Storylines

Canada's first music copyright trial took place in Ontario's highest court just over forty years ago. It saw a little-known lounge musician named Ivan Gondos face off against established hitmaker Hagood Hardy. The ruling helped define today’s copyright law, but the song in question and the (downright bizarre) story behind it, have largely been forgotten. But not in Pete Mitton’s family! Pete’s mom worked at the restaurant where Ivan Gondos used to play piano, and she’s spent the past four decades convinced the song was stolen. Pete went looking for the truth and unearthed a story that takes us through the claws-out lounge music scene of 1970’s Toronto. It’s a story involving swanky piano lounges, the plaintiff testifying from his deathbed, a big courtroom reveal, and tea commercial that nobody could get enough of.

Introducing Storylines, a weekly documentary show for people who love narrative podcasts. Stories you can’t stop thinking about. That you’ll tell your friends about. And that will help you understand what’s going on in Canada, and why. Every week a journalist follows one story, meets the people at its centre, and makes it make sense. Sometimes it’s about people living out the headlines in real life. Sometimes it’s about someone you’ve never heard of, living though something you had no idea was happening. Either way, you’ll go somewhere, meet someone, get the context, and learn something new. (Plus it sounds really good. Mixed like a movie.) One story, well told, every week, from the award-winning team at the CBC Audio Doc Unit.

An update from Acey Rowe about exciting new things coming to a podcast feed near you...

After learning of an annual neighbourhood New Year's Eve Party to which he had never been invited, Tom Howell became more curious about his neighbours. He’d lived on the same street for 15 years, yet could only name five neighbours. Tom goes on a quest to figure out how many of our neighbours we should know, and what the sweet spot is for him. (Originally broadcast March 2018)

In February 2018, Danny Filippidis, a Toronto firefighter, was on a ski trip with some friends. He left his buddies to go get his phone at the bottom of the slope. That's the last anyone saw of him for six days. The only journalist who was ever granted access to Danny sits down to talk - about what we know, and what remains unknowable. (Originally broadcast February 2019)

As a journalist, Kim Wheeler has been covering Indigenous stories for nearly thirty years. But there's one story that has taken her decades to tell: her own. When she was 13 days old, Canadian authorities separated Kim from her family and First Nation and placed her in a white household. In 2017, a class action lawsuit against the Federal government resulted in a settlement. Now, Kim tells her story as she joins thousands of other Sixties Scoop survivors as they apply for compensation for the loss of their families and cultures. (Originally broadcast May 2018)

Elaine Hofer lives in Green Acres, a Hutterite colony nestled in the southwestern corner of Manitoba. Elaine spends her days working with her community and teaching at the local school. And although she is 38 years old, as an unmarried woman Elaine lives at home with her parents and two adult siblings. But for all the tradition and responsibility, there is one thing Elaine does just for herself... Elaine is a trail runner, running across the fields with her long skirt flapping in the breeze. Her love of running is sparking something bigger, and Elaine is bumping up against the edges of tradition. (Originally broadcast Sepember 2019)

Close your eyes and imagine a horse. What do you see? Statistically, you can probably picture the horse in your mind. The colour, the flowing tail. Tom Ebeyer can't do that. Tom doesn't have a mind's eye, and for the first 20 years of his life he didn't even know what a mind's eye was. But now, Tom is finding other people like him, and they are finding belonging in their difference. Plus, they finally have a name for it: aphantasia. (Originally broadcast September 2019)

"My name is Radwan Altaleb. I'm a musician. My instrument is oud. I'm from Syria. Music is my life, and my life is music." To Radwan Altaleb, now living in Canada, the oud is more than a musical instrument. It's a means of remembering his life in Syria. Radwan's passion for the oud has led him to amass more than 60 instruments - from dozens of the finest makers across the Middle East. It's one of the largest individual oud collections in the world. But he still can't stop thinking about the two ouds he left behind when his neighbourhood in Damascus was destroyed. (Originally broadcast January 2019)

Leonard Wilson is an unlikely social media star. For one, nobody is really sure how old Leonard is. He’s a senior, that much is clear. He lives on a farm in Parry Sound, Ontario. His Facebook dispatches detail his chicken-caring duties, walks around the homestead, and wild animal encounters. Hundreds of fans from as far away as China and Mexico send e-mails if they don't see a new "Leonard Time" update every few weeks. The other thing about Leonard? He's a dog. A 148-pound dog. (Originally broadcast May 2021)