Odds and Ends: From Podcast to Book, Dash Conference and new Podcast News Source

The popular "Welcome to Night Vale" podcast (100 million downloads since it began in 2012) is headed to print with a 400-page novel.  It's not the first podcast to result in a print companion.  Comedian Marc Maron has an upcoming book, "The WTF Oral History."  Also a book entitled "Adnan's Story" about Adnan Syed, the subject of the crazy popular Serial podcast is in the works.  The New York Times covers the story here.

All of the major radio trade publications have covered the ascent of podcasting with great vigor.  Thanks all.  The popular music and radio website, All Access has gone a step further and added a dedicated section covering podcasting.  You can see it here.  Thanks to the prescient Joel Denver and his All Access crew.  

The advent and changes to the "connected car" may be the most seismic thing to happen to all audio.  In just a few years, it has migrated from crazy looking UI's from auto companies that didn't work very well, to new and more refined apps from Apple and Android which threaten to take over the user experience in the car.  Maybe that's a good thing.  Hard to say.  There are so many issues.  How this impacts AM/FM is a big question.  It appears to be a boon for podcasting, but there is a whole lot more audio that will be available in the "center stack."  The Dash Conference is coming up on November 4 and 5 in Detroit and is chock full of interesting sessions.  A little promotion for a session I am moderating on podcasting - we will have an all-star panel with Eric Diehn of Midroll, Eric Nuzum of Audible and Sarah Van Mosel of WNYC.