How to Cite a Podcast in APA 7

How to Cite a Podcast in APA: Quick Answer

Credit the host of the show, not the guest you came for and not the app you used. Put (Host) or (Hosts) after the name. For one episode, give the full release date, the episode title in sentence case, the episode number only if the show uses one, then [Audio podcast episode], the word In, and the italic series title. For the whole series, italicize the show title, use a year range, and write [Audio podcast]. End with the production company and a stable URL when you have one. Pair the reference-list entry with an in-text citation that uses those same names and the year, plus a timestamp when you quote a moment. Start from the APA generator or the podcast citation generator when you want the same pattern filled in.

Do not italicize the episode title. Do not invent (No. 12) when the show does not number episodes. Do not list Spotify or Apple Podcasts as the author. Do not paste a platform URL just because that is where you pressed play. Do not drop (Host) from a transcript reference — the live Style Center samples keep the role. A punctuation reminder lives on the APA cheat sheet.

The Official APA Style Notes

Classroom APA in 2026 still means the seventh edition of the Publication Manual, published in 2020. There is no eighth edition to switch to. Section 10.13 is the audio chapter. The free current examples live on the APA Style podcast references page. University reprints such as Northern Virginia Community College copy those notes. The four sentences this page follows are the live Style Center wording for authorship, episode numbers, format labels, and missing URLs:

For a series cited as a whole, the same page adds the year-span rule. Use an en dash, not a hyphen you hope the font will stretch:

What This Guide Covers (and What It Does Not)

This is an APA 7 source-type guide for audio and video podcast episodes, for a series cited as a whole, and for a published podcast transcript. An earlier draft invented a 2025 Daily renewable-energy episode, a Radiolab "mathematics of love" episode numbered 487, a 2024 Fresh Air Isabel Wilkerson URL, a 2023 Serial date, a fictional psychology podcast, and an Invisibilia line that named the wrong hosts. Those fabricated strings stay gone. The 2026-09-10 rewrite then treated the Publication Manual Glass and Vedantam lines as the current Style Center set, used an older Vedantam transcript that drops (Host), and linked the transcript page without work in the slug. Those leftovers are what this rewrite replaces. The worked set below is the live Style Center Code Switch / Small Doses / 1619 / Radiolab quartet, the 3 March 2026 Common Reference Examples Guide Santos line, the live Style Center Cornish and Vogt transcripts, and the still-resolving handbook and NPR specimens.

• Use this page for an episode or series distributed as a podcast, including a radio show you heard through a podcast feed.
• Use How to Cite YouTube Videos in APA when the object is a user-uploaded video ([Video], uploader as author), not a podcast episode.
• Use How to Cite a Film or TV Show in APA for a theatrical film, documentary, or television episode.
• Use How to Cite Interviews in APA when the published object is a print or web interview, not the podcast that recorded it.
• Use How to Cite Social Media in APA for a clip that exists only as an X, Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook post.
• Use How to Cite a Source With No Date when the episode truly prints no recoverable date — the official Santos line later on this page is that case. The live Pushkin page now prints a date; that is a leftover, not a second official string.
• Use How to Cite a Podcast in MLA when the syllabus names MLA 9.

Episode or Whole Series?

Students often paste one series line and hope it covers every clip they quote. Publication facts change across a run: hosts, episode numbers, and even the company that made the installment can differ. APA therefore treats a single episode the way it treats a chapter in an edited book — the episode has its own title and date, and the series sits in the container position after In.

Official Style Center Series Examples: Code Switch and Small Doses

The live APA Style podcast references page no longer leads with Vedantam. Its current whole-series pair is Code Switch (with a URL) and Small Doses with Amanda Seales (the official app example that omits the URL). Copy the official strings. Do not update the Code Switch hosts from a later credits page.

Meraji is the leftover. The official APA string still names Shereen Marisol Meraji and Gene Demby and still uses 2016–present. The live NPR Code Switch hub, opened for this rewrite, still resolves at that podcasts URL, but the show's current hosting pair is Gene Demby and B.A. Parker. Apple Podcasts lists the same two names. Do not rewrite APA's Meraji line into a Parker line. If you are citing one recent episode that Parker hosted, cite that episode's own host, date, and title. If you are citing the series as the official example does, keep Meraji and Demby.

Official Style Center Episode Examples: 1619 and Radiolab

The same Style Center page now prints two episode lines. Nikole Hannah-Jones hosts episode 4 of 1619 and the official URL is an Apple Podcasts address — that is the rare case where a store URL is the published APA specimen, not a student shortcut. Molly Webster and Jad Abumrad host a Radiolab hour that does not print an episode number, so the (No. …) slot is omitted. The live WNYC Studios page, opened for this rewrite, still titles that hour Bringing Gamma Back, Again and still stamps 11 September 2020.

Hannah-Jones is the leftover URL slug. The official APA string still uses /episode-4-how-the-bad-blood-started/. Apple Podcasts, opened for this rewrite, 301s that address to /how-the-bad-blood-started/ with the same show id 1476928106 and episode id 1000449718223. Keep the official path APA published. Do not harvest the shorter slug as a second official reference.

Publication Manual Examples: Glass and Vedantam

The handbook §10.13 pair is still the Glass This American Life episode and the Vedantam Hidden Brain series. University pages such as University of Iowa Libraries still reprint those two lines. They are official Publication Manual examples. They are not the current Style Center lead pair. Some campus pages misspell Vedantam as Vendantam, or write Glass episode 433; Buena Vista University's audio guide is one that prints (No. 433) while linking episode 443. The live This American Life record and the handbook example both use 443.

Those two URLs still resolve. The Glass archive address now redirects to the canonical episode page; the title is still Amusement Park, Ira Glass is still the host, and the page still carries 12 August 2011. Apple Podcasts currently stamps the same installment 14 August 2011. Cite the date the show or the official example prints, not a store listing's UTC publish time. The Vedantam series address still opens the NPR Hidden Brain hub. Newer episodes of that show now also live at hiddenbrain.org; if you used a later installment, cite that episode's own date, title, and URL rather than copying the series line.

Official n.d. Episode: Laurie Santos, The Happiness Lab

The Common Reference Examples Guide last updated 3 March 2026 still prints a different official podcast episode — one with no recoverable date. Laurie Santos hosts The Happiness Lab. The instructional-aid line uses n.d., numbers the installment (No. 1), and points at the Pushkin season-2 URL. See how to cite a source with no date for the same marker in other source types.

Santos is the leftover date-and-URL trap. The official APA string still writes n.d. and still uses happinesslab.fm/season-2-episodes/episode-1. That address, opened for this rewrite, 301s to the live Pushkin page. The H1 is still Psychopaths and Superheroes. The live page's datePublished stamp is 27 April 2020 (and dateModified 9 May 2022). Do not replace APA's n.d. with 27 April 2020. Do not rewrite the official URL from the later Pushkin path. If a later Common Reference Examples Guide dated the line, that new official string would replace this one; the 3 March 2026 handout has not.

Interview Episodes: Cite the Host, Name the Guest

The guest is almost never the author of the podcast reference. APA 7 puts the host in the author position so a reader can recover the episode from the same catalog the show uses. Name the guest in your sentence. Fresh Air does not number episodes, so the (No. …) slot drops out. Terry Gross's 19 November 2020 interview with Barack Obama is a live NPR page, not a reconstructed URL:

One Hidden Brain Episode, Not the Whole Series

The Publication Manual series line is the right entry only when the paper discusses the show as a whole. If you quote Raj Chetty on economic mobility, cite that hour. The 9 December 2019 Hidden Brain episode Zipcode Destiny: The Persistent Power of Place and Education is still on NPR under its original address. The show does not print an episode number on that page, so the (No. …) slot is omitted. In-text, the year is 2019, not 2015–present.

Zipcode is the leftover browser-title trap. The live NPR page, opened for this rewrite, still bylines Shankar Vedantam and still dates 9 December 2019. The og:title is still Zipcode Destiny. The browser <title> now reads "The State of Your American Dream | Hidden Brain : NPR." Cite the episode title the show and this page print, not the tab.

Published Transcripts Keep (Host)

Cite the audio episode if you listened. Cite a transcript only when a standalone published transcript is the document you opened. The current APA Style transcript of an audiovisual work page — note work in the slug; the older /transcript-audiovisual-references path is the leftover — uses [Audio podcast transcript] and keeps the role label. The 2026-09-10 version of this page said handbook reprints of examples 93–94 drop (Host). The live Style Center samples do not.

Cornish is a leftover URL that still recovers. The official APA string uses the old /templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=528813842 path. NPR, opened for this rewrite, 301s that address to /transcripts/528813842. The title is still This Simple Puzzle Test Sealed The Fate Of Immigrants At Ellis Island, and the date is still 17 May 2017. Keep the official path.

Vogt is the leftover 404. The official APA string still ends at https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/6nhgol/144-dark-pattern. That canonical URL, opened for this rewrite, 404s. The Gimlet AMP transcript still carries episode 144, the title Dark Pattern, hosts PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman, and the full transcript. Do not invent a Spotify or archive URL as a second official reference. If you opened the AMP transcript, you may add that URL after the official string in a note; the Style Center line itself stays the 404 path APA published.

An older handbook reprint, still used by some campus pages, printed a Hidden Brain transcript without (Host). That line remains a real NPR transcript. It is not the current Style Center lead. If you cite it, add (Host) unless you are reproducing the older reprint as a historical example. The live audio page for that hour 301s from a 22 July path to an 18 July path; the transcript and datePublished stamp remain 22 July 2019. The browser <title> now says "Why Facts Don't Always Change Minds"; the official title is still Facts aren't enough: The psychology of false beliefs.

Dates, Titles, and Bracketed Descriptions

The date is the date of the episode, not the night you listened. Series titles are italic. Episode titles are roman. Everything in the reference uses sentence case: capitalize the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns. This American life is correct in a reference; This American Life is the marketing title, not the APA title.

• Episode date: Year, Month Day of the original release. Glass is (2011, August 12), not (2011). Hannah-Jones is (2019, September 13).
• Series date: 2016–present for a show still running, 2014–2018 for a finished run. Use an en dash.
• No date: if the show site, the RSS item, and the official example truly print no date, write n.d. The Santos line is the official case. The live Pushkin stamp is not a reason to replace it.
• Episode title: sentence case, no italics, no quotation marks. Zipcode's browser tab is not the episode title.
• Episode number: (No. 443) and (No. 4) only when the show itself numbers episodes. Omit the slot for Fresh Air, Radiolab in the Webster line, and the Hidden Brain hours on this page.
• Bracketed description: [Audio podcast episode], [Video podcast episode], [Audio podcast], [Video podcast], or [Audio podcast transcript]. Do not write [Podcast], [Interview], or [Investigative podcast].
• Transcripts and show notes: cite the episode if you listened. Use the transcript pattern only when a standalone published transcript is the object you opened.

Production Company vs Listening App

The source element is the production company — National Public Radio, WBEZ Chicago, The New York Times, WNYC Studios, Pushkin Industries, Starburns Audio — not the app icon you tapped. APA 7 does not require you to name Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, or Pocket Casts. Prefer the show's own website URL. Hannah-Jones is the official exception: APA published an Apple Podcasts URL. If the episode exists only inside an app and you cannot recover a URL, omit the URL rather than inventing one. Seales is that official omission.

• Show site first: npr.org, thisamericanlife.org, wnycstudios.org, and the official happinesslab.fm path outlast a store-listing URL.
• Spotify exclusive or official store specimen: if APA or the only public address is a store page, that URL is acceptable. The app is still not the author.
• Several companies: copy the credit order and join them with semicolons when the credits name more than one.
• Database versus URL: a library podcast database is not the production company. Cite the company, then add a URL only if it helps a reader recover the same episode.
• Do not harvest a homepage, a season index, or a paywalled app deep link when the episode has its own page.
• Hosts who change: Code Switch is the leftover. The official series line keeps Meraji and Demby. For one later episode, credit that episode's host.

In-Text Citations and Timestamps

The in-text citation uses the same names that open the reference. One host is (Glass, 2011) or (Hannah-Jones, 2019). Two hosts use an ampersand between surnames: (Meraji & Demby, 2016–present) and (Webster & Abumrad, 2020). Three or more become et al. from the first citation. For a quotation, APA 7 §8.28 treats the timestamp the way it treats a page number. The official direct quotation of material without page numbers page is the wording this page follows — not a campus paraphrase:

Include only the beginning of the passage, not a range. A timestamp is required for a direct quotation from the audio. It is optional for a paraphrase, though it still helps on a long episode. Do not put the runtime of the episode in the reference. The 2026-09-10 version of this page quoted a Shippensburg restatement that dropped "directly" and the e.g. list; the official sentence above replaces it.

Podcast vs Radio, Audiobook, and YouTube

Cite the version you used. Many public-radio hours are both a broadcast and a podcast; if you pressed play in a podcast app or on the show's episode page, use the podcast templates on this page. A one-off radio broadcast that was never issued as a podcast uses [Radio broadcast] instead. The same 3 March 2026 Common Reference Examples Guide prints Rebecca Hersher's 19 March 2020 NPR hour as radio, not as a podcast. An audiobook is a book. A YouTube upload is a video.

Hersher is the leftover browser-title trap. The live NPR page, opened for this rewrite, still bylines Rebecca Hersher, still dates 19 March 2020, and still uses the official og:title Spring Starts Today All Over America, Which Is Weird. The browser <title> now reads "First Day Of Spring 2020 Comes Early : NPR." Cite the official headline, not the tab.

Common Mistakes When Citing Podcasts in APA

• Listing the guest as the author. Barack Obama does not write the Fresh Air reference. Terry Gross does, because she hosts the show. Name Obama in the sentence.
• Dropping `(Host)`. The role in parentheses is part of the author element. The live Style Center transcript samples keep it. An older Vedantam reprint that omits it is the leftover, not the current rule.
• Italic episode titles. The episode is roman; the series after In is italic.
• Title case in the reference. APA sentence-cases episode and series titles. Code switch and Hidden brain, not the marketing titles, in the reference list. In your prose you may still write the marketing title.
• Year-only episode dates. Amusement Park is (2011, August 12), not (2011).
• Invented episode numbers. If the RSS feed and the show site omit a number, omit it. Webster and Abumrad is the official unnumbered case. Campus pages that print Glass as 433 are wrong.
• Invented medium labels. [Podcast], [Interview podcast], and [True-crime podcast] are not the official descriptors.
• A store URL on every line. Prefer the show site. Hannah-Jones is the official store-URL exception. Seales is the official omit-the-URL case.
• Using the listen date. The date is the release date printed by the publisher. The Santos line keeps n.d. rather than the live Pushkin 27 April 2020 stamp or the day you pressed play.
• Rewriting Code Switch hosts. The official series line is still Meraji and Demby. Parker hosts later episodes; that does not edit the official series specimen.
• Citing an audiobook as a podcast. A book read aloud is [Audiobook], not [Audio podcast episode].
• Treating a radio broadcast as a podcast. Hersher's NPR hour in the Common Reference Examples Guide is [Radio broadcast].
• Using a YouTube re-upload of a commercial episode as if it were the show feed. If the object is a user upload, it is a [Video] on the YouTube page.

Related Guides

• How to Cite YouTube Videos in APA
• How to Cite Interviews in APA
• How to Cite a Film or TV Show in APA
• How to Cite a Podcast in MLA
• How to Cite a Source With No Date