Compiled by James Manning
Podcast Week: Richo first on the menu for PodcastOne in 2021
The newest signing for PodcastOne, chef Adrian “Richo” Richardson, has arrived. His series Cooking with Richo invites Podcast Week listeners to grab some ingredients, jump into their kitchen and cook a dish in real-time with audio guidance from the professional chef.
Podcast Week first wrote about Richo last December, and his first episodes have now been published and cover special ways to cook dumplings, crispy fish and chicken.
Focusing on mastering essential cooking techniques like pan-frying, roasting and braising, Richo begins each series with a theory episode about different cooking techniques. He will also make sure listeners have the essential utensils to be a culinary success, with each episode focused on serving up an exceptional dish, becoming an expert in the kitchen to create the ultimate fish, meat or veggie meal.
Richo is promising to share his trade secrets and point out the smells, changes in texture and even the sounds you should be hearing as signs your meal is cooking to perfection.
Richo is an award-winning Australian chef and owner of Melbourne restaurants, La Luna Bistro and Bouvier Bar. His career has seen him work on television alongside Jamie Oliver, Gary Mehigan, Miguel Maestre and as a guest on Network 10’s MasterChef Australia.
Richo believes that an audio masterclass is the best way to teach people the fundamental skills of cooking and start them on their journey to cooking as well as a professional chef.
“I’m really excited to be able to put together a podcast that shares all of my secrets, tips and tricks to cooking the most amazing dishes. In a personal way such as podcasting, I can be in the listener’s ear guiding them through the steps of mastering each cooking technique,” he said.
Listen to Cooking with Richo here.
December podcast downloads trend down, or do they?
Data released by Triton Digital this week via the latest Podcast Ranker indicates December 2020 listening slowed, but that alone doesn’t tell the whole story.
If you compare the data month-on-month then December 2020 dropped significantly with 37.6m downloads after seven consecutive months with downloads over 40m.
However, when you look at the data year on year you get a much different picture. In December-January 2019 the monthly downloads were 13m, a number that has nearly tripled 12 months later. (The comparable period 12 months ago was December 23 – January 19.)
Also dropping month-on-month was the #1 publisher ARN/iHeartMedia with 9,294,955 December downloads after a number of months over 10m. There is no year-on-year data to compare as the downloads for the biggest publishers were only introduced during 2020.
PodcastOne continued to offer the most titles in December with 386, followed by Stitcher with 364 and then iHeartMedia with 329.
The podcast with the most episodes in December 2020 was Ben Fordham Live which Nine Radio chopped up into 167 different episodes. Also boasting 100 or more episodes in December were Sky News – News Bulletin (News Corp), Whateley (SEN), Neil Mitchell (Nine Radio), The Herd with Colin Cowherd (iHeartPodcast Network), The Ray Hadley Morning Show (Nine Radio), 3AW Breakfast with Ross and Russel (Nine Radio) and The Victoria Briefing (SCA).
See also separate article on the December 2020 Podcast Ranker at mediaweek.com.au.
Pyne Time confirms first season two guests
Former Australian Defence Minister Christopher Pyne was no stranger to receiving a barrage of questions during his career in politics. Now out of the firing line and over to sitting in the interviewer seat, Pyne this week launched the second season of his PodcastOne series.
Pyne Time’s first season saw interviews from Prime Ministers, political journalists, business leaders and comedians with the likes of current Prime Minister Scott Morrison, former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, and two colleagues from The Project – Waleed Aly and comedian Peter Helliar.
The second season confirmed guests include Leader of the Australian Labor Party Anthony Albanese (now available), NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and political journalist Julia Baird.
Pyne said: “I’m looking forward to releasing the second season of Pyne Time. I’m going to cast a spell over my super interesting guests and get them to reveal a little of themselves that no one knew before. Just like the first season! It’s just the thing to liven up your summer. So listen out for Pyne Time.”
Podcast Week: Abbie Chatfield joins Nova Entertainment
Nova Entertainment has signed Abbie Chatfield‘s It’s A Lot podcast for its Podcast Network. Chatfield has over 200,000 Instagram followers after appearing firstly in The Bachelor and this month on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!
Chatfield said: “After The Bachelor finished airing, and I was left heartbroken on a rock in South Africa, I began to use my Instagram in the way that I wanted to – discussing sex, mental health, the patriarchy and everything in between. I would receive countless DMs from followers letting me know how much they appreciate my IDGAF approach to all of these taboo topics, so I decided to start this podcast to house all of my thoughts in one place.
“It’s A Lot is a place for people to be involved in casual conversations about serious topics, feeling like having a wine with friends. On the podcast, my guest of the week and I answer listener Q&As ranging from sex and dating to career advice, then do a deep dive into their area of interest.”
There are around 50 episodes so far and recent episodes include Chatfield with feminist writer self-described “loud mouth ratbag, hardline feminist” Clementine Ford.
Tech Queens launch podcast during virtual CES
Queens of the Drone Age is the clever name of a new tech podcast from four tech writers. The series is launched against the backdrop of the first virtual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and features contributions from Angharad Yeo, presenter at ABC TV’s Good Game: Spawn Point; Tegan Jones, editor at Pedestrian Group’s Gizmodo Australia; Rae Johnston, NITV’s science and technology editor and Mashable’s Amanda Yeo.
The first episode was published this week and features favourite (and weirdest) memories of CES, the extreme benefits of massage guns and a future-tech mouse that you can apparently control your mind.
Listen to Queens of the Drone Age here.
Podcasting from the virtual CES
Although anybody is able to attend the virtual CES this year, curated podcast guides remain the best way of finding the gems from the electronics show. Instead of navigating the narrow aisles of the exhibition halls in Las Vegas, podcasters this year are covering the event from their keyboards.
Some of the tech series Podcast Week recommends are The Wrap with Leigh Stark, Stephen Fenech’s Tech Guide Podcast and the Engadget Podcast. A number of podcasts from Leo Laporte’s Twit.TV also cover CES including the latest episode of All About Android.
Expect many more podcasts to emerge in the next few days as CES wraps up today.
