The Short Stack
A taste of what's hot in podcast and streaming tech, and at SoundStack HQ.
Audio insights don’t stay in Vegas – The Short Stack
Edition 25 • April 2025
It’s hard to cover everything I learned from so many great thinkers – from what’s working in audio now, to what needs more help, to where this never-boring space is headed. But here are a few highlights:
Keeping live audio listeners loyal – The Short Stack
Edition 24 • March 2025
Public radio and other segments are going through a uniquely tricky time right now. With the future of funding uncertain and other ongoing challenges, delivering a smooth listener experience is one thing that public radio should never have to worry about.
Public radio leaders talk knowledge sharing – The Short Stack
Edition 23 • February 2025
The knowledge that gets shared can come in many flavors, from listener patterns and engagement, to guidance on the easiest ways to disseminate your audio content across other channels and attract as many listeners as possible.
Minimizing turbulence along the supply path – The Short Stack
Edition 22 • January 2025
A new year represents a fresh opportunity to shout out to all of our compatriots in this space who are continually helping to raise the ship for audio. It’s been said quite a bit at this point –but many still need convincing that audio should play a primary role in every media plan.
Stand up for your partners in ‘25 – The Short Stack
Edition 21 • December 2024
One of the reasons I love these year-end posts is that they force me to take stock and really focus on what mattered the most this year. Spoiler alert: it’s about the people.
The heroes of audio – The Short Stack
Edition 20 • October 2024
Why does our team focus so much on service? Because they know that, even with the best innovations, powering a podcast or radio-related business can be super complex. The double-edged sword of our industry’s explosion over the past several years – particularly in podcasting...
Ira Glass joins us at Advertising Week NY – The Short Stack
Edition 19 • September 2024
While the technology in question is on the fairly basic side, the piece spawned a lot of conversation about hosts’ perceptions of podcast tools overall. Particularly, how do creatives (and others) – look at the innovations that are continually being built to make podcasting more effective for everyone involved?
Walk (run) this way into Podcast Movement - The Short Stack
Edition 18 • August 2024
Some of you children of the ‘80’s surely remember that moment when your MTV started to look a little different. It went like this: you were sitting there watching hard rock stalwarts Aerosmith start to bang through the re-release of their ‘70’s hit “Walk this Way.” Suddenly, rap innovators Run-DMC cut into the song, and what starts as a little stylistic battle turns into a beautiful collaboration.
You got your direct-ad chocolate in my programmatic peanut butter - The Short Stack
Edition 17 • July 2024
Everyone in this business is by now familiar with the fact that there can be some friction between direct and programmatic advertising, whether that’s in podcasting or linear audio, display, video, or any other segment. Proponents of direct often point to custom brand engagements, cross-channel executions, more uniqueness, and similar benefits of more “premium value.”
Keeping audio advertising’s pants up – The Short Stack
Edition 16 • June 2024
A lot of people use advertising technology in a similar way. Both server-side and client-side methods of ad insertion ensure that an audio ad gets served properly into a live stream. The question of which of those two methods is more effective is an age-old debate. But ultimately, both are imperfect. Why?