It’s been quite the year for OUTCAST UK. It started with going viral on TikTok, and has continued with awards success for the podcast itself. It won The British Podcast Award for possibly the most-contested category – Best New Podcast. As we know, there have been a LOT of new podcasts this year, so it’s an incredible achievement for an independent show to outdo them all.

Hosted by the podcaster and broadcaster Graeme Smith, the show shares in-depth interviews with a mix of well known and up and coming broadcasters, artists, podcasters, musicians, influencers and academics. The judges at the BPAs stated that “There was no doubt the guests felt safe and heard”, and we agree. This really is the power of podcasts that are created by communities, for communities. OUTCAST UK might be the hottest new LGBTQ+ podcast, but there is plenty there for allies to learn from as well.

We asked Graeme about the show.

Host Graeme Smith with his British Podcast Award

Congratulations on the BPA win! How do you feel?

I didn’t believe it when they announced the winner! The podcast came pretty close at the ARIAS earlier in the summer and it didn’t happen so I didn’t think it would this time. My mate Joe came to the awards ceremony with me and had to literally push me to stand up and walk to the stage. I felt incredibly proud that without any corporate backing or much of a marketing budget the podcast managed to get such recognition. I’m a one man production team. The podcast at this point was literally me just talking to people I like and respect about their incredible lives and experiences. It was a real moment of realising that yes, people are noticing and it was incredible. In summary I feel like my work has been validated by the best of my peers and that’s everything really.

What was the first podcast you ever listened to?

The old Ricky Gervais podcasts (before the transphobia)… the stuff they then animated for TV. My tastes have since evolved! This and the standard Radio 4 newsy stuff the BBC has always knocked out would have been the first podcasts I engaged with. But I had always been a listener to speech radio … Radio 4 / LBC and even the more crazy late night phone in stuff my entire life.

Why did you decide to start podcasting in the first place?

The freedom to be long form, nuanced and authentic. I have mainly worked in formatted commercial radio most of my adult life, this was a chance to make something totally different, using the skills I had spent years crafting. I also had a never ending supply of stories to tell about the real lives of LGBTQ+ people and to talk about experiences in my own life and and this was the medium to do it. I wanted to tell my story through the stories of the people I spoke to. They say what I can’t or won’t say quite often. I feel like my previous few attempts at podcasts, documentary producing and speech broadcasting had been teaching me everything I needed to know to make OUTCAST UK work. I want this to become a platform people can come to for LGBTQ content that isn’t just aimed at the same white cisgender gay men. I’m bored of them. This is a deliberate attempt to diversify the range of voices and perspectives available and still make great content that has a social impact.

Which podcasts do you take inspiration from?

OUTCAST UK is a bit of a mix, it’s inclusive, it’s current, its issues based, it gets political … But also outrageously funny sometimes. It can morph into whatever it needs to be, so my influences are very varied and reflect that.

The newsagents lately has been inspiringly brilliant lately. It’s hard not to soak it in. I loved the Battersea Poltergeist last year on BBC Sounds it opened my eyes to how to tell a story and at times almost defied a fixed format. The brilliant James O’Brien in his formidable delivery and his analysis. I loved what The Log Books podcasts did for accessible LGBTQ+ history and storytelling. I also think that in terms of increasing general podcast awareness the juggernaut formats of the Joe Rogan Experience and Diary of a CEO are impressive. This is how social video is done for podcasts. It sets the agenda and grows awareness… which is vital.

Who’s your dream guest for the podcast?

Right now I think DJ Fat Tony, just for the incredible stories that are sometimes outrageous, sometimes incredibly moving. I’ve been talking to him about coming on and hopefully that’s happening soon.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far as a podcaster?

Be honest with yourself. Make the stuff that YOU think is good. You literally can beat the big boys with the right idea.

Which episode would you say is the perfect introduction to your podcast?

It’s got to be Series 2, Ep 2. Me and Nick Charles with a chat that’s as honest and outrageous as it is funny featuring a frank exchange about when we had both done sex work in the past. The reaction on social media was intense. I was able to tell Nick for the first time that I had been forced into sex work when I was unemployed with a near fatal drugs problem about a decade ago… the twist was that it had been IN HIS APARTMENT (this was before he lived there). This episode sums up the conversations and issues the show is all about, it’s very honest and I’ve listened back and it still makes me laugh a lot. Me and Nick still say we couldn’t do this episode again if we tried! It’s in full video podcast glory on Spotify if you’re interested.

Where can the Pod Bible readers find out more about you?

It’s @playoutcastuk on Insta and TikTok.

Playoutcastuk.com has all our links.

Find me on Insta @mrgraemesmith.

Listen to OUTCAST UK on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular podcast apps, or search OUTCAST UK wherever you get your podcasts.

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Arguably, there was no creative medium that was curtailed so much by Covid as much as theatre was. It’s not that surprising that theatre-makers pivoted to podcasts so successfully. Indeed, all three podcasts that placed in the Best Fiction category at the British Podcast Awards were created by (or in collaboration with) theatre makers. The winning show, Sound Worlds, uses the episode format to share a variety of standalone stories in all their forms – from the ones we tell our children the ones we tell ourselves.

Conceived and directed by Patrick Eakin Young, Sound Worlds was supported by Arts Council funding, which allowed Patrick to enlist collaborators from the world of theatre, literature and music. The result is a mixture of texts, music and sound design that Patrick aptly describes as ‘sonic theatre’.  As well as the creative aspect (the show also placed Silver in the Creativity Award category) I love the peak behind the curtain we get from Patrick at the end of episodes where he explains his inspiration. But I of course wanted to know more, and managed to catch up with Patrick via email to learn about the show…

Congratulations on the BPA win! How do you feel?

Thanks very much. I feel great! It was very unexpected, but very welcome! When you are making things that you think are good, it feels really nice to have that thought confirmed by others. Like: oh! Other people think this is good too! Amazing!

What was the first podcast you ever listened to?

I’m old school (like, actually old, ha ha!) so my first podcast was This American Life. The OG podcast as it were. I was living in New York in 2006 and my roommate was really into it and so I started to listen. This American Life became a bit of a victim of its own success, and the format started to grow a little tired (not to mention every podcast after was trying to emulate it), but some of those early episodes were such amazing storytelling, and really affecting.

Why did you decide to start podcasting in the first place?

I was a theatre director making music and sound-based theatre before the pandemic. But I was growing a bit unhappy with the space of theatre, or where I sat in it. The pandemic stopped all that anyways, and I thought: I’ll take this opportunity to try making sound-only work—ie. podcasts—which I always wanted to try but never had the time or space to do. Our first season was kind of a knee-jerk reaction, like “what can we do quickly?” The second season was about discovering the form, as in “what is possible and what do we think is good?” Our third season is going to be about going deeper!

Which podcasts do you take inspiration from?

I don’t hear a lot of podcasts like ours. But the podcast I admire the most (and which I hope we approach even in a small way) is Have You Heard George’s Podcast? By George the Poet. It is, hands down, the best podcast and everyone should listen to it, even if you don’t like podcasts. There are also some other great podcasts out there that are pushing the envelope in terms of storytelling which I like. Two of my favourites are Love and Radio by Nick van der Kolk , which is mostly interviews, but really beautifully done in the way they reveal information to the listener, and The Memory Palace by Nate DiMeo, which are creative essays about obscure American history, just beautiful writing and storytelling.

Who’s your dream guest for the podcast?

We don’t have ‘guests’ per se. Each episode is a collaboration with a musician and a writer. I’d love to make episodes with top-level musicians like James Blake, Solange, Perfume Genius, Flying Lotus, Anohni… I mean my list goes on and on!

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far as a podcaster?

Always use a pop-shield! Seriously, I’ve learnt a lot about storytelling. When you remove the visual, you really concentrate on the essentials of story and narrative, and that has taught me a lot.

Which episode would you say is the perfect introduction to your podcast?

I love all our episodes, but I think ‘Town Is By The Sea‘, is a really good example of what our show is about. The mixture of story, sound design, and music by Anna Rheingans is kind of what I hope we can achieve more often than not. Also, I love our series of Raymond Carver short story adaptations What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, especially the episode entitled ‘Gazebo’.

Where can the Pod Bible readers find out more about you?

You can check out our website www.soundworlds.org and sign up for our newsletter there for updates on the podcast. Also we’re on Instagram and Twitter @_soundworlds.

Listen to Sound Worlds now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular podcast apps.

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The Long Time Academy is a collaborative project (it is part supported by Headspace, is produced by independent production company Scenery Studios and is part of The Long Time Project) that was built on passion for addressing the the huge threats we’re facing as a species.

We spoke to Host and Founder of The Long Time Project, Ella Saltmarshe, and Producer and Founder of Scenery Studios, Lina Prestwood.

Congratulations on placing Silver at the BPAs! How do you feel?

Lina: Bloody brilliant. As an indie project, we had tons of creative freedom to make the show – which we definitely took, as you’ll hear when you listen, especially in the interactive bonus episodes – but when the matter in hand is the climate crisis and other massive existential crises that so many people are getting seriously pummelled by everyday and then a big global partner like Headspace Studios come on board, well, suddenly there’s a real responsibility not to squander the opportunity. And everyone who worked on the show really felt that – which meant there was a lot of blood, sweat and many, many hours of Googlemeets.

Before the awards season (the show also recently won Gold for Best Independent Podcast at The Radio Academy ARIAs) the main feedback we received has been from our listeners who have been evangelical about it; about how they feel seen by it and how it’s given them a useful emotional and intellectual toolkit with which to navigate the hugely complex cocktail of feelings that most of us are experiencing about the climate crisis.

However, despite listeners loving and sharing it, Apple and Spotify featuring us, listening circles being set up, Ella being invited to run workshops with over 2000 members of the Canadian civil service about the key ideas in the series and even being invited to teach a Economics masters module, we couldn’t get any of the major podcast reviewers to listen to and write about the show which – and I’m going to be perfectly honest here – was a little bruising to my ego. Receiving this industry award from our peers, especially in this category, has been really bolstering from an industry angle and might even inspire reviewers to cover the show now that it’s been given a bit of industry love.

As a newly-minted business owner I’m very excited for the opportunities that it’s opened for Scenery Studios – it was our first major commission as an indie, so for the show to have been critically-acclaimed as well as landing so meaningfully with listeners is pretty amazing.

And Ella, you were up for the Rising Star award. Can you give us a little insight to your path into podcasting and why you decided podcasting/audio was the best medium for this project?

Ella: I’ve loved podcasts for a long time and had a hunch that they could be the perfect format for expanding the work I had been doing with the Long Time Project, that focuses on enabling people to be good ancestors. Getting long time involves working on many levels, the intellectual, the emotional and the practical. Podcasts enable all of this, allowing for the exploration of complexity in immersive, creative and sometimes magical ways. Joining forces with Lina really expanded my understanding of the potential of podcasts as a medium. We began with a shared vision that alongside the podcast we wanted to create practices that enable listeners to feel the ideas they were hearing about in the main episode. Headspace just felt like the perfect partner for this kind of project, so we approached them and to our utter delight, they embraced the idea!

The podcast was commissioned in the middle of the pandemic. It was an intense time for us all and I was also heavily pregnant and had just lost my beloved Grandma to Covid. A pretty hardcore context to make your first podcast! It was a steep learning curve – the expertise and support of the team made all the difference. Plus the fact that we all cared so deeply about it – the collective passion and dedication was incredible to be part of.

Host Ella Saltmarshe

What was the first podcast you ever listened to?

Ella: I began listening to This American Life, MANY years ago, in a-keep-me-entertained-while-I-clean-the-fridge kind of way. Then, back before podcasts were really a thing, a group of us formed a monthly podcast club, where we’d drink wine, eat soup and nerd out on podcasts. It’s where Lina and I met! Many of the group have gone on to create award-winning podcasts. As one of the few non-audio people in the group, it helped me learn how to listen to podcasts differently, more thoughtfully and opened my eyes to what can be possible with the medium.

One of the amazing things about the series is how listeners have gone on to form their own podcast clubs for the project – I was recently invited to join one for listeners in Australia and NZ that had been discussing an episode a month for the last 6 months. It was incredible to hear our podcast bringing people together and being so thoughtfully and collectively digested.

Lina: I honestly can’t remember if it was This American Life or chef Evan Kleiman’s Good Food Podcast that first had me regularly using the podcast app. I used to listen to it in a gym in Stoke Newington and be transported to an LA farmer’s market and those were my first regular exposures to that whole American public radio vibe and factual audio on demand. That was probably the beginning of the end of of my television career.

Which podcasts do you take inspiration from?

Lina: I really like podcasts that are playful with form and although it was a very short format, I thought 10 Things That Scare Me had so much going on, on so many levels. It broke tonnes of ’ rules’ and kept listeners on their toes but was never anything less than deeply entertaining and transportative. I also loved the mix of celebs and ‘civilians’ – the casting prioritised interesting voices over social follower size which I definitely appreciated.

Likewise, but very differently, the Kim Noble podcast, Futile Attempts (At Surviving Tomorrow) is incredibly clever, funny, smart and moving – Benbrick is so skilled at creating psychologically convincing interior worlds.

I would also love to have the experience of listening to S-Town again for its novelistic quality and Nice White Parents for its incredible verité scenes – the Serial Productions team are such gorgeous writers and their shows are a testament to what happens when producers are given time (and, of course, are generously resourced) to make their shows.

And, finally, I often think fondly of how much I enjoyed The Ballad of Billy Balls – the story structure, the way the lead contributors are given room to breathe and be complicated – all great projects, none straight-forward or flawless and all projects that we’ve discussed in detail at the podcast club Ella mentioned.

Producer Lina Prestwood

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far as a podcaster?

Lina: Sadly, for me, the first one that comes to mind is that you do need to spend as much time promoting your work as making it, but self-promotion is definitely not something that comes naturally – I’d much rather be in development for the next thing or working on more episodes. But I get it.

A more positive lesson is a vital one in maintaining perspective from the brilliant maxim that the Nancy podcast once posted on twitter; “there’s no such thing as a podcast emergency”.

I’m always fascinated how listening to your edit for the first time with someone else in the room is like putting on a whole new set of ears, too.

Finally, if there’s anything I’ve learned over the last year or so, it’s that when you get stuck, there comes a point where you need to get up, walk away from your session and do something completely unrelated. It’s amazing how a solution will find you in the most unexpected places.

Where can the Pod Bible readers find out more about you?

Ella: The first place is Long Time Academy Podcast website (thelongtimeacademy.com) and you can find out more about me here.

Lina: You can find out more about me, Scenery Studios and the brilliant freelancers who made The Long Time Academy at scenerystudios.com and you can smirk at my futile attempts at tweeting @Scenery_Studios

Listen to The Long Time Academy on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular podcast apps.

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We know how much work goes into making a podcast – and to make great, award-winning podcast is always worth celebrating. We’re really keen to share the groups and individuals that are running on passion by highlighting the indy podcasts who made waves. First up is the winner of the Best Wellbeing Podcast (the award with perhaps the best presenters – Idris Elba and his wife Sabrina). Effin’ Hormones is a podcast all about menopause, and it’s bringing much needed conversations to the public. According to the BPA press release, one audience member tweeted “Hearing Idris Elba say ‘menopause’ made my ovaries twitch”.  We caught up with Helen and Emma to talk about the show.

Pod Bible: Congratulations on the BPA win! How do you feel?

Helen: Blummen ecstatic! We started recording in lockdown, at home, so to be recognised publicly in this way is brilliant. I’m also very very proud to bring back some silverware (or goldware!) for the perimenopause and menopause crew!

Emma: I’m still in a permanent state of shock and simultaneously beaming with pride. I can’t stop telling people about it! It’s such a HUGE accolade. I’ve tried and failed to even get shortlisted before with another podcast – so to come back with GOLD is mind blowing!

Beena: Pretty damn good! It’s been brilliant to have been in a category like this in the company of such immense podcasts. Everyone is doing great work to try and make life better for people using this incredible medium but it feels extra special to be recognised for something that started out as a lockdown experiment. It’s heartening to know that we’re reaching people and our listeners are getting something out of it.

PB: What was the first podcast you ever listened to?

Helen: Radiolab. Jad Abrumrad (who used to Produce and Co-Host it), is my audio hero. I’ll never forget an episode where they recreated the sound of a space walk, it blew my mind. Dolly Parton’s America (also by Jad Abrumrad) is one of my favourite ever podcast series.

Emma: My first was S-Town which is utterly crazy and utterly brilliant and I don’t think I’ve heard anything as good since. It’s basically about a mad man who hates his town in Alabama but the investigative journalism is next level as is the amount of work that must have gone into it. It’s an awesome piece of narrative lead story telling that you get utterly sucked in to.

Beena: Serial and All Killa No Filla – discovered them both around the same time in 2016. I also love Coming Out Stories – hosted by Emma Goswell!

PB: Why did you decide to start podcasting in the first place?

Helen: It was a bit of an accident for me. I’d worked in radio as a producer for many years, then more recently went into podcasting. I was excited by what I saw as the “on demand of radio”. Having spent a year working in it, I now realise it’s a far more complex and nuanced medium than that – and an even more exciting place to be!

I’d wanted to make a podcast about perimenopause for a couple of years, so when I heard my friends talking about their hormonal ailments one time when we were having a slightly tipsy lockdown zoom, I thought “this is it! This is the podcast!” Luckily the girls all said yes when I asked them to do it with me!

Emma: I’ve worked in radio for decades as a producer – but more recently as a presenter. I’ve done literally thousands of live interviews which I’ve loved – but in radio you’re always in a rush. There’s always a news junction or travel to get to in time or a song to play and I often felt I wasn’t getting the most out of my interviewees. Podcasts give us the space to breathe and get to grips properly with the subject matter. And I’m passionate about talking about the menopause – so when Helen suggested it – it was a firm YES from me!

Beena: I’ve been dabbling in the world of audio for a few years new (special shout out to Reform Radio!) and was instantly enamoured by sheer the power of it; the endless possibilities in storytelling, the depths in which you can explore a subject, the anonymity if affords people when tackling tricky issues and the fact that there is something for everyone, no matter what floats your boat. And you can listen anywhere! Anyone who knows me, knows how evangelical I am about podcasting. When Helen suggested that we have a crack at making Effin Hormones after listening to us banging on about the ridiculousness of how little info there is out there about Perimenopause, I was completely game – couldn’t think of a better medium to do this subject matter with!

PB: Which podcasts do you take inspiration from?

Helen: I’m all about great storytelling, so podcasts that nail that do it for me. ‘Things Fell Apart’, ‘American Vigilante’, ‘Tunnel 29’ – these are all podcasts I’ve loved over the past couple of years. ‘Brown Girls Do It Too’ was a huge inspiration for me for ‘Effin Hormones’, particularly when it comes to talking about subjects that are deemed taboo. That podcast taught me that if you have a bit of a laugh and you just put it out there and be proud – you can make pretty much anything OK to talk about.

Emma: ‘Have you heard George’s podcast’ was ground-breaking and won ALL the awards a few years back. It taught me that podcasting can be genre breaking and can be anything you want it to be. In radio we’re always following rules and conventions but you can throw away the rule book when it comes to podcasting.

Beena: Sooo many! I’m a huge narrative fan but also love a good music or comedy podcast too. There’s something about the informality of chat based podcasts that make you feel like you’re part of the conversation and in on the joke. Honourable mentions to Revisionist History, Dolly Parton’s America, Blood on the Tracks, Where is George Gibney, Ballad of Billy Balls, Bad People, Titting About and most recently I’ve enjoyed Its….Wagatha Christie.

PB: Who’s your dream guest for the podcast?

Helen: We seem to mention Yoga With Adriene in almost every episode so it would have to be Adriene Mishler. Adriene – your yoga videos got me through lockdown, thank you!

Emma: We’ve already spoken to Kate Muir – the journalist who brought us the Channel 4 doc on the menopause in 2021 but I’d love to chat to Davina McCall too. For many she’s been the face of the menopause revolution for the last 2 years and I’d love to get her reaction to how much has changed for women since then.

Beena: For Effin Hormones, I would love to have the MP Carolyn Harris on – she is the Chair of the All Parliamentary Group on Menopause. She’s doing some cracking work!

PB: What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far as a podcaster?

Helen: Be yourself. Authenticity is one of the best things about podcasting. You’re in people’s ears talking directly to them, so they’ll spot it a mile off if you’re faking it.

Emma: Don’t underestimate the hard work involved. Just because you’ve got a good idea and a functioning microphone and laptop – these things don’t make themselves. There’s a lot of planning, production and editing to take up hours of your time!

Beena: Less is more and always, always think about your audience.

PB: Which episode would you say is the perfect introduction to your podcast?

Helen: ‘Meet the Gang’. It’s our first episode and you get all our silliness and seriousness encapsulated in that episode.

Emma: I’d say episode 3 of season 1 where we talk to actress Sue Devaney. I’m sure you love her in Corrie but you will be blown away by how hard the menopause hit her and especially her mental health. For anyone who doesn’t understand the devastating effects of peri menopause this is a good place to start.

Beena: For me the episodes that made me think “we’re onto something here” was when we spoke to Sue Devaney and Karen Arthur. They opened up o much – and their stories are so powerful.

PB: Where can the Pod Bible readers find out more about you?

Effinhormones.com is the website and we’re all over social media too – @effinhormones everywhere!

Listen to Effin’ Hormones on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular podcast apps.

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