The Audio Academy Podcast

The great British weather couldn't dampen our 'Summer Socials' which went off in style in Leeds, Birmingham and London this month. At the latter, newly appointed Radio Academy Managing Director Aradhna Tayal Leach took the hot-seat to share her story as well as her vision for Radio Academy and how it could support you, and all radio and audio peers, moving forward. Hear some of that event, hosted...

Tim Cocker is joined by co-owner at Unedited Andrew Spence, who also produced "It Was All A Dream...The Football Academy Journey" for talkSPORT. The programme explored the, often harsh, reality of those who don't make it to the top of the sport. As you'll hear, Tim's discovery of this programme opened up a conversation about how you keep the content you make 'ever-green', finding the audience it d...

Tim Cocker gets you the insights of three key members of the BBC Radio 1 team who masterminded the madness for the stations big summer activity for 2023. Producers Chris Sawyer and Tom Gane, along with Project Co-ordinator Katie Crooks, share the story of the 'Giant DJ Hunt' from inception (in a pub, obviously) to that moment at 12pm on Friday July 21st when Radio 1 was switched off.

The next generation of audio stars were announced at our latest ceremony - the 2023 Young Audio Awards on July 7th. Jordan North and Tyler West presented the ceremony, with guest appearances from Vernon Kay, Ken Bruce, Jordan & Perri and Darren Bent among others. All of them there to recognise the talent and effort of 8 to 18 year olds across the UK engaging with, and engaged by, radio and aud...

After 31 years at Radio 2, and 45 years in BBC radio, Ken Bruce's move to Greatest Hits Radio represented a landscape shifting move in UK Radio. 3 months after this new chapter began, we reflect on the change with one of the individuals who delivered the coup of getting Ken. Gary Stein is Bauer Media's Group Programme Director, and he shares with you the story behind the deal, the impact so far an...

This past week, The Cycling Podcast team arrived in the Basque region to begin their 11th year covering the Tour de France, having recently marked the 10th anniversary since their maiden podcast, recorded on an iPhone whilst sat in a park. Safe to say things have grown a bit since those earliest days. They are one of the most successful sports podcasts in the UK and can be seen on listener charts...

Magazines, newspapers, autobiographies, TV documentaries and reality shows...now Katie Price has a podcast too! With her sister Sophie it promises to "tell the truth" about Katie and her life. We've seen and read a lot over the years...how different will those preconceptions be from the reality? The Crowd Network let us in on their latest launch, with Producer Kristina Hrywnak revealing why this i...

For years Artificial Intelligence was the stuff of science fiction. Then, a few months ago it was what students were using to do their essays for them. Now, it's looking more and more like a part of our daily lives in radio and audio. 'Radio Futurologist' James Cridland takes a break from his trips around the globe as a speaker and thought leader, and from editing his daily podcasting newsletter '...

Sophiena has amassed a giant following sharing her life on Tik Tok. More recently she's repeating the feat on Instagram. Now, she has her own podcast, with co-host Emma Jones of the Absolute Radio Breakfast Show, already rocketing up the charts with the newly launched Secret Mum Club, from the Audio Always stable.   Who picked up the phone to who (or slid into the DMs) to launch this journey? How...

Another live episode for this week's podcast, as Miranda Sawyer sits down with ARIAS Best New Presenters winners Zak and Jules at The Podcast Show. Zak and Jules present the Life After Prison podcast - regular listeners will remember them from our episode back in January.  The podcast does what it says on the tin - covering stories and issues related to those that have experienced the criminal jus...

This week's episode focuses on an ARIAS Gold Winner - Moment of Truth, which won Best Sports Show at this year's awards. Moment of Truth is a 15-episode series for BBC 5 Live and BBC Sounds that follows the second half of the 2021/2022 football season through the eyes of League One managers Paul Warne of Rotherham United and Karl Robinson of Oxford United. It's made by indie Folding Pocket, led by...

Guest presenter Harriet Scott talks to the creators and hosts of the world's biggest Eurovision fan podcast, about the incredible fortnight of content from Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool. Rob and James started The Euro Trip during lockdown, and it quickly became a huge hit amongst Eurovision aficionados, for balancing insightful journalism alongside the fun and nonsense of the song contest.   In thi...

It's Mental Health Awareness Week, and the theme of this year's campaign is Anxiety.  Anxiety is a totally normal emotion in all of us - whether that's the pressure to deliver day-in day-out, our career prospects, our work-life balance, our working relationships, or anything else. At The Radio Academy, we want to learn about how we can support colleagues feeling anxiety in their work lives.  And t...

It’s the second half of the ARIAS show, with all the action from on stage, and some special backstage interviews. In this section, you can hear:  Best Music Special Best Specialist Music Show Best Commercial Partnership The Comedy Award Best Music Entertainment Show Best Drama Best Audiobook or Reading Best Station Sound The Impact Award Recognition of Tim Blackmore ARIAS Guest of Honour Community...

An ARIAS special this week, as Laura and Lauren report from backstage at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London and we bring you highlights from the first half of the show. This episode is part one, including the following awards: Best New Presenter Best New Radio Show Best Speech Breakfast Show Best Speech Presenter Best New Podcast Tony Blackburn receives The Pioneer Award Best Sports Show Best Co...

Shamima Begum, the British teenager who left London to join the Islamic State made headlines around the world. The question of Shamima's citizenship and what to do with her divides British society. While her case was widely reported, important parts of her story remained unknown, until now.  In this episode, Laura speaks to the creator of The Shamima Begum Story, a ten-part podcast series on BBC S...

Inspired by Josh Tate becoming the UK’s youngest newsreader at 16, we wanted to find out what skills, experience and knowledge are required for the job.  This week, Laura catches up with Josh to see what’s happened since his first on-air bulletin. She then sits down with three people in charge of radio news to discuss being a newsreader.  Laura’s joined by Lorraine Herbison (Head of News and Sport...

What a start to the year for Owain Wyn Evans - he's the new host of BBC Radio 2's Early Breakfast, which is also the first daily weekday show created outside of London.  Laura caught up with him in Cardiff for a quick chat about how the show is going, working with Bengo Media, and what he enjoys most.

What an offer. That’s what the Dave Berry Breakfast show promised listeners - Absolute Radio You.  It’s the second year the team at the station has run this competition and a chap called Kevin who works at a theme park suggested an idea that beat hundreds of other entries and so, Absolute Radio Kevin was born.  In this week’s episode Laura is joined by Dave Murphy (Breakfast Show Producer) who hel...

When the nation was clapping for the NHS, Kate Fairweather thought we should celebrate the frontline workers of the canine world too. And so, Dogs With Jobs was born. Within two years, the monthly show won ‘Podcast of the Year’ at the Community Radio Awards 2022. It was recognised for its inspiring content and the passion of its host.  This week, Kate talks to Laura about Dogs With Jobs, which is...

For anyone wanting to know how to get a foot in the door of the radio industry - this is for you. Rosie Wright is Times Radio’s recently appointed Early Breakfast presenter. With only six weeks under her belt she joined The Radio Academy’s podcast host Laura Rawlings in conversation at our ‘Last Mondays’ event.  These are our highlights of the chat - and they focus on Rosie’s career journey from s...

It made headlines around the world. The sleepy city of Salisbury - the location of the Novichok Poisonings.  To mark the fifth anniversary of this huge event, a new series on BBC Wiltshire and BBC Sounds looks back at what happened, with those who were there.  How do you tell the story of a landmark moment in history? How do you create a series that works on radio and as a podcast? Laura speaks to...

To celebrate International Women’s Day, Laura shares one of her favourite pieces of Radio Academy content from the last year - Emma Barnett, live at The Radio Academy Festival in September 2022. Emma is best known as the chief presenter of Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4. She has won multiple awards - including Best Speech Presenter at The ARIAS in 2022.  That Gold led to an appearance on The Festival...

From massive pan-network national campaigns, to your nearest station raising for the local good cause, with silly stunts, marathon broadcasts, and heartfelt packages - radio has long known how to pull on the heart strings of listeners to raise substantial sums for charity.  But when times are tight, how do you encourage people to part with their cash? How do you craft a campaign that keeps listene...

Pete Black is Bauer’s Director of Music. It’s a new role and with only a few months under his belt, he joined KISS Content Director Rebecca Frank in conversation at our ‘Last Mondays’ event.  In these edited highlights, you'll hear Pete talking about his new role and transition from the music industry to radio. He and Rebecca share advice on how to get production teams working well with artists an...