Answer: This theme song made $80 million dollars📺
What is...open this email. +Scamanda & Foreign hit squads
Hey Poddy People,
Hi to the new subscribers! Feedback is always welcome. Just hit reply, or like and comment below. I’m also becoming more active on Substack Notes if you have the app. A lot is happening in the next week so let’s go!
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If you or someone you know is going to The Podcast Show in London next week, stop by our meetup Tuesday, May 23rd. The Eventbrite is here.
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Get your tickets here: https://www.outlierhq.com and use the promo code: Stephanie for a discount.
If you have a karaoke song I should warm up with, drop it in the comments.
Podcast Hall of Famer, journalist, fellow Substacker, and climate investor, Molly Wood, just released her new podcast: Everybody in the Pool
Actor and Podcaster, Joshua Malina (The West Wing Weekly) is joining the Unorthodox podcast as a co-host. Read here.
Bridgerton has a new season with Queen Charlotte on Netflix. It is released a new season of the companion podcast too. Launched today.
WGA Strike and fiction podcasts: “…dozen writers total are impacted by this podcast-specific rule,” writes Nick Quah. Read more here.
Cree journalist, Connie Walker, won a Pulitzer and a Peabody for Gimlet podcast, Stolen - Season: Surviving St. Michael’s. Read more here.
Marcha Lederman from The Globe and Mail said it’s “revealing, riveting”. Read more reviews here.
It jumped to our #2 searched podcast.
Have you read the Top Podcast Critics So Far (2023) post yet? Live now.
Just Added…
Believe in Magic - BBC
Mija Podcast - Studio Ochenta
Queen of Hearts - Wondery, Rococo Punch
The Global Jigsaw - BBC
Every Outfit - Chelsea Fairless, Lauren Garroni
Mother, Neighbor, Russian Spy - Audible, BBC
Scamanda (below) - Lionsgate Sound
Londongrad (below) - Tortoise Media
On to my picks this week…
Podcast: Scamanda
Genre: True Crime
Publisher: Lionsgate Sound
About: Amanda is a wife. A mother. A blogger. A Christian. A charming, beautiful, bubbly, young woman who lives life to the fullest. But Amanda is dying, with a secret she doesn’t want anyone to know. She starts a blog detailing her cancer journey, and becomes an inspiration, touching and captivating her local community as well as followers all over the world. Award winning journalist Charlie Webster explores this unbelievable and bizarre, but all-too-real tale, of a woman from San Jose, California whose secret ripped a family apart and left a community in shock.
Gregg Stockdale • The Podcast Geek
"The story is outstanding, and barely believable. Enraging and heartbreaking, as the story goes on your thoughts on the subject will change. Ultimately though, this is an incredible story that will have you gripped until the very end."
Although it just was released this week, I had the opportunity to listen to the first couple of episodes. Host and Producer Charlie Webster (Surviving El Chapo) excellently builds the world for us around Amanda with friends, family, and associates. We know there is a scam, but there is a strong sense of anticipation of a big reveal.
Remember Sweet Bobby when Kirat was catfished for 10 years, and we the listeners were like HOW?! Well, similarly, the question of HOW did Amanda get away with this for so long is evident with every episode. I also feel like a Dateline NBC vibe here. Charlie could be a British Keith Morrison.
Side note: The story is based mostly in the Bay Area. Mentions of the Saddle Rack in Fremont were mentioned which gave me flashbacks to my line-dancing birthday I had there. Don’t judge me.
Also, see NEW release Believe In Magic
Podcast: Londongrad: Iran’s Hit Squads
Genre: News, Investigation
Publisher: Tortoise Media
About: Award-winning investigative reporter Paul Caruana Galizia returns to report the story of the foiled assassination attempts on British soil of Iranian nationals. Since January 2022, there has been an attempted assassination or kidnap at least once a month – all ordered by the Iranian government. In this four-part series, Paul will delve into how these attempts unfolded, why they have become so prevalent and who is behind them. It's a story about Iran, about freedom of the press, but most of all, it’s about Britain – who the country chooses to protect and why.
Miranda Sawyer • The Guardian
"Caruana Galizia takes the shine off London’s glitz and exposes it for what it is. If I were writing a modern James Bond, this would be the series I’d listen to, for background on today’s international bad guys. Know your enemy."
Gripping and compelling. This is coming from the journalist who made a previously gripping and compelling podcast about his own journalist mother, Daphne, being assassinated in Malta with My Mother’s Murder. The lengths a country will go to silencing dissidents in and out of the country’s border is sad and disturbing. 3 of the 4 episodes are out now.
Podcast: This Is Jeopardy!
Genre: TV
Publisher: Somethin’ Else, Sony Music Entertainment, SPTV
About: How did Jeopardy! first capture the American imagination? Join host Buzzy Cohen as he peels back the curtain on the quintessential quiz show that made it cool to be smart. We'll go behind the scenes with contestants, staffers, and fans to explore the show’s history — including longtime host Alex Trebek — relive favorite moments, and uncover the magic behind the big blue gameboard.
Devin • Podstack
"...there’s lots to be learned about the end of Jeopardy, the relaunch, and how it became a cultural staple. Learning about Alex Trebek’s detailed dedication to being the best host he could be got me so invested!"
Ending on a lighter note for the email! So much to learn about Jeopardy’s 60 years in this podcast. Merv Griffin’s wife, Julann Wright, came up with the idea, as told by their son, and all the way to Alex Trebek being a producer and creating a lockout of the buzzer so he can finish the answer.
Answer: This theme song made $80 million dollars in royalties and was written by the creator of the show.
Charts! May 8-14th
The Trials of JK Rowling
Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s
Archetypes
The Mantawauk Caves
Mother, Neighbor, Russian Spy
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Listening with you,
Captain Ron
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Thanks for sharing Unorthodox!