How to cite a podcast in MLA

To cite a podcast episode accessed online in MLA style, list the host of the episode as the author, followed by the episode title, podcast name, the season and episode numbers if available, the publisher, the date, and the URL.

If you need to highlight a specific quote in an in-text citation, use a timestamp.

Citing an entire podcast series

If it’s not a specific episode but a whole podcast series that you need to cite, the format is slightly more straightforward.

Citing a podcast from an app

If you accessed the podcast not from a website but from an app like iTunes or Spotify, list the app as the container and include whatever information you have access to.

Details like the publisher and season and episode numbers might be unavailable on the app; just omit them if they aren’t listed.

Labeling the author of a podcast

The host of a podcast is generally listed as the author, unless you focus on someone else’s contribution—a guest, a narrator (i.e. when the podcast just tells a story, with no guests), or a producer.

Regardless of who you list as author, a label identifying their role should follow their name. Feel free to be flexible with these labels to describe the person’s role as clearly as possible.

Frequently asked questions about MLA citations

Who is listed as the author of a podcast in MLA?

It’s standard to list the podcast’s host in the author position, accompanied by the label “host,” in an MLA Works Cited entry. It’s sometimes more appropriate to use the label “narrator,” when the podcast just tells a story without any guests.

If your citation of the podcast focuses more on the contribution of someone else (e.g. a guest, the producer), they can be listed in the author position instead, with an appropriate label.

How do I cite a source with no author or page numbers in MLA?

If a source has no author, start the MLA Works Cited entry with the source title. Use a shortened version of the title in your in-text citation.

If a source has no page numbers, you can use an alternative locator (e.g. a chapter number, or a timestamp for a video or audio source) to identify the relevant passage in your in-text citation. If the source has no numbered divisions, cite only the author’s name (or the title).

If you already named the author or title in your sentence, and there is no locator available, you don’t need a parenthetical citation:

• Rajaram argues that representations of migration are shaped by “cultural, political, and ideological interests.”
• The homepage of The Correspondent describes it as “a movement for radically different news.”