How to Cite a Podcast Episode in APA, MLA and Chicago, With Time Stamps for Quotes

Knowing how to cite a podcast mostly means citing one episode: the host, the episode title, the show it belongs to, the date it first aired and where to listen. APA 7, MLA 9 and Chicago 18 each publish their own podcast examples, and they differ in visible ways: who counts as the author, which title is italic, and whether the run time appears. Below: each template as the guide's own page shows it, one invented episode cited three ways, and the time stamp that sends a reader to the words you quoted.

How to cite a podcast: what to collect first

Copy the facts from the episode page before you open a style guide.

Take the facts from the show's own episode page where you can; an app may hide the publisher, the episode number or the full date. Note the date you listened, too.

Cite a podcast episode in APA 7

The APA Style page on podcast references lists the host as author with (Host) after the name, or the executive producers with their role. Give the date the episode first aired and the episode number in parentheses after the title, if the show numbers episodes. Neither is italic. Add [Audio podcast episode] or [Video podcast episode], then In, the italic podcast title, the publisher and the episode URL.

APA's own example: Hannah-Jones, N. (Host). (2019, September 13). How the bad blood started (No. 4) [Audio podcast episode]. In 1619. The New York Times. In the text: (Hannah-Jones, 2019) or Hannah-Jones (2019). If you heard the episode in an app and do not know its URL, APA says to leave the URL out.

Citing a whole podcast in APA

For a whole series, APA dates the podcast by the years it aired, with present for a show still on the air, and adds [Audio podcast]. APA's example is Code switch, hosted by S. M. Meraji and G. Demby, dated from 2016 to present. APA's own pages join the two years with an en dash; the template below writes the word to in its place.

Cite a podcast episode in MLA 9

The MLA Style Center answer on podcast episodes puts the narrator or host in the Author slot, the episode title in quotation marks, and the podcast in italics as the container, then the season and episode number if any, the publisher, the episode date (or the website's copyright date if none is given) and the URL.

MLA's example: Gladwell, Malcolm, narrator. “The Lady Vanishes.” Revisionist History, season 1, episode 1, Slate Group, 2016, revisionisthistory.com/seasons?selected=season-1. A podcast inside a larger website gets that site as a second container. For an app, put the app's name in the Version slot, as in MLA's second Gladwell example: Revisionist History, iTunes app, 16 June 2016.

That post is marked as relating to the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook, and the MLA points readers to the ninth edition for current guidance. The post gives no in-text example. A common form is the host's name and the time where the quotation begins, such as (Whitfield 12:45); check what your course expects.

Cite a podcast episode in Chicago 18

The Chicago Manual of Style citation quick guide puts podcasts under Video or podcast (CMOS 14.167 to 169). Its podcast note: Lauren Ober, host, The Loudest Girl in the World, season 1, episode 2, “Goodbye, Routine; Hello, Meltdown!,” Pushkin Industries, September 13, 2022, 41 min., 37 sec., https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/loudest-girl-in-the-world. The shortened note is Ober, “Goodbye, Routine.”

Chicago names the podcast before the episode; APA and MLA name the episode first. The guide says a word such as video may be added in the bibliography unless context makes the kind of source clear. To point to a moment, shortened notes use at and the time, as in the guide's TED example, Cowan, “Green Hydrogen,” at 6:09.

One episode cited three ways

An invented example episode. Host: Dana Whitfield. Podcast: Field Notes on Memory. Season 2, episode 14: Why We Forget Names. Publisher: Lantern Audio. Aired April 8, 2025. Run time 38:20. URL: https://www.example.com/podcasts/field-notes/14.

APA sets the podcast title in sentence case, as in its Code switch example, and the episode title without quotation marks.

Time stamps for podcast quotations

Audio has no page numbers, so the time is the page number. APA's page on quoting material without page numbers says to quote an audiovisual work, including an audiobook, with a time stamp for the beginning of the quotation in place of a page number, as in (Cuddy, 2012, 2:12). Write the time as the player shows it.

Check the words against the audio, not an automatic transcript. Trimming and bracketing work as in print; the guide to quoting and citing a passage covers them, and the in-text citation guide covers narrative and parenthetical forms.

A worked example: one quoted sentence, three styles

Suppose your draft quotes the invented example episode at 12:45, where the host says: “Names are the first thing to go because nothing else hangs on them.”

• APA 7. Whitfield argues that “names are the first thing to go because nothing else hangs on them” (Whitfield, 2025, 12:45).
• MLA 9. Whitfield argues that “names are the first thing to go because nothing else hangs on them” (12:45). The name is in the sentence, so only the time is needed.
• Chicago 18. Whitfield argues that “names are the first thing to go because nothing else hangs on them.”² Note 2 reads: Whitfield, “Forget Names,” at 12:45.

Keep one line in your notes for each quotation: the words, the time stamp, the episode URL and the date you listened. A podcast published as a video works the same way, with [Video podcast episode] in APA; for videos in general, see how to cite a YouTube video.

Pitfalls when citing a podcast

• Citing the app as the publisher. The publisher is the company or station behind the show.
• Using the date you listened as the air date. APA asks for the date the episode first aired; keep your listening date in your notes.
• Treating a guest as the author. APA and MLA list the host. Name the guest in your sentence when you quote the guest.
• Italicizing the wrong title. The podcast is italic in all three styles; the episode is not.

Tips that save time later

• Collect facts in a fixed order. Use the order of the table at the top.
• Copy the episode URL, not the show's home page. APA asks for the URL of the episode.
• Follow the guide your class names. Your instructor's rule wins over any general page, including the other guides to citing and keeping a record of sources.

Citing a podcast comes down to copying the host, episode title, podcast, date, publisher and URL once, then arranging them as your style guide shows. Add a time stamp to every quotation and check the words against the audio, so a reader can hear them in under a minute.