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Seekers
India
Skyline Drive
When Mangesh Hattikudur (Part-Time Genius, Humans Growing Stuff) set out to do a big, sweeping show on astrology, he didn’t realize the first interview would change the course of his life. Over the course of 8 episodes, Mangesh tries to decipher why we keep looking to the stars for answers, and what happens when you don’t believe in astrology, but astrology keeps happening to you.
Hosted by Mangesh Hattikudur. Read More
Russia
The Last Soviet
Lance Bass, NSYNC Superstar and Russian trained astronaut, takes you on a wild ride into space. He tells the story of the last Soviet cosmonaut who is trapped on the world’s only space station, as the country he knows and loves collapses beneath him. On this journey through Earth’s atmosphere in the form of a podcast, Lance introduces you to the woman who won a reality show cosmonaut contest, a ham radio operator in Australia who became a lifeline for the Soviet Space Station, and more.
Hosted by Lance Bass. Read More
silicon valley
ON MUSK // WITH WALTER isaacson
What is it like to shadow Elon Musk for two years? To sit courtside as he builds a rocket? Or tears apart an engineer? Or couch surfs at the homes of billionaires? And how on earth do you make sense of it all? Walter Isaacson is the biographer of giants: DaVinci, Franklin, Doudna, Jobs...and now Musk, former enfante terrible, rocket launcher, electric car innovator, and Twitter—er, X—disruptor, to put it gently. In this four part series, author Evan Ratliff (Mastermind, Longform Podcast) sits down with Isaacson to draw out the behind-the-scenes stories of this epic biography, and what the writer has learned as an outsider inside Silicon Valley. Read More
Kaleidoscope In The press
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Why superstar John Legend is using his voice to tell the history of an Afghan talent show
Award-winning musician John Legend tells Christiane Amanpour why he's telling the history of talent show "Afghan Star" in his newest project.
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John Legend - "Afghan Star" | The Daily Show
Legend relays stories of people who risked their lives for music during Taliban control, the television show that unlocked opportunities for women and re-instilled a love of music in a whole generation. They talk about taking music and voting for granted, and how to channel this newfound appreciation into the 2024 election.
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Best podcasts of 2024: from Just One Thing to Thief at the British Museum
An "evocative" new podcast, also named "Afghan Star", describes the excitement the show caused in the country as it emerged from a "long period in which all forms of joy" had been suppressed, and it contains vivid accounts of what it was like to live through that era.
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ON THE RUN Notorious gangster ‘The Uncatchable’ escaped jail 10 TIMES & taunted cops for years – but public WON’T turn him in
The criminal's extraordinary life was recently turned into a podcast by Kaleidoscope - which sparked the idea of a potential film.
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The best books podcasts to listen to now
The show was hosted by Daoud Sidiqi, who remembers the country’s musical renaissance after the fall of the Taliban in 2001, and how his show became an entertainment juggernaut, with villagers huddled around a single television hooked up to a generator. This is a reminder of how reality shows can actually mean something.
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Under the Taliban, Afghan light entertainment accrued unusual weight
In one sense, this series is less about the talent show itself than what surrounded it: the suffering and resilience of ordinary Afghans, and how light entertainment accrued unusual weight after a long period in which all forms of joy were routinely starved.
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Afghan Star podcast review — story of a TV show that gripped the country
It is cleverly produced, weaving the sounds of gunfire, chanting crowds and music to evoke the horrors and joys of Afghanistan’s turbulent recent history…In telling the story of a TV talent show, Legend and his team highlight the liberating and unifying power of music and what happens when it is lost.
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John Legend To Host ‘Afghan Star’ Podcast About Revolutionary Music Talent Format
The series will explore how the talent competition inspired women singing without hijabs, the country’s first rapper, people of warring ethnic groups hugging and cheering for each other on stage and how a ragtag team scrambled to make the show every week, and the dangers they faced.
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What Does a World Without Men Look Like? Ask Jo Piazza.
Some relatives say Lorenza Marsala was killed by the mafia for her land; others claim she was killed for being a healer, or witch, and she crossed the wrong person. Today, Piazza’s exploring that history in a nonfiction podcast, also titled The Sicilian Inheritance, which complements her novel.
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How Writing 'The Sicilian Inheritance' Led Jo Piazza to Investigate a Murder in the Family
I needed to know the truth about what happened to my great-great-grandmother Lorenza Marsala. I became obsessed with solving Lorenza’s actual murder and, because I am an incredibly thorough content creator, decided to make a true crime podcast about it.
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New Novel ‘The Sicilian Inheritance’ Will Make You Want To Travel To Sicily This Summer
It's a delicious mix of mystery and adventure, served up with a side of Sicilian food and wine, all set against the backdrop of breathtaking scenery and wrapped around a cast of characters that draw you in.
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8 Podcasts We Can’t Wait to Listen to This Summer
Designed as a nonfiction true crime-ish audio series that serves as a companion to her upcoming novel of the same name, The Sicilian Inheritance sees Piazza trying to solve her great great grandmother’s murder, which may or may not be tied to the Sicilian Mafia way back in the day.
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Walter Isaacson on Musk’s Legacy and Criticism of His Biography
“And the essence of the story being, how does somebody acquire this much power? Why is it that the rest of government and other contractors have become so paralyzed and sclerotic that they can't do some of these things?”
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The Best Gifts Under $100, According to W Editors
To go along with the investigative podcast Obsessions: Wild Chocolate, which charts a journey through the rainforest in search of ancient cacao sources, Swiss chocolatier Stettler has put together a box of sustainably harvested, decadent, single origin bars inspired by the story. A pretty excellent combo, if you ask me.
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Startup Kaleidoscope looks to disrupt podcasting: 'Enormous amount of room to run'
A new startup is looking to disrupt the podcast space by betting big on overseas content.
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Vice Media’s Kate Osborn Joins Kaleidoscope Podcast Startup
Osborn, who most recently oversaw Vice's global audio division, will be the podcast company's evp, head of podcast development.
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Kaleidoscope Podcast Start-Up Signs With WME
The podcast company is co-founded by the former iHeartMedia podcast executive Mangesh Hattikudur and 'Sleepwalkers' host Oz Woloshyn.
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Kaleidoscope raises funding to create a podcast portfolio
Podcast startup Kaleidoscope has raised $3.5 million in convertible notes for seed funding led by North Base Media, the co-founders tell Axios.
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Wild chocolate brand raises the bar for ethical cocoa bean production
It is marketed as the ultimate chocolate without guilt, the product of a modern-day, environmentally friendly search for the world’s rarest cacao.
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Lance Bass Explores His Lifelong Fascination with Space Travel on Podcast Series 'The Last Soviet'
The eight-part series — a production from iHeartPodcasts with Kaleidoscope and Samizdat Audio — tells the story of Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and his 313 days in space amid the collapse of the USSR. At the time, "hell was Breaking loose in Russia," Bass says, but the astronaut was committed to his work — and just as committed to his country.
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The Last Soviet
Bass has planted his flag firmly back in the space community with the release of a new podcast called The Last Soviet. Bass hosts the eight-part podcast, which brings to life the experience of cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev.
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Cosmonaut-turned-TikTok "Guncle" Lance Bass on podcast 'The Last Soviet,' hoping his son gets bit by space bug
Lance Bass is hosting a new podcast called The Last Soviet, the real-life story of a Russian cosmonaut left stranded in space for 313 days after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Lance is the perfect host because he trained to be a cosmonaut himself. If that's news to you, you're not alone.
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Pivot to … Something? The Blurry Future of Podcasting
Top creators and executives, gathering at the Hot Pod Summit, mulled over monetization and new formats as the market matures: “This industry has changed every year for the last 10 years, so if we’re only going to cater to the now, then where are we?”
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A cosmonaut was stranded in space. Now a pop star tells the story.
The podcast, an iHeartPodcasts production(opens in a new tab) with Kaleidoscope and Samizdat Audio, comes at a poignant time, with the past serving as prologue.
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The Buzzy Podcast Startup
The buzzy podcast startup Kaleidoscope, launched by ex-iHeartMedia and Mental Floss executive Mangesh Hattikudur and 'Sleepwalkers' host Oz Woloshyn, is ramping up production on several new shows…
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Listen Pick: Obsessions, Wild Chocolate
“There is chocolate and then there is wild chocolate. […] Listeners don’t have to love chocolate to enjoy the close calls, mishaps, and exotic eccentrics Jacobsen encounters along the way—think Fitzcarraldo meets Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.”
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*NSYNC’s Lance Bass Returns To Space Exploration In New Podcast
Lance Bass never made it to space, but now he returns to the story of the man he'd heard so much about while training
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The Last Soviet — podcast tells the fascinating story of a lone cosmonaut
It’s a remarkable story, expertly narrated by Bass… The sound design is also excellent, with the sounds of the Mir space station interspersed with archive audio of news reports and crackling transmissions from mission control, all set against a tinkling otherworldly soundtrack.
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The Best Podcasts of 2023 (So Far)
In the hands of Mangesh Hattikudur, previously the host of Part-Time Genius and part of the HowStuffWorks brain trust, the podcast really comes to life when the show becomes a moving reflection on being a second-generation immigrant.
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“The Dumb Money Is Gone”: Is the Podcast Boom Going Bust?
Fewer acquisitions, smaller budgets, diminished dealmaking—but it’s not all bad! “There’s been no recession among listeners,” says one audio guru. “There’s still more room to grow.”
Unlock bonus episodes, exclusive interviews, and other bonus. content by subscribing to Kaleidoscope+ on Apple Podcasts.