Innovative partnership between Dementia Adventure and Music for Dementia’s m4d Radio helps to grow audience
The D Tour podcast, which explores themes of dementia and documents Harriet Thomas’s 900-mile journey from Land’s End to John O’Groats as she aims to raise £25,000 for Dementia Adventure, has achieved 6,945 downloads this week, putting it in the top 1% of global podcast downloads.
The podcast captures the highs and lows of Harriet’s 90-day walk to John O’Groats and also features chats to celebrities like singing legend Tony Christie who lives with dementia, interview experts in the field of dementia and stories of resilience and hope from people affected by the condition. Harriet also chooses music to accompany each podcast, with The Bonny Banks of Loch Lomond by Ella Roberts featuring in her latest episode to celebrate her reaching Scotland.
The D Tour podcast had consistently been in the top 25% of podcast downloads since its first episode, released back in August. It has gathered a loyal and growing audience. Last week – Seeds of Change (episode 9) on The D Tour – achieved 6,945 downloads. According to global podcast guidelines, any podcast that achieves over 5,000 downloads or streams within the first seven days of being released hits the top 1%.
Harriet is delighted. She said: “We were aiming high when we launched The D Tour, but it’s gone beyond all expectations, and we’re truly blown away. Through my meanderings about my journey and all the lovely people we’ve met along the way, we have tried to encourage listeners to embrace the present moment and find joy in simple pleasures. It’s also been our aim to challenge perceptions around dementia and to encourage listeners to donate to the brilliant charity Dementia Adventure. It’s heartwarming to see The D Tour is fulfilling all of this and more.
“This walk has been in honour of my mum Susan, who lived with dementia for nine years. She loved nature and even when she became non-verbal and didn’t recognise who I was, the sensory power of nature – the temperature of the air, the breeze in her hair and up her nostrils, the scents, the colour of flowers – all awoke something in her. It’s one of the reasons I’m raising money for Dementia Adventure, which provides supported outdoor holidays for families living with dementia.”
Dementia Adventure secured an innovative streaming partnership with the Music for Dementia campaign, which hosts m4dRadio.com, a free online streaming platform playing decade-specific music for people living with dementia. m4dRadio.com has been streaming The D Tour podcast weekly via its platform. This is the first speech-based programming m4dRadio has aired, and the results have been very encouraging.
Sarah Metcalfe, MD of Music for Dementia says: “m4d Radio has been considering a trial of speech-based programming for some time, and The D Tour sounded like the perfect opportunity to see whether our audience was receptive to this kind of content. We’ve been delighted to see such healthy listener figures. This is the first content partnership of its kind, and we’re really encouraged with how well it has gone so far.”
Sponsored by Macs Adventure and produced by Charlotte Foster, a new episode of the podcast is being released every Friday until November.
Harriet has reached £15,000 so far from her £25,000 target for Dementia Adventure. Donations can be made at https://dementiaadventure.org/dtour/donate/
All episodes of The D Tour can be found at https://dementiaadventure.org/dtour/podcast/
The D Tour Podcast cover