Podcast Week compiled by James Manning and Trent Thomas
Jack Post: Working on a hit podcast and starting a little indie
With a radio gig at Gold 104.3 FM and on the Hamish & Andy podcast, Jack Post manages to juggle roles at ARN and SCA.
“The Hamish & Andy podcast is easy with regard to the amount of work I have to so,” Post told Podcast Week. Especially when compared to his own series (see more on that later). “The companies might not like me working across both that and Gold, but I don’t think I am a big enough fish for them to worry too much about that.
“It is important for me to keep the podcast as I love working with Hamish and Andy,” Post continued. “It was perfect timing for me really. They finished their five-day-a-week show the year before Christian O’Connell started here. Being able to stay in touch with them on a podcast once a week is my best-case scenario.
“I started with Hamish and Andy in 2008 and this is my 13th year. It was my first fulltime job and they were hosting their second year of national drive.”
Post said the idea behind his Jacky Road Studios podcast was to interview a guest every week and then take something from the interview that inspired him to write a song for that episode. “What I didn’t realise was that I had backed myself into a corner as I had to do a lot of extra work every week writing the song and then recording it.
“Because I’d never recorded music before I was teaching myself how to use the software. It was extremely time consuming. Halfway through I thought it would kill me if I tried to keep doing this forever. I then made it a series of 20 episodes with the idea to have a break.
“I am in the middle of that break now. I want to do a season two, but the thought is so daunting that I have delayed it.”
The album of all the songs from the first season of Jacky Road Studios is now complete and available on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. Guests in that first season ranged from his colleagues Hamish, Andy and Christian through to performers like Amy Shark and Nikki Glaser.
Post told Podcast Week there will be an album for season two of Jacky Road Studios, but you’ll have to be patient.
Don’t expect a serious music album from Post. “It is pretty gimmicky what I am doing on Jacky Road Studios and there is no serious subject matter in any of the songs. I find that if I sit down and try and write a serious song it always ends up coming out as a joke. I can’t help but do that after never taking myself too seriously.
“I will always hide behind the comedy silliness like on the songs I have written and performed so far.”
Listen to Jacky Road Studios here.
Listen to The Christian O’Connell podcast here.
See also: How Jack Post segued from one hit radio show to another
Matty Johns new project and podcasting future
Matty Johns‘ new TV show Face to Face with Matty Johns will air on Wednesday nights at 7.30pm on Fox League. On the show, Johns sits down with key figures in the game of rugby league and Australian society for what has been described as a candid chat.
The show has a growing list of interviews that already includes Anthony Mundine, Karmichael Hunt, Danny Buderus, Nicho Hynes and Melbourne Storm General Manager Frank Ponissi.
Johns spoke to Mediaweek‘s Trent Thomas about what this new show means for his podcasting future, and what to expect from him in 2021.
The show will serve as essentially a replacement for his Matty Johns Podcast that won’t be returning in 2021, but will build on John’s favourite parts of the podcast, interviewing.
“I enjoy talking to people, particularly interesting people who have a story to tell, and everyone has one it’s just about finding the story,” said Johns.
“You sort of work on it and develop a bit of technique on how you talk to people. My podcast was originally bringing people from the outside in like Craig Johnson who I interviewed for over two hours and I am still getting people from Northern England getting in touch about how much they enjoyed it.
Asked if this will work as both a show and podcast like the Matty Johns Podcast did, Johns said that for now, it is sticking to one medium.
“At the moment it is just TV but we are going to talk about turning it into an audio podcast as well.”
This is an evolution of what he was trying to do on his podcast in 2019, with 2020 using a different format due to Covid-19, but one upside of Covid was the podcast that Johns started with his wife Trish and sons Jack and Cooper.
“When Covid hit you couldn’t bring people in so we had to force change last year. I am continuing with the family podcast which was also born out of necessity through Covid.”
Listen to the Johns Family podcast here.
Acast research indicates plenty of room for growth
At the start of an industry showcase to introduce Sounds Smart research Acast had commissioned, Henrik Isaksson, managing director for Australia and New Zealand, asked and then answered a question many have wondered about.
“Are we at peak podcasting yet?” asked Isaksson. “Certainly not,” he told his room full of guests.
Acast labels itself “Australia’s biggest creator-first platform for hosting, monetising and distributing podcasts”.
Isaksson said in 2020 listens to its content in Australia jumped 54%, with a 144% increase in the number of podcasts joining its platform globally. Acast Australia has recorded a 200% increase in ad revenue year-on-year since 2017.
During the event Isaksson was helped out by Acast colleagues Tom Roach, Adam King and Jordan Lott. They were joined by Nature’s Lizi Pritchard, the head of media at GroupM agency Essence, Steph Shang, and the founder of The Squiz, Claire Kimball. The daily news brand celebrated its fourth birthday this week.
Acast shared some of the numbers its podcasts were doing monthly. In February Acast had 25m monthly listens. The top podcasts that month included Australian True Crime (833,000 monthly listens), Osher Gunsberg (137,000) and Aunty Donna (83,000).
In the new research commissioned from The Lab and Nature, Acast surveyed over 2,500 Australians of which 1,000 are active podcast consumers.
The Acast findings reveal:
• Australians are listening more than ever before. In the past three months over a third of Australians (37%) have tuned into podcasts, and podcasts are set to grow even further as more than half (56%) of those surveyed intend to listen more in the future.
• Podcast audiences can only be reached via podcasting. 90% of podcast listeners pay for a premium music streaming service (with no advertising), whereas over half (56%) listen to commercial-free radio.
• 93% of people listen to podcasts on their own, 80% said podcasting content aligns to their passions.
• Only 17% believe podcast advertising is not relevant to them. Almost half of respondents (49%) said that they pay more attention to advertising when it’s read by the podcast host.
“There’s no question that podcasts have carved out a unique, influential and sizable space in the audio landscape in Australia,” said Isaksson. “We know podcasting has become a vital part of consumer life, and a channel considered in all marketing strategies for brands. But now this has been further cemented by the first-hand research we’ve conducted with the Australian public – further positioning podcasting as a medium that now provides fantastic reach and very effective advertising opportunities.”
Acast ended the event with podcast news including the former hosts of Australian Idol, Osher Gunsberg and James Mathison, co-hosting a weekly news podcast. The recently married Georgia Love will be launching a podcast in April and the BBC podcast Loose Ends has attracted interest for a potential TV series. Among those considered the project is Luke Hemsworth.
ARN celebrates record year for iHeartPodcast Network Australia
ARN’s iHeartPodcast Network Australia has released new podcast listener data for February with podcast technology provider Megaphone, showing strong year-on-year growth across the platform since launch.
In the 12 months since launch, the iHeartPodcast Network Australia’s downloads have more than doubled. The average weekly downloads in February 2021 are up 111% compared to the same time last year.
in 2021, 1.2 million Australian devices have been used to download iHeartPodcast content – a record number for the platform.
All podcast categories on the iHeartPodcast Network have shown an overall upward growth across the past 12 months. Business & Finance podcasts are the fastest-growing category with 407% growth in the past year. The start of this growth coincided with the height of the pandemic in Australia but has remained strong as people continue to seek information to help navigate challenging financial times.
The top five most popular genres across the iHeartPodcast Network are Entertainment & Lifestyle (up 20% YOY), followed by Catchup Radio (up 81% YOY), Comedy (up 93% YOY), News (up 52% YOY) and Music (up 80% YOY).
February Podcast Ranker: Casefile True Crime reigns supreme
Audioboom’s Casefile True Crime was the #1 podcast in Australia for the month of February.
A number of new entities also appeared in the Top 100 Podcast Ranker this reporting period, including The Apology Line (Wondery), The Daily Show with Trevor Noah: Ears Edition (ARN/iHeartMedia), and
As for the All-Australian Top 100 Ranker, new entities this reporting period included The West Live (West Australian Newspapers), NSW Police State Crime Command – Investigations (SCA – LiSTNR), and Dad’s Gone (Podshape).
Read more: Podcast Ranker February: Breakfast podcasts are biggest improvers
Adam Shand’s public appeal for Braydon Worldon hit and run.
Podcast Week regular Adam Shand has launched a new episode under his NSW Police State Crime Command series. In partnership with the NSW Police, this episode is a public appeal for information around the suspected hit-and-run of Braydon Worldon.
Adam Shand
The NSW Police Force is reaching out to the public seeking information to resolve long-standing cold cases, from missing person investigations to homicides, domestic violence and sexual crimes. State Crime Command takes you into the minds of the investigators as they work to close active cases and bring justice for victims.
Braydon Worldon’s body was found by a passing motorist on the side of River Road, 40km east of Wagga, about 1.30 am on Wednesday, December 19, 2018.
Braydon is thought to have been walking the short distance from his mother’s house in Wantabadgery to his grandfather’s home, between 9 pm Tuesday evening and 1 am Wednesday morning when he died.
Listen to NSW Police State Crime Command here.
Gary Mehigan has a Beer on A Plate to Call Home
Gary Mehigan has released a new episode of A Plate to Call Home with MasterChef regular Maggie Beer, and he talks to the Australian food icon about a life well-lived.
This is the sixth season of A Plate to Call Home and so far other guests this season have included Philip Johnson, Anna Polyviou , Julie Goodwin, Silvia Colloca, and Janella Purcell.
Listen to A Plate to Call Home here.
Good Humans: Cooper Chapman chats with Layne Beachley
In the latest episodes of Good Humans, surfing pro Cooper Chapman speaks with seven-time world champion Layne Beachley about how her ruthlessness won her championships but cost her friendships.
The 4Pointers: Mediaweek Studios new rugby league podcast
Mediaweek will be releasing a weekly Rugby League podcast called The 4 Pointers. The premise is simple, one episode and 4 talking points, just like a try.
The project is lead by Mediaweek deputy editor Trent Thomas and revives a project that he worked on during his time at the University of Wollongong. Co-hosting the show is Thomas’s original co-host Jake Bull with the resident sports junky providing his intel and insight each week.
The show will also be publishing a Fantasy League Frenzy podcast each week, with both episodes available from Thursday here.
