Compiled by Trent Thomas and Tess Connery
Greg Rust on the Aus Grand Prix, Chambers, and characters
One of the most significant names in the media industry when it comes to motorsport is Greg Rust, who has created industry-leading content in several mediums, with one of the most significant being podcasting, with his two podcasts Rusty’s Garage and The Grille.
Podcast Week‘s Trent Thomas caught up with Greg Rust to talk about his programs, and why the Melbourne Grand Prix earlier this year was a significant milestone for him.
“I was at the Grand Prix when it got cancelled and I can vividly recall, fans being at the gate waiting to come in and we just could not believe it,” said Rust. “That’s when Covid for me, really became real. It was the biggest press conference I’ve been to in my life as choppers were flying overhead and 100 people were in a circle with all the key constituents from Formula 1, delivering a message I never, ever thought I would hear and that is that a Grand Prix has been cancelled because of a pandemic.”
Greg Rust did a three-part special for the Melbourne Grand Prix on Rusty’s Garage that featured the voice of Netflix’s Drive to Survive Will Buxton, former F1 champion Alan Jones, and former Reynard designer Malcolm Oastler. The Grille also interviewed Australian Grand Prix Corporation CEO Andrew Westacott at the event. Rust said that the Grand Prix’s return was an important moment and he wanted to celebrate it.
“I was very excited about the return of the Grand Prix two years later. This was not something that was driven by sponsorship, it was driven purely by the fact that I and a lot of the listeners were really looking forward to going again.”
When asked about what is next, Rust said that this week’s episode of The Grille was recorded inside a 40-degree chamber.
“We went Denso and we recorded the podcast with Shane Jacobson and Geoff Gwilym. Some of the testing that they do involves simulating temperatures that you would get in the Australian outback or conditions that you might expect in countries that have very snowbound winters. In automotive circles, you call it a dyno. Above you, there are all these lights that generate incredible heat, and they can test componentry around air conditioning and more to see how it reacts, and then they can feed the data worldwide. Separately, they have another testing one for noise. It’s like driving a car in a massive soundproof booth that you might expect at LiSTNR.”
On Rusty’s Garage in July, Greg Rust explained he will also be interviewing one of the characters of Supercars.
“We have done one that will come out in July with Brad Jones. Brad runs a Supercars team with four cars in Albury. He is one of the real characters of the sport. A guy that in a family sense has battled away to build a race team that’s very significant in this country. I’ve known him for over over 20 years. One of the first hot laps that I did in a race car was with him for some television stuff that we were recording. I went to Albury and sat down with him in the workshop and we recorded a two-part special. It’s about an hour for each part and we’ll release both parts together in early July.”
[Listen to Rusty’s Garage here]
[Listen to The Grille here]
Schwartz Media and LiSTNR announce Post: News In Five
Schwartz Media and SCA’s LiSTNR have announced their second podcast co-production, Post: News In Five following the launch of The Politics in April 2022.
Hosted by journalist and producer Ninah Kopel, Post: News In Five is a new, daily news short cast adapted from The Saturday Paper’s daily newsletter Post, written by Max Opray.
Each weekday morning, a five-minute episode will drop, bringing listeners up to speed on the top five news stories of the day. By 8.30am you will know what’s going on, why it’s going on and where it’s going next.
New episodes will be available each weekday morning at 8.30am AEST.
[Listen to Post: News In Five here]
Professor Byron Sharp rounds out the first season of Black T-Shirts
Professor Byron Sharp of the Ehrenberg Bass Institute is the final guest for series one of Black T-Shirts.
Professor Sharp explores the relationship of creativity and marketing sciences, and how he embraces creativity when building the Ehrenberg Bass Institute’s brand. The episode also explores the role of research in the creative process. Professor Sharp explains that advertising pre-testing (qualitative or quantitative) has next to no role in good marketing, and encourages marketers to not do it.
The podcast also covers questions such as why do media agencies continue to recommend bursts of media spend rather than continuity? Why should marketers and advertisers focus more on creating advertising they like rather than trying to create stuff they think other people may like? What does a focus group think of the idea of a focus group?
Black T-Shirts is a podcast on the LiSTNR network, co-hosted by Adam Ferrier and Brent Smart. Its goal is to inspire more creativity in marketing.
[Listen to Black T-Shirts here]
7News finance editor Gemma Acton gets fiscal with new series
7News has launched its new podcast series, Let’s Get Fiscal, hosted by finance editor Gemma Acton who will delve deep into the latest money trends.
In the podcast, Acton will explain complex financial lingo and unpack money matters making news headlines.
The bi-weekly series, set to stream on Tuesdays and Fridays, will introduce Australians to the latest in finance news, improve their understanding of their money and, more importantly, how to make it work better for them.
Episodes will draw on Acton’s extensive understanding of the burning financial issues, as well as feature interviews with industry experts and consumer advocates.
Acton draws on more than 18 years of experience in the finance sector, working in investment banking and asset management for companies such as Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch. She was previously a correspondent for CNBC and now regularly appears on 7News bulletins across Australia, Sunrise, The Morning Show and The Latest.
The first two episodes are available now, including a one-on-one interview with Australian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes.
[Listen to Let’s Get Fiscal here]
SEN records major digital and podcast growth in May
Sports Entertainment Network (SEN) continues to show significant digital growth amongst its listeners, generating over 5m podcast downloads for the third successive month during May.
The total of 5.56m podcast downloads represents an 8% month on month increase from April (5.13m) and 105% year on year growth from May 2021.
The growth was led by a strong performance from SEN Breakfast which achieved a 150% year on year increase with 1,740,339 downloads.
Whateley (1,305,285 downloads – 115% YOY increase), The Run Home with Joel & Fletch (400,658 downloads – 113% YOY increase) and Breakfast with Vossy & Brandy (264,127 downloads and 139% YOY increase) were amongst the other most popular shows for podcast downloads for the month.
May was SEN’s second-highest month on record for podcast downloads, only following the 6.34m downloads achieved in March 2022.
Married at First Sight stars Ella and Domenica launch Sit With Us
Married At First Sight stars Ella Ding and Domenica Calarco have launched a new weekly podcast, Sit with Us, distributed, hosted, and monetised by Acast.
Ding and Calarco shot to fan-favourite stardom on Nine’s infamous dating show, Married at First Sight (MAFS).
Sit With Us will unpack the friends’ life after MAFS, revealing the real stories behind the headlines, covering everything from dating to daily life.
As part of its commitment to the open podcast ecosystem, Acast will make Sit with Us accessible to listeners on all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, Samsung Free, and more.
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras collaborate with JOY94.9 for Queer Thinking
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, in collaboration with JOY94.9, announce Queer Thinking. Hosted by trans non-binary JOY94.9 presenter Triana Butler (she/them), the Queer Thinking podcast unpacks queer identity and explores all the things that make the LGBTQIA+ community unique, connected, and creative.
The first eight episodes will focus on different LGBTQIA+ subjects including starting a family, being LGBTQIA+ in sport, queer subcultures, and delving into queer sex.
Host Triana Butler said “The LGBTQIA+ communities are filled with incredibly diverse people. People who have had their own unique experiences, sometimes positive and sometimes negative. Queer Thinking gives us an opportunity to sit down with a range of different LGBTQIA+ people and really delve into their stories, allowing listeners a chance to unite or find support over shared experiences, and mobilise to take action on issues that are important to our communities.”
Guests featured on Season One of the podcast include the first out lesbian in Australian cricket Alex Blackwell, Mardi Gras 78er Sallie Colchin, HIV trainer and educator Joel Murray, Australian Olympic gymnast Dominic Clarke and transgender host of Rainbow History Class, Rudy Jean Rigg.
[Listen to Queer Thinking here]
The Chaser Report launches a live format and subscription service
From the 14th June, The Chaser Report podcast will be adopting a live format, recorded in front of an audience at the Harold Park Hotel, Glebe in Sydney’s inner west.
The show, dubbed The Chaser Report – Live! has been commissioned for an initial run of four episodes.
As before, the podcast will be hosted by Charles Firth and Dom Knight, and will feature appearances from a range of the other old original Chaser team, such as Craig Reucassel, Chris Taylor, Chas Licciardello, and Andrew Hansen, as well as younger, better-looking, funnier comedians from around Australia, including the Chaser interns.
At the same time, The Chaser Report will launch a new premium episode of its podcast, that comes out each Friday. The first season will be called Drunk Q&A, and it will only be available to the most discerning (ie paying) listeners. There will be two options for listeners.
BASIC: For $7 a month, they can get an ad-free version of The Chaser Report each week.
DELUXE: For $9 a month, they also get the VIP members-only episode that promises to be far more defamatory and loose than the freely available episode.
The Chaser Report – Live! Recording Events
Harold Park Hotel (70A Ross St, Forest Lodge NSW 2037)
Tuesday 14th June
Tuesday 21st June
Tuesday 28th June
Tuesday 5th July
[Listen to The Chaser Report here]
Kate Toon launches copywriting podcast, Clever Copy Chats.
Kate Toon, founder of The Clever Copywriting School and Australia’s only copywriting conference, CopyCon, has launched a new podcast for copywriters everywhere: Clever Copy Chats.
From juggling parental guilt as a copywriter and what it’s like as a neurodivergent copywriter, to the skills needed to scale from solopreneur to agency founder, in Clever Copy Chats Kate interviews Australia’s most experienced and eclectic copywriters, to get a lick of their wisdom and nibble on their tricks of the trade.
Kate Toon
Alternative solo episodes will feature Kate providing practical copywriting tips and advice, sharing her strategies on how to embrace your inner copywriter. From how to write tighter copy, to separating yourself from your copy when receiving client feedback, and how to create useful skeleton drafts.
No stranger to the podcasting mic, Kate’s other podcast series have achieved nearly one million downloads combined.
Clever Copy Chats has already been ranked in the top 3 Australian marketing podcasts. Kate Toon’s Recipe for SEO Success podcast has had more than 400,000 downloads to date.
[Listen to Clever Copy Chats here]
Podcast advertising marketplace, PodShare, officially launches
Australia’s podcast advertising marketplace, PodShare, has gone live. The new platform connects all levels of podcasters, from independent to network shows, with advertisers to achieve great results.
PodShare aims to make podcast monetisation easy, allowing brands to connect directly to targeted audiences with host read ads and sponsorships, as well as more native branding formats like unboxings, reviews, guest interviews and much more.
Podcast advertising is one of the most effective channels for building brand awareness and purchase intent because podcast listeners are highly engaged. They like, trust, and want to support their favourite podcasters.
For podcasters, there are no sign-up costs, no listing fees and no upfront costs of any kind. Once ads are purchased by a business, revenue is split 70/30, giving podcast creators 70% of revenue directly and taking out the hassle of finding advertisers, invoicing and chasing up payments.
For Advertisers, there are no agency fees, no signup fees and no hidden costs of any kind, just a 15% commission for each ad buy.
