People to Launch Weekday Podcast With Host Janine Rubenstein
While much of media has long jumped on the podcast bandwagon, Meredith Corp.-owned People Magazine has only dipped its toe in the water once before with a one-off true crime series in 2018.
But as editor in chief Dan Wakeford looks to expand the brand into other spheres and not be dependent on just print, People is now gearing up to compete in the market once again with a new weekday show, “People Every Day,” launching Feb. 1 in partnership with iHeart Media. The afternoon show will be hosted by longtime People staffer Janine Rubenstein, while Macy’s Inc. has stepped on board as its sponsor.
“We’ve taken a fairly gradual approach to podcasting because we wanted to make sure we had the right offering and that it really represented the brand properly,” explained Will Lee, senior vice president of digital of Meredith Entertainment Group. “There’s a lot of daily podcasts out there — no doubt about that — and a lot of really good ones. But I think that this will be unlike any other daily out there. It will be fun, uplifting, energizing, inspiring.”
As for the format of the show, Rubenstein said the idea is that it will be a place to discuss the entertainment news of the day, as well as extraordinary stories of real people. “You will get the top stories that everyone is talking about and you’ll get the background on why these are so intriguing — the backstory, those deeper dives, as well as hearing from the people on the ground reporting this.”
She has worked at People for close to a decade as a senior editor covering breaking news, music features and human interest stories, among others, and has also cohosted the People & Entertainment Weekly Red Carpet Live streaming events during awards season. Prior to joining People, Rubenstein was a news and entertainment reporter at Essence.
In addition to podcast host, she will step into the role of editor at large, where she will continue to write, report, and oversee select editorial projects for People.
Of the new host, Conal Byrne, president of iHeartPodcast Network, said: “Her warmth and energy on the mic, along with her experience covering entertainment, style, celebrity, sports, breaking and really all types of human-interest news over the last decade makes her a perfect fit to bring this new daily podcast to life.”
People isn’t the only Meredith brand launching a new podcast. InStyle will debut “Ladies First” on Dec. 1, hosted by editor in chief Laura Brown. The initial schedule covers 15 episodes ranging in length from 20 to 30 minutes, with guests including Michelle Pfeiffer, Naomi Watts and Cynthia Erivo.
Other Meredith podcasts include Entertainment Weekly’s “The Awardist,” EW’s “On Set” and “Binge,” and Food & Wine’s “Communal Table.”
Away from podcasts, People also has its own TV show, which launched in September.
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