The Birmingham Podcast Festival 2023 is a one-day event organised by Soundtruism that embraces the power of podcasting that removes barriers to entry. The event aims to be an inclusive audio space, a place to share top tips, skills and knowledge from a truly diverse range of professionals. The amazing line-up of podcast experts and audio professionals is representative of both the city and industry (a key aspect of the Equality In Audio pact we don’t always see at podcast events).  As well as headliner Sangeeta Pillai from Masala Podcast, people heading to the festival can expect to hear experts from Spotify, the BBC, and many independent podcast production companies.

We believe that this is as celebration of podcasting not to be missed. Of course, we wanted to learn more and caught up with festival instigator Nina Robinson…

PB: I was so excited to see this launch! Can you tell us how this festival has come about?

NINA: I’d been thinking that Birmingham needed a Podcast Festival for like over a year! I was seeing all the events going on in London and there was very little going on to improve skills and inspire the podcasting community in the Midlands. In the end, I just thought let me do it, as I had a lot of contacts in the audio world from my background working in the industry and I had been working with Birmingham City University who are our partners. I’d been running podcast masterclasses and they were so well received and the innovative ideas that came about also convinced me that we needed a place to share expertise. I have been encouraged by a brilliant advisory board and my lead producer Dylan Hayward- so this all led to Birmingham Podcast Festival 2023 taking shape.

Nina Robinson, creator of the Birmingham Podcast Festival

Birmingham is now a super diverse, minority-majority city – how has this shaped the festival?

A lot! Ofcom did a podcast survey last year, which showed that minority populations are nearly all significantly more likely to be podcast listeners than the white population. For me, this is not completely surprising as these are audiences that have been largely under served by mainstream radio in the past. Having worked in an elite part of the industry, namely foreign affairs journalism – as a South Asian female with a Birmingham accent, media representation has been an important issue that led to me doing research for the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity when I left the BBC.

Birmingham is a young and richly diverse place, these are all reasons why it is a perfect flourishing ground for podcasting. There are no barriers to entry, anyone can enter this media space and it is important to provide a platform for successful podcasters and entrepreneurs such as Spotify Original podcaster, Sangeeta Pillai and CEO of podcast production company Bernard Achampong, Media Diversity expert Marcus Ryder MBE, author Jade LB signed to Stormzy’s #Merky Books (and many more) on the line-up to encourage and inspire others whilst at the same time offering some key skills and insights for new and established podcasters in the region.

The city of Birmingham became a bit famous in the podcasting space after the success of The Trojan Horse Affair – how was the podcast received there?

From the people I know and from my own perspective, The Trojan Horse Affair podcast by Serial Productions was incredible. It was a global number one hit and an investigation that delved deep into the insidious core of Islamophobia as it exists in British institutions including in journalism. It rates as one of my all-time favourite podcasts. (The other one is a New York Times podcast called 1619). My ambition is that one day, an investigative podcast series of that calibre, using local journalists can be produced by Birmingham-based podcast companies. I’m hoping that my own media production company, Soundtruism might play be able to play a part in making that a reality. When I DM-ed the co-host of The Trojan Horse Affair Hamza Syed, who is from Birmingham, I told him about the Birmingham Podcast Festival 2023 and he said that he wished that there had been an event like this one when he was here, which was really heartening thing to hear from him
and gave me a lot of encouragement.

What do you love about podcasting?

I just love the fact that it breaks the rules and anyone can do it! I love that you can find a podcast to suit your mood and frame of mind. I love how intimate it is and how your favourite podcasters can feel like your friends – this is how I feel when I listen to The Receipts podcast. I love the possibilities that it offers to companies and individuals to connect with different audiences – this is one of the areas I want the Birmingham Podcast Festival 2023 to tap into, one of the panel discussions is on ‘The Power of Podcasting for your Business or Brand’ and we’ve got the brilliant Richard Miron from Earshot Strategies who has worked with brands such as Airbus and the European Investment Bank on their podcasts and he has so many amazing insights to share.

Podcasting is such a great media to work remotely – how do you see that shaping the future of the industry?

Having worked through Covid and making documentaries for the BBC World Service from my upstairs loft room in Birmingham during that period, I feel that remote working through podcasting makes the world that much smaller and more accessible. I listen to many US, Indian and Canadian podcasts and this makes it easier to share expertise and have cross border conversations. The tech is easy to use which means you can get crystal clear broadcast quality audio from someone in a remote part of the globe and it can sound like they are sitting right next to you.

Birmingham canals

I’m excited to visit Birmingham for the first time! Aside from the festival – what’s your best insider tip I must see or do before I leave?

Digbeth! It’s right on BCU’s doorstep and there’s a new BBC building about to open (the old Typhoo tea factory) and other media professionals are moving into the area.  It is an upcoming media hub.  Have a coffee at Fazeley Studios –  You have to push an unmarked door (kind of light blue colour) to get in.  It closes at 2pm.

For food after:  Meat eaters should try HANBAO on 46 Floodgate Street Food Menu.
Vegans and Vegetarians should try THE WAREHOUSE CAFÉ food and bar (closes at 10pm) – it’s @thewarehousecafe on Instagram.

Bars to try:

• Dig Brew Co. (43 River Street) – this one’s a brilliant microbrewery, try the stout.
• The Ruin (92 Floodgate street) – they have outside upstairs bit,
• Dead Wax Digbeth (28 Adderley Street) – edgy
• The Old Crown (High St B12 0LD) – really old like the oldest pub in Birmingham I think.
• Or if you want somewhere really near New Street station, go to Cherry Red’s Café Bar on John Bright Street your little home from home (cherryreds.com)

Anything else you’d like our readers to know?

Get your tickets for Birmingham Podcast Festival 2023 via the website birminghampodcastfestival.co.uk. We are also giving away 2 x podcast microphones (courtesy of @guitarguitaruk) with all the accessories in the box on socials so please follow @soundtruism on Instagram or my own profile on Twitter @ninarobinson01 or follow #BhamPodFest23 and we will be announcing the winner at the Festival on the 22nd April, 2023.

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Taking place in front of a live audience at Kings Place, the festival is a chance to celebrate the fast growing popularity of podcasts whilst giving listeners the unmissable chance to meet their favourite podcast hosts. A number of the events will be livestreamed to audiences across the world via KPlayer, the Kings Place pay-per-view platform. The London Podcast Festival was founded by Kings Place in 2016 and has since welcomed over 37,000 visitors and 500 podcasters.

Newly added shows include:

• Popular true crime podcasts Drunk Women Solving Crime and RedHanded join forces for a special Drunk Women Caught RedHanded event
• Discover the creative process of hit Audible scripted podcast Radioman, with actor and cocreator Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, executive producer Emily Feller, writer, director and cocreator Joe Derrick and sound designer and composer Benbrick, as they discuss key scenes from the series in-depth in this special free live session
• BBC Sounds podcasts Uncanny with host Danny Robins and guest Mark Gatiss and Pressed with hosts Mariam and Adeola join for special live shows
• Comedy podcast Halfies: A Noisy Hajar Podcast with host Hajar J. Woodland and guests Darius Davies and Shirley & Shirley (aka Joanna Carolan and Pascale Wilson)
• Spencer Cooper and Mufseen Miah present Queer Talk LIVE! to share commentary on positive LGBTQ+ news stories and connect with a panel of brilliant, queer individuals
• Film journalist Ben Travis and animation academic Dr. Sam Summers present Disniversity, a podcast crash course through the history of Disney’s animated classics
• Desperado Podcast present a one-off special featuring a self-contained story from the Desperado universe
• First ever live show of Petrified, the terrifying horror fiction anthology podcast
• Indie AF sees Sarah Golding and special guests share experience and unmissable advice about creating audio fiction
• Mathilda Mallinson and Helena Wadia present a live episode of Media Storm
• Thea Rickard and Ruby Rare explore the world of non-monogamy in feminist podcast The Last Night

Special guests revealed:

• Louis Theroux will join Adam Buxton for an episode of The Adam Buxton Podcast
• Tia Kofi from RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 2 is the guest for Crystal’s The Things That Made Me Queer
• Lady Garden Foundation co-founder Chloe Delevingne, actress Amanda Abbington and the Scummy Mummies Ellie & Helen announced as guests for Mika Simmons’ The Happy Vagina
• Actress Michelle Collins joins comedian Michelle Collins and Dan Acton for a special live recording of Midnight Snack
• Les Dennis announced as special guest for quiz podcast Fingers on Buzzers, hosted by comedian Lucy Porter and The Chase’s very own Vixen, Jenny Ryan
• Director Gurinder Chadha talks about her career with host Simon Brew in the first ever live recording of Film Stories
• Comedians Karen Hobbs and Marcus Brigstocke and producer Saima Ferdows join Cariad Lloyd for an episode of Griefcast
• Huge Davies, Ed Byrne and Jen Brister announced as guests for The Film Quiz with Nick Helm
• Comedian Isy Suttie will be the guest on Joel Morris’ Comfort Blanket and has chosen the film Grease

They join the previously announced line-up which features:

• Special one-off show Springleaf: James Acaster featuring James Acaster as undercover cop Pat Springleaf talking to comedian Mike Wozniak
• Live editions of I Weigh with Jameela Jamil, The Adam Buxton Podcast, Dane Baptiste Questions Everything and No Such Thing as a Fish, as well as a special crossover show with The Guilty Feminist and Brown Girls Do It Too
• Live episodes from some of the UK’s leading LGBTQ+ podcasts including Two Twos Podcast, A Gay and a NonGay and The Things That Made Me Queer
• Festival appearances from Cariad Lloyd with Griefcast, comedian Lucy Porter presents Fingers on Buzzers with The Chase’s Jenny Ryan and Joel Morris brings a live episode of Comfort Blanket, plus live episodes of The Happy Vagina and Ki & Dee
• Film podcasts including Film Quiz with Nick Helm, The Empire Film Podcast, Fade to Black, 90 Minutes or Less and Film Stories, plus trilogy of wrestling podcasts Wrestle Me, How2Wrestling and Attitude Era Podcast
• Festival debuts from Jew Talkin’ To Me?, The Famous Sloping Pitch and NonCensored with Rosie Holt, plus returning favourites Three Bean Salad, Beef and Dairy Network and Midnight Snack with Michelle Collins
• Other shows include The Complete Guide to Everything, A Wheezing Groaning Sound, The The One Show Show, Global Pillage, The Final Girls, Rock ‘n’ Roll Politics and Chart Music: The TOTP Podcast

The Podcast Maker Weekend returns once more, offering a diverse series of podcasting workshops at Kings Place covering the art, craft, technology, business and politics of podcasting. Experienced speakers from the world of podcasting and broadcasting offer affordable sessions for both beginner and experienced podcasts and audio makers. Sessions include:

• Festival partners Acast present Podcast Subscriptions: They’re a Thing, a free workshop panel to help aspiring podcasters set up their first podcast subscriptions. Hosted by Hannah O’Connell, Acast Partner Manager and host of Shrine Podcasts, the panel will be joined by Teacher Luke (aka Luke Thompson) and Adrian Carty, producer of the Nothing Is Real Beatles podcast – both of whom have very successful subscription podcasts
• The Importance Of People And Relationships In Podcasting with award winning audio producer Jaja Muhammad and broadcast journalist, presenter and producer Cherise Hamilton
• Comedy Podcasting with comedian and podcaster Suchandrika Chakrabarti and Drunk Women Solving Crime host Hannah George
• Researching For Podcasts with producer Leonore Schick and Sky News Podcasts producer Soila Apparicio
• Interviewing For Documentaries with multi award winning freelance audio producer, sound designer and community facilitator Jesse Lawson and freelance audio producer, editor and sound designer Arlie Adlington
• The Future Of Audio Fiction with Alexander J Newall, Founder and CEO of Rusty Quill Ltd, alongside Rusty Quill Ltd Executive of Production April Sumner and award-winning writer Nemo Martin
• Recording Podcasts with audio specialist Lisa Hack and audio executive Kieron Banerji
• Editing Basics with audio producer Mae-Li Evans and James Shield, Deputy executive producer of The Times and The Sunday Times daily news podcast
• Script For Presenting with Scott Flashheart, founder of the Queer Podcasters’ network and creator of Probably True podcast, and political/social affairs journalist and multimedia producer Dahaba Ali Hussen
• Ask Me Anything – Production Basics with founder of String Cast Media Sam Mbatha and award-winning producer Meera Kumar
• Podcast Formats Moving To TV Formats with Managing Director of Storyglass Steve Carsey and Founding and Managing Director of Gold Wala Faraz Osman
• Video For Podcasts with Super Stuff Creative producer Leon Gower and stand-up comedian, writer and author Sadia Azmat
• Using Social Media To Market Your Podcast with podmother, presenter, producer and consultant Kat Molesworth and Dan Page, CEO of Podspike and Chief Egg at podcast producer Why did the Chicken?

Tickets are on sale via the Kings Place website.

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The two-day event will welcome 6,000 attendees, and expects to be the “largest podcast B2B and consumer show outside of North America”. Event features include industry panels, workshops, live podcasts, ‘In Conversation With’ discussions and exhibitor/partner activations. At night, venues around Islington will host fringe-style events and live shows.

The event features Lead Partner Spotify, as well as partners BBC Sounds, Acast, Audioboom, and Somthin’ Else. The Podcast Show has also signed the Equity in Audio Pact and “encourages and nurtures continued opportunities, including supporting gender balance, minority groups including LGBTQIA+ and ethnic diversity among panellists, speakers and those in attendance”.

We at Pod Bible are excited learn more, as details begin to be released. In the meantime, tickets will go on sale this October, so mark your calendars!

For more information, check out their website at http://www.thepodcastshowlondon.com/.

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