Faces behind Geelong’s

BARWON Heads sports broadcaster Mark Howard fell into podcasting by accident.

Three years later, his modest ambition has become a juggernaut.

Andre Kufe only started his podcast last year. A few months ago he cut his hours as a youth worker to make more time for the new obsession.

Steph Sanzaro was interviewed for someone else’s podcast, but never made it to air. Still, the experience was so inspiring she started her own.

Each of these podcasters from the Geelong region has become hooked on inspiring their growing online audiences.

And their experiences show the power and popularity of this fast-emerging medium.

A recent Roy Morgan Research study showed Australia’s podcast market has grown 70 per cent in the past four years, with one in 10 people (1.6 million) downloading the web-based audio and video programs each month.

The pollster’s chief Michele Levine said podcasts were having an increasing impact on Australia’s media landscape.

“The ability to listen to your favourite podcast while commuting to and from work and tuning out from the hustle and bustle on crowded public transport, or just relaxing in your spare time to catch up on what’s been happening in an area of personal interest is appealing to a growing number of Australians,” she said.

Howard, better known as Howie, rides that popularity higher than most, with more than 80 episodes of The Howie Games now online.

His interviews with the biggest names in Australian sport, and some international superstars, have drawn a staggering audience, and are even promoted on billboards in Melbourne’s CBD.

“We started off our first episode with (cricketer) Adam Gilchrist about three years ago,” Howie said. “After a week we’d had 100 listeners.

“After a month we had 1000, and I remember cele