The Wellness Collective
All is good and well for the Wellness Collective with the pair of Nat Kringoudis and Cecelia Ramsdale powering forward since they came together in 2016 to record over 150 episodes.
Mediaweek‘s Trent Thomas caught up with the pair to see how they keep it fresh while still producing two podcasts a week.
Kringoudis: “We are lucky, because, when we started doing this we thought we were going to do eight, and now we are up to 160 or something.
“Wellness is the catchphrase but it is amazing what we have covered off subject wise that doesn’t fall under that, that we find interesting, and think people can take something from and apply it to their own lives.”
The pair also said that to keep the show working well that they needed the right guests with each one going under a vetting process before going on the show.
Ramsdale: “It is a couple of things. A good topic is always useful but I think we also want to make sure that they deliver the message in a way that is engaging as well. Sometimes that requires a little bit of research on our part.”
Kringoudis: “Because we have a rapport with each other we try and establish that rapport with our guests fairly quickly to make sure they understand that it is a fun environment. While they are the expert in their field they can let their hair down a little bit.
“Some of the topics can be quite dry so you need to find a way to make it interesting for the listeners.”
The duo said that a common piece of feedback they receive is about the level of humour in the podcast, this was reflected when they won the Silver Medal for Best Entertainment Podcast at the Australian Podcast Awards.
Kringoudis: “We are not here to entertain, we are here to give people information. But you have to be entertaining for people to keep listening.”
Ramsdale: “There is so much serious stuff in there from the health world and we just try to make it more approachable.”
With Kringoudis being a best-selling author and natural women’s health expert and Ramsdale having an extensive history in radio, they make sure to bring both perspectives to the show.
Kringoudis: “Someone who is in the industry combined with someone who is able to ask the right questions to get the information works really well.”
Ramsdale: “The reason that we came together in the first place is that Nat is the health person and I am the layperson. I came with the radio background, and that is how it still works most of the time, I ask some silly questions sometimes but that’s okay.”
One of the things the pair said they pride themselves on is the community that they built that is hungry for the content.
Kringoudis: “It is one thing to put your content out into the big wide world but being able to create community and connection is something that people crave more than ever, and the podcast allows that to happen which means that it is bigger than a podcast.”
[Listen to the Wellness Collective here]
Also find the Wellness Collective on Instagram here.
Nova’s Rachel Corbett talks Project ARI
Nova Entertainment has created a new podcast in partnership with the Australian Government’s Stop it at the Start campaign, which aims to teach young people about acceptable behaviour and respectful relationships.
Project ARI tells the story of the Artificial Intelligence prototype, ARI. ARI has access to all the information you can Google but couldn’t be programmed with human experience. Placed with a normal everyday family, they take ARI under their wing to show him the ways of the world.
Mediaweek’s Tess Connery spoke to Rachel Corbett, Nova’s head of podcasts and digital content, about bringing a serious message to a young audience.
Rachel Corbett
Branded Podcasts
Corbett says that the best way to do a good branded podcast is for it to not feel like a branded podcast.
“Not every idea that comes to you for a branded podcast is actually going to resonate with an audience. This is one of those examples where we had an idea and a message that we knew we could get into a kids show, because having that meaningful message is what a lot of good kid’s shows do – they’re entertaining but they also come with a message. We knew we could nail a solid idea, and then it was really about engaging with a writer. We reached out to a bunch of writers to write specifically for the age group we were targeting.
“Nat Amoore came back to us with this idea of ‘what if we had artificial intelligence or an alien or somebody that’s not human coming into the situation and trying to work out how humans interact with each other and being taught how to be a good human?’ That was the beginning of the idea.”
Finding The Balance
Corbett says that when it came time to frame some of the serious issues for a young audience, the most important thing was keeping them engaged.
“What we really wanted to do was bring kids into a world where they were safe and it was very much something that was directed towards them. It is a world they can engage with, and characters of their own age that they can connect with and laugh at, but it has this message at the heart of it that is ‘this is how you are kind to people’.
“We didn’t want to be too heavy-handed with it. We wanted to have these messages in the show but ultimately we had to entertain kids, that’s the most important thing. I think if a kid feels like you’re trying to teach them something or trying to wag your finger at them, you’re going to lose them.”
Hopes for Project ARI
Corbett says that ultimately, she hopes that kids connect with Project ARI and take its message away with them.
“The best we can hope for is that kids really resonate with the content and they enjoy the show, and that they want more ARI after the season is finished. Then as a consequence of that, they see really solid examples of how to be good to other people and that goes in the back pocket of their brain and informs some of their future behaviour.
“We’re not going to change everything with one podcast, but I think the more examples people have of how it is to treat people well – because sometimes people don’t have that in their own role models – the better.”
Dannii Minogue joins LiSTNR for exclusive podcast
Dannii Minogue is joining LiSTNR as the host of the Oldskool 90s Hits station and the LiSTNR exclusive podcast series The 90s with Dannii Minogue.
Minogue said: “I was a teenager in the 90s and released my first album in 1990. I was on Home and Away, which had a huge following in the UK, and I soon found myself living in London during one of the most exciting times in music and pop culture. I sported the skunk streak, mum jeans and chokers and loved every minute of it! Hosting iconic TV shows like The Big Breakfast and Top of the Pops alongside making music gave me a front-row seat to an era I can’t wait to share more about with fans on a dedicated station of Oldskool 90s Hits and with a podcast series that will dive deep into each year of the best decade ever.”
SCA head of music, Mickey Maher, said: “What an absolute treat to have a performer like Dannii Minogue front these two projects for us. Very few people have enjoyed the success, longevity, and fan loyalty Dannii has, and we are so thrilled to welcome her to the LiSTNR family and give our audiences the chance to immerse themselves in such a seminal era with someone who was at the forefront of it.”
Oldskool 90s Hits is a station that will feature pop classics from artists that defined the decade. Such as Salt-N-Pepa, Savage Garden, The Spice Girls, George Michael, Dannii Minogue, Backstreet Boys, Destiny’s Child, Kylie Minogue, Madonna, Roxette, Janet Jackson, Ace of Base, Fatboy Slim, En Vogue, Five and The KLF.
[Listen to the 90s with Dannii Minogue here]
[Listen to Oldskool 90s Hits here]
Seven counts down to Olympics with new podcast
The Seven Network has launched a new podcast series with Mel McLaughlin exploring some of the most remarkable stories behind Australia’s Olympic and Paralympic teams in No Turning Back: Tokyo 2020.
“I will be sharing some of the great athletes’ stories: their triumphs, their tragedies, their journeys, in their own words,” McLaughlin said.
No Turning Back: Tokyo 2020’s first five episodes are available now and feature:
• Para-triathlete Nic Beveridge, who has embraced his “second life” after an unexpected medical episode one night during his Year 12 studies left him a paraplegic
• Women’s track star Bendere Oboya, who fled Ethiopia with her family when just three years old before becoming the second fastest Australian junior of all time over 400m, behind only Sydney 2000 legend Cathy Freeman
• Kaia Parnaby, Bel White and Taylah Tsitsikronis of the Australian softball side, which earlier this month became the first Olympic team to arrive in Tokyo for the Games
• Diver Sam Fricker, 18, who has juggled preparing for his first Olympic Games with running a start-up business that’s aiming to rid the world of single-use plastics
• Three-time Paralympic silver medallist Madison de Rozario, who in Tokyo will be bidding to win Australia’s first Gold medal in women’s wheelchair racing since the great Louise Sauvage in 2000
More episodes in the compelling No Turning Back: Tokyo 2020 series will be released before the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony on 23 July.
[Listen to No Turning Back: Tokyo 2020 here]
LiSTNR launches The Beanies Kids News
The Beanies have launched a new show The Beanies Kids News on LiSTNR.
Award-winning podcast creators and children’s music group The Beanies will engage children in day to day news issues, breaking it down for kids and providing fact-based overviews on the news of the week. The Beanies will act as translators connecting kids with issues that truly matter, and keeping them in the loop, safely.
The Beanies Kids News will sit alongside the Show & Tell and Story Time podcasts.
[Listen to The Beanies podcasts here]
Money magazine partners with Nova for first podcast
Rainmaker Group, the publisher of Money magazine, has announced a partnership with Nova Entertainment, for its first podcast series, Friends with Money.
The weekly podcast will be released every Wednesday afternoon and be hosted by Julia Newbould, managing editor of Money magazine and co-author of the award-winning finance book The Joy of Money.
In the half-hour program, Newbould will be chatting with special guests on money issues, ranging from buying your first home, how to start building a passive income and talking to experts on property, shares, and more.
“We know that our readers want to be on top of their finances but many feel confused by the jargon and overwhelmed by the plethora of information available on the internet,” says Newbould.
[Listen to Friends with Money here]
