The Rise and Rise of Podcasting
Sponsored by Hat Trick & Hindsight Productions
Location: Upstairs Theatre
Time: Wednesday 16th November, 4pm
What do commissioners think makes a good podcast? What are they looking for? And what does it take to make it a success? Join the panel chair Marie-Louise Muir, commissioners Claire Broughton, Claire McGinn and Northern Irish podcaster Steven Cockcroft to learn more about this media and where it might be going in the future.
Clare McGinn
Creative Director, BBC Audio UK
Clare McGinn is Creative Director for BBC Audio UK - which is the biggest in-house supplier of BBC non-news audio content working across all the national linear networks, digital networks, BBC World Service and BBC Sounds. The Creative Development Unit was set up to create and develop new premium podcasts.
To date it has developed titles like Fairy Meadow; The Michelle Visage Podcast; Songs To Live By; Unreal - A Critical History of Reality TV; Your Place Or Mine; Things You Didn't Know About Pop with Scott Mills and Wheel of Misfortune.
Clare runs a virtual team of 12 producers sitting in different parts of the GB and NI.
Claire Broughton
Head of Podcasts, Hat Trick Productions
Claire Broughton is Head of Podcasts across Hat Trick Productions where she oversees shows such as ‘Queen Bees with Jane Horrocks and Esther Coles’, 'Twice Upon A Time with Janet Ellis' and 'The Real Sex Education', as well as scripted offerings ‘London Pub Reviews (feat. Tim Key)’, and 'Whistle Through The Shamrocks' written by Camilla Whitehill and Nicola Coughlan.
For HTM Television Ltd she produces scripted audio dramas such as 'Zoetrope' starring Daisy Ridley and the soon to be released 'Below' featuring Myanna Buring and Rakie Ayola, both for Audible.
She has previously worked across film, TV and radio on titles such as Episodes with Matt LeBlanc, Plum House for Radio 4, The Constant Gardener (Potboiler Productions), Vera Drake (Thin Man Films), Black Books and Spaced (both for Big Talk Productions).
Steven Cockcroft
Podcast Producer, 'Nothing is Real'
A lawyer by trade, Steven Cockcroft is based in Belfast and co-hosts ‘Nothing Is Real – A Podcast About The Beatles’ with Jason Carty, a doctor, based in Dublin.
Nothing Is Real launched in May 2019 after Steven and Jason jointly won the title Beatle Brains of Ireland in 2018.
They entered a studio in Dublin in March 2019, with a modest ambition of recording 10 episodes and reaching a few hundred listeners. Recording remotely during the COVID-19 lockdown, the podcast has just completed its sixth season.
The 100th episode aired in May 2022, and the podcast has reached 1.5 million downloads. Along the way it has expanded to include subscriber bonus content partnering with Acast, and has received episode sponsorship from Disney +.
A seventh season is in the works.
Marie-Louise Muir
Podcast Producer & Host
Marie-Louise Muir is the award winning co-host of Talking Derry Girls Podcast and is the presenter of The Culture Cafe on Radio Ulster.
