paulcrosstoronto’s Podcast

From New Year's 2020/2021.  You Won't Hear This On the News, but it should be news. One of the great friends...supporters...boosters...writers...champions of the Toronto live music and songwriters scene passed away in late December 2020.  Gary 17 was an original; writer, entrepreneur, publisher, songwriter, promoter.  Some unscripted thoughts, recorded outside. 

On A Christmas Carol on the Radio. Reposting, with a slight edit to remove the original reference to live theatre performances, which were happening when I produced it in December 2019.  For nearly a hundred years, the Charles Dickens classic has been coming alive on the radio at Christmas time. Makes fair dealing use of bits of audio from the 1951 United Artists picture; the 1939 Campbell Soup Pl...

On Making Change: It's a Start.  From December 17, 2020.  Continuing the theme of how things might change in the era of Black Lives Matter and the growing sense that this other pandemic -- racism -- must also be the focus of vast resources and commitments.  Last week's episode looks at how people are starting to inform themselves better.  This time...a surface-level look at a very few select cases...

On how news reporting is changing and consumers are engaging with new content about the other pandemic. From December 10, 2020.  Has the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 given people the time...and the mindset...to become more aware, more concerned and more vocal or active...about the other pandemic that's been dragging on for centuries? Perhaps it's the awareness of the news through mass media and so...

On MOVE, Mumia Abu-Jamal and Prison Radio. From December 3, 2020.  A story from history that resonates today is being brought back to life with a new documentary-style video series this month.  The story of MOVE in Philadelphia and the fates of nine Black people sent to prison for decades over the case should be remembered.  It's still going on.  One of the most outspoken members of the Move 9 has...

On 100 years of Radio. From November 20, 2020.  Radio is now in its second 100 years.  In the months following the start of XWA Montreal in December 1919, radio stations were coming on the air in the United States.  WWJ in Detroit and KDKA in Pittsburg have their official starts in August and November 1920.  Had 2020 not been under the cloud of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, maybe the celebrat...

How conservative talk radio hosts react to the apparent outcome of the U-S election. From November 13, 2020.  It's no surprise that when high-profile talk radio hosts returned to the airwaves on Monday, November 9th -- two days after it became apparent that Donald Trump would not be re-elected -- they came out against Joe Biden and in support of Trump's efforts to stay in office.  This time, a lis...

How Radio Covers the U-S Election:  From November 5, 2020.  Coverage of local elections is very important to local radio stations all over the world.  Whether they provide full coverage as an election night show, special updates throughout the counting, or limit it to extra reporting in their newscasts, the coverage is important to listeners, radio workers, and to the reputation of the station in...

Just in time for #WorldAudioDramaDay 2020: I'm starting Season Five! My newest examination of what happened...and what did not happen...when War of the Worlds was performed live on radio on October 30, 1938.  As I have argued in Season 1, Episodes 7 and 8 and Season 3, Episode 9...the broadcast did not cause "mass panic". But it served the interests of the newspaper industry of the day to manufact...

Donald Trump has been given hours of free airtime.  Unchallenged, unquestioned, un-fact-checked...on right wing talk radio.  On hundreds of radio stations, with a reach way into the millions.  But print, online, tv and other audio media were waiting to see what would happen on a one network "tv" show for his first "on camera" interview since returning from the hospital.  What happens earlier in th...

NBA players, coaches and team owners are leading where elected officials and other influential citizens are failing.  It's time for more people to speak up and to take action.   What kinds of action might be productive toward creating change?  Actions that have impact on the finances and operations of people and organizations that are so far failing to end systemic racism within their spheres.  So...

My unscripted thoughts on finding the story about Michelle Obama's remarkable speech to the Democratic National Convention missing from the news on the radio on the very station that carried the speech, and on the radio in Toronto the next morning.  It's the most significant story of the day, in my opinion.

Unscripted, live-to-tape commentary moments after the conclusion of a news conference carried live on Newsradio 930 WBEN in Buffalo New York, received over the air in Toronto.  The statue of Columbus in Buffalo is being taken down and moved; not in any attempt at dialogue for the times in which we live, but in order to preserve it and replace it with something else celebrating one community in tha...

"Thank you, Radio."  From May 15, 2020.  Radio stations around the world have been providing more than the latest news during the Covid-19 pandemic.  Many are performing at their peak, under difficult circumstances, in trying times.  Several recent episodes have highlighted and examined various aspects of local radio's response to the crisis -- notably, episodes 14, 13, 11 and 10.  Today...to end...

"On toxic talk radio." From May 7, 2020.  In Season 4, Episode Two I raise the concept of "toxic" talk radio; radio that is extreme in its philosophy and hostile toward people with differing approaches and opinions.  The talk radio we have in Canada is mild by comparison; even the politically right-wing talk shows here pale by comparison to the extremism typical in the examples given in this episo...

"On the failure to warn the public" From April 30, 2020.  The RCMP in Nova Scotia chose to use Twitter to warn residents in an isolated rural area to stay inside and lock their doors when they were called to the scene of murders and arson on a Saturday night in April.  It was another eight hours or so before they felt a second tweet was warranted; after a witness came forward and told them the man...

"How Radio adapts in the Time of the Pandemic" - from April 17, 2020.  Continuing my examination of radio's response to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.  Previous episodes include reference to special programming, and to radio hosts performing from home.  In this episode, a former talk show host -- the current mayor of Toronto -- returns to the air to host a one-time call-in show; and two morning co...

What if Radio was not there? From April 8, 2020.  What if you turned on the radio and there was...nothing there?  Unthinkable.  In the time of the covid-19 pandemic, local radio is doing more and more to keep listeners informed, entertained and comforted.  No other form of media is going to talk about radio the way radio is talking about them.  But it's been that way for a long time.  Me? I love t...

"On how it took a crisis to make government communication more accessible in Canada.” From April 2, 2020.  In the daily public briefings about the covid-19 held by government and public health authorities in the city of Toronto, the province of Ontario, and the federal government of Canada, a sign language interpreter is participating.  They should have been routinely included in public announceme...

"On listening to the news about government response to covid-19".  From March 25, 2020. Commentary.  This episode shifts toward the commentary spectrum as I react to updates I hear on the news, in order to demonstrate what constitutes commentary for radio in Canada.  It's designed to fit with a course I teach in spring semester -- online now, during covid-19 -- in which radio news students will wr...

"On local Radio in the time of covid-19".  From March 17, 2020.  In the midst of a pandemic of the covid-19 corona virus, most of what makes up "normal" activity for hundreds of millions of people is disrupted.  Sports, late-night tv talk, restaurants, bars and theatres are closed. People still need routine.  Radio can be a big part of that.  While every news outlet in every form of media works ex...

"On Covid-19 in the News".  From March 12, 2020.  One could make the case that "everything changed" in the 24 hours connecting March 11th and 12th. Professional sports, concerts, public events, even tv talk shows started disappearing in the hours after the World Health Organization started describing the Covid-19 corona virus spread as a pandemic.  Radio must remain and keep on doing what it does;...

"On the pioneering innovations in radio by Hilda Matheson". From March 6, 2020.   Whether many people working in radio and audio media including podcasting today are aware of this or not, many of our contemporary approaches to professional practice stem from the vision of a woman who is one of the great pioneers of radio.  And they’ve been in practice, for almost a century.  The opening montage is...

"On Reaching out on World Radio Day" From February 28, 2020.  In Season 4, Episode 5 I explore the concept of diversity in radio from the three perspectives prescribed by UNESCO for World Radio Day 2020, which was February 13th.  On that day, campus radio stations connected with academic programs at Humber College in Toronto, Canada and the University of Sunderland in the U-K connected live on air...

"On the broken emergency alert system" From February 21, 2020. When a false "emergency alert" was sent out suggesting there had been an incident at a nuclear power station near Toronto on January 12th, it took 43 minutes for a correction.  When a false alert -- including information that it was not a drill -- about an incoming missile was issued in Hawaii, it took 38 minutes for a correction to co...