The problem
A podcast is one hour of conversation wrapped in ten hours of operations: guest research, scheduling, intros, show notes, clip selection, social posts, sponsor reporting, audience replies. The conversation is the leverage. The ten hours is the tax. An agent fleet eats the tax so the creator can record more and edit less.
Agents in the fleet
Guest research brief. Given a confirmed guest, pull their recent interviews, blog posts, and any new public work. Draft a 1-page brief with a bio, 5 angles the host has not heard them discuss, and 3 contrarian questions.
Utterance"When I confirm a guest, build a research brief with their last three interviews summarized, five fresh angles, and three questions nobody has asked them."
Show-note drafter. Given the episode transcript, draft show notes with chapter markers, key quotes, a 280-character pull quote, links to anything referenced, and a 3-paragraph summary in the host's voice.
Clip suggester. Given the transcript, propose 5 to 8 candidate clips of 30 to 60 seconds with the in/out timestamps and a one-line reason each would work on TikTok, Reels, or X.
Sponsor reporter. End of each month, pull episode downloads from the host platform, sponsor ad placements, and compute CPM. Draft the sponsor recap email with the numbers, two episode highlights, and the renewal nudge.
Audience-email summarizer. Weekly, summarize listener emails into themes (love, requests, complaints, episode ideas) with verbatim quotes. Surface the three messages most worth a personal reply from the host.
Workflow
- Guest confirmed in calendar. Research brief runs on calendar trigger 48 hours before.
- Episode transcript lands in Drive after publish. Show-note drafter and clip suggester run on file webhook.
- Sponsor reporter runs on the 1st of each month.
- Audience email summarizer runs Sunday 5pm.
Setup checklist
- Connect Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Calendar via guided OAuth.
- BYO API key for the host platform (Transistor, Buzzsprout, Megaphone) for download stats.
- Attach a markdown memory file with the show name, host voice, recurring segments, sponsor list, and brand-safe phrasing.
- Approval gating on sponsor reports and audience replies.
Costs and capacity
Guardrails
- Show notes always credit referenced books, papers, and prior shows.
- Clip suggester avoids sensitive moments flagged in the memory file (off-the-record asides, guest's personal disclosures).
- Sponsor recap numbers always cite the source so any dispute traces back to the host platform export.
Pairs well with
Add the content and SEO stack for episode landing pages and the marketing stack for paid promotion of breakout episodes.