Radiotopia and Beyond with Julie Shapiro

You might think of Julie Shapiro as a master listener.

Back in 2000 – before podcasting was invented – Shapiro was a co-founder and the artistic director of the highly respected Third Coast International Audio Festival in Chicago, dedicated to extending the craft and awareness of artful radio storytelling. She did that for 14 years: a time during which the creative audio community, listenership and marketplace exploded.

Today – amid all the excitement, investment and real innovation around podcasting – she’s the executive producer of Radiotopia, the tightly curated Boston-based network widely considered the ‘indie record label’ of podcasts … and home to 99% Invisible, Ear Hustle, The Heart, Song Exploder and many more.

Shapiro also boasts a strong connection to Australia. From 2014 to 2015, she lived in Sydney as executive producer of ABC RN’s Creative Audio Unit, which produced the boundary-blasting Soundproof and the storytelling show Radiotonic.

This December, she visits Melbourne to share insights from her long career in listening – and to discuss collaboration, reinvention and the long view in the era of the podcast, with host Sophie Black.

In the second part of this event, Julie Shapiro will lend us her ears as a judge of So You Think You Can Pod – the Wheeler Centre’s search for new, audible ideas – alongside Audiocraft executive director Kate Montague, Australian podcast producer Eric George (Bowraville, Ballarat’s Children) and Wheeler Centre senior digital editor Jon Tjhia.