With so many podcasts around, you may even need to refer to one in your academic writing. And as with any source, it’s important to cite podcasts clearly to avoid issues of plagiarism. With that in mind, our guide below will help you to cite a podcast correctly in Chicago footnote referencing.
How to Cite a Podcast with Chicago Footnotes
In the Chicago Manual of Style’s footnote referencing system, you use superscript numbers to indicate citations. For example:
Superscript numbers go at the end of the relevant sentence.1
These numbers then point to footnotes at the bottom of the page. And the first footnote citation for a podcast should include the following information:
n. Name of principal creator (e.g., the presenter or interviewer), “Title” or Interviewee Name, publication date, in Podcast Title, additional contributors (e.g., producers or guests), podcast, format (e.g., MP3 audio), total run time of episode, URL.
In practice, then, podcast footnotes would look like this:
1. Hayley Jones, interview with Owen Johnson, April 4, 2020, in Interesting Podcast Interviews, produced by Andy Taylor, podcast, MP3 audio, 34:21, http://interestingpodcastinterviews.com/hji.
2. Hayley Jones, “No Interviews Today,” March 23, 2020, in Hayley’s Podcast, podcast, MP3 audio, 1:43:12, http://coolpodcasts.com/no_interviews_today.
Chicago referencing doesn’t always require time stamps for audio sources. However, if your university’s style guide recommends using one, add it after the URL (like you would page numbers for a print source):
3. Mark Smith, “I Need a Time Stamp,” December 10, 2019, in University Style Guides, produced by Helen James, podcast, MP3 audio, 12:47, http://podcastsforlife.com/usg/184jj883.mp3, 08:32.
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In the example footnote here, for instance, we’re citing something from 8 minutes and 32 seconds into the episode. And if you need to cite the same episode again, you can use a shortened footnote format.
Bibliography Entry for a Podcast
The bibliography entry for a podcast episode is similar to the first footnote citation, but there are some variations:
- The first listed contributor’s names are inverted (i.e., Surname, First name).
- The main elements are separated by periods, not commas.
For instance, we would list the podcasts cited above as follows:
Jones, Hayley. Interview with Owen Johnson. April 4, 2020. Interesting Podcast Interviews. Produced by Andy Taylor. Podcast, MP3 audio, 34:21. http://interestingpodcastinterviews.com/hji.
Jones, Hayley. “No Interviews Today.” March 23, 2020. Hayley’s Podcast. Podcast, MP3 audio, 1:43:12. http://coolpodcasts.com/no_interviews_today.
Smith, Mark. “I Need a Timestamp.” December 10, 2019. University Style Guides. Produced by Helen James. Podcast, MP3 audio, 12:47. http://podcastsforlife.com/usg/timestamp.
Note that we do not include a pinpoint citation here.
Hopefully, this guide has helped you understand how to cite a podcast in Chicago footnote referencing. But if you want to be sure your citations are always error free, our team of expert proofreaders can help.