Peter Hoysted, AKA Jack the Insider is back with a look at the humorous and bizarre stories of the newspaper founded in 1979 by a former CIA officer.

“174 MPH SNEEZE BLOWS OFF WOMAN’S HAIR”, “BABY BORN WITH TATTOO”, “GARDEN OF EDEN FOUND!”

These were some of the fantastical headlines that led the comedic black and white US tabloid, Weekly World News (WWN).

Peter Hoysted, AKA Jack the Insider is a true crime writer and a columnist for The Australian. 

He was a fan of the nonsensical reporting during its hard copy days, and even started his own journal along similar lines in Australia.

Peter tells the story of Generoso Pope Jr, the ex-CIA officer who founded WWN in 1979 and entertained readers with fictional news stories, often with a paranormal slant.

Further information

You can read Weekly World News online.

Listen to previous Conversations interviews with Jack the Insider: Chow Hayes, Australia's first gangster (2017), the Fine Cotton affair (2019) and the disgraced former police detective Roger Rogerson (2024).

This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. The Executive Producer was Eliza Kirsch.

This episode covers aliens, alien love child, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, satirical news, fake news, comedy, giggle, Elvis, newspapers, newsgathering, bigfoot, mermaids, man-fish, CIA, conspiracy theory, David Icke, lizard people.

To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Darren Hayes rose to fame in the 1990s as part of the musical duo Savage Garden but the scars of his violent childhood nearly ended everything.

The band ended up selling 35 million albums and won numerous awards with hits like 'Truly Madly Deeply'.

On the surface, Darren had achieved wealth, adoration and stardom —everything he dreamt of as a kid growing up in Logan, on the outskirts of Brisbane.

This episode of Conversations was first broadcast in 2024

Further information

Unlovable is published by Penguin 

Help and support is always available:

Call 1800 737 732  (1800 Respect) to speak to a counsellor if you are experiencing domestic violence. They are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Ken Gamble is very good at spying on people doing the wrong thing but perhaps the investigations that have had the most impact are the missing person cases he's taken on pro bono.

Ken spent part of his childhood living in a remote outback pub and by the age of 12, he was driving drunk jackaroos back to their stations.

When his family moved to the Sunshine Coast, Ken took up boxing on the amateur circuit and left school in Year 10 to pursue the sport full time, until a savage injury ended his career before it had really begun.

After stints in the Army Reserve and as a firefighter, Ken decided he wanted to be a private investigator and began working in personal injury insurance fraud where he became highly skilled in covert surveillance.

And with the arrival of the internet, Ken turned his attention to tracking down the humans behind online scams.

Ken has also been called on to help in some high-profile missing person cases, including that of Belgian backpacker, Celine Cremer.

Further information 

This episode of Conversations was produced by Jen Leake, Nicola Harrison is the Executive Producer

It explores criminals, cyber crime, insurance fraud, covert surveillance, private detectives, Mt Isa, alcoholism, violence, boxing, counterfeit products, boiler rooms, online scams, missing persons, mobile phone data, geospatial analytics, Eumundi, Celine Cremer, police, bikies.

Gonzo journalist and writer John Safran on why he decided to squat in a Hollywood mansion belonging to Kanye West.John Safran has made a career out of getting into places he probably shouldn't be, from breaking into Disney Land, to infiltrating fascist strongholds in Australia.

A couple of years ago, one of his journalistic expeditions saw him squatting in an abandoned Hollywood mansion belonging Kanye West.

John had seen a clip of the hip hop start denying the Holocaust, defending Adolf Hitler, and claiming that Black people cannot be anti-Semitic because they are actually Jewish.

His week writing and snooping in this strange house, with no running water and a vulture in the roof, made John go increasingly loopy as he tried to understand what pushed this critically acclaimed artist from celebrity eccentric to seriously 'out there'.

This episode of Conversations was first broadcast in 2024

It explores Kanye West, Judaism, antisemitism, Hollywood, hip hop, Christianity, Nazism, racism, hip hop, squatting, the Donda Academy, journalism, Adidas, money, fame, documentary, writing, the Holocaust, mental health, celebrity, mansions

Further information

Squat is published by Penguin.

Everyone knows the story of the Titanic. But one quintessentially Australian story of survival, love and adventure lay dormant for more than a century before journalist and author Lisa Wilkinson raised it from the depths of the Atlantic.

Everyone knows the story of the Titanic - the biggest, most magnificent, most expensive ship ever built.

It was meant to be unsinkable. But when it hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic, it sank, killing 1500 people.

For more than 100 years, the tragedy has inspired filmmakers, historians and explorers to unearth the incredible human stories of love, survival and class warfare.

But for much of that time, there was one story that seemed to have been hidden amongst the wreckage, until journalist and author Lisa Wilkinson raised it from the bottom of the Atlantic.

This is the story of Evelyn Marsden, the only Australian survivor of the sinking of the Titanic, and the real Titanic love story that shaped the rest of her life.

The Titanic Story of Evelyn is published by Hachette.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer was Eliza Kirsch.

It explores history, Australian stories, Jack and Rose, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, shipwrecks, survival stories, love stories, non-fiction books, modern history, David Cameron, OceanGate, submersible, submarine disaster, Bondi, 20th century Australia, nurses, nursing, doctors, working on cruise ships, adventurous women, falling in love.

Molly's niche career began over a decade ago when she entered a whistling competition on a whim and she now performs all over the world. 

Her music sits somewhere between birdsong and the soundtrack to a film noir.

Born in Sydney, Molly moved to Hollywood as a baby before returning to Australia for high school in Byron Bay. 

Once she realised her talent was more than just a hobby for family and friends, she began performing live with musicians in LA and has collaborated with the likes of Dr Dre, Beck and Karen O. 

Mark Ronson even asked her to whistle on the Barbie soundtrack.

Now Molly is at the centre of a new documentary, Whistle, which follows whistlers from around the world as they prepare for the Masters of Musical Whistling competition.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Jen Leake, the Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores whistling, music, art, film soundtracks, Hollywood, LA, Byron Bay, whistling competitions, African Grey Parrots, Mark Ronson, Barbie, Alessandro Alessandroni, Ennio Morricone, The Good the Bad the Ugly, Harry Dean Stanton, Cafe Molly, John C Reilly,African Grey Parrots, Mark Lewis

To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Marele Day is a novelist, but as a young woman looking for adventure, she hitchhiked on a catamaran sailing from Darwin to Sri Lanka.

The skipper was a Frenchman, named Jean Day, who revealed on board that he had once done jail time for hijacking a plane.

What she only found out later, was that Jean was a fugitive on the run from another high-profile crime.

Further information

Marele Day's memoir is called Reckless

This episode of Conversations was first broadcast in 2023

The producer was Sinead Lee and the EP was Carmel Rooney

It explores sailing, risk taking, adventure, young women, the ocean, criminals, hijacking planes, deception, being French, lies, Sri Lanka, writing a memoir, high profile crime, financial fraud.

To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Clinical psychologist and men's mental health researcher Zac Seidler on how boys are being fed increasingly inflammatory content online, and what men can do IRL to offer a version of masculinity that is healthy and vulnerable, instead of hard and dangerous.

Many young men are taking a journey on the internet right now which starts with inoffensive self-improvement videos on platforms like YouTube and TikTok, but quickly becomes something else entirely.

Young guys are searching the internet for fitness, grooming or relationship advice, looking for self-esteem and self-discipline. 

The algorithm then tries to sustain their attention by offering them more inflammatory and more dangerous content, presented by influencers with cigars and sunglasses, who give them an ideology that blames women for all of their problems.

This is the loose digital ecosystem that has been named the 'manosphere', and it's leading people to wonder what exactly is going on with men that they're being drawn into a dark place and ideology that completely alienates them from women and from real life experience.

Zac Seidler is a clinical psychologist and the director of research at Movember, the men's mental health charity, and he is particularly interested in men's issues.

Zac has conducted some world-first research into this online world, asking the questions 'What need is this content meeting?', and how can men be empowered to pull themselves, their sons and their mates out of this dangerous cycle.

Keep up to date with the research Zac is doing via Movember, the leading charity changing the face of men's health.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer was Eliza Kirsch.

It explores manhood, masculinity, toxic masculinity, sons, fatherhood, men's mental health, men's suicide rates, depression, Andrew Tate, Jordan Peterson, Myron Gaines, Rollo, Joe Rogan, social media algorithms, Instagram, chronically online, touch grass, grief, death, sex and relationships, isolation, vulnerability, how to talk openly about mental health struggles, men and boys, mothers and sons, Looksmaxxing, Clavicular, becoming a father, marriage, love, husbands, how to be a better man, empathetic accountability, Breadtube, Contrapoints, Hbomberguy, and PhilosophyTube.

To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

The former Australian of the Year and pioneering cancer researcher, died from brain cancer on Sunday evening.

Richard was a world-leading melanoma pathologist and cancer researcher.

After his own aggressive brain cancer was diagnosed in 2023, Richard volunteered to be 'patient zero' in an experimental medical approach, which applied some of the discoveries he and his team had made in melanoma treatment. 

Richard credited much of his determination, optimism, and humility, to his childhood in Tasmania.

Sarah spoke with Richard in 2024.

Richard's memoir is called Brainstorm.

This episode of Conversations explores cancer research, melanoma treatment, brain tumour, neurosurgery, recovery. radiation, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, Australian of the Year, death, grief, terminal illness, pioneering research, family, great Australians, open letters.

To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Growing up in Tokyo, Hiroko Yoda  never thought of herself as religious, but after her mother died, she began exploring the spiritual traditions of her homeland.

She was inspired by the Shinto idea that there are '8 million spiritual beings', animating everything we encounter.

In the different practices of Shintoism, Buddhism, and Shugendo, Hiroko found practical means of emotional support, and also ways of making her everyday life more beautiful.

Further information

Hiroko Yoda's book is called Eight Million Ways to Happiness 

This episode explores Japan, spirituality, psychology, Shintoism, Buddhism, Shugendo, family, grief, healing, religion, walking, parents, death, Tokyo, emotional support.

To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Dan Rankine (aka 'trials') was the only little Aboriginal boy living in his rural Welsh village when he woke up shaking from a nightmare. That's when he and his mother knew they needed to go home to Adelaide.

Dan is now one of Australia's most respected hip hop producers, writers and rappers.

Born in Adelaide, Dan spent his early years on the other side of the world - in the rolling, green hills of rural Wales - with his mum, who had fled there from Dan's violent father in the middle of the night.

Far from his Ngarrindjeri connections, and with no one around who looked like him, Dan felt isolated.

After an unexplained nightmare, he and his mum decided to move back to Adelaide, where things didn't suddenly become perfect.

But a car crash, which could have been tragic, became an incredible turning point in Dan's life, allowing him to buy his first set of turntables.

And at 16 years old, Dad set himself on the path to becoming 'trials', performing, writing and producing with and for artists like the Funkoars, Hilltop Hoods, Archie Roach and A.B. Original.

Dan has recently stepped out on his own, to release his debut solo album Hendle - something of an origin story, full of honesty, pain and passion.

Hendle is out now. Dan is set to publish an accompanying memoir later this year.

Keep up to date with Dan's music, art and tour dates at on his Instagram page.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer was Eliza Kirsch.

It explores First Nations excellence, substance abuse, family violence, domestic violence, cultural education, blended families, Briggs, Paul Kelly, Gurrumul, childhood trauma, art, expression, alcoholism, fatherhood, love, grief, estrangement, Australian hip-hop, Dune Rats, DZ Deathrays, TV and film soundtrack, systemic racism, justice system, violent crime, art as therapy, painting, memoir, writing, book, sobriety, poetry, Dan Sultan, triple J, Reclaim Australia, Aus Music Month, how to write songs, dark humour, growing up, becoming a man, journalling, self improvement, metaphysical, the Dreaming, belonging, prison, incarceration, beats, NWA, Wu Tang Clan.

To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.