A word in your ear
Three young Melbourne podcast makers have launched Broadwave, an audio production collective and online podcast portal.
Words by Helena Melton
Photo by Paddy Bridges
“The under-resourcing of community radio stations means that broadcasting is often their primary focus,” says Beth Atkinson-Quinton as she sips her coffee, “which means that preproduced content is not a focus. I feel like it leaves a really big gap for us to be able to step in.”
Beth, Izzy Roberts-Orr and Areej Nur are the founders of Broadwave, a podcast collective and training resource for emerging Australian audio storytellers that aims to radically diversify the Australian media landscape.
She and Izzy have squeezed me into their busy schedules for a meeting at the cafe at Melbourne’s The Wheeler Centre, where they both work.
“The three of us are all independent podcast producers and we’ve been doing it for quite a long time,” says Izzy. “Beth and I wanted to support the young women working as producers and, unfortunately, I think there’s still some weird gendered things that go on with audio production.
“We were also noticing that in terms of getting paid and producing really great work. So collectivising and starting to support each other to develop our skills was going to be really important. That’s kind of where the conversation began.”
The desire to collectivise is simple yet significant. Through connecting independent audio producers to resources and sustainable funding platforms, Broadwave hopes to promote diverse and unique shows to a wider audience.
Everybody has a story and I think that there is something so powerful and unique about the voice, it’s so intimate.
“There are amazing producers that are making amazing Australian audio content,” says Izzy. “We looked to the US at somewhere like Radiotopia where they’re a network that can promote all the content they’re putting out. Podcasting, more than any other medium, is word-of-mouth. If you love a podcast, you hear about another podcast through that podcast. So we saw the strength in banding together and trying to be like ‘Look at all this great stuff that people are doing here on these shores!’”
“For us it was important to collectivise with independent producers who were making really great content that wasn’t being heard,” adds Beth. “That’s through connecting inde pendent producers with an audience through the power of a collective, and then also training up people who haven’t had opportunities in traditional mainstream media to be able to tell their stories.”
Providing a platform for under-represented or disadvantaged Australians to share their stories is essential to the ethos of Broadwave because the stories we hear shape both our personal identities and the society around us.
“I think media or stories can be both a window and a mirror,” says Izzy. “I think it’s the same thing with audio content and with podcasts: you should be able to see yourself reflected back at you. That helps you be cele bratory and critical of yourself, but also it helps to show you other people’s experiences. That’s why we need a diverse media landscape; that’s part of what Broadwave is trying to achieve.”
“We’re trying to look at what stories are being heard, who is telling those stories and the power dynamics in those stories, because the stories that we tell throughout our genera tion become what we see as our society, what we see as our Victorian or national story,” says Beth. “We’ve seen that through colonisation; that’s a prime example of how important giving power to the people who have the lived experi ence is. I think our national story would be very different if that were the case.”
There is an undeniable power in hearing your story reflected back at you. Australian shows like Not by Accident, Ladies, We Need to Talk, Fully Sick, The Love and Luck Podcast and AWAYE! reveal perspectives that aren’t usually heard in mainstream Australian media; they give a more accurate representation of our society.
Hearing your stories told by people like you is empowering, especially for people whose stories have been ignored or undervalued – Indigenous Australians, women, LGBTIQ+ people, disabled people and people from diverse ethnic or religious backgrounds.
Podcasts draw on the intimacy of the spoken word to connect with people. They let you eavesdrop on another person’s story, told in their own words. You can immerse yourself in another person’s life, and this is the most attractive part of listening to podcasts.
“Audio is one of the few mediums that you can interact with your eyes shut. I don’t know how you can get closer to somebody than having someone speak to you in that way,” says Beth.
“How often do you speak to someone on the phone these days?” asks Izzy. “I think so much of the popularity of podcasts comes through wanting to consume media in other ways; we’re reading our phones a lot of the time, then we get to work on our computers all day. Having something that gives your eyes a break and can be so intimate, can be so beautiful, and there’s a lot of value in that.” Podcasting is more accessible than other storytelling mediums. Anyone can whip out their phone and start recording. Podcasts are fairly easy to create, and also easy to get into as a listener. You can enter into a topic without having any prior knowledge and come away a low-key expert. Beth and Izzy believe this has contributed to the rapid popularity of podcasts.
“To tell a story you don’t need to have a liter ature degree or be tertiary educated,” says Beth. “The thing that makes us fundamentally human is our desire to share our stories. Everybody has a story and I think that there is something so powerful and unique about the voice, it’s so intimate.”
“You get access to spaces with audio that you don’t always get with other forms of media, which is pretty remarkable,” says Izzy. “It’s a skillset that’s accessible, it’s something that you can learn how to do by playing around.”
Since their launch at the Audiocraft Podcast Festival at Vivid Sydney in June, Broadwave have been hard at work producing and creating new shows that will be launched throughout 2019. Although they weren’t ready to publicise their upcoming projects, they did fill me in on their latest show, Echo.
“Echo is a creative audio podcast that is looking at experiences of what it means to live in this country,” says Beth. “Every episode is created by a different audio producer and it’s their response to an experience or a moment of what it means to live in this country. This particular podcast is trying to experiment with sound design and definitely taking cues from some amazing creative audio podcasts like Constellations.”
As podcast producers continue to experiment and listeners continue to crave intimate and diverse storytelling experiences, the future looks bright for podcast collectives like Broadwave.
There was only one question left to ask Beth and Izzy: what are they listening to?
“Sound Waves,” says Beth. “The Love and Luck Podcast and Everything is Alive,” says Izzy.