Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
I'm Stephen Stockwell, a journalist, radio presenter, producer, podcast host and manager with over a decade of experience in media and the music industry. The bulk of my career has been with the ABC, working in remote Western Australia, as a reporter for triple j's Hack program and podcast co-host at ABC News. These roles set me up with a great understanding of how to communicate effectively with often fickle audiences. I’ve most recently been the manager of 4ZZZ in Brisbane; one of Australia's most interesting and longest-running community radio stations. I led the station out of COVID and into one of the most successful periods of its history. Leading a team of over 250 volunteers and reporting directly to a board, this taught me a huge amount about management and the Australian music industry. I’ve also delivered a lot of training, developed curriculum and managed other projects, developing audio editing, sound design and technical skills along the way. I’m open to all sorts of work at the moment, so don’t hesitate to get in touch if there’s something you think I can help with. More than happy to help you make a podcast, manage projects, or further develop the skills in your teams or organisation.
When I started as producer for You Don't Know Me at ABC Audio Studios, I was asked (secretly at first) to develop a podcast that would follow the trial of accused murderer, Erin Patterson. This trial podcast quickly grew into Mushroom Case Daily, hosted by ABC Court Reporter Kristian Silva (and currently growing very strongly). During the development I created a workflow that would support the publishing of same-day episodes when Erin Patterson's case is before the court. I scripted, recorded and mixed the podcast's trailer for launch and as the case has returned to court, I have co-hosted the conversational podcast with Kristian. I left 4ZZZ to do more content creation and Mushroom has been a great project to sink my teeth into. I've been developing episode plans and working with Kristian after hearings to pick out the key moments to feature in our 10-15 minute drops. The production has bent to the needs of the episode, with some recorded outside court in Morwell and others in studios at the ABC. We end up wherever we need to be and whatever will get the job done quickest. After I record the epsiodes, I do an edit in Descript, work with the ABC's legal team to make sure we're staying out of trouble, mix and master episodes in Reaper and then publish. It's a very lean production, but it's meant we can publish quickly while still maintaining very high production qualities.
Through the end of 2024 and start of 2025 I stepped in as a special projects producer at triple j (as well as a couple of other backfills as senior producer and Music Programs EP). During this stint I helped coordinate Aus Music Month, including organising the 2024 J awards. After this I rolled into the Hottest 100, working with an incredible team to produce one of the biggest campaigns in recent years. I then helped plan One Night Stand, working with the Busselton community to build relationships and with program teams to bring this festival to the triple j audience. I left this role when the trial of Erin Patterson started and I moved back to Audio Studios to produce Mushroom Case Daily.
I came on with ABC Audio Studios in March 2024 to produce the third season of Virginia Trioli's podcast, You Don't Know Me. The preparation for For You Don't Know Me had me booking high-profile guests, writing detailed briefs and finding space and equipment in a crowded ABC office to film the episodes. As the show's only producer on-site for records, I would dress/ light the studio, set up equipment, record both audio and video and manage rights clearances. Post recording I would do the first edit in Descript before mixing episodes in Reaper. Developing the video aspect of this project was pretty fun. It saw me wandering around the hallways looking for a nice studio to film in and chatting to people all through the building to see who could help. We ended up recording in one of the music spaces, with set dressing from ABC props and camera/ lights from Radio National. It was very satifying to be able to create a comfortable space that hosted some wonderful conversations (and more than a few comments about how nice it looked).
For almost three years, I was the manager of community radio station 4ZZZ. This role saw me lead a small team of paid staff and over 250 volunteers. Outside of the day to day running of the station, I was responsible for executing the station’s strategic plan - reporting directly to the board of directors. I’m proud to say that we achieved many of the goals set out in the 21/24 strategic plan by mid-2023, notably financial and subscription growth targets. None of that would have been possible without the help and support of the 4ZZZ community. Thanks to the station’s staff and volunteers we were able to increase the awareness and relevance of 4ZZZ. We brought people into the station with open days, connected with listeners at events and rallied support for 4ZZZ with a run of record breaking subscription campaigns. One of the best parts of the job was working with the station’s programming coordinator to redevelop our announcer training program to support the next generation of broadcasters. It was really exciting to see so many young voices coming through the station and taking spots on-air. I was also responsible for improving the culture at the station and worked to make it more accessible for people with disabilities. During my time we developed a Rights Framework to improve complaints handling and help people feel comfortable in the space. This didn’t come without challenging moments, particularly following on-air incidents that didn’t reflect the station’s values. While uncomfortable, the station’s responses to these helped cement 4ZZZ as a values-led organisation. It was an absolute joy to lead this institution. I’ve been a part of 4ZZZ for over 15 years, so I loved using my skills to help the org and to learn lots of new things along the way.
I was the Brisbane reporter for triple j's daily current affairs program. This role saw me produce engaging radio and online stories for our 18-25 year-old audience. I've also presented the program on a number of occasions to the delight of my parents, who were incredibly proud until I spent half an hour talking about Chemsex (now they ask what we'll be covering before they tune in).
I was the co-host of the ABC's daily news podcast, The Signal, for 12 months in a back-fill role. The whole thing was great fun, even when COVID sent us into our makeshift home studios. We were a small team of two presenters, a producer and EP working to a late shift to make sure the next day’s episode was relevant and interesting to our younger demo. We took our listeners to some really interesting places, from the latest political news, to an AFP raid on the ABC and into the questionable ethics of crystals. The freedom to tell stories in new ways was wonderful and we were rewarded with continually growing listener numbers.
I'm the Rural and Resources Reporter for north western WA. I keep an eye on the mining industry up here, the pastoral stations in the area and also the agricultural land nearby. I cover all that on radio, presenting the Northern Rural Report every morning and filing stories to the WA Country Hour as well as Radio National and NewsRadio.
My role as a board member of 4ZZZ sees supporting management, helping decide the strategic direction of the station and assist with the management of long term projects.
I volunteered at 4ZZZ for over four years. I helped run the newsroom while also presenting and producing the station's Saturday current affairs program, Saturday Brisbane Line. As well as my work in the newsroom (which included training volunteer newsreaders and presenters) I wrote grants, presented music programs, helped develop the station's digital radio direction and ran outside broadcasts.