Using Lists as a Mini-Firehose

What Is a Mini Firehose?

Podscan Lists aren't just for organizing podcasts — they can also act as a targeted, webhook-powered delivery system for new episodes. By creating a list, adding the podcasts you care about, and enabling webhook notifications, you can receive new episode data the moment it's available, sent directly to your server or integration endpoint.

Think of it as a focused version of the Firehose: instead of receiving every new episode across the entire podcast ecosystem, you receive only episodes from the specific shows you've hand-picked. This is perfect for monitoring a set of competitors, tracking shows in your niche, or building a custom feed of podcasts relevant to your business.

What You'll Need

• A Podscan account on a plan that supports webhooks on lists (Premium and above)
• A webhook endpoint URL (your server, Zapier, Make, or any HTTP endpoint)
• The podcasts you want to monitor

Step 1: Create a New List

Navigate to the Lists page from the left sidebar in your Podscan dashboard.

Click the New List button in the top left corner of the page.

Give your list a descriptive name that reflects its purpose. Something like "Competitor Shows — Webhooks" or "Industry Podcasts Feed" works well. A clear name helps you (and your team members) identify what this list is for at a glance, especially if you create multiple lists with different webhook targets.

You can also add an optional description to further clarify the list's purpose.

Click Create List to save your new list.

Step 2: Configure Webhook Settings

After creating your list, navigate to its Settings page. You can get there by clicking the Edit button (the pencil icon) on the list card, or from within the list view.

Enable the Webhook

Toggle the Webhook switch to enable webhook notifications for this list.

Once enabled, a Webhook URL field will appear. Enter the URL of your webhook endpoint — this is where Podscan will send episode data as POST requests with a JSON payload.

Test Your Webhook

Before configuring events, it's a good idea to verify that your endpoint is reachable. Click the Test Webhook dropdown and select one of the available test payloads:

• Default Test — sends a basic test payload
• Episode Transcribed — sends a sample transcribed episode payload
• Episode Analyzed — sends a sample fully analyzed episode payload

This lets you confirm your endpoint is working and inspect the payload format before any real episodes arrive.

Step 3: Select the Right Webhook Events

This is the most important configuration step. Scroll down to the Webhook Events section, where you'll see a list of event types you can subscribe to.

For a mini firehose setup, the two events you care about are:

Which Events Should You Select?

If you want data as fast as possible: Select Episode Transcribed. This fires as soon as the transcript is available, which is the earliest point at which meaningful episode data exists. You'll get the full transcript but won't yet have the analysis metadata.

If you want the most complete data: Select Episode Analyzed only. This fires after the episode has been fully processed, so the payload includes the transcript and all analysis data — summaries, extracted entities, topics, keywords, hosts, guests, sponsors, and GARM brand safety scores. This is the most complete payload, but arrives a few minutes after the transcript.

If you want both: Select both events. You'll receive two webhooks per episode — one early with just the transcript, and a second one later with the full analysis. This is useful if you need to display the transcript immediately but also want to update your records with analysis data once it's ready.

Tip: Uncheck All Events if it's selected, and only check the specific events you need. Leaving "All Events" enabled would also send you notifications when podcasts or episodes are added to or removed from the list, which you probably don't need for a mini firehose setup.

Optional: Include Word-Level Transcript

If you need timestamped, word-level transcript data (useful for building audio players with synchronized text or for precise quote attribution), enable the Include Word-Level Transcript in Webhooks toggle. This adds a raw timestamped transcript to the payload, which increases the payload size.

Step 4: Save Your Settings

Click Save to apply your webhook configuration. Your list is now ready to act as a mini firehose — it will send webhooks to your endpoint whenever new episodes are published by the podcasts in this list.

Step 5: Add Podcasts to Your List

Now that your list is configured, it's time to add the podcasts you want to monitor. There are several ways to do this:

From a Podcast's Page

Navigate to any podcast's detail page (through search, your mentions, or browsing). Look for the Add to List button. Click it, find your list in the dropdown, and click the list name to add the podcast.

From the Search Directory

Go to the Search page from the sidebar. Browse or search for podcasts you want to monitor. Each podcast card has an Add to List button — use it to quickly add shows to your list without leaving the page.

From Your Mentions

If you already have alerts set up and are receiving mentions, you can add podcasts directly from your mentions feed. When you see a mention from a podcast you'd like to monitor, use the Add to List button on the mention card and select the podcast to add it to your list.

From Search Results

Use the search feature to find relevant podcasts, then add them to your list directly from the search results.

In every case, the flow is the same: click Add to List, select the podcast if prompted, find your list, and click to add. Sometimes, you might need to select "The Podcast" in the dropdown as it also allows you to add the episode, the alert, or the mention to a list.

How It Works

Once a podcast is in your list with webhooks enabled, here's what happens whenever that podcast publishes a new episode:

1. Podscan discovers the new episode through its regular feed monitoring
2. The episode is transcribed (usually within minutes of discovery)
3. If you selected Episode Transcribed, a webhook fires with the transcript data
4. The episode goes through full analysis (entities, topics, summaries, etc.)
5. If you selected Episode Analyzed, a webhook fires with the complete data

Each webhook is a POST request to your configured URL with a JSON payload containing the episode data, podcast metadata, and whatever analysis data is available for that event type.

Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Mini Firehose

• Start small. Add a few podcasts first to verify your endpoint handles the payloads correctly, then scale up.
• Use descriptive list names. If you set up multiple lists with different webhook targets (e.g., one for competitors, one for industry news), clear names make management much easier.
• Check the test payloads. Use the Test Webhook feature to inspect the exact JSON structure before building your integration.
• Combine with other list features. You can still browse your list in Podscan, view demographics, and use it for research — the webhook is an additional feature on top of normal list functionality.
• Monitor webhook delivery. If your endpoint goes down, Podscan will retry failed deliveries, but it's good practice to monitor your endpoint's availability.

Mini Firehose vs. Full Firehose

Questions?

If you run into any issues setting up your mini firehose or need help configuring your webhook endpoint, reach out to us at support@podscan.fm. We're happy to help you get set up.

Related resources:

• Using the Firehose Webhook
• REST API Documentation

Updated on: 21/02/2026