Radiotopia is a podcast network founded by 99% Invisible host Roman Mars and run by the Public Radio Exchange . The network is organized as a collective of some two dozen shows whose producers have complete artistic control over their work. Since its launch, podcasts in the network have been downloaded over 19 million times per month.
52-514: Roman Mars is an American radio producer. He is the host and producer of 99% Invisible , a KALW radio show and podcast , and a founder of the podcast collective Radiotopia , which he describes as efforts "to broaden the radio landscape [and] make shows that aren't bound by conventions" of public radio in the United States. He has also contributed to radio programs Radiolab and Planet Money . Fast Company identified him as one of
104-541: A 2019 Patreon -backed revival. The Allusionist is a podcast about the English language. Zaltzman was already the co-host of the Answer Me This! podcast and was looking at the possibility of starting a new podcast focused primarily on English etymology, which was a subject she was very interested in. Roman Mars helped Zaltzman find funding for this podcast, which eventually became The Allusionist , debuting on
156-469: A PRX newsletter. Criminal left alongside This is Love and Phoebe Reads a Mystery . Love and Radio is an American audio podcast directed by Nick van der Kolk and produced by Brendan Baker. It originally began in 2005 as a series of self-distributed episodes, though the show later received some support and distribution from NPR and Chicago Public Media . In 2014, the show joined Radiotopia as one of its 7 original members and began producing episodes on
208-617: A collaborative project between San Francisco public radio station KALW and the American Institute of Architects in San Francisco. In April 2021 the company that produces the show (99% Invisible Inc.) was acquired by SiriusXM , with 99% Invisible moving to the Stitcher Radio network. Appearances is a semi-autobiographical podcast by Sharon Mashihi, an audio artist, screenwriter, and story editor, that had
260-415: A collection of seven storytelling podcasts: 99% Invisible , Fugitive Waves , Love and Radio , Radio Diaries , Strangers , Theory of Everything , and The Truth . Its original goal of $ 250,000 was funded within six days. By the time the campaign closed on November 15, 2014, it had more than doubled its original target, achieving $ 620,412 from 21,808 backers, making it the most-funded Kickstarter project in
312-496: A documentary series, The Mortified Sessions, that ran on Sundance Channel for two seasons in 2011 and 2012, and a 2013 documentary movie, Mortified Nation . The podcast, which was also created by Nedelberg and Katcher joined Radiotopia in 2015. Celebrity guests who have appeared on the Mortified podcast include Elijah Wood , Kate Micucci , Chvrches , Alison Brie , Alanis Morissette , and Busy Philipps . Normal Gossip
364-483: A format accessible to laypersons. The show is now distributed independently of Radiotopia under the title What Roman Mars Can Learn About Con Law . Judas and the Black Messiah Podcast is hosted by Fred Hampton Jr. and Elvis Mitchell and accompanies the film of the same name. The show was produced by Proximity Media and 99% Invisible and in partnership with Warner Bros . The podcast had
416-403: A fourth podcast, Mortified , to be added to the collective. 99%25 Invisible 99% Invisible is a radio show and podcast produced and created by Roman Mars that focuses on design . It began as a collaborative project between San Francisco public radio station KALW and the American Institute of Architects in San Francisco. PRX has distributed the show for broadcasting on
468-586: A limited run and the last episode aired March 12, 2021. The Truth was a biweekly fiction podcast that sought to re-imagine what audio drama is and can be. Stories were developed as a collective where frequently the dialogue was completely improvised. Additionally, recordings were made on location and then taken into the studio to be edited. Work by The Truth has been heard on many nationally syndicated public radio programs, including This American Life , Studio 360 , Snap Judgment , and The Story (see Links below). In 2015 Fast Company ranked Radiotopia among
520-594: A limited run on Radiotopia. Criminal is an independently-produced podcast that focuses on true crime. The show describes itself as telling "stories of people who've done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in the middle" . In 2021, Criminal host, Phoebe Judge , announced the show would leave the Radiotopia network to Vox Media . Judge expressed the change to be due to wishing to grow Criminal and spend more time on storytelling over business running. The founders expressed gratitude towards Radiotopia in
572-701: A miniseries appearing on 99% Invisible's podcast feed, Avery Trufelman's podcast about clothing, fashion and power was given its own feed in December 2018 and publicly announced in March 2019. Its debut season put Articles of Interest on many best-podcast-of-the-year lists, including that of the BBC , Vulture , and The New Yorker Its third season focuses on American ivy , and was highlighted in The New York Times ' best-of-year list. Ear Hustle
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#1732765249186624-471: A more regular monthly schedule. In 2019, during the mid-season break after completing its 7th season, Love and Radio announced that they would be leaving the ad-supported Radiotopia network to join the subscription-supported podcasting service Luminary , starting with their 8th season in May 2019. Millennial was a semi-autobiographical podcast created by Megan Tan in 2015, when she graduated from college and
676-502: A new movement of independent radio and podcast creators. In 2016, Mars and Justin McElroy used asynchronous podcasting, a method where each person recorded their portions separately and later combined them to create a podcast episode. This new technique was used to create the first episode of Smart Stuff , which started with My Brother, My Brother and Me episode 316 and was completed in 99% Invisible episode 225. 99% Invisible Inc.,
728-521: A number of radio stations and as a podcast on the Radiotopia network. On April 28, 2021, Roman Mars announced in an introduction of a re-released episode that 99% Invisible had been purchased by Sirius XM and marketed as part of its Stitcher Radio brand. The name of the show was derived from a quote by Buckminster Fuller that, "Ninety-nine percent of who you are is invisible and untouchable." In 2014, 99% Invisible began its fourth season,
780-434: A producer of The Habitat from Gimlet Media. Strangers is hosted by Danish-born producer Lea Thau. Initially part of KCRW 's Independent Producer project, Strangers became a founding member of Radiotopia in 2014. In 2017, Thau decided to leave the network and to continue producing the show independently. The show's last episode on the Radiotopia network aired on December 12, 2017, followed by an unofficial hiatus and
832-483: A real person, that further explores certain topics touched upon in the main interview. Before joining Radiotopia, Chillag was a producer on NPR's Wait Wait.... Don't Tell Me! and Fresh Air , and had previously co-hosted the now-defunct podcast How to Do Everything . The Heart originally aired in Canada under the name Audio Smut . It changed its name when moving to Radiotopia in 2015. On December 8, 2017 it
884-559: A showcase for his pieces. The podcast later became one of the founding members of Radiotopia. In 2018 Radiotopia created a short-form exclusive podcast for its financial supporters. Each episode of Radiotopia Plus poses a question that each of the network's show hosts and producers answer. In 2017 Radiotopia launched a podcast feed under the name Showcase after putting out an open call for new podcast proposals. Out of over 1,500 entries four were chosen to run as limited series with weekly episodes all sharing Athena same podcast feed. After
936-417: A successful run, four more limited series were chosen in 2018. In 2020 the feed was renamed Radiotopia Presents . The series broadcast so far have been: Song Exploder is a biweekly music podcast hosted and produced by Hrishikesh Hirway . The show features musicians talking about the creative process behind an individual song while "deconstructing" the song into its component parts. The podcast launched on
988-466: Is a conversation podcast co-produced by Defector Media , hosted by Kelsey McKinney and produced by Alex Sujong Laughlin. Each episode explores an anonymized story of interpersonal drama alongside a celebrity guest. Each week, historians Kellie Carter Jackson and Leah Wright Rigueur dive deep into the cultural significance and contributions of The Oprah Winfrey Show . These two long time friends talk about why Oprah matters to culture. They discuss diets,
1040-569: Is a podcast about life inside prison, produced by two inmates at San Quentin State Prison , Earlonne Woods and Antwan Williams, together with Nigel Poor, a Bay Area artist who volunteers at San Quentin. The show beat out 1,536 other entries to win Podquest – a 2016 contest organized by Radiotopia for new podcast ideas. The term "Ear Hustle" is prison slang for eavesdropping or being nosy. On November 21, 2018, Earlonne Woods' sentence
1092-465: Is a production company started by Joe Richman in 1996. Richman and his staff give everyday people a tape recorder and asks them to record their daily lives, and they then edit the raw tape to create an episode-length story. Richman's pieces have appeared on NPR 's All Things Considered , and This American Life , and on BBC Radio . In 2013, Richman started the Radio Diaries podcast, as
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#17327652491861144-844: The Maximum Fun network, went independent in February 2015 and joined Radiotopia in June 2015. Producer Benjamen Walker ended his WFMU radio show Too Much Information (TMI) to start Theory of Everything as a founding member of Radiotopia. Theory focuses on stories as they relate to new technologies and shifts in culture, and Walker has used the podcast format to excerpt and serialize old episodes of TMI . Hosted by journalist Jody Avirgan and historians Nicole Hemmer and Kellie Carter Jackson , This Day in Esoteric Political History looks back at notable moments in
1196-569: The CBC, including a new season of The Heart launching in January 2020. The Kitchen Sisters Present is a podcast produced by Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva, who are collectively known as the Kitchen Sisters . They have had long careers in radio production, with shows like Hidden Kitchens , Lost & Found Sound , and The Hidden World of Girls . Their podcast, then called Fugitive Waves ,
1248-557: The LA Riots, Tyler Parry, Toni Morrison, The Oprah Book Club and more. A plane has disappeared mid-flight between London and New York with 256 passengers on board in a serialized fiction podcast starring Kelly Marie Tran . Tran plays Kaitlin Le, a college student on a quest to discover the truth behind the missing aircraft. The first eight-episode season ran in the fall of 2019. The second season will launch May 10, 2021. Radio Diaries Inc.
1300-431: The Radiotopia network in 2021 with Criminal and Phoebe Reads a Mystery . Roman Mars and UC Davis School of Law Professor Elizabeth Joh developed the podcast What Trump Can Teach Us About Constitutional Law (often abbreviated as Trump Con Law in conversation and distribution), which was first launched in June 2017 and used the circumstances surrounding then-president Donald Trump to discuss constitutional law in
1352-529: The Radiotopia network in September 2016. Focusing on global news stories (but primarily on UK/US news items), the show was launched in 2007 following John Oliver's move to New York to work on The Daily Show , allowing Oliver and Andy Zaltzman to continue a partnership that had previously enjoyed success with Political Animal and The Department . The show joined Radiotopia in 2016 after Oliver's departure. In late 2018 Andy Zaltzman announced that The Bugle
1404-493: The Radiotopia network. Caroline Crampton of New Statesman put it on her list of podcasts of 2016. Zaltzman and the podcast left the Radiotopia network in October 2020 to make more resources to address the mostly white line-up at the network. The Bugle is a satirical news podcast , created by John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman in 2007. It was initially produced independently and distributed by TimesOnline until joining
1456-565: The US. In June 2017, Roman Mars began cohosting the constitutional law podcast What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law with Elizabeth Joh, a professor of the subject at University of California, Davis , School of Law . The show later left Radiotopia and is now distributed independently as What Roman Mars Can Learn About Con Law . Mars notably used the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform to support 99% Invisible, raising over $ 170,000, making it
1508-629: The company that produces 99% Invisible , was sold to Sirius XM 's Stitcher Radio in April 2021. Mars donated $ 1 million from the sale to Radiotopia. In partnership with the Knight Foundation and the Public Radio Exchange (PRX), Mars also created the podcast collective Radiotopia. The Public Radio Exchange has hired Mars to curate a radio program called Remix , which is syndicated by at least 14 public radio stations across
1560-661: The company that produces the show (99% Invisible Inc.) was acquired by SiriusXM . Critical reception has generally been very positive, with the show garnering acclaim from many notable radio producers and media outlets. Ira Glass of This American Life described the show as "completely wonderful and entertaining and beautifully produced," and Jad Abumrad has said the show "has a kind of rhythm and musicality that you don’t normally find in radio or podcast storytelling." In 2013, Yahoo! News included 99% Invisible on its list of "best podcasts you aren't listening to but should be," and Miranda Sawyer of The Observer highlighted
1612-412: The final episode of the series on 29 January 2020. This Is Love was launched in 2018 by Phoebe Judge , Lauren Spohrer and Nadia Wilson — the team behind Criminal , another Radiotopia show. The show ran for a short six-episode season in early 2018, with a second season airing at the end of the same year. As of 2022, it has five seasons. The show tells stories on the subject of love. This is Love left
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1664-600: The first in which it had a weekly release schedule. 2020 staff includes episode producers Delaney Hall, Christopher Johnson, Kurt Kohlstedt, Chris Berube, Emmett FitzGerald, Vivian Le, Joe Rosenberg and assistant producer Lasha Madan. The musical composer and Director of Sound is Swan Real and the VP of Strategic Development is Sofia Klatzker Miller. Former staff include Sam Greenspan, Katie Mingle, Sharif Yousseff and Avery Trufelman . Trufleman left to host "Articles of Interest," "Nice Try!" and " The Cut " podcasts. In April 2021
1716-500: The growth of the network, raising over US$ 600,000 and making it the most-funded radio or podcast project on the site. This money allowed the expansion of the network, as well as the addition of four new shows. In May 2015, the network received a further US$ 1 million from the Knight Foundation to fund more shows on the network. In September of that year, Julie Shapiro was hired as Radiotopia's executive producer. Around
1768-399: The highest-funded journalism project ever, and the second highest-funded project across the platform's entire publishing category. In November 2013, 99% Invisible ' s season four Kickstarter campaign received 11,693 backers raising over $ 375,000. The original goal of $ 150,000 was raised in 92 hours. Following this success, Mars introduced another campaign to build season two of Radiotopia,
1820-512: The history behind everyday urban features and architecture. Roman Mars was interviewed by NPR radio host Lois Reitzes and by MPR's radio host Kerri Miller about the book. Mars also recorded the audiobook version. Christian Donlan of Eurogamer compared his experience with the book to a videogame, speaking to how both the appreciation of architecture and games require an being attuned to fine details, and both involve dynamic, complex systems. Radiotopia Radiotopia, founded by Roman Mars ,
1872-501: The history of American politics and government for insights on current-day issues and developments. ZigZag is the first production by Stable Genius Productions, a startup formed by Manoush Zomorodi , the former host of WNYC 's podcast Note to Self , and her colleague Jen Poyant. The show itself is a documentary of the early days of the new company. 99% Invisible is an independently produced radio show created by Roman Mars that focuses on design and architecture. It began as
1924-460: The hundred most creative people of 2013. Mars, with Elizabeth Joh, also hosts the podcast What Roman Mars Can Learn About Con Law . Mars left a PhD program in genetics to undertake an unpaid internship at public radio station KALW in San Francisco. In 2004, he produced a program called Invisible Ink on KALW. Mars and his radio show, 99% Invisible , have been credited in the mainstream press as an innovative form of radio production, defining
1976-752: The popular international stage show and documentary series. Within the company's second year, Radiotopia adopted Hrishikesh Hirway's Song Exploder and Nate DeMeo's The Memory Palace from the Maximum Fun network, as well as Megan Tan's show Millennial and has continued to add new shows to its roster ever since. Radiotopia members include the following podcasts: Adult ISH features interviews, storytelling and advice by and for people in their 20s. Hosts Nyge Turner and Merk Nguyen highlight topics central to their own lives, such as mental health , professional goals, personal identity, music and relationships. The show debuted in 2018 through YR Media and partnered with Radiotopia for its second season. Originally
2028-604: The production of campaign trail events. Episode 84B, called "Trading Places with Planet Money," was made with NPR 's Planet Money podcast and discusses commodity trading in the context of the 1983 film Trading Places . In September 2018, a spinoff series, from producer Avery Trufelman , was released with six episodes focused on the design of clothes. Articles of Interest was published as part of 99% Invisible . Another six episodes were released in June 2020. In October 2019, publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced
2080-419: The publishing and radio and podcast categories. Meeting its 'stretch goals' allowed Radiotopia to add three podcasts hosted by women ( Criminal , The Heart , and The Allusionist ), host a series of events, provide more content, wage increases and paid internships, and create a pilot development fund to find new, talented producers and hosts not covered by traditional radio. Ultimately, the fundraising allowed for
2132-493: The same name. Both the podcast and the original show feature adults sharing things they wrote as teenagers, such as diaries, letters, and poems, that now seem embarrassing in retrospect. The show was started in Los Angeles by David Nedelberg in 2005, from where it spread to other cities. Nedelberg also turned the show into a book Mortified: Real Words. Real People. Real Pathetic. Together with Neil Katcher, he also created
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2184-465: The show five stars. The show's 2014 episode Structural Integrity was one of nine award winners at the 2015 Third Coast International Audio Festival . In 2017, 99% Invisible was named as one of the "50 best podcasts" by Time magazine. 99% Invisible has produced a variety of episodes in collaboration with other producers and radio shows. "The Political Stage", episode 63, was a collaboration with Andrea Seabrook and DecodeDC that focused on
2236-651: The show, saying "it's just great." The creator and host of 99% Invisible , Roman Mars, was included in Fast Company ' s Most Creative People list of 2013 for his work on 99% Invisible , and included on the Most Creative People in Business 1000 in 2014. As of January 2014 the show was listed in the top fifty podcasts of the iTunes Top Podcasts chart. In 2014, the show had greater than 4,000 listener ratings on iTunes and upwards of 97% gave
2288-467: The support of traditional radio broadcasting , targeting instead a growing audience of podcast listeners. The podcast network was initially supported by a US$ 200,000 injection from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation . The network is run by the Public Radio Exchange (PRX) who described it as "somewhat like an independent record label". In October 2014 a Kickstarter campaign was started to support
2340-489: The time of Radiotopia's launch, the network's podcasts received around 900,000 downloads per month. This figure increased to 7.5 million by May 2015, 8.5 million in September 2015, 13 million as of June 2016, and more than 19 million times by the end of 2019. Within its first year, Radiotopia grew from seven to eleven shows, adding The Heart (formerly Audio Smut ), Phoebe Judge's Criminal podcast, Helen Zaltzman's The Allusionist , and The Mortified Podcast based on
2392-503: The upcoming book The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design co-authored by podcasters Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt, describing it as "an examination of the design and architecture of our shared urban environs, featuring stories behind overlooked places and things we take for granted." The book was released a decade after the podcast started, in the fall of 2020; and consists of short stories on
2444-499: Was announced that The Heart would not be producing new shows in 2018. After December 2017, the show took a hiatus while its producers went on to make a serialized fiction podcast called The Shadows for the CBC in 2018. In 2019 producer Kaitlin Prest announced the founding of a new audio arts production company, Mermaid Palace, that will be making shows in partnership with Radiotopia and
2496-440: Was commuted , with Ear Hustle cited as a significant contributor to his reformation. Everything is Alive is an unscripted interview show in which the host, Ian Chillag, interviews an actor inhabiting the role of a different inanimate object each episode. Interview "subjects" in the first season have included a can of generic cola, a bar of soap, and a mousetrap. These interviews are punctuated by conversations between Chillag and
2548-581: Was launched in February 2014 with an initial group of seven shows: Jonathan Mitchell's The Truth , Lea Thau's Strangers , Benjamin Walker's Theory of Everything , Nick van der Kolk's Love and Radio , the Kitchen Sisters' Fugitive Waves (later renamed The Kitchen Sisters Present ), Radio Diaries and Roman Mars' own flagship show 99% Invisible . The makers of these shows had decided to band together as independent producers who didn't have
2600-652: Was moving on from Radiotopia at the start of 2019. The West Wing Weekly was an American podcast hosted by Hrishikesh Hirway and Joshua Malina , in which the hosts discussed one episode of the popular television program The West Wing , which originally aired on NBC from 1999 to 2006. The podcast has featured various cast and crew members including series creator Aaron Sorkin , director Tommy Schlamme , Rob Lowe , Bradley Whitford , Richard Schiff , Janel Moloney , Marlee Matlin , and Dulé Hill , as well as former government officials, academics, and pundits among others. The podcast finished its run with their discussion of
2652-417: Was one of the founding members of Radiotopia. In it they present pieces from their archive of stories built up over their careers, which they describe as "Stories from the flip side of history". The Memory Palace is a monthly historical podcast hosted by Nate DiMeo . The Memory Palace moved to Radiotopia from the Maximum Fun network in 2016. Mortified is a podcast based on the popular stage show of
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#17327652491862704-466: Was unemployed living with her boyfriend in Portland, Maine. It became part of the Radiotopia network in 2016. The podcast focused on the transition between university and work from the point of view of a person in their twenties. In 2017, Tan decided to end the podcast, and the final episode aired on August 16, 2017, making it the first show on the Radiotopia network to end its run. Tan went on to work as
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