Podcast award nominations, local election hustings and a breathless start to 2025
A few reflections after trying (and failing) to take a breather over Easter...
Good evening,
The digest post will be back in its usual What I've Been Reading format from Wednesday after having a little rest over the Easter school holiday period.
For me though, it was anything but restful. Two kids, my wife very much on shift (she works in the NHS), an independent news title which is growing and expanding (we're deluged with story tip-offs at the moment!), and innovating in different ways (podcast new series launch, holding events about regeneration of the city, local elections coverage, a major website refresh and overhaul) and a continuing contract to try and find a future for a national and local newsletter-focused political product. It's pretty tiring! So over Easter I thought I'd take a moment to jot down a few things achieved in the first part of this year.
One thing I've found in working for yourself, rather than within a large organisational structure as I was before, is you don't have as many set-piece moments where it is recognised what you're doing (or you take stock on what you’re doing) - and your need to report on what you're doing versus focus on delivery is different too. But I think it's good practice to reflect every now and again (and I can hear Francois in my head from the journalism leadership and innovation course right now reminding me of that).
So starting with an absolute win. The Parched Pea Podcast, a collaboration between ourselves at Blog Preston and the National World Publishing group, and now including independent radio station Central Radio, and fronted by former BBC Lancashire presenter, John 'Gilly' Gillmore, is up for two national podcast awards. It's shortlisted in the best local/community podcast and best partnership podcast in the Publisher Podcast Awards.
All credit to
and the National World pods team as they've amassed a huge number of nominations across the board.I think it's particularly heartening because it shows how independent and established media can work together, the podcast has been sponsored from the word go so it's diversifying not just content for our titles, but revenue too. And at its heart, it's telling great stories about real people. And it's the most Preston of podcasts, the response to it has been heartening to see. I've written previously a bit more about the makings of the podcast. Thank you to everyone who has been involved, I feel as the world becomes awash with influencer-led filmed in a studio optimised for LinkedIn emoji reax podcasts then the Parched Pea, recorded out on location and embedded in the community becomes ever more crucial.
With
, we continue to work with the title as Alma, and since Christmas have expanded our brief to also work closely with the national output as it had transitioned to Substack. Subscription growth is most definitely a long game, but we have dozens of people paying to receive high quality, in-depth, news and features - and opinion-led journalism - direct to their inboxes on a regular basis. While also balancing that against a mission to ensure the journalism is well-read and has impact (not just to those who pay to subscribe). There's still a big piece of work to do on brand positioning, but if this round-up of what we're most proud of in 2025 so far is anything to by then we're in good shape. Along with dedicated local titles in Lancashire, Blackpool, Southport, Teesside and Calderdale often setting the local news agenda.We've had a lot going on in the 'In Real Life' section too. The In-Between Places brought dozens of people together in Preston to try and plot a way forward for 10 currently empty buildings. It was funded by the Preston Partnership and we helped architect John Bridge - who lives a slightly bonkers artist impression of the city - to bring it together. One thing we can guarantee as Blog Preston is we can fill a room. I think that's always a yardstick of a healthy community news outlet.
It was an interesting evening, with people from the architecture, developer, heritage, civic, political and community sectors in one room to try and come up with solutions. We've published our follow-up piece detailing some ideas for each building, along with their ownership state-of-play too. It’s another thing local media can always do well - ask questions, square the circle and ensure there’s an actual output/outcome from an event too.
There's lots of progress being made in Preston at the moment - and the potential for much more. A hat-tip to my fellow Alma director Shirah for the work she's doing on Preston Innovates and other projects in and around the city to showcase its potential. And with the likes of Convention of the North recently being hosted here, and the upcoming LIFT Festival too, there's lots starting to happen in terms of business/tech/digital/political events.
Back to collaboration, and earlier this month we brought together the five main political parties in Lancashire who are seeking control of County Hall for a good old-fashioned election hustings. Nearly 100 people packed into a very warm room at the Samlesbury Hotel on the banks of the River Ribble to see the intense 90-minute debate between Tories (currently in power), Labour, Reform, Greens and Liberal Democrats.
At the time of writing, more than 20,000 people have watched our live stream (and it'll be plenty more once you add in other live streams) from the hustings. We put it together as a trio between the Lancashire Post, Lancashire Lead and Blog Preston. BBC Local Democracy Reporter Paul Faulkner, based at the Post, once again was a superb host and question master.
Away from journalism, but still rooted in localness, I'm a below-average cricket player for my local side Grimsargh. I joined up in 2023 after being berated for not having enough of a hobby that wasn't journalism (my wife regrets the day she muttered these words, let me tell you) so I got my whites back on after not having played as a teenager. Last season I managed to dislocate my finger spectacularly badly in a fielding mishap in the second week of the season, so I put my effort into off the field activities instead while out crocked.
We launched a crowdfunder to raise the £64,000 needed to bring our outdoor nets facility back into use after many years of no use and also secured planning application (ask me about biodiversity net gain and I'll bore your socks off). Last month we hit that funding target after a trudge since September to raise the money - with contributions coming from all over the place. Work will hopefully start once the season comes to a close, and most importantly it should be a facility which is mostly used by the growing youth set up at our club. It's for them, as they will be the ones who go on to play for many years ahead once eventually all of our knees and backs give way.
And I'll finish with when work and life collide. On Bank Holiday Easter Monday I was down in Avenham Park in Preston to take the kids to the long-standing egg rolling tradition in Preston - and get some video and snaps for use on Blog Preston. I saw local snapper Mick Porter (who takes fantastic pics of all the big events in the city) and he got this amazing picture of my daughter Connie. One I will treasure forever.
Running your own business, and businesses in my case, is tough. But I have some fantastic people around me (Luke, Shirah, Kate and many others) and ultimately, needing to ensure there's a future for your kids helps gets you out of bed in the morning!
Thanks all for reading - the usual What I’ve Been Reading digest returns on Wednesday - if there’s anything you think I should be featuring or diving into then feel free to drop me a line on ed@almaonline.co.uk
Hope you’ve had a great weekend.
Keep going.
Ed