The Australian Aviation Podcast has officially reached every continent, with even expeditioners at Casey Station in Antarctica tuning in.
Members of the 77th Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE) celebrate with a midwinter swim. (Image: © Owen Horton/Australian Antarctic Division)
Supply officer Owen Horton from the 77th Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE) reached out to podcast hosts Adam and Jake this month to thank them for their hard work on the weekly show, which has reached around 600,000 downloads worldwide.
“A big thank you to hosting such a wonderful and informative podcast. I am an avid listener, and enjoy listening to the episodes down South,” he said.
Horton – who is in charge of logistics and supply at Casey Station, located at 660 16’ 55” S, 1100 31’ 36” E – and his cohort of around 30 fellow researchers and support staff are spending 13 months living in Antarctica, with seven months down and six to go.
“Currently the temperature is hovering around -30 degrees, and the peak wind speed this week was 70kts. Until the sea ice melts around October, we are completely cut-off from the outside world,” he said.
“Morale is still generally high on station, but some of our more limited food items are starting to run low, and we’ll see how things change when we eventually run out. We finished the last packet of Tim Tams last month (though I don’t understand the Australians’ hype around these – they’re just Penguin Biscuits minus the joke), and my personal stock of Yorkshire Gold is definitely running low.”
The podcast, which features Australian Aviation editor Adam Thorn and senior journalist Jake Nelson – with guest appearances from media strategist Ben Foster – is a consistent hit with listeners, with thousands of downloads every month, and net growth in followers for 11 of the past 12 months according to figures from Apple.
Viewers are sticking around, too, with data showing an average 76 per cent consumption rate on the last 10 episodes.
While Thorn and Nelson were invited to join the Casey Station mid-winter celebration this month, Thorn says they had to regretfully decline the offer, which would have involved a minimum four-month stay, a shared single bed, and 48 hours’ notice for the expedition to groom the blue-ice runway at the station and make sure it was ready for aircraft.
“We’ve had a lot of feedback from people who love our podcast, but finding out even people in Antarctica are enjoying our work is a new one for us,” said Thorn.
“We’re sorry for missing your mid-winter celebration this year, Owen, as it’s tough to book a flight that far south at this time of year – but we’d love to have you in the studio once you get back to warmer climes!”
You can find the Australian Aviation Podcast Network on Apple or Spotify and on all major podcasting platforms, on the Australian Aviation website – as well as video recordings on the Australian Aviation YouTube channel.