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Prestige Podcast Company Pineapple Street Studios Shuts Down
Pineapple Street Studios, the maker of prestigious narrative podcasts that helped shape the post- 'Serial' era of the industry, is shutting down.
Audacy, the radio station owner that acquired the studio in 2019, announced the move on Thursday and said it was part of a strategic shift away from branded podcasts and toward more 'promising growth areas for our podcasting business.'
Founded in 2016 by Jenna Weiss-Berman and Max Linsky, Pineapple quickly established itself as a home for shows hosted by prominent celebrities — at the time a novelty in the medium — like Hillary Clinton and Lena Dunham. Simultaneously, it produced a string of ambitious, limited-run documentary series, including 'Missing Richard Simmons,' 'Heavens Gate' and 'Welcome to Your Fantasy,' which received widespread acclaim.
Pineapple was in many ways a model podcast startup of the 2010s — a time when the blockbuster success of 'Serial,' the true crime investigation from producers of 'This American Life,' triggered a rush of investment and innovation in the industry. (Serial Productions was acquired by The New York Times in 2020.) Pineapple sold adaptation rights for several of its shows to film and television companies. And it built a large roster of companion podcasts for popular TV series like 'House of the Dragon,' 'The Last of Us' and 'Severance.'
The radio station owner, formerly known as Entercom, filed for bankruptcy in 2024, citing a steep decline in advertising revenue. Its assets were sold to the Fund for Policy Reform, a nonprofit group controlled by the billionaire George Soros. Shortly thereafter, Audacy laid off about 25 percent of Pineapple's staff and wound down another of its production studios, Cadence13.
The downturn in advertising that began amid spiking inflation in 2023 has had broad repercussions across the industry. Many companies have pulled back investment in the style of highly produced podcasts for which Pineapple was known, turning instead toward lower-overhead chat shows. A spokesman said Audacy will continue to make podcasts under its Audacy Podcasts brand, which is behind titles like 'We Can Do Hard Things' with Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach and Amanda Doyle and 'Fly on the Wall With Dana Carvey and David Spade.'
