What they said

I started out writing a book, but podcasting is easier. It’s immediate, there’s no barrier between the product and consumer. Other mediums get so homogenized by feedback and executive notes, but podcasting is direct. And I’m able to do interviews, which I think is the best part. It’s more like having a conversation with friends, more intimate. The best interviews happen when you forget there’s a mic in front of you and you just talk. That’s when it’s really good. I think that’s why people like podcasts, because they can feel that happening too

— Comedian Alex Wood’s podcast takes listeners on his journey as he attempts to quit all his bad habits, Toronto Star Touch

Where the Blais is he off to?

The chairman of Canada’s telecommunications regulator says he is not reapplying for the role, days before his five-year term – one marked by clashes with industry at a time of seismic change – comes to a close — Aleksandra Sagan, CP

PC leader’s anti-CBC bias out of step with electorate

Regardless of their political stripes, more than 80 percent of Canadians support either an increase in funding or maintained funding for the public broadcaster, according to a poll conducted by Nanos Research and commissioned by Friends of Canadian Broadcasting. The poll results indicate that most Canadians disagree with Andrew Scheer, who suggested during the recent Tory leadership race that he would cut funding to the CBC and axe its news division altogether — National Observer

CBC launches new London station

London radio, tv in the spotlight

Running until Sunday, Sept. 17, Museum London’s new history exhibition, Air Waves: Radio and TV in London, offers visitors a variety of artifacts and interactive displays that offer up a taste of how important these two mediums have been to the history of the Forest City — Our London.ca

Joly announces Indigenous Screening Office

Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly has announced that the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, CBC/SRC, the Canada Media Fund, Telefilm Canada, the Canadian Media Producers Association, and the National Film Board of Canada have collaborated to create an Indigenous Screen Office in Canada.

Associated partners include Bell Media, the Harold Greenberg Fund and VICE Studio Canada.

“Too often, Indigenous creators have faced systematic barriers in the industry that have made it difficult to share their stories,” the minister stated at Banff World Media Festival on Monday. She added that “The creation of the Indigenous Screen Office will help address these barriers, provide direct support to creators and showcase Indigenous content in Canada and on the world stage."

Watching new films at home could soon become a reality

The pace of negotiations between studios and exhibitors will force studios to usher in their own premium video on demand (VOD) platforms as early as the end of this year, an analyst said on Monday — Screen Daily

In passing

More than a hundred family members, close friends and radio colleagues gathered at the Italian Cultural Centre in Vancouver Saturday to celebrate the life of veteran air personality and musicologist “Big Daddy” Dave McCormick who passed away March 29th at age 80 — Puget Sound Radio

— Same source reports a new lineup could be announced as early as next week for a revamped Jack FM, and Jack Calgary has applied to remove a condition of license that states the licensee shall devote at least 90% of musical selections from content category 2 (pop music) released before January 1, 1981, leading to speculations at both stations that format changes will happen. Find out more here

— Freelance journalism platform Storyhunter is now offering its live-streaming services to media companies. The “all-in-one freelance management solution” has a network of 20,000 freelancers in 180 countries — Media Shift

Worth noting

How 80-year-old Radio-Canada, the French-language arm of the CBC, is driving innovation from within

The Digital R&D Lab, started five years ago as one employee’s passion project, serves as an internal incubator for ideas and plays host to digital projects carried out in partnership with non-Radio-Canada groups — Nieman Lab

Why readers are more willing than ever to pay for news

Contrary to all the predictions about the public’s unwillingness to pay for news when it is freely available online, more publishers of high-quality, in-depth reporting are making money —Media Shift