Greg Rust on how podcasting from NZ works
Motoring journalist and broadcaster Greg Rust is coming to the end of his second year with PodcastOne.
His podcast Rusty’s Garage launched in the days leading up to the 2018 Melbourne Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Prior to the PodcastOne partnership, Rust made what he calls a “significant lifestyle decision” at the end of 2017.
“My wife grew up where I live now – at Hawke’s Bay on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand,” Rust told Mediaweek. “At the time I ended the second of two great stints working with Supercars – the first as part of 10’s coverage where I got to work with Barry Sheene and others. The second saw me working on Supercars coverage that saw me both onscreen at Fox Sports and 10.”
Along with the move with his family to New Zealand, Rust became a freelance journalist and broadcaster with podcasting a significant part of his business model. “I have absolutely loved it and it is an important part of what gives me a big buzz.”
Rust is something of a long-form specialist with most recent interviews packaged as two, or even three-part, podcasts. “These people have great stories to tell and the feedback we get seems to indicate that many are listening to the whole interview.”
Although home is in NZ, many recent interviews have included podcasts recorded in Australia and Singapore.
Meanwhile Rust’s Chad Reed podcast runs across two parts recorded 12 months apart.
For 2020, Rust is hoping to have a new release every three weeks. “Although there isn’t any racing across much of the summer, people still have a thirst for motorsport content. Recent interviews have included Casey Stoner who revealed he has been suffering from chronic fatigue. Another summer podcast was an interview with a former colleague and friend Bill Woods [formerly at 10 Sport and now with Fox Sports].”
A year ago in January Rust released his Mark Skaife podcast which has turned out to be one of his most-listened to episodes.
Coming soon from Rusty’s Garage is mega-successful businessman Tony Quinn who is also a car racing fan and owner.
Plans for 2020 include a visit to Europe where Rust has a wish list of legendary motorsport figures he is hoping to secure for podcasts.
On the move to New Zealand, Rust told Mediaweek: “It’s been absolutely fantastic. We are on two acres in wine country and it’s so nice to have a bit of space. The podcasts are now the highlight of this part of my career and I didn’t realise when I embarked on the journey just how satisfying they would be. I am very proud of the rapport I have had with the various guests.”
Rust didn’t rule out leaving New Zealand for the right job in sports broadcasting, but it would have to be pretty tempting to drag him away from what sounds like an idyllic lifestyle. “Australia is still my home and that will never change, but this is lovely for my kids and the foreseeable future.”
Listen to Rusty’s Garage here.
Group M’s Mark Lollback leads ‘Bitesize’ push
GroupM’s has announced a podcast series Media Landscapes The Podcast hosted by GroupM Australia & New Zealand CEO, Mark Lollback; Head of Trading Intelligence, Liesa Newland; and Group Communications Director, Rosie Baker.
Each episode of Media Landscapes The Podcast is based on a trends piece written by GroupM’s Global President of Business Intelligence, Brian Wieser, and published at the tail end of 2019 in a report of the same name.
As podcast hosts, Lollback and Newland offer their local analysis and reflection on the global topics explored in depth within the report.
Mark Lollback said: “We are constantly looking for better ways to communicate with our clients, people and partners to share information and insights. Podcasts are an effective, innovative audio channel that works for many of our advertising clients, so it makes sense to explore it as a B2B channel.
“Whether listeners are media and marketing experts themselves or new to the subjects, these short, snackable episodes are designed to offer a bitesize overview of a major topic in media and marketing. The episodes standalone but if listeners want to know more, they can download the full GroupM Global publication Media Landscapes for free and go deeper into the subject, or get in touch with us for more info.”
The first episodes were launched in late December and GroupM will distribute new episodes weekly throughout January on Apple Podcasts. GroupM is also distributing the episodes directly to clients and its staff across Australia & New Zealand.
Media Landscapes The Podcast was developed and produced in collaboration PodcastOne Australia and recorded in their state of the art Sydney podcast studio.
Listen to Media Landscapes here.
Whateley at Radio Row in Miami during Super Bowl week
Radio shows from SEN 1116, the Melbourne sports radio station now part of the Crocmedia empire, have been one of the beneficiaries on the new Podcast Ranker chart.
For several months now that AM sports station has had two of its programs in the top 10 – SEN Breakfast and Whateley.
We covered the return on the breakfast show hosted by Garry Lyon and Tim Watson in Mediaweek yesterday.
The Whateley program is also back on air this year and host Gerard Whateley is spending the week broadcasting from Radio Row in Miami ahead of the Super Bowl LIV clash to be played Monday morning Australian time.
In addition to his regular guests from Australia this week, Whateley has also spoken to US sports journalists in Miami for the big game and players including Broncos star Justin Simmons.
Whateley will broadcast the Super Bowl on Monday on SEN from Miami’s Hard Rock stadium. He will continue broadcasting from Miami on SEN until Wednesday next week.
Listen to the Whateley podcast episodes of his radio show here.
PodcastOne Australia partners with Spotify
Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) has announced a partnership with Spotify to include PodcastOne’s Australian podcasts on the Spotify platform as part of its broader distribution strategy in 2020.
Spotify is the most popular global audio streaming subscription service with more than 248 million users, including 113 million subscribers, across 79 markets. Spotify provides access to over 50 million songs and more than half a million podcasts across the world.
SCA and PodcastOne Australia have entered into a distribution agreement with Spotify to make available all of PodcastOne Australia’s podcasts, including Hamish and Andy, Mark Howard’s The Howie Games, The Mentor with Mark Bouris, Rosie Waterland’s Just the Gist and My Mum Says My Memoir Is A Lie, Greg Rust’s Rusty’s Garage, Mark Pesce’s Next Billion Seconds, Adam Shand’s Understate and At Large crime series, Amelia Phillips’ Healthy Her, Katie Williams’ Better For It, David Koch’s Kochie’s Easy Steps to Financial Success and Kochie’s Guide to Starting your own Business and Sarah Grynberg’s A Life of Greatness, among others.
More than 70 PodcastOne series will initially be available on Spotify this month with more to follow.
SCA CEO Grant Blackley (pictured) said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Spotify to expand the distribution of PodcastOne’s Australian titles – ensuring stronger reach, accessibility and discovery for both our podcast creators and consumers alike. We recognise Spotify’s reach and value and look forward to working closely with their Australian team. SCA will continue to look at additional future platforms to improve PodcastOne’s distribution where commercial terms are appropriate.”
Spotify Australia & New Zealand managing director Karen Lawson said: “Spotify’s goal is to continue leading the streaming revolution by providing the best in audio content, customised for our listeners and accessible on-demand, on any device, everywhere. That revolution started with music and continues with podcasts, and we could not be happier to welcome PodcastOne’s amazing line-up of audio content to our platform in 2020.”
