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 the way, so stay tuned, this one's a keeper! Over two decades of hard work, running compelling campaigns all the way along, Karen climbed the ladder from intern, to assistant program director, to director of promotions. She worked with all the biggies, from Corus Entertainment, to Standard Broadcasting, to Astral Media, to Rogers, and now to Bell. She tells us about staying, moving, and the experience of being let go, rehired, and rolling on and bouncing back.Speaking to the loss of social currency that comes with a career shift, to soul searching, and hustling for the next opportunity, Karen provides some seriously candid gems about her experience in the industry. She even tells us about what led her to return to radio following her work as the National Director of Publicity & Promotions at Warner Brothers Pictures Canada.The episode is brought to you by NLogic! http://bit.ly/2yn3uCo   See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 is the News/Talk and Podcast contributor for AllAccess.com. We spent time looking back at the year in N/T Radio, the state of Sports Radio and Podcast, and then look ahead into 2018 which is certain to be all about what we can do with our smart speakers. Perry is already ahead of the rest of us with his Evening Bulletin Podcast which is masterfully easy to access if you got a smart speaker for Christmas.This podcast episode is brought to you by Promosuite - See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 Kenny Shields of the rock band Streetheart. Terry and I have known each other since 1987 and we spent Christmas of our 30th year of friendship by doing a podcast. Merry Christmas! This episode is sponsored by NLogic and Lens for Radio. http://bit.ly/2oLHQmQ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 90's. The radio is back in the house, but so are a whole bunch of new audio competitors, including newspaper and podcast brands who are entering the world of audio. Steve has also been a fixture at the Podcast Movement with research showing that most podcast listeners only get through about 75% of a podcast before checking out. (Numbers that are consistent with out podcast)This podcast is brought to you by Nlogic. http://bit.ly/2yn3uCoSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 this when we visit radio stations: People spending too much time on e-mail, and not enough on the on air product and their craft. In this episode, Amber will change your relationship with e-mail, and your relationship with your work.This episode is brought to you by Promosuite. www.promosuite.com/soundoffSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 goes into a making a great station brand? Hiring great people and not “boxing them in”, writing fun and catchy promos, and having a passion for what you do. Blair also shared parts of his personal side including growing up in a household with creative siblings, and how he fell for his wife, Karen Steele who programs a competing station, Virgin Radio.Thanks also to the people who make this show possible every week including:PromosuiteMatt Fogarty VoiceoversJustin Dove at Core Image StudiosMegatraxSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 "The Whine Line", and talk about the talent that has passed through his classroom. Dave Bannerman was the Program Manager of the station I worked at in 1989. (Yes, back then there was a Program Manager AND a Program Director) He was a great teacher of radio who allowed me to try out things that I thought might work. Some failed, some worked, and some stuff really worked. I was surprised when he made the transition to teaching radio at Nova Scotia Community College in 1995. But as I spoke to Dave, I realized that Dave had been a teacher all along; his curriculum had not changed since our days at Annapolis Valley Radio in Nova Scotia. He had turned out exceptional broadcasters by stressing a focus on the listener, never getting hung up on the digital technicalities, and doing what radio does best: Content Creation. The list of graduates reads like and a Pro-Bowl roster of Canadian radio:Fearless Fred - 102.1 The Edge (Toronto)Gillian Foote - 100.3 The Bear (Edmonton)Ruby Carr - Z95.3 (Vancouver) Jax - Kiss 92.5 (Toronto)R.S. Smooth (Ryan Sommers) CKDU 97.5 (Halifax)Christina Fitzgerald and Morgan Sheppard most recently of Indie 88 (Toronto)(I know there are many many others; these are the ones that I can recall in my head... please me and identify yourself as a graduate if you are in radio today. soundoff@mattcundill.com) Dave announced he is moving on from the school after 22 years of service. Thanks Dave!Thanks also to the people who make this show possible every week including:PromosuiteJustin Dove at Core Image StudiosMegatraxSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 the creative process to water down or negate an idea. Great ideas are refined and shared with the end game of making the listener laugh. I was invited out to Dave's newly built Safety Net Studios to catch up on life and talk about his accomplishments to date. We didn't hold back discussing the parts of his career that wound up making news. Notably his departure from Power 97, his former co-host Phil Aubrey's recent departure back to Power 97, and the online video incident from April 2016 - which led to the creation of Safety Net Studios. Yes this is a long podcast but there was a lot of catching up to do.This episode is made possible from NLogic.Special thanks to Drew Dalby for permission on sharing the clip of how Rena Jae came to Winnipeg. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 about the types of podcasts consumed, where they listen to them, demographics, and the most interesting stat – when they started consuming podcasts. I’ll spoil it now – 74% of respondents said it was within the last 3 years, and 41% in the last year. Numbers like that speak volumes to podcasting’s ascension. You can download the podcast study here: https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/b9f0d2_8411a2fefd7948399be55f1197f28a85.pdf Jeff will be appearing at the OAB Conference and offering insights on Generation X. This is an ample opportunity to take about the generation sandwiched between Boomers and Millennials. Now that they make up the 35-54 demographic, if they aren’t catered to now – they never will be. Finally, I wondered what a radio station called Gen X Radio would sound like. (Actually The Sound Off Media Company has a number of format design concepts… this one was created last year) The show is brought to you by Promosuite. Please visit their site and go paperless. http://www.promosuite.com/mattcundill The Audience surveys is here http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=c-pwg3hNJ1tz&ver=standard See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 production, and co-hosts with strong role definition. If that sounds like the characteristics of a morning show - that was the plan. If you are in radio and considering an idea for a podcast, Seth tells you that yes you can keep it local, and he shares his processes for launching the D-Brief. Yes - there were practice episodes involved. Seth also spoke about his podcast episode with talent coach Steve Reynolds at the World Wide Radio Summit. You can check it out here on Apple Podcasts. https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/2-3-steve-reynolds-of-the-reynolds-group/id1036229375?i=1000376526341&mt=2 Sponsored by NLogic - http://bit.ly/2oLHQmQ. Powered by Promosuite - check them out here. www.promosuite.com/soundoff I also made mention at the end of the show about my appearance on the Miami based podcast "Writing Class Radio". I love this podcast because it keeps my writing skills sharp. Better writing, better broadcasting. Allison and Andrea also can also put together workshops for Creative teams and on air hosts. They can even get your college kid writing better papers. To hear the latest episode of their podcast -https://soundcloud.com/writing-class-radio/episode-37-ready-to-write-that-memoir-or-novel-nov-is-national-novel-writing-month Evan’s Voiceover site: http://www.evanvoiceovers.com Amanda’s New Website: http://www.amandaloganVO.com The Audience surveys is here http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=c-pwg3hNJ1tz&ver=standard See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.