Zach & Josh launch traditional radio format show as a Spotify podcast
![Zach & Josh, Spotify](https://radiotoday.com.au/wp-content/uploads/Morning-Wood-Artwork-2.jpg)
Zach Miller and Josh Perring are the latest duo to try their hand at a podcast that sounds like a radio show, launching the Morning ‘Wood podcast on Spotify.
The key point of difference when coming up with the idea for the pod was to combine the breaks, teases and story-arcs with back-announcements and music.
Zach & Josh got started on SCA’s Hubble program where they hosted shows on Triple M Modern Digital and the Hit Network’s Sunday Experiment over the past couple of years.
Earlier in 2020, they began to wonder how to make a classic radio format accessible and on-demand. “This got us wondering, ‘where does the traditional radio format fit in all of this?’ Sure, you can produce catch-up podcasts – but then you miss all the great music,” they tell Radio Today.
So the idea for Morning ‘Wood was born. “We do everything we did in our previous shows: breaks, teases, story arcs, phoners, back announcing – only now we curate our show on Spotify with music and our listeners can ‘tune in’ whenever they like,” say Zach & Josh.
Each week, they record updated breaks and add new music. “It’s a new concept for audiences to explore and we’ve found people love the format. If we keep it up, we hope we can run a (real) ad block.”
The operation takes place in a tin shed in Collingwood, and the pair are joined by radio comic and host Mike Liberale (aka Radio Mike of 20th Century Boy and the Hamish & Andy Podcast).
Several podcasts have begun to imitate true radio formats more closely in recent times. We’ve seen the return of ex-triple j presenters Matt & Alex with their All Day Breakfast podcast, which landed on PodcastOne recently, and drops every week day morning like a radio Breakfast show.
Hamish & Andy were one of the first podcasts in Australia to include listener call-back, as they essentially took the format of their hugely successful SCA Drive show made it into one of the most popular podcasts in the country .
Spotify has also begun to incorporate more elements of radio into playlists like Your Daily Drive, a personalised car playlist that brings together news, talk and music.
Check out the latest episode of Morning ‘Wood below:
Not be a naysayer – but how can you legally put music in a Podcast?
@George From what I can gather; they’re putting up the individual segments on Spotify and then making a playlist which then includes the songs from Spotify and then when you play the Playlist it sounds like a Radio Show.
@George here’s a link of how it works: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2I6dJfG8bWqC7PovFmMFw8?si=uae08teQQ5-oxOhQHxt_jA
@george Spotify let’s users create playlists that combine podcast and music tracks. So they get around the licensing issue by breaking up the podcast into segments. It would require a bit of manual work but the end result is a seamless listen.
Basically each episode is a playlist not a podcast specifically.
Trevor Long’s EFTM tech podcast (season 3) is another example, with lots of talkback callers. The way it’s edited makes it sound almost like live radio.