This week, Matt talks about his time at Canadian Music Week and after years of everyone staying mum on regulatory issues, there is a consensus that it's time to install the latest Radio update. Left unanswered is the who, how and when, but the why answers are transparent. Declining revenue, changing audio consumption habits and new players and platforms have left radio in a weakened position. The keynote speaker at Canadian Music Week was Radio Futurologist James Cridland who suggested that Cana...
May 14, 2019•12 min•Ep. 150
Yes it happened way back when. Nat & Drew were fired and then were hired as their own replacements. I've been dying to hear the story since the day it happened back in 2008. But there's so much more to the story in the conversation we had recorded from the QM 103.5 studios one Friday after their show. There's the story of how they first met and what Drew really thought of Nat. There's also the evolution of the show going from just them to being flanked by talent like Erin Davis (The West Coa...
May 07, 2019•33 min•Ep. 149
Brad Karp is the winner of the 2019 Alan Waters Young Broadcaster of the year award in memory of Steve Young. Born and raised on Montreal's West Island, Brad grew up with a steady dose of Terry Dimonte and Ted Bird on CHOM. After Algonquin College, Brad found himself working in Thompson, Manitoba and later Fort McMurray, Alberta where he does the morning show at Country 93.3. Here is the release from JJ Johnston & Bob Saint. If you would like to know more about Steve Young - check out this F...
Apr 30, 2019•30 min•Ep. 148
Steve Anthony retired from active broadcasting about a year ago, moved to Prince Edward County, and took his business ventures with him for the ride. He and a wife Tanya who has been riding shotgun with Steve since 1997, have enough stories for a book he says he will never write. I spoke to Steve about his early days at John Abbott College on Montreal's West Island, to his time at 980 CKGM and then down the 401 to work for Gary Slaight at Toronto's Q107. As I spoke to Steve, I learned a few thin...
Apr 23, 2019•58 min•Ep. 147
Ian Howarth taught in Montreal for many years, and one of his passions was radio. He knew one day he would want to write a book about all those wonderful moments and sounds that emanated from great radio stations like 1490 CFOX, 980 CKGM, and later CHOM 97.7 once AOR became a thing in the early 70's. In this episode you'll hear names like Dave Boxer, Charles P. Rodney Chandler. (Chuck Chandler) Marc "Mais Oui" Denis, Ralph Lockwood and many more. Buy the book here: Special Thanks to Marc "Mais O...
Apr 15, 2019•28 min•Ep. 146
Alyssa Page grew up in Connecticut, found her way on to the radio by doing everything. Then worked her ass off to get to Atlanta and then a dream position on the legendary 107.7 The End in Seattle. This podcast marks the third member of the radio station to appear on the podcast, and with good reason. The station is oft quoted as one other station's could look to for innovative and brilliant ideas. So what's it like to work there? Alyssa answered those questions along with sharing some of her in...
Apr 08, 2019•26 min•Ep. 145
In this episode we spend time discussing the challenges involved with selling at a radio station in this digital revolution. His solution is rather simple: Stop Selling Radio. We discuss best practices for implementing new sales strategies, focus on some radio stations doing this right, and get slightly controversial (or innovative?) when it comes to selling podcasts. Radio may be going about it all wrong. Definitely subscribe to the Jacob's Media Daily Blog. Paul will also be honoured at the 44...
Apr 01, 2019•27 min•Ep. 144
I missed my first chance to meet Irish Dave. I wasn't going to miss my second. In the days after a Saint Patrick's Day that fell on a Sunday, I caught up with the U93 morning show host and learned a lot about the show host I have listened to on and off over the last 6 months. Now I knew that he was marrying his co-host Christine, but learned more about how they met. Originally, I connected with Dave on Twitter; likely chatting about radio. We failed to connect at the Conclave; in fact I had no i...
Mar 26, 2019•43 min•Ep. 143
She answered the very first question I asked her correctly. She was supposed to get it wrong. How Very Meredith Geddes of her. Meredith Geddes arrived in Vancouver at the World Famous CFOX and pretty much everything changed. She'd never been out west before and was about to take a big step in her radio career. From evenings, the shifts began to fall her way; whether it was voice tracking a daypart in another part of the country, then co-hosting the afternoon show with Jeremy Baker, or interviewi...
Mar 19, 2019•33 min•Ep. 142
Corey Dylan understands resilience. The longtime Tampa Bay radio personality was let go from Cox owned WFLA in the summer of 2016. In that time since, she continued working her voiceover clients, hosted a few television shows, and tried her hand at podcasting. She also never gave up in her quest to get back into radio. That meant networking at conferences at a moment when funds were at a premium, and putting herself out there when it could be most uncomfortable. I was turned on to Corey's story ...
Mar 12, 2019•24 min•Ep. 141
Tom Leykis understands how radio works. He understands people and how they engage with radio. The Long Island kid who spent his first radio show playing Glen Pitney (and loathing it), became one of America's most renowned talk show hosts. He would go to war against other talk show hosts. He spoke in this podcast of the time that he challenged Neil Rodgers to a fight on the streets of Miami, and started off his shows stating that his show is the one, "not hosted by a right-wing wacko or a convict...
Mar 05, 2019•52 min•Ep. 140
Dean Blundell was the host of the morning show on 102.1 the Edge in Toronto starting in 2001. As the internet age progressed, and social media took hold, the very things that elevated the Dean Blundell show to great heights became a part of its downfall. Add in some self-admitted flaws and it all came to an end in 2014. In the ensuing years, Dean worked mornings at 590 The Fan, but didn't appear to love the work. The last year and change has seen Dean take a look inward and clean up the mess fro...
Feb 26, 2019•50 min•Ep. 139
Kolter Bouchard was on the list to be on this podcast last summer. He had an interesting tale to tell about going from Dawson Creek to Dubai, and his program director Blair Bartrem was excited to get this talent on the air a Q107. Fast forward a few months and Corus renovates their airwaves and Kolter is now co-hosting the afternoon drive show on Edge 102 with Meredith Geddes. The story of how that show came to fruition is as every bit compelling as his journey from Dawson Creek to Dubai with hi...
Feb 19, 2019•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 138
Drex became Canadian famous just before Christmas in 2012 when he asked then Premier Christy Clark on behalf of a listener if she was more MILF or Cougar. And with that started radio's era of internet outrage. That was not the first time Drex had been fired. He has a cool back story from his days on air in Australia, and hopscotched the British Columbia coast and interior before making his way to CFOX and then CKNW and the Corus Radio Network. One of things I love about Drex is his versatility f...
Feb 12, 2019•44 min•Ep. 137
This episode is titled after Buzz's podcast called Healthy Paranoia. We spoke about his past in radio working at legendary stations like doing weekends at WNEW and programming legendary WZLX. From there we dove into radio's future, podcast strategy, why Beasley Media Group got involved with e-Sports, and defining innovation overall. His role at Beasley began evolving back in 2016 when Greater Media was sold to Beasley. If you are wondering where radio is going - this is a good listen. Also take ...
Feb 05, 2019•23 min•Ep. 136
Sean Dilworth is half the man he used to be. Figuratively only. In whole, he is stronger, smarter and more confident than ever. He made a life decision to get physically stronger, which led to a number of other changes in his life. Then he came out and told his audience about it last September. In this moment, I knew I wanted to have him tell the longer version of this story on the podcast. You can connect to that on air piece via his Facebook page. I hired Sean back in 2012 and he was every bit...
Jan 29, 2019•27 min•Ep. 135
Troy McCallum had it all figured out. He listened to the episode with Gruff Gushnowski and knew that doing the podcast in the car would be a fitting place to talk radio. After all, he spends up to 3 hours a day in the car listening to the radio on the way to work as program director at Boom 97.3 in Toronto. Troy and I spent about half of his commute home talking about his early days in radio, his affinity for the Classic Hits format, programming said format, and discussing two trips he took last...
Jan 22, 2019•48 min•Ep. 134
Lianne Laing knew there was a moment when she would have to make the jump. After many years battling a 3:40am wake call to fulfill a role in television secondary to her original passion sports, change was inevitable. In November 2017, she left on her own accord and launched her website Lianne Laing - complete with a weekly podcast and You Tube Channel . Her guests are all leaders in the field of medicine, health, sports, nutrition and science. Lianne herself was a varsity athlete at the Universi...
Jan 15, 2019•31 min•Ep. 133
My New Year's resolution is to call more people and speak to them, rather than pretend I know what's going on in their lives because I follow them on Facebook or Instagram. Natasha was my first victim. After 12 years, I spoke with her about her ascension to morning radio in Montreal, her stint working for Entertainment Tonight Canada, her experiences as a mom, and coping with life's unexpected changes. Natasha also spoke about Debbie Travis who has a new book called Design Your Next Chapter . We...
Jan 08, 2019•45 min•Ep. 132
JJ "Jim" Johnston did something rather extraordinary last year. He committed to writing a blog everyday saluting someone in the radio or music industry. In an era where the social media stratosphere is predominantly negative, The project started on January 1 with Bruce Barker, wound its way through Victoria Day weekend with a tribute to yours truly , and then concluded on December 31 with David Marsden. These posts were shared across all social media platforms including Facebook. When you think ...
Dec 31, 2018•22 min•Ep. 131
They say three times makes it a tradition. Terry Dimonte loves Christmas and radio, so every year we have him on the show to talk about those two things... and more. We talked about our love of one of North America's most renowned restaurants Joe Beef, and his annual visit from the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. Terry mentions that his photographer Adam Scotti is a good Twitter follow . We also touch on he enjoys CBS Sunday morning, and still getting a hard copy of the newspaper. Terry also tal...
Dec 24, 2018•57 min•Ep. 130
Ted Bird has been a Montreal radio mainstay since 1984. I'd say longer but I don't remember his fist tour in 1979 and he didn't have fond memories of that era which was complicated given the politics at the time. From his times working with Terry Dimonte at CHOM, Mix 96 and CJAD, to working off the island in the Mohawk community and now Jewel 106.7 in Hudson, Quebec. I worked with Ted a couple of times, including from 2002 to 2006 at CHOM where his passion for reporting, writing and broadcasting...
Dec 18, 2018•57 min•Ep. 129
Danny Kingsbury is the National format director of Rock Radio for Rogers, and the first question is all about Rock Radio. In this episode we discussed his 30 plus years in radio, especially about his years at Q107 which were the last ones before the era of online streaming and the birth of digital. During the chat I was reminded about the success of Y95 in Hamilton which happened concurrently with his stint at Q, and that time the Leafs moved to FM and aired their games on Q107. As format lead f...
Dec 11, 2018•51 min•Ep. 128
Steve Reynolds is a talent coach and works with some of the biggest radio talents in North America. He will help you establish what your show all about and get the show's characters connecting. And it is all done with the long term in mind. This is a show that is 18 months in the making as I missed Steve's session at the Conclave in 2017 because mine was scheduled adjacently, but I managed to connect with him last year and write furious notes. Here was the big takeaway from Steve regarding morni...
Dec 04, 2018•38 min•Ep. 127
Dave (Buzz) Reynolds is someone I have crossed paths with twice. In the early 90's I met him when I was doing overnights at CHOM. The AM station down the hall was 990 Oldies. We were working for CHUM Ltd. at the time. Fast forward ten years and we found ourselves together at CHOM in Montreal, now owned by Standard Radio. We last saw one another around 2005 and through the wonders of Facebook, never bothered to call one another because - well are Facebook friends so that should be good enough, ri...
Nov 28, 2018•39 min•Ep. 126
Rob Walch is the Vice President of Podcaster Relations at Libsyn . The 2016 Podcasting Hall of Fam inductee is also the host of a few podcasts including podcast411 , Today In iOS , and The Feed which he co-hosts with fellow HoF inductee Elsie Escobar. Rob has built a reputation on trust in the industry by being honest: You're not going to make money right way, it is going to take time to grow your audience, and podcast is not as easy as it looks. Over his last 14 year in podcast, he has seen man...
Nov 20, 2018•27 min•Ep. 125
Mandy James is the morning show host with Pat PT Thomas and Mike Dubs on Entercom's Buz'n @ 102.9 in Minneapolis. I've gotten to know Mandy over the last few years at the Conclave Summer Learning Conference. I watched as she bravely networked her way through the room in 2017, eventually giving me a gift bag complete with a Conclave survival kit which include a small bottle of something flavourful when 5pm kicked in. She also asked hard questions to industry leaders that needed answering as it pe...
Nov 13, 2018•25 min•Ep. 124
Amanda Logan headed west in 2008 to Regina, Saskatchewan where she did evenings at 104.9 The Wolf. Amazingly, we still have audio from that era and it makes an appearance in this podcast. A few weeks ago, The evening personality at Toronto's Z103.5, got married and in lieu of a wedding present, I figured a podcast appearance would suffice. We talked about her journey west and then back east to the Big Smoke where she worked at Corus, CHUM-FM and now Evanov's flagship station Z103.5. She also was...
Nov 06, 2018•33 min•Ep. 123
Nat Lauzon has been a mainstay on Montreal radio for almost 20 years. Her career path has moved in somewhat tidy cycles, spending her teen years working on air in her hometown of Timmins, Ontario while in high school. Then she worked at Toronto's Mix 99.9 while she was finishing her degree at Ryerson Polytechnic. In 1999, she jumped at the opportunity to move to Montreal to with Blair Bartrem at Mix 96. She did mornings up until 2002 and then took over the midday show and was pretty much number ...
Oct 31, 2018•36 min•Ep. 122
About 90 percent of this podcasts downloads come from two North American countries, Canada & the USA. But a look across the ocean shows the UK in a solid third with Australia and Nigeria tied for 4th, scoring higher than Ireland and New Zealand. I felt compelled to find out more about radio in Nigeria. EDK is Osato Edokpayi from Abuja, Nigeria. He does the breakfast show at SoundCity in Nigeria's capital. Over the past year, we have been seeing some consistent downloads from the African nati...
Oct 24, 2018•32 min•Ep. 121
