E whakaohooho ana tātou

Taringa presenters Te Puaheiri Snowden (left), Paraone Gloyne (centre) and Erica Sinclair, with guests Ranga Matamua (right) and Che Wilson, recording the 200th episode. Photo / Te Wānanga o Aotearoa

Four years ago two passionate Te Wānanga o Aotearoa kaimahi (staff) formulated a plan to present a weekly Punua Paoho (podcast) in English and te reo with the simple objective of sharing language and knowledge.

The result was Taringa, and shortly before the country was thrown into a Delta lockdown the team released the 200th episode - with no sign of slowing down.

It began through a conversation in 2017 between Paraone Gloyne - te reo Māori adviser - and Morgan Samuel, sound engineer at Te Wānanga Aotearoa's Te Ipurau Media Unit.

Taringa started with about 100 listeners per episode - but momentum grew quickly because there was nothing else like it.

By the end of 2018 Taringa had grown to attract about 25,000 listeners per month from New Zealand and around the globe. And it was the recipient of the Matauranga - Kaupapa Māori / Education - Māori Medium award at the Nga Tohu Reo Māori / National Māori Language Awards 2018.

Today each highly anticipated half-hour weekly episode has a following of about 20,000 listeners.

In an earlier interview Paraone told Te Karere o O-Tāwhao he had wanted to do a te reo Māori themed podcast through Te Wānanga o Aotearoa for a while.

Te Wānanga Aotearoa te reo Māori adviser Paraone Gloyne conceived Taringa with Te Wānanga Aotearoa's Te Ipurau sound engineer Morgan Samuel. Photo / Erica Sinclair Photography

"I approached Morgan, who had the experience, and we formulated a plan to use the power of podcasting to teach people about te reo Māori and te ao Māori [the traditional Māori world view]."

Morgan says Paraone had the knowledge, passion and drive and just needed the medium to make it happen.

Parone remains one of the co-presenters, alongside Te Puaheiri (Snowy) Snowden and Erica Sinclair.

Morgan is producer and lead audio engineer of the show, along with supporting audio engineers.

Providing the resources to make Taringa happen is Te Wānanga o Aotearoa head of creative media Josh Brown.

Each member of the team credits others with the success of the project, although a common theme is the experience and knowledge of creator Paraone, and his ability to host either a radio or TV programme and skill at interacting with other hosts and guests.

"I feel privileged to be working with him," says Morgan.

He adds that the other two co-hosts have formed an amazing team.

"The development over 200-plus episodes has been organic," says Te Puaheiri.

"Paraone leads, and has the most knowledge. I bring my perspective to the korero and Erica is more inquisitive and asks the questions that take us in new directions."

"The style is conversational, but they all have different experiences and knowledge they bring to each show," says Josh.

"Sometimes it gets quite deep."

"Josh makes things happen, whether we have the budget or not," says Te Puaheiri.

"He is the enabler."

Erica is constantly surprised at the brand recognition Taringa has generated.

"I have been out and about at events where friends have wanted to introduce me to other guests who are 'fans'," she says.

"I would assume it is for my work as a photographer, or other fields I'm involved in, but it is usually because I'm a presenter for Taringa."

One thing they agree on is the quality of the sound and how that engages listeners and keeps them coming back.

Presenter Te Puaheiri Snowden and sound engineer Morgan Samuel working on an episode of Taringa. Photo / Erica Sinclair Photography

Te Puaheiri says Morgan is pedantic about the sound. "It is both a blessing and a curse."

"From the beginning I wanted to make sure this was a top level production," says Morgan.

"Anyone can record a podcast on their phone or computer microphone, but I wanted ours to stand out as being of radio quality."

Using the best equipment available through Te Ipurau Media Unit, and proper studio etiquette, he has achieved his goal.

"One of the most common compliments is how good Taringa sounds."

Working during two lockdowns created extra pressure as hosts and guests recorded segments from their homes, often using laptops or cellphones.

"I made sure each speaker used the best recording equipment available to them and I had to work a bit harder from my home studio to keep the show up to its high standard."

He credits the content and format for the success.

At the start it was planned to run on a four-weekly rotation of kaupapa (topics):
Kupu kupu kupu (vocabulary) - phrases, whakatauki (proverbs, quotes) and various topics pertaining to te reo and its use;
Iwi o te Wiki - a random iwi is picked out, with a korero (discussion) about that iwi and their history and pepeha (tribal saying);
Once upon a Taima - storytelling, traditional and contemporary purakau Māori (narratives);
Tikanga 101 - discussion about tikanga Māori (customary practices), some of the less spoken about things, or questions.

This has expanded to seven topics, as well as special episodes.

The new topics are:

Ngā Taonga - the hosts research and select audio excerpts from the Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision collection (https://www.ngataonga.org.nz/) within a certain topic, ie. Whaikōrero or Haka, and then we play them in the episode, and discuss their importance and relevance within a given context, often of historical significance;
Patapātai - Episodes dedicated to directly answering questions sent in from audience members;
Hoki Whakamuri - A "best of" type compilation, where we play sections from earlier episodes and reflect on the content.

The friendly, conversational delivery and safe learning environment is also credited with Taringa's success.

"It's a great way for people to learn some te reo Māori, tikanga and korero tuku iho (traditional narratives that have been passed down through the generations) while listening in the car, at mahi (work), or wherever," says Paraone.

And with a surge in numbers of people wanting to learn te reo Māori, Taringa is providing a starting platform for that learning process.

Josh says there is a waiting list of 18,000 for te reo programmes offered by Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.

"Our intake numbers are constrained, so we cannot accommodate the demand.

"But after 200 episodes of Taringa we have quite a suite of resources that we can direct these keen students to."

Morgan Samuel putting together Taringa in the sound studio. Photo / Erica Sinclair Photography

Like all successful series, Taringa is now getting a spin-off.

Josh says Taringa was approached to create a series of ghost stories for young listeners.

A short series of three stories, in radio play format, was created, and showed there was an appetite for more.

The team received funding approval from NZ on Air and Te Mangai Paho to source stories and create the episodes.

Josh says the 'scare and learn' plays will be in English and te reo Māori, with a leaning towards Māori mythology.

Like Taringa they will be freely available on a range of platforms.

Taringa can be heard at i-Heart Radio and Spotify, or for more information visit taringapodcast.com.