THE BRIEF

From its founding as a premium print publication about life beyond the city, to a flourishing website and newsletter series and the start of regional Australia’s richest photography prize, Galah Press is a boutique media company with an expanding offering of content and events. 

Galah’s editor-in-chief, Annabelle Hickson, received support from the Department of Regional NSW via the Regional Media Fund to create a podcast series then approached Audiocraft to make it happen.

We then ran a series of creative development workshops with Annabelle who is also the host of the series. We toyed with the idea of a co-host, leafed through back issues of Galah magazine, and really drilled down on how this podcast will be different to what’s already out there.

WHAT WE DID

One of the key takeaways from the development workshops was understanding Galah’s mission to render the nuance of regional Australia. To bring that to life, we settled on a 6-episode season with a range of episode formats. 

One format involved adapting feature articles from the magazine. We worked with the article’s author plus people they interviewed and sourced additional interviews to help bring the story to life in sound. 

Another format we landed on was to invite a special guest to join Annabelle. Together, they pair would discuss voice notes sent in by the Galah community as well as voice notes and interviews gathered by the series producer. 

Annabelle recorded all of her interviews and narration from her house in Texas… not that Texas, the tiny dot on the map near the NSW-QLD border. Producing this series entirely remotely was proof that people living and working in the regions don’t need access to a studio to make a high-quality podcast.

CREDITS

Publisher: Galah Press

Host: Annabelle Hickson

Producer: Marcus Costello

Audio Engineer: Laura Brierley Newton

Executive Producer: Kate Montague