New podcast Commonwealth Stories launches!
Our new podcast celebrates Birmingham's diversity, rich cultures and incredible communities
What does the Commonwealth mean to modern Brummies?
It’s an event that will go down in our city’s history - this year, the Commonwealth Games come to Birmingham. This July, Birmingham will be thrust onto the world stage as athletes and fans travel far and wide to witness the iconic sporting spectacle.
Alongside the world-class sporting entertainment on offer, BirminghamLive will be celebrating the city's diversity, rich cultures and incredible communities.
But we also felt there are some difficult questions that are not being asked about the Commonwealth - particularly, its roots in the British Empire.
So Birmingham Live have joined forces with us here at Laudable to launch an eight-episode podcast to do just that.
In this podcast we'll be asking: What does the Commonwealth mean to modern Brummies?
In our search for an answer, we’ve spoken to people from a host of nations, from Africa to Asia, from North America to the Caribbean - all of whom have found a home in Birmingham.
You’ll hear the voices of people from all walks of life, including gold medal winning athletes, musicians, business owners, charity workers, artists, nurses, teachers and more.
Among our amazing line-up of guests is legendary Birmingham photographer Pogus Caesar, hometown cricket hero Salma Bi and former England netball captain Ama Agbeze MBE. Theirs are just three of many amazing stories you will hear on this groundbreaking podcast.
So what does the Commonwealth mean to us now? How has it shaped the Birmingham we know today? And what lasting legacy do we hope the Games will leave on our city?
Birmingham Live's Commonwealth Stories podcast launched its first two episodes on June 8, with following episodes being released weekly over the next six weeks, in the lead up to the Games.
Commonwealth Stories is written and hosted by Nathan Clarke, Aida Fofana, Anisah Vasta and Matt Millard - and it is produced, edited and narrated by Laudable’s Matt Millard.
The podcast is available on all your favourite podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. To keep up to date with the latest episodes make sure to follow and subscribe.
Global Media Awards: world best at audio!
Well, that was a pleasant surprise. The trophy cabinet at Laudable HQ is beginning to bulge.
Following our win at the Publisher Podcast Awards, where Brummie Mummies was named ‘Best Local and Community Podcast’, we have another accolade to add to our collection.
At the start of the year, we entered the Global Media Awards, presented by INMA, alongside 854 other entries from 252 news brands in 46 countries.
The finalists hail from Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America.
One of those finalists included Laudable in the ‘Best Use of Audio’ category for Brands.
We believed that Laudable is a new type of audio and podcasting service, unlocking the knowledge in our newsrooms across the country and turning it into immersive experiences for readers.
And on Thursday afternoon, we received this news…
The judging team at the Global Media Awards - made up of 50 media experts from 24 countries - praised the technical and experimental quality of our podcasts, complimenting our team for putting user needs at the heart of content.
Not only are our podcasts award-winning, they are also world beating! We’ll be cracking open the Prosecco at the weekend.
Fly tipping: A tsunami of waste sweeping the North
A tsunami of fly tipping has been sweeping the North, with a spike in cases during the pandemic accelerating a trend that has been creeping up for years.
The latest figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs reveal nearly 310,000 incidents of fly-tipping were recorded by councils across the North in 2020/21 - the equivalent of 35 every hour.
That’s up 15% from fewer than 270,000 reports of illegally-dumped rubbish in 2019/20, with the increase linked to lockdown.
Annie Gouk investigates this scourge of illegally dumped waste in the latest episode of The North in Numbers, speaking to campaigners, councillors, and volunteers.
The North in Numbers returned to all major podcasting platforms for its third series last month, including Apple and Spotify.
The podcast is a Laudable production for Reach, and it is presented by Annie Gouk and produced by Dan McLaughlin.
Annie is now on maternity leave! The team at Laudable HQ wish her all the happiness and best of health - and we’ll be back with future episodes of The North in Numbers in the near future, with a new listener in tow!