Compiled by Tess Connery and Grace Gollasch
“Consistency over intensity”: Dilruk Jayasinha on jumping into The Driver’s Seat
LiSTNR and Australian logistics and supply chain organisation Linfox have partnered to launch The Driver’s Seat with actor, comedian and former accountant Dilruk Jayasinha. Having launched over the Summer holidays, host Jayasinha looks at what it means to live your best life – mental health, physical health, and everything that comes along with them.
Podcast Week’s Tess Connery spoke to Jayasinha about creating content for drivers, and encouraging people to reach out when they need to.
Jayasinha joined The Driver’s Seat after being approached by LiSTNR for the gig. It’s not the first time he’s stepped into the world of health podcasting, however.
“I already do a podcast called Fitbet with my mate, Ben Lomas – it’s what kicked off my health journey for lack of a better word. Ben and I had a bet to see which of us could get under 100 kilos first, and the winner gets $1,000. We were starting around 125 kilos.
“We’ve been doing that since 2018, and the podcast has now evolved past the point of just about weight loss – it’s about actual health and mental well being as well. Because we delve into a lot of these topics, they were very keen to bring me in as a host of this podcast.”
Over the 10 episodes, Jayasinha speaks to a number of guests, including 2Day FM Breakfast announcer Dave ‘Hughesy’ Hughes, former Australian cricketer Brad Hodge, Luke Darcy from the LiSTNR Empowering Leaders podcast, Scott Phillips from LiSTNR’s Motley Fool podcast and technology expert Trevor Long, among others.
“I’m lucky that I have an incredible team of producers behind The Driver’s Seat podcast,” says Jayasinha. “We had a meeting early about some of the topics we wanted to tackle and the broad themes we wanted to cover – things like nutrition, exercise, sleep, money, and community support. From there, they had access to some really amazing people working in those areas. On the flip side as well, I had my comedian friends.
“It’s really cool to be able to bring those two worlds together, where we have someone who is a funny person or has some humorous stories around the topic, and then we have an actual expert working in the field to give us is a bit more of a thorough understanding.”
With the podcast available to everyone, but with Linfox drivers in mind, Jayasinha jokes that the irony is not lost on him that he’s hosting a podcast called The Driver’s Seat when he doesn’t have his driver’s licence.
“I coincidentally happened to be doing a lot of tours in regional WA in a lot of the mining towns for two weeks, and then we recorded a bunch of the first bunch of episodes straight after that. I had a glimpse into what that life as a truck driver could feel like in terms of, the challenges around access to healthy food options on the road, or erratic sleep hours, or the tiredness you feel after driving and still feeling like you need to do some sort of exercise.
“It enabled me to really feel for the situation that truck driver might have all year round, because I found it so challenging to do for two weeks.”
Looking ahead, Jayasinha hopes that The Driver’s Seat makes it easier for people to reach out when they need it, and to accept that a little can be more effective than a lot.
“The main thing I wanted people to realise is that it’s okay to not have the answers, and it’s okay to ask for help. I think that was the big one that I kept trying to push – especially around the mental health chats. While it’s good to have high standard for yourself, we kind of throw the baby out with the bathwater by then not saying ‘when you need help, please ask for it’.
“The other thing – and this is something I need to apply in my life every day – is the idea that doing a little bit of something is better than nothing. I get so caught up on these spectacles and wanting to do a bet on a podcast, or run a marathon and things like that. I forget that doing that in seasons isn’t as effective as continued consistency, doing a little bit every day.
“The consistent theme that consistently came up was that it should be consistency over intensity.”
[Listen to The Driver’s Seat here]
Audible cleans up at the Signal Podcast Awards
Audible has won 38 awards at the inaugural Signal Podcast Awards in New York, including nods for three Audible originals which feature Aussie stars – Climate of Change (Cate Blanchett), The Greatest Menace (Patrick Abboud), and The Missed (Pallavi Sharda).
Climate of Change sees Cate Blanchett and Danny Kennedy, two long-term friends, explore despair, optimism and hope in the face of environmental change. In season two, they interview guests along the way, discussing humankind’s challenges and celebrating the ground-breaking work tackling the crisis.
Presented by Patrick Abboud, The Greatest Menace is a queer true-crime journey that takes you from underground nightclubs to hidden sex haunts, to remote parts of New Zealand and England.
The Missed sees refugees Anushey, Shahab, and their daughter find safety in the sleepy town of Nunich. But when their daughter disappears without a trace and the town is plunged into chaos and violence, their newfound sense of security is shattered.
Additionally, Audible original, The Miranda Obsession, claimed four awards, including Limited Series: Best Exclusive Content + Experiences (Silver), Limited Series: Best Original Score (Bronze), Limited Series: Best Writing (Silver), Limited Series: Best Scripted Fiction (Silver).
[Listen to Audible originals here]
Podshape releases new true crime podcast The Sting
Podshape has released a new true crime podcast that follows the story of an undercover detective who infiltrated the Australian Mafia for 37 months, eventually bringing them down and stopping the mafia from drug conspiracies, murders, and mayhem.
The Sting is a 10-part series, based on the life of Colin McLaren.
McLaren is an internationally renowned detective, documentary filmmaker, crime writer, and former police sergeant. As an undercover cop his sole purpose was to find the bomber of the National Crime Authority building in Adelaide, which killed police officer Geoffrey Bowen and changed Australia’s innocence forever.
The first episodes, titled The Pop Princess That Popped A Turk, The Secret Squirrels and Colin the Dodgy Art Dealer, cover events from a dead junkie in a fast food bathroom to watching a famous singer give sexual favours for drugs. McLaren put his life on the line as he embarked on the journey that eventually bought justice for his murdered colleague and friend and ultimately resulted in the greatest Australian Mafia sting of all time.
Jay Walkerde, creator at podshape said, “Colin’s story is such an interesting one, to hear the lengths that him and his team went to for justice is almost unliveable. This podcast gives a never before heard insight into how close to the edge our police officers get, and it was a privilege to work with him and tell this story.”
News Fighters and A Rational Fear join forces
After two years with Melbourne comedy podcast network Sanspants Radio and after doing pilots at Austereo in 2020 as well as being a 2SER radio segment in 2021, news comedy podcast News Fighters will join Dan Ilic’s A Rational Fear podcast feed as a monthly show starting in 2023.
News Fighters host/producer Dylan Behan said, “With the Queen dead, Scott Morrison gone and Barnaby on the backbench, there’s just not enough dumb material to do a weekly show anymore.
“Doing the show monthly be much more sustainable – and Dan’s all about sustainability!”
A Rational Fear creator/host Dan Ilic said, “Dylan Behan has a brutally satirical eye, and that eye is forced to watch a lot of news… which is why it’s also very swollen, and red. Rather than see a doctor, part TV editor, part cyclops, Dylan Behan, is bringing News Fighters to theA Rational Fear feed. I’m not a doctor, but I think that should allow his eye to retract to normal size. Currently it’s hideous. Yuk.”
Winner of the Best Aussie Comedy Podcast at the Australian Podcast Awards for three years running (2020-2022), A Rational Fear has previously hosted other spin-off podcasts, including Jan Fran Has Issues, Julia Zemiro’s Who Cares? and climate leader podcast Greatest Moral Podcast Of Our Generation (GMPOOG).
[Listen to News Fighters and A Rational Fear here]
Nine launches its new podcast Australian Open: The Happy Slam
Nine is kicking off its summer of tennis with the launch of its new podcast, Australian Open: The Happy Slam, produced by 9Podcasts with Nine’s Wide World of Sports
From the creators of the highly successful Rugby League podcast “Stories of Origin“, Australian Open: The Happy Slam features an all-star line-up as impressive as the tournament, with some of the best and most loved players from Australian tennis history sharing their recollections on how they helped make the AO what it is today.
In the six-part series, hosted by Channel Nine sports presenter James Bracey, listeners will be given front-row access to untold stories from Pat Rafter, Dylan Alcott, Jim Courier, Jelena Dokic, Ajla Tomljanovic and Todd Woodbridge.
The full six-episode schedule that will air in the lead up to the AO is below, then as the tournament gets into full swing, the podcast will feature daily tournament updates and insights from legendary sports commentator, Craig Gabriel.
Released each morning, the daily update from Australian Open: The Happy Slam will review the highs and lows of the previous day’s play and preview the excitement coming up in the day ahead.
[Listen to Australian Open: The Happy Slam here]
The Imperfects extend commitment with ARN’s iHeart
ARN’s iHeart has announced The Imperfects has extended their commitment with the network for a further two years.
The mental health podcast, hosted by The Resilience Project’s Hugh van Cuylenburg, his brother Josh van Cuylenburg, comedian Ryan Shelton and produced by Bridget Northeast, centres on ‘how perfectly imperfect we all are.’
The trio regularly chat with high-profile individuals who share their own struggles, helping to highlight that no matter how successful you are, everyone has their own imperfections.
On extending with iHeart, Co-host Hugh van Cuylenburg said, “We’re so grateful to have such a strong relationship with an organisation who lets us be our authentic selves.”
Co-host Ryan Shelton added, “No matter how imperfect we prove to be, iHeart continues to support us, and we couldn’t be more thankful.”
The Imperfects has been in the Top 10 Australian podcasts since July 2022, placing at #7 in the November rankings with 374,865 listeners and 760,668 downloads.
Australian Podcast Ranker reveals the top podcasts of 2022
Commercial Radio Australia and Triton Digital have released the annual insights from the Australian Podcast Ranker, revealing Australians downloaded 755 million podcasts in 2022.
Casefile True Crime was the ranker’s most popular podcast of the year, with 868,283 average monthly listeners, followed by Hamish & Andy (856,311).
The top five was rounded out by Mamamia Out Loud (562,289), The Kyle and Jackie O Show (465,836) and Life Uncut with Brittany Hockley and Laura Byrne (453,304).
The top six podcasts based on average monthly listeners were all Australian-made. Additionally, health and fitness and true crime were the fastest-growing genres in 2022.
The best-performing debut podcast of the year was Liar Liar: Melissa Caddick and the Missing Millions, a highly anticipated true crime series that launched in April with 343,633 listeners that month.
Total downloads among participating publishers increased by 39% over the year before, with Mamamia and SBS among the new publishers joining the ranker in 2022.
[See the full Podcast Ranker here]
