I'm a huge film buff, so I'm pretty excited about this! iHeartMedia and Variety are ready to serve up a brand-new podcast called "Playback," which focuses entirely on the world of film, hears hosting duties by Variety Awards Editor Kristopher Tapley and features new episodes every Thursday via iHeartRadio.
On Thursday (March 1), iHeartMedia and Variety announced the joint venture, which will see the companies co-produce a 40-episode season featuring exclusive in-depth interviews with the talents behind many of today's hottest movies. iHeartMedia will also produce custom vignettes that will air across its digital network and broadcast radio stations, introducing the podcast to its more than a quarter of a billion monthly listeners across the country.
For this week's new episode, which appropriately launches ahead of the 90th annual Academy Awards, "Playback" will feature of a compilation of Tapley's best interview moments with this year's Oscar nominees. Among the guests include Jordan Peele, Daniel Kaluuya, Kumail Nanjiani, Dee Rees, James Mangold, Willem Dafoe, Christopher Nolan, Guillermo del Toro, Sam Rockwell, Martin McDonagh, Greta Gerwig and Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Gary Oldman, and Aaron Sorkin. While Ava DuVernay is scheduled to appear on the March 8 episode of the podcast, David Oyelowo will appear on the March 15 episode.
"Aligning ourselves with the premiere media and entertainment company with the largest audience reach across digital and radio provides a tremendous opportunity for Variety," said Michelle Sobrino-Stearns, Variety's Group Publisher and CRO. "It is exciting for us to bring our esteemed journalists like Kris Tapley to iHeartMedia’s mass consumer audience."
Click on the image below to listen to the new all-star episode of "Playback."
*Photo: Variety/iHeartMedia