The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is launching a podcast, the organization revealed exclusively to The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday, and it’s tapping beloved punk singer Kathleen Hanna, frontwoman for Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, to host its first season.
The Rock Hall didn’t reveal the podcast’s title while announcing the new project, nor did it disclose a guest list or an official release date, though the organization confirmed it would be sharing more details on the new podcast “in the coming months.” The podcast will launch before this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction ceremony, which will take place on November 8.
Hanna is one of the most revered figures in modern punk as one of the pioneers of the feminist riot grrrl movement of the ’90s. The Hall said Hanna, who became a New York Times bestseller last year for her memoir Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk, will host conversations “with revolutionary women in music and will put punk back into podcasting, where it began.”
The Rock Hall is producing the podcast alongside indie podcast companies Radiotopia and Talkhouse, the first time the two indie podcast producers have teamed up to develop a podcast together, the Rock Hall said. The companies hope to leverage the Hall’s name recognition and authority within the rock community to make it competitive in the increasingly saturated podcast market.
“We’re excited to take a meaningful step into the space with this innovative partnership with both Radiotopia and Talkhouse,” Rock & Roll Hall of Fame president and CEO Greg Harris said in a statement. “Through this podcast collaboration, we’re expanding the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s reach and reinforcing our commitment to innovating in how we celebrate and share music culture with the world. We look forward to announcing more details soon on what is sure to be a revolutionary moment in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s history and the podcast space overall.”
Audrey Mardavich, executive producer of Radiotopia from PRX, called the new podcast and partnership “an exciting reminder of what’s possible when we come together to expand our reach.”
“Radiotopia has been at the forefront of championing creative voices that break the mold, and now, to be working with Kathleen Hanna, whose voice has shaped generations of artists and fans for decades, is a dream come true,” she said.
As Talkhouse co-founder and publisher Ian Wheeler said: “We’ve long admired Radiotopia and were eager to find the right project to collaborate on. There’s a shared ethos and an independent spirit, paired with some fairly high-level shared network insight. In the music industry, it’s common for independent labels to share an artist to maximize impact, and that’s exactly what we’re doing here.”
The Hall announced the new podcast just over two months before this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction Ceremony is set to take place in Los Angeles at Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. This year’s inductees include Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, Outkast, Soundgarden and The White Stripes. The ceremony will air live on Disney+.
Hanna, was among the performers at a star-studded benefit show for the Musack Foundation just last week. Back in March, the Rock Hall hosted a conversation between Hanna and Paramore’s Haley Williams during Women’s History Month.
“Kathleen moves people and builds community. Putting punk back into podcasting means cutting through the polish with bold, loud, honest conversations,” Uli Beutter Cohen, Kathleen Hanna’s manager and producing partner, said in a statement. “She doesn’t follow trends — she’s been setting them for decades. As a cultural icon across music, fashion, and feminism, Kathleen has a massive, fiercely loyal, multigenerational audience that trusts her deeply. That’s exactly the kind of energy the podcast world —and the entertainment industry at large — needs right now.”
