Get your podcast stuff featured at Pod the North LIVE!
Vol. 28 - Housekeeping, news, and what its like to make an indie narrative podcast with your romantic partner.
Hihi!! Happy Pod the North Tuesday! 17 days to Pod the North LIVE!
In this issue:
Stuff you should know about Pod the North LIVE!
What it’s like to make a narrative podcast instead of doing date night.
Canadian Indie: Blackout Podcast
True North Feature: The Indigenous Climate Action Pod
Plenty of Canadian podcasting news and resources!
There are currently 28 long-term drinking water advisories in effect in 26 First Nations communities across Canada.
Some housekeeping!
My live-show anniversary celebration, Pod the North LIVE!, is less than three weeks away and there are some exciting things you should know about it, even if you can’t make it out!
Get your podcasting news in the show!
Even if you won’t be in Toronto, you can still get your podcasting news announced to the live audience!
In honour of the “What’s Going on in Canada’s Podcast Ecosystem” segment of this newsletter (and my history on my high school announcements team), I’ll be reading out your podcasting news live to kick off the show!
Submit your news to me through this Google Form — anything you think is super compelling, like a MUST-LISTEN episode, new season announcement, a call-out for guests, some work you want to show off, etc.
**NOT EVERY SUBMISSION WILL BE SELECTED.** I’ll be deciding on which announcements get read at the show based on which ones have the most exciting and fun scripting, so have fun with your submission!
Entries are open until midnight on October 3rd!
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Buy some ad-space through Form Pay here! Heads up, this price is in USD because… America lol
Otherwise, I’m so excited to see you SO SOON!
If you haven’t got your ticket yet to the show, you can do so now on the Buddies in Bad Times box office website! Remember, capacity is limited, and only 10 tickets will be sold at the door, so get ‘em before they’re gone.
I’d also love it if you take a second and give me a shout once you’ve got your ticket, because I can’t wait any longer to know who’s coming!
AHHHHHHH!!
Thoughts from the ecosystem:
What’s it like to make a narrative podcast instead of doing date night?
Well, when it’s a story juicy enough, it is date night.
Calgary-based Freelance Podcast Producter, Jess Schmidt has just launched the independent narrative podcast series, Rooked: The Cheaters Gambit, alongside her life partner, podcasting newbie and chess enthusiast Ryan Webb.
“Vibrating anal beads were involved. Elon Musk was involved, and chess has not been the same since,” said Jess when I asked for the elevator pitch.
Rooked is a genre bending, true crime-ish podcast about chess. It follows a big scandal which ultimately saw the chess world in the mainstream limelight.
Through a mixture of interviews, narration, sound design, personal reflection, and soundbites, Jess and Ryan explore the many complex themes that have come up since the feud began in September 2022 between chess’s most notorious players today, Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann. As the story unfolds, the series looks how the cheating scandal has challenged the repercussions for cheating, misogyny in the sport, sportsmanship, and how chess played online versus in person.
Best of all, its filled with juicy juicy chess gossip.
Though Jess is a seasoned producer, Rooked is Ryan’s first podcast ever. I talked to them both about the new show, and what it’s been like to dive head-first into narrative podcasting, and what it takes to do it all on your own (or at least with your best friend).
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
KL: Congratulations on the launch of Rooked! Give me the CliffsNotes on where the idea for the podcast came from.
RW: Well, it all starts at Queen's Gambit, really. That kind of got me into chess, and I've been addicted ever since.
I tried to bring Jess along into the world of chess with me, but she didn't really want anything to do with it. But we go on walks with our dogs every night, and that gave me an opportunity. [Jess] didn't seem to enjoy anything until I started talking about the drama of it.
That's when the cheating scandal first broke and it is just such a wild story that we just kept talking about it. I would update her on a daily basis about the newest, weird thing that's happened and she finally was like, ‘we should make this into a podcast’. And then last November or something, we finally decided we're actually going to do it.
KL: Wow, so you've been producing it for about a year prior to launch! So Jess, you're a seasoned podcaster. What's it been like working with a newbie?
JS: It's been interesting.
I mean, the caveat of the fact that Ryan and I are also in a committed relationship with each other [is that] I don't know that I would speak to any newbie as harshly as I have spoken to Ryan in this process. [Ryan laughs]
Ryan is a newbie, but he also is a writer and has been a writer for a long time. So, in that context, he's not a newbie. The narrative aspect of it is something that we both love and have experience with outside of podcasting, and that has been interesting to get him to bring that element of, ‘okay, this is how you do it for a podcast’.
KL: This is the exciting thing about what you guys are doing for me, because my partner and I, I've been trying to convince him to do a chat-style podcast with me. But you guys dove full-on into a narrative series.
It sounds like it was maybe daunting but not unfamiliar because you're both writers. Ryan, what are your expectations for the success of the show?
RW: I really have no idea. It's such a weird thing to think about.
I want it to be hugely successful and I want Netflix to get a hold of us and be like, ‘let's turn this into a series’. I don't know if that's going to happen. I have high expectations, but I'm not going to be disappointed if it's not hugely successful as well.
KL: Jess, as someone who's been in this space for a while who may or may not be jaded, hearing that, what is your perception of the success of the show?
JS: I am not one to crush someone else's dreams, no matter how pipe dream they are, but it will shock me beyond belief if we get a call from Netflix.
That was not why I made this show. I really made this because we had been talking for so long about [how] we should do a podcast. Ryan had asked me multiple times to do a podcast and I said, ‘I don't want to make a podcast unless it's something we both are really passionate about’.
Then this came up and I made [it] as a portfolio piece because I just wanted to make something that sounded exactly the way I wanted it to sound and I didn't have to be beholden to anybody except for Ryan. I just wanted to work on something that I thought was really fun. I wanted to bend genre because I love true crime, but I think a lot of true crime is really heavy and so I was like, ‘I want this to be a heavy handed, schlocky, funny, true crime story’.
If anybody listens to it, that's enough for me. Anybody listening to it and saying, ‘oh, I really enjoyed this story’, that's all I care about.
My dad said he's really proud of me and he doesn't ever listen to my work and so this has been like cherry on top.
KL: So as an indie narrative series, obviously it’s taken a ton of work and a ton of time for you both. I think all the videos I've seen of you creating it have been at night.
Give me a general idea of how much time and energy you've been putting into this show outside of your day jobs.
JS: Yeah, I honestly have consciously not tried to tabulate how much work has gone into this because it's all been off our own backs and unpaid.
RW: A lot of how it plays out is, because I work until 10 PM on my day job a lot of the time that's when we'll start. Or on a Sunday or something.
But I don't know how many hours went into the first episode… probably 20 or 30?
JS: Oh, it was way more. I can't even put a number on it because it's been a year of work. We kind of started doing this instead of going on dates.
RW: It's hard too because a lot of the time I'm thinking about chess. So I guess I would include that. Like all of the weird Reddit rabbit holes and stuff just to try and get the best, most accurate information.
JS: Yeah. The timeline you made probably took you like 70 hours. We need people to look at Ryan's timeline because he put so much work into it!
A lot of what we're building our episodes off of are keywords of what is in the timeline – what are the actual concrete, like ‘this happens, this happens, this happens’, but then how can we blow that up into this one little moment. A lot of the time between two players or a commentator, those are really small moments, but they are representative of all these huge battles that are being fought in the background of chess. Some of the snide remarks and memes, you have to have so much background knowledge and understanding of how the chess world works, which I think is what I find the most compelling.
RW: Yeah, basically it starts right when the Hans and Magnus Game picks up and that's when the whole cheating scandal starts, and I'm still adding to it on a daily basis – anything that's related tangentially even to the cheating scandal or to feminism in chess, or the darker, seedy underbelly of chess gets kind of plunked in there.
I have to give credit to Reddit Chess as well because they started it and I picked it up and rearranged it a bit and added a bunch to it.
KL: I love that you then have an interactive piece that people can follow with your podcast!
RW: I really has helped us frame the episodes – just good reference!
KL: Can you tease any content that you're really stoked about?
JS: I mean the thing that I like about this story is [that] anal beads are actually the least interesting part of the story somehow.
We got to speak to so many chess podcasters who also share this space who gave us their time so generously. We got to speak to some really high level chess players who wanted to talk to us about the game, and how it's changed.
RW: I'm looking forward to creating this four or five minute section in episode two and it's going to be titled Delugey Drama, and we get to createa little jingle for it and it just goes into this really nerdy part of chess. The chess beef is just ridiculous, it's hilarious, and I'm really looking forward to writing that.
Catch the first episode here:
What are you both listening to these days?
Check out this Canadian Indie: Blackout Podcast
It is about unfiltered truth.
Intimate conversations with amazing people who do amazing things. A space to talk openly about life, art, mental health, family, beginnings and endings.
True North Podcast Feature: The Indigenous Climate Action Pod
Build up the Indigenous rights movement in so-called Canada.
For many Indigenous Peoples, access to internet is often limited and resources such as videos and websites can be difficult to access, and books can be difficult to obtain due to costs, so accessibility is the foundation upon which this show was made.
What’s going on in Canada’s podcast ecosystem:
The second season of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood North has launched!
In this 6-episode series, learn all about the early life and career (up to The Fly) of film director, David Cronenberg. Catch the trailer and first few episodes now!
ICYMI, the 2023 Hot Docs Podcast Festival line-up has been announced! There are plenty of incredible live shows and panels happening, so be sure to check it out.
CBC and Acast have collaborated to bring the podcast, Alone: A Love Story, to French and Spanish audiences! “Seule: Une histoire d’amour” and “Sola: Una historia de amor” have been out as of September 6th.
Lots of news from Canadaland:
The Backbench is headed on tour, with live tapings due in October in Vancouver and Whitehorse.
Associate Producer, Cassidy Villebrun-Buracas, has moved on from Canadaland. I know there are plenty of amazing things to come from him — he’s someone to watch!
Canadaland has launched it’s official YouTube Channel. Catch curated collections of their most notable work with some fun new video intro in which the team dawns some stylish party hats.
A Canadaland panel is due to open the upcoming Hot Docs Podcast Festival in October, this time honouring the network’s 10 year anniversary. Tickets are $36 or included in your festival pass. Find more info here.
What’s the best transcription software out there for podcasts? Never fear, Transistor’s Justin Jackson is here and has good through the pain-staking task of trying them all out. Read more.
For your pod:
recently shared his thoughts on growing your audience on his Substack, The Creativity Business. It’s worth a read!
The awards for excellence in audio, The Ambies, are back! With 25 categories, including a few specifically for independently produced and low-budget podcasts, it might be your year to apply — that is if you’ve got an extra $200 USD laying around. The deadline to apply is November 18th!
Want a £1000 grant to help you break into podcasting as a career? The BUILD Grant from Broccoli Productions is offering five £1000 grants for international audio creators, one for each of the five BUILD learning strands: Marketing, Business, Personal Development, Storytelling and Production. The deadline to apply is only a few days away, September 21st! Get more info here.
There are only a few days left to submit your podcast to the International Women’s Podcast Awards! Entries come at a smallish cost at £25 for independent and charity podcasts, and £60 for podcasts entered by a production company. The deadline to apply is this Friday September 22nd! Get more info on bursary opportunities here.
Want to learn how to leverage Amazon Music as a podcaster? Ausha is hosting the teams from Amazon Music and Wondery US on September 26th at 12pm EDT for free webinar. Register here!
Just Joe (is very pleased that we’re all finally back home)…
If you have thoughts or Canadian podcasting news, please share them with me! Leave a comment or reply to the newsletter email.
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Thanks for supporting Pod the North, I’ll be back in your inbox in two weeks!
Kattie | @Podkatt
(Find me on Twitter, Threads, Spotify, and Goodpods)
Hey friends, I accidentally linked the wrong thing for the FormPay to buy an ad slot for the live show! It's now been updated on Substack, but here's the actual link just incase! https://www.getformpay.com/podthenorthlive
ALSO, I've gotten a couple of notes about the Buddies box office website being finicky with ticket purchases -- I've sent them an email to look into what the heck is happening there, but if you are having problems with getting your ticket, give me a shout!
SORRY FOR ALL OF THIS!