Welcome to The epDate, where we bring you the latest in podcasting for podcast people World Podcast News Popular Australian true crime podcast ‘The Teacher’s Pet’ will be temporarily taken down from Australian podcast channels following the arrest of accused murderer Chris Dawson. The podcast series by Hedley Thomas of The Australian investigated the disappearance of Chris’s wife Lyn Dawson in January, 1982. Renewed interest in the investigation spawned from the podcast, which has garnered over 28 million downloads since its release in May, 2018 - put the public eye back on the investigation and helped uncover new evidence, some of which may be used in the upcoming trial. Hedley Thomas said in an update on the 5th of April that the decision to take down the podcast was not taken lightly, but revealed that the show had received expert advice suggesting that it was the appropriate action to take to help ensure that Chris Dawson gets a fair trial. The audio streaming service Spotify has declared that podcasting will play a vital role going forward, with chief content officer, Dawn Ostroff declaring that the exploding industry’s ever-growing interest has gone beyond anything that any of us could have imagined. Ostroff told an audience at a South by South West session in Austin, Texas, that to achieve Spotify’s goal of being the world’s largest audio platform, podcasting has to play a part. Ostroff stated that according to their data, people who listen to podcasts on spotify spend twice as much time on the platform - while also listening to more music. Ostroff also suggested that longer podcasts are on the agenda for the future as well, with audience engagement sky-high for shows with an average runtime of 90 minutes and even shows that last in surplus of 3 hours.       Two hosts of a podcast dedicated to recapping their favourite reality TV series have had their wildest dreams come true, with the reality show set to feature the two as guests on an upcoming episode. Comedians Max Cohen and Jim Search, hosts of Shut It Down: The Bar Rescue Recap Show, achieved the ultimate goal of featuring on an episode of their beloved ‘Bar Rescue’, a show where Jon Taffer, well-known entrepreneur, and owner of a bar and nightclub consulting firm, gives the Gordon Ramsey treatment to nightclubs and pubs to help them from closing. Cohen and Search aim to recap every single episode of the reality show. So far they are 65 episodes deep, with more than 100 more episodes to recap. Check out the show on your favourite podcasting app. “She Podcasts” - A facebook group and podcast launched 5 years ago to support and promote women’s podcasting, will host their first live event this year in Atlanta, Georgia, following immense crowdfunding support from their followers. She Podcasts began as a small facebook group for women podcasters to gain quick podcasting answers, tips and resources from one another. Now with over 12, 000 members, the vision for She Podcasts  “is to support and nurture as many female-lead podcasts as possible, and to encourage knowledge sharing without excessive promotion”. It had been the group’s goal to host a live event for women’s podcasters for some time, but after hitting their target of $25, 000 on kickstarter - in fact clocking $40, 000 at the time of recording - they will now be hosting a podcasting weekend described as a “weekend of learning, camaraderie, and belonging”. Held between the 11th and 13th of October, the weekend will be about learning the core skills and aspects needed for every stage of podcasting. As ‘She Podcasts’ states on their kickstarter campaign, the event is: “part retreat and part conference and part slumber party”. Check out She Podcast on Facebook or their Kickstarter page, for more details. Fans of the WWE are in for a treat as two former champion