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Create Your Podcast
Your podcast is your brand on show.fm. Creating one is two steps: first decide how the show is hosted, then fill in one page of details. The one thing on that page you cannot change afterwards is your show's web address, so the form checks it is free while you type.
What You'll Need
- Podcast title: the name of your show
- Description: a compelling summary (2 to 3 sentences work well)
- Category: your show's home in podcast directories
- Author or host name: your name or the show's name
Artwork can wait
You can add cover artwork in Podcast Settings after the show exists. Focus on the basics first.
Step 1: Choose How to Host
From your dashboard, click Create Podcast. The first screen asks how you host, with two cards:
- Host with us: show.fm stores your audio and builds the feed every directory reads. Right for a new show, or one moving its files across. Available on every plan.
- Connect an existing feed: keep your current host and use show.fm for booking, automation and your team. We read your feed and never serve your files. Available on paid plans; on the Free plan the card offers See plans instead.
Your web address is worth choosing carefully, though it can be changed later in settings with permanent redirects from the old name. How you host can change later, so if you are unsure, pick Host with us. You can point the show at an external feed after upgrading and the address stays the same, and moving an external show onto our hosting is a guided migration.
Migrating from another host?
Pick Host with us. The details page then offers From your feed: paste your current RSS feed URL, click Read feed, and your show's details are filled in for you. After you create the show, you are taken straight to the back catalogue import from the same feed. Importing episodes is a paid feature: on the Free plan the show is still created with everything you filled in, and the import is offered as an upgrade. See Import Your Podcast.
Connecting a feed
If you picked Connect an existing feed, paste your RSS feed URL and click Read feed. Buzzsprout, Transistor, Libsyn and the rest all show this URL on your show's settings page, often labelled RSS.
Nothing is created at this point. Your show's title, description, artwork, author, copyright, category, language and explicit flag are read from the feed, and you review all of it before the show exists. Your audio files, your published feed and your download stats stay with your host.
If the feed cannot be read, the form says why: the address did not answer, the page is not an RSS feed, or the feed is partly malformed. A malformed feed also offers Enter the details by hand, which keeps the feed connected and lets you type everything yourself.
Step 2: Title and Web Address
The details page opens with the Title and web address card, because one suggests the other.
- Type your Podcast title. An address is suggested from it as you type, marked From your title.
- The address is checked live: a moment after you stop typing, the card tells you whether it is free.
- To choose your own address, edit the address field directly. It is then marked Edited by hand, and Use my title instead puts the suggestion back.
The card answers each state in plain words:
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| Available. This address is yours the moment you create the podcast. | You are clear to create |
| Another show already has this one. These are free: | Pick one of the suggested free alternatives, or type another |
| This URL is not available. Please choose another. | That name cannot be used as an address |
| Lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens only. | Remove spaces, capitals and symbols |
| It cannot start or end with a hyphen. | Trim the hyphen |
| 50 characters maximum. | Shorten it; a counter appears as you approach the limit |
Below the field, the card lists everywhere the address is used: your RSS feed, your guest booking pages, and your dashboard.
You can change the address later
The address can be changed after creation in Podcast Settings → Web address (up to three times in 30 days), and old links keep working through permanent redirects. Your RSS feed uses a separate permanent identifier assigned at creation, so a later address change never moves your feed.
Step 2 Continued: About Your Show and Classification
The rest of the page is two cards, reachable from the On this page rail (on a phone, the section button at the top):
About your show:
| Field | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Description | What your podcast is about. The first two lines are what most apps show (up to 4,000 characters) |
| Author or host | The name directories list beside the show |
| Copyright | Optional, appears in the feed only, for example "© 2026 Your Name" |
| Website | Your own site, if the show has one. Not your show.fm address |
Classification:
- Pick a Category. A subcategory appears when the category has one; some, like Technology, have none, and that's normal.
- Set your Language (defaults to English).
- Turn on Explicit content if your show contains explicit language or adult themes. Podcast apps use this to show the E badge.
If you connected a feed, these cards arrive pre-filled from it, and a From your feed card shows the artwork that came across. Your episodes are not brought across at this point: once the show exists you can import the back catalogue from the same feed.
Hosting with us? The same read is offered here, optionally: the From your feed card at the top of the page takes your current host's RSS feed URL and fills in the details for you, so a migrating show does not retype anything. Use a different feed drops the connection again if you change your mind, and everything already filled in stays editable.
Create the Show
The dark bar at the bottom of the page always shows the address your show will live at, next to the Create podcast button. The button enables once the address settles as available; until then the bar names what is missing and links you back to the address card.
If the availability check itself cannot run (a network hiccup, for example), the address card says so and offers Check again. Create podcast stays available in that state: the address is checked again, authoritatively, at the moment you create the show, and if it turns out to be taken you are returned to the address card to pick another.
Click Create podcast. You'll land on your new podcast's dashboard.
You start with ready-made content
Every new podcast comes seeded with starter email templates, a show notes template, and three starter automations. See Starter Templates and Automations.
Your Podcast Overview
The Overview is your command center for this show. On a brand-new podcast it leads with Set up your show: seven steps to your first recording, with a button on whichever one comes next. Work down the list and the card is replaced by the working Overview: what needs you, your production pipeline, your next recording, and what has changed.
New episode sits at the top right of every Overview. See Your Podcast Overview for what each part of the screen is telling you.
The sidebar now shows navigation for this podcast:
- Overview: this screen
- Episodes: manage all your episodes
- Analytics: downloads and audience insights
- Guests: view and manage guest collaborators
- Bookings: track booking requests and upcoming recordings
- Automations: set up automatic workflows
- Templates: reusable email and show notes templates
- Podcast Settings: update your show's details and artwork
What's Next?
Your podcast is ready! Time to publish your first episode.