Compiled by Jasper Baumann and Tess Connery
Walking towards adventure on Daytime Explorers
Kids are increasingly feeling anxious, stressed, and overwhelmed. In response, Amy Taylor-Kabbaz has returned with a new season of Daytime Explorers – the sister series to multi-award-winning Bedtime Explorers.
Each podcast episode invites listeners to take a walking meditation in their imagination, with the first episode called Soft Snow.
Podcast Week’s Tess Connery caught up with host Taylor-Kabbaz to speak about the new season.
She said that while Bedtime Explorers came out of her struggles to get her kids to sleep, Daytime Explorers came out of her experience with “an incredibly anxious child”, who dealt with school refusal.
“She’s now 16, but when she was six, seven, eight and I couldn’t get her to school, I had no idea what to do. I was completely overwhelmed with her anxiety.
“Recently, I saw the statistics on school refusal, especially post-COVID. I was talking to my amazing executive producer, Lorna [Clarkson], about this and we thought it was time for us to do a daytime one. It’s not about going to sleep, it’s about these pauses in the day to reset,” Taylor-Kabbaz said.
Amy Taylor-Kabbaz
The Daytime Explorers podcast uses walking meditation techniques, taking listeners along a snowy path, a leafy forest, or along a sandy beach. The inspiration came from a silent Buddhist retreat near Wollongong that Taylor-Kabbaz attended last year.
“One of the things I loved the most was this phenomenal monk walking us around the grounds with a walking meditation. I’ve been meditating for many, many years, and I couldn’t believe how different that experience was.
“I said to Lorna, what if we did a walking meditation for kids – they can get up and move their body. The bedtime podcast is all about not moving and getting ready to sleep, but sometimes these overwhelmed kids need to move their bodies mindfully and release that worry, fear, and anger and move it through their bodies.”
Ultimately the podcast works to build resilience in kids, and Taylor-Kabbaz said her goal is for it to “feel like something in parents’ back pocket to pull out when they’re not calm enough to be calm for their kids.”
“It’s really about recognising the emotions in our body, and that they are something we can move through if we use our mind, our body, and our breath. The feelings aren’t bad, they just need to be understood and moved, and then you can go back to being stronger than you ever were. It’s a skill.”
[Listen to Daytime Explorers here]
LiSTNR nominated at the New York Festivals Radio Awards
LiSTNR’s Secrets We Keep: Shame, Lies & Family, is nominated in two categories – Narrative or Documentary Podcast and Documentary: Social Issues. In addition, the team behind the audio drama Gripped: You Don’t Know Me has been nominated in the Mystery Podcast category.
The 2024 winners will be announced at the Storytellers Gala virtual ceremony on 16 April 2024.
Last year, LiSTNR’s The Children in the Pictures won Gold in the Narrative/Documentary Podcasts category at the same awards.
[Listen to the nominated podcasts here]
Centennial World launches ‘mini scroll’ daily podcast covering internet culture
‘mini scroll’ is the new podcast from youth media company Centennial World and delivers daily news about internet culture and the creator economy from Monday through Thursday. It will be hosted by Centennial World founder and digital culture expert Lauren Meisner.
‘mini scroll’ will be releasing full episodes on TikTok. This decision aims to meet Gen Z on the platforms they use and enjoy, with episodes also available on other platforms including Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
“‘mini scroll’ is an exciting addition to Centennial World’s podcast lineup, complementing our flagship series, ‘infinite scroll’,” said Meisner. “With ‘infinite scroll’ offering a 30-minute long deep dive into a single topic every Friday, ‘mini scroll’ fills the gap with daily updates, providing our audience a comprehensive understanding of the digital landscape.”
[Listen to ‘mini scroll’ here]
The Brag Media launches The Music Network Podcast with its first guest, Fyre Festival’s Billy McFarland
Billy McFarland, the entrepreneur behind the music festival failure and Netflix sensation that was 2017’s ‘Fyre Festival’, is on the comeback path.
Speaking on the first episode of The Music Network Podcast, McFarland tells The Brag Media managing director Luke Girgis and editor-in-chief Poppy Reid he’s focused on delivering ‘Fyre 2’.
“I think the demand for Fyre has almost increased since COVID,” he said.
During the interview, which also sees him chat about Kanye West, Ja Rule and 50 Cent, McFarland claims there’s still an appetite for the brand, revealing a pre-sale for Fyre 2 took place in August 2023 with “no information and a bad selfie video and it sold out in a day. I think the demand is there,” also revealing it will lean on “parody [and] self-deprecation.”
[Listen to The Music Network Podcast here]
Andrew Garfield and Cynthia Erivo star in Audible original adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984
Audible has launched its new audio thriller based on George Orwell’s dystopian masterpiece 1984, featuring an all-star cast.
Andrew Garfield leads the adaptation as Winston alongside Cynthia Erivo as Julia.
Andrew Scott plays the mysterious and dangerous O’Brien, while Tom Hardy voices the infamous Big Brother.
The cast also features Romesh Ranganathan as Parsons, Natasia Demetriou as Mrs Parsons, Chukwudi Iwuji as Charrington, Francesca Mills as Syme, Katie Leung as Ling, and Alex Lawther as Ampleforth alongside a full ensemble.
Acast bolsters sales presence in WA via partnership with Digital Loop
Acast has bolstered its commercial presence in Western Australia through a partnership with Digital Loop.
Digital Loop will bring expertise and local insights, strengthening Acast’s sales presence in WA, with commercial representatives on the ground with an understanding of the intricacies of clients’ individual needs in the region.
Digital Loop will assist WA-based brand and media agencies to access Acast’s suite of offerings.
Henrik Isaksson, Acast managing director AU/NZ said, “Acast’s leading products have been widely adopted across Australia, supported by our commercial team in Sydney and Melbourne along with established representation in Brisbane.
“Given the robust and expanding digital audio market in Western Australia, the decision to allocate dedicated local sales resources was timely. Chris and the Digital Loop team understand the unique nuances of this local market, boast strong credibility in WA and are a great fit for Acast’s vision.”
