The sacking of Claire Murphy – one of Mamamia’s best-known podcast hosts and a voice behind Well. and The Quicky – sent shockwaves through the company two weeks ago. 

After seven years at the network, Murphy was made redundant, and she hasn’t been quiet about her exit, speaking to Money Magazine and Mediaweek about her ‘weirdest last day at work ever’, as well as AI being pushed ‘like it was life or death’.

But anyone who’s worked in the trenches at Mamamia knows the tie that binds them. There’s a reason some (jokingly) call it the ‘Survivors’ Club’.

Former colleagues have rallied around Murphy since her exit, and on Monday, she launched her own news podcast: The Solo Bureau. Its tagline? No Agenda, No AI, Just News. 

Murphy opened her debut episode with a pledge: she would never let artificial intelligence write her stories or imitate her voice, using it, at most, as a research tool.

While there’s no suggestion Mamamia engages in those practices, the company’s energetic embrace of the technology makes it difficult not to read her stance as a pointed dig at her former employer.

Support from ex-Mamamia staff has been vocal.

Keryn Donnelly, who blasted Mia Freedman’s company last year over its lack of diversity in podcasting, promoted Murphy’s new show on Instagram, calling her ‘incredibly smart’. Other former staffers have rushed to listen, rate and share.

On Wednesday, Murphy told Inside Mail she was overwhelmed by the support she had received from ex-Mamamia staffers – which helped propel her podcast to the top of the Apple charts, even beating loudmouth Karl Stefanovic.

Claire Murphy, a popular podcast host for Mamamia until her redundancy last month, has found immediate success with the launch of her solo podcast 

The ‘no AI’ mission statement of The Solo Bureau seems to be in response to strategic changes at her former workplace

On Wednesday, Murphy told Inside Mail she was overwhelmed by the support she had received from ex-Mamamia staffers – which helped propel her podcast to the top of the Apple charts, even beating Karl Stefanovic

‘It’s been incredible. I’m floored,’ she said.

Among the gossipy ex-Mamamia set, the question now is whether Murphy will join the club of company alumni who have gone on to bigger things after Freedman and management failed to recognise their potential.

Who could forget that the women behind Shameless, Michelle Andrews and Zara McDonald, had pitched their idea of a podcast for ‘smart women who like dumb stuff’ to Freedman while working as writers at Mamamia only to be told, effectively, to pull their heads in because they hadn’t earned their stripes yet.

They left, launched Shameless in 2018 and, in what the kids today call a ‘generational fumble’, the millennial female audience slipped clean through Freedman’s fingers.

Meanwhile, Mamamia looks to be feeling the strain.

The popular lifestyle podcast You Beauty has been trimmed from two episodes a week to one. Parenting series Eat Sleep Repeat, hosted by Kelly McCarren and Kee Reece, and acquired by Mamamia, has been put on hold indefinitely. 

‘We have decided to pause the show. We are unsure of the dates as to when the show will be finishing and we’re unsure of whether it’s forever, or whether it’s just for a time,’ Reece said on Friday’s episode. 

‘We wanted to make sure we brought you in on this information sooner rather than later so that when we do have our final ep, you’re not just like… what the hell was that?’

Among the gossipy ex-Mamamia set, the question now is whether Murphy will join the club of company alumni who have gone on to bigger things after Mia Freedman and management failed to recognise their potential. (Freedman is pictured with No Filter host Kate Langbroek)

Michelle Andrews and Zara McDonald (above, in February) had pitched their idea of a podcast for ‘smart women who like dumb stuff’ to Freedman while working as writers at Mamamia only to be told they had not earned their stripes yet. They went on to launch Shameless in 2018

Reece said it had ‘been a struggle to make the show profitable’.

‘We literally do not make $1,’ McCarren added, stating that the co-hosts had only made $4,000 each in the show’s entire four-year run.

Industry insiders are starting to ask whether the company is going through a transitional phase – though Mamamia would hardly be alone in that regard.

The full edition of Inside Mail – the must-read media and politics column exclusive to DailyMail+ subscribers – is out Thursday. Read last week’s column here.