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This is the second issue of The Podcast Catalyst, a monthly newsletter for/ by/ featuring and introducing inspiring African podcast creators.

This issue features sisters who are pushing the podcast industry on the African continent forward, forging a path by creating and supporting fellow creators.

Hi, my name is Sean and I am based in Cape Town.

And a quick round of hellos to some new TPC subscribers: Kate, Lebo, Hadlay, Fresh, Sarah, NJ, Janine, Mohale, Lovisa, Rob, Brooks, Mirandi, Chris & Ruenda. Hello, jambo, sawubona 👋🏼

Through The Podcast Catalyst I aim to showcase, share and connect with fellow audiophiles from across the continent and to that end my inbox is always open to inspiring and aspiring African podcast creators.

I will also be hosting events and webinars in the future. Let me know if you are interested in attending. If you have specific podcast-related questions or goals, or suggestions for future newsletter content, please email me directly: [email protected]. 

Creator recommendations and introductions are most welcome! This is just the beginning! 🚀

In this issue:

• 🐱‍🏍 Diane on demand

• 🎙 What is Afripods?

• 👑 The First Lady of True Crime South Africa

• 🤗 Meet Roselinejethro

• 📰 News you may have missed

Alright, let's meet fellow creators.

🐱‍🏍Diane on demand

Diane Macpherson is based in South Africa and is the On Demand Content head for Kagiso Media’s flagship radio stations, East Coast Radio and Jacaranda FM.

In the podcast space, Diane has been involved in the creation of many podcasts over the years, including ‘First Person’ in 2016, ‘Good Things Guy’ with Brent Lindeque in 2018, ‘KindnessCan’ with Jane Linley-Thomas and Paul Bushell, ‘Snake Rescue’ with Nick Evans in 2020, ‘The Money Podcast’ in 2021, ‘To Catch a Serial Killer’ in 2021, ‘Don’t Hold Back’ with Nozibele Qamngana-Mayaba in 2022 (an international collaboration with Deutsche Welle) and ‘African Story Magic with Gcina Mhlophe’ in 2023. A beacon of skill, talent and content creation knowledge, I asked Diana a few questions about her journey and the future of podcasting in South Africa.

TPC: What inspired you to get into podcasting, and how have you seen the industry evolve since you started?

DM: In the context of the radio environment, and specifically as a journalist and later news editor at East Coast Radio, podcasting was a natural and logical extension. We were already obsessed with audio, and podcasting technology, such as Echocast, developed in 2007 by Durban-based Immedia, gave us the ability to deliver our bulletins and on-air features in podcast form from as early as 2007. We were way ahead of the curve in this sense. Catch up radio content – while not bespoke podcast content – has arguably largely driven early podcasting shows and downloads in South Africa, allowing listeners to access content in an on-demand format. Before the term ‘went viral’ was a thing, we were experiencing and creating viral content which lived beyond its on-air moment in podcast form. A controversial presenter monologue on-air on ECR many years ago resulted in over 100 000 downloads of the podcast episode in a single day. Anyone in podcasting today knows that is the Holy Grail to achieve in the SA context. Kagiso Media radio stations understand that podcasting is a natural extension for FM radio stations, and over the years we have extended our offering, maintaining the catch up content, while simultaneously developing bespoke content in multiple languages.

TPC: How do you see podcasting fitting into the larger media landscape in South Africa, and what role do you think it will play in the future?

DM: I think I’ve tackled this question in my previous reply. South Africa is several years behind markets like the USA, Australia, or Europe in terms of mass popularisation and consumption of podcasts. In radio, especially as Kagiso Media Radio, we understand that we have an important role to play in not only supporting the development and popularity of the medium and in creating our own offerings, but also in respecting and supporting the independent players and publishers in this space. Podcasting is hard work. Brands, while interested in the space, are not investing heavily in the SA context, but we know this will come – as it has in developed podcast markets overseas.

TPC: What are some of the most popular podcast genres among South African audiences, and why do you think that is?

🎙 What is Afripods?

I recently had the great fortune of connecting with Molly Jensen, the CEO of Afripods. A fellow audiophile and advocate for African creators, if you haven't checked out the free pan-African platform yet, you definitely want to!

Molly, how would you describe Afripods to a 80 year old? For an 80 year old I'd say, Afripods is a platform that allows you to share your recorded audio (like WhatsApp voice notes or a radio show) with your friends on the internet. With Afripods, your friends can listen to you from anywhere across the globe.

What do you find special and unique about the platform? Afripods is primarily focused on the African creator. We are a free pan-African podcast hosting platform based in Nairobi, Kenya with a vision of building the largest library of African audio stories on the planet. We want to see African creators take up space and get paid for their content. With Afripods, we are building the technical infrastructure of digital storytelling and have created an advertising funnel for audio on demand content. Currently, no hosting platforms pay African creators and with Afripods we are building the ability for podcasters to capture opportunities and get paid for the work they love to do. The African podcasting industry is definitely growing. What are the most exciting opportunities for podcasting in Africa today? With the rapid growth of podcasting on the continent, there are limitless opportunities for creators. We have seen in Q1 live shows have been incredibly popular across Africa in multiple regions as well as content creators selling merch. We have seen podcasters become syndicated on radio, and have also seen radio stations share their content as podcasts in various countries. It's been an exciting time from a growth perspective and we are certainly just at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what Africa will do with the digital audio opportunity.

Which African country is producing the largest variety of podcasts? We know that South Africa, Nigeria & Kenya have...

👑 The First Lady of True Crime South Africa

Nicole Englebrecht is the voice and brains behind True Crime South Africa a podcast and blog which covers South African true crime cases. The podcasts, blogs and YouTube channels, are used to bring awareness to cases and to bring humanity back to the victims of those crimes. Nicole tells me she had absolutely no audio production knowledge prior to starting this podcast. With over 111 episodes published and an ever growing listenership, I think she has conquered that hurdle.

TPC: Nicole, when and why did you start podcasting? NE: I started podcasting in June 2019. True Crime South Africa was going to be a small part of a bigger creative entrepreneurship I had planned in order to leave my corporate management job. South Africa had other ideas about that, though, and podcasting is now the biggest part of what I do. I specifically chose podcasting because I am not someone who enjoys being in front of a camera and there were far fewer barriers to entry for a complete novice than YouTube with video, for instance. I wanted to start a true crime podcast that focused on South African cases because there wasn't really anything that existed at that time that compared with what other countries were putting out.

TPC: How did you decide on the genre for your podcast? NE: I have always been a true crime fan and I couldn't find a podcast that covered SA cases in 2019 when I started. I also saw what people were doing with true crime podcasts in the US, UK and Australia in terms of using them to actually help solve cases and I figured we needed something like that in South Africa.

TPC: Does TCSA generate an income and what other opportunities have you created as a direct result of the podcast? NE: Yes it does generate an income. It took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that I would have to monetise...

🤗Everybody, meet Roselinejethro!

In each issue of The Podcast Catalyst, I will introduce you to a fellow creator. Feel free to connect with them and tell them you saw them in this newsy.

Hailing from Lagos, Nigeria, Roselinejethro Ajagbe began podcasting because "there is so much information available nowadays that is not helpful. When I was a child, I had no idea what to do or not to do. I created LifeSips with the intention of disrupting thought patterns and offering solutions to issues that people would rather ignore and keep quiet about."

📰 And now for some news you may have missed

• April is Adopt-a-Listener Month! “If we want the podcast industry to grow, we need to turn those non-podcast listeners into podcast listeners,” says Tink Media, and they have audio and scripts for your podcast too.

• Remote recording tool Riverside.fm unveiled a massive update to their platform in March, adding features like text-based editing, speaker detection and AI transcriptions in over 100 languages.

• Is your podcast on YouTube yet? If not, here is how to get your podcast on the second most visited website, after Google Search. Did you know that YouTube has more than 2.5 billion monthly users?

• Spreaker.com has introduced freepodcasttranscription.com - "the ultimate safe solution for transcribing your podcast episodes! It runs completely on your local device, ensuring the highest level of privacy and security." And it's FREE!

That's all for this issue. I'm constantly seeking way to improve the newsy so please do reach out with content or format suggestions.

Please do share this newsletter with fellow podcasters and let's grow the local podcast industry together. If you'd like to contribute to next month's issue, you have my email 😉