Geek out over the list of hardware and software I used to record and produce my video interviews from Podcast Movement 2019.

If you're frustrated by your WordPress theme's limitations, you don't know how to or don't want to write custom code, or you want a lot more flexibility in your website, you might want to consider a page-builder plugin for WordPress. Benefits of page-builders 1. You don't have to know HTML, CSS, PHP, or JavaScript to...

Switching to the Gutenberg Editor was probably the most controversial change in WordPress's history. I'll help you decide whether you should start using Gutenberg for your podcast's WordPress website.

On December 10, 2019, Apple Podcasts surpassed 800,000 valid podcasts! Here's some more information and statistics on the podcast industry, with data from My Podcast Reviews.

What I'm learning, doing, and reminding myself to overcome perfectionism. I hope this will help you in your own podcasting journey, too.

The RØDECaster Pro is my new favorite piece of podcasting gear! I'll have a thorough review soon. In the meantime, here are some tips to help with one of the biggest complaints I've heard about the RØDECaster Pro.

Did you know I once directed a podcast network? I retired it in spring 2019, and here are some lesson I hope can help you. The network's history I founded Noodle Mix Network (originally called “Noodle.mx Network,” but always pronounced the same) with the launch of The Audacity to Podcast in June 2010. My goal...

Even though podcasting is usually an audio-only experience, attractive images can enhance your podcast branding and help you promote your podcast better! Here are suggestions to consider for podcast-level and episode-level images.

President Donald Trump wants to build a wall between America and Mexico. Hundreds of miles of border fence are already in place, but most of the nearly 2,000-mile stretch is uncovered. This episode of Reveal explores the political, logistical and geographic barriers that may get in the way of the president’s plans.

Head over to revealnews.org for more of our reporting.

Follow us on Facebook at fb.com/ThisIsReveal and on Twitter @reveal.

And to see some of what you’re hearing, we’re also on Instagram @revealnews.

This week, Reveal host Al Letson speaks to Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to President Donald Trump. Usually, Gorka is sent out by the White House to discuss threats outside the U.S. In this special podcast, he and Al discuss domestic issues.

Gorka talks a lot about the backbone of America, “real Americans” and the people he calls “the chattering classes.” But who are the “chattering classes”? And what is “the real America”? The outspoken Trump adviser lays bare his views on the country.

Head over to revealnews.org for more of our reporting.

Follow us on Facebook at fb.com/ThisIsReveal and on Twitter @reveal.

And to see some of what you’re hearing, we’re also on Instagram @revealnews.

On this episode of Reveal, three stories of men are at the center of controversy.  

He’s been punched on the streets of Washington, D.C., and kicked out of a major conservative political gathering, and yet white nationalist Richard Spencer has left Montana to set up shop in the nation’s capital. What does he have to show for it?

A Marine veteran breaks the news of hundreds – possibly thousands – of naked photographs of female service members being shared online. We hear his story.

Nearly 30 years ago, six firefighters in Kansas City, Missouri, died in an arson explosion that shook the city. Reveal follows a man in the case who was sent to prison for life as he’s released and reunited with his family.

Head over to revealnews.org for more of our reporting.

Follow us on Facebook at fb.com/ThisIsReveal and on Twitter @reveal.

And to see some of what you’re hearing, we’re also on Instagram @revealnews.

Since President Donald Trump took office, we’ve heard plenty about Russia. Some have said tensions with the country could lead to conflict – even another world war.

In this podcast special, Al Letson talks to former top NATO commander Richard Shirreff, who spells out these fears – which are very real for him – in his new novel.

Head over to revealnews.org for more of our reporting.

Follow us on Facebook at fb.com/ThisIsReveal and on Twitter @reveal.

And to see some of what you’re hearing, we’re also on Instagram @revealnews.

Powered by the internet, the sex trade is reaching into all corners of the country. Reveal follows up on what’s happened since we first took you inside the hidden places – real and virtual – where people are exploited for sex.

Produced in collaboration with APM Reports, we’ll hear stories from the pot fields of Northern California to the streets of Chicago and suburban Seattle.

Head over to revealnews.org for more of our reporting.

Follow us on Facebook at fb.com/ThisIsReveal and on Twitter @reveal.

And to see some of what you’re hearing, we’re also on Instagram @revealnews.

Investigators dig up an unidentified murder victim, 45 years after she was buried, in an attempt to give her back her name. The exhumation leads to a series of unexpected revelations about who she was and why she may have been killed. Her case speaks to the complexity – and importance – of opening up cold cases. This Reveal story is one of thousands from the crisis of America’s unidentified dead.

Head over to revealnews.org for more of our reporting.

Follow us on Facebook at fb.com/ThisIsReveal and on Twitter @reveal.

And to see some of what you’re hearing, we’re also on Instagram @revealnews.

If you can’t afford a lawyer, one will be appointed to you – that’s how it’s supposed to work. But in New Orleans, the lawyer in charge of representing poor people accused of crimes is saying no. His office doesn’t have enough money or time to do a good job, he says, so he’s refusing some serious cases, which is jamming up the courts and leaving hundreds of people stuck in jail with no lawyer. His goal? To break the system in order to fix it.

Reveal follows up on this story that we first brought you last fall.

Head over to revealnews.org for more of our reporting.

Follow us on Facebook at fb.com/ThisIsReveal and on Twitter @reveal.

And to see some of what you’re hearing, we’re also on Instagram @revealnews.

From women’s 19th-century fight for the right to vote to the Women’s March this year, racism has affected feminist movements.

In this podcast special, Al Letson recalls the #BlackWomenAtWork stories that went viral recently and talks with Kimberly Foster, the founder of For Harriet and a very frank video commentator, about her dream to “bring down the system.”

Head over to revealnews.org for more of our reporting.

Follow us on Facebook at fb.com/ThisIsReveal and on Twitter @reveal.

And to see some of what you’re hearing, we’re also on Instagram @revealnews.

At a time when environmental protections are under more threats than ever, Reveal visits minority communities facing toxic burdens.

Head over to revealnews.org for more of our reporting.

Follow us on Facebook at fb.com/ThisIsReveal and on Twitter @reveal.

And to see some of what you’re hearing, we’re also on Instagram @revealnews.

In light of recent reports about Chechnya’s anti-gay kidnappings, torture and killings, Reveal revisits stories that expose what it’s like to be gay in Russia. Right now, hateful rhetoric against the LGBT community appears on a daily basis on Russian TV and in speeches by Russian politicians. Reveal traces the roots of the anti-gay movement and shows how President Vladimir Putin uses this agenda to quash political dissent, exert influence on neighboring nations and bash the West.

Head over to revealnews.org for more of our reporting.

Follow us on Facebook at fb.com/ThisIsReveal and on Twitter @reveal.

And to see some of what you’re hearing, we’re also on Instagram @revealnews.

In cities across America, black men are on the run. On April 4, 2015, in South Carolina, Walter Scott was killed while running away from a police officer. Eight days later, Freddie Gray ran from police in Baltimore. He was caught and later died in custody.

On this episode of Reveal, we explore the consequences of fleeing from the police through two stories, both set in Baltimore.

Some police departments are embracing a set of tactics designed to reduce the use of force – and prevent police shootings. Rather than rushing in aggressively, officers back off, wait out people in crisis and use words instead of weapons.

But this training isn’t required in most states. Reveal teams up with APM Reports and finds that most cops spend a lot more time training to shoot their guns than learning how to avoid firing them.

Head over to revealnews.org for more of our reporting.

Follow us on Facebook at fb.com/ThisIsReveal and on Twitter @reveal.

And to see some of what you’re hearing, we’re also on Instagram @revealnews.

The oil protests at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation drew national attention. On Reveal, we team up with Inside Energy to go behind the scenes and meet the young people who started the fight. This upcoming hour looks at how those protests put at-risk teens on a healthier path and how other Native tribes are grappling with energy projects on their sovereign land.

Head over to revealnews.org for more of our reporting.

Follow us on Facebook at fb.com/ThisIsReveal and on Twitter @reveal.

And to see some of what you’re hearing, we’re also on Instagram @revealnews.

Jasilyn Charger was one of the first people to set up camp at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in April 2016. Along with youth from neighboring tribes, the then-19-year-old helped raise awareness about construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline by staging a 2,000-mile run from North Dakota to Washington. By the time the group returned to Standing Rock, the camp population had swelled into the thousands. One year later, she reflects on the protests and how the movement has changed the course of her life.

The government’s back in business with private prisons. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has reversed the Obama-era decision to phase out federal use of corporate-run prisons.

On this episode, Reveal revisits an hour with Mother Jones reporter Shane Bauer who takes you inside a private prison on lockdown.

Head over to revealnews.org for more of our reporting.

Follow us on Facebook at fb.com/ThisIsReveal and on Twitter @reveal.

And to see some of what you’re hearing, we’re also on Instagram @revealnews.

Federal law requires colleges and universities to track and disclose sexual assaults on campus. It’s different for kindergarten through 12th grade, where there are no similar requirements for cases involving assaults between students. In elementary, middle and high schools across the U.S., the Associated Press found a shocking level of sexual violence among students.

On this episode of Reveal, we delve into the results of AP’s yearlong investigation.

 Head over to revealnews.org for more of our reporting.

 Follow us on Facebook at fb.com/ThisIsReveal and on Twitter @reveal.

And to see some of what you’re hearing, we’re also on Instagram @revealnews.

This week, we’re trying an experiment that will give you a little something extra while you’re listening. To get started text “Hey Al” to 202-873-8325.

The world’s first “test tube baby” turns 40 next year. As she’s grown up, so has the medical specialty that produced her: in vitro fertilization. It’s a big business addressing a big demand.

On this episode of Reveal, we examine the stakes – and high costs – of IVF.

Dr. Jennifer Schneider lost her 31-year-old daughter, Jessica Wing, to colon cancer in 2003. To this day, Schneider wonders whether there was a link between her daughter being a three-time egg donor and  her diagnosis  the tumors that were eventually found on her ovaries and abdomen. But because there are no studies of the long-term risks of egg donation, Schneider may never know if the procedure had something to do with why her daughter was diagnosed with colon cancer at such a young age. She has become a strong advocate for egg donor studies and an egg donor registry.

Last fall, Reveal reporters predicted that wildfires would spread to new parts of the country, and  to more densely populated areas. Now, we revisit that hour with a new story about Kansas, a state that’s battling not only wildfires, but also significant underfunding of its forest firefighter team.

Head over to revealnews.org for more of our reporting.

Follow us on Facebook at fb.com/ThisIsReveal and on Twitter @reveal.

And to see some of what you’re hearing, we’re also on Instagram @revealnews.

President Donald Trump has used the threat of foreign-born terrorists to justify his travel ban – but since 9/11, nearly every terrorist attack in the United States has come from within. On this episode of Reveal, we investigate which domestic terror episodes get tracked and why.

To explore more reporting, visit revealnews.org or find us on fb.com/ThisIsReveal, Twitter @reveal or Instagram @revealnews.

In 1996, Eddie Wise, the son of a sharecropper, purchased a farm with a loan from the USDA. Twenty years later, the USDA foreclosed on the property and evicted him. Reveal investigates his claim that he was discriminated against because of his race.

To explore more reporting, visit revealnews.org or find us on fb.com/ThisIsReveal, Twitter @reveal or Instagram @revealnews.

In Texas, women with limited access to abortions are traveling across the border to find a drug that will induce miscarriages. In Mississippi, anti-abortion groups are opening crisis pregnancy centers across from abortion clinics to persuade women to keep their babies. And one company offers permanent birth control through the insertion of a simple device – that’s ended up causing health complications for thousands of women.

This week, we look into pregnancy and the ways people try to prevent it, end it and save it.

To explore more reporting, visit revealnews.org or find us at fb.com/ThisIsReveal, on Twitter @reveal or Instagram @revealnews.

Investigators dig up an unidentified murder victim, 45 years after she was buried, in an attempt to give her back her name. The exhumation leads to a series of unexpected revelations about who she was and why she may have been killed. Her case speaks to the complexity – and importance – of opening up cold cases. This Reveal story is one of thousands from the crisis of America’s unidentified dead.

To explore more reporting, visit revealnews.org or find us at fb.com/ThisIsReveal, on Twitter @reveal or Instagram @revealnews.

In the wake of the protests by neo-Nazis and white supremacists that turned deadly in Charlottesville, Virginia, President Donald Trump has come under fire for not immediately and clearly condemning American racists. It’s not the first time. Trump and those close to him have often played down the threat of violence committed by white supremacists across the country.

This week, through interviews with key Trump supporters and advisers, we explore if we should have seen Charlottesville coming and if we should expect more race-based clashes on the way.

To explore more reporting, visit revealnews.org or find us at fb.com/ThisIsReveal, on Twitter @reveal or Instagram @revealnews.

How much is President Donald Trump worth? And is he or anyone in his administration profiting from their positions? Reveal is teaming up with the Center for Public Integrity to investigate those questions.

We’ve created a database listing all the assets that members of his administration have disclosed. Now we’re digging through those documents to see whether there are any conflicts of interest – and we’re asking the public to take part in our investigation. Citizen sleuths already have uncovered some leads. By crowdsourcing this project, we can monitor whether any policy changes end up benefiting members of the president’s team.

To explore more reporting, visit revealnews.org or find us at fb.com/ThisIsReveal, on Twitter @reveal or Instagram @revealnews.

While covering Sunday’s “Rally Against Hate” in Berkeley, California, today, Reveal host Al Letson witnessed a man being attacked by a group of protesters. The man was balled up on the ground, fending off blows from several people. Al jumped in front of the batterers, protecting the man from further injury. On this special episode of Reveal, Al talks about what happened and how the battles between right- and left-wing protesters are playing out.

In cities across America, black men are on the run. On April 4, 2015, in South Carolina, Walter Scott was killed while running away from a police officer. Eight days later, Freddie Gray ran from police in Baltimore. He was caught and later died in custody.

On this episode of Reveal, we explore the consequences of fleeing from the police through two stories, both set in Baltimore.

Head over to revealnews.org for more of our reporting.

Follow us on Facebook at fb.com/ThisIsReveal and on Twitter @reveal.

And to see some of what you’re hearing, we’re also on Instagram @revealnews.

In just a few days, Germans will go to the polls to vote for a new government in an election that feels strangely familiar. For decades, Germany’s elections have been subdued and predictable, but this campaign cycle has seen a rise of fake news, hate groups and right-wing politicians with a nationalist agenda. There also are allegations of Russian meddling.

This week on Reveal, we team up with Coda Story to look at the rise of right-wing populism in Germany’s election.

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Head over to revealnews.org for more of our reporting.

Follow us on Facebook at fb.com/ThisIsReveal and on Twitter @reveal.

And to see some of what you’re hearing, we’re also on Instagram @revealnews.

A few weeks ago, Reveal host Al Letson jumped in to protect someone who was being attacked by counter-protesters in Berkeley, California. We found the man behind the attack. He says he’s a member of antifa and is taking the fight to white nationalists. We also interviewed rally organizers who are connected to right-wing extremists.  

In the aftermath of the violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, militants from the left and the right are taking their battles to the streets. This week on Reveal, we examine who they are and whether they’re hurtling the country toward more civil strife.

To explore more reporting, visit revealnews.org or find us at fb.com/ThisIsReveal, on Twitter @reveal or Instagram @revealnews.

The number of women in U.S. prisons and jails has increased more than 700 percent since 1980. And for 25 years, Oklahoma has led the nation in locking up women. This week on Reveal, we look at the causes behind this spike.

To explore more reporting, visit revealnews.org or find us at fb.com/ThisIsReveal, on Twitter @reveal or Instagram @revealnews.

In 2013, Robyn Allen received a 20-year sentence for trafficking in illegal drugs. She says she sold methamphetamine to support her family after a back injury left her without work. But the reasons Allen started using the drug run much deeper. In spite of taking measures to reduce its long-standing record as the No. 1 incarcerator of women in the country, Oklahoma keeps locking up women at more than twice the national average. Oklahoma incarcerates 151 out of every 100,000 women, often given harsh sentences for nonviolent drug crimes. This has taken its toll on several generations of women in the state.

Desperate to reduce crowding in jails and prisons, court systems all over the country are trying diversion – alternatives to putting offenders behind bars. On today’s Reveal, we peek behind the good intentions and uneven results.

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To explore more reporting, visit revealnews.org or find us at fb.com/ThisIsReveal, on Twitter @reveal or Instagram @revealnews.

President Trump’s Department of Justice is investigating claims that Harvard is discriminating against Asian American students in its admissions program. Harvard has been accused of capping the number of Asian American students to make room for other ethnicities.

Al talks to Edward Blum about the case. Blum has made a career out of challenging race-based college admissions. And he and his group, Students for Fair Admissions, filed a lawsuit against Harvard three years ago that makes some of the same claims the Justice Department is now investigating.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos wants parents to have the ultimate choice of where their children go to school – public or private – and taxpayers to make it possible. This week, Reveal examines how DeVos might funnel federal education dollars toward private school tuition, yet leave school choice rules up to the states. Plus, we’ll look at how hundreds of thousands of students in Texas were denied the special education they are guaranteed under federal civil rights law.

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To explore more reporting, visit revealnews.org or find us at fb.com/ThisIsReveal, on Twitter @reveal or Instagram @revealnews.

In 2010, Brad McGahey was sentenced to a year in prison for buying a stolen horse trailer. But when he went before a judge, he was told he was going to carry out his sentence by working instead, through a program called CAAIR, or Christian Alcoholics & Addicts in Recovery.

McGahey wasn’t addicted to anything at the time of his sentencing. Hundreds of men are sent to CAAIR in lieu of a prison sentence each year. The program promises recovery from addiction for participants, but most of their time is spent working at a chicken processing plant, where they pull guts and feathers from slaughtered chickens and prepare them for distribution to companies such as Walmart, KFC and PetSmart.

On Reveal, we share how the government failed to stop the flow of millions and millions of pills that fuelled the national painkiller epidemic. A Washington Post/60 Minutes partnership with Reveal tells the story of a DEA insider who tried to stop drug distribution companies from flooding America with truckloads of pain pills. His effort was met with backlash from his own agency, the pharmaceutical industry and Congress.

To explore more reporting, visit revealnews.org or find us at fb.com/ThisIsReveal, on Twitter @reveal or Instagram @revealnews.

On this special episode of Reveal, reporter Jack Rodolico in partnership with New Hampshire Public Radio brings us an intimate look at the people affected by the opioid epidemic.

On May 22, 2015, Daniel Couzins died of a fentanyl overdose at 31. Couzins, an assistant manager at a New Hampshire bank, had started using heroin to quell his severe depression and anxiety – a feeling he likened to “a conference room of people yelling at each other” inside his head. Becoming addicted was never his plan. Things just ended up that way.

When Couzins died, he left behind a series of video diaries that his wife, Jennifer, discovered. The tapes offer a harrowing look at how opioid addiction can slowly take over – and end – a life.

“I need to watch them,” Jennifer says, “because I need to know.”

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To explore more reporting, visit revealnews.org or find us at fb.com/ThisIsReveal, on Twitter @reveal or Instagram @revealnews.

Beyond the planned border wall and limits on new refugees, the federal government wants tighter restrictions on immigration to this country. On this episode of Reveal, we examine efforts throughout the U.S. to deport migrants faster, detain them longer and prevent them from obtaining visas that might offer a path to legal residency.

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To explore more reporting, visit revealnews.org or find us at fb.com/ThisIsReveal, on Twitter @reveal or Instagram @revealnews.

Shortly after President Donald Trump’s election, two friends, Lauren and Martina, decided to provide free legal aid to people living in the country without permission. They left their home in New York and traveled across the country by van to meet people in need of help. Lauren is an immigration lawyer and Martina is an immigrant from Mexico. In just a few months, they traveled to 12 states and estimated they advised nearly 200 immigrants on a shoestring budget.

Remember the Panama Papers? It was a massive 2015 document leak that exposed a system in which offshore companies enable crime and corruption. The Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation that followed, led by The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), was a collaboration among more than 100 newsrooms across the world. It led to a flurry of resignations and indictments and took down leaders in Iceland and Pakistan.

This week, Reveal journalists teamed up with ICIJ for a new bombshell: The Paradise Papers.

This time around, the action is centered on more than 13 million confidential files leaked to Suddeutsche Zeitung and shared with the ICIJ’s global team of more than 300 journalists. Many of the confidential documents, emails and voicemails come from Appleby, a Bermuda-based law firm. The leaks shed light on how corporate giants move their cash from one offshore tax haven to another.

The Paradise Papers also open questions about Trump’s Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ financial ties to Russian companies.

And they disclose how Facebook and Twitter received backing from Kremlin-controlled Russian banks. This comes at a time when the two tech giants are facing scrutiny by the U.S. Justice Department and Congress.

This global collaboration involves a team of journalists from 67 countries. Reveal is the first U.S. public radio show and podcast to tell the story through audio. Don’t miss this episode, and stay tuned for a series of partners’ text stories on our site in the coming days.

In 1996, Eddie Wise, the son of a sharecropper, purchased a farm with a loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Twenty years later, the USDA foreclosed on the property and evicted him. Reveal investigates his claim that he was discriminated against because of his race.

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To explore more reporting, visit revealnews.org or find us on fb.com/ThisIsReveal, Twitter @reveal or Instagram @revealnews.

This short film was produced by the Glassbreaker Films team at The Center for Investigative Reporting. Glassbreaker Films is an all-female group of filmmakers working to promote gender parity in investigative journalism and documentary filmmaking.

After a mass shooting, the media descends on the victims. They’re asked time and again what they saw, what they felt and why they think it happened. After the dead are counted and the shooter’s motives are scrutinized, the survivors try to cope and move on.

Heather Martin was a senior at Columbine High School in Colorado when two teenagers shot and killed 12 students and one teacher. More than a decade later, 12 people were killed and dozens more injured in a shooting at an Aurora movie theater, just miles from where Martin lived.

To create a space for survivors to talk about their grief and traumatic new realities, Martin co-founded The Rebels Project, a nationwide support network that connects survivors of mass tragedy to help them process their experiences.

Martin says she desperately wants the group to stop growing, but every year, more members are joined by tragic circumstances.