Archewell Audio, the podcast arm of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s production firm, has tapped award-winning podcast producer Rebecca Sananes as head of audio.
Most recently, Sananes for the last two years has been lead producer for New York Magazine’s “Pivot” tech, media and business podcast hosted by Recode cofounder Kara Swisher and NYU professor Scott Galloway.
Archewell Audio, founded by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex last year, inked a multiyear pact with Spotify to produce exclusive original podcasts that “uplift and entertain” by highlighting diverse perspectives and voices. Archewell Audio has not announced specific podcasts in the works; its first project was a half-hour holiday special released at the end of 2020 produced with Spotify’s Gimlet.
At Archewell, Sananes reports to head of content Ben Browning, previously producer whose credits include Promising Young Woman,” “The Big Sick,” “Arrival” and “Room.” She will join the Archewell team in August to lead the company’s podcast partnership with Spotify.
“Pivot,” from New York Mag and Vox Media (which acquired New York Media two years ago), has won multiple awards including iHeartRadio Podcast Awards’ business and finance podcast (2021), the Webby Awards podcast of the year (2020) and Adweek’s Thought Leadership Podcast of the Year (2019).
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Sananes has more than a decade of experience in podcasting and journalism. Prior to joining Vox Media in 2018 as an audio producer, she worked for Vermont Public Radio as a reporter and at Boston’s WBUR public radio station as a producer. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English and film studies from the University of Vermont and a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University.