Radio Times has launched a new podcast on gaming culture and the community within it, as part of publisher Immediate Media's wider push into podcasting.
Hosted by the brand's gaming editor Rob Leane, One More Life launched on Tuesday this week, coinciding with the week of the Radio Times’ 100th anniversary. Each episode sees Leane speak to celebrity gaming fans and creators about their gaming lives and what advice they have based on their experiences.
At the end of the episode, guests are asked to choose which game they would place above the rest and which they would play if they could only have one. All episodes are available to listen to across major podcast platforms.
“One More Life is a celebration of the gaming community – it’s been so fun to hear the gaming origin stories of our fascinating guests, from their earliest gameplay memories to the titles they’ve spent the most hours with, and even the ones that have made them throw their controller in frustration!” said Leane. “Gaming is about more than just high scores and ‘getting good’ - it’s a way of life, an escape, and a source of joy for so many people.”
“Whether you consider yourself a hardcore gamer or more of a casual fan, you’ll probably recognise a lot of yourself in our guests and their gaming stories.”
The guest lineup for season one of the weekly podcast includes streamer and presenter Trisha Hershberger, Rebellion Developments CEO Jason Kingsley OBE, The Sims franchise creative vice president Lyndsay Pearson, as well as Football Manager design manager Ant Farley, Pokémon Go senior producer Tim Nguyen, and Sarah Beaulieu, narrative director for the upcoming game Assassin’s Creed Mirage.
“The RadioTimes.com audience are huge gaming fans - our gaming news, features and updates are consistently some of our most read content, so launching One More Life is a logical next step,” said Radio Times executive editor Morgan Jeffery. “The line-up of guests is stellar and I’m looking forward to adding One More Life to my podcast playlist.”
Radio Times owner Immediate Media runs a number of podcast titles under several of its publications, including The Radio Times Podcast, HistoryExtra, BBC Gardener’s World Magazine podcast and The Olive Magazine podcast. Immediate Media’s head of podcasts Ben Youatt told PodPod in a previous episode that brands within the organisation launch podcasts for different reasons, with some doing it for commercial reasons and others doing it for brand awareness.
“The first thing we do is try and ask them why, which might sound really simple but it's often the thing that stumps a lot of people,” said Youatt. “Sometimes the idea they may have started with ends up being completely different when you actually hammer out a strategy around why you're trying to do this.”
“Radio Times is typically known for having an older readership so how do we take a digital medium and help them really get who they are out to a new and younger audience? That's what the brand wanted to do with the strategy behind the show.”
