

Grover previously served as Executive Vice President and General Manager at iHeartRadio, and before that as Vice President of Programming and Marketing at Clear Channel Music & Radio. This unprecedented collaboration furthers public radio’s leading role as an innovator in audio discovery and distribution, while ensuring the continued support and growth of one of the most popular listening platforms on the market.Īudio veteran Owen Grover will serve as CEO of Pocket Casts.

The members could harness the immense popularity of their shows to direct listeners to Pocket Casts, though NPR has been reluctant to promote its own podcasts and app.Pocket Cast has been acquired by NPR, WNYC Studios, WBEZ Chicago, and This American Life.

That might help Pocket Casts learn your preferences and suggest new shows in a more tailored fashion, perhaps through the Up Next queue.Īt the very least, the move will help the public radio group have more of a dedicated home amid the podcast app diaspora. It may be the case that some of NPR One's features are rolled in, such as letting the app know when you like a story on its personalized stream and skipping the ones you're less interested in. Shifty Jelly hinted at some future plans for Pocket Casts. NPR has its own app, NPR One, and still distributes its podcasts through other apps and platforms. There's no real indication that the NPR group will use Pocket Casts as their exclusive podcast home - they are in public radio, after all, and Pocket Casts is a paid app. Shifty Jelly's team will continue working on the app, with former iHeartRadio and Clear Channel vice president Owen Grover joining as Pocket Casts CEO.īy subscribing, you are agreeing to Engadget's Terms and Privacy Policy. Instead, it's using its new resources to improve Pocket Casts. It accepted the group's offer because "everything from their not-for-profit mission focus, to their unwavering belief that open and collaborative wins over closed walled gardens resonated deeply with us." The developer hammered home the point that nothing is immediately changing in the app. The app also includes an Up Next function, which can automatically build a podcast queue for you.ĭeveloper Shifty Jelly said in a blog post while it had received previous offers from other suitors, it had turned them all down. Pocket Casts' discover section currently highlights featured, trending and popular shows. The public radio outlets hope to improve the podcast discovery experience, help creators find new audiences and improve insights for producers. NPR, This American Life, WNYC Studios and WBEZ Chicago have teamed up to buy Pocket Casts, a cross-platform podcast app.
