The Pulse

"Send us a text about this episode!" Why You Should Listen to This Episode: Bryan and Sarah Baeumler take us behind the scenes of Home Town Takeover Canada in Port Alberni, from eight local changemakers to a covered gathering space at Harbour Quay, with a detour through a foggy Nova Scotia proposal and a hurricane-rerouted honeymoon. Parksville firefighter Liam Robinson and Craig Bay Foo...

"Send us a text about this episode!" What happens when you revisit James Cameron’s most punishing production with the man who taught the cast of Avatar: The Way of Water how to hold their breath? You get one of the deepest conversations Too Old or Movie Gold has ever had - literally. Host Olen Vanderleeden of the Comox Valley and Gen X co-host Matthew Stockton are joined by Millennial sc...

"Send us a text about this episode!" BONUS RECIPE: Download Chef Jonathan Frazier's Recipe for Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites: https://bit.ly/S2EP07FootballRecipe With the NFL season nearing the halfway mark, Erin Haluschak and Chef Jonathan Frazier are back to unpack a Week 7 full of surprises. Atlanta knocked off the previously unbeaten San Francisco 49ers 29-20, Cincinnati rallied p...

"Send us a text about this episode!" Why You Should Listen to This Episode: Greg Nowik tells how a dozen unclaimed RCMP bikes in his mother-in-law's garage in Cedar grew into Bikes for Kids, a volunteer program closing in on 6,000 refurbished bikes for kids from Nanaimo to Port McNeill, and why it is short on 24-inch bikes right now. Certified Master Gardener Debora Gurrad explains...

"Send us a text about this episode!" BONUS RECIPE: Download Chef Jonathan Frazier's Recipe for Lemon Pepper Wet Wings: https://bit.ly/S2EP06FootballRecipe The NFL season is underway, and F3 is back with another episode of football, fantasy and food! This week, Jonathan and Erin head to Atlanta for the final team in their 32-team NFL series. They break down the biggest stories from W...

"Send us a text about this episode!" On this episode of The Resilience Project, host Cindy Thompson sits down with Shelley Buck and her lifelong friend Kathy Curtis, co-authors of “Leave Your Light On.” Shelley and her husband, Academy Award-winning director Chris Buck (“Frozen” and “Frozen 2”), had just watched their 22-year-old son, Ryder, beat cancer. The family finally breathed a sig...

"Send us a text about this episode!" Host Olen Vanderleeden of the Comox Valley and Gen X co-host Matthew Stockton welcomed Millennial panelists comedian Will Cory and self-described “huge puppet fan” Anthony to weigh in on Jim Henson’s 1982 all-puppet fantasy epic, The Dark Crystal - the first live-action film ever made without a single human character. Joining the panel was special gue...

"Send us a text about this episode!" Why You Should Listen to This Episode: Canadian Country Music Hall of Famer Michelle Wright takes us from a farm in Merlin, Ontario to the Grand Ole Opry stage, where she sang Snowbird with Anne Murray sitting right down front, and explains why The Great Canadian Roadtrip with Jason McCoy and Doc Walker feels like hanging around the kitchen table. Com...

"Send us a text about this episode!" BONUS RECIPE: Download Chef Jonathan Frazier's Recipe for the Bronx Chopped Cheese: https://bit.ly/S2EP05FootballRecipe This week, Jonathan and Erin look back at a bizarre Week 5 in the NFL, break down the latest fantasy football results and turn their attention to the New York Giants. They also explore the food culture of New York, from neighbou...

"Send us a text about this episode!" Why You Should Listen to This Episode: Award-winning author Sam Wiebe takes us on a tour of Vancouver Island's surprisingly deep film history, from a wartime propaganda set near Victoria's airport to Hatley Castle's many starring roles and the Ucluelet shoreline that played feudal Japan in Shōgun. Plus, Nanoose Bay marathon swimmer Mela...

"Send us a text about this episode!" Parksville City Councillors Joel Grenz and Sean Wood open Season 2 of Nonpartisan Hacks: Pulse Edition with the question everyone in Oceanside was asking this summer: if we live in a rainforest, why are we under a watering ban?  Their guest is Scott Harrison, two-term Town of Qualicum Beach councillor and chair of the Arrowsmith Water Service, the joi...

"Send us a text about this episode!" BONUS RECIPE: Download Chef Jonathan Frazier's Recipe for the Primanti Sandwich: https://bit.ly/S2EP04FootballRecipe This week, Jonathan and Erin turn their attention to the Pittsburgh Steelers, breaking down the latest fantasy football storylines, some surprising results around the NFL, the Steelers' 2-2 start and the food traditions of Pit...

"Send us a text about this episode!" In this episode of A Resilience Project, host Cindy Thompson takes the helm herself. Drawing on life lessons learned at sea aboard her sailboat, along with more than 30 years of supporting counselling clients as they navigate their own journeys, Cindy offers a thoughtful reflection on what it takes to stay the course when the winds of life shift witho...

"Send us a text about this episode!" Why You Should Listen to This Episode: Ann Vriend turned lockdown into a front porch choir, and that choir is now AV & the Inner City, headed to Vancouver Island for Pacific Contact. She also tells the family story behind A Dollar & A Suitcase, the song she wrote for her mother. Ken Neden has answered search and rescue calls since 1974, and he...

"Send us a text about this episode!" BONUS RECIPE: Download Chef Jonathan Frazier's Recipe for the Indianapolis Pork Tenderloin Sandwich: https://bit.ly/S2EP03FootballRecipe The NFL season is underway, and F3 is back with another team-focused episode! This week, Jonathan and Erin turn their attention to the Indianapolis Colts, breaking down the team's first win of the season, t...

"Send us a text about this episode!" Content note: This episode includes open discussion of depression and suicide. Please listen with care. If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 9-8-8, the Suicide Crisis Helpline, any time, day or night. In BC you can also call 1-800-SUICIDE (1-800-784-2433). In this episode of A Resilience Project, host Cindy Thompson sits down with Fr...

"Send us a text about this episode!" Why You Should Listen to This Episode: Two Vancouver Island volunteers, two very different ways of showing up for Ukraine. Duck Paterson, a 75-year-old Ladysmith councillor with 38 years on council, explains why he is driving an ambulance from Munich to Kyiv this October, and Darrell McKay returns after eight trips with an update from the ground and t...

"Send us a text about this episode!" BONUS RECIPE: Download Chef Jonathan Frazier's Recipe for Smoked Brisket Nachos: https://bit.ly/S2EP02FootballRecipe This week, Jonathan and Erin turn their attention to the Dallas Cowboys, looking at the team's upcoming international matchup against the Baltimore Ravens in Brazil, what to watch for in fantasy football, and the food traditio...

"Send us a text about this episode!" Dr. Jody Carrington is a child psychologist who believes the answer for kids lies in the big people who hold them. After 15 years of working with vulnerable children and families, from the Alberta Children’s Hospital to speaking stages across the country, she joins Cindy Thompson with warmth, wit and candour. At the heart of her message is the lesson...

"Send us a text about this episode!" Why You Should Listen to This Episode: This week we sit down with Victoria blues rock guitarist Paul Black, who traces his path from a gospel and country childhood in Thornhill, BC, through a life-changing Stevie Ray Vaughan concert, to his own soulful cover of Brick House. Then goaltender Hunter Dryden, grandson of hockey legend Ken Dryden, joins us...

"Send us a text about this episode!" BONUS RECIPE: Download Chef Jonathan Frazier's Recipe for Game-Day Chicken Wings: https://bit.ly/S2EP01FootballRecipe Hosts Erin Haluschak and Chef Jonathan Frazier of the Comox Valley kick off a new NFL season - covering the latest roster moves, the players and teams worth watching, and how to set up a winning fantasy lineup. They weigh the stat...

"Send us a text about this episode!" Why You Should Listen to This Episode How many of you can think of one or two key people in your life who had a real impact on you - a coach, a teacher, a family member? Steve Anderson has spent nearly three decades in the classroom being exactly that person for his students, and this episode is about what resilience actually looks like when it's...

"Send us a text about this episode!" Why You Should Listen to This Episode: Season 3 opens with two Vancouver Island stories built on showing up for other people, year after year. Darrell Fox was seventeen when he joined his brother Terry on the road for the 1980 Marathon of Hope, and 46 years on he's still carrying that story forward, now through a documentary built from footage no...

"Send us a text about this episode!" Jess Van Zeil is an Australian author, sportswoman, and adventurer who was diagnosed with Conjunctival Ocular Melanoma, a rare and aggressive eye cancer, at just 21 years old. Given the choice between losing her eye or her life, Jess chose survival, and discovered a mindset that carried her from fear into fierce, sassy resilience. In this episode, Jes...

"Send us a text about this episode!" Peter Kent of Qualicum Beach joined hosts Olen Vanderleeden and Matthew Stockton, along with panelists Sean, Anthony and Nicole, to unpack James Cameron’s 1994 spy-comedy blockbuster True Lies. True Lies stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold and Bill Paxton as a secret agent who has spent years hiding his real job from his wife, on...