Podcast Week compiled by Trent Thomas and James Manning
Alex Dyson: All Day Breakfast, oily rags, and curses
In May of last year, LiSTNR launched the Matt and Alex: All Day Breakfast podcast which was Australia’s first on-demand breakfast show.
Podcast Week spoke with co-host Alex Dyson about going from radio to podcasting, life away from the public broadcaster, and if he cursed triple j.
Dyson said that he was been in Melbourne while co-host Matt Okine was in Sydney during the pandemic. He said that while his anecdotes suffered from the pandemic, he doesn’t think that the quality of the show did.
“The team that we have around us has been so good, super small but really tight-knit and the results are coming out really well with the content we are putting out there.”
Dyson said the pair have adjusted well to recording in different cities, having previously done it from time to time during their triple j days. The main difference this time around is that they are doing the episode over zoom which he said makes bouncing off each other easier.
“Matt hasn’t even met our executive producer since we started or Chris Marsh (head of production: Audio on Demand), hopefully one day we can be reunited as a full team.”
When asked if he prefers having a podcast to a radio show Dyson said that it is a different beast. “I enjoy the fact that I am not still rubbing sleep from my eyes when the first mic break begins.
“Having that podcast pre-recorded safety net has been very freeing and we have been able to get some really great content out there and been able to take a few more chances because you do have that safety net of crafting it afterwards.”
Recording a breakfast show in the afternoon
Creating an on-demand podcast allows the pair to record their breakfast program the day before in the afternoon. Dyson said that despite recording during a pandemic this schedule didn’t affect the show much.
He eventually moved from the studio to recording from home and said that the podcast was a good distraction during the pandemic.
“I could talk to Mel C the Spice Girl then go back out in my track pants and have some dinner.”
Going from a public broadcaster to a commercial podcast
Dyson said that the change to commercial has been really great for the pair.
“Working at the ABC since I was 18 years old and it is all I have really known, so coming into an organisation that knows how to take care of the content creators and to put you into a position to produce your best work on air, it’s been really freeing.
“triple j is such a great organisation, but it does run on the smell of an oily rag, so you do have to be a jack of all trades. You have to get everything prepared for your own show and write the blog afterwards and write the promos and that sort of thing.
“SCA has allowed us to focus on what we do best now, to pop the mics on and make a little bit of magic.”
Matt and Alex from All Day Breakfast
The Alex Dyson Curse
Dyson spent seven years in the breakfast slot for the public broadcaster, which has since rolled out its third breakfast team in five years. When asked if the station has an Alex Dyson curse since he left, he said “your words not mine”.
“I think it’s certainly the Dyson curse! Nah I think triple j is in a great position where it is all about the youth and giving the new people opportunities.
“I have been listening to Bryce and Ebony a little bit and they are sounding great, but also I will curse them every time from my home with my Bryce and Ebony voodoo dolls!”
Triple j alumni at LiSTNR
Besides Matt and Alex there is a number of triple j alums at LiSTNR including Tom Tilley, Brooke Boney, Linda Marigliano, and Dylan Alcott which Dyson says has been a great perk for himself not so much for Okine.
“It has been really great for me; it has been a bit worse for Matt because they share a studio and Matt has left his email open before and Tom Tilley takes advantage of that. Having friends in the office can be a blessing and a curse.”
Going to commercial radio
Dyson said that if the conditions were right that they would be interested in a breakfast gig at a commercial station.
“I think we are enjoying it so much at LiSTNR now that the conditions would have to be even righter because they are pretty right at the moment.”
Audience
When asked if the audience is mostly listeners from their triple j days or newcomers, Dyson said that it’s a bit of both.
“At the start a lot of triple j people tuned over, but as it gone along it’s been really cool to find new people discovery the podcast. A girl came up to me and said she had been listening to All Day Breakfast, and she hadn’t heard of us before that, but heard me on the Wilosophy podcast and is now a diehard. It’s not just the rusty people hanging around for the lack of a better word.”
[Listen to All Day Breakfast here]
The Royal Flying Doctors podcast to take off
LiSTNR has launched a new podcast series this month with the Royal Flying Doctor Service called The Flying Doctor.
The rural and remote communities that the RFDS services are made of strong and often courageous individuals. They don’t enjoy the close proximity of health services that people in metro areas enjoy, and they work shoulder-to-shoulder with the RFDS to act as first responders, clear and light dirt runways, oversee RFDS medical chests and much, much more.
The purpose of The Flying Doctor podcast is to give insight into the challenges that exist for those that live, work and travel in the bush. This series will talk to patients, to their families and also to RFDS staff who have had to tackle scary and unexpected situations.
You can subscribe and follow the new podcast on the LiSTNR app, Spotify or Apple Store.
[Listen to The Flying Doctor here]
Latest from Brooke and Linda’s Dream Club
LiSTNR’s Brooke & Linda’s Dream Club is a book club for film, TV, fashion, politics, society and culture, food, literature, gaming, travel, relationships and mental health. Brooke Boney and Linda Marigliano give their authentic insider opinions and tunnel into the deeper issues behind the moments.
In this week’s episode the pair address the recent anti-Asian hate crimes, Linda recommends her favourite podcast and Brooke relives her unforgettable interview with Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac.
Tom Gleeson’s podcasting future
Mediaweek‘s Tess Connery spoke to Tom Gleeson for Podcast Week, and asked if he ever thought about starting his own podcast?
“I have thought about it before. I do like the idea of doing long-form interviews because I think I’d enjoy that because Hard Chat [on The Weekly] was always a very funny, short segment.
“Whether people realise it or not, I am to some degree interviewing the contestants on Hard Quiz, so I do think I can get surprising results out of guests. But there are so many good ones out there.
“Like, why would I do that when Wil Anderson is doing Wilosophy? It’s a great podcast and it’s doing really well. I feel like the space is really crowded and I’m not desperate to be heard – I’m on a national TV show that everybody sees and I’m doing a national comedy tour where I get to talk for an hour.
“There’s nothing I have to get out of my system, so that’s the only reason I haven’t started one.
“I mean, maybe if Hard Quiz ended and I had nothing to do, then I’d think ‘oh, maybe I’ll do a podcast, that would be fun,’ but at this stage, there’s just so much great stuff out there, I don’t really have a burning ambition to get involved in that race.”
See more: Tom Gleeson on Hard Quiz, The Cube, and his Gold Logie
Mel Doyle on her Seven departure on Nova’s Powerful Stories
Melissa Doyle recently joined the Nova podcast Powerful Stories with Powerful Step’s CEO Tory Archbold .
Doyle joined the show fresh from her recent one-hour Sky News exclusive – Escape from Iran: Kylie Moore-Gilbert. During the interview, Doyle revealed to Archbold her thoughts and emotions following her departure from Seven after 25 years
Doyle admitted she cried and retreated following her departure from Seven but discovered she has come back stronger.
“I am looking at what is next and maybe reintroducing myself to the world – and myself. I’m no longer boxed in by the branding and the place that I was in – whether it be put there by news bosses, the viewers or other people determining where they want to fit you; where they see you; how they see you – and having that chance to say, well actually, I can be all those things and more.
“Just because you can be nice and smiley doesn’t mean you can’t be kick-ass and scary. You can do all of it. You can be everything. As we get older, you get a little bit gutsier. I’m a little bit braver.”
See also: Tory Archbold’s Powerful Stories lands sponsor, joins Nova Podcast Network
[Listen to Powerful Stories here]
Piccolo Podcasts series about podcasters
Piccolo Podcasts and Media will launch a new original series, called Podcast Host Revealed, on Monday 29th March.
Hosted by founder of Piccolo Podcasts, Andrew Menczel, each episode focuses on one of the hosts from the variety of official Apple Podcasting categories.
The podcast explores the ins and outs of hosting a podcast, beyond just the technical aspect.
The first episode will have Walkley Award Nominated journalist, Ruby Jones, from Schwartz Media’s daily news podcast, 7am. Future guests include Emmet Nichols, Ted Richards, and George Sargent with more to be announced soon.
Season one of Podcast Host Revealed is produced by Holly Mitchell and will launch on Monday 29th March with episodes will be released weekly. The podcast will be available on all major platforms. Video and behind-the-scenes footage will be available via YouTube.
She’s on the Money team launching two new series
Victoria Devine missed her She’s on the Money podcast for the first time in two years last week. She was suffering a head cold and thought it best not to broadcast with her raspy voice. The ailment didn’t keep her from the office though…or talking to Podcast Week.
She’s on the Money has taken off this year, finding a spot in the top 10 of the Podcast Ranker. There are several reasons for this – brilliant content, podcast partners and frequency among them. “We now record three episodes a week,” Devine explained. “On Monday we have Money Diaries, on Wednesday a deeper dive into investing and at the end of the week an episode we call Friday Drinks.
“In the last three to fourth months we have tripled our downloads and we know have around 1m downloads a month.
“We initially had something of a cult following and we have a Facebook Group of more than 150,000 women. They all listen to the podcast and talk about the episodes. That has helped us grow as those women spread the word with their friends.” Devine likened it to the power of compound interest. “Over a longer period of time, the faster it grows.”
Devine signed on as a partner with iHeartPodcast Network in July 2020. “I spoke to all of the podcast platforms in Australia. I made the decision based on being able to keep control of the IP. The team there is epic and working with Corey Layton [ARN head of digital audio] is great and he’s very supportive.”
The connection with the ARN-owned platform has also seen KIIS 101.1 announcer Ryan Jon join the podcast as a co-host. “Ryan is worth his weight in gold,” Devine said, telling Podcast Week he had introduced a new dynamic to the podcasts. “He challenges me literally every day and enables me to learn from every situation.”
Victoria Devine and Ryan Jon
She’s on the Money uses social media with great impact to engage with its audience. Devine: “Instagram in particular allows us to connect with our community on a different platform outside of the podcast. We know have more then 90,000 followers on Instagram. Facebook remains the biggest place though where our community interact. If somebody is about to start a podcast, have a community where people can come and talk about the topics and reiterate what they are learning from the podcast. That has really helped us grow.”
Devine’s interest in finance spreads well beyond podcasting. “My work is everything I do. I live it, I breathe it, it’s my hobby as well as my career. I don’t stop and it’s not a good thing sometimes for my work/life balance. I adore what I do, and because of the number of women’s lives we have changed I don’t want to stop anytime soon. So many people have managed to get out of debt by listening to She’s on the Money.”
In July Devine will be releasing a book with Penguin, something she shared with her audience this week. “I have just signed off on the cover art and it looks so good.”
After securing a Bachelor of Psychological Science, Psychology and then a post-grad diploma, Devine completed a Diploma of Financial Planning, Accounting and Finance and backed herself to hand out investment advice. “I thought I could do it pretty bloody well, putting tickets on myself and I made a huge investment to make sure I could hire really good staff.”
Devine runs a financial advice firm called Zella with a team working in the Melbourne CBD. If all that’s not enough, she is also launching The Property Playbook this year as an online course and podcast with buyer’s agent Amy Lunardi. “She helped me buy my first property last year. We decided to make the process into a podcast.
“We are also launching The Business Bible podcast with myself and Ryan Jon which will also be accompanied by an online course. We will be teaching small business owners how to structure the business properly and be successful.”
Listen to She’s on the Money here.
Netflix: The Podcast
Film buff and film trivia night host has returned this month with a second season of the Netflix podcast The Big Film Buffet.
“There’s a heap of exciting updates, but most importantly: I’ve got a new friend joining my watch parties – my mate, the comedic queen Gen Fricker,” said Toliopoulos.
“This time round, you’ll hear from us not just once, but twice a week. On Tuesdays, a little 10-15 minute ‘snack’ to whet your appetite, where we’ll talk about something film or pop culture we’re obsessed with each week – cinematic obsessions, Easter eggs, and rabbit holes…such as why did Barbra Streisand clone her dog…twice?
Alexei Toliopoulos with Gen Fricker
“Then, every Thursday is the ‘main course’, where we’re going to help you solve that weekend ‘what to watch’ dilemma by offering up a satisfying film recommendation. So far we have looked at the juicy docu-drama Operation Varsity Blues, followed by outrageous comedy Bad Trip.
“But there is so much more on the menu. This season we’ll be serving up 20 whole weeks of deliciousness in 2021.”
Listen to The Big Film Buffet here.
The Podcast Show moves in 2022
The Podcast Show that was scheduled for London in July 2021 has now been rescheduled to 25 + 26 May 2022. The international festival for the business of podcasting is all about people gathering in person, doing business with large scale international participation.
The festival organisers told Podcast Week the date change into next year will allow for the show features to come to life – from pop up stages, networking bars, a preview night, special guest appearances, activations, off-site marquees, emerging talent showcases, and a full in ‘person’ conference program in all of its theatre spaces. By night, the show’s LDN LIVE evening program will take over London for what is being branded an unparalleled series of live podcasts, with BBC Sounds being the first to confirm they will be bringing a range of some of their best BBC podcasts.
More information about The Podcast Show here.
