Late last year, streaming music service Spotify gave podcasters the chance to blend published music into their shows. Spotify’s podcast creation tool, Anchor, lets creators embed songs from the streaming service’s vast library of music.  While there are hundreds of services offering royalty free music for pods, only shows as popular as This American Life can afford to license commercial tracks.  One of the best examples of these new blended podcasts is the Australian hip-hop podcast, A1: The Show.  Hosts Jade Le Flay and Jazmine Nikitta, two Australian hip-hop podcasters and djs, are joined by producer and co-host 24 Karat Kev. A1: The Show is based on a playlist of the same name that highlights the most played hip hop tracks in Australia and overseas. While an algorithm chooses the music, humans craft the show around it.  The show’s format follows that of a traditional weekly radio program, with news, interviews and general banter between the tracks; but Nikitta says they try “to stay in the podcasting lane.” https://www.smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-radio/mixing-mediums-brings-radio-staple-to-podcasts-20210322-p57ctl.html   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.