Introducing Re:verb, an AI agent that listens to podcasts for you
Crazy to say this, but I actually remember the first time I listened to a podcast. I downloaded an episode to my iPod (this was 2011, and I didn’t get an iPhone until 2012) and it felt... almost subversive?
Well, here we are in 2025. The All-In guys are holding interviews in the White House. Kamala Harris skipping Rogan was a national news story. And Bill Simmons, a sportswriter who pioneered the gab-style podcast, is now a millionaire many times over.
Podcasts have become a center of gravity in our culture. But there’s so many! And frankly, I don’t have time to listen to them all. I bet you don’t either.
I'm Andrew McGill, a product builder who turns delightful ideas into real things.
I used to make stuff at The Atlantic and POLITICO. Now I build things with people like you.
That’s why today I’m launching Re:verb, an AI-powered service that converts the deluge of podcasts into simple email digests.
How it works:
- It listens to more than a dozen agenda-setting podcasts, checking for new updates hourly.
- When a new episode drops, it listens and pulls the most important parts.
- You get an email with the highlights, the top quote, and the tl;dr: of the episode.
It’s a way to keep abreast of podcast culture — without needing to spend hours listening.
What’s going on behind the scenes?
The heart of Re:verb is how it listens.
- When a podcast episode drops, it first listens with an open mind. Who’s speaking? What are the main beats of the narrative? What are the most compelling quotes?
- Then, Re:verb listens again — this time, with an editor’s ear. What’s the most succinct way to relay the gist?
That turns into the newsletter that lands in your inbox.
Right now, it’s using Gemini’s Flash 2.0 model, which offers a great (and cheap) multimodal analysis. But Re:verb isn’t married to the Google ecosystem. As other models post gains or lower prices, it’s easy to swap.
An example
This is an episode of The Daily that launched earlier in April.
And here’s the summary Re:verb wrote:
TLDR
New York Times real estate reporter Debra Kamin investigates how realtors and the National Association of Realtors are allegedly circumventing a landmark legal settlement designed to lower home prices.
Highlights
- Kevin Sears, president of the National Association of Realtors, told members in a video that they “will still be able to offer compensation to a buyer broker,” but “it just cannot be conveyed on the MLS,” effectively greenlighting workarounds.
- Kamin reports on the story of Mike Chambers, a Boulder, Colorado home seller who chronicled his frustrations with the commission structure on Instagram under the handle “Realtors Hate Me.”
- Kamin admits that she, a real estate reporter, didn’t ask about the commission when selling her own home, underscoring how deeply ingrained the practice is and how difficult it is for even informed consumers to challenge.
Quoted
“Agents representing buyers at my company are talking to each other, in text and in person, saying, 'We’re not gonna sell this guy’s house, ‘cause he’s not playing by the rules.’” - A source tells Debra Kamin about how realtors are allegedly coordinating to boycott properties that don’t pay high commissions, revealing the explicit intent behind the “steering” tactic.
Worth Your Time If...
…you’re wondering whether the legal settlement that was supposed to lower the cost of buying or selling a home has actually changed anything, and how real estate agents are allegedly working to maintain the status quo.
My partners
I built Re:verb in collaboration with Verso, a new AI consultancy launched last year.
Kaveh and Patrick are awesome and you should hire them — it was their amazing work on analyzing The Joe Rogan Experience that sparked this idea to begin with.
Go and read their write-up on this project.
What’s next
Re:verb is an experiment. For now, it’s free. The biggest constraint is our time — Kaveh, Patrick and I are busy, and this was a big labor of love!
We’d love to hear what you think. Drop any feedback to team@reverb.email. If you have suggestions for additional podcasts to track, send them to that address, too.
My long-term vision is to make Re:verb a platform where anyone can monitor any podcast they’d like. If Re:verb’s current form takes off, we’ll consider building that out (though it would probably be a paid tier).
For now, we’re just happy to save folks a little bit of time — and keep them clued in on the discussions that matter.
I’d love to chat. Drop me a line.
