Dear Good Tape readers, 

It is almost the Fourth of July, and it’s time to celebrate a major milestone. Not America’s 250th (overrated, underwhelming), but the first anniversary of my becoming Good Tape’s newsletter editor.

Looking back, it’s funny to see how much has come full circle. Last July 5, my inaugural newsletter entry began with an item about how damn quickly Resonate 2025 tickets sold out. One year later, today’s leading story is that Resonate 2026 tickets go on sale today at 12 p.m. EDT and are expected to sell out just as fast. Some things are constant. 

But it’s also been a wild, inconstant year to cover podcasting, from the dissolution of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to Amazon’s “restructuring” of Wondery — both of which happened in the same week. Meanwhile, Apple pivoted to video, YouTube announced dynamic ad insertion, and new startups like Type C Studios and Good Egg Audio gave us a sense of hope. 

A lot has also changed within the Good Tape ecosystem over the past 365 days. Humbly, I’ll say we’ve done more and reached higher than at any point in our four-year history:

• • • We added a fantastic new managing editor in Becca James. 
  • • We published our third print issue with our biggest cover story ever.
  • • Under the direction of publisher Dane Cardiel and our sister brand, Off The Record, we hosted the Fast Follow Summit to kick off Resonate.
  • • Under the guidance of founding creative director Sami Wittwer, our creative shingle, Good Tape Studio, has provided brand consulting to more than 25 clients and created original tile art for 20 series.
  • • We’ve vastly expanded our online coverage beyond the digitization of our annual print issues to include festival profiles, creator interviews, podcast-adjacent film reviews, honest evaluations of video pod sets, and takedowns of the consolidation of power. 
  • • We started a podcast of our own, “This Is TV Now.” Maybe you’ve heard of it?
  • • And… we launched subscriptions for individuals and institutional partners, starting at just $5/mo (or $3/mo when paid annually). 

Let’s talk about this last point for a moment. 

If you’re reading this, you already care deeply about podcasting as an industry and as an art form. Which also means you are routinely asked to give money, whether via premium memberships or Patreon. The requests for cash are so constant, they often fade into white noise. 

And yet. On this, my first newsletter-versary, I have one ask: Please do not let this one fade. We need institutional and individual support to keep going. And like so many independent organizations, our future is not guaranteed. To that end, you’ll be noticing some changes to the way this newsletter is structured in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for that!

Having endured mass layoffs and show cancellations, one thing this community understands at a bone-deep level is that we are all we’ve got. Big corporations do not see us as makers; they see us as widgets. It is only through supporting each other that basically anything good happens at all. 

So if you have been a free reader this year and have found insight or solace in something you’ve read here, subscribe to support our writing. If you work at a financially stable corporation, invite your bosses to become a Sustaining Partner. Hire us to produce your next industry dinner. Tap us to create your festival program. Our shop is small but mighty! And we have a lot more to write about in the coming 365 days, including in our next print edition, the Chemistry Issue.

I’ll say it again: We are all we’ve got. Help us write Good Tape’s next chapter.

Humbly,
Katie

Laura Ramadei Is Holding Out Hope for Men

And other musings from the “Girls on Porn” co-host.

Words by Dane Cardiel

Laura Ramadei is a certified sexologist, relationship coach, and intimacy practitioner who helps others embrace their most authentic selves. She also co-hosts “Girls on Porn” with Rachel Napoleon. Together, the hosts aim to help people find porn they can feel good about.

This week on “This Is TV Now,” we talk to Ramadei about her relationship to podcasting, her development as an educator, and the current state of the Manosphere through the lens of sex. Afterward, we extended the conversation and were treated to a really good ghost story.

Who is the most underrated person in your industry right now?

Laura Ramadei: Are we talking porn or are we talking intimacy and relationships? I can’t help but think of porn performers because that’s who I want a platform. There’s creator, filmmaker, and performer Vex Ashley, who hosts a site [called] Four Chambers. In her words, it’s like “art-school-bullshit porn” — really incredible production value while still being very indie and like, really hot sex. I love For Chambers, and I just stumbled across a performer who goes by @_king_krueger or Kyron Krueger, and he’s like a very kinky, switchy performer, very, like, conventionally hot. So, if you’re into masculine men being dominated, that’s for you; he’s for you. That can be hard to find.

Read the rest

Some other stories that have our attention, brought to you by Good Tape’s Off The Record — an event series creating real-time dialogues between podcast executives, creatives, and brands on hyper-relevant topics to evolve the medium.

• • Welp, it’s official: Vox was bought by Penske Media Corp, making PMC the world’s largest digital media publisher. This deal comes in the wake of last month’s sale of Vox to James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems. Cue the “Succession” theme…
• • As mentioned above, Resonate tickets go on sale at 12 p.m. EDT today. But if you miss out, never fear: Festival chief Chioke I’Anson has announced a second Resonate in Cape Town, South Africa, in partnership with Radio Workshop. Resonate Cape Town will run from February 19 to 20, 2027; tickets go on sale July 15. Save those airline miles and get your clicking finger ready. 
• • It’s the end of an era. After 10 years of creating the signature portraits and editorial illustrations that helped define “Talk Easy,” Krishna Bala Shenoi is stepping away from the show.
• • Alice Florence Orr of Podcast Review sat down with our very own Dane Cardiel to talk about building Good Tape, why podcast criticism matters, and what it’ll take to create a stronger, more lasting culture around podcasting.
• • How’s this for a big headline? Per Edison Research, “Total Podcast Consumption Time Up 386% Since 2016.” (Make sure you check out the incredible graph illustrating the growth.) Never let them tell you podcasting is over.

Good Tape is proudly independent yet deeply rooted in community. If you value our work exploring the ideas, people, and forces influencing podcasting, share this newsletter with a friend. Or, better yet, become a subscriber. Your support helps sustain our commitment to elevating cultural and critical coverage of the podcast industry.