Wait, les Québécois don’t use the word “podcast”?!
Wait, les Québécois don’t use the word “podcast”?!
Vol. 43 - Clara Lagacé discusses Festival Transistor and French-Canadian podcasting. PLUS, a bunch more Canadian podcast events announced!
Hihi!! Happy Pod the North Tuesday!
In this issue:
A look at French-Canadian podcasting and the upcoming Festival Transistor!
Canadian Indie: Supermarket
True North Feature: The Native Seed Pod
INCOMING: a bunch of Canadian podcast events announced!
There are currently 28 long-term drinking water advisories in effect in 26 First Nations communities across Canada.
Let’s turn our attention to Canada’s french-language podcasting landscape.
At the end of the month, Transitor Média is hosting the eighth annual Festival Transistor — four days straight of podcast festivities in Gatineau, Québec.
Over these last eight years, Transistor Média has really been building a hub for French-Canadian podcasts in Canada through its festival. According to directrice générale, Clara Lagacé, the festival is finally back to its pre-pandemic numbers, hosting about 4,000 people and podcasters at the Vieux-Aylmer Cultural Center.
Festival Transistor is set up similarly to the Hot Docs Podcast Festival (as Torontonians might be familiar), with day-time industry progamming like roundtables, panels, and meet and greets, and evening and Saturday’s programming open to the public featuring some incredible live shows with a chance to talk to producers at the end.
The April festival isn’t just about what the Quebec-based podcast production house is producing. Clara told me that the point of the festival is to be “as inclusive as possible of what's going on in Quebec right now.”
But the Québécois podcasting ecosystem has some pretty unique challenges; how its podcasts — or “balados” — are discovered, how Quebec-french is perceived, and the chokehold of the Radio-Canada Ohdio app on Quebec’s podcast listeners. (Okay, maybe chokehold is a strong word).
“There's lots of great stuff out there. We always have to say no – that's the hard part,” Clara told me when I asked about how they find French-Canadina podcasts for their programming. “We have stuff from the broadcasting partners, Amazon Music is a presenter this year, and [we] also want to make sure there's a wide range of identities represented on stage as well.”
With the 8th annual Festival Transistor coming up, I thought it was high time to do a temp-check on Canada’s French-language podcasting space, and chatted with Clara to not only unpack the things that make French-Canadian podcasts what they are, but to also understand how French-Canadians are consuming podcasts.
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Wait, les Québécois don’t use the word “podcast”?!
This interview was been edited for clarify and brevity. The entire conversation is available in audio form to paid Pod the North subscribers.
Kattie Laur: In 2022, Dan Misener at Bumper (prev. Pacific Content) reported that French-language podcasts were one of the biggest “podcast neighbourhoods” in Canada. Clearly, a ton of people are listening to French language podcasts.
What's your perception of the French language podcasting ecosystem in Canada?
Clara Lagacé: Probably similar to what's going on in English Canada.
There's indie producers. A couple studios, of which we are one. A lot of freelancers, and there's obviously Radio-Canada Ohdio – which is the CBC French branch that produces their own content. And then there's also Télé-Québec, which is another public broadcaster.
It's an interesting year to be in media and in arts. How Transistor is funded and how we manage to create content, it's through working with broadcasters and also with the arts councils as we're a non profit. That funding is going down a little bit everywhere.
The [Canadian Council for the Arts] has announced that it's received less funding from the federal budget, same thing in Quebec from the provincial budget. There's a little bit of anxiety going around in the ecosystem right now as to what's next. How do we make this sustainable? How do we keep telling these creative Canadian, Quebec stories?
KL: So I'm familiar with podcasts like Sexe Oral. Any podcasts really blowing up in French Canada right now?
CL: There's a true crime indie podcast is called CAPTIVES – they're coming to the festival to do a live event! They keep going strong and winning prizes – that's a podcast that people should be listening to.
Another really popular one that's fun – it's narrative but it's also humor – is Les pires moments de l'histoire by Charles Beauchesne.
KL: Not to ask you to speak on behalf of all Québécois, but the French language podcasts that you consume, are they typically Québécois, or are they coming from France?
CL: In my case, I do listen to a lot of Québécois content. We listen to a lot of what comes out of Radio-Canada. I follow some freelance documentary artists.
Radio-Canada is becoming one of the main producers of podcasts.
All of their podcasts are exclusive to their platform, [Radio-Canada Ohdio] – they're not on Spotify, they're not on Apple, they're not on any of the other platforms. It means a lot of Quebecers who consume Radio-Canada content de facto revert to that — I don't have the stats to support this, but I've seen it enough that they revert to their app as if it was Spotify or Apple.I think that it's changing how people think of Quebec-content podcasts. But it's really hard for us to find French language podcasts, especially from Frenc Canada because there's [french] communities outside of Quebec as well.
If we open French Apple Podcasts, there's no list on the front page of “Canadian content”. It's really hard for us in terms of discoverability.
It is understandable if you have this [Radio-Canada Ohdio] app that has great content in French, that you're not going to swim through all the rest to find something.
KL: That's so interesting because Apple Podcasts, you can only really filter by country — so you either select “France” and you're getting France content, or you choose “Canada” and you're getting a ton of English-language content and have to filter through and find all that French stuff.
And then using the Radio-Canada app, maybe you’re not accessing any of the indie podcasts because they're using Spotify or whatever else. The discovery, I can only imagine, is horrific.
CL: Yeah, it's something we have to pay attention to. We used to spend 90% percent of our energy on producing the show and 10% maybe on “getting it out there”, and [now] we're trying to leave more money for “getting it out there”.
KL: I think there's an idea for English-language podcasts that you want to reach a global audience, but is that the case for French-language podcasts?
CL: Yeah, definitely we want to reach a global audience!
We were invited to Brest, France last February to participate and showcase some of our work at their festival. That's a festival called Longueur D’Ondes and it's been going on for 20 years and it's all about radio and podcasting. There's a network within France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Quebec where we can exist and reach beyond the borders of Gatineau, so we do want to reach beyond Canada.
KL: Oh yeah, and there are plenty of French speakers around the world.
French colonialism was a thing, so there is a lot of potential for French-language podcasts to become global phenomenons for sure!
CL: The difficulty for us is really for Quebec specifically.
If there's no ways for us to be discovered in regards to other French content, but also in regards to Canadian content, that is something I feel Heritage Canada and governments should be interested in.
There's a whole bunch of people here telling Canadian stories in a very accessible format that is being listened to around the world, and we need a little bit of help.
Each platform is really different, right? Amazon Music; it's still a human who's putting stuff forward, so there's a lot more Québécois content being put forward on the Amazon Music platform.
KL: Set the record straight: what is the difference between “Quebec French” and “France French”?
CL: Oh boy. Well, there is not a single “Quebec French” nor a single “France French”.
Sitting in Gatineau right now, obviously my accent is a lot more tinted with English than someone who's in Eastern Quebec. The usual filters of how much education you have and all that will also define how your accent is.
Generally speaking as a minority in Quebec, we're overexposed to French from France. I listen to movies from France, I listen to podcasts from France, so I'm always exposed to that kind of French and willingly go towards it.
When we were in France in February at [Longueur D’Ondes], people are always bringing the question back to our accent and the words are different. Like they use “podcast” in France. “Podcast” in Quebec, we use the word “Balado”, which is a new word that was created.
KL: Wait, I didn’t know that!
CL: Yeah! So it's not weird to use “balado”. That's what everyone uses.
So there are cultural differences. It's a question we ask ourselves about listenership because outside of Canada the biggest proportion of that is in France.
We wonder about the reception of the accent and how understood it will be. We have to think about how we write scripts so that they're well understood, because people in France are not as exposed to the Quebec accent.
In France, they still say “email” – we have a word “courriel” for email. It's the same idea.
What Clara is loving:
Check out this Canadian Indie: Supermarket
Sitcom superstar, Carson Carson, gets blacklisted in Hollywood (and society) from his grotesque sex tape leak.
Now, with his tail between his legs, he heads back to his small town in an attempt to reboot his life. Carson is then forced to reprise his job (pre-fame) at the local Supermarket, where things quickly go bananas...
True North Podcast Feature: The Native Seed Pod
Celebrating the diversity and beauty of Native seeds, soils, and indigenous foods.
Exploring the Foodways and Traditional Ecological Knowledge needed to renew the health of the Earth and all our relations.
What’s going on in Canada’s podcast ecosystem:
New Releases:
Apr 2, 2024 — Island Crime has returned with its sixth season: Sweathearts. Laura Palmer investigates the murders of Kimberly Gallup, Cheri Lynn Smith, and Melissa Nicholson, three teenage girls who were murdered in Victoria between 1990 and 1991.
Apr 8, 2024 — Pod the North’s new flagship podcast, Canardian: the podcast gossiping about Canadian podcasters’ hometowns, is out now! You can check out the first two of twelve episodes now, featuring Jess Schmidt (McKenzie Lake, Calgary) and Rick Harp (Winnipeg)!
Apr 10, 2024 — Extradition: The Search for Huseyin Celil from TVO’s Tiffany Lam and Yusuf Zine has launched it’s trailer. The show follows the Uyghur refugee who travelled with his wife and children to Uzebekistan to visit family. What was supposed to be a family reunion ended when he was arrested under false pretenses and eventually delivered to China where he was sent to prison. 17-years later, his fate remains unknown and his family desperate for answers.
Apr 12, 2024 — Lately, a new podcast from The Globe and Mail has launched with host, policy reporter Vass Bednar. The show dives into the big, defining trends in business and tech.
Apr 18, 2024 — Discovering Downie launches this Thursday. The podcast combs through the discography of Gordon Edgar Downie one album at a time. Check out the trailer now!
Apr 22, 2024 — The Big Story from Frequency Network launches a miniseries, Paydirt: The Inside Story of the Ontario’s Greenbelt Scandal, on April 22nd and in collaboration with The Narwhal.
You should know:
JAR Audio’s Pilot Competition for Emerging Women Podcasters has opened up again for pitches! The winner will receive production support and it’s open to internationship applicants. Anne Kane was last year’s winner with her podcast, A Touch Of Hysteria. Deadline to apply is May 1st.
The Women in Media Network is selling merch and donating proceeds to the London Abused Women’s Centre! If you’re in market for some podcast merch, or just to do something good for Canada, shop now and help provide relief and guidance to women and girls who have been subjected to violence, trafficking, and/or homelessness.
What happens when podcasts “juke the stats”? Bumper’s Dan Misener shared his thoughts on a recent piece from Bloomberg’s Ashley Carman that reported on how MowPod has been selling podcast listeners. Give it a read.
Exciting movement for Acast’s Canadian team! Yael Strasberg was recently promoted to Creator Network Director, Sophia LePage has been promoted to Senior Partner Manager, Associate Partner Manager, Dezaye Nair recently joined the team, and there is currently a job posting open for an Account Manager! Love to see this growth happening in Canada, congratulations eteam!
There are 58 podcast categories with 290 nominees at the 2024 Webby Awards. Wait, why do the Signal Awards exist again? Anyway the Canadian nominees are: The Africas VS. America (Documentary podcast), The No Good, Terribly Kind, Wonderful Lives and Tragic Deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman (Crime & Justice limited series), The Naked Emperor (Business limited series), Supreme: The Battle for Roe (Scripted Fiction Episode), and Underwater (Scripted Fiction Limited Series).
If I missed your podcast, let me know and BEST OF LUCK!
Events:
Apr 16, 2024 — Quill Podcasting is hosting a Toronto Podcast Meetup at CreatorClub from 6-8pm. It’ll feature a fireside chat with Lead Podcasting’s Amanda Cupido and a chance to connect with fellow podcasters. Get your ticket here!
May 23, 2024 — Entries for the Quill Podcast Awards are now open, with voting closing April 26th. The awards are free to enter and open to everyone. You do not need to be the creator/owner of a podcast or brand to nominate it!
May 26, 2024 — Canadian Politics is Boring is doing their first live show in Halifax! Join a new immigrant and a totally apathetic Canadian as they bumble through news, history and scandal LIVE at 2 Crows Brewing Co. Get your tickets here!
June 2-4, 2024 — Radiodays North America is coming to Toronto, including a full day of podcast programming called Podcast Powerup. The themes of the conference will include AI in the broadcasting space, podcasting, and diversity and inclusion. Notable speakers include James Cridland, Connie Walker, Laura Mayer, and yours truly, Kattie Laur!
June 6, 2024 — The inaugural Soundwave Summit is coming to Toronto, a full days event showcasing everything Canadian indie podcasting. It is made up of two parts: a daytime portion, Soundwave Sessions, which offers panels, presentations and networking opportunities at Startwell. In the evening, catch the Soundwave Showcase, which includes a series of live podcast performances at Paradise Theatre. Get your ticket and check out the full lineup on the website. You can also use the code PODTHENORTH15 to get 15% off your ticket! (Full disclosure, I get a kickback from tickets sold with my code!)
For your pod:
The April issue of All Hear, the newsletter “Everything List” for Audio Opportunities is out now! Check it out for funding and content opportunities from around the world!
How podcasters are making money on Substack — Substack recently posted this blog, and it’s interesting to read in tandem with the recent announcement that Substack podcasts will now be supported on Spotify. If you’re thinking about running a podcast-newsletter combo, check out this issue of
to learn more about why a having a newsletter for your podcast might be a good idea!How to do a Promo Swap — Tink Media has been holding Podcast Group Therapy sessions where small groups of 10 or less people get to engage with Tink's marketing experts. The upcoming session on Friday, April 26th will unpack promo swaps, and help you master the art of crafting compelling promos, forge mutually beneficial partnerships, and grow our audio community. Registration is open until April 19th.
Just Joe (perplexed by the solar eclipse)…
If you have thoughts or Canadian podcasting news, please share them with me! Leave a comment or reply to the newsletter email.
If you’re feeling generous there are a couple ways to financially support Pod the North at any budget: opt-in to pay for this Substack on a monthly or yearly basis, buy me a coffee, or buy an ad! You can also listen to Canardian and rate it five stars!
Thanks for supporting Pod the North, I’ll be back in your inbox in two weeks!
Kattie
@Podkatt (Twitter, Spotify, and Goodpods) | @PodtheNorth (Bluesky and Instagram)
