South Aussie podcasting duo, Sean Craig Murphy and Mena Soliman, have been shortlisted for the prestigious Australian Podcast Awards for their podcast, Everyday Conspiracy Theories. Nominated as a finalist in the Entertainment category, they showcase the wholesome, laughable, thought-provoking and largely plagiarised observations about stuff you encounter everyday.
“Like suspiciously magnified seafood cabinets that make your prawns look bigger, T-shirts secretly designed by optometrists to coax you into new glasses, and something about feminine hygiene products that we probably shouldn’t go into here…” they said.
Mena Soliman started working in audio hosting breaky shows in regional areas of Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia, all before securing his first metropolitan position. His passion for creative thinking has since earned him numerous awards and propelled him to the forefront of the industry.
Sean Craig Murphy graces the radio waves at SAFM and also owns Adelaide’s Australian Radio School – teaching the next generation of on-air talent. He combines thorough research with compelling storytelling to engage audiences.
At the heart of the podcast is the playful banter between Sean and Mena, who have been friends for years, with each 15-minute episode a delightful romp where they lovingly poke fun at each other.
Mena reflected on the experience, saying, “It’s a joy to work on a passion project and have it find an audience so quickly. To receive this recognition and to see our humble little artwork sitting alongside these stars feels quite unreal.”
Expressing their excitement, Sean shared, “We’re incredibly humbled to be nominated among the finalists in our category who are multimedia superstars.”
“It’s unreal!”
“I used top fanboy/stalk Tony Martin, Tony Armstrong is like a Gold Logie nominee, Mark Bouris is scary good and Toni and Ryan are global podcast superstars,” he said.
“It’s an impressive category to be in seeing as they are all big heavy weights and we are only episodes 30 deep!” Sean added.
What sets Everyday Conspiracy Theories apart is its lighthearted approach to everyday curiosities rather than the heavy-duty conspiracy theories that often dominate the genre.
“After the hard work he put into the pod, it brings us so much joy to see the podcast be received,” Sean said.
“We have really active listeners, hanging on to every word and interacting with us via socials or email.
“We get so many emails and so many people telling us about little daily conspiracy”
The podcast tackles amusing topics like whether pharmacists are intentionally making us wait for prescriptions to encourage impulse shopping, if Starbucks baristas are deliberately misspelling names as part of a viral marketing scheme, and even the possibility of prawns being magnified in seafood displays to look more enticing.
“We’ve been knocking around the idea for a podcast for years and it’s a lot of work,” Sean said.
“Mena and I are both contrarians, black sheep, zaggers not ziggers, so we look at the world differently, with a bit of scrutiny.”
Recently they did a deep dive into “why Bunnings receipts fade so quick”. According to Sean, it’s all a ploy so you – the buyer – don’t have enough time to return your purchase.
“We are learning to question everything, we now see something and go oooooh why’s that?” Sean said.
Sean also gave a nod to South Aussie comedy duo and hosts of the sensational podcast ‘The Beautiful Nightmare’ Shanelle Franklin and Tamara Linke, who are once again nominees for ‘Best Comedy Podcast’ in the awards.
“It’s so great to also see Shanelle and Tamara getting recognised for their fantastic work,” he said.
Since launching in February, Everyday Conspiracy Theories has quickly gained traction, already racking up three national award nominations and winning “Best Hosts” at the Radio Today Australia/New Zealand Podcast Awards in July.
Listeners can tune in to new episodes every Tuesday morning at 6 AM on all major podcast platforms and if you’ve got an EVERYDAY Conspiracy Theory, send it to [email protected].
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