She has been with Audacy Corp. since it acquired podcast purveyor Pineapple Street Studios in 2019. Now, this former head of audio at BuzzFeed and public radio veteran has been named EVP of Podcasts, reporting to President of Podcast and Streaming and Chief Digital Officer J.D. Crowley.
Earning the promotion is Jenna Weiss-Berman, who will oversee Audacy’s podcast network and studios, including Pineapple Street Studios and Cadence13. She’ll also handle the strategy and development of new podcast content and distribution partnerships for Audacy, which seeks to extinguish ongoing “headwinds” that have led to an upcoming annual shareholders’ meeting vote on a reverse stock split — a necessary share dilution that would keep Audacy on the NYSE.
Key to Weiss-Berman’s new role is the collaboration with Audacy programming leadership in sports and news. This will see the growth and development of new original podcast content for podcast studio 2400Sports and across Audacy’s 28 local newsrooms in top U.S. markets, including Detroit, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia.
Max Linsky, co-founder of Pineapple Street Studios, will continue to co-lead the studio alongside Bari Finkel, Pineapple’s Head of Operations and the studio’s first employee.
“As we commit to accelerating our digital growth and enhancing performance, we’re thrilled to expand Jenna’s role to further unify and streamline our content and business efforts across our leading podcast portfolio, enabling even more rapid development of new and original IP and better leveraging our talent across the entire Audacy portfolio,” Crowley commented. “Jenna’s strong leadership and deep industry relationships will propel us forward on our mission to be a leading partner of audio creators, while super-serving listeners of all backgrounds and interests and enabling our sales teams to better serve our customers and partners with unique and compelling podcast opportunities. I’d also like to acknowledge Chris Corcoran who will be moving on from Audacy to pursue other opportunities. His leadership, passion and dedication are the creative force that successfully launched and built Cadence13 into the business that it is today, while also helping to position Audacy as a leading podcast company. I wish him continued success in his future endeavors.”
Weiss-Berman added, “I’m excited to help bring together the world class podcast businesses that already exist under the Audacy umbrella. We have a real opportunity to build a cohesive podcast brand that is greater than the sum of its parts, and I look forward to all that’s ahead.”
- Pineapple Street Studios recently announced a multi-show deal with Dan Taberski, host of prior Pineapple productions. The studio also inked a deal to produce the next series by Shima Oliaee, creator of the “Pink Card ” series for ESPN and co-creator of Dolly Parton’s America.
- Cadence13 recently announced a 30-episode podcast partnership with Amy Poehler’s Paper Kite Productions.
- 2400Sports is partnering with former MLB second baseman Bret Boone on a new twice-weekly show, The Bret Boone Podcast.
In addition to the above studios, Audacy Digital Audience Network and Podcorn provide “innovative ways for advertisers to reach Audacy’s digital audience and large community of influencers with unprecedented precision,” the company shares.
