Christchurch teens ‘stick it’ to big-media

MEDIA RELEASE 23rd August 2010

Representing NZ in the USA; Christchurch teens ‘stick it’ to big-media

Four Christchurch teenagers are representing New Zealand to the world, as the Internet podcast ‘Teen Action!’ clocks up its 15,000th download. 

Lily Batt (16), Jono Childs (16) and twins Hannah & Bridget Williams (18) host the ‘almost daily’ ten-minute podcast, which is downloaded to the listener’s iPod or computer through the popular podcast discovery service ‘iTunes’.

Since March, the unscripted radio-style show has grown by word-of-mouth, a few Facebook ads, and a brief appearance on TV2’s ‘The Erin Simpson Show’.  The foursome tackle all manner of topics for the teen audience, often being a little risqué (with no broadcasting standards policing the content).  Some of the ‘lighter’ topics have been piercings, first dates, family trips and kissing with braces.  But the team has helped to voice opinions on issues harder to discuss, such as suicide, drunken driving, abortion and eating disorders.

But the wider reach of the show is revealed by Teen Action!’s listener statistics:  Although reaching over 15,000 unique downloads, only 49% are coming from New Zealand.  The United States of America comes in second place, with 34% of the downloads, and the rest are spread across such countries as the UK, Singapore, Australia and Germany.

“I’m proud of what these guys do,” says producer Kerry Du Pont. “As well as building their future careers in the media, they’re really sticking it to our traditional mainstream broadcasters by covering topics that teens actually want to hear discussed.”

Teen Action! is approaching episode number one hundred, and shows no signs of stopping.  “We get new emails every week from teenagers around the country, saying how much they love the show.  These hosts aren’t getting paid, and there’s not a lot of fame involved… It’s just for the fun of it, like how radio used to be,” said Mr Du Pont.

People interested in hearing the show can visit http://teenaction.co.nz, or search for ‘Teen Action!’ on iTunes and Facebook.

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