All about Spain's Academia Audio 🇪🇸 and podcasts from France 🇫🇷 to Greece 🇬🇷
Eurowaves #35
Hi podcasters,
Spring has finally sprung and, with it, the podcasting industry all across Europe is in full bloom. Read on to learn about upcoming events and awards, a new Spanish Audio Academy, and podcast recommendations from France to Romania and Greece.
Before we get into it…
🇪🇺Unmissable European Podcasts on Castbox 🇪🇺
Castbox 🤝 Eurowaves curation of unmissable European curations is now out. Find it on the app! Big thanks to Castbox for supporting European creators! This is a very exciting partnership.
If you'd like to be included in a future issue, drop your show or a recommendation in the comments, or reply to this email.
GreatPods. Podcast discovery, built on editorial trust. 🎧
Great Pods, the podcast discovery platform built on professional critic transparency, just relaunched with user accounts, weekly engagement rankings, and the ability to follow your favorite critics. With 6,300+ reviews from 132 critics across 14,000+ shows, it’s the editorial layer podcasting has been missing. Check it out at greatpods.co.
🇪🇺 Podcasting & Community News 🇪🇺
🌎The Signal Awards entries are now open! The early deadline is May 8.
🌎The Webby Awards nominations are now out! Go vote for your favorites.
🇪🇸Acast becomes the first global platform to join Spain’s Audio Academy. This strategic move reinforces Acast’s commitment to professionalizing the Spanish podcast sector and securing its status as a recognized cultural industry.
🇬🇧In the podcast Talking Rubbish, James and Robbie are here to prove that recycling is not only important but also downright fun!
🇬🇧The Podcast Guys, a podcast and video content production company, are hiring a Podcast Audience Development Executive.
🇦🇹The Ö3 Podcast Awards 2026 have been presented. Congratulations to all the winners! (source: Beifahrersitz)
🇪🇸A new, free tool to analyse your Spanish-language podcast has been launched by José Antonio Gelado. (source: Podnews)
🇬🇧🇩🇪🇸🇪🇫🇷Video podcasts are being heavily promoted on the front page of Apple Podcasts in iOS 26.4. On the web, you can peek into other countries’ editorial promotions of video content: United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, France and plenty more. (source: Podnews)
Eurowaves Update ☘️
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Academia Audio, the Spanish-language audio network, with Luis Miguel Pedrero Esteban 🇪🇸
Luis Miguel Pedrero Esteban is a journalist, lecturer, and researcher at Universidad Francisco de Vitoria in Madrid, Spain. He is the co‑editor of AudioGen 3x3, a weekly newsletter about the radio and podcast industry in Spain and Latin America and a board member of the Spanish‑language Audio Academy.
You can connect with Luis on LinkedIn here.
What is your podcasting origin story?
I have spent the last 30 years teaching and researching radio and, more recently, podcasting, and digital audio. Before the internet, students were fascinated by radio: they listened mainly for the music, and they fell in love with it when, during their practical sessions in the studio, they discovered the magic of telling stories through sound. That fascination faded as smartphones, social media and streaming platforms took over their attention, but it has come back with podcasting, which is once again motivating them and sparking their curiosity and enthusiasm. I do not host a podcast myself; my role is to teach its narrative and creative possibilities, both in the classroom and through my academic research and a weekly industry newsletter.
What is the Spanish‑language Audio Academy and how did it come about? Did you draw inspiration from any international models when building the community?
The Academy of Arts, Sciences, and Industry of Spanish‑Language Audio is a non‑profit association that represents, supports, and gives legitimacy to the professionals who are building a new creative and cultural industry: Spanish‑language spoken digital audio. Our ambition is that, just as Spanish‑language film, music, and television now have strong professional structures, spoken audio in Spanish will also have its own clear and recognized voice on the international stage.
The Academy’s goal is to give visibility, support, and prospects to everyone in this ecosystem: producers, narrators, platforms, publishers, writers, sound designers, technicians, voice actors and academic researchers. In terms of inspiration, we look to the Academies that already exist in TV, film, and music, and to audio bodies created in other countries, such as PIA in France or AudioUK in the United Kingdom, which have shown how a collective voice can strengthen studios, producers, and independent creators.
How does the Academy hope to bridge traditional broadcasters with the new wave of independent and digital podcasters?
Among the Academy’s biggest challenges, I would highlight two. The first is helping the industry clearly identify what is specific to podcasting —its own language, rhythm and listening habits— so that it is not confused with traditional radio shows that are simply repackaged as on‑demand audio.
The second is to promote production standards that distinguish professionals who make a living from audio from those who approach podcasting or audiobooks on a one‑off or experimental basis. Lower technical barriers are great news for creativity, but the Academy focuses on people for whom audio is a craft and a profession, and who need a shared space for recognition, networking, and advocacy.
Which specific feature of the podcast industry in Spain do you think is helping the market grow more than in other countries, and which one might be holding it back?
When the professional platform Podium Podcast launched in 2016 —interestingly, driven by Spain’s main radio group PRISA, owner of brands such as Cadena SER and LOS40—, it played a key role in producing and distributing innovative titles, from audio fiction and documentary series to long‑form feature reporting. It also helped audiences discover and understand the podcast format beyond simple catch‑up radio.
Rising interest in podcasts and audiobooks then attracted new international platforms (Podimo, Audible), boosted, or brought in local ones (iVoox, Sonora) and encouraged big players like Spotify and Amazon Music to commission original shows in Spanish. This, in turn, fueled the growth of small production companies and marketing agencies that specialize genres and audiences.
Between 2022 and 2024, the industry experienced a real boom, which slowed down in 2025 as major platforms cut back investment and shifted their focus to video podcasts, reducing their bets on narrative audio. In short, Spain’s podcast market has grown very fast thanks to the push from large media groups and platforms, but that same dependence on a few big actors also explains how abrupt the slowdown can be when their priorities change.
Please share 2–3 recommendations of Spanish podcasts that you feel are underrated.
I would highlight the whole catalogue of El Extraordinario, a studio focused on narrative podcasts and audio fiction whose work has been recognized with awards at festivals around the world. Among their titles, I would mention Crímenes, el musical, an original true‑crime series that stages murders from 18th‑ and 19th‑century Spain as if they were a theatre musical; La historia es ayer, a documentary series that looks at social change through the eyes of an archaeologist; and the fiction podcasts Blum, a branded podcast for the Swiss tourism agency available in Spanish, English and Chinese, and Simulacro, written by Julio Rojas, the creator of Caso 63.
With a very different approach, I also find the work of De eso no se habla outstanding. Their documentaries give voice to silences, to the stories that hide behind them, and to what happens when those silences are finally broken. It is the perfect project to understand how audio can handle nuance, slow pacing and contained emotion in ways that very few other media can match.
Thank you, Luis!
🎙️🌍 Podcast Recommendations 🌍🎙️
A documentary podcast featuring life stories. It gives a voice to those who experience the city at night or work unconventional hours, in Paris and beyond, those who are quieter, more sensitive, and sometimes on the fringes of the urban hustle. The goal isn’t to talk about their jobs, but about them. It explores their intimate connection to the city, the sounds, the anecdotes, the places, and the faces that keep them company.
When a car bomb kills Daphne Caruana Galizia on the beautiful Mediterranean island of Malta, the hunt for her killers exposes secrets with consequences that go far beyond its shores. In the aftermath of her death an international team of journalists comes together to continue her work. Along the way they start to uncover clues that might lead to her killers. From Wondery, comes a new story about power, corruption and one woman’s fight for the truth. Hosted by investigative reporter Stephen Grey.
A podcast for children and their parents, built from questions rather than lessons. Without screens and without haste, each episode invites play, observation, and simple conversations about nature and the world around us. Released once a season, the podcast follows the rhythm of winter, spring, summer, and autumn, serving as an invitation to slow down, listen, and spend time together, whether outdoors or at home.
Want to see your podcast recommended?
🇬🇷 Podcasts from Greece 🇬🇷
Nalia Ziku is a multidisciplinary artist working across sound, performance, and cinematic podcast storytelling. Her practice explores hybrid forms of narration where voice and sound function as primary dramaturgical tools, creating immersive fictional worlds between theatre and audio art. Her podcasts have been presented multiple times at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival podcast competition, receiving two Special Mentions.
FEMINANCE: A fiction podcast series created by Nalia Ziku in collaboration with writer Sofia Gourgouliani. Each episode unfolds as a cinematic audio experience exploring female identity, desire, and memory through layered sound design and poetic narration, where sound itself becomes the central dramaturgical element.
Το FEMINANCE είναι μια σειρά μυθοπλαστικών podcast της Νάλιας Ζήκου σε συνεργασία με τη συγγραφέα Σοφία Γουργουλιάνη. Κάθε επεισόδιο λειτουργεί ως κινηματογραφική ηχητική εμπειρία που εξερευνά τη γυναικεία ταυτότητα, την επιθυμία και τη μνήμη μέσα από πολυεπίπεδο sound design και ποιητική αφήγηση, όπου ο ήχος αποτελεί το βασικό δραματουργικό στοιχείο.
Textile Heritages (Knots & Patterns Project): This podcast explores sustainable approaches to weaving education at Mekeio, a historic weaving school in Ioannina, Greece. Through oral testimonies of teachers, students, and board members, it traces over a century of intergenerational knowledge, responsible material practices, and the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage.
Ένα podcast για τη βιώσιμη υφαντική εκπαίδευση στο Μέκειο, ένα ιστορικό κέντρο υφαντικής στα Ιωάννινα. Μέσα από προφορικές μαρτυρίες δασκάλων, μαθητριών και μελών της κοινότητας, αναδεικνύεται ένας αιώνας διαγενεακής γνώσης, υπεύθυνης χρήσης υλικών και προστασίας της άυλης πολιτιστικής κληρονομιάς.
Crew Therapy: A psychology podcast exploring mental health through honest and accessible conversations about anxiety, relationships, and personal growth. Created by psychologist Sotiris Peivanis and theatre practitioner Moschoula Kyri, the podcast combines scientific insight with a human-centered perspective, making psychology approachable and relatable.
Το Crew Therapy είναι ένα podcast που προσεγγίζει την ψυχική υγεία μέσα από ειλικρινείς και άμεσες συζητήσεις για το άγχος, τις σχέσεις και την προσωπική εξέλιξη. Δημιουργημένο από τον ψυχολόγο και ψυχοθεραπευτή Σωτήρη Πεϊβάνη και τη Μοσχούλα Κύρη από τον χώρο του θεάτρου, συνδυάζει επιστημονική γνώση με ανθρώπινη και προσιτή ματιά.
Thank you, Nalia!
You can connect with her on LinkedIn here.
🚀Events and Opportunities🚀
The Publisher Podcast Awards 2026 (The UK)
The Publisher Podcast Awards are back for their seventh year, celebrating the brilliant audio work created by publishing companies. Categories include: Best B2B Podcast, Best Culture & Lifestyle Podcast, Best Daily Podcast, Best Entertainment Podcast and more.
Deadline? April 10.
HearSay (Ireland)
The world's most beloved audio arts festival returns. Cross the threshold with passion and playfulness as different audio cultures turn toward each other. Bring your curiosity to collaborate, experiment, and nourish your wild hearts with award-winning contributors from all disciplines of creative audio; podcasts, radio features, film sound, sound art, theatre sound, music, audio fiction & more.
When? May 7-10.
The Lovie Awards (Europe)
The Lovie Awards is the Webby Awards' benchmark for European digital excellence, recognising the people, projects, and ideas shaping Europe's contributions to the internet. The mission at the Lovie Awards is to elevate and recognise the people, projects, and ideas shaping Europe’s contributions to the Internet. Lovie Award-winning work reflects Europe at its best: dozens of languages, creative traditions, and regulatory frameworks working in exchange to produce digital work that leads with ethicality.
When? May 8 (early entry deadline).
That’s it for now!
Andreea