The winner of the British Podcast Awards, Cariad Lloyd, talks about her award winning podcast Griefcast a podcast on grief.
She spoke about how Griefcast started and how she spoke to comedians about joining the first pilot episodes. The first interview was with Sarah Pascoe with the comedy moment coming when Carian describe the microphone she used in the first podcast – a microphone with wires going two ways.
Carian was interviewed by Matt Deagen, one of the founders of the British Podcast awards, as he pointed out “one of the themes of the podcasts are dreadful reveals”. He also asked why interviewees want to do podcasts talking about death and one of the reasons was Carian said that this podcast is a space for talking about a the dead.
Carian noted that the podcast is successful because it comes from a place where she has an authentic sense of authorship. Also the guests have the opportunity of final edit, this helps with getting guests on the show and feeling secure with sharing stories.
Cairan put the first episodes on SoundCloud and then people started sharing the podcast and the Guardian then did an article “a typical podcast growth story”. At the start Carian edited the shows herself and had problems with sound she now feels a commitment to having good sound and ensuring quality. There are now two episodes with trained grief professionals due to a feeling of wanting to ensure listeners are taken care of.
Moneytising the podcast has been difficult as the podcast is about death, however as the podcast has just won the award there is a hope sponsorship will improve. The original costs were low but the feedback from audiences was instant. On that note the presentation ended.