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With Netflix now streaming original podcasts and Apple announcing a category-leading video experience on its app this spring, the meaning of the word “podcast” has grown increasingly diffuse. It was much easier to pin down during the mediums mid-aughts infancy. Back then, a podcast was simply asynchronous talk radiothe natural next step after moving from terrestrial radio, to satellite platforms like SiriusXM, to a new and purely digital format that could be downloaded and consumed on demand. In the years since, the definition has vastly expanded. Essentially, any form of episodic audio or video content that involves people speaking into microphones can now be considered a podcast. Weve drifted so far away from the original context and definition of the word that perhaps its time for semantics to catch up. The consumption is moving more and more toward video-based podcasts, says Jonathan Miller, a former Fox digital media and NBA executive and current CEO of Integrated Media Co. At some point, there needs to be a new name. But it’s not going to happen easily. Pivoting to video Originally coined in early 2004 by British journalist Ben Hammersley, the word “podcast” was an ingenious turn of phrase at the time. The punny portmanteau succinctly describes the then-emergent format of a broadcast that emanates from ones iPod. The only problem? That title assumed a world in which iPods hung around for the long haul, rather than entering obsolescence just three years later with the invention of the iPhone. (The iPod ultimately remained in circulation for another 15 years, until Apple ceased manufacturing them in 2022.) Anyone on the younger end of the prime podcasting demographic of 18 to 34 years old has likely never used an iPod, and might regard one with the same anthropological curiosity they would a VCR or rotary phone. If the podcasts outdated nominal inspiration werent enough reason for a rebrand, though, the popularity of video may be what cinches it. As more and more podcasters have started putting their shows on camera, YouTube has become the top podcast platform in the U.S., with over 1 billion active users logging on for them each month. Meanwhile, Apples audio-only app loses a little more of its market share every year, going from 15.7% of monthly podcast listeners preference in 2022 to 11.3% in 2025. Perhaps the companys forthcoming video experience will help Apple regain some of that groundif Netflix and its competitors all inevitably throwing their hats in the ring doesnt erode that number further. But if a podcast is no longer something audiences hear but watch, is it even the same medium? “What were witnessing isnt a departure from podcastingits an evolution, says Matt Sandler, general manager of creator services at Amazon. The content itself has evolved from interviews into ensemble conversations, documentary-style storytelling, live experiences, and hybrid shows that blur the lines between what weve traditionally seen on social [media], podcasts, and TV. As a result, podcasts have naturally moved from audio-only experiences to screens. As popular as the video format is getting, not everyone sees it as a full industry takeover. I don’t see a pivot to video but an addition, says Adam Curry, the former MTV VJ whose early adoption of podcasting earned him the nickname “The Podfather.” Of course, the addition of video to an audio format has always been disruptive, to say the least. The revolution will not be podcasted Before it became known as television, one of the inventions developers, Charles Francis Jenkins, dubbed it “radiovision.” There must have been very little doubt among the public about which technology TV was intended to replace. The introduction of TV solved the problem of how boring and undynamic it must have been to gather ones family around a radio and listen to Fibber McGee and Molly on a Thursday night. It created a dazzling new galaxy of programming possibilities that revolutionized show business, and just about every other kind of business. TV obviously didnt kill radio, but it drastically diminished radios appeal and quickly supplanted it as the top option for home entertainment. Among the reasons radio has flourished well beyond TVs invention is because people also wanted to be entertained outside the home. It turned out there were many situations where the dynamism of a visual component proved unnecessarywhile driving, working, or shoveling snow, for instance. The main distinction between the rise of video podcasts and the rise of television is that, unlike the medium that TV disrupted, podcasts were originally made precisely for such moments of divided attention. People mostly consume them while their eyes are focused elsewhere. In fact, according to a YouGov survey from 2023, the topmost popular podcast-consuming situations are while doing chores, commuting, or working out. I want something I can listen to like an audiobook when Im driving, riding the subway, or walking in the park, says Dave Winer, a software developer, writer, and pioneering podcaster. Though its technically possible to watch a long-form podcast while doing all those things, its not exactly practical. Still, the medium is now in a weird straddling moment in which many podcasters have not yet figured out for which of their audiences senses theyre primarily creating content. Its now quite common for the hosts of a podcast to pantomime actions, make faces and hand gestures, or employ some other visual aid that provokes an in-studio laugh, followed by a reflexive explanation to our listeners about what just happened on-screen. Will they eventually stop explaining? Or will they instead stop playing to the camera? Either way, it might be helpful to know that not as many people may be watching podcasts as it seems. According to Triton Digitals annual podcasting report, only 7% of audiences exclusively watch their favorite podcasts, while 13% exclusively listen to them, and the remaining 80% now alternate between the two options. These results hint at an epidemic of video podcasts playing inside listeners jean pockets as they go about their business. Maybe not for long, though. Whats in a name? Whichever way people prefer to onsume video podcasts, the popularity of these shows has big business implications. As the recent cancellations of both Kelly Clarksons and Sherri Shepherds TV talk shows indicate, podcasts are coming for daytime TV. Theyre also coming for the ailing late-night TV industry, and any other talky TV format that could technically be made with a tiny crew and no union involvement. (After launching without union coverage and incurring some blowback, Netflixs The Pete Davidson Show has since signed with SAG-AFTRA.) Talk television is set to become a derivative of video podcasting, Integrated Media’s Miller says. Fewer traditional talk show options will inevitably mean more video podcasts with high-wattage guests, like Amy Poehlers Good Hang and Matt Rogers and Bowen Yangs Las Culturistas. That means more people will likely start consuming their podcasts on smart TVs while curled up on the couch with a second screen. In a scenario where that mode of consuming podcasts becomes more dominant, the word podcast will feel even more dissonant than it does now. Part of the reason any medium needs a definitive name is to quantify audience consumption for advertisers. As an industry, video podcasts are now roughly at the point where streaming series were at about a decade ago, when it was still common to call them TV shows. Nielsen Media Research struggled to adjust its language when TV moved to streaming, and remains stuck in a swamp of acronyms like SVOD (subscription video on demand), OTT (over-the-top), and CTV (connected TV) content. Keeping the podcast label would cleanly delineate shows like the Kelce brothers New Heights and Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy for the remaining years of linear television. But if the word were to be replaced, what would we start calling podcasts instead? We might call it social media TV, says Henry Jenkins, a media studies professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. The format is a longer and mostly unedited discussion compared to whats possible via broadcasting. Its consumed asynchronously. Both of these overlap with podcasts as we have understood them.” But with video, the medium is now yet another step removed from that original meaning, adds Jenkins. “What I like about social media TV is that it conveys the hybrid nature of this new format. I much prefer understanding it as something new than to allow it to define what podcasting becomes. Miller thinks a potential linguistic change might be simpler, though. What a podcast really refers to is a unit of somethingone pod is one episode, he says. So maybe, at the end of the day, they simply become known as episodes. Just because video podcasts have become the dominant commercial format, thoughto the point of possibly redefining the mediumdoesnt mean the original format is on its way out. If podcasting becomes video, and audio podcasting disappears . . . we’ll just boot up podcasting again with a different name, Winer says. But dont be surprised if the word sticks around as the industry evolves around it. We still use paper clip icons to attach a file, and a floppy disc icon to save something, Curry notes. Similarly, theres a reason why iPhones still have the word phone in them, even though making phone calls is now among the devices more marginal functions. Sometimes, words continue to survive long after the idea that inspired them becomes redundant. One such word, which originally referred to sowing seeds by scattering them over a wide area, is “broadcast.”
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A new hotline is inviting Americans to congratulate the U.S. womens hockey team after its historic Olympic gold medal winand its already flooded with messages. Launched yesterday by the PR firm Jennifer Bett Communications in collaboration with Cosmopolitan, the gold medal hotline allows fans to leave voicemails celebrating Team USA. The number, 1-833-SHE-WON1, has received 278 messages since opening yesterday afternoon, many from girls and women who say the team inspired them. “This hotline is essentially a giant, collective thank you from fans everywhere,” Jennifer Meyer, founder of Jennifer Bett Communications, tells Fast Company. “We want to remind them that they are seen, they are celebrated, and they have the full support of a country that is incredibly proud of them.” And the messages themselves reflect that outpouring of gratitude. “You guys are what I wanted to be when I grew up, but they didn’t let girls play hockey back then. I am bursting with pride over what you’ve done. Congratulations, one message went. Another said: Boys in my class always make fun of me for playing hockey and sometimes make me think I should quit, but you guys just rebuilt my confidence on and off the ice. The hotline comes after the U.S. womens team defeated Canada on Sunday to secure its third Winter Olympics gold medaland its first since 2018though the victory was partly overshadowed by a viral video from the mens teams locker room later that day. In the clip, President Donald Trump congratulated the mens team over video call and invited them to the State of the Union and the White House, adding he was also going to have to bring the womens team and that if he didnt, hed probably be impeached. Players could be heard laughing, a reaction that drew accusations of misogyny online. All but five members of the USA mens ice hockey team later visited the Oval Office on Tuesday, while a USA Hockey spokesperson said the womens team also received an invitation but declined. New Jersey Devils player Jack Hughes, who scored the winner for the U.S., addressed the backlash. People are so negative out there and they are just trying to find a reason to put people down and make something out of almost nothing, he told the Daily Mail. Everything is so political. Were athletes. Others were quick to point out that partying with FBI director Kash Patel and celebrating a historic win by attending the State of the Union is, in fact, what makes sports political.
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Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers will resign from teaching at Harvard University amid a campus review of his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the university announced Wednesday. Summers, who has been on leave since November and whose name appeared hundreds of times in newly released Epstein files, will leave at the end of the school year, according to a statement from Harvard spokesperson Jason Newton. Professor Summers has announced that he will retire from his academic and faculty appointments at Harvard at the end of this academic year and will remain on leave until that time, Newton said. In a statement, Summers said it was a difficult decision and expressed gratitude to the students and colleagues he worked with over 50 years. Free of formal responsibility, as President Emeritus and a retired professor, I look forward in time to engaging in research, analysis, and commentary on a range of global economic issues, Summers said. Summers served as treasury secretary under former President Bill Clinton and went on to lead Harvard as president for five years starting in 2001. Its the latest fallout from the Justice Departments recent release of millions of pages of records pertaining to Epstein and his longtime confidant and former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. Resignations have rippled across the academic, legal, and business communities. In Britain, former Prince Andrew and ex-diplomat Peter Mandelson were arrested because of their connections to Epstein and Maxwell. ____ The Associated Press education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. Collin Binkley, AP education writer
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Companies want to hire workers with artificial intelligence skills, but don’t want to pay the premium. Those are the findings from a new report from Payscale, a leading online provider of data on salaries and compensation. Payscale’s 2026 Compensation Best Practices Report finds that while 60% of companies mention AI as part of their job descriptions, only 55% are willing to shell out extra money for those skills in the form of higher salaries, bonuses or even equity in the company. Why? Well, according to the report, there are a few reasons for the discrepancy, including the impact of a tight job market on hiring, coming at a time when businesses are also tightening their budgets. In fact, 51% of the businesses surveyed say their biggest challenge in the current economic landscape is balancing employee pay expectations with budget constraints. It could be that while companies want to pay more, they just don’t have the cash. So, how much are jobs paying? The report finds the median base pay increase in 2026 is only 3.5%. Job hugging trend continues in workplace Another reason for lower-than-desired salaries is “job hugging“the current trend where employees are staying longer in their positions and choosing not to leave their jobs. Only about 8% of U.S. workers are actually voluntarily quitting, the report finds. And those positions take about 30 days to fill, signaling “reduced churn” and less urgency on the part of companies to compete aggressively for talent. According to the report, 40% of the organizations surveyed say they have indeed experienced “job hugging” in 2025, with 15% agreeing that it inhibits business growth. With confidence in finding a new job at an all-time low among workers, and “workers hold[ing] onto their jobs for dear lifeit’s no wonder AI skills aren’t boosting salaries across the board. How AI is transforming the job market While 59% of the human resource leaders and compensation teams that Payscale surveyed say they are not replacing employees with AI now or in the future, 30% already areor are considering it for the future. Construction, business services, technology (including software), and healthcare are the leading industries already replacing workers with AI, according to the report.
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At a time of broken climate pledges and an economy-wide bearhug of automation and artificial intelligence, the dominant themes of the recently announced 2026 National Design Awardsclimate action, sustainability, dedication to craftare a refreshing reset. Rewarding innovation and impact among U.S.-based designers, the awards are both an honor and a pulse check on the state of design. This year’s group of winners represent a diverse group of practitioners and firms exploring ways that work in design and the arts can counteract environmental catastrophe and re-center the human hand in shaping the future. Honorees include the indigenous underpinnings in the textiles of fashion designer Josh Tafoya, the cross-border ecological and social research outposts of Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman, and the environmentally sensitive museum design of architecture firm Frida Escobedo Studio. Other winners were selected for works pushing the boundaries of fields from digital cartography to ecological restoration. Josh Tafoya, Ranchero La Bruja [Photo: Courtesy of Josh Tafoya/Cooper Hewitt] Launched in 2000 by the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York, the awards honor designers across design disciplines from architecture to digital design to interior design. Despite the awards program being created as a project of the White House Millennium Council, this year’s honorees zag away from the trendlines of current national politics. Two standout honorees include Mattaforma, a New York City-based architecture and research studio focusing on mass-timber and sustainable building materials, and Berea College Student Craft, a hands-on experiential design and craft program that dates back to 1893. Mattaforma, Parkview Mountain House [Photo: Courtesy of Lauren Kerr/Cooper Hewitt] The 2026 jury was chaired by Aric Chen, director of the Zaha Hadid Foundation, and also included Liz Danzico, vice president of design at Microsoft AI, Henk Ovink, executive director and founding commissioner for the Global Commission on the Economics of Water, and Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Berea College Student Craft, Squibble Broom [Photo: Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt] Here’s the full list of categories and winners: Architecture: Frida Escobedo Studio Climate Action: UCSD Community Stations by Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman Communication Design: Thought Matter Design Visionary: Robert Earl Paige Digital Design: Laura Kurgan Emerging Designer: Mattaforma Fashion Design: Josh Tafoya Interior Design: Charlap Hyman & Herrero Landscape Architecture: Ten Eyck Landscape Architects Product Design: Berea College Student Craft
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