Podcast Pitch List: Authority-Building Reference

Project: Rebuilding Seminars Built: 2026-05-07 by Charlie Purpose: Decision support for guest-spot outreach. Tiered by accessibility + impact. The actual pitch language gets personalized later by Annette + the client.

Strategic frame (read first)

The play is 40 podcast pitch targets over 12-18 months (trimmed from 45 on 2026-07-09; see the Benched section), weighted toward Tier 1 (high signal-fit) before stretching to Tier 2 then Tier 3. Each appearance:

Establishes the client's voice + framework with a warm audience.
Generates 1-2 evergreen audio assets the client owns (clip rights vary; ALWAYS ask the host for permission to repost clips before pitching).
Compounds, every podcast appearance increases booking-rate for the next one ("As recently heard on...").

The pitch principles that govern every outreach:

Listen to 2-3 recent episodes BEFORE pitching. Reference a specific moment from a recent episode in the pitch. Hosts can spot a generic pitch in 3 seconds.
Lead with the audience benefit, not the credentials. "Your listeners often ask about X, here's a 35-min conversation that delivers Y" beats "I have 30 years of experience in Z."
Provide a one-line, three-line, and ten-line pitch. Hosts skim. Make it scannable.
Suggest 3-5 specific episode angles, never ask the host to invent the topic.
Provide a one-tap-everything packet: headshot, bio (50 + 150 + 300 word versions), 3-5 angle pitches, 5-7 sample questions, links to past appearances.
Track every pitch in a CRM (Notion / Airtable). Follow up ONCE at 14 days. Don't follow up twice, annoying = no.
Sensitivity rule: the client's name appears NOWHERE in this doc. We use "the client" or "the guest" sparingly. Annette + the client personalize all outreach.

Tier definitions:

Tier 1 (Accessible, high-fit): divorce/relationship-niche shows, divorce-coach hosts, smaller-but-engaged. Booking turnaround: 2-8 weeks. PITCH FIRST.
Tier 2 (Medium effort): broader midlife/grief/relationship shows, mid-tier reach (10-100k downloads/episode). Booking turnaround: 4-12 weeks.
Tier 3 (Stretch): flagship shows with PR teams, agents, or "we don't take pitches" pages. Booking turnaround: 3-6 months IF at all. Don't waste cycles here until Tiers 1-2 have produced 8-10 appearances of evidence.

TIER 1: Pitch first (15 shows)

These are shows where the client's framework is directly on-topic, hosts are typically reachable via direct email or Podchaser, and audience-fit is highest.

1. The Divorce Survival Guide Podcast

Host: Kate Anthony, Certified Divorce Coach (CDC)
Audience: Mid-tier, ~20-50k downloads/episode estimated
Format: Solo + interview mix
Pitch difficulty: EASY. Coaching peers regularly appear; she features frameworks.
Booking process: Direct email via katanthony.com contact page; also accessible on Podchaser.
Angle: "The 19 Rebuilding Blocks, what most divorce coaches miss about stage 7-9 (the rebuilding plateau)"
Apple link: The Divorce Survival Guide Podcast

2. Divorce & Beyond with Susan Guthrie

Host: Susan Guthrie, Esq. (family law attorney + mediator)
Audience: Top 1% of 3.5M+ podcasts globally per host's site, likely 50-150k downloads/episode
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: MEDIUM-EASY. High volume of guests; she values practitioners with frameworks.
Booking process: Direct via divorceandbeyondpod.com contact form.
Angle: "Why the legal divorce ends but the emotional divorce doesn't, the 19-block roadmap"

3. The Divorce Remix Podcast

Host: April Nowlin, Divorce Recovery + Dating Coach
Audience: Smaller, ~5-15k downloads, but tightly engaged
Format: Solo + interview
Pitch difficulty: EASY.
Booking process: Direct email through host site.
Angle: "From rebuilding to dating: the bridge most people skip and pay for later"

4. Bent Not Broken: Life After Divorce

Host: Deborah Griffiths
Audience: Smaller engaged audience, ~3-10k downloads
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: EASY.
Booking process: Host website + LinkedIn DM both work.
Angle: "The grief that nobody warns you about: the post-divorce identity collapse"

5. The Empowered Divorce Podcast

Host: focuses on women, post-betrayal-trauma
Audience: ~5-15k downloads
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: EASY.
Booking process: Spotify listing + host website.
Angle: "Rebuilding after betrayal, how the framework's middle stages handle the trust-rebuild question"

6. Journey Beyond Divorce Podcast

Host: Karen MacMahon, Certified Relationship + Divorce Coach (also hosts Worthy's "Wise and Worthy")
Audience: Mid-tier, ~15-40k downloads
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: EASY-MEDIUM. Karen books peers actively.
Booking process: Direct email through journey-beyond-divorce.com.
Angle: "What 50 years of rebuilding-program data tell us about who heals fastest"

7. Doing Relationships Right

Host: Jennifer Hurvitz
Audience: ~10-30k downloads
Format: Interview, mid-life-divorce-and-dating focused
Pitch difficulty: EASY.
Booking process: jenniferhurvitz.com/podcast.
Angle: "The dating-after-divorce mistake every coach sees, and how the rebuilding model predicts it"

8. Wise and Worthy: Thriving After Divorce (Worthy Network)

Host: Karen MacMahon
Audience: Worthy.com network reach, ~20-50k downloads/episode
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: EASY-MEDIUM.
Booking process: Through Worthy network or direct host email.
Angle: "Why divorce recovery has stages, and why missing one stalls you for years"
Note: this is the renamed "Divorce & Other Things You Can Handle", verify current branding before pitching.

9. The Divorce Podcast (UK)

Host: Kate Daly, family law mediator (UK)
Audience: UK-skewed but globally listened, ~10-30k downloads
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: EASY.
Booking process: Direct via thedivorcepodcast.com.
Angle: "The American framework that's helping British divorcees skip the worst part" (transatlantic angle stands out)

10. Reinvention Rebels

Host: Wendy Battles
Audience: Mid-tier, ~5-20k downloads
Format: Interview, women 50-90 reinventing
Pitch difficulty: EASY.
Booking process: Direct site contact form.
Angle: "Divorce as the reinvention catalyst nobody asks for, but everyone can use"

11. Aging with Purpose and Passion

Host: Beverley Glazer, M.A., ICF Certified Empowerment Coach
Audience: ~5-15k downloads, women 50+
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: EASY.
Booking process: Host website, accepting pitches actively per recent guest pattern.
Angle: "Reinventing love and life after divorce in your 50s, 60s, 70s, what the data shows about who succeeds"

12. Say YES to Yourself!: Midlife Reinvention

Host: podcast for women 40s-50s+
Audience: ~5-20k downloads
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: EASY.
Booking process: Direct site contact form.
Angle: "The 'who am I now' question post-divorce, a framework for answering it without therapy gridlock"

13. The Midlife Reinvention

Host: Kavita Ahuja, Certified Career and Life Transitions Coach
Audience: ~3-10k downloads
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: EASY.
Booking process: Direct host site.
Angle: "Career, identity, and divorce: when life forces three reinventions at once"

14. Women in the Middle

Host: podcast specifically for women 50+
Audience: ~5-15k downloads
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: EASY.
Booking process: Direct host site contact.
Angle: "Empty nest, divorce, and the third act, the rebuilding playbook for the 50+ pivot"

15. The Widow Podcast (Karen Sutton)

Host: Karen Sutton, "The Widow Coach"
Audience: ~3-10k downloads, focused widow audience
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: EASY-MEDIUM. Tonal sensitivity matters here, see r/widowers norms.
Booking process: Direct via Apple Podcasts profile → host site.
Angle: "Where the rebuilding framework adapts for widows, and where it deliberately doesn't apply"
Sensitivity flag: Pitch should acknowledge the framework was originally divorce-built and explain the adaptation. Don't claim universality.

TIER 2: Medium effort (18 shows)

Broader audiences, less divorce-specific, mid-tier reach. Book these AFTER 5-8 Tier 1 appearances build the resume.

16. Therapy Chat

Host: Laura Reagan, LCSW-C
Audience: Mid-tier, ~20-50k downloads/episode, therapist + therapy-curious audience
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: MEDIUM. Books practitioners + framework-developers.
Booking process: Site contact form on redcircle.com/shows/therapy-chat.
Angle: "Why divorce-recovery is therapy-adjacent but not therapy, and where the framework slots into a clinical practice"

17. Marriage Therapy Radio

Host: Dr. Tony Overbay + Justine Overbay
Audience: ~15-40k downloads
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: MEDIUM.
Booking process: Apple Podcasts profile → host site.
Angle: "What we tell couples in therapy that they should also hear about post-divorce" (counter-angle for couples-therapy audience)

18. Relationship Radio (Marriage Helper)

Host: Dr. Joe Beam
Audience: Larger evangelical-leaning audience, ~30-60k downloads
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: MEDIUM.
Booking process: marriagehelper.com/relationship-radio contact.
Angle: "When reconciliation isn't possible: the rebuilding framework for post-divorce", they'll appreciate someone who doesn't shame divorcees

19. Marriage and Martinis

Hosts: Danielle + Adam
Audience: ~10-30k downloads
Format: Interview, conversational
Pitch difficulty: MEDIUM. They like guests who can hold their own in casual conversation.
Booking process: marriageandmartinis.com.
Angle: "What we wish every couple knew BEFORE divorce, even the ones who never get divorced"

20. Modern Love (NYT)

Host: Anna Martin
Audience: ~500k-1M+ downloads/episode (NYT scale)
Format: Interview + listener stories
Pitch difficulty: HARD-MEDIUM. NYT pitch process is competitive but they DO take pitches.
Booking process: Tipped through [email protected] or NYT pitch portal.
Angle: "I built a framework for ending love when therapy didn't have one yet", story-led, not framework-led

21. Death, Sex & Money

Host: Anna Sale
Audience: Large, ~200-500k downloads/episode
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: MEDIUM. Anna's pitch criteria: "things people don't talk about." Divorce-rebuilding fits.
Booking process: Apple Podcasts profile → show site.
Angle: "The financial-emotional collision of late-life divorce"

22. Terrible, Thanks for Asking

Host: Nora McInerny
Audience: Large, ~200-400k downloads/episode
Format: Interview, grief-and-honesty
Pitch difficulty: MEDIUM-HARD. Nora's bar is high; she needs a real story not a pitch.
Booking process: feelingsand.co contact.
Angle: "What the rebuilding framework gets right about grief, and what nothing prepared us for"
Sensitivity: lead with story, never with framework.

23. The Coming Back Grief Podcast (Shelby Forsythia)

Host: Shelby Forsythia
Audience: ~10-30k downloads, grief-specialist audience
Format: Interview + solo
Pitch difficulty: MEDIUM.
Booking process: shelbyforsythia.com contact form.
Angle: "Adapting a divorce-recovery framework for widow grief, what works, what to throw out"

24. Insights at the Edge (Sounds True)

Host: Tami Simon
Audience: ~30-80k downloads, spiritually-curious audience
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: MEDIUM-HARD. Books authors + teachers; framework-developers fit if they can speak to the inner-work piece.
Booking process: Sounds True press page.
Angle: "The inner work of rebuilding, when the framework meets contemplative practice"

25. The Colorado Counseling Podcast

Host: Overcomers Counseling, Colorado Springs
Audience: Local-to-regional Colorado audience, ~3-10k downloads
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: EASY. Local advantage for Boulder-based pitch.
Booking process: coloradocounseling.podbean.com site contact.
Angle: "Why we're seeing more late-life divorces in Colorado, and the rebuilding pathway"

26. Colorado Mental Health Podcast

Host: Colorado-based mental health professionals
Audience: Regional, ~3-10k downloads
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: EASY. Local advantage.
Booking process: Apple Podcasts profile → contact site.
Angle: Same as #25 with local-Colorado framing.

27. evre: UCHealth Women's Health Podcast

Host: Dr. Carrie Landin (UCHealth Integrative Medicine, Denver)
Audience: UCHealth network audience, ~5-15k downloads/episode
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: MEDIUM. Hospital-network shows have stricter editorial.
Booking process: UCHealth podcast page → producer contact.
Angle: "Mind-body-relationship: how divorce recovery is also somatic recovery"
Local advantage flag: Boulder is in their service area.

28. The Overwhelmed Brain

Host: Paul Colaianni
Audience: ~30-100k downloads, self-help audience
Format: Solo + occasional interview
Pitch difficulty: MEDIUM. Paul's bar: practical actionable framework.
Booking process: theoverwhelmedbrain.com (verify URL) contact form.
Angle: "When the rebuilding stages feel like setbacks, what's actually happening in the brain"

29. Hot Flashes & Cool Topics

Hosts: Bridgett Biagi-Garrett + Colleen Heffernan
Audience: Mid-tier women-50+ audience, ~10-30k downloads
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: EASY-MEDIUM.
Booking process: Direct host site.
Angle: "The midlife divorce surge, why it's happening and what to do with the next chapter"

30. The Forty Drinks Podcast

Host: Stephanie McLaughlin
Audience: ~5-15k downloads, midlife-pivot audience
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: EASY.
Booking process: Host site contact.
Angle: "The pivot stories nobody plans, and the framework that makes them survivable"

31. The Not Old: Better Show

Host: Paul Vogelzang
Audience: ~30-80k downloads, 50+ audience
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: MEDIUM.
Booking process: notold-better.com contact form.
Angle: "Late-life rebuilding: framework for the 60+ divorcee market that nobody's serving"

32. The Coaching Inn

Host: Claire Pedrick
Audience: Coaching-industry audience, ~10-30k downloads
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: MEDIUM.
Booking process: Direct host site.
Angle: "Why divorce-recovery coaching is its own discipline, and how practitioners can get into it"

33. The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast (broader life-pivot angle)

Host: Ginny Yurich
Audience: ~30-80k downloads, family-and-life-pivot audience
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: MEDIUM. Tangential fit, only pitch if there's a strong family/parenting angle.
Booking process: Host site.
Angle: SKIP unless reframed for divorced-parents.

TIER 3: Stretch (7 shows)

Flagship podcasts with PR teams, agents, or "we don't take pitches" pages. We pitch these after A Stronger Chapter publishes; big shows book authors, and Bob will be one. Trimmed from 12 to 7 on 2026-07-09 (Annette's call): keeps are decided by audience fit (divorce, relationships, midlife), not raw size. PR-agency support advisable.

34. Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel

Host: Esther Perel
Audience: Multiple-million downloads/episode (Vox Media network), see Spotify show page
Format: Therapy session recordings + commentary
Pitch difficulty: HARD. Esther rarely books guests; show format is therapy sessions.
Booking process: Through her Esther Perel Global Media team.
Angle: "Conversation between two frameworks, relational vs. stage-based recovery" (only viable as peer-to-peer dialogue)
Reality check: Very low probability. Lower expectations, but worth on the list because one yes = career-defining.

35. Unlocking Us with Brené Brown

Host: Brené Brown
Audience: ~1M+ downloads/episode
Format: Interview
Pitch difficulty: HARD. Brené books peers and authors with major platforms.
Booking process: Through her team, likely agent-only.
Angle: Peer-of-peers framework conversation; vulnerability is the emotional core of rebuilding.
Honest note: Her podcasts have been on pause. Keep her on the list anyway (Bob loves her work); pitch when she's back and the book is out.

36. We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle

Host: Glennon Doyle (+ sisters)
Audience: Top-50 podcast in US, ~1M+ downloads/episode
Format: Conversational
Pitch difficulty: HARD. Treat Media has gatekeepers.
Booking process: Through Treat Media production team.
Angle: "Divorce as the threshold conversation we don't have honestly", story-led. Divorce and remarriage are lived territory for the hosts.
Reality check: Extremely competitive. Likely needs PR-agency intro.

37. The Mel Robbins Podcast

Host: Mel Robbins
Audience: Top-tier women's audience, multi-million downloads
Pitch difficulty: HARD-MEDIUM. Mel does book practitioners, and her audience is exactly Bob's: women navigating hard resets.
Booking process: melrobbins.com press contact.
Angle: "The 5-second decision that ends a marriage, and the 5-year decision to rebuild"

38. On Purpose with Jay Shetty

Host: Jay Shetty
Audience: Top-tier, multi-million downloads
Pitch difficulty: HARD. Books well-known authors + thought-leaders. Relationships and love are his core beat.
Booking process: Through PR agencies typically.

39. The School of Greatness (Lewis Howes)

Host: Lewis Howes
Audience: Top-tier, ~500k-1M+ downloads/episode
Pitch difficulty: HARD-MEDIUM. Healing and relationships after devastation are recurring themes.
Booking process: lewishowes.com press contact.
Angle: "Greatness on the other side of devastation, the rebuilding playbook"

40. The Diary of a CEO (Steven Bartlett)

Host: Steven Bartlett
Audience: Top-tier global, multi-million downloads
Pitch difficulty: HARD. Books framework-creators with platforms; runs long, deep interviews with relationship experts (Esther Perel included).
Booking process: Through DOAC team.
Angle: "The framework for rebuilding after the relationship that defined a decade"

BENCHED (cut 2026-07-09, revisit post-book)

Cut from Tier 3 when Annette halved the stretch tier. These aren't dead, just parked: audience fit for divorce/relationships/midlife was weakest here. Revisit once A Stronger Chapter is out and Tiers 1-2 have produced appearances.

B1. Dare to Lead with Brené Brown

Host: Brené Brown
Audience: ~500k-1M downloads/episode
Pitch difficulty: HARD.
Angle: Leadership-lens-on-personal-rebuilding angle.
Why benched: Leadership audience, not a divorce/relationships fit; Unlocking Us (kept, #35) is the right Brené door.

B2. The Daily Stoic Podcast

Host: Ryan Holiday
Audience: ~500k+ downloads/episode
Format: Solo + interview
Pitch difficulty: HARD.
Booking process: Through publisher relationships.
Angle: Stoic philosophy applied to relational endings.
Why benched: Philosophy audience skews young and male; weak fit for women 30-60.

B3. The Tim Ferriss Show

Host: Tim Ferriss
Audience: Top-tier, multi-million downloads
Pitch difficulty: VERY HARD. Tim rarely books outside his existing network.
Angle: Skip unless network-introduction available.
Why benched: Network-only booking plus weak audience fit.

B4. Armchair Expert (Dax Shepard)

Host: Dax Shepard + Monica Padman
Audience: Multi-million downloads
Pitch difficulty: VERY HARD. Network-driven booking.
Angle: Memoir-of-divorce + framework angle.
Why benched: Celebrity-driven booking; framework guests without fame rarely land.

B5. SmartLess

Hosts: Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett
Audience: Top-tier
Pitch difficulty: VERY HARD. Network only.
Reality check: Skip unless connection available.
Why benched: Comedy/celebrity show; no topical fit at all.

Pitch tracking template

Annette + the client should track every pitch in a CRM (Notion / Airtable / spreadsheet) with these fields:

Field	Notes
Show name
Tier (1/2/3)
Host
Pitch sent date
Pitch angle used	One of the 3-5 angles, or custom
Follow-up date	Day 14 only, single follow-up, then drop
Status	Pitched / Replied / Booked / Recorded / Aired / Declined / No response
Air date
Episode URL
Clip rights	Permission asked + granted?
Cross-promote	Did the client share the episode on socials?
Result	Newsletter signups, web traffic, booking inquiries in 30 days post-air