Compiled by Tess Connery
Cheers! Happy Hour with Lucy & Nikki makes the move to LISTNR
Happy Hour with Lucy & Nikki has made the leap to SCA, joining LiSTNR with their first episode for the platform on February 5.
The podcast invites listeners into the lives of Lucy Jackson and Nikki Westcott. Since launching their podcast in 2019, the pair have built a loyal audience with genuine conversations about relationships, business, party stories and everything on a 20-something’s mind.
Podcast Week’s Tess Connery caught up with Jackson and Westcott ahead of their LiSTNR debut.
Happy Hour with Lucy & Nikki
Acknowledging that there were “a few things contractually in place” before they could make the move to SCA, the pair laugh about their first meeting with LiSTNR original podcasts head of entertainment and culture, Sam Cavanagh.
Westcott: “We actually ran into him on the street in Byron Bay. We were handing out our wine on the day Splendour had been cancelled, and he came out to the street from his little apartment.
“We asked ‘Do you want a bottle of Jackson West?’, and he goes, ‘Oh my God, you’re the Happy Hour girls. I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for ages!’
“It just seemed like the right time, and with the addition of the radio show, we thought this would give us a huge advantage that no one else could really offer. So we’re absolutely stoked.”
Jackson: “It is a big change, but we’ve got a great team that we work with – Sam has been very hands on, so it’s still been very personal, which has been great.”
Whilst listeners can expect more of the Happy Hour content they know and love from the pair on LiSTNR, there will be a couple of minor changes to the podcast.
Westcott: “We built our own studio, so in terms of visuals there will be change. You don’t usually see a podcast, but we’re starting to realise the importance of what you’re putting out for your brand on socials. So we’ve built a whole new space that we’re really excited for and proud of.
“In terms of the content, we’re hopefully trying to bring a bit more structure, because sometimes it was just a bit chaotic. But it’ll still have the same Happy Hour vibe.”
Jackson: “We’ve been doing it for so long now that we know what works and what doesn’t – so we’re in a position now to really hone in on what our audience wants.
“We’re going to really try and level up with our guests and bring on some really epic people that our audience wants to hear from.”
Jackson jokes that the mission to level up is “a huge manifestation, but we’re excited”.
Jackson: “We’ve got a great team that we’re working with now, and we’ve got an epic manager, so I think that we’re going to be able to put in motion a lot of the things that we’ve wanted to do for a long time.”
In addition to bringing the podcast over to LiSTNR, the pair are also launching their radio careers with a new national radio show on the Hit Network.
Westcott: “We’ve got a Saturday night slot, which is very suited to us given that we are always listening to music and pre-drinking.
“It’s super new to us. We’re a bit nervous to be honest, because we’ve never done anything like that – but it’s good, and it’s a natural progression. We always like to learn more and keep broadening our skill set.
Jackson: “It’s such a different thing to be on the radio in general, because podcasting is so different. They’re similar in so many ways, but with podcasting you know that your audience is there for you, whereas on the radio, a lot of people who listen to our show will probably have never even heard of us. So I’m really excited and interested to see how people take it, and we’re excited for this next step.”
[Listen to Happy Hour with Lucy & Nikki here]
LiSTNR’s Disclosed: The Children in the Pictures wins an AWGIE Award
LiSTNR’s Disclosed: The Children in the Pictures, the podcast that goes inside Taskforce Argos, a team of Australia’s best detectives dedicated to infiltrating global criminal networks and rescuing children from online sexual abuse, has won an AWGIE Award for Best Audio – Non Fiction.
The AWGIE Awards, presented by the Australian Writers’ Guild, recognise and reward the outstanding achievements of Australian performance writers and their contribution to Australia’s cultural landscape. They are the only industry awards given by writers to writers and are judged exclusively on the writer’s vision; the script.
Accepting the AWGIE on behalf of the LiSTNR team at the award ceremony in Sydney was Simon Nasht, who thanked his co-script writers and team mates Akhim Dev, Belinda Lopez and Emma Lancaster.
[Listen to The Children in the Pictures here]
The Block’s Eliza and Liberty launch the Try Before You Die podcast
Fan favourites from The Block, Eliza and Liberty, had never been on a building site before becoming contestants, and most surprisingly, runners up on the show. With a new outlook on life, the sisters are ready to give more weird, whacky and wonderful experiences a crack. This is how their new podcast Try Before You Die was born.
In every episode the pair challenge themselves and each other to push beyond their boundaries. Whether it’s attempting speed dating, life drawing, larping, veganism, stand-up comedy, or any other trend capturing the zeitgeist.
The podcast also allows the sisters to debate topics at hand, whilst sharing their own real-life experiences.
[Listen to Try Before You Die here]
SBS’s Insightful: The Podcast brings guests from all backgrounds to the forefront
Hosted by Kumi Taguchi, Insightful: The Podcast will feature guests with intriguing backstories who have previously appeared on SBS’s Insight. Publishing weekly on Tuesdays from March 5th, the first season of the podcast will feature eight unique episodes.
Guests this season include: former professional big-wave surfer and convicted drug trafficker Wayne Cleveland; long-time ‘Dolly Doctor’ Melissa Kang; Charlotte Charles, mother of 19-year-old Harry Dunn, who was killed while riding his motorcycle by a driver who claimed diplomatic immunity and fled the jurisdiction; and male escort Samuel Hunter.
Insightful: The Podcast will be available on the SBS Audio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and LiSTNR.
ARN tackles a cold case on The Easey Street Murders
ARN’s iHeart and crime podcast Casefile have launched a new podcast, The Easey Street Murders unravelling one of Australia’s most haunting cold cases.
Forty-seven years ago, tragedy struck Easey Street, Collingwood, when Susan Bartlett and Suzanne Armstrong were murdered in their own home. Despite a million-dollar reward and years of investigation, justice remains elusive. The question lingers: who is responsible?
Award-winning journalist Helen Thomas has dedicated over a decade to unravelling the mysteries behind Susan and Suzanne’s tragic deaths. Initially investigating for ABC’s Background Briefing and chronicling her findings in the book Murder On Easey Street, Thomas leads audiences through the labyrinthine depths of this enigmatic case in the podcast.
[Listen to The Easey Street Murders here]
“Nobody wants a podcast about advertising”: AdMission pod launches with Russel Howcroft and Freddie Young
Australian ad guru Russel Howcroft and industry up-and-comer Freddie Young from Good One Creative have launched their advertising podcast, AdMission, in partnership with Nine Podcasts.
AdMission tells the stories behind the world’s most talked about brands, ideas, campaigns, advertising news and industry screw ups, as well as offering insight into some of the greatest creative ideas and businesses.
Bringing their own perspectives to the pod, Russel and Freddie offer listeners the ‘then’ and ‘now’ of advertising.
