RadioPublic released the first versions of an app for iOS and Android Monday that helps users discover and listen to podcasts.
The app starts with discovery “and will be layering in engagement next, followed by rewards — both for producers and listeners themselves,” wrote Jake Shapiro, c.e.o. of RadioPublic.
The app can connect users to a “Podcast Librarian,” an actual person who can recommend podcasts. It also offers curated episode playlists by topic, artist, publisher, network and other categories.
We’re assembling hundreds of our own, and inviting tastemakers everywhere to use their curatorial expertise and brand to help listeners get to the good stuff.
Each playlist is a feed you can follow, and acts both as a mixtape to listen through and a collection of jumping off points. Each episode pivots to the show it’s from (tap the “tap the show artwork or the “more” icon to get there) — essentially a podcast hyperlink. And the playlists live on the web as well, easy to share, link, and soon to embed in publishers’ and podcasters’ sites.
The app doesn’t require users to create an account, which Shapiro said “streamlines adoption for new listeners and removes barriers for producers and publishers helping promote the app as a seamless listening path.” It remains under active development, according to Shapiro.
Public Radio Exchange introduced RadioPublic in May as a spinoff company for developing the mobile platform for podcasts and audio streams. Shapiro, PRX’s founder, stepped down as c.e.o. to lead the new venture.