Compiled by Jasper Baumann and Tess Connery
Cracking the case on UnTRUE: The Underdogs – Catch a Cat Burglar
LiSTNR has pulled out its detective hat and launched UnTRUE: an (un)true crime podcast for kids. The first season of UnTRUE: The Underdogs – Catch a Cat Burglar is adapted from the children’s graphic novel of the same name by Kate and Jol Temple and illustrated by Shiloh Gordon.
The podcast has also launched alongside an Australian-first companion game on global metaverse platform, Roblox.
Podcast Week’s Tess Connery spoke with Lorna Clarkson, head of LiSTNR parenting and kids’ entertainment, to speak about how the podcast came to be.
UnTRUE: The Underdogs – Catch a Cat Burglar has its origins further back than just this year, with Clarkson saying that the idea first came to her well before that.
“It was two amazing things coming together at once into this new project. Probably six or seven years ago, when I was creating new podcasts for Kinderling for kids, I was a massive true crime fan. I was getting into Serial and the big zeitgeist true crime podcasts at the time. I thought, well, I’m really into this, but obviously it’s way too dark for kids. How could we do a true crime podcast for children? What would that look like?
“Last year we had the opportunity to record these incredible books called The Underdogs, which were written by Kate and Jol Temple. They had already produced and released a series of five books at the time, and they’ve released another one since. When I read the first book, the idea about the true crime podcast came back to me, and I wondered if we could bring these two things together.”
Lorna Clarkson
Launching alongside a Roblox companion game provides another way for kids to get involved with the podcast, and is something that Clarkson came about almost by accident.
“When you have a fun idea, and then that inspires other creative people to have even more fun ideas – that is basically what happened. We were talking about the podcast internally with the team in Melbourne, we’d been speaking to them about how we might distribute the podcast and where it could go. Someone on their team was already playing around with developing in Roblox and said, ‘I think I could build Dogtown in Roblox.’
“He started building the environment in this world of Roblox, and as we developed the podcast, he developed the world. So it really went hand in hand.”
Clarkson said that UnTRUE: The Underdogs – Catch a Cat Burglar has been designed to not just be a good time for kids, but also for the parents going along for the ride.
“We wanted it to work on two levels. I’ve worked in kids’ podcasts and content now for nearly nine years, and it’s always important to me that the content that we make works for the kids – it’s really fun, it’s really well produced, and it’s really engaging. But we also know that most of the time, the parents are in the room as well, often they listen in the car. We want to make all of that content a co-listening experience so it’s just as much fun for the adults to listen to, as it is for the kids.
“Right from the start, the whole script, the sound design, everything was thought about on two levels constantly. What jokes are we putting in there? What are the production techniques that they’ll recognise from true crime podcasts? There’ll be recordings from some of the witnesses and that kind of stuff we know that adults will really get, but at the heart of the story, it’s just a great mystery that kids will love getting into.”
[Listen to UnTRUE: The Underdogs – Catch a Cat Burglar here]
LiSTNR launches the newest season of Bedtime Explorers Puppy Pals
LiSTNR has launched Season 11 of Bedtime Explorers Puppy Pals, the children’s meditation podcast for kids to drift to dreamtime learning all about host Amy Taylor-Kabbaz’s favourite furry friends.
Episode one is all about the Labrador and how the breed is loving and helpful, with Amy suggesting, “Let’s be helpful and kind and full of love like our Puppy Pal, the Labrador.”
The Border Collie featured in episode two is inclusive, playful and full of fun, the Blue Heeler is loyal and the German Shepherd is strong, brave and protective.
[Listen to Bedtime Explorers Puppy Pals here]
The 2023 Australian Podcast Award Winners
The Australian Podcast Awards (APAs), has announced its winners for 2023 across 30 categories.
Taking out the biggest award of the night, Podcast of The Year, was the True Crime series The Lawyer, the Sniper & the NSW Police. The podcast shares powerful testimonies from two survivors of the NSW Police workforce. It also took the top spot for the Best Interview Podcast.
Podcast of the Year – The Lawyer, the Sniper & the NSW Police
Selected by the APAs, Podcast Champion was awarded to APA multi-year award winners Laura Byrne and Brittany Hockley’s Life Uncut. Listeners’ Choice went to mum and daughter duo Kat and Latisha Clark’s Basically Besties.
Finding Ruby – The Fight of My Life took the title of Best New Podcast while Inside The Tribe took home Best True Crime podcast.
[The full list of winners can be found here]
Podshape’s new spirituality podcast ‘The Village Crazy Lady’ with Mikki Fisher promises to celebrate the chaos
Touted as not a typical spirituality podcast, The Village Crazy Lady won’t have all the answers but will be full of swear words and pop culture references.
Host Mikki Fisher will ask the questions everyone is too afraid to ask and aims to empower listeners to trust themselves and their own intuition.
Mikki Fisher said: ‘I can’t wait to bring the world of woo and spirituality into the mainstream! And in such a fun, funny and human way!’
The podcast releases on November 27th.
[Listen to The Village Crazy Lady here]
Tatjana Pandurevic’s new podcast Moonshot delves into the minds of thinkers
Hosted by Tatjana Pandurevic, a former athlete who transitioned into a tech executive, Moonshot delves into the minds of thinkers who dare to dream and aim for greatness.
Tatjana on why she started the show: “I hope that sharing these conversations can be a spark for others who are also looking to take their own moonshots in life. I want to continue building this platform to create a community of like-minded individuals who are committed to their own personal growth journeys”.
New episodes will be released every 2nd Wednesday.
Indigenous-led podcast network, BlakCast, launches in partnership with ARN’s iHeart
BlakCast showcases and supports podcasts proudly platforming the stories of First Nations Peoples and people of colour.
Launching in partnership with ARN’s iHeart, BlakCast empowers First Nations Peoples and people of colour to reclaim their narratives, strengthen cultural identity and contribute to a more inclusive Australia, by showcasing emerging talent from Indigenous communities and other Australians from minority backgrounds.
BlakCast will launch with podcasts including Black Magic Woman, Yarning Up, Curtain the Podcast, Unapologetically Blak, Meet the Mob and Coming Out Blak.
