Stop Rewind Play

Sometimes it’s good to break your own format — and in this week’s Stop Rewind Play , I’m doing just that. This episode is a summer experiment, pulling highlights from the Rewind section of my Substack newsletter rather than my usual strategy deep-dive. It’s a quick run-through of the audio industry stories that caught my eye this week - and a teaser for the full set of links in the newsletter itse...

The formats we leave behind aren’t always failures - sometimes they’re foundations. Alexa flash briefings were an early experiment in short-form, voice-first content. They laid groundwork for current interest in voice AI, news via smart speakers, and micro-podcasting. Six years ago this month I gave a presentation about the benefits of creating a flash briefing to a room full of people at Amazon H...

The best podcasts are built around the audience. Always. Last year, I spent a fair bit of time with an independent magazine publisher who was certain they needed a podcast. They had the name, the branding, and a full format mapped out. Sounds like the road to success right? But they had missed one important step. They had forgotten to check in with their readers and see whether a podcast was somet...

If your podcast feed never surprises you, maybe it’s not a feed - maybe it’s a mirror. In this episode of Stop Rewind Play I take at look at the latest stats around personalised news content from the Digital News Report 2025, and ask what it means for podcasting and audio journalism. I also talk about my own experience with personalised recommendations - from Spotify’s eerie accuracy to the echo c...

Writing for the eye is not the same as writing for the ear—and that’s where many repurposing efforts fall flat. In this episode of Stop Rewind Play , I dive into what it really takes to transform written or live content into audio that lands. Whether you're adapting a longform article, a daily briefing, or a livestream highlight, you’ll need more than just a mic and a read-aloud script. Tune in to...

How do you take content from the page to the podcast feed? If your team’s already producing strong editorial - newsletters, opinion pieces, explainers, long form - you’re halfway there. Too often, audio gets treated as something totally separate when in fact your next podcast might be hiding in your archive. In this week’s podcast, I break down how to turn written content into a sustainable, strat...

In this week’s podcast episode: ➡️ How to guide guests in real time to get better audio fast ✍️ How to script for rough recordings and make it part of the story 🤖 When to use AI cleanup tools (and when not to) 🎧 Why clarity matters more than polish ! This week we Rewind on news from AI-powered headphones, emotional radio storytelling, and a jingle that made it all the way to a music video. Go to...

Welcome back to Stop Rewind Play - and welcome to the first-ever podcast edition! After a bit of a break, I’m easing back into writing and experimenting with Substack’s podcast tools. I’ll share how that’s going once I’ve had time to test things properly. With so many slick, studio-produced shows from newsrooms and brands, the gap between “well-produced” and “hard to hear” has never been wider. Ba...

🎙️ Stop Rewind Play i s the podcast for people in publishing, journalism, and media who care about making better audio. Hosted by me, journalist and freelance podcast producer Suze Cooper, this fortnightly show offers insights into the fast-moving world of podcasting - whether you’re responsible for audio strategy, creation or just trying to keep your show on track. Each short episode distils what...