May 7, 2025 • 28 mins
Lizzie Eastham and Sam Rickard present Studio 1 - Vision Australia Radio’s weekly look at life from a low vision and blind point of view.
On this week’s show
"Francois and Victoria: Audio Description”
We give you everything you want to know about Audio Description.
Lizzie and Sam are joined by Francois Jacobs, who is one of two Audio Description reviewers at SBS, and as well as Victoria Hunt, SBS’s Manager for Access and Media Services
Studio 1 welcomes any input from our listeners. If you have any experience or thoughts about issues covered in this episode or believe there is something we should be talking about.
EMAIL: studio1@visionaustralia.org or leave comment on the station’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/VARadioNetwork
Thank you to Victoria and Francois for a great interview, and to Jason all his help setting this up.
SBS Audio Description; About: https://www.sbs.com.au/aboutus/audio-description-services/
How to Enable Audio Description: https://help.sbs.com.au/hc/en-au/articles/360002077816-How-to-enable-and-access-audio-description
SBS On Demand – List of Audio Described Progammes: https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/collection/available-with-audio-description
This program was made possible with support from the Community Broadcasting Foundation. Find out more at https://cbf.org.au/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:05):
This is studio one on Vision Australia Radio.
S2 (00:13):
Hello, I'm Sam.
S3 (00:14):
And I'm Lizzie.
S2 (00:15):
And this is Studio One, your weekly look at life
from a low vision and blind point of view. Here
on Vision Australia Radio.
S3 (00:20):
This week we give you everything you want to know
about audio description.
S2 (00:25):
We are joined by Francois Jacobs, who is one of
the two audio description reviewers at SBS, as well as
Victoria Hunt, the manager for Access and media Services, also
at SBS.
S3 (00:37):
As we always say at this point, please do get
in touch with the show. Whether you have experience of
any of the issues covered on this week's episode of
Studio One, or if you think there's something we should
be talking about. You never know. Your story and insight
may help someone who's dealing with something similar.
S2 (00:53):
Please email us studio one at Vision Australia. Org. That's
studio number one at Vision Australia.
S3 (00:58):
Org or of course, you can drop us a note
on our Facebook page by going to facebook.com Slash Radio network. work.
S2 (01:06):
So, Lizzie, on this fine day. How are you?
S3 (01:09):
I'm good. Thank you. And yourself?
S2 (01:11):
Yeah. It's been an interesting week, I've got to admit. Um, this.
I'm working on another project at the moment, which I
have to sort of keep my own counsel on at
the moment, but that's been kind of keeping me rather busy.
And plus, I mean, there's this also this elephant we
might as well get rid of that's been sitting in
the room that is, um, we had an election over
the weekend and, well, it's that was one interesting result.
(01:36):
Even I didn't think that was going to happen.
S3 (01:38):
Well, I'd been keeping an eye sort of on things
beforehand and they, you know, Labour were expected to win,
but I didn't know it was going to be such
a landslide victory. One thing I did find very cool
this time around, which I didn't actually know about before,
was the fact that blind and low vision people, or
people that weren't going to be available to do so
on the day, can go and vote early. So we
(02:00):
found an early voting centre and toddled off a couple
of days beforehand and did that and that was quite
convenient because I was pretty disposed on the day, predisposed
on the day.
S2 (02:11):
So you didn't avail yourself of the phone voting system?
S3 (02:13):
No, I didn't, um, I'd actually had some trouble with
that in the past. I registered about a week before
one of the elections, and I never got the registration code,
and I got fined because I wasn't able to vote
and I wasn't able to get to a polling booth
at that particular time.
S2 (02:30):
We're not talking about things like that. Though the election
most likely was covered on SBS, we have, uh, Francois
Jacobs and Victoria Hunt from SBS, and they we talked
to them, uh, only a day or so ago, and
they gave us pretty much everything we wanted to know
or even wondered about, uh, the audio description on television.
(02:50):
I mean, I certainly learned a lot. I mean, is
there do you think there's something that, um, any questions
that you were burning to ask or that you didn't
even think of that, uh, ended up coming out?
S3 (02:59):
Well, one thing I was very curious about was the
whole process of, you know, once you pick a program
to be audio described the whole process of coming up
with a script and then going through, like Francois or
his colleague Sally, who was talked about and doing the
whole review. And I just think that would be a
really cool job to have to sit there and listen
(03:19):
to someone who's written a script, actually talk it out
in real time in the movie and go, no, no, no,
you know, we got to go back. We got to
describe this better. I, I think that's such an amazing job.
And just knowing how quickly they can get that process
done is amazing.
S2 (03:35):
Mhm. It's almost a dream job I got to admit
I wouldn't mind doing that myself. But I mean the
first thing we asked to start things off was well
to Francois and that was what is it you do.
S4 (03:48):
So, uh, I am a, I guess you call it
a quality advisor, blind, low vision perspective along with some
these another quality advisor, just like myself. And it's also, um,
a script writer and a voice narrator for audio description
who is blind or low vision.
S2 (04:07):
Do you have a visual impairment yourself?
S4 (04:08):
I'm blind. Yes.
S2 (04:09):
I'll sound like, um, a million able bodied people and
say you don't look it. So, uh, good on you, mate.
I know if it frustrates the, well, living wotsit's out
of all of us when people say that, I've got
to admit. But anyway. So, Victoria, tell us a little
bit about yourself.
S5 (04:23):
I manage access services essentially for SBS, so I manage captioning,
audio description, also subtitling for SBS programming. And um, we
recently did a proof of concept on signing, but that's
that's not ongoing whereas the other three services are. So yeah,
that's my remit at SBS.
S3 (04:40):
And how long have you been in that role?
S5 (04:42):
I've uh, went to SBS in 2019, which was um,
people might recall the government gave their approval for the um,
for the funding for the SBS trial, for the ad
trial for SBS and the ABC, uh, in December 2019. So,
you know, um, starting out was really the big thing
to start out with. The big meaty project was to
(05:03):
get ad up and running, um, in 2020.
S2 (05:06):
So yeah, tell us about that. I mean, it was
something that sort of suddenly, from our point of view,
just suddenly appeared on the ABC and SBS. I'm presuming
it wasn't as sudden for you guys.
S5 (05:15):
Uh, well, look, I mean, it's interesting because really, that
was the result of, you know, everybody lobbying and agitating for,
you know, too many years to get that service up
and running. Previously we'd had, um, you might recall there
had been trials, um, via SBC view and, uh, a
brief amount of sort of trial on SBS in previous years,
(05:36):
in fact, had been maybe three previous very short term trials,
just kind of looking at how this would work. But then, yeah,
the government completely, um, came to the party, uh, didn't they,
in 2019. And um, those services were set up. And
now the funding for those services has been, uh, rolled
into ongoing funding. So, yeah. Um, that's where we're sitting
with the audio description service now.
S2 (05:57):
Well, I've got to admit, I don't actually use it
so much myself, but I'm. Lizzie, um, you can, uh, uh,
tell us about the virtues of, uh, audio description, can't you?
S3 (06:05):
Definitely. It's something that I use a lot when watching
movies and TV. I've found it to be quite helpful
because I'm totally blind myself, and there is nothing worse
than going to a cinema or watching a TV programme
with your family and not being able to, you know,
laugh at the same things as other people do because
you don't have that audio feedback.
S2 (06:26):
Francois so you are very much a hands on sort
of involved with all this. I mean, what things do
you take into account when you sort of are handed
a brief or I mean, how does all this work?
S4 (06:37):
As you know, um, audio description has been around for
like in the world for probably 30 years. Um, the blind,
low vision quality, uh, control aspect only came much, much
later in the last few years. Um, in, in the
United States. That's a really fairly established industry by now. SBS, though,
(07:00):
has been the first in Australia, um, who have involved blind,
low vision quality controllers. So essentially when audio description has
to be created for a program, they get sighted scriptwriters
to do it. And very often that never gets checked
by somebody who's blind or low vision for continuity for
(07:21):
is the name mentioned early enough? Do they use the
same word to describe describe the same objects? Things that
if you see something you might not necessarily know that
have I or haven't I described it yet, whereas I
am totally dependent on the words that they use. So
I will very quickly tell you when are you talking
about now? Halfway down the program, like if it hasn't
(07:43):
been introduced when everybody else knew about this. So we
have that unique perspective, um, like from a blind perspective
to make sure that the blind person isn't getting lost
in half the story where we have to then reinvent
the whole thing in our mind, because what we assume
to be the case was proved wrong eventually through the story,
(08:05):
because information got revealed to us later in in the process.
So that's where I come in. Before the audio description
gets recorded, um, I would meet with the, uh, audio
description producer online meeting where they play the movie, and
the person then would read the script at the exact time.
(08:25):
Same in the movie that it would be recorded. And
then we either just let it go because it's good
or we stop. And I might ask them, is this
really what you're seeing? Is this? Or we take a
step back and we could then change the script before
it gets recorded. So it makes sense and have a
real good sense of story for the Blind division viewer.
S3 (08:46):
So from the beginning of the process, like when you
first get handed a program to the completion of the
audio description, how long does that process take?
S5 (08:54):
So SBS produces audio description in two different ways. The
vast majority of our audio description we send to a
vendor and, and they, um, produce most of that. And
we've got a essentially we say to the business back
into SBS for everyone else who has to do other
things with the program before it gets on air, we
say that's a six week turnaround. That's how long we
(09:15):
kind of give for for a program. I mean, obviously
that's because we're working at volume. We audio describe 1400
hours of new audio description every year. So, um, you know,
that equates to about 27 hours a week. So, you know,
there's a lot to be audio described. That's why we
give the six week kind of turnaround time if we're, um,
(09:36):
producing the audio description in-house, which we do for all
of our SBS and NITV commissioned content, and for some
very high profile programs, we'll produce that in-house. And that's
really so that we can add all the, um, kind
of extra things that we want to do. Um, for example,
all those programs would have, would be reviewed by the
(09:57):
Francois or Sally. Some of those programs might be, um,
scripted by our, um, blind, low vision scriptwriter. There's other
processes where, for example, we have a lot of indigenous material.
We would want indigenous narrators to narrate the ad for
that material. Sometimes we send that material for a kind
of a cultural review as well. So there's a bunch
(10:18):
of things that we do to our SBS and Mnit
be commissioned programs for the audio description that we can't
necessarily do at scale because, as I said, there's 27
hours a week. We're not able to apply all of
those things to all of those hours, or that six
week turnaround time would become, you know, three months or something.
So when we do something in-house, it depends on how
(10:38):
long the program is and also how many descriptions are
in there. You know, some programs, as you know, like
there's there's plenty of room to add description and others
the dialogue is pretty packed. There's not necessarily a lot
of room. So it depends on all that as well.
But um, I guess, you know, I mean, we could
turn something around probably, um, in 2 or 3 days
if we really had to, but in order to make
(11:00):
sure it would all kind of go well, probably, I'd
say about a week for the internal stuff.
S4 (11:05):
The amount of dialogue is really key to this process,
even from the quality control perspective. There's one of the
most recent additions to the SPS catalog is a, I
would call it a black and white silent slapstick comedy
movie called Hundreds of Beavers, which you're welcome to check out.
(11:25):
It's really been released with, I think probably just last week.
It's under two hours long, but because the whole entire movie,
I think there's two lines of dialogue, actual dialogue through
the whole movie, and the rest is all descriptions throughout
the whole thing. Um, and that took us like seven
hours and working at maximum pace. But it was such
(11:47):
an amazing process. But that's how long it can take,
because there's a lot of descriptions.
S5 (11:52):
That's just for the review process. Obviously, the scriptwriter had
spent like maybe a week writing the script before that. Uh,
then the narration would have taken a day, and then
the mics on the narration would have taken probably another day.
So I don't know if that, that, sort of that
we've been a bit bitsy and our answers, but they're
sort of quite a lot involved and it depends on
what our starting point is. But I hope that sort
(12:12):
of answers answers the question. It varies depending on what
we're doing.
S2 (12:16):
Has there been anything that you would classify as a
glorious success and anything else that you might have called,
I don't know, a spectacular failure when it's come to this?
I mean, we all work in broadcasting in some sort
of fashion. And sometimes, yes, there are there are surprises
of both sides.
S5 (12:33):
Yeah. No, I really hear what you're saying. Well, look,
I'll speak to that from the point of view of
one of the the initiatives that we've really tried to
introduce at SBS is what we're calling bespoke audio description.
And the example that Francois just gave for hundreds of
beavers is, is one of those. So obviously, you know,
our adventure is, is producing, you know, in a way
kind of standard, you know, very good but standard audio
(12:55):
description for us. But sometimes, um, we could see in
particular with the kind of programming that SBS likes to, um,
show where we sometimes like to push the envelope a bit.
We could see that there might be room for perhaps
a slightly different approach. And so we've tried a few.
We've had a few different experiments in this area with
bespoke audio description. So I would say, um, what we're
(13:17):
aiming to do with that is to try and have
the tone and the, um, I guess, um, the tone
and the language of the audio description match the tone
and the language of the actual programme. Right. So we've
done a few experiments and they've all been with kind
of cultish kind of movies. The one that, um, Francois
just described, we did the good, the bad and the ugly.
(13:40):
We did Blue Velvet, we did, uh, body double. So
we've tried this a few different times, and I would
say that the good, the bad and the ugly and
hundreds of beavers have been totalled and and Blue Velvet
have been real successes in that area where I think
we've kind of really nailed it, where we've kept to the,
you know, the, the basic, um, precepts of audio description
(14:01):
and really fulfilled that brief, but also tried to add
something else in, but I also think that there's maybe
1 or 2 of those where we're despite the attempt,
we didn't necessarily add anything much to it. So I
think there's a couple of examples where for all the
extra effort, we didn't necessarily get the result that we
were hoping for, but yeah, that's probably the main thing.
S2 (14:22):
Francois, I also wanted to ask, um, has there been
on when you're reviewing a script or something like that,
something that you've just completely missed and it's made it
to a later stage of the production than you were expecting?
S4 (14:34):
Um, yes. Maybe. Um, like characters get revealed light light
on in the process, or maybe the where a place
a setting is actually situated? Fortunately. Well, in my experience,
I've only been doing this for for the last almost
two years now. We've never had something where episode one
(14:54):
has already been recorded while we're still working on episode five,
so we could then when we discover, hey, there's something
that we've missed in continuity, we can go back and
change episode one scripts to make sure that the thread
is consistent. The way that we refer to the to
the location or the person or whatever is inconsistent and
(15:15):
doesn't confuse people unnecessarily. So yes, we have um, found
that unfortunately it is still before the recording happened.
S2 (15:24):
Victoria. Also, I'm going to ask, I mean have have
you um, prior to doing what you're doing now had
much to do with people with a disability?
S5 (15:29):
Prior to this, I worked for a caption provider. So, um,
inasmuch as, um, one of the things that we tried
to do then and that we also, um, are continuing
on at SBS, is really wanting to do focus groups
to invite, um, our audience to be able to feedback
to us directly on what we're producing. So that's certainly
(15:51):
something that, um, I did previously with Caption Provider and
that SBS continue to do now. We do a focus
group every six months for audio description, um, where we invite, um,
as many people as, as we As we can that
we've been able to get in contact with that are interested.
We got a bunch of names through Vision Australia recently
for people to contact and invite. Um, and yeah, to
(16:14):
just to get that completely immediate feedback. That's been something
that's been really crucial.
S2 (16:19):
Has there been anything that's actually surprised you? I mean,
I mean, if you don't have a disability yourself, doesn't
matter how much involvement you have with people like us,
there's always going to be something that you go, I
hadn't thought about that.
S5 (16:29):
Yeah. No, I really agree. Well, look, the biggest one
really is, is actually the learnings that have come out
of what Francois and Sally do, which is like of
all the initiatives that we've been able to, um, that
has really supported that we've been able to put in
place around our audio description. The one that has caused
the most fundamental change in how we do things is
(16:49):
actually the script review from Francois and Sally's, because it
has changed the way that we have our script writers write.
And in fact, we have recently extended that particular aspect
of reviewing scripts we've invited our vendor to Actually, we've
set up meetings for all of their writers with either
Francois or Sally, and we've kicked that off so that
(17:11):
all of their writers also get the benefit of direct
feedback from people who are blind or have low vision.
And that, to me, has been definitely our biggest and
best initiative.
S2 (17:21):
Francois, I'm going to ask you a similar question. Has
there been any battlefield or something like that where you've thought,
I can't believe people don't know this?
S4 (17:30):
Um, I don't it's never deliberate that they, like, do
things in a certain way, but obviously audio description is
based on rules and things. Describe what you see no
matter what. Um, that was how it started. So if
you have a documentary and in between scene changes, you
would have this beautiful, sweeping landscape just as a filler
(17:54):
between scenes and then traditionally that would often be described
to us, whereas then we instead we would have been
much better off by maybe a post description of what
just happened, or introducing who's going to talk next or where.
This is because there's not always time. So that kind
of putting them in our shoes. It was just an
(18:15):
awareness or maybe the lack thereof. We find that often
scriptwriters are not necessarily friends with or don't know people
who are blind and vision impaired. They may or may
not come from a captioning background. Really good intentions, but
just to kind of live the experience angle that or
just knowing somebody that that's missing which we then I
(18:37):
guess bring to the to the table. Obvious things like
oh she knocks on the door like you can hear it.
Why would you say it then? Um, just gently reminding
people that you don't have to think for us. You
can just describe things that we wouldn't otherwise know. But
we we can think for ourselves if we. The story
is not just what people are saying. It's also all
(19:00):
the other soundscapes. That's part of the story. And we
we pay attention to those.
S2 (19:05):
I think the best audio description treats, um, drama or
documentaries like a radio play. Really. And so the things
that can't be, uh, you know, that you're missing out on,
then that's the bits you include, the things that we
can use, uh, work out for ourselves. Then I think
we can work out for ourselves. Yeah.
S3 (19:21):
So as far as the actual narrators go, I remember
reading in that information that you tried to find indigenous
narrators and culturally appropriate narrators for subtitles and other programs.
Is it hard to find narrators that are appropriate to
the culture of the program?
S5 (19:39):
Do you know what? Working at SBS makes it a
little bit easier. So, um, so because at SBS, you know, um, we,
we have people in the building who are putting out
radio programs in 67 languages every week. Um, because we
have just a huge diversity of, um, backgrounds for people
working at SBS. Actually, it's been easier than it might
(20:02):
have been really, for anyone else. One of our initiatives
has been to also try and involve the creators of
programmes in um, in the scripts for audio description for
their shows. So one of the amazing things that has
happened for us out of that is, you know, we've
had so much buy in from writers, creators, directors of
programmes that are working on a co-production with SBS to
(20:23):
produce something that we will, um, get in touch with
them and let them know we're going to audio describe
their programme. We'll send them a reel of narrators, um,
and ask whether there's anyone suitable on there. And we'll
also ask them to feedback on our scripts. So um,
so they're really quite involved when it's a, you know,
like a commissioned programme that we're working with someone on.
But the really nice thing that's happened is so many
(20:44):
of them have said they'll come in and do the,
do the, the voices for subtitles or whatever else we
might have in there. So, you know, we've had a
number of times where we've had, um, show creators come
in and do that with us, but also we've got
a lot of people to draw on at SBS who've
also been generous with their time, who've come in and
(21:05):
done culturally appropriate voices for subtitles for us.
S2 (21:08):
Do you do audio descriptions only in English, or have
you done audio description? Say, for example, in Creole or
any of the other indigenous languages?
S5 (21:16):
No we haven't. We do subtitling in um, in indigenous languages,
but we haven't done audio description in any other languages.
One of the things we always do is, um, is
when we're acquiring content, one of our standard requests is
that if there is any audio description that comes with
that content, could we have it please? And it's the
thing that sort of, um, a little bit surprising and
(21:37):
very disappointing is that, um, that there's usually no ID
that travels with programs. It's actually really hard for us
to purchase audio description with other programs, we always ask,
we almost never get it because it's not there. So, uh,
we only produce in English. Um, but we always ask
for audio description in other languages for programs that we're
buying in, in case we're able to, to get that
(21:57):
and also put that up.
S2 (21:58):
Well, yeah. I mean, not not not all of us, uh,
speak English as a first language. And a very useful
sort of service, really.
S3 (22:06):
If anybody wants to get involved with, like becoming an
audio descriptive narrator or in the script writing process, how
can they do that?
S5 (22:15):
Yeah, that's a really interesting question. From our point of view,
as I said, we we produce it in two different ways.
And our, our vendor does most of it. So what
we produce in house, we probably, um, are kind of
fully subscribed for contractors to work with us at the moment. Um,
I'm always hopeful that we can expand things, but at
(22:35):
the moment we're probably sort of about where we should be.
But there are existing audio describers who are happy to
teach audio description. I guess I would maybe look for
audio audio describers on LinkedIn and see whether or not
they're interested. Um, that's certainly how we trained everybody that
works with us. We, um, worked with a really well
(22:57):
established audio describer, and, um, she was able to do
training for us around the QC, the quality control stuff
that Francois and Sally do around narration, around scripting, and
in fact, she's trained all of our narrators. So maybe
that's a kind of a way to go about it.
But yeah, I don't know that that's how we did it,
but I'm not sure how how to do that. Otherwise.
(23:18):
I'm not aware of any particular kind of course. Or school.
S4 (23:21):
This coming Friday, Curtin University is actually holding a audio
description symposium where people who are blind or visually impaired. Also,
there's some keynote speakers there which I'm particularly looking forward to.
I've decided just for my own personal, I guess, professional growth.
I look at the I think it's audio description website.
(23:44):
In America, they do, uh, retreats where audio and script
writers and quality control advisers are being trained. So there
are some opportunities. It's still a fledgling industry, especially here. But, um,
I'm hoping that maybe one at some point. other free
(24:05):
to air stations come on board. Or maybe if we
eventually get the legislation over the line that, um, if
if the quotas for AD gets increased, so should the
demand for workers, uh, blind or visually impaired workers in
the field. That's my hope.
S2 (24:21):
Well, yes. I mean, uh, we're kind of stuck with, uh,
the two public broadcasters at the moment. I mean, um.
S5 (24:28):
I hope you don't feel totally stuck with us, Sam.
S2 (24:32):
Oh, sometimes we like to, uh, watch other things. I mean, uh,
some bad reality TV or, uh, or a quiz show
or something like that. Uh.
S3 (24:40):
No. You know what? I'm okay with Keeping Up With
the Kardashians not being audio described. Thanks.
S5 (24:46):
Sam. Back to your question about, um, things that are upcoming.
I guess I'd just like to make sure everyone knows that, um,
that we have launched our ad service on SBS On Demand.
We currently have about, uh, well over 570 movies and
TV shows, including drama series, documentaries, and the occasional cooking
program available with AD on SBS On Demand. Yeah, just
(25:07):
really keen that people are aware that that that is
is definitely in place and available now.
S2 (25:13):
Is there a particular website that people can go to
to actually find what is available, or is it specifically? Um,
SBS or the ABC, or is there anything that's sort of, uh,
like a third party or something like that?
S5 (25:24):
So there's two places we have audio schedule update service
on Blind Citizens Australia. It's a phone up service. And
we also have, um, a schedule on the SBS ad
program page. Um, they're both updated essentially weekly. But, um,
in terms of finding programming on SBS On Demand, our
team has been our digital teams have been working on
a lot to do with the access and, um, and
(25:47):
making things more easily navigable on, on demand for people who, um,
are kind of coming to us with, um, you know,
just various assistive technologies that they might be using. So
things are searchable now for on demand just by putting
in audio description. And that will take you actually to
the web page, that to the correct page that will
(26:08):
give you all of the stuff that's available and searchable.
S2 (26:10):
Oh that's great. That's yeah, that's that's all we need, really. Um.
It's fantastic. All right. Well, um, Francois and Victoria, thank
you so much for joining us. Um, we, uh, will
carry on. We look forward to to hearing what you're
up to.
S4 (26:27):
No worries. Happy viewing.
S3 (26:28):
And of course, we'll have, uh, links to the websites and, uh,
appliances and Australia up on the podcast notes so that
people can go and find all the the list of
audio described programs you have.
S5 (26:40):
Yeah. That's lovely. Thank you. And yeah, if you're feeling
like really going out there, give hundreds of beavers a go.
S3 (26:45):
I might just do that.
S2 (26:48):
That's a wrap for this week. A big thank you
to Francois and Victoria.
S3 (26:52):
And then, of course, thank you for listening. That includes
our listeners on the Reading Radio Network. As usual, you
can find this episode plus some extra content on Apple, Spotify,
Google or your favorite podcast platform next week.
S2 (27:07):
Mother's day arrives on a Wednesday. Just this once we
break out the flowers, chocolates and badly made breakfasts in bed.
S3 (27:15):
We also chat with Lisa, a vision impaired mother, and
Sarah Evans about her experiences, and she also shares what
support is out there for vision impaired parents.
S2 (27:25):
Between now and then. Please do get in touch with
the show. Whether you have experience of any of the
issues covered on this week's episode of Studio One, or
if you think there's something we should be talking about.
You never know. Your story and insight may help somebody
else who is dealing with something similar.
S3 (27:39):
You can email us at studio One at Vision Australia. Org.
That's studio number one at Vision Australia. Org or of
course you can find us on any of the social
media platforms like Facebook or Instagram by searching for VA
Radio Network.
S2 (27:54):
This program was made possible with the support from the
Community Broadcasting Foundation. Find out more at CBF. Org.
This is studio one on Vision Australia Radio.
S2 (00:13):
Hello, I'm Sam.
S3 (00:14):
And I'm Lizzie.
S2 (00:15):
And this is Studio One, your weekly look at life
from a low vision and blind point of view. Here
on Vision Australia Radio.
S3 (00:20):
This week we give you everything you want to know
about audio description.
S2 (00:25):
We are joined by Francois Jacobs, who is one of
the two audio description reviewers at SBS, as well as
Victoria Hunt, the manager for Access and media Services, also
at SBS.
S3 (00:37):
As we always say at this point, please do get
in touch with the show. Whether you have experience of
any of the issues covered on this week's episode of
Studio One, or if you think there's something we should
be talking about. You never know. Your story and insight
may help someone who's dealing with something similar.
S2 (00:53):
Please email us studio one at Vision Australia. Org. That's
studio number one at Vision Australia.
S3 (00:58):
Org or of course, you can drop us a note
on our Facebook page by going to facebook.com Slash Radio network. work.
S2 (01:06):
So, Lizzie, on this fine day. How are you?
S3 (01:09):
I'm good. Thank you. And yourself?
S2 (01:11):
Yeah. It's been an interesting week, I've got to admit. Um, this.
I'm working on another project at the moment, which I
have to sort of keep my own counsel on at
the moment, but that's been kind of keeping me rather busy.
And plus, I mean, there's this also this elephant we
might as well get rid of that's been sitting in
the room that is, um, we had an election over
the weekend and, well, it's that was one interesting result.
(01:36):
Even I didn't think that was going to happen.
S3 (01:38):
Well, I'd been keeping an eye sort of on things
beforehand and they, you know, Labour were expected to win,
but I didn't know it was going to be such
a landslide victory. One thing I did find very cool
this time around, which I didn't actually know about before,
was the fact that blind and low vision people, or
people that weren't going to be available to do so
on the day, can go and vote early. So we
(02:00):
found an early voting centre and toddled off a couple
of days beforehand and did that and that was quite
convenient because I was pretty disposed on the day, predisposed
on the day.
S2 (02:11):
So you didn't avail yourself of the phone voting system?
S3 (02:13):
No, I didn't, um, I'd actually had some trouble with
that in the past. I registered about a week before
one of the elections, and I never got the registration code,
and I got fined because I wasn't able to vote
and I wasn't able to get to a polling booth
at that particular time.
S2 (02:30):
We're not talking about things like that. Though the election
most likely was covered on SBS, we have, uh, Francois
Jacobs and Victoria Hunt from SBS, and they we talked
to them, uh, only a day or so ago, and
they gave us pretty much everything we wanted to know
or even wondered about, uh, the audio description on television.
(02:50):
I mean, I certainly learned a lot. I mean, is
there do you think there's something that, um, any questions
that you were burning to ask or that you didn't
even think of that, uh, ended up coming out?
S3 (02:59):
Well, one thing I was very curious about was the
whole process of, you know, once you pick a program
to be audio described the whole process of coming up
with a script and then going through, like Francois or
his colleague Sally, who was talked about and doing the
whole review. And I just think that would be a
really cool job to have to sit there and listen
(03:19):
to someone who's written a script, actually talk it out
in real time in the movie and go, no, no, no,
you know, we got to go back. We got to
describe this better. I, I think that's such an amazing job.
And just knowing how quickly they can get that process
done is amazing.
S2 (03:35):
Mhm. It's almost a dream job I got to admit
I wouldn't mind doing that myself. But I mean the
first thing we asked to start things off was well
to Francois and that was what is it you do.
S4 (03:48):
So, uh, I am a, I guess you call it
a quality advisor, blind, low vision perspective along with some
these another quality advisor, just like myself. And it's also, um,
a script writer and a voice narrator for audio description
who is blind or low vision.
S2 (04:07):
Do you have a visual impairment yourself?
S4 (04:08):
I'm blind. Yes.
S2 (04:09):
I'll sound like, um, a million able bodied people and
say you don't look it. So, uh, good on you, mate.
I know if it frustrates the, well, living wotsit's out
of all of us when people say that, I've got
to admit. But anyway. So, Victoria, tell us a little
bit about yourself.
S5 (04:23):
I manage access services essentially for SBS, so I manage captioning,
audio description, also subtitling for SBS programming. And um, we
recently did a proof of concept on signing, but that's
that's not ongoing whereas the other three services are. So yeah,
that's my remit at SBS.
S3 (04:40):
And how long have you been in that role?
S5 (04:42):
I've uh, went to SBS in 2019, which was um,
people might recall the government gave their approval for the um,
for the funding for the SBS trial, for the ad
trial for SBS and the ABC, uh, in December 2019. So,
you know, um, starting out was really the big thing
to start out with. The big meaty project was to
(05:03):
get ad up and running, um, in 2020.
S2 (05:06):
So yeah, tell us about that. I mean, it was
something that sort of suddenly, from our point of view,
just suddenly appeared on the ABC and SBS. I'm presuming
it wasn't as sudden for you guys.
S5 (05:15):
Uh, well, look, I mean, it's interesting because really, that
was the result of, you know, everybody lobbying and agitating for,
you know, too many years to get that service up
and running. Previously we'd had, um, you might recall there
had been trials, um, via SBC view and, uh, a
brief amount of sort of trial on SBS in previous years,
(05:36):
in fact, had been maybe three previous very short term trials,
just kind of looking at how this would work. But then, yeah,
the government completely, um, came to the party, uh, didn't they,
in 2019. And um, those services were set up. And
now the funding for those services has been, uh, rolled
into ongoing funding. So, yeah. Um, that's where we're sitting
with the audio description service now.
S2 (05:57):
Well, I've got to admit, I don't actually use it
so much myself, but I'm. Lizzie, um, you can, uh, uh,
tell us about the virtues of, uh, audio description, can't you?
S3 (06:05):
Definitely. It's something that I use a lot when watching
movies and TV. I've found it to be quite helpful
because I'm totally blind myself, and there is nothing worse
than going to a cinema or watching a TV programme
with your family and not being able to, you know,
laugh at the same things as other people do because
you don't have that audio feedback.
S2 (06:26):
Francois so you are very much a hands on sort
of involved with all this. I mean, what things do
you take into account when you sort of are handed
a brief or I mean, how does all this work?
S4 (06:37):
As you know, um, audio description has been around for
like in the world for probably 30 years. Um, the blind,
low vision quality, uh, control aspect only came much, much
later in the last few years. Um, in, in the
United States. That's a really fairly established industry by now. SBS, though,
(07:00):
has been the first in Australia, um, who have involved blind,
low vision quality controllers. So essentially when audio description has
to be created for a program, they get sighted scriptwriters
to do it. And very often that never gets checked
by somebody who's blind or low vision for continuity for
(07:21):
is the name mentioned early enough? Do they use the
same word to describe describe the same objects? Things that
if you see something you might not necessarily know that
have I or haven't I described it yet, whereas I
am totally dependent on the words that they use. So
I will very quickly tell you when are you talking
about now? Halfway down the program, like if it hasn't
(07:43):
been introduced when everybody else knew about this. So we
have that unique perspective, um, like from a blind perspective
to make sure that the blind person isn't getting lost
in half the story where we have to then reinvent
the whole thing in our mind, because what we assume
to be the case was proved wrong eventually through the story,
(08:05):
because information got revealed to us later in in the process.
So that's where I come in. Before the audio description
gets recorded, um, I would meet with the, uh, audio
description producer online meeting where they play the movie, and
the person then would read the script at the exact time.
(08:25):
Same in the movie that it would be recorded. And
then we either just let it go because it's good
or we stop. And I might ask them, is this
really what you're seeing? Is this? Or we take a
step back and we could then change the script before
it gets recorded. So it makes sense and have a
real good sense of story for the Blind division viewer.
S3 (08:46):
So from the beginning of the process, like when you
first get handed a program to the completion of the
audio description, how long does that process take?
S5 (08:54):
So SBS produces audio description in two different ways. The
vast majority of our audio description we send to a
vendor and, and they, um, produce most of that. And
we've got a essentially we say to the business back
into SBS for everyone else who has to do other
things with the program before it gets on air, we
say that's a six week turnaround. That's how long we
(09:15):
kind of give for for a program. I mean, obviously
that's because we're working at volume. We audio describe 1400
hours of new audio description every year. So, um, you know,
that equates to about 27 hours a week. So, you know,
there's a lot to be audio described. That's why we
give the six week kind of turnaround time if we're, um,
(09:36):
producing the audio description in-house, which we do for all
of our SBS and NITV commissioned content, and for some
very high profile programs, we'll produce that in-house. And that's
really so that we can add all the, um, kind
of extra things that we want to do. Um, for example,
all those programs would have, would be reviewed by the
(09:57):
Francois or Sally. Some of those programs might be, um,
scripted by our, um, blind, low vision scriptwriter. There's other
processes where, for example, we have a lot of indigenous material.
We would want indigenous narrators to narrate the ad for
that material. Sometimes we send that material for a kind
of a cultural review as well. So there's a bunch
(10:18):
of things that we do to our SBS and Mnit
be commissioned programs for the audio description that we can't
necessarily do at scale because, as I said, there's 27
hours a week. We're not able to apply all of
those things to all of those hours, or that six
week turnaround time would become, you know, three months or something.
So when we do something in-house, it depends on how
(10:38):
long the program is and also how many descriptions are
in there. You know, some programs, as you know, like
there's there's plenty of room to add description and others
the dialogue is pretty packed. There's not necessarily a lot
of room. So it depends on all that as well.
But um, I guess, you know, I mean, we could
turn something around probably, um, in 2 or 3 days
if we really had to, but in order to make
(11:00):
sure it would all kind of go well, probably, I'd
say about a week for the internal stuff.
S4 (11:05):
The amount of dialogue is really key to this process,
even from the quality control perspective. There's one of the
most recent additions to the SPS catalog is a, I
would call it a black and white silent slapstick comedy
movie called Hundreds of Beavers, which you're welcome to check out.
(11:25):
It's really been released with, I think probably just last week.
It's under two hours long, but because the whole entire movie,
I think there's two lines of dialogue, actual dialogue through
the whole movie, and the rest is all descriptions throughout
the whole thing. Um, and that took us like seven
hours and working at maximum pace. But it was such
(11:47):
an amazing process. But that's how long it can take,
because there's a lot of descriptions.
S5 (11:52):
That's just for the review process. Obviously, the scriptwriter had
spent like maybe a week writing the script before that. Uh,
then the narration would have taken a day, and then
the mics on the narration would have taken probably another day.
So I don't know if that, that, sort of that
we've been a bit bitsy and our answers, but they're
sort of quite a lot involved and it depends on
what our starting point is. But I hope that sort
(12:12):
of answers answers the question. It varies depending on what
we're doing.
S2 (12:16):
Has there been anything that you would classify as a
glorious success and anything else that you might have called,
I don't know, a spectacular failure when it's come to this?
I mean, we all work in broadcasting in some sort
of fashion. And sometimes, yes, there are there are surprises
of both sides.
S5 (12:33):
Yeah. No, I really hear what you're saying. Well, look,
I'll speak to that from the point of view of
one of the the initiatives that we've really tried to
introduce at SBS is what we're calling bespoke audio description.
And the example that Francois just gave for hundreds of
beavers is, is one of those. So obviously, you know,
our adventure is, is producing, you know, in a way
kind of standard, you know, very good but standard audio
(12:55):
description for us. But sometimes, um, we could see in
particular with the kind of programming that SBS likes to, um,
show where we sometimes like to push the envelope a bit.
We could see that there might be room for perhaps
a slightly different approach. And so we've tried a few.
We've had a few different experiments in this area with
bespoke audio description. So I would say, um, what we're
(13:17):
aiming to do with that is to try and have
the tone and the, um, I guess, um, the tone
and the language of the audio description match the tone
and the language of the actual programme. Right. So we've
done a few experiments and they've all been with kind
of cultish kind of movies. The one that, um, Francois
just described, we did the good, the bad and the ugly.
(13:40):
We did Blue Velvet, we did, uh, body double. So
we've tried this a few different times, and I would
say that the good, the bad and the ugly and
hundreds of beavers have been totalled and and Blue Velvet
have been real successes in that area where I think
we've kind of really nailed it, where we've kept to the,
you know, the, the basic, um, precepts of audio description
(14:01):
and really fulfilled that brief, but also tried to add
something else in, but I also think that there's maybe
1 or 2 of those where we're despite the attempt,
we didn't necessarily add anything much to it. So I
think there's a couple of examples where for all the
extra effort, we didn't necessarily get the result that we
were hoping for, but yeah, that's probably the main thing.
S2 (14:22):
Francois, I also wanted to ask, um, has there been
on when you're reviewing a script or something like that,
something that you've just completely missed and it's made it
to a later stage of the production than you were expecting?
S4 (14:34):
Um, yes. Maybe. Um, like characters get revealed light light
on in the process, or maybe the where a place
a setting is actually situated? Fortunately. Well, in my experience,
I've only been doing this for for the last almost
two years now. We've never had something where episode one
(14:54):
has already been recorded while we're still working on episode five,
so we could then when we discover, hey, there's something
that we've missed in continuity, we can go back and
change episode one scripts to make sure that the thread
is consistent. The way that we refer to the to
the location or the person or whatever is inconsistent and
(15:15):
doesn't confuse people unnecessarily. So yes, we have um, found
that unfortunately it is still before the recording happened.
S2 (15:24):
Victoria. Also, I'm going to ask, I mean have have
you um, prior to doing what you're doing now had
much to do with people with a disability?
S5 (15:29):
Prior to this, I worked for a caption provider. So, um,
inasmuch as, um, one of the things that we tried
to do then and that we also, um, are continuing
on at SBS, is really wanting to do focus groups
to invite, um, our audience to be able to feedback
to us directly on what we're producing. So that's certainly
(15:51):
something that, um, I did previously with Caption Provider and
that SBS continue to do now. We do a focus
group every six months for audio description, um, where we invite, um,
as many people as, as we As we can that
we've been able to get in contact with that are interested.
We got a bunch of names through Vision Australia recently
for people to contact and invite. Um, and yeah, to
(16:14):
just to get that completely immediate feedback. That's been something
that's been really crucial.
S2 (16:19):
Has there been anything that's actually surprised you? I mean,
I mean, if you don't have a disability yourself, doesn't
matter how much involvement you have with people like us,
there's always going to be something that you go, I
hadn't thought about that.
S5 (16:29):
Yeah. No, I really agree. Well, look, the biggest one
really is, is actually the learnings that have come out
of what Francois and Sally do, which is like of
all the initiatives that we've been able to, um, that
has really supported that we've been able to put in
place around our audio description. The one that has caused
the most fundamental change in how we do things is
(16:49):
actually the script review from Francois and Sally's, because it
has changed the way that we have our script writers write.
And in fact, we have recently extended that particular aspect
of reviewing scripts we've invited our vendor to Actually, we've
set up meetings for all of their writers with either
Francois or Sally, and we've kicked that off so that
(17:11):
all of their writers also get the benefit of direct
feedback from people who are blind or have low vision.
And that, to me, has been definitely our biggest and
best initiative.
S2 (17:21):
Francois, I'm going to ask you a similar question. Has
there been any battlefield or something like that where you've thought,
I can't believe people don't know this?
S4 (17:30):
Um, I don't it's never deliberate that they, like, do
things in a certain way, but obviously audio description is
based on rules and things. Describe what you see no
matter what. Um, that was how it started. So if
you have a documentary and in between scene changes, you
would have this beautiful, sweeping landscape just as a filler
(17:54):
between scenes and then traditionally that would often be described
to us, whereas then we instead we would have been
much better off by maybe a post description of what
just happened, or introducing who's going to talk next or where.
This is because there's not always time. So that kind
of putting them in our shoes. It was just an
(18:15):
awareness or maybe the lack thereof. We find that often
scriptwriters are not necessarily friends with or don't know people
who are blind and vision impaired. They may or may
not come from a captioning background. Really good intentions, but
just to kind of live the experience angle that or
just knowing somebody that that's missing which we then I
(18:37):
guess bring to the to the table. Obvious things like
oh she knocks on the door like you can hear it.
Why would you say it then? Um, just gently reminding
people that you don't have to think for us. You
can just describe things that we wouldn't otherwise know. But
we we can think for ourselves if we. The story
is not just what people are saying. It's also all
(19:00):
the other soundscapes. That's part of the story. And we
we pay attention to those.
S2 (19:05):
I think the best audio description treats, um, drama or
documentaries like a radio play. Really. And so the things
that can't be, uh, you know, that you're missing out on,
then that's the bits you include, the things that we
can use, uh, work out for ourselves. Then I think
we can work out for ourselves. Yeah.
S3 (19:21):
So as far as the actual narrators go, I remember
reading in that information that you tried to find indigenous
narrators and culturally appropriate narrators for subtitles and other programs.
Is it hard to find narrators that are appropriate to
the culture of the program?
S5 (19:39):
Do you know what? Working at SBS makes it a
little bit easier. So, um, so because at SBS, you know, um, we,
we have people in the building who are putting out
radio programs in 67 languages every week. Um, because we
have just a huge diversity of, um, backgrounds for people
working at SBS. Actually, it's been easier than it might
(20:02):
have been really, for anyone else. One of our initiatives
has been to also try and involve the creators of
programmes in um, in the scripts for audio description for
their shows. So one of the amazing things that has
happened for us out of that is, you know, we've
had so much buy in from writers, creators, directors of
programmes that are working on a co-production with SBS to
(20:23):
produce something that we will, um, get in touch with
them and let them know we're going to audio describe
their programme. We'll send them a reel of narrators, um,
and ask whether there's anyone suitable on there. And we'll
also ask them to feedback on our scripts. So um,
so they're really quite involved when it's a, you know,
like a commissioned programme that we're working with someone on.
But the really nice thing that's happened is so many
(20:44):
of them have said they'll come in and do the,
do the, the voices for subtitles or whatever else we
might have in there. So, you know, we've had a
number of times where we've had, um, show creators come
in and do that with us, but also we've got
a lot of people to draw on at SBS who've
also been generous with their time, who've come in and
(21:05):
done culturally appropriate voices for subtitles for us.
S2 (21:08):
Do you do audio descriptions only in English, or have
you done audio description? Say, for example, in Creole or
any of the other indigenous languages?
S5 (21:16):
No we haven't. We do subtitling in um, in indigenous languages,
but we haven't done audio description in any other languages.
One of the things we always do is, um, is
when we're acquiring content, one of our standard requests is
that if there is any audio description that comes with
that content, could we have it please? And it's the
thing that sort of, um, a little bit surprising and
(21:37):
very disappointing is that, um, that there's usually no ID
that travels with programs. It's actually really hard for us
to purchase audio description with other programs, we always ask,
we almost never get it because it's not there. So, uh,
we only produce in English. Um, but we always ask
for audio description in other languages for programs that we're
buying in, in case we're able to, to get that
(21:57):
and also put that up.
S2 (21:58):
Well, yeah. I mean, not not not all of us, uh,
speak English as a first language. And a very useful
sort of service, really.
S3 (22:06):
If anybody wants to get involved with, like becoming an
audio descriptive narrator or in the script writing process, how
can they do that?
S5 (22:15):
Yeah, that's a really interesting question. From our point of view,
as I said, we we produce it in two different ways.
And our, our vendor does most of it. So what
we produce in house, we probably, um, are kind of
fully subscribed for contractors to work with us at the moment. Um,
I'm always hopeful that we can expand things, but at
(22:35):
the moment we're probably sort of about where we should be.
But there are existing audio describers who are happy to
teach audio description. I guess I would maybe look for
audio audio describers on LinkedIn and see whether or not
they're interested. Um, that's certainly how we trained everybody that
works with us. We, um, worked with a really well
(22:57):
established audio describer, and, um, she was able to do
training for us around the QC, the quality control stuff
that Francois and Sally do around narration, around scripting, and
in fact, she's trained all of our narrators. So maybe
that's a kind of a way to go about it.
But yeah, I don't know that that's how we did it,
but I'm not sure how how to do that. Otherwise.
(23:18):
I'm not aware of any particular kind of course. Or school.
S4 (23:21):
This coming Friday, Curtin University is actually holding a audio
description symposium where people who are blind or visually impaired. Also,
there's some keynote speakers there which I'm particularly looking forward to.
I've decided just for my own personal, I guess, professional growth.
I look at the I think it's audio description website.
(23:44):
In America, they do, uh, retreats where audio and script
writers and quality control advisers are being trained. So there
are some opportunities. It's still a fledgling industry, especially here. But, um,
I'm hoping that maybe one at some point. other free
(24:05):
to air stations come on board. Or maybe if we
eventually get the legislation over the line that, um, if
if the quotas for AD gets increased, so should the
demand for workers, uh, blind or visually impaired workers in
the field. That's my hope.
S2 (24:21):
Well, yes. I mean, uh, we're kind of stuck with, uh,
the two public broadcasters at the moment. I mean, um.
S5 (24:28):
I hope you don't feel totally stuck with us, Sam.
S2 (24:32):
Oh, sometimes we like to, uh, watch other things. I mean, uh,
some bad reality TV or, uh, or a quiz show
or something like that. Uh.
S3 (24:40):
No. You know what? I'm okay with Keeping Up With
the Kardashians not being audio described. Thanks.
S5 (24:46):
Sam. Back to your question about, um, things that are upcoming.
I guess I'd just like to make sure everyone knows that, um,
that we have launched our ad service on SBS On Demand.
We currently have about, uh, well over 570 movies and
TV shows, including drama series, documentaries, and the occasional cooking
program available with AD on SBS On Demand. Yeah, just
(25:07):
really keen that people are aware that that that is
is definitely in place and available now.
S2 (25:13):
Is there a particular website that people can go to
to actually find what is available, or is it specifically? Um,
SBS or the ABC, or is there anything that's sort of, uh,
like a third party or something like that?
S5 (25:24):
So there's two places we have audio schedule update service
on Blind Citizens Australia. It's a phone up service. And
we also have, um, a schedule on the SBS ad
program page. Um, they're both updated essentially weekly. But, um,
in terms of finding programming on SBS On Demand, our
team has been our digital teams have been working on
a lot to do with the access and, um, and
(25:47):
making things more easily navigable on, on demand for people who, um,
are kind of coming to us with, um, you know,
just various assistive technologies that they might be using. So
things are searchable now for on demand just by putting
in audio description. And that will take you actually to
the web page, that to the correct page that will
(26:08):
give you all of the stuff that's available and searchable.
S2 (26:10):
Oh that's great. That's yeah, that's that's all we need, really. Um.
It's fantastic. All right. Well, um, Francois and Victoria, thank
you so much for joining us. Um, we, uh, will
carry on. We look forward to to hearing what you're
up to.
S4 (26:27):
No worries. Happy viewing.
S3 (26:28):
And of course, we'll have, uh, links to the websites and, uh,
appliances and Australia up on the podcast notes so that
people can go and find all the the list of
audio described programs you have.
S5 (26:40):
Yeah. That's lovely. Thank you. And yeah, if you're feeling
like really going out there, give hundreds of beavers a go.
S3 (26:45):
I might just do that.
S2 (26:48):
That's a wrap for this week. A big thank you
to Francois and Victoria.
S3 (26:52):
And then, of course, thank you for listening. That includes
our listeners on the Reading Radio Network. As usual, you
can find this episode plus some extra content on Apple, Spotify,
Google or your favorite podcast platform next week.
S2 (27:07):
Mother's day arrives on a Wednesday. Just this once we
break out the flowers, chocolates and badly made breakfasts in bed.
S3 (27:15):
We also chat with Lisa, a vision impaired mother, and
Sarah Evans about her experiences, and she also shares what
support is out there for vision impaired parents.
S2 (27:25):
Between now and then. Please do get in touch with
the show. Whether you have experience of any of the
issues covered on this week's episode of Studio One, or
if you think there's something we should be talking about.
You never know. Your story and insight may help somebody
else who is dealing with something similar.
S3 (27:39):
You can email us at studio One at Vision Australia. Org.
That's studio number one at Vision Australia. Org or of
course you can find us on any of the social
media platforms like Facebook or Instagram by searching for VA
Radio Network.
S2 (27:54):
This program was made possible with the support from the
Community Broadcasting Foundation. Find out more at CBF. Org.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.