While the beloved duo might be gone from the radio dial, Ned Breward and Josh Torney – aka Ned & Josh – remain firmly in the heart of Canberrans. The best friends launched The Ned & Josh Podcast on Wednesday morning and have been met by an outpouring of support from local listeners.

“The support people have shown us after the first episode has been near eyewatering,” says Ned.

“We were pretty emotionally raw with the first episode, which isn’t a gear we go into that often, and people have responded in such a beautiful way. This place is home, and if we had any doubts about that beforehand, today has just solidified it because it has felt like a family has gotten around us,” says Josh.  

The podcast release comes after the shock axing of the duo’s breakfast show on the Hit 104.7 station in late October. As the pair approached the end of their contract, they had no idea it wasn’t going to be renewed or that the last month would be pulled out from under them.

“In fairness to them, which is a sentence that feels strange to say, it’s their prerogative; we are on a fixed term contract and if they want to go in a different way at the end of it, they can. I just think they probably didn’t need to do it the way they did, they could have given us a bit of a heads-up,” says Josh.

“It’s human beings were talking about, it’s our lives,” says Ned. “They massively left us in the lurch in one of the scariest times of the year, everyone is moving and to sort of be left out in the cold now is a little scary.”

The fear was slightly eased as they were reassured by their inner circles, the greater Canberra community and businesses around the region that they were not alone.

“It was just a bit shocking for us,” says Josh.

“That was the sentiment on the day it happened, we were like ‘We’ve been here for six years, I think we owe it to our audience to just let them know, ‘hey, we’re on the way out, thanks for everything over the last six years’. Again, completely their prerogative; I can see why also that’s a massive risk potentially,” says Ned.

Understanding the way the industry works, the pair hold no bitter feelings about the announcement that Wilko and Courts would be taking over the morning slot in 2024.

“Wilko is such a talented broadcaster and Courts is just lovely, I really think they’re going to do a great job. We’re not at all acrimonious towards that decision; someone has to come in and do the new show and they’re going to do a really good job.”

“They also have a built-in audience in Canberra. Honestly, as a business decision, it does make a bit of sense,” says Ned.

The podcast means they don’t have to say goodbye to their audience; they can keep the conversation going, just in a slightly different way – their way. Taking total creative control, the pair have set up gear in Josh’s apartment and are enjoying the process of learning all the technical aspects.

“It’s fun to have this creative outlet back again because while we were on leave, we weren’t really allowed to do anything for a month in this realm. I couldn’t believe how much we missed this creative outlet.”

The concept is simple – they will be doing more of what they have always done with a new episode released every weekday, Monday to Friday.  

“We’ve got a lot of stuff to talk about; there’s pop culture news, stuff that goes on in our lives, stuff that goes on in Canberra. It’s a bit of a slice-of-life type thing, it sounds basic and corny but it is just a bit of a fun listen,” smiles Josh.

Undertaking the venture without the backing of corporations like ARN and SCA is both terrifying and exciting, especially without the guarantee of income. It is a challenge they are prepared to meet head-on.

“It’s really scary because I’ve been doing this job and working for a multi-station network of some kind since I was 16 … It’s not something that potentially could just pay my bills, this is something that we are now doing because we love doing it and, hopefully, good things will come but we don’t know for sure,” says Josh.

“We do believe in this … We certainly hope that it will find a home, but we also get we have to prove ourselves. We are going out on our own, we don’t have the backing of two major stations or anything like that, so proving that this is worthwhile is also important to us,” says Ned.

Turning down job offers to take this chance, to stay in Canberra and continue on the path together, they have traded short-term security for connection to their audience.  

It’s not just locals listeners who are showing support for the dynamic duo; Canberra businesses and institutions are also backing the boys. They collaborated with the National Zoo & Aquarium to promote World Cheetah Day on Monday 4 December, and both parties intend to keep that relationship growing.

“They’re all such amazing people down there and we have been lucky enough to do a heap of stuff with them over our time in Canberra,” says Josh.

“It’s such a pinnacle of the community that having them on board and having their support, as we have done so much with them over the years, to know that that was real and they did enjoy the stuff we did together has been so reassuring,” says Ned.

Also reaching out with gratitude for all the work they had done previously was the National Dinosaur Museum which assured the pair that the end of their radio show was certainly not the end of their collaboration with the prehistoric fun centre.

“We love it down there; I think we will be dressing up as Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neil again very soon and doing the Jurassic Park things … If we could add some kind of chocolate factory come on board as well that would have just been the trifecta,” smiles Josh.

Releasing a podcast every weekday sounds like a massive task, however, the pair had just finished recording their second episode when they spoke to Canberra Daily and had already found their rhythm.

“The radio show was three hours, the podcast is going to be 40 minutes. We’re just recording it all in one go and then chopping it into segments so it’s a bit more listenable. It takes about an hour to do so it’s not a problem at all,” says Josh.

“Once we get started, we can’t stop at all. Good or bad, 50 minutes will come out at the end,” smiles Ned.

Get your daily dose of The Ned & Josh Podcast, Monday-Friday wherever you listen to podcasts. Keep up to date with the boys on Instagram; instagram.com/nedandjosh

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