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 Matthew Good concert to ring in the New Year. The station has also had very low staff turnover and developed a culture unlike any other in Canada; comparable only to KNDD 107.7 the Ed in Seattle. Anyhow - more about Andrew... who was raised in Saskatoon and still sports a watermelon hat and a green jersey. There are some incredible smarts to what Andrew and Seanna do every morning. The program director is clearly brilliant and we promise to have him back on the podcast shortly; Seanna has worked at some great stations including my alma mater 1003. The Bear in Edmonton. Then there's the podcast which has blown past 275,000 downloads over 450+ episodes. (Stop doing the math. You know that if you have 600 extra listeners to your sow on another platform after 10am you would be fine with it) In this episode you will hear all about what it is like to be a morning personality at Canada's #1 Alternative radio station, what it takes to raise two boys and how wood working has been so helpful to the process. This episode is powered by NLogic and Lens for Radio.

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 Edmonton morning man talked about some of his former program directors and co-workers and has learned lots from all along the way. Yukon has worked through about three eras of rock radio, and two separate morning shows to land alongside McCord and RyMy on the Worst Show Ever. He says radio is smarter than it was ten years ago, even if he admits that the status of a radio personality has declined in that time. One of my favourite people in the whole radio world! Yukon Jack....

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. And rather than give some sort of long winded text back to him with the 12 take aways I had - I suggested we just record the conversation on the podcast. 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 going and how radio is coping with it all. We also recorded a few thoughts while at Podcast Movement as I wondered aloud about some of the questions that I wanted answered. We also made mention about an interview Ryan was about to do with John O'Conner who has a book out about how the media portrayed the Watergate Scandal. The interview will give you a good feel for the type of radio Ryan is doing at KMOX in St. Louis.

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 podcast producing to the mix as well. John tells us a little bit about the Jesse and Jenna podcast he produces, along with how he prepares for each show on Blast the Radio he does, and fills us in on his Twitch Channel. In this episode, we talked about some of the great advice JJ Johnston has shared with him to help build his brand, the podcast rise of Jesse and Jenna who just hit episode 100, and some of the challenges in running an online radio station. A reminder that if you find yourself out of work and want to keep the show going - both John and I are here to help.

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 Daily, the Big Story has shone the spotlight on Canadian stories ranging from the rat and transit problems in Toronto, to Canada's legalization of pot, and the inane plebiscite on keeping Winnipeg's Portage and Main. (Full Disclosure - I was the guest on that episode which you can listen to here) In this episode, you'll find out how the show came together, what decisions get made, and the forward planning that goes into each episode.

That's right. Stop selling radio. Paul Jacob is the VP/General Manager of Jacob's Media. The Detroit based company is a leader devising strategies for media groups. After having both his brother Fred and Digital Dot Connector, Seth Resler on the show twice, having Paul come on the program was overdue. 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. Definitely Checkout the Tech Survey Results Paul received the coveted Rockwell Award at this year's Conclave in Minneapolis. Cam Clark and Tyler Glen from the Westcom stations in Brandon asked Paul for a copy of the speech. Turns out they weren't the only ones. Fred Jacob's saved us all a copy of the speech and posted it. #sales #jacobsmedia

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 Gary Russell, Tom Peacock and Pat Holiday. Bob also worked with Canada's two biggest morning shows in Gerry Forbes in Calgary, and Terry #Dimonte & Ted Bird in Montreal. Full disclosure, I applied for a job with Bob in Calgary in 1993 but didn't get the job. It all worked out as I got hired in Edmonton a year later at the same company and we worked reasonably closely on a number of rock related promotions. In 2004 we eventually got to work together at #CHOM in Montreal which Bob will be the first to admit was a whole new way of programming radio. Finally, I asked bob about his battle with #cancer and the amazing help he received along the way. Do not miss the last third of this episode. To reach out to Bob, please e-mail him bobharris@bell.net

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 23% and monthly to 36%, but it was when he broke out the monthly podcast listening slide that I went, "Okayyyyyyyy....". And I wondered about it ever since. In this podcast episode, I explain the two contributions radio made to this result; one reason is because radio is offering a product that hasn't evolved, while the other is that it remains as powerful as ever when delivering a message. In fact - it is still the best way to advertise and get the word out about your brand. I also dive into the new Apple Podcast categories and wonder aloud what category this podcast should be in. A list of the new and now defunct podcast episodes can be found here. We also discuss the death of iTunes, and whether or not we should be charging for you to listen to this podcast. (Spoiler: It should remain free with ads, because we love our sponsors including Promosuite, nLogic and Core Image Studios. See what I did there?

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. Formed in Winnipeg in the late 80's, the band wrote, recorded, and released their first CD in 1992 called "McLaren Furnace Room", which was followed with a subsequent major label release two years later "In the Trees" and a decades worth of touring, writing, recording and working hard. That includes those early morning radio station appearances, often after finishing a show earlier that morning. In this episode, Sammy and I spoke about residing at opposite ends of the radio and records promotion wheel that was responsible for one of the most lucrative eras for Canadian Rock music. We covered some of the most 90's of things, (HMV, CD's) and Canadian pillars of the music industry like MuchMusic and the of Cancon regs which helped the band grow. I also come clean about not adding one of their most popular songs at the station I was at. This episode was recorded two weeks before the death of Deane Cameron, who had a large role in the band making a transition from Universal to EMI. When you hear Sam answer my question about that move - think of Deane. Sammy's podcast he co-hosts with Cam Gordon is the Completely Ignored Podcast. The Watchmen are on tour this summer and dates are here. Even more important, if you are in Toronto, June 19th there is a fundraiser at the Horseshoe Tavern in support of bassist Ken Tizzard's wife who is preparing for stem cell bone marrow treatment. The Event will be hosted by Dean Blundell who appeared on our podcast a few weeks ago. More Sammy: We enjoyed this episode of Toronto Mike with Sammy Kohn. It goes into greater detail about the band's rise where they are today.

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, JJ embarked January 1, 2018 with Bruce Barker, wound his way through Victoria Day weekend with a tribute to yours truly, and then concluded on December 31 with David Marsden. (I've reposted the salute JJ made to me at the bottom of this post. JJ did 365 of these!) These posts were shared across all social media platforms including Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. When you think about it, these posts can live on next year too when shared and re-shared by everyone going forward. JJ continues to work building his company JJ-IMS, which has now reached its way into radio in Australia, and extended beyond radio into management groups and talent in other media. This episode should have you considering your blog strategy for 2019. I marvel at people like Fred Jacobs who commit to writing 5 days a week; people like Engle Jones who 1001 12 minute conversations, and JJ who wrote everyday for a year. It's amazing what happens when you commit and stick to it. #blogging #facebook #consulting #radio #media #talent