On Air Fest Brooklyn is less than a month away, and the stacked lineup is eclectic and familiar. Some names are perennial fixtures; others, joyful surprises. (Also, apparently Wyclef Jean. Guess he really is back from Abu Dhabi.) Either way, GOOD TAPE readers can use the code G00DT4PE30 for 30% off festival tickets. 

As we are hopeless suckers for pod-biz content, the day we’re most amped for is the invite-only Podcast Business Summit on Tuesday, February 24, hosted by peerless pod journalist and scoop-getter Ashley Carman of Bloomberg News. Speakers range from the viral (Pablo Torre, Adam Friedland) to the inevitable (Kara Swisher) to the actually controversial (Ky Dickens of “The Telepathy Tapes”). 

Home base for the fest is, per usual, Williamsburg’s Wythe Hotel, with its trendy-posh clientele and the nicest doorman you’ve ever met. (Sincerely. Tip your venue staff.) Despite our punny headline, we genuinely don’t expect any “White Lotus”-type shenanigans to pop off at this podcast conference. That’s for Tribeca 😉. That said, On Air has always had a whiff of “anything can happen” — more so since expanding venues to include the massive XXV Creator Hall. Last year, we caught The Kid Mero’s “Victory Light” live recording, which felt distinctly less like an industry event and more like a house party (in a good way). 

The newsier part of this story is that, for the first time, On Air will kick off the festival by hosting the Ambie Awards on Monday, February 23. Nominees this year include “Wisecrack,” included in five categories; two different entries from “Uncover” (both “Sea of Lies” and “Dirtbag Climber”; you could not make me choose); and a heartening wealth of independent podcast nods, with categories that differentiate between “Indie Podcasts” and “DIY Podcasts,” with the distinction being that a DIY podcast costs less than $500 a month or $6,000 a year to make. 

Sure, “Call Her Daddy” and “SmartLess” are in the mix. But seeing the most nods go to a genre-bending limited series chiller about a stand-up comic warms the very cockles of our audiophile hearts. In this era of corporate media consolidation, we would like to make this prediction a reality: 2026 will be the year of smaller, weirder, more. Smash that DIY category next year, folks.

In keeping with this theme, our latest digital drop from The Threat Issue features several independent creators covering the climate beat. And you don’t have to wait to hear from them: this week, Good Tape is hosting a LinkedIn Live conversation with one of our Issue 03 writers, Jordan Glass Pooré, alongside journalist Olga Loginova, about the state of narrative climate podcasts and the threats on press freedom in an age of misinformation. It’s Thursday, January 29 at 1:30 pm ET: sign up to attend for free.

Where Have All the Climate Podcasts Gone?

Deeply reported climate podcasts are in danger. Here’s why that matters.

Words by: Jordan Gass-Pooré
Art by: María Medem

In 2017, Amy Westervelt pitched the idea of a true crime-style narrative climate podcast to numerous production shops and was met with disinterest. No one believed it would attract enough listeners to justify the necessary budget. So she raised $30,000 in grant funding to independently produce the first season of “Drilled” with the help of an audio engineer/composer and a supportive husband.

“I taped all the voice tracks for that first season in my car at night in my driveway,” Westervelt said of the podcast’s humble beginnings.

That didn’t last long. “Drilled” surpassed 1 million downloads in its first year as a self-distributed show and has since become a long-running and award-winning narrative climate podcast that remains self-distributed.

“I was just going to do [‘Drilled’] as a limited-run series, but it did well enough to basically become all I do,” Westervelt said.

But now even she’s having difficulty raising money, and the constant calls for value justification persist. I can commiserate. Over the past four years, I’ve had to learn how to create budgets, raise money, and write grant applications with little to no institutional support. My remedial math teacher in college would be impressed. 

Read the rest

ICYMI

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.

• • In addition to hosting the upcoming LinkedIn Live session we mentioned above, our publisher, Dane Cardiel, also joined Jessica Ferrer for a session last week on the state of podcasting in 2026; watch it here. 
• • Our newsletter editor, Katie Clark Gray, will be appearing on an upcoming episode of “Now That We Think About It” with Allie Larkin and Alice Carbone Tench; the episode drops on Monday, February 2.
• • Don’t count out Apple: According to their newsroom, 2025 was a record-breaking year for Apple services, including podcasts: “2025 was Apple Podcasts’ best year yet, achieving record listeners, plays, and subscribers.” Maybe we should check out that “Pluribus” companion pod after all?   
• • Tag this one “not pod-related,” but while we’ve got you, maybe visit the Stand With Minnesota donation directory and find an org to support. ICE can go to hell. 

A friendly reminder that Good Tape is proudly independent, yet deeply rooted in community. We’d love your support as we explore the ideas, people, and powers shaping podcasting. Become a subscriber, which directly helps us fund publication costs and empowers us to continue elevating cultural and critical coverage of the podcast industry. You can also keep the conversion going by forwarding our newsletter to a friend or a few who you think will enjoy it.