Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Wednesday 05 December
6:15 PM - 8:30 PM
June Thomas is the senior managing producer of Slate podcasts – and if you’ve ever listened to a Slate podcast, you’re probably already familiar with her affable Northern English accent.
Through her two decades on staff, Thomas has featured in the outlet’s popular ‘Gabfests’ (Culture, Political) The Waves (née Double X Gabfest), and helmed projects like The Americans (analysing the TV series of the same name) and Afterword (a 30-episode exploration of the art of non-fiction writing). The pioneering New York-based digital magazine joined the podcast game early, and with vigour; today, it continues to produce hugely popular talk-based shows. Thomas has been there to observe it all.
She’s also been the publication’s foreign editor, as well as the editor and podcast host of its LGBTQ+ section, Outward. A respected cultural critic, she’s known for her unorthodox tastes. She’s big on podcasts about pens and pencils – and subscribes to the member magazine of the American Dental Association.
Join us in December for a chat with June Thomas about the value of niche culture, the maturation of podcasting, and what makes a conversation worth eavesdropping on. Hosted by Sophie Black.
So You Think You Can Pod
In the second part of this event, Thomas will lend us her ears as a judge of So You Think You Can Pod – the Wheeler Centre’s search for new, audible ideas, now open for entries – alongside comedian and Short Cuts presenter Josie Long (appearing via video link from the UK), radio producer and Broadwave co-founder Areej Nur, and Sophie Black and Jon Tjhia from the Wheeler Centre.
Drinks available for purchase on the night.
Featuring
June Thomas
June Thomas is senior managing producer of the Slate Podcast Network and has worked at the magazine for more than 21 years. A former managing editor and foreign editor, she also wrote about television and popular culture and founded Outward, Slate’s LGBTQ section. She started podcasting in 2005, when she produced the daily Explainer, and has since hosted series about TV shows and books and produced three seasons of a behind-the-scenes show about the TV spy thriller The Americans.
She is currently one of the hosts of The Waves, Slate’s podcast about gender and feminism. In her role as managing producer, she has launched El Gabfest en Español, Slate’s first Spanish-language show; Decoder Ring, a series that solves cultural mysteries; and Outward, Slate’s new LGBTQ podcast. June was born and raised in Manchester, England, but she has now spent most of her life in the United States and is a US citizen.
Areej Nur
Areej Nur is a radio producer, presenter and educator. She is also co-founder of the podcast network Broadwave. Most of Areej’s work seeks to support women of colour, particularly black women, to be at the forefront of conversations about media, arts, race and feminism in Australia.
Sophie Black
Sophie Black is a writer, journalist and Crikey’s editor-in-chief. She has worked in senior management across cultural and media organisations, and has written for outlets such as The Guardian and The Monthly. As the Wheeler ...
Jon Tjhia
Jon Tjhia was the Wheeler Centre’s Senior Digital Editor.
He worked on the Wheeler Centre's multimedia, editorial and digital projects from 2010–2020, including #discuss, the short-form multimedia series Housekeeping, and long-form podcast series Better Off Dead and The Messenger, which won several awards. He's a co-editor and co-founder of the Australian Audio Guide, and has been a member of Audiocraft's programming committee, the Walkley Awards' Radio/Audio Feature judging panel, the New York Festivals Radio Awards Grand Jury and ABC RN's Ian Reed Foundation committee for audio fiction/drama.
Elsewhere, Jon produces the Paper Radio literary fiction and creative non-fiction podcast, makes the occasional radio thing, writes essays and plays music with Speed Painters. In 2016, he was a top-ten finalist in Radiotopia's Podquest competition.
Better Off Dead was named Finalist at New York Festivals Radio Awards 2016. The Messenger was awarded the Grand Trophy and two Gold Medals at New York Festivals Radio Awards 2017; the 2017 UNAA Media Award for Best Radio Documentary; the 2017 Walkley Award for Radio/Audio Feature; and (with Behind the Wire's They Cannot Take the Sky), the 2017 Australian Human Rights Commission Media Award. It was also a finalist at the 2017 Quill Awards, and runner-up for the 2018 Whicker's Documentary Audio Recognition Award.
Previously, as a digital producer at ABC Radio Australia, Jon developed websites in seven languages, interviewed musicians from around the Pacific Islands, and provided multi-platform coverage of that region’s largest music festival, Fest'napuan. He’s occasionally involved in art and sound projects (including a collaborative residency in Wiluna, Western Australia, Eavesdropping at the Ian Potter Museum of Art, and the Soundhouse programme at London's Barbican Centre) and has presented, suggested and advised on sound design and audio storytelling at an armful of festivals, conferences and email threads.
He holds a BA (Cultural Studies) and MMm. The latter is an actual postnominal, although your cooking is indeed good.
Josie Long
Often described as a unique voice in comedy, Josie is one of the most respected comedians of her generation. She started stand-up at age 14 and went on to win the BBC New Comedy Award.
She has continued to perform stand-up around the world and her eighth solo stand-up show, Something Better, had a sell-out two weeks at the Soho Theatre in London, followed by a two-week run at the Barrow Street Theatre New York.
On TV and radio, Josie has appeared on The News Quiz, Just A Minute, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Skins, 8 out of 10 Cats, Drunk History and Russell Howard’s Stand-Up Central. Josie has also worked extensively in factual areas – she investigated the rise of online comedy for The Culture Show on BBC2 and is the presenter and writer of Radio 4’s Short Cuts, in its 13th series.