Colleen O’Hare, Managing Director of Granite Podcast Studio
We are delighted to announce that our Managing Director, Colleen O’Hare has been selected as a judge for this year’s Irish Podcast Awards.
Colleen who is also an avid podcast listener in her spare times says ” I’m elated to be part of the judging panel for this years awards. We have some fantastic podcasters and producers throughout the island of Ireland and I’m looking forward to highlighting that’.
Following the inaugural success in 2022, the Irish Podcast Awards are back bigger and better than ever to celebrate the very best in Irish Podcasting.
This competition offers Irish producers, presenters, sponsors, platforms, writers and performers a space to celebrate the art of podcasting and highlight the fantastic content that they have to offer.
The event, now in its second year, is operated by Haymarket Media Group and powered by PodPod. The awards seek to support and celebrate Irish podcasting at all levels.
The deadline for entries to this year’s awards is midnight on 27 July.
Colleen O’Hare, Managing Director of Granite Exchange, Marcus Donaldson, Author of The Black Knight And The Voyage To The Dark Seas and Jonathan McKeown, Founder of Granite Exchange.
A state-of-the-art podcast studio in Newry’s Granite Exchange – Granite Podcast Studio -has just launched its new audiobook recording service, with the first recording just released – ‘The Black Knight and the Voyage to the Dark Seas’ by author, Marcus Donaldson.
Offering authors and publishers a professional service to enable recordings of audio versions of books, the format of audiobooks enables authors to increase their audience and to communicate with others with whom listening to a book is a much-preferred option to reading a book.
Granite Podcast Studio
Granite Podcast Studio is already home to multiple leading podcasts in Northern and Southern Ireland, including What’s the crime?, The Public Eye and Activist Lawyer, and this is the latest service from the Newry-based studio as it looks to offer a streamlined recording service that can acter for the rising popularity of audio books.
Commenting on the new service, Colleen O’Hare, Granite Podcast Studio Managing Director adds: “At Granite Exchange, we pride ourselves on being an innovative and forward-thinking business and we’re very excited to launch this new service.
“In early 2020, we launched one of Northern Ireland’s first podcast studios, and as the business has matured, so have our facilities. This new audiobooks service is an extension to our story-telling facilities, and we’re already delighted by the interest from publishers and authors across the country.”
Making the creation of audiobooks simple for customers, the experienced team at Granite Podcast Studio manages the end-to-end process which includes recording, editing and uploading of content to Audible and other popular audiobooks platforms.
Colleen adds: “Audiobooks have become a very popular, and demand is rising, alongside the popularity of podcasts. The beauty of audiobooks is that you can take them anywhere – from listening on the daily commute to whilst out walking. It’s the convenience factor that is driving downloads, and the launch of our audiobooks recording service is a natural extension to our current sound and recording services.”
Marcus Donaldson, Author of ‘The Black Knight and the Voyage to the Dark Seas’, is the first author to record an audiobook in Granite Podcast Studio. Reflecting on this time recording his audiobook, Marcus adds: “Having such a modern studio locally is a gift for people who are seeking to expand their storytelling platforms and offerings.
“The team at Granite Podcast Studio made my experience of recording fantastic. They took all the work out of my hands – leaving me to focus on the audio delivery of my first book. Colleen, Jessica and the team took care of everything from the recording of the chapters, to the editing and uploading of my audiobook to Audible. It has been such a smooth and simple experience, which is now enabling me to reach a larger audience, including offering more accessibility to children and parents.”
Belinda O’Neill, Host of Be Inspired to Be podcast, Jack McClelland, Co-host of Activist Lawyer podcast, Jonathan McKeown, Founder of Granite Exchange, Natsha Daryaie, Host of Tash Talks podcast. (front) Colleen O’Hare, Manager of Granite Exchange
Launched just before the pandemic in early 2020, we have marked a milestone of 200,000 collective downloads since the podcast studio opened its doors in Autumn 2020.
Built in late 2019 and opened in early 2020, just before lockdown one, it was a delayed start for the state-of-the-art podcast studio, but in just 18 months, over 200,000 people have chosen to download and listen to a podcast episode that’s been expertly recorded and edited at Granite Podcast Studios.
Home to some of Northern Ireland and Ireland’s leading podcasts, including What’s the Crime?, The Public Eye and Activist Lawyer, the podcast studio is conveniently situated in the heart of Newry, and is now attracting budding podcast creators and hosts from Ireland and across Northern Ireland.
Commenting on this major milestone, Colleen O’Hare, Granite Podcast Studio Manager comments: “At Granite Exchange, we pride ourselves on being an innovative and forward-thinking business and we’re delighted that our productions have reached over 200,000 people in such a short space of time.
“When we invested in the podcast studios before the pandemic, we were confident of the rising demand for high quality, state-of-the-art studio space, but the arrival of the pandemic quickly closed our doors during the first lockdown.
“When it was safe to do so, we relaunched the podcast studio and have welcomed many hosts and hundreds of guests to the studio. Our hosts travel from far and wide to record at Granite Podcast Studios due to the quality of our equipment, location and editing expertise.”
As restrictions eased and the trend for podcasting continued to increase, Granite Podcast Studio has noticed a significant uplift in new podcasts and enquiries. Colleen continues: “We have lots of plans for Granite Podcast Studios, and as the demand for high quality podcasts increase, we’re well placed to welcome new clients who we can help on their podcast journey.”
The ultra-modern studio features a spacious, airy space that can fit up to four participants and is equipped with the latest audio equipment and cutting-edge technology. The experienced team at Granite Podcast Studio also offer in-house editing services, which can transform any podcast into a professional, ready-to-upload show with minimal effort required from its customers.
Natasha Daryaie, also known as the Gym Guru, records her ‘Tash Talks’ podcast in Granite Podcast Studio. Natasha adds: “Having such a modern podcast studio at our doorstep in Newry is a gift for people who are looking to increase their presence or are seeking to record good quality podcasts, paired with expertise and knowledge in this space.
“The team at Granite Podcast Studio have made my experience recording at the studio fantastic. I know my audience and content, but the overall service has delivered a higher quality listening experience, and this has certainly helped to contribute to the consistent growth of my podcast audience.”
Belinda O’Neill, host of ‘Be Inspired to Be’ podcast, recorded in Granite Podcast Studio recently, and added: “Recording at Granite Podcast Studio was very easy. All I did was book my slot, show up and record! The studio is spacious and comfortable and is fitted with all the modern equipment to record a great quality podcast. I also made use of the in-house editing service, and I’m looking forward to working with the team on future episodes and building the ‘Be Inspired to Be’ podcast series.”
Granite Podcast Studio is situated at 5-6 Kildare St, Newry, BT34 1DQ. The studio is open Monday to Friday. For further information on its services, please see www.granitepodcaststudio.com or contact Colleen O’Hare on colleen.ohare@granite-exchange.com
To listen to some of Granite Podcast Studio’s podcasts, see the website where you’ll find: The Public Eye, hosted by Sarah Travers, Activist Lawyer, Just’ Cause and Loudmouthed Lawyer.
Granite Podcast Studio is honoured to work alongside these two fantastic charities on the launch of their new podcast ‘The c tea’.
Have you ever heard the expression “what’s the tea?” According to urban dictionary it means when someone has gossip and you want to know every detail of as soon as possible.
So that’s what this podcast is- spilling the tea on what it’s like to have cancer (or the big C) as a young person in Northern Ireland.
Recorded in 2021 during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic this podcast series is hosted by Laura from Young Lives vs Cancer (formerly known as CLIC Sargent) and Helen from Cancer Fund for Children.
They have come together to talk about cancer services in NI and share the stories of the young people and families we support.
This podcast is heart-warming, emotional, informative but ultimately, it’s full of Tea.
Granite Podcast Studio is delighted to help ‘2021 Quadcross of Nations Champions’ produce their ‘ Team Ireland 2021 QXON France’ podcast, which is hosted by the fantastic Roy Neill.
In this episode, Roy speaks to race winners, Mark McClernon, Justin Reid, Dean Dillon along with team manager Gordon Gilchrist.
Previously, In 2017 team Ireland were third at Cingoli, Italy, then in 2018 they were one step higher in Slegelse, Denmark, “which was was a fantastic result but the win was still the ultimate dream” the riders said.
It was a proud moment for the three as they climbed on to the top step of the podium after finishing nine points clear of their nearest rivals Italy earlier this year.
This podcast is all about Mark, Justin, & Dean’s experience starting from how team Ireland were selected to event practice, qualifying and the actual individual race experiences and the emotions they felt once they won ‘2021 Quad of Nations’.
Team manager Gordon also discusses how he chose his winning team and an account of how the sport was impacted by the COVID-19 restrictions.
This podcast is full of nail-biting and sitting on the edge of your seat excitement. If you love quad racing & underdogs, then you will love this podcast!
The Public Eye Podcast, which is hosted by the wonderful Sarah Travers, aims to inspire existing business owners and ambitious entrepreneurs to grow their business by offering insight into the success of local Newry companies.
We were delighted to have so many of last night’s lucky winners at the ‘Greater Newry Area Business Awards’ feature on our podcast. To find out more about winners and their businesses click the link to their episodes below.
Granite Podcast Studio was also thrilled to be awarded ‘Highly Commended’ for ‘Best Innovative Business’. We would like to thank Newry Chamber of Commerce and Trade for organising this wonderful event.
Granite Exchange Winners of the Best Kept Business Award and Highly Commended in the Best Innovative Business Award Category. Jessica Phillips and Colleen O’Hare representing Grantie Exchange at the Greater Newry Area Business Award Ceremony 2021.
The principal sponsor of the awards was Shelbourne Motors, to hear more about their business listen now to Caroline Willis, Financial Director of the company.
The award for ‘Best Restaurant & Bistro section of the Best Place to Eat’ category and ‘Best Tourism & Hospitality Business’ went to Killeavy Castle Estate
Listen to their episode below:
The award for ‘‘Best Marketing Initiative’ went to AbbeyAutoline
Listen to their episode below:
The award for ‘Best Businesswoman’ and ‘Best Customer Services’ went to Gemma Murphy and Jack Murphy Jewellers
Listen to their episode below:
The award for ‘Best Kept Business’ went to Granite Exchange
Listen to their episode below:
The award for ‘Best Small Business’ went to RNN Communications
Listen to their episode below:
The award for ‘Best Family Business’ went to Crilco – Crilly Sweets
The Business Awards Charity Partner for the Greater Newry Area Business Awards 2021 this year was PIPS Hope and Support Ltd, to hear more about the history of the charity and the great work they do, listen here.
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