AFTRS is ‘Right Here, Right Now’ with a pop-up broadcast

AFTRS FM (L-R) Kyle Bachner, Ella Carter, Grace Cooper and T Michaelides

For the third time this year, AFTRS Graduate Diploma of Radio and Podcasting students are taking to the airwaves with a pop-up broadcast. From Monday 2 September to Friday 14 September, AFTRS FM will tackle the issues that impact students – like cost-of-living, social media, pop culture, and more.

Following the 30th year of Show Radio in April, and regional broadcast 2NRS in June, AFTRS FM will see students produce and package a daily 30-minute factual talk broadcast, with support from guest air checkers, mentors and coaches from across the industry including Greg Byrnes from 9 Entertainment, Fiona Ellis Jones and Naomi Lynch from ARN, and Rob Mailer and Jodie Gunders from the ABC.

AFTRS FM will stream live on iHeart weekdays from 3pm, and appear as an on-demand podcast, from Monday 2 September to Friday 14 September, with ‘best ofs’ airing Saturday 7 and 15 September from 7am to 7:30am. Students will also publish stories online and across social media channels.

AFTRS Discipline Lead, Radio and Podcasting, Andrea Ho says, “So much great audio comes from generating ideas and landing talent, and working to deadline. AFTRS FM sets the students a real workout with all of these skills, while they give voice to issues that matter to them and the broader audience.”

Head of Content, Nine Radio and AFTRS alum Greg Byrnes will support the students with airchecks. Greg says, “All broadcasters feed off adrenaline when the mic goes live. There’s nothing like it and when AFTRS FM launches this week students will be experiencing that buzz, some for the first time. It’s a wonderful opportunity which allows them to put all that theory into real time deadlines. News content is a key programming ingredient and I’m looking forward to working with the class of 2024 on their writing and presentation during this year’s broadcast.

Graduate Diploma of Radio & Podcasting student Ella Carter says listeners can look forward to a cutting-edge daily talk program, podcast, and online news platform that blends news and current affairs with diverse perspectives, fostering a strong sense of community.

“As our third collaborative broadcast of the year, AFTRS FM will showcase the skills we’ve honed through previous coursework. Over the next two weeks, we’ll be crafting audio packages, writing for social media, working as a team, and operating the studio panel at AFTRS. It’s going to be a hectic yet rewarding experience!” Ella says.

Each unique collaborative broadcast provides us with an epic hands-on experience that not only boosts our skills in radio, but our individual confidence. We’re pumped and ready to go!”

Tune into AFTRS FM here.

Applications for the Graduate Diploma in Radio & Podcasting – offered flexibly, in person and online – close on 29 October 2024. There are a variety of scholarships available on offer that recognise excellence and assist with the costs associated with higher education. Available for 2025 are the ARN Radio and Podcasting Scholarship, CRA Regional Radio Scholarship, Equity Scholarships, supported by the Kenneth Myer Fellowship Trust, First Nations Scholarships, supported by the Kenneth Myer Fellowship Trust, the Glenn Daniel Smooth FM Scholarship, the Glenn Wheatley EON Innovation Scholarship, and the Pariya Taherzadeh Radio & Podcasting Scholarship.

For more information visit Graduate Diploma in Radio and Podcasting.

LiSTNR, AUSTRALIA’S NO.1 PODCAST SALES REPRESENTATION NETWORK, HAS A NEW BFF AND HE IS A PRETTY BIG DEAL

LiSTNR, Australia’s largest sales representation podcast network^, has just welcomed one of the world’s biggest podcasts (and most famous boyfriends) to the LiSTNR audience network, with all episodes now available on LiSTNR. Travis Kelce, the star of Kansas City Chiefs and boyfriend of Taylor Swift, and his brother Jason Kelce, the former center of the Philadelphia Eagles, have signed their top-rated podcast New Heights to Wondery in a landmark deal.  LiSTNR’s exclusive sales representation partnership in Australia for all Wondery titles, allows Australian marketers to position their brands alongside one of the world’s hottest podcasts.

LiSTNR’s Australian ad-sales rights with the New Heights podcast, also includes the show’s back catalogue. With the third season kicking off in time for the new NFL season, the weekly podcast gives fans ‘next-level’ access to life in the league. The famous football brothers and Super Bowl champions provide insights and share unique perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines, plus they drop entertaining stories about their off-field interests and welcome special guests. The podcast has also found an entire new audience segment since Travis began dating Taylor Swift and started sharing news about their life.

Since LiSTNR partnered with premium podcast studio and publisher Wondery in 2022, as its exclusive Australian sales representative, the partnership has flourished. In July 2024, LiSTNR represented the sales of 59 titles in the Australian Podcast Ranker Top 200 Podcasts* (55% more than its closest competitor), which included many Wondery titles such as MorbidMrBallenRedHanded and British Scandal. This dominance will continue with an exciting new slate of podcasts scheduled for 2025.

LiSTNR continues to out-pace other digital audio brands in Australia with SCA’s FY24 full-year results confirming that LiSTNR achieved underlying EBITDA profitability in the fourth quarter of FY24 and a 42% increase of annual digital revenue on FY23. Furthermore, digital revenue in H2 FY24 was up 57% on H2 FY23^^.

“With more than 2 million signed-up listeners^^, sales and content partnerships with some of the world’s biggest publishers, and our advanced AdTech Hub, LiSTNR provides our clients new innovative and targeted audience capabilities, setting us apart as one of the most experienced, data-led and privacy compliant digital audio companies in Australia,” Executive Head of LiSTNR Podcasts, Grant Tothill, said.

“The best-in-class LiSTNR AdTech Hub has been a genuine game-changer for the Australian digital audio industry, business owners, marketers and media agencies, offering an irresistible audience-focused proposition with proven results,” concluded Tothill.

Weekly episodes of New Heights, and the entire back catalogue, are now available on LiSTNR.

Sources:

^Australian Podcast Ranker – Top Sales Representatives – July 2024

*Australian Podcast Ranker Top 200 Podcasts – July 2024

^^SCA FY24 Investor Presentation

About LiSTNR:

LiSTNR is a curated and personalised, free app offering radio, podcasts, music, and news, creating a new audio destination for all Australians. Featuring a fun and intuitive onboarding process, LiSTNR delivers an audio destination that is built for individual listeners’ routines and preferences. Highly personalised, it provides listeners a new world of audio entertainment, with their own daily feed of audio and easy discovery of new content through curated recommendations. Available across a large array of devices including both iOS and Android, CarPlay and Android Auto, Google Assistant and Alexa and Android TV, LiSTNR enables a fantastic listening experience, anytime and anywhere. Open your Ears to a new world of audio – download the free app today. LiSTNR.com

2024 Community Broadcasting Awards Finalist Schedule

It’s a big year for the 2024 Community Broadcasting Awards, taking place at the CBAA Conference on the Gold Coast on October 19. We’ve had over 300 entries in over 20 categories, in a new format designed to better recognise the structures and people in the sector. We’ll be announcing the finalists on our Facebook page over the coming week, be sure to follow if you haven’t already!

Day Category Time (AEDT)
Tuesday 3/09/24 Best Program: Music 10am
  Best Program:  New 12pm
  Best Program: News & Current Affairs 2pm
  Best Program: Talks 4pm
Wednesday 4/09/24 Excellence in Special Events & Outside Broadcasting 10am
  Outstanding Fundraising & Sponsorship Contribution 12pm
  Excellence in Station Resilience & Development 2pm
  Excellence in Production 4pm
Thursday 5/09/24 Excellence in Australian Music 10am
  Excellence in Community Engagement 12pm
  Excellence in Disability Content & Engagement 2pm
  Excellence in Fundraising & Sponsorship 4pm
Friday 6/09/24 Excellence in Indigenous Content & Engagement 10am
  Excellence in Multicultural Content & Engagement 12pm
  Outstanding Presenter 2pm
  Outstanding Presenter News & Current Affairs 4pm
The Troy Garner Award – Best Program: Sports 6pm
Saturday 7/09/24 Outstanding Production Contribution 10am
  Outstanding Technical Contribution 12pm
  Outstanding Volunteer Contribution 2pm
  Outstanding Youth Contribution 4pm
Outstanding Station Leadership 6pm

Online Audio: digital’s fastest growing reported revenue channel, up 24% in FY24

Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA) has welcomed figures that show podcast and streaming audio advertising expenditure increased 23.6% year on year in FY24, to $290 million.

Total online audio advertising is the fastest growing display category, according to the Australian Internet Advertising Revenue Report (IARR), compiled by PwC and released today by IAB Australia.

The report also shows strong quarterly growth, with the total of $78.9 million for the June Quarter 2024 surpassing the December Quarter 2023 peak of $77.8 million.

Lizzie Young, CRA Chief Executive Officer, said the results were particularly pleasing off the back of GfK Survey 5 data which showed commercial radio share had reached its highest level since 2014.

“Commercial radio continues to grow its audiences, and one of the reasons is audio is everywhere – whether listeners are tuning into broadcast radio, DAB, or a podcast, audio is in their cars, at home, and with them via their phone,” said Ms Young.

“The FY24 results from IAB are incredibly strong, with total online audio ad spending up 23.6% on FY23, making it the fastest growing display category.

“Advertisers are increasingly investing in online audio because it delivers both audience trust and accessibility.”

The total Australian online audio advertising market in FY24 was $290 million ($185 million streaming and $105 million podcast), representing 4.7% of total general display ad spending for the year.

“The IARR report also shows expenditure on podcast advertising increased by a massive 32% in the June Quarter compared to the March Quarter,” said Ms Young.

“We expect to see more advertisers investing in podcasts, as their popularity continues to increase, as we saw in our first Australian Podcast Bi-Annual Report, released last week.”

The report showed average monthly podcast listeners up increased almost 9% in the first half of 2024 compared to last year.