Freelance Pod

Author Rachel Vorona Cote joins Suchandrika Chakrabarti on Freelance Pod's first birthday episode, to talk about grieving in a digital age. We first spoke after I read Rachel's Longreads piece, The Fraught Culture of Online Mourning, earlier this year. Rachel had lost her mother 18 months before writing the essay. As someone who lost their parents in an analogue age, I'm fascinated by how the internet has enabled greater visibility for the bereaved.

It's a Standard Issue x Freelance Pod crossover episode! I met up with Jen Offord, Mickey Noonan and Hannah Dunleavy at the Boulevard Theatre, Soho, to talk about our upcoming live shows there, how the internet has changed journalism, feminism and what their live recording has in store for the audience.

You'll also hear a little bit from writer Gemma Milne, who's guesting on Freelance Pod's live show at the Boulevard on Sunday 17th November.

This very special episode of Freelance Pod was recorded in front of a live audience at the London Podcast Festival in September 2019! 

Pod fave Abdulwahab Tahhan returns for this 90-minute episode, in conversation on-stage at Kings Place with host Suchandrika Chakrabarti. Syrian refugee, stand-up comedian, journalist, lecturer, a person who's now clear on what the word 'loo' means... Abdul takes us on a journey from his childhood in Aleppo, half a world away, to London. Is he British yet?

Beth Ashton, The Telegraph's head of social media, kindly invited me over to their offices to tell me about how they do... social media. Traditionally, The Tele's newspaper readers have been amongst the oldest in the UK, which should present a challenge to converting them into online readers. They've also got a metered paywall and Premium content that stops quick and easy reads or sharing. Nevertheless, as Beth tells us, The Tele is one of the few news websites to make Snapchat work.

BBC Radio 4 Extra's Podcast Radio Happy Hour has become another way to discover great podcasts, as well as an opportunity for some lucky podcasters to get heard on the radio.

Host and producer Amanda Litherland came up with the idea a few years ago, and found herself thrown in front of the microphone. Luckily, her comedy background has helped her presenting.

Amanda loves podcast recommendations, so do give her tweet @amandalitherland.

Here it is, the Freelance Pod guide to the London Podcast Festival 2019, with programmer Zoë Jeyes! 

Zoë is Deputy MD and Comedy Programmer at Kings Place, and has been working there since it opened 11 years ago. A longtime podcast fan, she first floated the idea of a festival in 2014, with the first one going ahead in 2016.

Freelance Pod's live show is at 2pm on Saturday 7th September. Tweet me @freelance_pod, or message me at @freelancepod on Insta to let me know if you're going to the festival!

"I loved being a journalist," writes Jackie Annesley in a frank essay about losing her last job in journalism, as editor of The Sunday Times Style supplement. While there, she commissioned the PanDolly podcast; it's now better known by its second name, The High Low, with Pandora Sykes and Dolly Alderton. Jackie's exit is accompanied with euphemisms about 'commercial decisions'. In the months that followed, she began to realise that this sudden change in circumstances could, in fact, work for her.

Matt Cooke is Head of Partnerships & Training, Google News Lab, part of the Google News Initiative.

Google News has been a major factor in completely changing how news is indexed, distributed, discovered and consumed. That's because the internet has changed news distribution to include you, the reader, the audience, yes you, you control what you want to see, when you want to see it. Alongside sharing and self-publishing on social media, Google indexing news has completely changed the industry.

Did you know that there's a Freelance Pod live event at the London Podcast Festival in September? Yup, alongside big hitters like The Guilty Feminist, Have You Heard George's Podcast and The Allusionist, Freelance Pod is going to have its first live event, and you can be part of the audience!

For more information, and to buy tickets for under a tenner, google Freelance Pod and Kings Place.

Journalist, author and founder of the soon-to-be-launched Freelance Feels, Jenny Stallard joins me on the podcast to talk about her career moving from print to digital, her freelancing journey and why freelancers need to more vigilant about our mental wellbeing than the more traditionally employed.