Osman Faruqi fronts new Schwartz Media podcast The Culture
Independent media company Schwartz Media has announced the launch of a new podcast covering the world of arts and culture.
The Culture launches at the end of May, and will be hosted by the editor of Schwartz’s hugely successful 7am news podcast, Osman Faruqi.
7am editor Faruqi will host The Culture
The podcast has been created following the growth of 7am’s culture coverage, and will see Faruqi take a weekly look at the film, music, TV, streaming, books and art.
He said: “The Culture is a show I’ve wanted to make for a long time. We hear from our audience all the time that they’re hungry for smart, engaging and fun angles on what they love watching and listening to.
“The show will be mainstream and accessible but also won’t shy away from discussing broader social themes that emerge from discussions around film, music and TV. Think of an Australian Still Processing, the NYT culture podcast.”
Faruqi was formerly a presenter on ABC’s The Mix, and has also worked at NME and Junkee, and hosts radio shows on FBi and Triple R.
Each episode of The Culture will see conversation’s from across Schwartz Media including Anwen Crawford, Shaad D’Souza, Christos Tsiolkas and Bri Lee.
Schwartz Media CEO Rebecca Costello said the new podcast “makes sense” for the publisher.
“When we released 7am, we filled a gap in the market for an independent and high-quality Australian news podcast, quickly becoming the country’s most popular daily news podcast.
“News and culture are two of the things Schwartz Media does really well so The Culture just makes perfect sense for us. We are anticipating The Culture will be well received by existing readers and listeners as well as totally new audiences.
“Schwartz Media has a long history of partnering with Australia’s leading cultural institutions and The Culture presents many exciting opportunities for advertisers to reach engaged, culturally active audiences.”
Since launching in 2019, 7am has regularly been the #1 news podcast in Australia, regularly placing in the Top 10 on the Australian Podcast Ranker – just this week landing at #6.
The Culture will be released weekly on Fridays from 28 May, with each episode to last 30-40 minutes.
Faruqi added: “Long-form, engaging cultural criticism is something we desperately need more of in this country and I’m stoked we’re creating something new in this space.
“Some of my first gigs in media and journalism were writing music reviews and throughout my career arts and culture criticism is something I’ve always come back to, so launching this show feels really natural for me.”
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Zanda Wilson was a reporter and podcast producer at Mumbrella, specialising in radio reporting. He left Mumbrella in September 2021.
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