The Sound Off Podcast

Ben McCully has one of the most interesting portfolios I, and probably you, have ever seen: Radio host, car salesman, pro wrestler, brewery tour manager. If that combo of careers doesn't have you hooked on this episode already, I don't know what will. Clearly, Ben has worn many hats throughout his career, which is fitting because he once lived in Medicine Hat, Alberta. We talk about his philosophy...

Jim Lang is a renowned broadcaster who's worked all over Canada, often covering sports. You probably know him best from either Sportsnet Fan Radio 590, or his Toronto Argos coverage on AM 640. In this episode, we work our way through his broadcast history, from his humble beginnings as a radio intern all the way to his coverage of events like the Superbowl. If you're a sports fan, you'll love this...

BJ Shea is the morning show host at the legendary KISW in Seattle. The BJ and Migs show has anchored the station since 2005; if you aren't familiar with KISW, it's the famous underground and later grunge station that's been home to great DJ personalities such as Bob Rivers, Howard Stern, Gary Crow, Mike West, and more. We met BJ a few times at places like the Conclave and Dave Anthony's Morning Sh...

The last few weeks, I've been doing a lot of podcast housekeeping- pitching sponsors, and reviewing the stats, and thinking about what's next for the Sound Off Podcast. As it turns out, it's going to be more of the same, which is a good thing. One of the biggest questions I get asked is: "Why is my show doing better?" Here are some of the conclusions that often come up. Number 10: No Video Strateg...

In this episode, we talk Amanda's journey through the industry (including receiving military training before working as a journalist in Afghanistan), as well as her thoughts on how Canadian broadcasting could evolve. There are University dissertations shorter than Amanda's resume, so for brevity's sake, she is currently: Director of Talk & Talent at AM640 in Toronto, entrepreneur, freelance po...

Will Nash is the afternoon drive host for Fresh 93.1 in Barrie, Ontario, as well as the midday host on Energy 95.3 in Hamilton and Toronto. He's a radio veteran who's been all over Ontario, and has dozens of celebrity interviews under his belt- but his career didn't exactly start out that way. In this episode, I talk to him about working on street teams, moving to a small town in northern Alberta...

Imperfectly Kind is the name of Julie Adam's first book. The President of Rogers Sports & Media had a unique pandemic experience that she shared with us and led her to write this book. In this episode, Julie and I catch up after nearly 4 years between recording podcast episodes. We spoke about baseball in the last episode and it came up again this time in a couple of places. While I normally w...

Charese Frugé is the Net News Editor at AllAccess.com and has 20+ years in the radio business with a proven track record in multiple formats as both an on air personality and an award winning programmer. She's been successful in markets like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Las Vegas and Denver. She's been recognized as one of Radio's Most Influential Women by Radio Ink on multiple occasions a...

Sam East is the afternoon host on 99.9 Virgin Radio, and host of weeknights on Virgin Radio across Canada. That means you can hear her on selected stations Winnipeg, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. Sam has also recently launched the podcast Lessons to My Younger Self , where she chats with notables like Jully Black,  The Social’s  Jess Allen, sexologist Dr. Jess O’Reilly, and more....

Chris St. Clair started at the Weather Network back in 1994. However, before that he had a worked in radio; in later years as the program director at 990 Hits in Montreal. After 26 years at the Weather Network, Chris has retired. In this episode, you will hear how Chris got his start in radio while he was still in high school. We also discussed his short time at Acadia University, his ties to the...

Last summer when we had Vinny Barucco on the show, I mentioned that we would be having his co-host on in due time. Time is due. Shannon King's radio journey is different in that she didn't grow up idolizes radio personalities from the past. It was just kind of suggested to her. She cut her teeth by cutting hair and learned she was a people person. In this episode, you will hear how Shannon interne...

A few times a year, the radio grim reaper makes its rounds and kills off another round of talented people. Depending on the sociopathic behaviour of the company who executes the plan, it is described as "dislocation" or "restructuring". To those that are on the receiving end, it feels more like a mob-hit. Mary Anne Ivison was let go in February of 2021, and spent the rest of the year pivoting away...

Every year, Terry Dimonte and I get together for some Christmas cheer. This year we wound up talking a little more about podcasting as he and Ted Bird have recently launched their new show. Terry has recently moved to British Columbia with his wife Jessica and Terry recounts his first few weeks in the area battling torrential rains. As tradition has it, if there is a weather event, Terry will find...

Last April. Gillian Foote returned to her home province of Nova Scotia after spending the better part of two decades in Edmonton at 100.3 The Bear. Along with her co-hosts Paul Brown an Yukon Jack, they were authors of some pretty amazing radio over the course of 13 years. Gillian has now relocated to Q104 in Halifax where she is writing the next stanza with BJ Wilson and Bobby Mac. In this episod...

Tom Bedell is the afternoon drive host at Q104 in Halifax. His career started in the late 80's in Saint John, N.B at the legendary CFBC, and has been driving Metro Halifax home since 1998. In this episode, Tom recalls those early days in New Brunswick and his early stints in Woodstock, NB, Halifax and later on up in Kentville, Nova Scotia working at Annapolis Valley Radio. We recall fondly how the...

We loved having James Crildland on our show back in 2018 when we fussed about podcast discovery when there were a half million podcasts in the universe. There are now 2.5 million and we have so many more questions to ask. In this episode, I get a little help from my Podcast SuperFriends Jag in Detroit and Catherine O’Brien who are heavy consumers of James’ Podnews and Podland, the latter now into...

We had Matty Staudt back on the show in July of 2019, when he was heading up Jam Street Media after leaving iHeart as the head of podcasting. In that episode, we talked about his early podcast career, which dates back to Stitcher in 2008, how he produced the G. Gordon Liddy Show, and played the hits on great radio stations across America. Since then, he has been building some of the best branded p...

Around Montreal, mention the words "Queen of Rock" and that title goes to Sharon Hyland, longtime on air host at CHOM-FM. Last month she eclipsed 25 years of broadcasting at the legendary radio station. And while her name might not get lumped in with the CHOM Alumni who came before her, (just yet) her knowledge of rock and the station's more recent history is second to none. In this episode, you'l...

The copy just screams off the page: She was a blogger and social media maven. He, a former morning radio host. Together they struck out on their own and created The Upside. Callie and Jeff Dauler started their podcast when Jeff's radio career abruptly changed in 2019 from Star 94.1 in Atlanta. Their success could be considering "overnight" by podcast standards. In this episode, you'll hear how Cal...

Ryan Jespersen is one of the great broadcast to podcast success stories. After being relieved from the coveted 9 to noon position at the venerable 630 CHED in Edmonton last year, Ryan hatched a plan to move his audience from terrestrial to digital, and at the same time fill a need for real talk in the digital space. In this episode, you will hear how Ryan got into radio i(and later TV) n Red Deer,...

Mike Goral is someone I have only met once, haven't seen in 7 years but we have a long track record of working together. Long before the pandemic taught us to work apart, Mike and I, along with Jamie Watson and Evan Surminski would all collaborate to make audio magic in radio. Since then, all four of us have continued on creative paths that involve voiceover. Albeit, Evan produces still, and Matt...

Montana Getty has multiple passions for sports, media and politics flowing through her blood. Her grandfather is the late Don Getty, premiere of Alberta from 1985 to 1992, and quarterback of the Edmonton (then) Eskimos starting in 1955. Rarely does your family play into the context of a podcast episode, but given that the Getty name has so much to do with sport, politics, Alberta, oil, and now med...

There's about a dozen people I know where if I sit down for a long conversation with them, I am going to come away infinitely smarter and with lots to think about. Rob Braide has always been on that hit list. Whether we were having a drink or eating some of his wonderful cooking, or listening to his latest musical find, I was going to come away with more. In this episode you are going to hear a lo...

Rob Walch is the VP of Podcast Relations at Libsyn. He made an appearance on our show back in 2018, and we were long overdue to have him back given the changing nature of the podcast world. During Rob's session at Podcast Movement in August, he manoeuvred his way through his presentation to debunk many of the marketing myths that are propelled across the internet. Myths like Rating and Reviewing t...

Tara Sands was an imaging voice for a radio station I was programming in my radio days. It always exciting to hire new voice talent to put a fresh sound to your station. Her work extends well beyond FM, into some of the things you might hear like cartoons and commercials, but also in Anime, Audiobooks and now Podcast. If there's audio to be recorded, she is likely recording it. In this episode, yo...