News Corp Australia today announced the appointment of Rachel Fountain (lead image) as content director, audio (news, sport and lifestyle) for NewsCast, the company’s on-demand audio division.
In this new role Fountain will work alongside the company’s newsrooms to develop news, sport and lifestyle audio programming as the business continues to build its commercial audio offering. This includes commissioning and creating audio programming to complement the podcasts produced by News Corp Australia’s mastheads.
Fountain is a multi-award-winning executive producer and journalist who has created hit podcasts, radio, and digital content. She joins NewsCast from the independent podcast business Deadset Studios, where she was executive producer and head of development for the past two and a half years. In this role, she produced podcasts including Journo, The Solutionists, Curveball, Culture Compass, Restitution and Hooked, Hitched & Hung Up. Before this, Fountain was an executive producer (podcasts) for ABC.
“We are excited to have someone as experienced as Rachel in the podcasting world join NewsCast to build out our audio team,” said News Corp Australia’s acting general manager of audio, Shannon Hollis.
“We create a wide range of podcasts across news, sport and lifestyle and Rachel will lead the development and growth of our audiences in these categories. She will work closely with our masthead brands and talent to further grow our content and audiences. Her appointment is key for the ambitions we have in growing NewsCast in the coming year”.
“I’m thrilled with this chance to work alongside News Corp Australia’s journalists and the NewsCast audio team. It’s a real opportunity to build on the work they’re doing and connect with that audience hungry for audio content,” said Fountain.
Fountain will join the business on Monday, January 8.
News Corp Australia has a podcast portfolio across news, sport, lifestyle, health, finance and the popular true crime genre. The company’s growing news, sport and lifestyle podcast offering includes The Matty Johns Podcast, Browny’s Podcast, DT NRL, HS Footy, The Front, From the Newsroom, The Money Puzzle, Something to Talk About, Healthy-ish, Extra Healthy-ish, The Juggling Act and Under the Gloss.
