Hi podcasters,
Before we get into it…
A few announcements concerning Eurowaves before this week’s issue:
Issues will start hitting your inbox every other Thursday, instead of Fridays.
I’ll be adding an international sub-section in the industry news section.
Eurowaves is putting together a list of the best European podcasts of 2026 (so far). Submit this form by next Friday, September 11, to nominate your pick.
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🇪🇺 Podcasting & Community News 🇪🇺
🏆The Signal Awards Grace Period extended to accept additional entries for consideration through Friday, September 11
🇬🇧The London Podcast Festival started yesterday and runs through September 13 bringing live shows, meet-and-greets, and workshops with some of the world’s greatest podcasters.
🇬🇧Podcast Discovery is hiring a General Manager in London.
🇬🇧Simple English News Daily has switched to Supercast for its subscription service, rather than running its own membership. The show did more than 630,000 downloads last month. (source: Podnews)
🇬🇧🇮🇪🇺🇸The world’s funniest podcast festival returns this October. Cheerful Earful will be in London, Brighton, Edinburgh, Melbourne, Dublin and New York from Sep 28 - Oct 28, with the largest lineup in the festival’s history. (source: Podnews)
🌎 International 🌏
🇿🇦A new series from Radio Workshop in partnership with DW Akademie’s PodcasTraining Team launched. It takes you behind the scenes of a real narrative podcast production in Zambia.
🇯🇵In Japan, the #1 podcast, Coten Radio, contains no ads. The history show is paid-for by its listeners, with more than 10,000 listeners (source: Podnews)
🇮🇩The winners of the 2026 Asia Podcast Awards were announced during Podcast Day Asia, an integral track in the event. (source: Podnews)
Eurowaves Update ☘️
Since the last issue, we have…
…+16 new subscribers.
Share this issue with your podcast network to keep the community growing.
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The First Podcasting Masters Program, with Sandy Warr of City St George’s University 🇬🇧
Sandy Warr is a senior lecturer and devised and launched the MA Podcasting at City St George’s University - the first of its kind in the world. She still works as a news anchor on LBC News on Sunday mornings and has spoken at national and international conferences on the ways podcasting is being used within universities.
You can connect with Sandy on LinkedIn here.
Eurowaves is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
What’s your podcast origin story?
I started working in podcasting before I even realised it was a thing .I used to work for a radio station that was part of the Guardian Newspaper group, and part of my job was to record a daily news briefing for digital release. At that stage it didn’t feel significantly different from my radio presenting world and it was only some years later (2015) when I was invited to cohost the Rugby World Cup podcast, also for the Guardian, that the differences really started to register. I remember asking the producer what time he would want me to build in a vocal break for the ads - and being reminded that podcasts are not built that way. Over the following years, in my role at City St George’s University it became increasingly clear that we needed to build podcast teaching into our offering and the idea for the bespoke MA was born.
You have developed the MA Podcasting at City St George’s University and built the curriculum. How was the MA in podcasting born and how has it evolved to keep up with the changes in the industry?
At first we started to offer a single teaching module on podcasting and like many radio presenters I initially was working with the thought that a podcast and a radio show were essentially the same thing, just delivered differently. But as we started teaching the problems with that became evident. Podcasting has different approaches to content creation, storytelling, using sound, the way the journalist is positioned within the story etc. Then you add in the debate around visuals, the way the technology impacts what you do, how to market and monetize the product. It became clear that we could not teach podcasting in a ten week course with just two hours a week.
Launching an entirely new degree is a horribly complex and time consuming process, but it needs to be because we are asking students to invest a lot of time and money into learning skills. I wanted to be sure that my own impressions of what was needed were matched by what the industry wanted, and also whether there would be jobs for people we trained up. The industry was immensely helpful and enthusiastic in supporting the launch and development of the course with bursaries and financial support for students and quality work experience.
With all of our courses we constantly adjust and update. We have brand new digital video spaces about to come online so we can update out offerings there (especially around production for YouTube) and we are also teaching how to use AI tools.
I believe, however, that the key skills we can teach our students are not actually about the technology as that is constantly changing. It is about developing ideas, finding authentic and creative ways to tell stories and understanding audiences and business skills.
What are some of your favorite student success stories from over the years?
I am always immensely proud of the people I have helped to start their broadcast journey. I adore it when the BBC Newscast podcast features two of my former pupils - Adam Fleming and Chris Mason in discussion. Former student Dino Sofos does amazing work with his company Persephonica and the Crossed Wires festival in Sheffield. One former student Thuy Dong recently posted on Linkedin about how podcasting has taken her from her place of birth in Vietnam to be a regular visitor to Downing Street. Another student who was the winner of our Spotify bursary went to New York with Goalhanger to work on their Netflix series. I think it is the speed of the success of our MA Podcast students that has been so incredible to witness.
Thank you, Sandy!
🎙️🌍 Podcast Recommendations 🌍🎙️
Rights & Wrongs is a bi-monthly podcast from Human Rights Watch. It explores stories from the places where abuses are unfolding around the world, through the eyes and ears of the people on the frontlines. Human Rights Watch investigators span the globe and work in more than 100 countries, producing dozens of meticulously researched reports every year. Host, Ngofeen Mputubwele, takes listeners behind the scenes of these in-depth investigations.
Männerkrebs – Was tut Mann mit Krebs?
Are you a man with a cancer diagnosis? Do you want to know how to move forward? Perfect, then you are in exactly the right place. Those affected share their experiences with cancer. For some, the diagnosis is fresh; others have been living with it for many years; some have survived cancer for a long time. Every two weeks on Tuesday, you will hear a new episode. Support the work of this podcast. Funded by the Vienna Business Agency. A fund of the City of Vienna. Realized with editorial independence.
Lucky to Be Here: Building Lives & Careers Abroad
Hosted by Dr. Analía Gómez Vidal, C.P.C., Lucky to Be Here is a podcast that showcases the lives and experiences of those who took the leap and navigated big life and career transitions across countries. They share their stories, lessons, and advice to show us what is possible and what it takes to define and live their idea of success across borders. Because doing life on our own terms requires intentionality and a lot of work, sometimes invisible work, but we build it one day at a time. We are more than just lucky to be here.
Want to get more podcast recommendations?
Eurowaves recommends Great Pods🎧
Great Pods, the podcast discovery platform built on professional critic transparency, brings podcast listeners 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. Joint by The Podcast Critic Newsletter - Great Pods.
Shoutout to Keelin of Mentally? A Magpie for The Blindboy Podcast review.
🇧🇪 Podcasts from Belgium 🇧🇪
Caroline Prévinaire started out in street theatre before founding lvdt.studio in Liège, where she has just opened her own recording studio. Storytelling in all its forms is her thing: she produces podcasts for RTBF, Belgium's French-speaking public broadcaster, from kids' series to documentary, and reviews podcasts on air. She also teaches at the University of Liège.
Contes des fées, histoires magiques pour jeunes zumains: A musical fairy-tale podcast for kids: classic tales retold with original songs, a full cast of actors and rich sound design, so each episode feels like a little audio theatre play. Full disclosure: it's our own production at lvdt.studio, and our favourite project! The one we hope to keep growing for many years to come.
Un podcast musical de contes pour enfants : les grands classiques revisités avec des chansons originales, une vraie troupe de comédien·nes et un son très soigné. Chaque épisode est une petite pièce de théâtre audio. En toute transparence : c'est notre production chez lvdt.studio, et notre projet préféré ! Celui qu'on espère développer pendant de longues années.
Être un homme: An intimate documentary series by Michel-Ange Vinti (Studio Balado): gay men from Brussels tell their own stories of love, desire, shame, family and faith, over original music by David Federmann. I chose it because it's the most delicate listening experience Belgian audio has produced lately. It disarms you with honesty.
Une série documentaire intime de Michel-Ange Vinti (Studio Balado) : des hommes homosexuels de Bruxelles racontent l'amour, le désir, la honte, la famille, la foi, sur la musique originale de David Federmann. Je l'ai choisi parce que c'est l'écoute la plus délicate produite en Belgique ces derniers temps. Une honnêteté qui désarme.
Les Tueurs du Brabant: RTBF's landmark true-crime series about the still-unsolved "Brabant killers" case that terrorised Belgium in the 1980s: 28 deaths and decades of failed investigations. I picked it because it's the series that got the whole country listening. A collective trauma, told with rigour and real narrative tension.
La grande série true crime de la RTBF sur les « Tueurs du Brabant », l'affaire non élucidée qui a terrorisé la Belgique dans les années 80 : 28 morts et des décennies d'enquêtes ratées. Je l'ai choisie parce que c'est la série qui a fait écouter tout le pays. Un traumatisme collectif, raconté avec rigueur et une vraie tension narrative.
Thank you, Caroline!
You can connect with her here.
🚀Events and Opportunities🚀
This call for proposals will support the production of innovative audio formats and their distribution across Europe with a budget of EUR 4.5 million. This call for proposals targets projects focused on increasing independent reporting on European issues through audio formats and expanding its dissemination via broadcasting and/or digital platforms.
When? September 7.
Northern European Mobility Opportunity (Nordic Europe, UK, Ireland)
The programme focuses on individual artists and arts practitioners in the early stages of their careers. It reflects a shared recognition among the partners that this group has a particular need for additional support and opportunities in the current climate.
When? September 17.
Festival del Podcasting (Italy)
The first and largest event in Italy for podcasting and digital audio. Two days to immerse yourself in new trends , listen to the most authoritative voices in the sector , and network with those who are changing the way we communicate.
When? October 2-3.
That’s it for now!
Andreea
This is a stacked newsletter!