A Group of Public Radio Companies Acquires Podcast App Pocket Casts

NPR, WNYC Studios, WBEZ Chicago and This American Life announced today that they've acquired Pocket Casts, a podcast app created by Australian developer Shifty Jelly. From a report: That might sound like a lot of owners for one app, but the idea is to run Pocket Casts as a joint venture. And while former iHeartRadio executive Owen Grover is becoming CEO, NPR says the existing Pocket Casts team will remain in place, with founders Philip Simpson and Russell Ivanovic holding leadership roles in the company. All four of the acquirers have released their own apps already, but buying Pocket Casts should give them another way to become more involved in distribution and reach listeners directly. (This seems to be a growing concern among all public radio organizations -- in 2016, public radio marketplace PRX spun out a for-profit company called RadioPublic to focus on mobile apps.)

Dear NPR/PRI stations

[93 Escort Wagon]

Please don't ruin Pocket Casts. I've been using it ever since Apple crapped the bed with the iOS 11 version of its own Podcast app.

Sincerely,

93 Escort Wagon

Re:

[bheerssen]

I wouldn't be so sure; people have been sounding the death knell for public broadcasting for decades now, yet it doesn't die.

Re:

[bheerssen]

Meh, just don't take away my RSS feeds! I listen to several NPR shows that way.

RSS discovery.

[Anonymous Coward]

RSS (Discovery) plus Podcast would work perfectly.

What a weird team-up.

[sabbede]

Public radio buys a software company and puts in charge the former head of the largest for-profit radio company in the nation? That's weird, right?