#CanadianPodcastSummer BEGINS NOW!

Vol. 69 - The first Pod the North picnic is this Sunday, PLUS a beloved Canadian podcasting couple is getting hitched!

May 14, 2025

Hihi!! Happy Pod the North Tuesday Wednesday! Thanks for your patience here. Life’s been a little hectic lately, so I’ve got a fun, easy-breezy issue for you today!

In this issue:

Get hyped for #CanadianPodcastSummer
What should the global industry know about Canadian podcasting?
Canadian Indie: Role Play Chat
True North Podcast Feature: Words & Culture
Congratulations Marianna and Michael!
Lots of good reads that are WELL worth your time: from the death of the download, understanding fans vs. anti-fans, to the woman’s “manosphere” of podcasts.

BTW:

UPDATE: As of May 8, 2025, there are currently 38 long-term drinking water advisories in effect in 36 First Nations communities across Canada. So far there have been no drinking water advisories lifted in 2025.

#CanadianPodcastSummer is officially in full swing.

God it feels good to been listening to podcasts with the sun on beaming on my face again!

Despite it technically being spring, the beginning of May is always a summertime Bat Signal for me, and this year it marked the official beginning of what I’m calling “#CanadianPodcastSummer”, kicking off with an incredible day at The Soundwave Summit and folks from across the industry landing in Toronto for Radiodays North America.

With more and more Canadians looking for homegrown content to check out, I’m predicting an exciting summer for Canadian podcasters — the perfect moment for some energetic live shows, for independent projects in full swing, and a whole lot more collaboration.

That’s right. Summer 2025 is the time to truly connect and strengthen our community of Canadian yappers, and I couldn’t be more excited for it!

Speaking of which…

The first Pod the North Picnic of the summer is this Sunday in Toronto!

Join the hang for some socializing and community bonding with peers from across the industry. To entice you to come, I've also roped in Chris Berube (99% Invisible) to join me for a 20 minute, open-forum "tree-side chat" on making podcasts for American ears vs. Canadian ears. See you there!

DON’T FORGET: I’m also looking to partner with folks across the country to host picnics outside the Greater Toronto Area. If you’re curious about hosting a picnic in your city, please get in touch.

Tell me you're coming!

Canadians in London, GB!

Next week is The Podcast Show in London, and I’m thrilled to be not only joining the Bumper team there but I’ll also be ON STAGE representing Pod the North and the community to talk about the Canadian podcasting landscape along with Chris Oke (CBC) and Yael Strasberg (Acast Canada).

I would LOVE to hear from you about what you feel the global podcasting industry needs to know about Canadian podcasting, so please reply to this email newsletter or drop your thoughts in the comments on Substack. I wanna bring the TRUE voice of the community to the stage!

Many thanks to Pod the North’s 18 paid subscribers: You help fund marketing, events, speaking engagements, and the many intiatives Pod the North is looking to take on to help Canadian podcasters come together and be globally recognized!

Becoming a paid Pod the North subscriber is $8 a month or $80 a year, plus you get bonus content like full audio interviews and early releases!

Don’t want to commit long term, but appreciate the newsletter? Buy me a latte ($5) or the exclusive ad spot ($150) at the top of this newsletter!

Check out this Canadian Indie: Role Play Chat

Table Top Role Play Gamers talk Table Top Role Play

Probing the different aspects of being a Game Master or a Player, and sharing valuable insights on the hobby and the journey towards becoming better Game Masters.

True North Podcast Feature: Words & Culture

A commitment to learn, celebrate, and connect.

Words and Culture weaves conversations with Indigenous language and knowledge keepers together with music by Indigenous artists. Produced by an exclusive team of Indigenous producers, hosts and guests.

What’s going on in Canada’s podcast ecosystem:

More Events:

June 19, 2025 — [HALIFAX, NS] Don’t miss the Echo Podcast Summit at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia! This event is sure to be a great one, tackling one of the biggest questions in podcasting today: Who do we trust—and why? From influencers to podcasters, digital voices shape the way we think, but how much responsibility do they bear? Join the leading voices in media, academia, and digital culture to unpack it all. Limited tickets available—secure yours now!

Be sure to share your events and live shows with me!

New Releases:

Apr 5, 2025 — The Shadows We Cast is the new mental health podcast exploring the often unspoken experiences of those impacted by a loved one’s mental illness. The show kicked off with host Jenn St. John and her sisters discussing growing up with a parent living with undiagnosed mental illness and this month, the show featured an interview with Sophie Grégoire Trudeau reflects on her own mental health journey, from childhood trauma to eating disorders and motherhood.

Apr 11, 2025 — The Torontonian is the new podcast asking “what is a Torontonian? The show meets the warm, wise, funny, thoughtful, stubborn and buised people that make the city of Toronto what it is.

May 5, 2025 — Who Broke the Internet? is the new season of CBC’s Understood series, with host Cory Doctorow! Doctorow traces the downward spiral from the heady days of '90s tech-optimism through to today's rotten "enshitternet." You'll meet everyone from visionaries to villains to regular people just trying to survive in today's online world. And you'll discover who broke the internet — and, more importantly, a plan to fix it.

May 10, 2025 — Unmaking Saskatchewan has returned after a six month break! Alex Birrell's proudly anticapitalist and anticolonial podcast explores how the province of Saskatchewan was made, and how it can be unmade. The latest episode kicks off the shows return breaking down the results of the federal election in Saskatchewan.

You oughta know…

CONGRATULATIONS the power couple behind The Sonar Network, Michael Mongiardi and Marianna Miniotis, who GOT ENGAGED at The Soundwave Summit on May 4th! I’m not screaming, you are!

thesonarnetwork

A post shared by @thesonarnetwork

The first ever Women Who Podcast Awards are currently accepting entries until the end of June. With ten categories, entries are $30 USD and open to anyone who identifies as a woman at the time of entry.

On that note, I, along with a number of other incredible women in Canadian podcasting, had the opportunity to judges this years International Women’s Podcast Awards, which seems to function similarly to the WWPAs. We’ve also been sharing a fair number of thoughts when it comes to what makes a compelling entry. If you’d be interested in hearing more about this, perhaps in webinar form, let me know!

Congratulations to the newly announced podcasts up for Digital Publishing Awards, including but not limited to: Cabin Talks, Broomgate, L’art de mentir et de s’en sortir (ou pas), Don’t Call Me Resilient, Sous les barrages : Tshishe Manikuan, and City Space

Why did the Golden Globes create a Best Podcast Category? Elamin Abdelmahmoud and Nicolas Quah (Vulture) discuss in a recent episode of Commotion that’s well worth checking out! I’ll probably have more coherant thoughts on this too once May is over. But here’s what Sammy Younan at My Summer Lair (think NPR’s Fresh Air meets Kevin Smith) recenty shared with me that I thought was compelling:

“When the internet first started it was considered a fad. Podcasting at The Golden Globes means the ‘podcasting is a fad’ phase is slowly coming to an end. This is a real gig now. Mainstream acceptance is like being in high school and getting a chance to sit and have lunch with the cool kids.”

The Canadian Podcast Listener Report has announced that this year’s survey will include even more video podcasting metrics. From the Press Release: “Because listenership and view metrics are spread across multiple closed platforms, up to now it’s been difficult to draw a detailed picture of consumer use of video and audio podcasts together, especially market-wide. With the 2025 Canadian Podcast Listener we will help the industry better understand how and why consumers are apportioning their podcast time.”

Ready to promote your podcast? You can get your show seen and heard by thousands of busy women who read the Hard Copy newletter (including me), which has an impressive 70% open rate! Get it touch at hey@hardcopy.online

Good reads:

Bingeworthy | Wow, Is It Quiet Out There
Bumper | Spotify plays are one more nail in the download’s coffin
New York Times | Is Dear Media the ‘Manosphere’ for Women?
Podcast Marketing Magic | Matching podcasts based on vibe
Podcast Bestie | To Video or Not to Video
Sounds Profitable | The Great Podcast Divide: Understanding Fans vs. Anti-Fans

Thanks for supporting Pod the North, I’ll be back in your inbox in two weeks!

Kattie
BSKY: @podthenorth.bsky.social | IN: @podthenorth

Pod the North