Things You Don’t Hear at a Podcast Conference

Produced by Lina Prestwood (UK 2024)

55 min

Is it an alternative keynote? A lament? A provocation? Or an incitement to revolt? You decide.

With more than a whiff of the corporate in an industry that appears to champion and bolster the indie spirit, some audio conferences can feel like deeply incongruent spaces. Keynotes are usually about markets, ad revenue and content buckets from men (and it is usually men) who appear to have been born in the boardroom -  and the big story they tell is of the exciting growth! growth! GROWTH! of the audio space. They value our small shows and our brilliant creativity, they tell us. Bring us your best ideas, they say.

Yet, that’s often not what it feels like for many of  the producers in that very audience. Right now, being an audio producer has never been harder, more volatile or more exhausting. And if your show doesn’t come with a dead body or celebrity at the centre of it, it can feel nigh-on impossible to get away.

So, with that incongruence in mind, for the inaugural XMTR audio festival, Scenery Studios asked a selection of producers and creative audio champions to share how they’re really, truly navigating being creative producers in the podcast industry in September 2024. 

And that’s EXACTLY what we got - and way, way more - from:

Talia Augustidis  // Jasmin Bauomy  // Benbrick // Davy Gardner // Sarah Geis // Axel Kakoutié // Starlee Kine  // Anna Sinfield // Julie Shapiro // Shreya Sharma // Deborah Shorindè // Ross Sutherland

Just like the live audience at the XMTR festival,  follow along with this handout  - it shares the questionnaire they responded to, their biogs, the two questions we asked the audience after  – and the responses we gathered from a brainstorm about how we start might to  better advocate for the creative health of our podcast industry. 

It will live here for three weeks on the XMTR Listen Page / Player until 5th November

Transcript available here.

Producer: Lina Prestwood (Scenery Studios) @scenerystudiosltd

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Blue Heart + XMTR

Produced by Stellaria Media (UK 2024)

Stellaria Media · Blue Heart at XMTR

30 min

Recordings made in the 'Voices of Water' workshop at the XMTR festival, mixed with archive material from the Blue Heart project.

Residents of the area talk about their experiences of flooding, drought and water management, historians explain how things have changed over the centuries, and engineers look to the future and how systems can be managed to build resilience in the face of climate change.

Featuring the voices of:
Anna Hastings, Blue Heart Project Manager, East Sussex County Council
Evan Jones, Ecologist
Andy Durling, Eastbourne Eco Action Network
Lousie Elms, Eastbourne Allotments and Garden Society
Sally Lee, Grow Eastbourne
Oliver Sterno, Plastic Free Eastbourne
Kate Baker, Agile Rabbit
Andy Payne, Southdown Angling Association
Chantal Feyn, Eastbourne and District Model Yacht Club
Fiona Durling, Pevensey Forest Garden
Robert Slater, Pevensey Court House and Museum
Katherine Buckland, Heritage Engagement Officer, Eastbourne District Council
Brian Bailey, allotment holder
Neil Raymond, The Star Inn, Old Town
Louise Elms, Eastbourne Allotments and Garden Society
Ruth Kenwood, Gather Community Garden
John Hayward, Pevensey Parish Councillor
Dave Roberts, Gather Community Garden
Peter Birchalll, Pete the Pond
Clare Whistler, Artist, Water Week
Adrian Butcher, Treebourne
Caroline Kimber, Gather Community Garden
Chris Sweetapple, Exeter University

Producer: Stellaria Media

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Radio Limbo LIVE in St. Leonards...

Pete Hazell (UK 2024)

60min

Behold the first-ever Radio Limbo live show, recorded at XMTR festival in St. Leonard's-on-Sea. Host Limbo Pete guides the audience through selected gems from the Limbo archive. But as the show reaches the control room of Outpost 83, The Operator becomes intrigued by Pete's curious connections between the town’s history and Limbo lore. Could the seaside town’s saintly namesake hold a deeper, unsettling connection to Old Leonard’s disappearance?

Produced by Pete Hazell

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