Month: February 2024

LiSTNR’s new six-part immersive gangland crime audio fiction series Gripped: Second Son takes the audience on an adventure full of cliff-hangers and didn’t-see-it-coming double-crosses. It is adapted from the award-winning novel The Second Son by Australian crime writer Loraine Peck by former gang-member-turned-investigative-journalist, writer and reporter, Mahmood Fazal.Gripped: Second Son is told from a variety of perspectives; from the protagonists Jamil, his wife Amy and their son Salim, as well as the antagonist Knox. Jamil and Amy are voiced respectively by Lincoln Younes (Jamil) who played John Ibrahim in the Paramount miniseries Last King of the Cross, and actor and daughter of INXS member Kirk Pengilly, April Rose Pengilly (Amy). Australian actress Zoe Carides voices Detective MacPherson.LiSTNR’s Head of Factual and Drama Jennifer Goggin said the podcast is the story of a man having to choose between family and loyalty to his gang.“We chose The Second Son book for LiSTNR to adapt as an audio drama because it explores social, racial, and familial themes that were as interesting as the action that drove the thriller element of the story. Although the audio series adaptation is wrapped up in a different gangland era and setting from the book, the characters grapple with, and discuss, social issues at the forefront of public discourse in Australia today, like the migrant experience, racism in Australia, being torn between your duty as a parent and your responsibilities to your own parents, the allure of gang culture, and police racial-profiling.”Fazal adapted Peck’s book with a team of consultants to represent the nationalities, faiths, languages and communities in Gripped: Second Son. He said:“I wanted to create this underworld, on the margins of society, that shows what happens when everyone misunderstands one another and overrides the truth with their own interests, prejudices and egos. I imagined how real people from the criminal milieu, that I know personally, might fit into the story and used their thought patterns and motivations as instigators of the plot. The story has come to life in a terrifyingly immersive way.”The podcast looks likely to get a sequel with Peck saying:“My book is about a Croatian crime family: the Novaks. To see their story from the point of view of the Haqqs, a Lebanese family, is to consider why some immigrant families—regardless of nationality—can feel and act like outliers during those first generations in a new country.The casting of Lincoln Younes as Johnny/Jamil, April Rose Pengilly as Amy, and Zoe Carides as Detective MacPherson are all inspired moves, their voices ringing true for me regardless of the change in nationality and storyline. It is amazing to see which direction an interpretation of a book will go. Newness, innovation and change are at the centre of all great art. This gives listeners a chance to delve deeper into this story and receive a fresh take by reading—or listening to—the original book The Second Son and its sequel The Double Blind.” Original music was commisioned from Western Sydney artist, Vincent Assaf.Gripped: Second Son has released Episode 1 & 2 on LiSTNR. New episodes are out each Wednesday at 6am until March 13 2024. The series then will be available on other platforms from March 20. […]

There is a lot to like in this month’s Triton Australian Podcast Ranker.Shameless, the podcast for “smart people who love dumb stuff” hosted by Australian journalists Zara McDonald and Michelle Andrews, is No 1 after consistently being in the top 10 since it debuted on the ranker around this time last year. It is independently owned and published under Shameless Media and for those who have been following US podcast and company SmartLess’s similar rise to a $100 million contract, Shameless was three years ahead of them after the duo quit Mamamia.Casefile True Crime drops to second with not a single new episode released in January and the ABC‘s Conversations is up three to third with 3.4 million downloads, more than double anyone else.Shameless was the only podcast with more than half a million monthly listeners. Hamish and Andy dropped two spots to fifth, but again with no new episodes in January. Kyle and Jackie O‘s return to the airways saw them return to the top ten at 6th. The Ben Fordham and Marty Sheargold Shows respectively jumped 33 and 89 places too.There were two US podcasts in the top ten – Stuff You Should Know at 7 and Crime Junkie at 10. There was a big jump into the top 20 for Darling, Shine and the highest debut was The ABC Tennis Podcast at 61 off the back of the Australian Open.LiSTNR represented the most podcasts in the Ranker reaching more than 6.7 million people in January. ARN/iHeart was the top publisher with 4.5 million listeners.The most exciting statistics for the future of audio and podcasting were that Australians downloaded 90.3 million podcasts in January, up 33% from January 2023’s 67.8 million, and up an impressive 11% from the previous month.Ford Ennals, Chief Executive Officer of CRA said:“Today is Valentine’s Day, and one relationship that we know will last the distance is our collective affection for podcasts. Australian listeners are dedicated to home grown as well as the best of international content. Four out of the five most listened to podcasts in January were produced locally.” […]