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Award-winning radio and podcast producer Kellie Riordan is pleased to announce the launch of CURVEBALL, the first original podcast produced by her new independent audio consultancy DEADSET STUDIOS.

After 18 years working at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) as the lead creator of Australia’s top podcasts, including; Conversations, Ladies We Need To Talk, comedy hit Judith Lucy Overwhelmed and Dying, and true crime smash Unravel: Snowball, Kellie made a life-changing decision. Amid Australia’s first COVID lockdown, she took a leap and launched DEADSET STUDIOS.

“DEADSET STUDIOS leans into the power of the human voice to share stories that resonate. It offers high-level strategic advice to media houses, brands, organisations, and producers to set them up for success in the podcast space,” says Kellie. “The consultancy advises podcasters on how to cut through with their content, maximise their audience growth, and we set clients up for success in the podcast space.”

In partnership with iHeart Radio Network, DEADSET STUDIOS has just launched its debut podcast series CURVEBALL. Every Tuesday, Kellie takes her listeners inside Australia’s biggest businesses, within sectors that have faced extraordinary challenges this year. Through her intimate and honest conversations with high-profile business leaders, Kellie finds out how they thrived when the stakes were high.

Host and Producer Kellie Riordan said, “We’re living in unprecedented times. Every company, big or small, has had to adapt. And fast. So I wanted to know, how have the biggest, boldest, and brightest leaders confronted this challenge head on? Rarely do you get to glimpse what’s really going on during a company’s darkest hour, but in these revealing, personal conversations with leaders we can all learn something about how you tackle life’s toughest moments and come out on top.”

CURVEBALL takes off with former CEO of Virgin Australia Paul Scurrah. Paul talks about what took place behind the scenes at Virgin headquarters during the worst aviation crisis in history. We learn how Paul was forced to ground nearly his entire fleet of aircraft in just 48 hours and then stood down 80% of his workforce in response to the pandemic. An exclusive special episode follows on his final curveball, stepping down as CEO of Virgin Australia.

Other episodes in the series include;

·  Carolyn Creswell of the Carman’s food empire who took a massive punt to increase her stock holdings at the height of the pandemic… because when toilet paper was flying out the door, so were muesli bars.

·  Dr. Briony Scott on shutting her private school down early, copping heat from the media over it, and dealing with international students who couldn’t get home, plus her lung cancer curveball.

·  Michael Fox who got VC money for his start-up… took it to the US and was killing it before the whole thing tanked. Again, he’s super honest about the ride and has now secured VC money for a new start-up.

·  Kevin Whyte, the head of Token Group and agent to stars Wil Anderson, Judith Lucy, and Hannah Gadsby, describes how they pivoted when the Melbourne Comedy Festival was cancelled.

Kellie Riordan further comments, “I am really excited about the stories DEADSET STUDIOS will explore, create and share in the new year. We’re already working on some innovative shows and consulting with big media houses globally”.

CURVEBALL is available on iHeartRADIO, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts and Castbox

DEADSET STUDIOS is also the home of the popular Pod Squad newsletter, a fortnightly podcast recommendation service that points listeners to the most innovative new podcasts in the market.