Oliver Darcy Expands ‘Status’ Newsletter With ‘Power Lines’ Podcast

Ever since journalist Oliver Darcy launched the media-industry newsletter “Status” in August of last year, he has relied on a take-no-prisoners demeanor and a bevy of intriguing scoops about the business.

Now he’s ready to see if it will translate to podcasting and video.

“Power Lines,” a new podcast and videocast based on the reporting and analysis of Darcy and his colleague Jon Passantino, will launch July 11, with new episodes debuting early each subsequent Friday. The duo will offer “our reporting, our trademark sharp-edged analysis,” says Darcy in a recent interview. “We are not sparing any egos or anything like that.”

In less than a year, “Status” has become a go-to resource for media-industry aficionados, and Darcy has been first to report on eyebrow-raising incidents ranging from accusations about former New York writer Olivia Nuzzi and her relationship with now-HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy after she wrote a profile of him to, more recently, Eva Pilgrim’s departure from ABC News to join CBS “Inside Edition.”

And while Status is approaching 85,000 paid and non-paid subscribers, according to Darcy, relying solely on a text product in the current era of digital media would be short sighted. Without video, says the journalist, “you’re missing out on a larger audience,” because video tends to get better distribution on social-media platforms. The new format will also allow potential subscribers to get better acquainted with Darcy and Passantino, and allow the pair to deliver additional reporting on topics covered in the days leading up to their latest episode.

The duo doesn’t intend to rely heavily on guests, which may set them apart from similar podcasts led by other media-beat journalists, including Dylan Byers, Peter Kafka or Aidan McLaughlin. “We’re not ruling out guests,” says Darcy, but he expects the show to center on free-flowing discussion of “a lot of the things that everybody is thinking but really no one says aloud.”

Status is teaming up with In The Arena Studios, the new production outlet led by audio veteran Chris Corcoran, who has worked in recent years with everyone from Stephen A. Smith and Tony Kornheiser to Crooked Media, Goop and David Spade and Dana Carvey. Corcoran believes Status can reach listeners beyond its endemic audience of media junkies. “I think there is much more appeal than you would think,” he says, because learning about the stories behind big media entities and how they function can draw interest across audiences for “politics, business and news.”

Corcoran is working with a former partner, Spencer Brown, with whom he co-founded the podcast studio Cadence13, and whose new company, Gemini XIII, will oversee ad sales tied to “Power Lines.”

“Status” has also been backed by WME, which has ushered several well-known journalists from traditional media and ushered them into digital outlets. The agency has worked with Darcy, Jim Acosta, Joy Reid and Jennifer Rubin and Norm Eisen to develop digital newsletters as well as presences on platforms including Substack.

Darcy sees more business opportunities for Status, including events, and, potentially, more coverage and more reporters. “I would like this to be bigger than me,” he says of Status, cautioning he wants to grow the enterprise organically, and hasn’t accepted funding from outside investors. “We want to expand the aperture of coverage,” he adds, noting “there are opportunities in other verticals to have the same kind of scoop-driven reporting we do for the media industry.”