"My shift is over": Ran Levi retires from "Making History" and announces a successor
Ran Levi, the founder of the popular Israeli podcast "Making History," has announced his permanent departure from the show. He will be succeeded by Eran Nitzan, while Levi plans to focus on creating visual content using AI.
Just a few months ago, the local podcast world experienced a small drama: Ran Levi, one of the founding fathers and most recognizable faces of the podcast scene in Israel, announced that he was putting his flagship show "Making History" on hiatus, following his desire to return to his roots and work as a high-tech engineer.
The decision, he explained, came after a challenging period for him as an independent creator, especially following the war that caused the cancellation of many lectures, and after he sold the network's business operations last year. A month later, it turned out that Levi had joined the Israeli company Wix. Now, the temporary separation from the microphone is becoming a permanent one, and he is passing the torch.
"It's time to hand over the keys"
In a post published on Sunday, Levi revealed that he had finally decided not to return to the host's chair of the podcast in the coming years. According to him, the deliberation was very difficult because the podcast had been the center of his life for the last two decades, but he did not want the project to simply fade away.
"My shift is over, and it's time to hand over the keys to a new host," Levi announced to his listeners, and announced that the chosen successor is Eran Nitzan.
Nitzan, who previously served as Israel's economic attaché in Washington and currently hosts the podcast "Sipur Hazak Ve-Tov" ("A Strong and Good Story"), will soon step into Levi's shoes. Levi says that when he listened to Nitzan's show, he immediately identified the exact same elements that made "Making History" a great success: the deep research, the storytelling, and the editing. Levi clarifies that the new show will undergo a natural change under Nitzan's baton, and compared the process to what happens at the amphitheater in Caesarea, which today hosts musical performances instead of the gladiator fights of the past. However, he promises that "the heart of the show will remain the same heart, and that is what is important."
Video instead of a podcast
As for Levi himself, he plans to say goodbye to the listeners in a "real" final episode, with the possibility of a live episode on stage, and does not rule out short guest appearances in future episodes. In parallel with his current work at Wix, Levi intends to focus on what he calls visual content.
"I think that artificial intelligence (AI) can allow me and creators like me to do things in the video field that were once the domain of large studios only," he explains.
According to him, the new field excites him and he hopes to break new boundaries in it. To the listeners who fear that he will disappear completely from the landscape, he promises to continue making interesting topics accessible. "The fire inside me has not gone out," he concludes, "in short, I will continue to 'dig' for you for a long time to come."
