Beloved Canberra personalities, best friends and ex-radio duo Ned Breward and Josh Torney can now add another title to their business cards: Australia’s favourite podcast, as voted by the people. 

The pair launched The Ned & Josh Podcast at the end of last year; this week, they took home the People’s Choice Awards at the RadioToday Podcast Awards.

The awards celebrate excellence in Australian podcasting, and recognise shows that resonate with the audience and contribute to the growing industry. Australians have overtaken the United States as being the most avid podcast listeners, so to top the Aussie charts in any way is no easy feat. 

“It hasn’t sunk in for us yet because we didn’t expect, at all, to have a chance of winning it, because we’re up against such big podcasts,” says Josh. “To see what I always thought was our little band of listeners that like the show, be able to pull off something like that was mind-boggling in a way.”

While the podcast was born in turbulent times, it has gone from strength to strength in its eight short months of weekday episodes.

“It is so lovely that support is there,” says Josh. “We knew when we started the podcast that the support was there, but we didn’t know how long people would stick around and stay interested. It feels like the best gift that Canberra could give us.

Canberra businesses who had a connection with Ned & Josh during their radio days have kept their word and continued to collaborate with the pair, while others have come on board to help any way they can.

Still a relatively new form of media, the podcast isn’t paying any bills yet, but that hasn’t dampened the hosts’ passion. They have both got ‘grown-up’ jobs and ensure they set aside time each day to chat and record the podcast.

“Now we’re balancing normal life around this passion project, it feels like living this fuller version of life, I think we’re both pretty happy,” Josh said.

No more 4am wakeups but instead doing the show on their own terms has been a breath of fresh air for them. While they were anxious about life after radio at first, eight months later, life is looking pretty good.

“It has been a real soul-searching thing like: who am I without radio, without the job that I was doing for so long?” says Josh. “But to come out the other end of it now, that is truly what it has felt like for the few months, I’m a happier, healthier version of myself, and I know Ned feels the same.

Not sure where the podcast may take them, Josh says each time he has set up a mini-goal for it, it is obliterated.

“I don’t really know what the goal is at this point. I just want to stay as happy as we are right now and having as much fun as we’re having. This is just the most fun we have ever had doing this work, putting audio out into the world is super fun again, and that is something that feels great.”

The strong connection with their audience has not only remained but grown: the podcast has surpassed 100,000 downloads and has been heard in 68 countries.

“Some of them range from just a couple of dozen checking in to thousands of downloads,” Josh said. “People clearly are listening every day, and you don’t even know why. I couldn’t put down how people even discovered it.

“It is incredible to us that this thing that was once upon a time, by its design, exclusively for Canberra is now going far and wide. It’s Great! We can keep living in the city we love, but we can talk to so many more people and have these connections across not just Australia but now around the world.”.

The country with the third-highest number of listeners has Josh and Ned stumped.

“That is the biggest mystery we want to solve with the podcast now: why is Belgium so into the show?” smiles Josh.

As long as their listeners are up for going on a journey with them, Ned & Josh will keep doing what they are doing.

“Every time we have asked the listeners to support us in any way, they have never let us down. It’s kind of overwhelming in a way, because now it is just me and Ned in a room making each other laugh, and the fact that anybody is listening at all, let alone supporting it to this degree, is humbling.”

Listen to The Ned & Josh Podcast on your favourite streaming service, and keep up to date with the besties on Instagram; instagram.com/nedandjosh