Rogers Media makes another brutal blow in Canadian podcasting. Canada responds.

Vol. 59 - A quick announcement, The Big Story cuts, Jay Cockburn addresses corporate control of media, plus Podcasthon is here to raise your podcasting spirits!

Nov 26, 2024

Hihi!! Happy Pod the North Tuesday!

NOTICE: Pod the North is closed for the holidays! The next issue of Pod the North will be out Jan 7, 2025, but please don’t stop sending me your Canadian podcasting news! In the meantime, mark your calendar ‘cause Canadian podcasters are coming into the New Year HOT.

In this issue:

Rogers Media makes another brutal blow in Canadian podcasting.
Jay Cockburn writes a rant for Kattie on corporate control of media.
Want to see some good in this god forsaken industry? Check out Podcasthon.
Canadian Indie: Girl Historians
True North Podcast Feature: Spirit Bear Podcast

BTW:

There are currently 31 long-term drinking water advisories in effect in 29 First Nations communities across Canada. The last lifted advisory was November 2024. The most recent added advisory was September 2024.

Rogers Media makes another brutal blow in Canadian podcasting.

Last week Rogers Media made yet another devistating round of job cuts, effectively ripping out the heart of the Frequency Podcast Network.

As reported by Broadcast Dialogue: “On the podcasting side, Jordan Heath-Rawlings, who hosted and executive produced the Frequency Podcast Network’s daily news pod, The Big Story, has parted ways with the company, in addition to Audience Development Specialist Mary Jubran, producers Joseph Fish and Robyn Simon, showrunner Stefanie Phillips, and sound designer Mat Keselman.”

The Spotify comments on new episodes confirm that Big Story listeners, and Canadian podcasters and journalists too, are shocked and deeply offended by this move. Five years worth of loyal listeners suddenly received a new version of their show with no warning. Producers are reminded that stable work in Canada is only harder to come by. The joy around podcasting feels tainted.

Whenever I’m having big feelings about the industry, I like to turn to the digital channels of one, Jay Cockburn —friend, journalist, writer and brilliant podcast producer —whose prose always seem to hit just right.

So I’ve decided to bless this last issue of Pod the North of 2024 with his musings on the state of affairs in Canadian podcasting and media as we look ahead at what we want for this industry in 2025.

See you next year! :)

A rant for Kattie on corporate control of media.

Nov 26, 2024

“There are many reasons journalism holds such a special place in my heart. The fourth estate’s power to reflect our lives is the reason we call it the first draft of history. Putting a story on the record and publishing it for the world to see is a powerful act that makes things feel more real, our experiences more valid.

Then there’s the beauty of receiving that knowledge; I learn things that delight and astound me almost every day from podcasts, magazines and newspapers – be they print or digital.

Perhaps most important is journalism’s ability to hold the powerful to account, to expose corruption, to question decisions and the motives behind them. It’s a fundamental part of our democracy, and without it we suffer. Journalism makes government better in almost every way measurable – don’t take my word for it, read the UNESCO report.

Unfortunately the way that our society tends to measure something’s value is completely detached from all of these things. Journalism is terrible at making money. In fact I’d argue that it’s fundamentally incompatible with the corporate motive of profit. Good journalism takes a long time. It takes experienced people with a degree of freedom to trust their own judgement and chase their own stories. It costs a lot of money.

But ultimately, to an advertiser, a page view is a page view, so why not make cheaper pages?

So someone has to fund it. There is an advertising market, sure, but a casual glance at the numbers show that they just don’t add up.

For a while it looked like big corporate players like Spotify would put up the cash for reporting-heavy podcasts. They bought Gimlet for $194 million. Things looked good for a bit, then they shut it down and laid off most of their podcasting staff.

Meanwhile Joe Rogan signed another $250 million with Spotify in February 2024.

Former Reply All host Alex Goldman told Slate that Spotify “bought a bunch of companies that did journalism while having real contempt for what we did”.

It’s not really the fault of for-profit corporations that they act like for-profit corporations. Joel Bakan’s “The Corporation” laid out neatly why companies are legally compelled to act like psychopaths: they are mandated to act only in the interests of themselves, which ultimately means their shareholders. So if you’re an executive at a large publicly traded corporation – let’s say, oh I don’t know… Rogers? Yes, if you’re an executive at Rogers, and you see – just picking something at random here – a daily news podcast with a staff of three to five people, you might think “well, why not just get one of our talk radio hosts to do this in their downtime, which I presume they have lots of because all they do is talk on the radio 3 hours a day?”.

The podcast gets much worse, but for a little bit the number on the bank account looks bigger.

That’s why it’s irresponsible to leave the media in corporate control. Any ownership model that is driven by a profit incentive will ultimately end up cutting back on journalists and sending the organisation into a death spiral because that profit motive doesn’t understand what readers and listeners value and how expensive journalism fits into that model.

Especially if those journalists might occasionally criticise the corporation that profits from their work. Or endorse a presidential candidate that doesn’t align with your own business interests.

This is more important than ever. Canada is three corporations in a trenchcoat and Elon Musk is the co-president of the USA. Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post and Pierre Poilievre wants to defund the CBC.

I’m tired of seeing my talented, passionate and downright incredible colleagues get laid off from a company that can absolutely afford them but doesn’t understand what they’re paying for. I’m tired of hearing about local government corruption that goes unreported because there are no newspapers left in that particular city. I’m tired of having pitches sent back with a “this is great, but we don’t have the budget for freelance stories.”

We need better options – both as readers/listeners and as journalists. I personally would love a worker-owned media option for Toronto (if you happen to know how I might fund that please get in touch), but there are wonderful, non-profit outlets like The Local and mission-focused for profits like The Green Line who are starting to make waves too. The Narwhal has made a real difference with their incredible reporting on the green belt controversy. Our only option for now is to support those businesses. If you value journalism more than your dollars and are able to do so: please, for the love of The Big Story and all the good it did, buy a membership to one or many of these places.

And cancel your Rogers cable.”

Jay Cockburn
Globe and Mail, The Green Line, The Local, Toronto Star, The Breach, 99% Invisible

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Want to see some good in this god forsaken industry? Check out Podcasthon.

Over the last two years, over 400 French-language podcasts have come together over the course of a week to support charities of their choice, all in the name of Podcasthon. Now, the March 2025 third edition is open to English-speaking countries and set to include thousands of podcasts from around the world (more than likely including Canardian Season 2)!

If you’ve been thinking about using your show to give back more, right now is a good time to think about getting involved. I talked to Montreal-based Podcasthon co-founder, Jérémie Mani, to get the a lay of the land, and the scoop on what it looks like to participate. Register here!

Kattie Laur: Talk to me a bit about the relationship between podcasters and the charities that they collaborate with for Podcasthon.

Jérémie Mani: There's different formats on the table, but most of the time the podcaster will invite a representative of the charity [as a guest].
Podcasting is probably the best medium to spend time, to dive deeper into [a] charity. Listeners have a better chance to get something out of your conversation – a seed planted. Maybe you become a volunteer one day, or why not make a donation, [or] share the content. Whatever the podcast, [charities] all have common points of the need: to get in touch with a larger support audience. How many opportunities do you have when you're running a charity to make yourself known by many other people? Probably not on Instagram or TikTok – it's good for brand awareness, but it's probably not good enough to convey emotion and then attract a bit of attention.

KL: Why not ask for donations?

First, we wanted to push [podcasts] to ask for a donation, but it didn't work, really. But I was surprised by the feedback from some charities saying, ‘we were really happy to be invited because that gave us a lot of opportunities to be supported by this potential volunteer’, or ‘we made a potential partner’, or ‘the fact that we were showcased in the podcast was a great add on for the grant that we're trying to have’.
I do believe that podcasters are talented storytellers and they have a loyal audience.

KL: What do you think makes a really compelling Podcasthon episode?

JM: It has to come from the heart and not from the brain. Think about what really resonates with you. Don't hesitate to put a bit of your heart into your episode.

A comedy podcast where Blair MacMillan and Carley Thorne attempt to be historians.

True North Podcast Feature: Spirit Bear Podcast

Welcome to the Caring Society’s Spirit Bear paw’d-cast!

Informative episodes that feature guest appearances from community members, advocates, and experts leading on a number of matters affecting First Nations children, youth, and families.

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

New Releases:

Oct 24, 2024 — 50 year broadcasting veteran, Tony Parsons, has launched a new podcast, The Tony Parsons Show. This new interview series sees Tony interviewing folks like Peter Mansbridge, Jim Hughson (the voice of Hockey Night in Canada), and many more!

Nov 14, 2024 — Your Two Cents, a podcast from Atl Credit Unions and co-hosted by popular Canadian TikTok creator Alicia McCarvell, has launched it’s third season. The show dives into taboo topics around money—like managing debt, the cost of going to a wedding, and more.

Nov 15, 2024 — You can now listen to Static: A Party Girl’s Memoir, a new four-part series that mixes audio drama with journalism from Meg Wilcox and Ashley King!

Nov 17, 2024 — The Archery Parent Podcast has launched! Get ready to dive into the world of Archery like never before, with everything an Archery Parent needs to know to survive!

Nov 19, 2024 — The first episode of CBC’s Personally: Short Sighted is out now! The five-part series follows writer and journalist Graham Isador through the intimate journey of his vision loss experience.

You oughta know…

Apple Podcasts has shared the top 10 most popular podcasts on the platform in Canada of 2024. Of all ten, Kristi Lee’s Canadian True Crime is the only Canadian show on the list, sitting at #8.

ICYMI: Spotify for Podcasters has been renamed to “Spotify for Creators”, in a very telling, video-forward shift. Canadian “creators” can also now join the Spotify Partner Program which pays out podcasts based on podcast audio ads and video streams by Premium users. It’s also rolling out a number of Tik-Tok-esque video features. Podcasters might now get their own taste of Spotify’s music-payout model.

More great reporting on this from Ashley Carman.
Sounds Profitable’s Bryan Barletta also dug into the fine print on this.

Founder, CEO and Executive Producer at Lead Podcasting, Amanda Cupido, has relaunched her book, Let’s Talk Podcasting! The new edition has been updated to include the latest information in podcasting, including fresh takes on where the industry is headed, six new chapters and a foreword by Erika Casupanan, winner of the reality competition Survivor and host of the podcast, Happy to See Me. Check it out and order your copy now!

On November 25th, Amanda also recently handed out the first ever Lead Podcasting Award to TMU RTA student, Elias Drakos! The Lead Podcasting Award celebrates the next generation of audio storytellers. Elias is the host and producer of Keepin’ It Sporty which is now in production of its 4th season!

Nominees have been announced for the seventh annual Canadian Podcast Awards! As reported by Broadcast Dialogue, of the 336 nominated podcasts Geist and Happy to See Me lead the pack in nominations, with six and five respectively. The Sonar Network also received 15 nominations across its slate of podcasts. Public voting has now closed and winners are set to be announced by the end of the year.

The latest issue of Annalise Neilsen’s newsletter series, Missed Podcast Opportunities, is all about kids podcasts! “As more and more research comes out around the negative impacts of excessive screen time, parents are left wondering: How can I entertain my kids in a healthy way, without inadvertently creating an “iPad kid”? The good news is there’s a terrific solution already out there: Podcasts!” Read the whole thing here!

YourTV North Bay is now also airing half-hour segments of the Echo Essentials Podcast, Mondays at 7 p.m. Each episode follows Scott Clark, Dave Dale and various guests as they discuss the latest challenges and issues facing North Bay.

“Imagine if Canadian media had serious people writing and reviewing podcasts?”, Antica President, Stuart Coxe, recently mused on LinkedIn. He even threw out my name, which has me curious what PTN readers think about more reviews coming from Pod the North in 2025? Let me know!