Conversations

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 
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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.