If you spill a latte on a subway commuter in Brooklyn, there’s a good chance they would need to pause a podcast before complaining about the coffee stain on their thrifted cardigan. That’s because the podcast industry has exploded, with Brooklyn positioned at the forefront.
In 2017, the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment declared the city a "Podcast Capital," thanks to the density of advertising firms, technology companies, major brands, digital media organizations and talent. Although updated figures are scarce, those in the borough's podcasting community say the industry is thriving.
Jemma Brown, the general manager of The Signal Awards, which annually celebrates the best podcasts, said Brooklyn's unique culture adds fresh ideas, creative people and vibrancy to the industry.
"NYC is the bedrock of the podcast industry in many ways," Brown said. "We have legacy public radio stations, multinational media companies, indie outfits. It's all here, and the people who make and voice your favorite podcasts live in Brooklyn. "
The BK ECOSYSTEM
The robust podcast scene has created a cottage industry in the borough. Joe Fucigna, who started Joe Fucinga Consulting in 2023, said he started the firm because so many creators needed help with their strategy, infrastructure and execution.
Fucinga said his consultancy handles "every stage" of a client's podcasting operation, including initial development and management services that help podcasters earn money. Clients includes Two Idiot Girls with Drew and Deison Afualo, sisters who inspire listeners to laugh together; Good Moms Bad Choices, an audio diary for women who love their good and bad sides, with best friends Erica Dickerson and Milah Mapp; and Fred Minnick, who offers premium content on whiskey.
Brown and Fucinga, a former executive at Patreon, a content monetization platform, hosts a monthly industry meet-up that covers topics like promotion, marketing, growth strategies and booking talent.
When asked why he has the meetups in Brooklyn, Fucigna said the borough remains the "heartbeat" of the industry, even though many studios are in Manhattan "It’s where many podcast creators and professionals live, where production studios are based, where major events like On-Air Fest and live podcast shows take place, and where the creative process thrives," he said.
Take Multitude, an independent podcast collective based in Greenpoint. The business is run by Chief Executive Officer Amanda McLoughlin and Head of Development Eric Silver, who produce a lineup of in-house podcasts, such as Attach Your Resume, which are interviews with online content creators and This Guy Sucked, a history podcast for haters, by haters.
Now the duo, who are married, said many podcasters are wondering how they can pivot to incorporating video after Spotify, YouTube and Netflix all recently announced their entrance into the video podcast market.
ON-AIR FEST
One big Brooklyn podcasting event is the On-Air Fest, which unfurled from February 19-21 for over 2,000 attendees in Williamsburg.
Scott Newman, the founder and creative director of the branding agency work x work and the On-Air Fest, says Brooklyn's influence on the podcast industry is immense.
"Podcasting grew up because of Brooklyn," he said. "There's so many creative producers, storytellers, journalists, writers and thinkers who have been making and producing podcasts here. Boutique production companies and bigger ones that grew up here, from Gimlet to Pineapple Studios to On-Air Fest. There's no question there's a heavy Brooklyn influence in podcasting culture."
On-Air festival highlights included talks with Seth Myers, James Austin Jones, Taylor Lorenz, Bon Iver and Subway Takes, with Kareem Rahma. The Kid Mero also staged the first live taping of his podcast Victory Light, in front of a raucous audience. Comic, actor and musician Reggie Watts was on a panel that parsed what space sounds like and had a special demonstration of NASA's "sonic renderings" which makes music from data.
"What we're moving into, is we're doubling down, tripling down on community," Watts told BK Reader.
As the topics become more microscopic and niche, Newman predicted podcasters to keep evolving and futher expand their content into visual shows.
"Everything is multimedia and cross-channel," he said. "I think you'll see a lot of audio podcasts become film and television shows. You'll probably see more YouTube creators becoming audio storytellers and vice versa, and I think the word is optimistic."
