It was exactly six months ago that the ARN Upfronts were held. With all that has happened since some of the new developments that were in the small print have started to come to fruition, quietly, among the bigger noise of the disintegration of the Kyle and Jackie O Show.

In the shift to become an entertainment company rather than a radio one, Craig ‘Lowie’ Low was announced by ARN that day to take over Brisbane KIIS 97.3 breakfast from Robin Bailey, Kip Wightman and Corey Oates. So unpopular was that with listeners that the decision was overturned six weeks later and Lowie shifted to KIIS Network nights.

With what was to come, thank goodness. Otherwise Survey 2 would have dealt with the fall out in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane for KIIS, and a new duo in Adelaide who were contractually unable to start until April 1. Instead Robin, Kip and Corey were a rare bright spot.

Because of what transpired in Brisbane, Lowie’s show, since it launched, has flown under the radar. This is a good thing, as it’s allowed him to experiment and find his feet. It’s not so good in the sense that the show is something, new, cool and aligned to the entertainment values ARN espoused, and it needs now a bit of promotion so that more people actually check it out and discover they like it, like I did.

Another of the small print shows mentioned in the Upfronts debuts this Sunday too.

It was tucked into the podcast section. Meshel Laurie and her long running Australian True Crime podcast was joining ARN iHeart after a long association with Acast. And:

‘(T)he podcast will expand into video and launch a brand-new national radio show, True Crime Tonight, airing Sundays across the KIIS Network.’

One of the things I’ve noticed about podcast fans, and I’ll use Triple M’s Lu and Jarch‘s We Mean Well as an example, is that lots of the We Mean Well listeners are still oblivious to their radio show.

Meshel Laurie (pictured main) was a kick arse stand up comedian who stepped into radio around 2000 and worked on major networks and shows until 2017. A lot of it with theNova Network.

She told me with a chuckle how she’d had to persuade Nova to do this new podcast thing with the Meshel, Tim and Marty show way back in 2008. She is a pioneer of the platform with her stand up and commercial radio experience guiding the way. 2018 she went all in. A lot only now know her from Australian True Crime and Can We Be Real? which she did alongside Simon Baggs.

The latter she’s only recently had to put aside as she and Simon have both become too busy to sustain it, but you can feel that if she could find a 25th and 26th hour in the day, she’d still be making it now.

Australian True Crime moved to ARN and in the most recent Triton Australian Podcast Ranker it was #22, with 282,000 monthly listeners and the highest ranked in that genre too. It has been consistent since its inception and deserves to sit alongside Australian podcast heritage classics including Casefile True Crime, Hamish and Andy, Toni and Ryan and Mamamia Out Loud.

Along the way, I thought Meshel would feel that she changed, stepping out of the commercial radio ‘3 minutes and out’ mindset into a long format, heavily researched podcast, but that was always a part of her. It just needed a place to be developed.

Meshel said a turning point came after leaving her breakfast shift one morning:

“We’d had (chef) Manu Feildel on that morning, as we did every week, talking about My Kitchen Rules, in, out and done.

On the way home I happened to be listening to Richard Fidler‘s Conversations on the ABC, and Manu was the guest. I heard Manu sharing things about himself that I had no idea about. And the depth of it made me know that was what I wanted to be doing too.”

She also paid tribute to Alex Agashev who pushed her way out of her comfort zone in her early days on the Central Coast to conduct some interviews after a tragic house fire. She said:

“I’ve had some great bosses who invested in young talent. I was nudged, but know now you’ve just got to get out and do it. Then it was up to me how hard I worked and progressed.“

And she did, on both counts. For a podcast team of three, the Australian True Crime output is extraordinary. Two long episodes a week as well as shorter bite sized versions, videos and reels.

One of the most recent episodes was harrowing for me to listen to. I asked Meshel how she looks after herself and team. She has an address book of first responders and services and knows when she needs to step away, or make sure a guest is looked after.

The approach by ARN was exciting as it represented a step back into radio, but bringing the podcast knowledge and acumen with her. The details will be refined as the show evolves, but as it stands it will be live on a Sunday evening and include music, callers eventually, a long interview and a look at current events and true crime TV.

It will be a stand alone show, with small parts of podcast episodes that are relevant, and it’s never been done on Australian radio. It will make Sunday evenings destination listening.

After the launch, next step will be leading the millions of true crime podcast enthusiasts toward the radio dial where they’ve never gone looking for that sort of content before.

I asked Meshel whether anyone had ever questioned how a stand up comedian could become a true Crime podcaster. Meshel laughed.

“Stand up comedians are great listeners. They are always on to what is going on around them and acting on that in real time. I can clearly see the progression of my career from then to here.

Podcasting has no divas. I’m just enjoying things as they go along with no pressure on myself. Plus, I’m no longer bothered about fitting a box.”

Starting this Sunday however, Meshel will break a mold.

TRUE CRIME TONIGHT launches this Sunday 3 May and will be broadcast from 6-7pm every Sunday across the KIIS and ARN Regional networks. The show will also be available in The Australian True Crime podcast feed in both audio and video via the free iHeart app.

With what is now a third phase of podcasting in Australia, I asked Meshel for five tips for any aspiring broadcaster or podcaster inspired by her journey:

• Just start. Just do it. No one starts off perfectly, but first you have to start
• Stay independent as long as you possibly can. Make your own mistakes, learn from them and be your own boss
• Ask lots of questions about anything you don’t know
• Don’t leave the details to others, and
• Learn the rules first, before you break them

Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo.