From today, there is even more Spinoff, diving into the news of the moment, for your ears (and eyes).
It might have taken the best part of 10 years, but at last my Spinoff colleagues have succumbed to my endless petitions, and today we launch a new, news-adjacent podcast.
It’s called At Large with Toby Manhire, the first part of that being a reference to – or a gentle pisstake of, perhaps – my job title. And it will have a fairly large remit, at least as far as subjects are concerned. The plan is to sit down and talk through an issue of interest, something that is in or hovering near the news agenda of the moment.
The term “podcast” was coined in 2004 by Ben Hammersley, writing for the Guardian, or “Guardian Unlimited” as the website was called in those days, as a portmanteau of iPod and broadcast. It caught on, in a way that Ben’s alternative offers – “audioblog” and “GuerillaMedia” – did not.
In the 22 years since, many of the technical distinctions between downloadable online audio and a traditional radio programme have broken down; radio shows are available on-demand on the internet and podcasts are broadcast on the wireless. The idea of a “podcast” is nebulous, too. A documentary serial (such as, to take one example at random, Juggernaut) is quite different in tone and frequency to a conversational, commentary-based pod (like, Gone By Lunchtime, say).
If there’s something that they tend to have in common, I think, it’s the sense of a direct engagement with the listener. An informality, or at least a freedom from some of the strictures that a radio station necessarily imposes.
As laid out in a new report by the Reuters Institute at Oxford University, newsy podcasts are growing in number and volume around the world. They’re increasingly offering video alongside the core audio product (we’ll be doing that, too). And the audiences are on the whole “more attentive and loyal”.
Maybe that’s you? I think so. It’s at least worth finding out, by having a dip into At Large – it’s a news podcast, but Spinoff-ified.
In each episode I’ll be talking to a Spinoff writer or contributor about a story they’ve been working on, or someone outside our orbit who has a particular insight, to help us get our heads around a subject. We want it to be informative, but we also want to be good company. Every installment – and we’re going to kick off at three a week – will include a How Good slot at the end, in which we unashamedly champion something new and glorious in culture, or sport, or food, or whatever else.
The first episode is there now: a conversation with Spinoff senior writer Alex Casey about the resurgence of Michael Jackson fandom and her encounter with “New Zealand’s official Michael Jackson lookalike”. That’s followed by a quick, sober chat between Te Aihe Butler and me, just a couple of objective sports enthusiasts, about the Hurricanes’ big Super Rugby win.
The second episode will be available by the end of the afternoon, just in time for your evening commute, or making the evening meal, or to triple-screen with the World Cup and The Chase.
Te Aihe, Jin Fellet and I have been working with colleagues at The Spinoff on this for a few months now, but it’s still a work in progress. (And, if you’re a Gone By Lunchtime listener, rest assured that will continue as before.) Have a listen, or a watch, and let us know what you’d like more or less or different, or even whether you’d like to jump on board as a sponsor to keep the show on the road and talk to the attentive and loyal listeners of New Zealand. Talk soon.
To get every episode of At Large with Toby Manhire in your podcast feed, follow here for Spotify, or here for Apple. If you like to absorb your podcasts on YouTube, you can subscribe to the Spinoff here and find all the episodes here.
atlarge@thespinoff.co.nz
