Q&A with Hamish and Andy: Have we reached ‘peak podcast’?
‘Hamish and Andy’s’ Hamish Blake and Andy Lee took a fall down the Australian Podcast Ranker today, and joked they will ‘quit’ as they only do podcasts for attention, accolades and awards.
Here, they speak to Mumbrella’s editor Vivienne Kelly about why they love podcasting, how they feel about the implication it’s ‘lazy’ radio, and what happens when there’s more podcasts than people.
INTERVIEW:
Hamish Blake, TV presenter, podcaster and co-host of ‘Hamish & Andy’ on PodcastOne (HB)
Andy Lee, TV presenter, podcaster and the ‘Andy’ in ‘Hamish & Andy’ on PodcastOne (AL)
Vivienne Kelly, editor, Mumbrella (VK)
VK: There is often the impression that podcasting is a bit easier and doesn’t involve as much work [as radio]. Indeed at Radio Alive last year, Kyle Sandilands was joking at your expense that of course you guys went to podcasting because you’re lazy and don’t like to work very hard.
Podcasting as a medium has grown a lot in the last couple of years, in terms of the variations that now exist. I wonder if there needs to be more specific categorisations of podcasts.
Podcasting classic (circa 2000’s) was a lot of mostly unknown people creating followings and some great content. Lot of talk. Basic production values (typically)
Then we had the rise of radio talent moving into Podcast, originally thinking of it as an additional channel to syndicate their content to. Then evolved into variations/spin offs of their radio (or even TV show) eg Conan, Hamish and Andy, etc etc.
Then documentary style podcasts (crime, etc etc).
And now you’re starting to see media companies that just create content for podcast platforms only. Like a Netflix for Podcasts. Wondery Media are doing some great stuff in the US, creating (free and premium) content that doesn’t feel like the first two categories. Their stuff is highly polished and podcast-first.
PS. This interview would have been a great podcast episode 😉
Thanks, Ben.
Argh! I know. It would have worked really well as audio, and it does feel like a bit of a wasted opportunity. Unfortunately I was doing it on the fly running across the city between meetings without the proper equipment. I guess there’s a lesson in that somewhere.
And I agree, there’s so many podcasts now, it likely won’t be long before we see more robust categories for comparisons.
Thanks,
Vivienne – Mumbrella