Noah Shanok

Just before The Wolf Den hits its 100th episode milestone, Adam takes a brief listen back to relive some highlights in what’s been an exciting six years in the evolution and growth of Midroll, and podcasting. Adam shares early clips from podcast innovators like Marc Maron and Chris Hardwick, along with entrepreneurs who were influential behind the scenes. We also listen in on some of the important milestones in podcasting and Midroll history, as heard on the show, and get some keen insights on podcasting from hosts like Paul Scheer, Matt Gourley, Paul F. Tompkins, Lea Thau, and Neil deGrasse Tyson. 

Noah Shanok is Adam’s guest for this edition of The Wolf Den. He is the co-founder and former CEO of Stitcher, the popular on-demand podcast and Internet radio service. Stitcher was an early innovator in podcasting, coming on the scene when Blackberrys were the predominant mobile device, and most people still had to sync their iPods in order to listen on the go. Noah lays out the company’s history and evolution from an iTunes plug-in, to a web app, and then to a true mobile platform.  He shares his experience with venture capital funding, weighing some of its advantages and disadvantages, along with details about Stitcher’s recent acquisition by the Deezer streaming music service. Stitcher is also an early innovator in the automotive space, so Noah tells the story of how the service came to be integrated in the first generation of the Ford Sync smart dashboard platform, leading to integration with other major brands like GM, Subaru, and Jaguar.  Finally, he tells Adam his predictions for when on-demand audio will take over the car, and what lies ahead for the future of audience metrics.