

Behind every podcast that “suddenly” takes off is a calendar most listeners never see. Your mic captures the magic, but Google Sheets or Excel carries the weight: topics, guests, sponsors, scripts, deadlines, and promo all living in one place. A podcast editorial calendar turns random inspiration into a reliable publishing engine. It keeps your team aligned, prevents last‑minute scrambles, and makes it easy to see what’s shipped, what’s stuck, and what needs your creative attention next.When you delegate that calendar to an AI agent, it stops being a static spreadsheet and becomes a living system. The agent can move episodes through stages, log guest details, sync Sheets and Excel, and trigger reminders without you touching a keyboard. Instead of babysitting cells and dates, you review decisions and record better conversations while automation quietly keeps your show on schedule.
If you host or produce a podcast, you already know the truth: recording is the fun part. The grind lives in spreadsheets—figuring out what’s next, who’s booked, what’s late, and where all the links live. A good editorial calendar, plus the right AI agent, turns that mess into a calm, visible system you barely have to touch.## 1. Build a Simple Calendar in Google Sheets (Manual)1. Create a new Sheet and name it “Podcast Editorial Calendar”.2. Add columns like: Episode #, Title, Theme, Guest, Status, Recording Date, Release Date, Channel Links, Notes.3. Use Data > Data validation to create dropdown lists for Status (Idea, Outlined, Recording, Editing, Scheduled, Live).4. Freeze the header row so it stays in view.5. Add color-coding: green for Live, yellow for In Progress, red for At Risk.6. Share the Sheet with your team and give edit access only to people who truly need it.**Pros:** Free, fast to set up, perfect for collaboration and remote teams.**Cons:** Easy to break with accidental edits; repetitive updates get annoying fast.## 2. Mirror or Deepen the Calendar in Excel (Manual)1. Open Excel and recreate the same columns as your Google Sheet.2. Turn the range into a Table (Ctrl/Cmd + T) for easier filtering and styling.3. Add extra planning fields if you want: Estimated Duration, Series, Priority, Promotion Assets Created (Yes/No).4. Use Conditional Formatting to highlight overdue Recording or Release Dates.5. If you track performance, add another sheet for downloads, listens, and conversion metrics and link them by Episode #.**Pros:** Great for advanced analysis, offline planning, and management reports.**Cons:** Harder to collaborate live; you’ll often end up emailing files around.## 3. Keep Google Sheets and Excel in Sync (Manual Option)1. Choose your “source of truth” (usually Google Sheets for collaboration).2. On a regular cadence (weekly or monthly), export Sheets as CSV and open it in Excel.3. Or, copy the table from Excel back into Sheets when you’ve run analyses.4. Use consistent column names in both tools so copy/paste remains painless.**Pros:** No extra tools needed; keeps everyone loosely aligned.**Cons:** Boring, error-prone, and always a step behind real life.## 4. Introduce an AI Agent as Your Calendar OperatorThis is where Simular’s computer-use agents shine. Instead of you shuffling rows and dates, the agent behaves like a tireless assistant sitting at your laptop.At a high level, your Simular agent can:- Open Google Sheets and Excel on your desktop.- Read your existing podcast calendar structure.- Add or update rows when you provide new episode ideas or guest confirmations.- Move Status values as episodes move from Idea → Live.- Sync changes between Sheets and Excel on a schedule.Because Simular Pro agents operate across the full desktop, browser, and cloud environment, they can also pull context from email, CRMs, or docs while they update your calendar.## 5. Set Up the Workflow With Simular1. **Define your playbook.** In plain language, write the steps you normally take: “When a new episode is approved, add a row, fill Title, Guest, target Release Date, set Status to Outlined.”2. **Install and configure Simular Pro.** Run it on your Mac, grant access to the apps you use (browser, Google Sheets, Excel, calendar, email, etc.).3. **Demonstrate the process once.** Let the agent watch as you open your Sheet, duplicate a row, update fields, and adjust dates. Simular’s neuro‑symbolic approach turns that demonstration into a robust routine.4. **Review the transparent execution.** Every step the agent takes is logged and visible. Before you trust it with the whole calendar, inspect what it did and tweak your instructions.**Pros:** Offloads the repetitive, click-heavy work; scales to hundreds of episodes and tasks; you stay in control by reviewing the agent’s actions.**Cons:** Requires an initial setup session and some experimentation to dial in your exact workflow.## 6. Automate at ScaleOnce you’re happy with the flow, you can:- Trigger the agent via a webhook when a new idea is approved in your CRM.- Schedule it to run daily and clean up statuses, nudge overdue recordings, and prep next week’s lineup.- Have it scrape guest details from LinkedIn or your website and drop them into the right row in Google Sheets and Excel.Over time, your podcast calendar stops being another spreadsheet you dread opening. It becomes a living system, maintained by an AI assistant that works exactly the way you’ve shown it—leaving you free to focus on sharper questions, better conversations, and bolder shows.
Start with a single tab in Google Sheets or Excel. Add columns: Episode #, Title, Theme, Guest, Status, Recording Date, Release Date, Assets Ready, Links, Notes. Turn the range into a filterable table, then add data validation for Status (Idea, Outlined, Recording, Editing, Scheduled, Live). This creates a simple but powerful editorial view you can grow over time.
Create separate tabs for Guests and Sponsors with unique IDs (e.g., G001, S001). Store contact info, topics, and availability there. In your main calendar, add Guest ID and Sponsor ID columns, and reference those records. In Sheets, use dropdowns with data validation; in Excel, use Data Validation lists. This keeps your editorial view clean but links each episode to rich profile data.
Add Recording Deadline and Release Deadline columns, then apply Conditional Formatting to highlight dates in the past or within the next 3–5 days. Create a filtered view called “At Risk” showing any episode where Status isn’t Live but the Release Deadline is near. Review this view weekly and adjust resources, reschedule guests, or simplify scripts to keep your publishing rhythm intact.
Add a separate tab called “Production Tasks” with columns: Episode #, Task (edit audio, write show notes, create clips), Owner, Status, Due Date. Link Episode # back to your main calendar. Use filters or a Pivot Table to see all tasks for one episode or all tasks assigned to a teammate. Update task Status daily so your calendar reflects not just ideas, but actual production progress.
First, define a repeatable workflow: which Sheet or Excel file to open, which tab to edit, and how to change Status or dates. Then let your AI agent execute that flow on your desktop, step by step. Review its transparent action log and correct any mistakes. Once tuned, schedule the agent or trigger it from other tools so it quietly maintains your editorial calendar while you focus on content.