CBC, Canada’s public broadcaster, has announced the worldwide release of true crime podcast series, HUNTING WARHEAD (6×45), a unique international co-production between CBC Podcasts and Norway’s Verdens Gang (VG) newspaper. The series amplifies outstanding original journalism by VG, layered with rich audio storytelling and in-depth interviews from CBC Podcasts and also archival interviews and input from ABC Audio Studios, part of Australia’s public broadcaster. The first two episodes of the six-part series are now available to download on the new CBC Listen app and all podcast platforms including, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts, with two new episodes released weekly.
Years in the making, HUNTING WARHEAD follows the relentless journalists, white-hat hackers, and police on a mission across borders, to uncover the man behind username Warhead who ran Child’s Play, a site on the dark web with more than a million users trafficking child abuse material. HUNTING WARHEAD, hosted and co-produced by Daemon Fairless, closely follows the chase as it unfolds, and the human beings affected. The series uniquely includes direct conversations with close friends and relatives who are searching for understanding, and to prevent the next Warhead from emerging. Listeners will also hear from the investigators and criminals themselves.
“HUNTING WARHEAD is a perfect example of collaborating with international partners to enrich our original storytelling, and amplify Canadian stories around the globe,” said Leslie Merklinger, Senior Director of Audio Innovation at CBC.
When VG first broke the story in Norway, cracking open a massive international investigation, they knew it was a story with far reaching impact. VG approached Norway’s public broadcaster, NRK, for their input.
“I’m a complete radio-and-podcast nerd, and a big fan of many of CBCs podcasts,” said Nina Martin, journalist, TV, Radio & Podcast host at NRK, Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. “SKS, Finding Cleo and other CBC podcasts are well received in Norway due to their effective yet honest storytelling, I think. At the same time, it needs to be entertaining, exciting, moving, and CBC knows how to do that. So, it seemed to me it would be a perfect match: One of Norway’s best journalists working with highly professional storytellers at CBC, on an amazing story with both Norwegian and Canadian ties. It was a no brainer.”
With the team behind internationally renowned podcasts series such as Uncover and Someone Knows Something (SKS) at the helm — including Arif Noorani, Executive Producer, and Chris Oke, series co-producer — it was a quick decision by all partners to move forward.
“Faulkner [Warhead] is Canadian, so it was only natural to find a Canadian partner when we wanted to tell the full story about how he came to be Warhead,” said Håkon Fostervold Høydal, the journalist who broke the story for VG and co-producer of the podcast. “But we needed a partner with the potential to make the podcast go international. CBC has proven that they can do this, with Chris Oke [SKS] as the producer. I am impressed at how quickly Arif, Chris and the rest of the team at CBC saw that “Hunting Warhead” could be a major podcast series ̶ it took them one day to decide!”
“The ABC Audio Studios team values the connection we have with CBC Podcasts,” said Andrew Davies, Digital and Engagement Editor with ABC Audio Studios. “Over the last two years we have established a very close working relationship and will continue to build on that as part of the broader MOU between our two organisations. We were delighted to give feedback on some of the Hunting Warhead episodes. That the CBC team were able to draw on some of the ABC’s reporting to help make this excellent series further strengthens this relationship.”
CBC is the #1 podcaster in Canada, reaching more Canadians than any other podcast publisher. With more than 20 series in genres including investigative reporting and true crime, comedy, human interest and audio fiction. Recent true crime investigative podcasts include Uncover: The Village, Uncover: NXIVM and Something Knows Something.
