a relationship with your guests and you want to nurture that relationship, then maybe you want to consider working with them a little bit within reason. I mean, you know, like Nick said, if you said it, that's one thing. But if it if it's not going to paint them in a good light and it's not going to paint the podcast and that relationship in a good light, you might want to think about it. You have to protect yourself. Like Kathy said, you also have to protect your podcast, and sometimes you might want to protect the guests from themselves. We always talk about don't press stop on the recording. You can get a whole bunch of great content that you might not be able to use, and that's a judgement call. Years ago, the media used to do that all the time. It's up to you to figure out what's right and what's not. If you're hunting for likes, that's one way to get likes, but at the same time, what's your ultimate goal? If you're trying to burn bridges, that might be a different goal.

34:25 True, one of my mentors is Dave Hooper, David Hooper, and he tells a story about how some big rock star, he had an interview with some big rock star. He, he does a lot of radio, so he does a lot of big names. After the fact, they contacted him and said, listen, you know, I was kind of in my feelings. I was talking, can you please, can you please cut that out? And he went ahead and did it because #1 the guy is famous. And it set up a, a good trust value. Like now this rock star trusts David for any time that he wants, you know, to do another interview with David.

35:13 He trusts him. It set it up. So it's good for your reputation to, you know, to acquiesce to what the guest wants. However, if it's something that say, say the guy later on was like a convicted pedophile or something like that, I might want to leave some stuff. You know, it's hard to tell where my line of, you know, my line is. It's crazy. So listen, I want to thank everyone for listening in today. We are going to cut it off early and give your give you more of your Thursday back to you. I appreciate it. Be with us tomorrow. We have some wins for you.

35:55 We also are going to touch on some stuff in the mailbag. So I appreciate everyone coming in and thank you so much and see you tomorrow.