SoundOff Podcast

Chris St. Clair started at the Weather Network back in 1994. However, before that he had a worked in radio; in later years as the program director at 990 Hits in Montreal. After 26 years at the Weather Network, Chris has retired. In this episode, you will hear how Chris got his start in radio...

Last summer when we had Vinny Barucco on the show, I mentioned that we would be having his co-host on in due time. Time is due. Shannon King’s radio journey is different in that she didn’t grow up idolizes radio personalities from the past. It was just kind of suggested to her. She cut her...

A few times a year, the radio grim reaper makes its rounds and kills off another round of talented people. Depending on the sociopathic behaviour of the company who executes the plan, it is described as “dislocation” or “restructuring”. To those that are on the receiving end, it feels more like a mob-hit. Mary-Ann Ivison...

Every year, Terry Dimonte and I get together for some Christmas cheer. This year we wound up talking a little more about podcasting as he and Ted Bird have recently launched their new show. Terry has recently moved to British Columbia with his wife Jessica and Terry recounts his first few weeks in the area...

Last April. Gillian Foote returned to her home province of Nova Scotia after spending the better part of two decades in Edmonton at 100.3 The Bear. Along with her co-hosts Paul Brown an Yukon Jack, they were authors of some pretty amazing radio over the course of 13 years. Gillian has now relocated to Q104...

Tom Bedell is the afternoon drive host at Q104 in Halifax. His career started in the late 80’s in Saint John, N.B at the legendary CFBC, and has been driving Metro Halifax home since 1998. In this episode, Tom recalls those early days in New Brunswick and his early stints in Woodstock, NB, Halifax and...

We loved having James Crildland on our show back in 2018 when we fussed about podcast discovery when there were a half million podcasts in the universe. There are now 2.5 million and we have so many more questions to ask. In this episode, I get a little help from my Podcast SuperFriends Jag in...

We had Matty Staudt back on the show in September of 2019 and he was heading up jam street media after leaving iHeart as the head of podcasting. in that episode we talked about his early podcast career with dates back to stitcher in 2008, how he produced the G. Gordon Liddy show, and played...

Around Montreal, mention the words “Queen of Rock” and that title goes to Sharon Hyland, longtime on air host at CHOM-FM. Last month she eclipsed 25 years of broadcasting at the legendary radio station. And while her name might not get lumped in with the CHOM Alumni who came before her, (just yet) her knowledge...

The copy just screams off the page: She was a blogger and social media maven. He, a former morning radio host. Together they struck out on their own and created The Upside. Callie and Jeff Dauler started their podcast when Jeff’s radio career abruptly changed in 2019 from Star 94.1 in Atlanta. Their success could...

Ryan Jespersen is one of the great broadcast to podcast success stories. After being relieved from the coveted 9 to noon position at the venerable 630 CHED in Edmonton last year, Ryan hatched a plan to move his audience from terrestrial to digital, and at the same time fill a need for real talk in...

Mike Goral is someone I have only met once, haven’t seen in 7 years but we have a long track record of working together. Long before the pandemic taught us to work apart, Mike and I, along with Jamie Watson and Evan Surminski would all collaborate to make audio magic in radio. Since then, all...

Montana Getty has multiple passions for sports, media and politics flowing through her blood. Her grandfather is the late Don Getty, premiere of Alberta from 1985 to 1992, and quarterback of the Edmonton (then) Eskimos starting in 1955. Rarely does your family play into the context of a podcast episode, but given that the Getty...

There’s about a dozen people I know where if I sit down for a long conversation with them, I am going to come away infinitely smarter and with lots to think about. Rob Braide has always been on that hit list. Whether we were having a drink or eating some of his wonderful cooking, or...

Rob Walch is the VP of Podcast Relations at Libsyn. He made an appearance on our show back in 2018, and we were long overdue to have him back given the changing nature of the podcast world. During Rob’s session at Podcast Movement in August, he manoeuvred his way through his presentation to debunk many...

Tara Sands was an imaging voice for a radio station I was programming in my radio days. It always exciting to hire new voice talent to put a fresh sound to your station. Her work extends well beyond FM, into some of the things you might hear like cartoons and commercials, but also in Anime,...

Susan Knight and I haven’t seen each other since Labour Day 1995. We had just come back from the Molson Polar Ice Party in Tuktoyaktuk, NWT. She was working at 92 Rock in Sudbury and from there went to Chatham, Ontario and then Mountain-FM in Squamish, B.C. The rest is a blur but there were...

September is an exciting month that comes complete with the hopes and promise of a new year. I took some time to hang with family recently and take what is normally a slow time of the podcast year to unwind a bit. I took some radio notes and read a few things and am sharing...

Morgan McCarthy is the host of the 715 Newsroom, a local Wisconsin online radio news source that provides news in the Chippewa Valley area in a way that is never boring. They also have a podcast called News Makers that is currently on its 22nd episode. You’ll hear Morgan’s voice on radio shows owned by...

Chris Byrne is the afternoon drive host at Pure Country 89 in Windsor. He believes a relative unknown in the radio business but we have memories and remember him changing the sign in Fort McMurray when its residents returned after 2016 fires caused a mass evacuation. Chris was let go in 2019 from his morning...

Catherine O’Brien is the owner of Branch Out Programs in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The California transplant turned in her career as a tax preparer for one in podcast. We met back in 2016 in Chicago and have made it point now to meet on a regular basis to help one another with branded podcasts. Sadly,...

We spoke with Skywalker, aka Jarrett Galeno from K104 in the Hudson Valley. Skywalker is a personality you might hear on other stations across America in Cookville, Tennesee, Rutland, Vermont or Sheboygan, Wisconsin. He lives and breathes radio and has stories from New York, Boston and Connecticut to share from his radio path which started...

JJ Kincaid does mornings at New Country 101.5 in Atlanta. He’s been in radio since the 90’s, making his mark at CHR stations across America, including KDWB in Minneapolis and Z100 in New York. I’ve been fortunate to meet JJ and get to know him over cocktails, but I also made sure his show was...

Terry DiMonte takes a break from taking a break from social media and joined me to talk about his summer live from my dining.room. Since his “retirement” from CHOM last May, he’s enjoyed sleeping in and visiting with friends. I am very honoured to be his friends and a stop on the Winnipeg tour. Terry...

Researching for podcast episodes is different in the pandemic. I often have met the person long before I interview them. Perhaps we shared a coffee or drink, maybe we worked together or I saw them speak at a conference. Perhaps I grew up listening to them, worked in the same market or interviewed them for...

Yes it has been five years since we had Jessica Rhodes from Interview connections on the podcast. Since then Jessica has grown the business to a six and now 7 figure business. How did she do it? Small steps and “grind and grit”. In this episode I reconnect with Jessica , 5 years in between...

John Mamola is the program director of WDAE, the sports station in Tampa Bay. We had him on the show back in December of 2019 and his life sounded busy. With the arrival of COVID, the sports world got turned upside down. For many stations, the arrival of COVID meant a decrease in workload –...

There are a lot of things that come to mind when you hear the name Stu Schwartz. The Ottawa morning host has been a radio staple in the market since the mid-90’s, first making a name for himself as Stuntman Stu, then as a sports fixture on Team 1200 AND in-house announcer at the Ottawa...

Paige Nienaber knows radio promotions and marketing. He’s been involved with some really big ones – and one that I definitely remember because I saw it play out on CNN. (Wild’s infamous Haircut on the Bridge). In this episode, I ask Paige all about what makes a radio promotion successful, and how they changed over...

Christian Zyp is a host on Edmonton’s CJSR’s Moving Radio. But you’re not listening to this episode for that. The story of our friendship begins on the radio in 1995 with the release of Van Halen’s Balance CD. Back then radio stations were given advance copies and a “World Album Premiere”. The special we ran...

Sometime back in 2008, Vinny Barrucco made the call to (then) Mix 96 to see if his skills acquired at community juggernaut K103 Kahnawake would translate into the Montreal mainstream. We know today that that answer is yes. The Montreal morning host has done most of the day parts on Montreal radio at the two...

Steve Goldstein and I had a chat for this special bonus episode about how many podcasts there are. REALLY. Steve is the Founder/CEO of Amplifi Media, an audio innovation firm that offers counsel, production, and marketing of voice-first, podcast, and branded audio. Well-known as a thought leader in audio programming, marketing, and management, Steve often speaks about the future of...

Valerie Geller has inspired many to be better broadcasters through her work. Many of those lessons can be found in her 2011 book, Beyond Powerful Radio, the follow up to the 1996 work, Creating Powerful Radio. I would consider this podcast to be incomplete without an episode from Valerie. She is one of the most...

Matt goes solo this week with some ideas for the Great Radio Reset. With the pandemic coming to an end and radio stations looking to the future, we’ve assembled a list of things to think about. Some are some old ideas that should come to fruition, while others where born in the pandemic. As always...

Long before I even knew that Skye was friends with my super close cousin Kingman, I wanted to have her on the show. She was a guest with Sound Off Alum Jim Harold shortly after we all convened on Orlando for Podcast Movement int the before times of 2019. Somehow, I failed to meet Skye....

One of our biggest podcast episodes was back in October of 2017 when we had Sheri Lynch on the show to talk about taking control of the Bob and Sheri Show. By control, that means retaining things like digital rights and having autonomy over your brand. The episode has remained popular over the years because...

Tech Survey has been an annual study by Jacobs Media since 2005. But 2021 will be one for the ages. Completed during a pandemic, Tech Survey 2021 tells the radio story of what happened to our radio listeners when Work from home, Zoom, masks, no travel, and a politically charged internet took hold. Originally, this...

Dani Stover has a wonderful studio with a beautiful sounding microphone and produces content for radio, and podcast. She’s not the first unemployed creator to grace the podcast. Given the state of Canadian radio which is awaiting new regulations while dealing with the remnants of a pandemic economy, Dani is patiently testing the waters to...

Darryl Spring is passionate about rock radio. Although it started out with an attraction for what was coming out of the club shows of then CFNY-FM 102, Darryl knew radio was his future. From Loyalist College, to Q92 in Timmins, to Corus Radio in Toronto and Hamilton. His next two stops included Kingston and Ottawa,...

Tracy Johnson is a talent coach I had the pleasure of working with him back in 2013. His ideas and perspectives always resonated with both the Rock and Hot AC talent I was working with. I recall the ideas benefited not a personality’s development, but soon after station morale and inevitably the ratings. Tracy also...

This week I spent some time looking out the window and thinking about a lot of the news that has been circulating in the radio business. Most of it worries me. People asking if Clubhouse is going to kill podcasting have it wrong – it stands to take the place of conversational and interactive talk...

Joel Denver is the owner, publisher and president of All Access.com. If you work in radio, broadcasting and now podcasting, you likely have visited the All Access dot com website for industry news. Way back once computers began to take up room on the desk at and internet speeds hit 56k, you might have gone...

Humble and Fred are fiercely independent. They are the original “Life After Radio” personalities, having carved out a significant piece of the media pie for themselves. Back in 2011 they started a podcast and committed to it. (That’s important component to their success BTW) They have had stints where they worked in radio for periods...

Shani Scott is the owner of Media Room 360, a streaming and media distribution company out of Texas. Her company has been built largely through what she learned in radio. Inspired by listening to the legendary Tom Joyner on K104 in Dallas, Shani knew she was in it for the long haul. Believe it or...

Howard Kroeger was there in 2002 when a new radio format was launched in Winnipeg. The program director of Hot AC Q94.3 was apart of the programming team that had recently acquired AC Magic 99.9 from Standard Radio. It was obvious that Magic would no longer be an AC station, but what would it become...

Bob Willette got his start in commercial radio working alongside Humble and Fred at 102.1 The Edge back in the late 90’s. He started as an intern but later produced the show and followed them over to the Mix 99.9 in the 2000’s. After Humble and Fred had this very strange separation, he was “excused”...

Lisa Guerrero has enough stories from her time at Fox and Monday Night Football to write a book. In fact, that is what she is doing right now. The award winning journalist for Inside Edition has a forthcoming book called Between a Jock and a Hard Place. In this episode, Lisa shares the high and...

For Dahlia, it’s more than broadcasting – it is now a mission. She is a social good advocate, talk show host, writer, producer, actress, polyglot, certified personal trainer, and even a professional ping-pong player. She is a woman of many talents. She has recently mainly works as a radio talk show host and has interviewed...

It’s been over three years since we had Steve Goldstein from Amplifi Media on the show. He has an excellent feel for audio and how it is consumed, whether that is podcast, radio, streaming, voice or smart speakers. In particular, I have been fascinated with the advent of the smart speaker. Is it really a...

Brooklyn Driediger is the midday and weekend host at Virgin 94.5 in Vancouver. She first caught my attention on social media… her feeds look so clean and the Reels so real. Her show is the same by the way. We spent a Sunday afternoon talking about her radio journey from the British Columbia Institute of...

I met Big Kris way back in 2009. We had lunch at Earl’s in Winnipeg. He was passing through and it was clear he was a rising talent in radio. A little over ten years later, we reconnected on this podcast to talk about all that has transpired in the 20 years he has been...

Evan Degenhardt is the general manager and content director at 106.1 The Goat in Lloydminster. To be honest, we are not sure if it’s Alberta, or Saskatchewan or both, but we do know that over the last twenty years the station has seen a lot of high end radio talent pass through its hallways and...

I loved my chat with Jesse Tieman from Kingston’s Country 93.5. He does the morning show with Leanne Cater, “The Boss Lady and Jesse”. I assumed that I would be talking with someone who grew up in Montreal. You see, his dad was the legendary sportscaster Randy Tieman from CFCF, but I didn’t know that...

This show was streamed on Facebook and YouTube and Twitter on December 31,2020. To see the original stream of the show on Youtube. Please subscribe for free when you are there. We also put the show on Facebook and Periscope. For more you can see the video and all the stats on the Episode page....

For the last five years, Matt and Terry Dimonte have gotten together for a podcast chat around Christmas time. Terry loves Christmas and its a chance to talk about radio and a whole lot more. This year we ask Terry about some of his long time friendships he has had over the years. This partially...

Vanessa Newman is the afternoon host at Z95.3 in Vancouver. She is a recipient of the British Columbia Broadcasters Performer of Tomorrow. Her radio journey starts in the late 90’s spending summers in Montreal with her Uncle Terry Dimonte from then Mix 96 and later CJAD. In this episode, Vanessa and I meet for the...

Jeff Vidler makes his third appearance on the podcast to talk about the Canadian Podcast listener study which does an annual deep dive into the progress and behaviour of podcast listeners in Canada. Over the last year, over 4600 people have contributed their study which brings together advertising insights and podcast listening trends. This is...

It’s been a long year. Humanity has spent nine months in a pandemic and six of them without Drex on the radio. He left his position at Corus last June where he did a late night talk show across the country. He is now the morning host at Jack 96.9 in Vancouver along with Lena...

Sue Tyler is the afternoon host on Power 104 in Kelowna, British Columbia. Recently I saw her streaming on Twitch and was reminded that I really I need to hear the whole story. Sue has been on the radio for over thirty years. Like many of us who embark on the radio journey, we have our goals...

It’s safe to say that Growing up Much is something millennials and Gen Xers have in common. Erica Ehm was one of the first batch of VJs to grace Canadian airwaves back when MuchMusic launched in 1984. Her broadcast journey actually began in Montreal in the late 70’s when she entered her College into a...

Jeremy White works evenings and weekends at the Beat 92.5 in Montreal. He got his start in community radio at K103 in Kahnawake in the Mohawk Territory just off the island of Montreal. The radio station played a key role in the 1990 Oka Crisis which exposed Canada’s fractured relationship was its First People. Jeremy...

iHeart Media’s Tony Coles was not immediately drawn to radio. It came later after he was let go from a radio job and competing program director, the late Dave Robbins showed compassion and reached out. Tony will tell the story in the show better than I can write it, but it was clear that Tony...

When I started this podcast in 2016, it was as simple as uploading audio to Soundcloud. Then I saw what tech offered and I was hooked. Dynamic ad insertion opened up a world of possibilities as we could increase our ad inventory by selling spots tailored to regions. Ad tech has come a long way...

Last week on the Broadcast Dialogue: The Podcast, I was listening to Numeris CEO Neil McEneaney provide an annual update. I had to stop listening when he expressed confidence in the TV paper diary method for gathering listening consumption. This is 2020, but the exit plan for the paper diary should have started back in...

Things got a little weird at a conference a few years ago. There was a Michael Jackson impersonator, then the next conference it was Prince, then Madonna…. what was going on? Turns out those impersonators were a stunt by the people at Throwback Nation, a newly created syndicated show that was going to be targeting...

I always have a strong sense about what’s going on in P.E.I. Every morning I wake up and Corey Tremere’s twitter account has all the latest from Prince Edward Island flowing. I’m two hours behind in the central time zone, so his midday show is my morning show. Ocean 100 has been the Island’s #1...

Chris Cruise never had a radio career; he’s always been a content creator. The Detroit native was let go from Entercom’s Amp Radio 98.7 and attempted the sales thing before returning to his roots as a teacher at Chris can be heard on a number of station’s across America already, but you’re about to hear...

Paul Kaye is the VP of Music Brands and In House Production at Rogers. When he was hired in July of 2017, it was mentioned that his position is an evolving one. True to that statement – his position remains as fluid as ever given the accelerating change for the medium and for the content...

Kevin Getz is the swing announcer at 102.1 The Edge in Toronto. He recently came out with a brand new album. What makes the album unique is that it is a spoken word album full of his radio breaks. The collection of audio is an attempt to make his audio more durable, sustainable, marketable, and...

Lili Wexu is a voice actress based in Los Angeles but started in Montreal. You might say this is all Howard Stern’s fault. Back in the late 90’s Howard Stern was syndicated to Q107 in Toronto and CHOM in Montreal. The result for the former was a failed venture, the latter was a near disaster....

I never realized how lucky I was to work alongside Maureen Holloway – until I no longer did. Mo is now the morning host with Darren B. Lamb on 98.1 CHFI in Toronto. Maureen is brutally honest about her career, her family, her relationships and her 2005 battle with cancer. I was working in Montreal...

Matt is on the road in Quebec this week and explains that the spoken word has more than than music to radio programmers. Canadian radio regulations need to be reviewed and instead of focusing on Cancon for music – maybe the CRTC should be focusing on regulating who is doing the talking and from where....

Tom Webster is a Senior VP at Edison Research. There are a few spots on our company calendar we circle in anticipation of Tom. It’s either a data release for Edison’s Share of Ear, an Infinite Dial Study, or an address at Podcast Movement. This month we would have heard Tom at PM20 but with...

How did Pete Marier become Bad Pete? He tells us. I spent my teenage years listening to Pete Marier on my clock radio when he was at 980 CKGM and 95.9 CJFM. The next decade Pete was a co-worker and we’ve been friends since. We are not strangers to Winnipeg and Montreal radio, nor the...

In this episode Julie and I talk about working from home, having to adjust while doing multiple radio tasks including imaging, music programming, music meetings, and building a home office. It’s the little things like an extra monitor or a chair to endure prolonged periods of work. I also asked Julie about the AC format...

Alan Cross loves music. Over the last few months we have done a few episodes discussing radio on a pandemic planet. But what about the music industry? What about the business side of music? It is especially curious given that music’s entire business model has been turned on its head since 1999. Income has shifted...

If you’re a Gen Xer, you likely know Stu Jefferies. He was the host of the venerable CBC TV show Good Rockin’ Tonight which ran from 1983 to 1993. The Canadian reply to NBC’s Friday Night Videos carried it’s weight and powered the Cancon to kids whose parents were too cheap to spring for MuchMusic....

When we had Jenna on our podcast 18 months ago, she was in the throes on getting ousted from a gig she loved on a station where they were working hard and building a following. It’s a tall order to compete in a market like Ottawa where their direct competition is #1 and have been...

Here’s something you need to know about Jay Richardson. He’s a really nice guy. Know what else? He’s a true empathetic soul who cares. Which is why he always feels a little uneasy about the present and especially the future. However, we spoke a lot about the past in this episode. Jay is the afternoon...

Lochlin Cross is the morning show host at Cruz 95.7 in Edmonton along with Grant Johnston and James White. He spent time in Winnipeg and Edmonton programming two heavy hitter rock stations in Power 97 and K-Rock 97.3. Which got switched back to K97 at some point but we were too lazy to look it...

Abe Hefter and I finally crossed paths in 2002. I recall hearing him on CJFM (FM96) in the 80’s, and in 2002 we convened on Fort Street at that station when CHOM, Mix96 and CJAD merged itself into one entity. Abe began to transition into academia in 2003 when he received an opportunity to teach...

Mistress Carrie spent 22 years on air and a handful more working in promotions at WAAF. She spent most of her life before that listening and loving the station. She figured one day it would all end with her “moving on” as many in the business do. But what she and many did not expect...

Heather Osgood is the founder of True Native Media and answered all of our questions about podcast advertising. I first met Heather back in 2017 and was fascinated with the vision she had for her company. While the idea of media buying was not new, being a media buyer for podcasts was. It is believed...

Jillene Khan is the afternoon host on Magic 98 in Madison, Wisconsin. Her story to radio is rooted in Minneapolis. From growing up listening to great personalities like Tony Fly from KDWB and Tom Bernard on KQRS to a time when her family was apart of Dave Ryan’s Christmas Wish back in the 90’s. Jillene...

I met Carrie Doll in the late 90’s at CFRN Television in Edmonton. She was a reporter and later a news anchor. She covered the events of 9/11 from the anchor desk in Calgary and learned how to report without a script. The youngest of ten children from Fairview, Alberta, Carrie was a natural when...

I met Kim Blair back in 2013. He was looking to make a change in his radio career and was leaving Australia behind in search of a more a country that was going to offer more of a challenge for him. Consolidation has caught up with Australia and Canada as well. In the months after...

Evo Terra is the host of Podcast Pontifications. A short form podcast providing insights into the future of podcasting. As luck would have it, news of the Joe Rogan signing to Spotify broke the day before recording of the episode. I met Evo in Orlando at Podcast Movement last August and he shared some of...

Jason Barrett returns to answer my sports related questions. Normally I don’t bring Jason on until this first week of September when we look forward to the new NFL football season and talk about Sports broadcasting. However, these are not normal times for Sports radio and now is a good time to unpack what’s going...

Dana Marshall loves radio, loves the music of Prince, and has found the perfect audio life balance with both. He does mornings and is program director at 103.3 WKFR in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He is currently seeking a co-host for that morning show, so if you think that is you – apply within. Much like Melz...

This week, Sheryl Worsley from KSL Radio in Salt Lake City. While being a news director for around 20 years, she shifted in 2015 to audio and audience development in the Bonneville cluster’s digital space. Sheryl and her team saw the value in podcast when a news series they were putting together was better suited for...

This episode is a little different. Over the weekend, a 22 people lost their lives in a mass murder spree that covered 100 kilometers in Nova Scotia. Monday morning, Q104 in Halifax and a number of Stingray radio stations came together to pivot programming towards the hearts of their listeners. To understand what it takes...

There I was flipping through Facebook and seeing Steve Reynolds comment about hearing something he felt was out of place on the radio in the era of COVID-19. This is not to be confused with the non-COVID comments about Sirius Yacht Rock playing a lot of crappy B-Sides on their channel. (He’s right. No one...

It’s no wonder that Kipper McGee wound up in radio have grown up in between two great radio markets in Milwaukee and Chicago. He’s a broadcast consultant, author and host of the Brandwidth on Demand podcast alongside David Martin. The show has been in production for as long as this show has, and it has...

Sunni Puric works weekdays apart of the Joe Clair Morning Show on Rhythmic/CHR radio WGPC 95.5FM. Her journey to radio is unlike any other. This marks the first time I have asked what it was like spending your teenage years in a refugee camp in Bosnia. While the world saw a picturesque Yugoslavia during the...

Susie Erjavec Parker knows lots about social media, blogs, communication strategy and working from home. At one point she had 3 children under 5 years old in the house while juggling clients, and appointments and everything else that comes with running a business. With so many people working from home for the first time in...

It’s been nearly 20 years since radio has had to shift into crisis mode. The Corona Virus or COVID-19 has arrived and broadcasters find themselves having to write rules, redo formats, get more information sourced, while dealing with staffs that have children coming home and everyone faced with the challenge of working from home. In...

Josie Dye is the morning host at Indie 88 in Toronto. The longtime 102.1 The Edge personality who also did hosting duties for Cosmo TV, and W Network took a chance on jumping to Indie 88. It has paid off well. You can hear it in Josie’s voice. She is having more fun than ever...

Dave Jackson is the Owner/Headmaster at the School of Podcasting and also a support specialist at Libsyn. He was there back in the early days of podcast and has helped thousands launch their podcasts with his talks, online tips and podcasts. Dave is a Hall of Famer and a regular contributor to Podcast Business Journal....

Radio is a lot like the mob: “Just when you thought I was out, they pull me back in.” Okay, that’s an exaggeration but for Carlos Benevides, leaving 91.5 The Beat in Kitchener and transitioning to Conestaga College to teach radio just made sense. So does his new lunchtime show for the Jack radio stations...

Zenga McCurdy called me back in May of 2018 and asked for some feedback on his morning radio show. Since then I have made a point of listening to the show every once and a while to hear the progress. I meant to grab a beer with him in Toronto last year but we only...

Jon Gay has a radio story that is probably not unlike yours if you have worked on the programming side of radio. It involves a little bit of the WKRP theme song, “Town to Town. Up and Down the dial…”. Jon’s radio career started with an internship at Kiss 108 in his hometown Boston. His...

David Phillips from NLogic is an admitted nerd when it comes to data. He really loves it. Something he is very good at is deciphering how data should be applied to your brand, your radio stations, your strategies, and your ad sales. However, one thing you should definitely not have is a data strategy. He...

We invited Seth Resler back to the podcast after he penned a blog called, “Is There Life After Radio?” Many of the episodes in this series feature a moment when someone was fired and tell the story of their radio afterlife. The podcast itself was born out of my firing in 2014, the subsequent quest...

Lori Lewis is back on our show for the third time? Why so often? Because the world of social media moves that quickly. The last time we had Lori on the show, Instagram Stories was just starting to become a thing and Tik Tok wasn’t even a thing. In fact – you might have still...

There’s a reason why Christian Hall thinks differently. He has to. He is the National Program Director for Harvard Broadcasting which is a radio company first. He oversees multiple alternative stations; a format which doesn’t even exist a number of top ten markets in Canada, and he believes that talent development is about airchecks, and...

It’s been 2 years since we have caught up with Perry Michael Simon from AllAccess.com on this podcast. He has a pretty good idea of what is going on in the radio and podcast business given that he writes about it weekly, provides talk topics on a twitter account, and attends a dozen radio and...

Happy New Year from Matt at the Soundoff Podcast. If you want to have a chat with Matt – just click here and set up a time. Top 5 Podcast Episodes this year: Tom Leykis Terry O’Reilly Corey Dylan Dean Blundell Lisa Keys Bring on 2020! Privacy Policy and California Privacy Notice.

Terry Dimonte loves Christmas, and I love doing a podcast with him to discuss… whatever. Sometimes we talk about radio, and other times it’s just life. This year it was a lot of the latter. So many of the things we spoke about can be found on the blog page which is located at Sound...

I’m reminded every time I travel through Tampa on my way to Sarasota, how busy the radio market is. Equally busy is the number of sports teams that compete for media attention. By my count there are the NFL Buccaneers, NHL Lightning, Major League Baseball Rays, and plenty of college football needing attention from the...

In this episode Laura discusses the changing face of radio, building a youthful audience, using social media and the importance of being on the ground in your market. Laura was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia where she attended Georgia State. In college she started out in computer science before moving to a degree in...

If you want to get pointed in the right direction to break into voice acting listen to this episode.  Matt Fogarty is a name you may not be familiar with, but if you listen to the radio in western Canada you have probably heard his voice Fogarty is currently the creative director for Island Radio...

Shannon Burns is a familiar voice across Canadian radio. Her show iHeartRadio Nights with Shannon Burns airs nationally on 14 iHeartRadio stations, and she does evenings on the legendary radio station she grew up listening to, CHUM 104.5FM. On the podcast she talks about her career arc, how to plan a nationally syndicated show and...

Darrin Harvey and I met in late 1989 when he was going to fill in on some Christmas shifts on Magic 97 in Kentville, Nova Scotia. From the get go, I knew we would be friends. And while we never lived in the same time zone after I left in 1992, I never lost touch...

I met Ross Davies briefly on two occasions. Once in Montreal in the 90’s and a second time in the 2000’s again in Montreal. It was little more than a “Hi! How Are You?’ but there was work to be done and the radio stories were going to have to come later. Fast forward to...

Justin Dove is really good at radio imaging. (He also admits he is an audio nerd) He started in his home province of Newfoundland and worked his way across Canada for companies both big and small. Then he started his own company, Core Image Studios. We may have used the term “radio imaging” to describe...

Every year since 2013, I have loaded up the car for a football trip to see the Green Bay Packers. The team has a special relationship with the town that is unlike any other in sports. That extends to its local radio partner which clearly doesn’t behave like other radio stations in a medium or...

Todd Cochrane can speak to it because he was there in the early days. In 2004, he jumped into podcasting; long before Apple became involved. As time went on he began to find ways to make money at it, including an early sponsorship deal with GoDaddy, and creating the podcast hosting company that we know...

Don Kollins is kind of an ideal guest for this podcast. He is a Canadian living in California. He has worked in radio on both sides of the border. And he is innovative enough to use his experience to see a path to the future for radio. When he was the program director of Toronto’s...

Jim Harold began podcasting on the paranormal in 2005 and is among a handful of pioneers of podcasting. His programs have stood the test of time and The Paranormal Podcast and Campfire remain among the most popular in the genre. He also developed a premium tier and much to his surprise… worked! He started out in radio sales after originally...

Sean Ross really knows music and radio. He’s had a front row seat to how music has been consumed by radio listeners over the years. It’s easy to see how Sean became so knowledgeable on the subjects of radio formats and music genres; his speaks of his affinity for CKLW, and also of a cross...

V.O. North is a voiceover conference that has taken place in Toronto for the last two years. I have been fortunate to attend both. The first was held in May 2018 and was a one day event. The following was a two day gathering at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto, featuring some of the top...

Charles Adler joins me from his home in Vancouver for an hour to talk radio and political therapy. The Canadian election is on the way and it is all to be Trump Trump Trump on CNN and Fox News. So what’s a media guy to do? We catch up with the wily Corus Radio News...

Back in 2015 when I was mulling doing a podcast, I came across Drew Dalby’s Off Mic podcast which featured other radio personalities talking about their careers. The show was in the process of starting it’s permanent hiatus once I decided to get the ball rolling on this. Drew Dalby is an excellent interviewer, drive...

Jason Barrett and I started our post-program director adventures around the same time. He had a strong resume as a Sports radio programmer, having worked at mainstays like the Fanatic in Philly, 590 the Fan in St. Louis and 95.7 The Game in San Francisco. He decided to enter the crowded radio consulting field with...

Andrew Beckler is the morning host at X92.9 in Calgary. The station is pretty special in that it started nearly 13 years ago, has only had 1 program director in its time, and has been building it’s audience since 2007 starting with a Hot Hot Heat concert to ring in the New Year. The station...

Ryan Wrecker sent me a message earlier this week asking about my take aways from Podcast Movement which took place earlier this month in Orlando. In this episode we talk about where the podcast industry is headed and how radio is finding its way into it. We talk honestly and openly about where its all...

A few thoughts as I muddle my way through Podcast Movement 2019. Special Thanks to Justin Dove from Core Image Studios for being a continued supporter of the podcast! Thanks also to the people who make this show possible every week including: Promosuite Matt Fogarty Voiceovers Justin Dove at Core Image Studios Megatrax NLogic Privacy...

Sometimes it’s all about the people you have around you. In 2014, Lisa Keys found herself working with people who were passionate about radio imaging and who knew what a great radio imaging voice can do for a radio station. People like Rob Vavrek, Program Director of 100.3 the Bear who was it’s production and...

Matty Staudt is someone I have been trying to get on the podcast for about a year. His busy work schedule at iHeart made scheduling difficult. However, a change in direction for Matty created the necessary time to have him on. Matty is starting a new venture called Jam Street Media. He had straddled both...

In Wrestling, a shoot is when two wrestlers go unscripted into the ring and have it out. Yukon Jack from 100.3 The Bear and I don’t wrestle one another any more – but we did this podcast along the same lines as a shoot. Not your usual questions and not your usual answers. The longtime...

It’s been nearly three years since we spoke to John Mielke, aka The Milkman. You might remember we had him on the show for episode 9. But that was a long time ago and so much has changed since then. He still has his websites including Blast The Radio and Milkman Unlimited. He’s also added...

Genevieve Borne is really talented. I met her in 1992 after a concert and was enamoured with her immediately. She is a bridge to the province I love, and a broadcaster I respect and emulate where applicable. In short, I love this woman’s tenacity and ability to say, “I’m going for it.” In this episode...

Terry O’Reilly is a radio guy. He will tell you on the show that he is an ad guy – and that might be partially true. However, it is apparent that when you listen to his take on the world of media, advertising, marketing and radio, that he is grounded in radio. His show, Under...

It sounds easy. Produce a compelling 15 to 20 minute piece of audio every day about a Canadian news story. And then you find out it isn’t easy. For the last year, Jordan Heath-Rawlings has been doing just that with Frequency Network’s flagship podcast, The Big Story. Mildly modelled after the NY Times’ podcast, The...

Bob Harris has had an incredible radio journey that has spanned Peterborough, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Hamilton. Along the way it has been about the people. He’ll be the first to admit that he made mistakes along the way and learned on the job through the mentorship of General managers like Rob Braide, the late...

This week, I want to give everyone something to think about. And that’s the power of radio and what it might mean to podcasting. When Tom Webster released the Infinite Dial Canada 2019 study at Canadian Music Week, one slide caught my eye. Actually a number of slides did including weekly podcasting listening rising to...

Big Rick Daniels grew up in Indiana. If you had to name famous people from the state, there’s the obvious like John Mellencamp, the Jackson’s and the sitting Vice President of the United States. Perhaps you are fan enough to mention David Letterman or David Lee Roth. But in broadcast circles, the state has a...

Kelly Alexander is a team player, and great interviewer and knows her audience. It doesn’t matter what radio station she is on, or what platform she is immersed with – she understands her audience and is the conduit between what is happening in the studio, and what is going on in her listeners lives. Not...

Sammy Kohn is the drummer for Canada’s the Watchmen. He will contend that he is a realtor in the Greater Toronto Area, but so long as the Watchmen keep getting played on the radio and the band continues playing a few shows a year, he will be known first as the drummer of the Watchmen....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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....

In late August, Jesse and Jenna from Jump 106.9 in Ottawa were restructured out of their jobs. That’s probably not news as it is a regular occurrence in radio. However, their replacements were a syndicated U.S. show out of Seattle. The ensuing online and media outrage was heavier than in other cities where layoffs happen....

I really love Thanksgiving. In Canada we celebrate it as a tribute to the bountiful harvest. There are a lot of people who enjoy it more than Christmas which gets lost in a sea of wrapping paper and Amazon deliveries. So in my turkey comatose, I offer up a word of thanks to those who...

Graham Mosimann does evenings at Calgary’s alternative X92.9. I hired Graham back in 2014 to work at Power 97 in Winnipeg and decided to call him up and see how he was doing. It has been neat listening to his progress as a performer, and equally amazing watching his personal journey as he drops weight...

Fred Jacobs was a guest on Episode 53 in a preview to the Broadcasters Meet Podcasters sessions at Podcast Movement in 2017. I have always wanted to do an episode where we looked back at the evolution of his company and a tweet on the 35th anniversary of the company’s creation reminded me that it’s...

Larry Gifford has Parkinson’s. On his Radio Stuff Podcast last April, Larry announced that he had Parkison’s Disease. If you get the chance, please give that episode a listen. Larry is known to many through his time at ESPN in Bristol, 710 ESPN in LA, KIRO in Seattle, or from his most recent home at...

Jason Barrett celebrated the third anniversary of Barrett Sports Media last week, and we have an annual podcast chat to talk about the state of Sports Radio. After three years of doing anything, you have entrenched yourself into the landscape well enough to speak reflectively, so I asked him about the trials and tribulations of...

Matt Sutton comes from Australia. There was a time when having people with funny accents was novelty. Then it became common place. With the advent of Youtube, Facebook and people consuming their media globally, it’s not a thing anymore. In 2012, I had the delight of bringing Matt to Canada as we launched Fresh-FM in...

James Cridland is a radio futurologist. He will tell you he got that name because he printed it on his business cards, but he does possess a keen eye to where radio is headed. He is the man behind Podnews, a daily e-news letter and companion 2 minute podcast delivered daily. He also heads up...

Jonathan West is a passionate about a few things, including two of our favourites, hockey and radio. We eliminated all the hockey talk from the podcast but I will bring him back at some point on “The Other” podcast to chat it up in February when the playoff races take hold. It was good to...

Logan Anderson is the host of the Say the Damn Score Podcast. He loves being a sports broadcaster and found out that podcast was a great way to network and meet new people in his field. Guests have largely been the familiar voices that call games for places like Fresno State, South Dakota, Ball State,...

Jonny Staub got his big break when James Stewart offered him a job at Calgary’s top rated Power 107 shortly after we all calmed down from the Y2K problem. Jonny had some an incredible start to his career with big ratings at an early age at big radio stations in big markets. Then came a...

Ryan Wrecker hosts Overnight America on 1120AM KMOX in St. Louis. It has been the radio home of the St. Louis Cardinals since the mid 50’s when Jack Buck became synonymous with both the team, and radio station across North America. Remember, the signal would carry for miles from Canada to Mexico, extolling the exemplary...

Sarah Burke has been the new girl at Sirius XM for about 18 months. After a decade at London, Ontario’s heritage rock brand FM96, Sarah moved back to Toronto to work at Sirius XM’s the Verge and later take on weekend duties at Indie 88. If you pay attention closely to this interview, you’ll note...

Dave Beasing is known for many things including a ten year run as program director at 100.3 the Sound in Los Angeles, (R.I.P.) as a broadcast consultant at Jacobs Media, and most recently as a part of the team that created the highly successful Inside Trader Joe’s podcast. His company Sound That Brands has taken...

Melz on the MIC is the Assistant Program Director and midday host (12p-3p) at 103.1 Kiss FM in Killeen, Texas. Melz posted a picture of a newspaper article with the headline, “Local Man Gives Up Career to Pursue Job as a Radio DJ”. After doing some listening, it was apparent that Melz had a lot...

Gruff Gushnowski has been living life openly and honestly for the last three and a half years. If you following him on social media, he can be uncomfortably candid about his postings, and he revealed in this week’s show about how helpful it has been. We explored his radio career which has been set in Alberta...

Jaclyn Irwin from Kiss 92.5 Toronto and Kiss 91.7 in Edmonton. She joins me to talk about her early influences in radio and growing up Dartmouth. Yes, we both agree that Dartmouth, N.S. gets a bad wrap for no apparent reason. We talked about what inspired her to go into radio, what it takes to...

Will Sterrett is the founder and owner of Rockcastle Media. The Kansas based network launched its first offering Think Fast! in May 2016 on just a handful of affiliates, including KWIX/Moberly, MO, where Sterrett was first heard twenty years prior. Think Fast! quickly grew as did the opportunities for Rockcastle Media Networks, with the following month’s syndication launch...

Ruby Carr from Z95.3 in Vancouver is the winner of the Allan Waters Young Broadcaster of the Year in memory of Steve Young. Runners up were Lauren Hunter 102.9 Sonic Edmonton, and Jax from Kiss 92.5 Toronto. Ruby’s name came up briefly back in episode 74 where Dave Bannerman was talking about some of the...

Julie Adam is the Senior VP of Radio at Rogers. Often I will receive suggestions about who they want on the podcast and her name comes up often. This episode was recorded on a morning when radio ratings for the diary markets were released so we talked methodology and ratings returns, Radioplayer Canada, Making mistakes,...

This is Episode 100. My years in radio taught me to celebrate the milestones and accomplishments. No more so than the time I spent at 100.3 the Bear in Edmonton. Some background on why I decided to do this show. Back in January when I was planning out the shows for the next few months,...

Randi Chase epitomizes the lyric in the WKRP theme song, “Town to Town; Up and Down the Dial.” The lyric conjures up images of jocks, successful or fired, who shuffle on to the next gig with a new town and call letters. Randi worked in 6 of Canada’s top 10 markets before turning 30. After...

The Humboldt bus accident that claimed the lives’ of 16 people on April 6, 2018 led to a worldwide outpouring of grief and support. In the hours after the crash, the lives of players, coaches, team support staff like a statistician and therapist were also lost; as well as Tyler Bieber who was the play-by-play...

When Gerry Forbes announced his retirement, you can forgive CJAY 92’s competitors for letting out a silent cheer. For over 25 years in Calgary, Gerry’s morning show has been in the top three in a market that is sharply country. In preparing this episode, I reached out to some of the people who had worked...

When Scott Howard made the change from on air to sales, he will be the first to tell you that he didn’t get it right away. His first opportunity came at WMUZ in Detroit where he freely admitted that he made a lot of mistakes. Over time, he became more engrained in the sales world...

Lauryn Schaffner is a writer, blogger, YouTuber, and overall lover of Rock music. On this week’s show we ask how her passion for rock music took her down this path, and find out what role radio played in getting her there. Not surprisingly, radio did play a role. But not surprisingly, it was her parents...

A few more thoughts about Podcasting and its relationship with radio. Recorded in Spain as I tour the country side eating tapas and watching football. As well, I call up Bob Willette at Rock 94.9 in Oshawa and we nerd out of the branding history of Edge 102. Privacy Policy and California Privacy Notice.

Gary Begin is the owner of Sound Advantage Media. His company works with radio stations across America is get their branding strategy in order. One of the things I like about Gary is how is business is always working the social media space to promote the latest. At one time that was a book called...

Lori Lewis knows how to deal with change, which makes her ideal to lead the way when it comes to navigating the murky waters of Facebook. From its changing algorithm to the overextension of selling your data to third party sources, Lori offers up her tips and expertise to great posting and audience engagement. We...

We are off to the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia and catching up with Mark Burley. (SUN-FM, AM 1150 & 101.5 EZ Rock) During the 12 years as Group PD and PD of the local cluster, he enjoyed enjoying 8 years with Sun at #1 A25-54 in Kelowna and garnered industry recognition with 6 consecutive Program...

Gregr is the morning show host at 107.7 The End in Seattle. Last summer at the Podcast Movement, Gregr shared the stage at Jacob’s Media’s Broadcaster meet Podcaster series. At dinner he had the deer in the headlights look. Turns out he had just became a dad for the first time days earlier. Throughout dinner...

Raina Douris has spent her entire career working in Toronto, and it has served her well. When you love music, Toronto is a great place to live work and breathe your passion. From her radio beginnings at 102.1 the Edge, to upstart Indie 88 and now working mornings at CBC Radio 2 nationally, Raina shares...

Steve Jones is the VP of Branding & Content at Newcap Radio. (Now Stingray) He knows a thing about branding having penned two books including “Brand Like a Rock Star” and “Start You Up”. His career has taken him in an east-west direction as much as has north-south to places like Boston and the Cayman...

Chantal Desjardins is a television and radio personality, stand-up comedian, voiceover actor and event host. Those are actually the words used in her bio and it’s all accurate. What’s not in the story is how she got there. Credit her marriage and ensuing divorce for the getting her to where she is today, one of...

Jean-Marie Heimrath became interested in podcast sometime in November 2016. He has always been fascinated by the business side of the entertainment industry he has worked in. Whether it be the record industry when he worked for Island Records, the business of radio syndication when he worked for the Sound Source Radio Network., or being...

Art Vuolo was radio’s best friend long before Scott Shannon knighted him with that legendary slogan. Throughout the decades, Art has been a mainstay at conventions andin the hallways of radio stations with the latest video technology ready to capture incredible radio moments. From the early days of Vuolo Video Airchecks for the radio programmers...

Sharon Taylor’s radio career has criss-crossed the country from Moose Jaw, Winnipeg, London, Ottawa and Toronto. Her love and passion for radio programming has made her one of my calls I make when I need an opinion. This includes the time we worked at competing stations in the same market. Between our stations, we had...

Actually, he never went away, but it’s great to catch up with Bruce! After a 2017 that featured a health setback, Bruce joins me to talk about his path from Ontario to Alberta and back again twice. We catch up on his career and talk about his 2 loves, radio and sports. And yes, these...

Drake Donovan’s path to becoming the voice of great radio stations across North America went from the on air studio, to the production studio, and then to his home studio where he manages Drake Donovan Creative Services. The thing with Drake is that it is not just the voice; it’s also the writing, creative concepts...

Chris Scheetz spent his first 18 years in Edmonton radio as a dedicated listener. He spent his hours on his family farm in Thorsby, Alberta listening to CISN country 103.9 while driving tractor. He was hooked. In 1989, he started working overnights at CISN country 103.9. He has never forgotten about what makes the station...

Karen Steele is the new Program Director at 99.9 Virgin Radio in Toronto. She has worked in radio for over two decades and in this episode, she walks us through her impressive career, from small markets to big ones, from radio to film and back to radio again. She even throws out a couple dollops of advice along...

There is something refreshing about starting a brand new year with a brand new episode. Radio, and podcast should be excited for 2018; not since the iPhone and iPod has so much technological been exchanged at the holiday season. The good news is that it is a speaker and it plays radio. Perry Michael Simon...

Terry Dimonte is back for another Christmas episode. The CHOM 97.7 Morning man has a love for Christmas and radio. Last year we spent our time talking about his relationship with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. This year, we spoke about his love of Canada, his morning routine, and the loss of his dear friend...

With the arrival Amazon Smart Speaker products in Canada, I thought it would be a good time to speak with Steve Goldstein from Amplifi Media about what it means for radio stations. Indeed there is a race to secure names like Z100 and Mix 96, the same way we raced for URL’s back in the...

Amber De La Garza is a productivity specialist and the host of the Productivity Straight Talk Podcast. She helps businesses and entrepreneurs get their act together and not waste time. We are big fans of her work and spoke with her briefly in our episode when we were live at the Podcast Movement. We see...

Blair Bartrem is the program director at Toronto’s Q107. Over his 30 plus year’s in radio, Blair has worked in promotions and as program director at legendary brands like CHOM-FM, Q107, Mix 96 & Mix 99.9 in Montreal and Toronto. His promotions have ranged for award-winning to haven’t always rubbed everyone the right way. What...

In this week’s episode, we visit with Dave Bannerman, one of the richest sources of intel on Canadian radio in the twentieth century. He retired earlier this year from his role as radio-TV-journalism instructor at Nova Scotia Community College. We even take a walk down memory lane of an overnight radio show I hosted called...

Dave Wheeler is the morning host at 92 CITI-FM in Winnipeg. Along with Rena Jae and recent addition Dave Turnbull, they continue to be one of Winnipeg’s top morning shows. I had the opportunity to work with Dave from 2006 to 2012 and really loved how he would create without a safety net: Not stopping...

Jeff Vidler’s company Audience Insights teamed up with Jeff Ulster and conducted a deep dive n podcasting. The study was commissioned by the Globe & Mail. The study’s goal is to help podcasters develop content strategy, increase opportunities for monetization and create a road map for growing a young and diverse new audience. There were questions...

Seth Resler has just released a new podcast called the D-Brief. He has experimented with everything from backstage podcasts at conferences, to travel podcasts, and finally realized that he really hated audio post-production, and that having your hard drives full of audio created creative clutter. The D-Brief is a Detroit-centric podcast that has little post...

The Sound Off Studios are being renovated this week, so I took unloading some house keeping. Namely, I answer questions that I get asked a lot about podcasting. Can I make money podcasting? Should I do a podcast? How long should a podcast be? Also, I play two never before heard stories from two of...

Sheri Lynch bought her own show. Yes, I know that sounds really weird considering that her name is in the Marquee, but she essentially got tired of trying to manoeuvre her branding through radio station filters, that she take ownership of the whole thing. In this episode, Sheri will share the reasons why you might...

When the NFL announced they had a partnership with a British company to carry what was NFL Sunday Ticket via streaming, major alarm bells sounded in my head. Not one to rebuff change, I welcomed our UK overlords and their streaming television idea because frankly – what choice did I have. After 5 weeks of...

Donna Halper is an associate professor of media at Lesley University. She is also in the process of leading an incredible life in radio as a music director, later as a consultant, and now as a professor of media. She is largely credited for breaking new bands including Rush when she was the music director...

Lauren Hunter from Sonic 102.9 in Edmonton is in the hot seat this week. Apart from a brief stint in Kelowna, she has been in Edmonton her whole life and knows the city well. We talk about everything from how to tackle the social media beast, to what makes a post go viral, and, of...

This week Jason Barrett from Barrett Sports Media joins us after a tumultuous summer that saw Sports and Politics further collide. There were also a number of sports personalities making the news for all the wrong reasons, and ESPN found itself at the center of most national headlines for layoffs or damage control. With the...

Sometime around 2007, it became about websites and monetizing them. The company I was working for started to remove the digital parts our station was using. The preverbal shit hit the fan and I knew that the people in charge didn’t have a clue on how to use digital to monetize the future. Sadly, the...

Jamie Watson is more than a station voice. He works with imaging producers, program directors, and morning shows. He started writing and voicing commercials, and parlayed those talents into becoming a leading voice for radio imaging, commercials and cartoons. In this episode, Jamie tells us about the writing and voicing process, and the importance of...

Matt Sutton worked with me in 2013 and 2014. On my trip home from Podcast Movement, we went to lunch…. and made a podcast at the same time. Matt Sutton is the afternoon host at Z95 in Vancouver. I got off the play just before 11am and we went to hit the Wicklow Pub where...

We wander the halls of Podcast Movement 2017 in Anaheim. I provide a few takeaways of things I have learned so far, plus catch up with some of the notables who have been on our podcast before, or are starting a new podcast shortly. I was speaking on a panel this year at the Jacob’s...

Peter Anthony Holder has interviewed a lot of people. From the famous to the quirky, his weekly show “The Stuph File” is syndicated on radio stations around the world and delivered in podcast form every Sunday night. Peter has a new book out now called “Great Conversations: My Interviews with Two Men on the Moon...

Rob Greenlee is the Head of Content at Spreaker. Recently, I spoke with him on a panel at the Conclave Radio Learning Conference in Minneapolis. At the end of the session, the moderator and panelists all felt we had a few more things we could have gotten to if time had permitted. No worries. That’s...

Dahlia Kurtz does not do things conventionally. She has worked in radio, written a national newspaper column, nearly went to the Olympics, and spent her first day in radio under water. And she lived to tell me about it. We worked together for a period when she was at 680 CJOB in Winnipeg and I...

Alan Burns has been consulting radio stations since the mid 80’s, and knows a thing or two about change. His company Alan Burns and Associates has had long standing relationships with some of the biggest brands across North America. His company is well known for their “What Women Want” research which always creates more than...

Ira Haberman is the host of the Sound Podcast and passionate about storytelling, and the Grateful Dead. Put it together, and that’s a podcast. He has hosted the Sound Podcast since December, but its success has radio roots as he was working as creative director for Corus Entertainment’s Deep Sky in Toronto in 2003, and...

Tootall is a Montreal radio legend. Earlier this week he announced his retirement this September, making it an even 40 years on Montreal’s legendary CHOM 97.7FM. Tootall is well known not only to Montreal radio listeners, but in Canadian Music Industry circles. He’s interviewed every band long before they had airplay, a video, or even...

Dave Farough has a lot of ideas about radio. Today he published some of those ideas on his LinkedIn page entitled “If I Had a clean Sheet of Paper” and I asked them if I could add them to my page – and then the only thing that was missing, was the companion podcast. On...

Fred Jacobs is the president of Jacobs Media. Their tech surveys have become increasingly important as we progress through the digital revolution. The survey itself undergoes changes with the inclusion of new questions about personal assistant devices like Alexa. Which brings me to Podcast itself. Jacobs Media went all-in on podcasting a few years ago...

X92.9 in Calgary is celebrating 10 years of being Calgary’s Alternative radio station. The station launched January 1, 2007 and immediately found an audience. It’s brand promise has made it a favourite in a city where Millennials are becoming the majority. In this episode we discussed hiring talent, managing talent, and giving yourself permission to...

This week, I look back on the last few episodes and provide some lingering thoughts. Special appearances and re-appearances from Georgia Beasley and Jeff Vidler. In this episode: * I make reference to Larry Gifford’s insightful conversation with Jeff Vidler which you can listen to here: http://www.podbean.com/media/share/dir-qk8cs-2670662 * If you are talent and looking for...

If you don’t tell your story, someone is going to tell it for you; which is why we have Radio Connects. They speak to advertisers and agencies on behalf of 540 stations in Canada. Today we provide a little background on what they do for Canadian radio. Radio Connects has commissioned a Share of Ear...

Georgia Beasley has penned 2 articles for Radio Ink magazine called, “My Life as a Radio Millennial”. The podcast was in the midst of assembling an episode on the Millennials coming of age now that they occupy a whole key ad-buying demo to themselves. (Adults 25-34) We speak to Georgia Beasley, Digital Sales Director for...

Broadway Bill Lee is one of the reasons I fell in love with radio. In the late 80’s I would watch Vuolo Video airchecks and Bill stood out amongst the crowd. Fast forward to the digital era and Bill is still entertaining people on multiple social media platforms with his unique song intros that make...

Pat Holiday has spent 9 years away from work inside a physical radi station. In that time he has seen that its issues remain the same and there is both good and bad in that. He moderated the Broadcast Leadership panel “Like a Boss” at Canadian Music Week and did not serve up any softballs,...

David Phillips is the President and COO of NLogic, His discussions on data and surveys have been well received at media conferences, which spurned my interest in bringing David onto the podcast last fall. The timing was right this spring with the recent upgrades to the Lens product. His perspective is unique and refreshing; it...

A few weeks ago, we had J.J. Johnston on the podcast to give us the story and background behind Steve Young and the Alan Waters Young Broadcaster Award. This year the award goes to Jesse Modz from CJAY 92 in Calgary. In this episode, you will get to know Jesse and what it takes to win...

It takes a whole conversation with J.C. Douglas to realize that the journey lies somewhere between the Grateful Dead’s “Truckin'” (What a Long Strange Trip it’s been…) and Motley Crue’s Wild Side. From the early days at Q104, to nearly 30 years at the station – and now at long-time rival C100. His durability on...

Ronnie Stanton emigrated from Australia to Canada in 2008 after a successful stint as a morning show host and programmer on the Sunshine Coast. His 5 years at Astral Media’s 95 Crave then Virgin Radio, morphed into a difficult decision to cross the street to Corus Radio’s CFOX and Rock 101. His latest career move...

Chuck McCoy has been in radio for 52 years. But he won’t tell you he has worked in radio – but in audio. He is forward thinking enough to recognize that he has been an audio business all along. You might think that when we bring someone onto this podcast who has had a long...

Eric Samuels hired me to do evenings at 100.3 the Bear in Edmonton in 1994. Although Eric would move on to Vancouver a few years later, the two years I worked under him set the tone for how I would broadcast and program radio for years to follow. The best way I could describe his...

TJ Connors has come full circle. The station he grew up around is now his afternoon home. His father, the legendary Scruff Connors, was the morning man at 97.7 HTZ-FM in St. Catherines during the height of rock radio’s mass appeal phase in the early 90’s. A quarter century later, the Connors name is back...

The Allan Waters Young Broadcaster Award, (a tribute to Steve Young) will be announced this week. It goes to a Canadian broadcaster under the age of 30 for their creative contributions on radio and in the community. Past winners include Fearless Fred, Amanda Logan, Rena Jae, Adam Wylde and others. It made me wonder how...

Larry Gifford has worked at great radio stations across the U.S.A. like KIRO in Seattle and Sports radio 710 ESPN in LA. After a stint in consulting, he found his way north to CKNW in Vancouver where he watched the American Election of a lifetime unfold from the other side of the border. Larry also...

Lori Lewis is the Chairperson for the 42nd edition of the Conclave which will be taking place July 26-28 in Minneapolis. She is also the VP of Social at Cumulus; which means this call was a great opportunity to ask her some of the social media and radio questions that I get asked a lot....

Erica Farber is the CEO of the Radio Advertising Bureau. And as the picture says – she loves radio! If you ever get the feeling that no one has your back in radio, stop by the website and you will remember the great things radio has going for it. There are tools, tips and tricks...

Jason Barrett is the owner of Barrett Sports Media, a New York based sports programming and marketing company designed to help sports radio and television companies, professional sports teams, and sports agencies, enjoy long-term success in the audio, digital and social media space. Okay – I took that part from his website, but if any...

Hal Anderson has been a fixture on the radio in Winnipeg since the late 80’s. On our 34th episode, we thought it would appropriate to have the 34th Greatest Canadian on the podcast; which also coincided with his return to 680 CJOB, after being let go in a move that ratings wise, appears regrettable. I...

Jeff Vidler has been involved in research for a long time. After the podcast had been recorded, I remembered a time when, as program director of CJFM in Montreal, he would use his research to entice clients as much as listeners. As the years went on, I worked with Jeff on music testing, perceptuals, and format...

Canadian Music Week is taking place in at the Sheraton Centre Downtown in Toronto April 18 to 23. Greg Simpson has been working all of them since 1993, and tells us what to expect this year, how the conference has evolved to include digital, and the value in attending. This week’s episode is sponsored by...

Sports is fast becoming the format of choice for graduating media students. With the commodity value of music at an all time low, and news becoming polarizing and at time “fake”, Sports broadcasting attracting aspiring millennial broadcasters. Alex Rawnsley is the owner and creator of Sportscasterlife.com – a website designed to help Sportscasters get better...

We release this episode in the moments when we say goodbye to 2016 and hello to 2017. Perry Michael Simon is the news talk columnist for AllAccess.com and he provides us with some year end perspective. Radio is a reflection of the community and often the format is a record of how we react to...

Terry Dimonte is the morning man at CHOM 97.7 and he LOVES Christmas. Every year he spends the Friday before the morning show breaks for the holiday. Justin Trudeau has always made a point of stopping by to see his good friend and share some music from his iPod. When you become Prime Minister –...

David Marsden was inducted in the Canadian Music Industry and Broadcast Hall of Fame back in 2011. Most of us might consider hitting the beach at that point, but David carries the Spirit of Radio onward with http://NYtheSpirit.com – a high quality streaming free form station whose sound rivals that of any FM product. David...

Paul Kaye is the National Talent Coach for Rogers Radio. He held a similar role at Newcap in Calgary (Amp 90.3) and Vancouver (Z95.3) before heading to Toronto to join Rogers owned Kiss 92.5. His blog posts are widely shared and refreshing in a era where what constitutes great content is frequently contested. What’s really...

Steve Kowch is a talent coach, radio consultant and ran two of the biggest News Talk stations in Canada for many decades; CJAD in Montreal and News Talk 1010 CFRB in Toronto. As I was interviewing Steve about talent and journalism, I thought of all of his experiences he had with the mega-sized news stories...

Charles Adler has made his way back to the Corus Radio, the place he spent nearly a decade doing a national radio show from 2004 to 2013. In this episode, Charles tells us who the best radio personality is in Canada, what makes terrestrial radio great, and how the media mishandled the U.S. election. I...

Christopher Ward was one of the first Much Music VJ’s. His new book is called Is This Live? Inside the Wild Early Years of Much Music: The Nation’s Music Station. There’s a lot we forgot or don’t know about the station’s early years. Partly because not everyone had the channel for the first few years;...

Leslie Scott is the Program Director 107.7 The End in Seattle. the alternative station started in 1991 in the throes of the grunge movement. Earlier this year – they committed to their millennial audience by committing to less commercials and playing great music. Now, that’s a time old cliché that every station claims, but they...

Terry Evans has been an Edmonton radio mainstay for 36 years. I know this because 18 years ago, he reminded me that he has been in radio for 18 years. He has been written off and told time and time again that his time is over; yet maintains a solid following and entrenchment into the...

Mark Ramsey is a media strategist and researcher who has a history of innovative thoughts and approaches towards the audio medium. Consider his Hivio gatherings in 2015 and 2016 which celebrated audio under the banner of a “festival” rather than “conference”, and “audio” rather than “radio”. His twice monthly podcast with author Tom Asacker is...

The first ever Sound Off Convention took place this week. An amazing collection of speakers came out for the Sound Off Convention and the W Downtown Hilton Hyatt Marriot. Speakers Included: * Matt Cundill, Sound Off Podcast Host.  * Jason Barrett, Barrett Sports Media discussing Sports talent. * Perry Michael Simon, All Access.com on Radio...

An anniversary for Humble & Fred. Five years ago they rolled the dice and took a chance that their radio brand still had cache. It was a great gamble. Their radio brand is alive and well and flourishing on Sirius XM weekdays from 7-9am Eastern, and in the podcast world daily. They have the downloads,...

Alan Cross wears many hats and has many titles. My favourite two are historian and author. His perspective on music’s intersection with the digital world is refreshing. Every day he works to find the answers to what ails two of his great passions, music and radio. Also, I address the idiots in radio who won’t...

Fred Kennedy is the morning show host at 102.1 The Edge in Toronto. We counted 6 cities and 2 firings on his journey to Toronto. Along the way, he worked with an A-List of Canadian radio people. He listened, learned, and took notes along the way – all while remaining blistfully unaware. Please subscribe, rate...

Marty Forbes was the General Manager of Standard Radio in Edmonton for many years. His Father was the legendary Jerry Forbes at 630 CHED, who started many great charities including Santa Anonymous. Since leaving Standard Radio, Marty started a company called Radiowise that consults radio properties with an emphasis on Digital inclusion. This is another...

David Tyler is the voice of CTV National News and W5 in Canada, and various stations across the United States. David spent some time talking about his stint in radio and he discusses the myths and realities of the voiceover industry in the digital revolution. David has offered a discount code for a 4 part...

John Largent started his podcast called “Tailgate Radio” two years ago. A simple concept of a podcast about tailgating has found a following. The NFL season is underway and the return of that great American past time – tailgating. Also Jeff Woods with an update on his new radio project and how your station can...

Jason Barrett runs Barrett Sports Media and gives us insight into Sports as it pertains to radio, TV and digital. If you love sports radio, you will enjoy his perspective and I encourage you to follow him on twitter. http://www.twitter.com/sportsradiopd Be apart of the podcast survey and keep the medium strong: http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=c-pwg3hNJ1tz&ver=standard Also in this...

You have heard all about the connected car and threats of its arrival. It’s here and you’ve probably heard a lot of truth and rumours about it. There’s a 12 part podcast produced by Jacob’s Media, who are actively tracking the progress of the connected car. It’s a must listen series for those in radio....

The Fort McMurray Fire from May 3, 2016 changed lives. For Andrew Wilcox of Cruz 100.5FM, he is still rebuilding his staff at the station he runs. He also hasn’t been home yet. Yukon Jack at 100.3 the Bear took in a family from Fort McMurray that had recently emigrated from Nigeria. Their friendship will...

Shawn Smith is the owner of Momentum Media and the new publisher of Broadcast Dialogue. He tells us what’s in store for the future, and he shares his thoughts on the state of radio. Also, the Tragically Hip, Broadway Bill Lee from WCBS-FM showcasing the best thing he does, the aburdity of #NationalRadioDay, and Lauren...

If you are in Canadian Radio, you know http://www.milkmanunlimited.com – the hub for Canadian Radio Job news and information. Now meet the man responsible for it, his career on the air in Ottawa, and his latest project http://www.blastthertadio.com. Also “Yup! There’s a Podcast for that!” with John Largent from http://www.tailgateradio.com/ – If you want to...

One for the sales people this week. Ideas about monetizing a podcast with Sean Carr from Art 19, The Trouble with media as it pertains to the election, and a new feature on the podcast called “Yup! There’s a podcast for that!” By the way – if you are reading this and have a podcast,...

It’s always been tough to get the right guests on the radio. The rules are different in podcasting; especially business related podcasts. Jessica Rhodes has created a business that matches podcasts and guests and she shares her secrets to preparing and executing a great interview… from both sides of the mic. Also my stint as...

An over dose of Remedial Media as Perry Michael Simon from AllAccess.com joins us to discuss the “Moment of Silence” at the Conclave Radio conference and the lack of innovation in radio broadcasting. We also reach back to January with an interview Hal Anderson did with Steve Faguy of Fagstein.com about ongoing layoffs in Canadian...

Matt Cundill busts out another edition of Remedial Media and describes what he saw at the Podcast Movement in Chicago. Shika Rebecca runs a show prep service called Pepper Prep. It’s not expensive and affordable for both radio air talent and podcasters. We also pay tribute to radio engineer H.A. David Morrison who died last...

Todd Hancock is a Vancouver based radio personality turned Podcaster. He has successfully parlayed his radio knowledge into a successful online brand, including the highly downloaded and revenue generating ToddCast Podcast. Todd shares some of the secrets of his success. As well, #ThingsToBlameonCundill – the Cancelation of the TV Show Border Security. See our Privacy...

When Kate McCallum was let go from her radio job in 2015, she penned a blog called “Goodbye to Radio”. When she released it in 2016, she received a lot of attention from others in the business who face the difficult struggles of an excessive workload in multiple departments. She and her partner Adam have...

Jeff Woods, is a 30 year rock radio veteran who has just released his first book, Radio Records and Rock Stars. He was a guest on the Sound Off Podcast with Matt Cundill and discusses everything radio, records and media. See our Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and our California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Andrew Wilcox is the afternoon drive announcer at Cruz 1005. in Fort McMurray, Alberta. On May 1, 2016 he and the rest of the town were forced to evacuate when wildfires swept through the town. I spoke with him in the days after he left his home and the station behind. Also Maritime weather forecaster...