After making subpar radio by talking to more people than I should have, I’m happy to report that I’ve now done the opposite. I’m teaching an intern a little bit about my job right now, and on Wednesday I took him out to observe streeters- that little segment where a reporter goes out and talks to a bunch of people about some topic or another.
Given that it was just before Valentine’s Day, I thought something love-themed might work. I started with “Do you believe in love?” which was a mistake because the answers were “yes” or “no” and the follow-up of “why?” got vague responses. So then I went with “What is love?” I don’t know if this question would have worked, because the first person I ran into was Darryl. He answered the question, but then I asked him “Have you ever been in love?” What followed was one of my favourite conversations I’ve ever had.
Darryl is not a guy I would normally encounter. He’s an unemployed long-haul driver on disability who spends much of his time on the street. I might pass him while walking, but probably not talk to him. And even if I did talk to him, it probably wouldn’t be a conversation about the nuances of love and loss.
This is what I love about my job and radio at its best: whether I’m the person with the microphone or part of the audience listening at home, it gives me an opportunity to drop in on great conversations with people I don’t normally talk to. Usually it’s artists, scientists, politicians and leaders. But it’s even more powerful when it’s someone like Darryl. I’m glad he talked to me, and I hope he and his girlfriend have a great dinner tonight.
Here’s the interview.
For the first time ever, British Columbia is celebrating Family Day this weekend. While other provinces have long had holidays in February, B.C. has historically gone from New Year’s to Easter without so much as a long weekend.
I’m extra lucky because not only do I have Family Day, but I had an extra-long weekend last week, because I had some holiday time to use up and decided to stick it in February. It turns out this was the best idea I’ve had in a long time.
The reason? It was a holiday without being a holiday. Christmas and Thanksgiving and such are fun, but they also come with schedules of their own: family, friends, parties (rough, I know).
This time off, I didn’t have any expectations. So I tackled a house project I’ve been wanting to do since Christmas 2011. Every time I had a few days I had thought “this will be the time that I…” And then I didn’t. In winter because it was the aforementioned holidays. In summer because the weather was such that I would rather travel or spend time outdoors. But a couple extra days in February while everyone else is at work– what else are you going to do? So I did it, it’s done, and it feels great. You can bet I’m going to be taking time off in February whenever I can from now on.
The other day, a photo came up on Facebook with over 100 shares. This really cute dog at a store in downtown Prince George had gone missing, and according to the post it had been stolen. They even had the name and description of the person who had stolen it and were trying to spread the word.
I’ve met this dog and wanted it to be found. But I did not hit “share.” I believed the dog was gone. But I didn’t feel like I could, in good conscience, put out information that a specific person stole the dog as is alleged in the post. The reason: I wouldn’t feel comfortable reading that information on the radio.
Facebook is not the media. And not everything I post on Facebook is something I would read on the radio, either (mostly because it’s banal). But when I post news or information, I try to make it factually correct. And I did not have enough information to make me feel comfortable to actually name the person who had allegedly stolen the dog without getting information from RCMP or other reliable source. I wouldn’t put it on the radio or in a newspaper, so I didn’t put it on Facebook.
Social media is a weird bleeding space between the personal and public self. For the most part I treat it like my own personal space. But I’m always aware of the fact that a certain number of people following me or friending me know me primarily as a CBC employee. If I post false or unproven information, it dilutes my track record. And as more people use social media as a primary news source, I want to be seen as reliable.
During the Prince George mill explosion and north coast tsunami warning, people were turning to things like Twitter and Facebook for up-to-date information. I retweeted people whose track record I trusted based on previous experiences: some reporters, some politicians, some government officials, and some regular citizens. And I’m flattered that many people were following and retweeting me because of the trust I’d developed. It’s a valuable commodity, and one that I’m hoping to keep- even if it means not hitting “share” everytime I want to.
On a sidenote, I did contact the RCMP about this case. They couldn’t confirm that the dog had actually been stolen, but that it was missing following a shoplifting incident. It now looks like dog was turned in to the SPCA the next day.
This past weekend, I was staying with my family in a rented cabin. Most of the time is spent out skiing, so it doesn’t feel cramped, but on Sunday afternoon during a rest, the Superbowl was turned on.
I am not one of those people who says they don’t watch TV, because I watch many television shows- far more than movies. But the truth is I don’t watch TV. Not on a television. In fact, the only TV in our house is a hand-me-down one that’s twenty years old that only gets used maybe once a month to play videogames.
When I watch TV shows it’s done on a computer, using Netflix, DVDs or some other streaming service. And what you forget about when you watch TV that way it just how many commercials there are in traditional viewing.
When I was younger, I spent plenty of time watching TV without thinking once about the commercials. They were just there. A fact of life. But now, living a life of “limited commercial interruption” I’ve become used to having one or two ads at the beginning of a video stream and then not being interrupted again for twenty minutes.
So when faced with the number of commercials that exist on live television, it’s disorienting. They keep coming. And they’re loud. Often, they don’t make sense. Again, I am a person who was raised with this sort of thing and is still exposed to advertising on a regular basis. But the amount being thrown my way while the Superbowl was on was just overwhelming. It’s depressing to think how much time I spent sitting through these things when I was younger.
And I’m not even against ads in any real sense. I understand it’s how you pay the bills, and I think when done right they can be a useful way to learn about products, services, or other goods I might enjoy. Many are entertaining, to the extent that the day after the Superbowl I sat down and watched a few of those “best of the Superbowl” YouTube things that show you all the good ads you miss when you’re in Canada.
So I don’t know. Maybe this is just a sign that I’m getting older and less able to cope with the modern world. But I encourage you to try to cut advertising out of your life, even for a little while. and then see if it feels different when you come back.
Last week, I went to the Prince George auditions for the TV show Dragon’s Den to find out what people were pitching. I found five people with five good ideas. Every one of them was a good talker with a good story. What I did with this was not so good. Here’s what I produced:
[audio:http://f.cl.ly/items/3q172V1v0q2c1x2N3n0d/Dragon%27s%20Den%20January%202013.mp3]
I don’t hate it. It’s fine. But it could have been a lot better.
The mistake I made is putting five people in five minutes.
Using multiple voices is OK when you’re doing something like streeters, getting people’s quick reaction to a question or topic (here’s an example). In those cases, the star of the show is the question. The people are entertaining, but who they are and what motivates them isn’t the point. It’s getting a diversity of responses to an inherently interesting question.
But in other stories, whether pre-produced or live interview, the goal is to get inside the mind of someone else. Ask questions, get them to defend their point of view, but ultimately hear what they think and hopefully understand them better. A pet photographer. A guy who lived with grizzly bears. A mother-daughter swap shed team.
But in this one, I only scratched the surface. I got the who and the what, but basically skimmed over the why, which is the most interesting part. I was in a hurry to get to the next who and what.
If I could go back and do it again I would choose one person- any person- and spend more time with them. Find out how they were feeling. How many times they’d done this before. Gone into the audition with them, if possible. Then it might have felt like we actually went somewhere.
As it was, all I did was hang out in the lobby. And that’s what it sounds like.
If you like to read about me being hard on my work, you may also like Knowing Your Focus.
One of the core services review recommendations, the cost-cutting exercise led by Mayor Shari Green, was to reduce the number of councillors in Prince George from 8 to 6. The recommendation was put before council this week, and council chose not to pursue it (the mayor, Stoelz and Everitt supported going forward with the idea, the rest did not. Skakun suggested simply reducing pay to save money).
There’s obvious criticism, especially with the relatively fresh elimination of 28 job at city hall. But, the city has roughly 80,000 people. 8 councillors is one for ever 10,000. Seems about right to me.
If you live in Prince George, you probably know that for three years in a row, it’s been ranked “The Most Dangerous City in Canada” by Maclean’s magazine. First, a couple of caveats:
Related to the above, you can also make an argument about the usefulness of “best” and “worst” ratings at all when it comes to crime rates. “Worst” may not mean “bad.” Hypothetically, you could become the most dangerous city in the country thanks to a single incident, so long as everywhere else was crime-free.
So with those grains of salt taken, here’s my question: what if Prince George actually is Canada’s most dangerous city? Maclean’s doesn’t throw a dart at a map to make these rankings. It’s based on actual data, calculating the number of “severe crimes” – homicide, sexual assault, aggravated assault, vehicle theft, robbery and breaking and entering – that occur per 100,000 people. Using this methodology, Prince George comes out on top.
After the first number-one ranking Prince George received, a Twitter movement called”#IHeartPG” sprang up. The idea was to spread positive messages about the city to counter the negative perceptions that would be associated with it as a result of the crime ranking. I’m all for spreading positive messages. I love this city, as my last two posts can attest.
But there’s a line between focusing on the positive and straight-up sticking your head in the sand. Every year, people spring up with the argument “I live here, and I feel safe!” point of view. Fair enough. Tell that to the people who’ve been victim to aggravated or sexual assault. The problem with your own experience is that it’s just your own experience. You can’t extrapolate whether a place is safe or not based solely on what’s happened to you. That’s why we use data like crime statistics.
Which brings us to the also-pervasive “it only happens to certain people.” Take your pick as to who those certain people are. Usually, people mean severe crimes like violence and assault only happen to gangsters. In official parlance, it’s people who lead “high-risk” lifestyles. Case in point:
“Those living high risk lifestyles have a high probability of being a victim of a criminal act, Stubbs continued, “however, the incidents of random violence for those citizens that contribute positively to our community is relatively low and the community needs to know that – this is a safe community.”
Which is also a fair point to make, I suppose. If assaults are going to be happening, it’s comforting to think that if I don’t do drugs and stay out of the wrong neighbourhoods, they probably won’t happen to me. But it also feels kind of crappy. What if you can’t afford to leave the neighbourhood? What if you’re some kid who witnesses a gang shooting? Or you’re a person who is trying to work with those leading “high-risk” lifestyles and you keep hearing about those problems and people you know are being hurt? Is it really a solution to say we’re not the most dangerous city because yeah, there’s dangerous crimes, but it’s only happening to bad people in the poor part of town?
None of this is to say that there isn’t value in the #IHeartPG movement or that the RCMP aren’t doing their job (crime is going down, after all). But I’ve been somewhat frustrated that since Prince George was ranked #1 again last year, the official line from city hall has been to encourage people to spread a positive message instead of a negative one. I like spreading a positive message. But it has to go along with a rational look at the facts and a discussion over whether we can do better. And that seems to be what the proposed Mayor’s Task Force On Crime (item G1) is about. In it, the mayor writes about the positives of Prince George, but adds:
“We lack a comprehensive strategy that: reduces crime and increases community safety; increases public involvement in reducing crime; increases integration between all stakeholders involved in crime reduction and; improves public awareness around the reality and perception of crime.”
Her proposal is to take a look at the model that Surrey has been using to reduce its crime rates and increase feelings of public safety and finding ways the city of Prince George, RCMP and other groups might adopt similar strategies. The emphasis on a positive message is still there, but so is acknowledgement that there’s room for improvement. That’s how change happens. I don’t know for sure that this task force will work. But I’m willing to bet it will work a lot better than simply looking the other way when another “high-risk” lifestyle comes to an end.
Last night as part of my MC duties, I got to present Jim Brinkman of Books and Company with the first-ever Coldsnap Person of the Year Award (that’s me holding an ice sculpture for him to smash, “breaking the ice” to open the festival). Books and Company has been a staple of this city for as long as I can remember, and hosts everything from open mics to chess clubs to various philosophy discussions put on by UNBC professors back in my undergrad days.
More than a bookstore, Books and Company calls itself Prince George’s Living Room, a title it has more than earned. It’s a store, but it feels more like a public space where people gather to find out what’s happening around the community, meet friends, and just hang out.
More important than attracting a lot of people, I think, is the type of people Books and Company brings together. Jim gave a short speech last night where he espoused the importance of live theater, meeting your neighbours, and taking a chance on seeing unknown musicians rather than the million-selling superstars. The importance of being a local as defined in this post by Steve Corona:
The gift of Books and Company and the businesses and spaces like them is their ability to cater to these locals and then bring others into the fold, creating more and more “locals” in the process. The more people are willing to discover the unique treats this location has to offer, the healthier our community will be.
In just over an hour, I get to MC opening night of the fifth annual Coldsnap Music Festival. I remember going to the first festival in 2008, back when I was still in university. It was a super-cold winter, with people’s cars not starting and the river freezing and causing ice jams that had people worried about floods.
I remember people braving this to go to these tiny downtown venues to see artists like Said the Whale and Dan Mangan that are famous now but no one had heard of then and just being blown away. And I remember being outside one of these venues and seeing everyone in there listening to this music and it looked like they were huddled up in a log cabin against the darkness of these downtown that no one’s supposed to want to go in, especially not at night on a weekday in minus 20. And I remember thinking that something like Coldsnap could really change the character of the city.
For the last five years, Coldsnap has been the time when music fans in other cities are jealous of Prince George because we get double-bills like Hannah Georgas opening for Joel Plaskett or Basia Bulat sharing the stage with Shad. And it’s also a time when a couple of kids from Quesnel can open up for a nationally-known group like Whitehorse and blow everyone away, including Whitehorse.
In fact, this year some of the acts I’m most looking forward to aren’t from out of town, but right here at home. I’ve never seen Derek Joyce play solo, but his recordings sound awesome. Keith Cummings has come out of nowhere for me. The Salt Water Brothers are former Tsimshian metal guys taking on traditional country. I finally get to see Vanderhoof’s Rosewood’s Diary and Terrace’s King Crow and the Ladies From Hell.
If you are in or near Prince George, I strongly encourage you to take a look at the lineup and come out to at least one show or workshop, especially if you aren’t a person who normally sees live music. Coldsnap is a great introduction to the talent this city has to offer, and a gateway to entertainment year-round.
Because I have an early birthday, I’ve always felt slightly ahead of the curve. I was first among my friends to get a driver’s licence. I was one of the first in my grade to be able to legitimately grow facial hair. I hit legal drinking age before most of my peers.
But over time, the natural advantages of being a few months older began to wear off. I started out grade eight in the upper-half of height, but by the time graduation came around, I was on the shorter side. I didn’t make the cut for sports teams. Everything started to even out.
Still, I had some momentum in the realm of grades, and I continued to do well in university and through graduation. I was able to go directly from my BA into an internship and a couple of short-term contracts that would get me into my current career. I had a stable, long-term relationship and we bought a house together. I was in adulthood.
Three years ago I wrote a post outlining some of the things I’d managed to achieve by age twenty-five. Now I’m in the same situation as pretty much everyone else my age and older. I’ve got a job, I’ve got a life, and I’m trying to live it as best I can. My birthday no longer puts me artificially ahead in the race. In fact, there is no race. There are no grades or sports teams or age limits. I can’t compartmentalize my life into four-month periods where I pass the test and move on, I can’t change jobs every year and expect any sort of fulfillment, and I definitely can’t use my age as any indication of how well I’m doing.
It’s not super-hard, but it’s challenging. You have to set different sorts of goals and figure out not just where you want to be a few months from now, but a decade from now, fifty years from now. I can’t expect a major jump in my income. I don’t expect to move. It’s not about getting a new job, it’s about doing the same job slightly better every single day.
It’s been a three-year transition period, but today I can say this: I’m no longer preparing for the rest of my life. I’m in it.
Over the Christmas break, I realized I had no idea how to keep my scarf on while doing outdoors sports. Rather than just figure it out, I made a radio story about it that involved asking random people on the street, going to an outdoors store to find out if Jude Law has any tips, and calling up the fashion editor for AskMen.com.
Mere weeks after its original air date, it has become the number one most popular thing I have ever sent out onto the internet. Now it’s been aired on CBC’s The Story From Here, a nationally broadcast show, so I think it will probably be secure in this spot for some time.
You can check out the original interview, along with an extended scarf interview and a variety of scarf-tying resources on the Daybreak North site or iny my audio portfolio.
Songs from twenty of my favourite albums of 2012. Quality stuff. More justification after you start streaming and then scroll down.
Almost Mainstream Episode 47 – 20 Favourite Albums of 2012 – January 11 2013 on Mixcloud
(download)
Alright, after the most-listened to tracks episode of my radio show finished off 2012, I’m starting 2013 with the more subjective realm of favourites. I’ve once again opted to do an albums version because basically my favourite songs is covered off by what I play on the show and post on the website. Albums are a trickier business- you need some great singles, but the other stuff has to be good, as well, otherwise it’s just not worth it to listen to the whole thing. In that sense, I think a smart move for an artist would actually be to err on the side of less songs when making an album, because the listener is left hungry for more (just like I generally prefer a three-minute pop song to a five-minute, unless there’s a really good reason for that extra two minutes).
For this year’s picks I did attempt to listen everything that was a critical favourite, and think I did hear all the main ones. However, my personal list diverges from the critics’ consensus a lot more than normal. I liked quite a few of the albums in those lists, but not enough to bump anything here. There’s a few I think might have a chance at shifting up here (Tame Impala, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis) and a couple I left off because technically they came out in 2012 (Grimes & The Weeknd). Others are deliberately not on here, though. Beach House, Grizzly Bear, and Sharon Van Etten are three particularly frustrating experiences, as they are all raved about, but all feel like a chore to listen to- and I tried, multiple times.
Anyways, the point of these things is they’re subjective anyways. So here’s my twenty favourites. They’re in alphabetical order, aside from my top three. I put those at the end, so if you’re a busy person who only has time to listen to three albums from the past year skip to the end of this post and find out what they are so you can enjoy them and nothing but them for the next year.
Note: I’ve also made an Rdio playlist that has all these albums except A Tribe Called Red, which isn’t on there yet.
The Bottom Seventeen (alphabetical order):
A Tribe Called Red – A Tribe Called Red
Their Soundcloud says “We’re an all Native American DJ crew from Ottawa Canada. We remix traditional Pow Wow music with contemporary club sounds.” That about sums it up. Also, they’re political, which is always exciting.
Alabama Shakes – Boys & Girls
First track “Hold On” is a contender for earworm of the year, and it sets the stage for an awesome blend of southern blues, garage, and soul, but in a way that doesn’t suck. They opened for Jack White, which is completely appropriate.
alt-J – An Awesome Wave
You know those optical illusions where if you look at a picture one way, it’s a candlestick, but if you adjust your eyes slightly it’s two people kissing? That’s what alt-J is like. Listen to it one way and it’s fast-paced dance music. Adjust your ears, and it’s mellow background noise. Forget Gotye, this is the Australian music everyone should have been listening to this year.
Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra – Theater Is Evil
It really confuses me that this isn’t on best of lists. The opening trio of songs is possibly the best sequencing of the year, and it doesn’t slow down from there. I made the case for “Smile” as a possible song of the year, and I still think it holds water. Like David Bowie for the internet age.
Bahamas – Barchords
Here’s one that confuses me for not being a Polaris Prize finalist. Every song is just understatedly amazing- you think it’s standard indie singer-songwriter stuff but then you just notice how fine-tuned this guys songwriting is and you get sucked right in.
Boxer the Horse – French Residency
I feel like this is one that you’re either going to be drawn into or not. For me, it’s like if you crossed Apollo Ghosts with Blue Rodeo, which in my alternate universe is all the convincing you should need to want to listen to them, but in reality I know means nothing. So listen to them. And also Apollo Ghosts.
Cadence Weapon – Hope In Dirt City
At first I really liked this album, but then I started to think it might not be deserving of a spot. Then I listened to it again and got sucked into the depths of these beats- plus the always-on lyrics- and it just keeps moving up in my estimation.
Carly Rae Jepsen – Curiosity EP/Kiss
OK, I guess this is kind of cheating since it’s an EP and an album. The EP is the stronger of the two because it isn’t bogged down by any filler that weighs down the second half of Kiss. But still, each of these is full of such solid, straight-ahead, unironic pop songs more influenced by the AM dial than the club that I feel obliged to put them together. Taylor Swift wound up being the “look, I’m not pretentious because I like top 40, too” pick on all the year-end lists, but it really should have gone to Jepsen.
Chiddy Bang – Breakfast
I’m not positive that this isn’t just a handful great songs keeping an album of fair-to-middling ones afloat, but if it is, it worked for me. The summer rap album of 2012.
Death Grips – The Money Store
This is the sort of thing that only college radio will play. This is why you should listen to college radio.
Jack White – Blunderbuss
Jack White has had two albums with the Raconteurs, two with the Dead Weather, and six with the White Stripes. For my money, this is in his top three overall, and considering my age of musical discovery came during the garage rock revival of the ’00s (three of the first songs I learned to play on guitar were White Stripes songs), that’s saying something.
John K. Samson – Provincial
I’m not entirely certain why Samson had to leave behind the rest of the Weakerthans to make this album, since it doesn’t exactly break that bands’ formula of strong songwriting anchored by some of the best lyrics by anyone ever but still, this is an album of strong songwriting anchored by some of the best lyrics by anyone ever, so it goes on the list.
Kid Koala – 12 Bit Blues
Remember when Moby made a bunch of money by combining old blues music with dance music? This is like that except it’s upbeat blues instead of sad blues, and turntables instead of late-90s electronica. So in other words it’s completely different.
Killer Mike – R.A.P. Music
Some rap music is still angry. Great voice.
Metric – Synthetica
I don’t really know what to say about this one. Metric is a solid, solid band and this is a solid, solid album. I assume they’re doing arenas now? They should be.
Norah Jones – Little Broken Hearts
Did anyone see this one coming? Unlike other instances of producers who work with everyone (cough, cough Rick Rubin, cough, cough the Neptunes), Danger Mouse has taken on an incredibly diverse group of musicians, put his blueprint on them, and put out album after album of great stuff. Still, who would have thought that he would take lite-jazz chanteuse Norah Jones and turn her into a broken-hearted-yet-tough good-not-bad pop singer? I really hope that album with U2 turns out well.
Patrick Watson – Adventures In Your Own Backyard
I didn’t really “get” Patrick Watson’s first two albums until after a few listens, but this one immediately grabbed me. Cinematic, haunting, and beautiful.
The Top Three:
I don’t like ranking big lists of things in numerical order, because it’s really tough to be like “this good collection of one genre of music is slightly better than this good collection of a completely different genre”. But this year, I do have three albums that kept fighting for the number one spot, so I’ve put them here, again in alphabetical order.
Frank Ocean – Planet Orange
This is the consensus for album of the year, and it’s a fair one. I’ve listened to it again and again and I find something new to hear every time. I’m not positive it will age well, but it’s definitely perfect for now.
Islands – A Sleep & A Forgetting
It seems like I’m alone in putting this up so high, and that’s a shame. It got great reviews at the beginning of the year when it was released, and I’ve had it on repeat since then. There’s no gimmicks, just a great set of songs backed up by actual heartbreak and a strong sense of how to make a hook.
Japandroids – Celebration Rock
By far the most appropriate title on this list, this is celebration rock, just pure, joyful noise. If you don’t like dissonant fuzzed out lo-fi high-speed indie garage bands you probably won’t like this, but if you do, you’re in for a treat. Now start a band.
By the way, if you like what you hear here, you should check out my radio show/podcast Almost Mainstream. I also like sharing my favourite songs on This Is My Jam and my Twitter feed is @akurjata.
Four years and a few months ago, I was unemployed and for the first time in my life had no idea what I was going to do next. There was no new job lined up, no new semester to get ready for- just life, and the hope I would do something with mine.
To hedge my bets and occupy my time, I started volunteering. Then I got a job. Then I got another. So by the time the year ended I had two jobs and three board positions.
It was great. I always had something on the go. I was meeting new people. I was gaining new skills. I was contributing to things I liked and believed in. I really enjoyed it.
Until 2012. Somewhere near the beginning of the year, after over two years of spreading myself thin, I hit a breaking point.
It wasn’t any one thing. It was just the cumulative effect of having no evenings, weekends or downtime. Losing touch with friends. Never just sitting and relaxing at home.
And not even the stuff I was supposed to be doing instead of having personal time was getting done the way it should have. I would hop from one project to the next, barely getting it done. Everything was suffering from a lack of commitment.
So I started quitting stuff. I quit a job. I quit a board. I scaled back in a couple of areas.
And it’s great. My work is better. The stuff I still volunteer for is getting more attention and I’m able to take on more responsibilities and ambitious projects.
I have my time back. I’m able to see friends more regularly. I’m able to curl up at home once in a while and just read or watch a movie. I’m able to take time for myself, and rest and recharge for when I head out into the world again.
And the stuff that I was holding onto because I had to do it? I handed it off and it’s getting done. Other people are taking projects I started and running with them, and it’s awesome to see new eyes and new energy complete what I didn’t, as I finally complete some of the things I kept for myself.
I like having lots of projects, and there’s lots of things I wish I could do. But the most important realization I came to in 2012 is that I can’t to do it all.
And I know that that’s something everybody knows- I knew it- but there’s a difference between knowing and understanding. So now I understand. And if I have a resolution for 2013, it’s to more effectively manage my time. But another resolution is to not set namby-pamby goals that aren’t measurable. So more concretely:
Happy new year.
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February 17 2013 | ∞
Earlier this week, I was taking a lunch-break walk when I realized “I work for CBC.” Of course, I know I work for CBC since I show up every day, but on this particular day I was hit by the enormity of that fact. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is such a large and respected and historic information that I don’t often reconcile the fact that I’m a (small) part of everything it does.
What surprises me more is that I’m doing it without any formal training. Everything I knew before walking through the door of that job interview was self-taught, and limited. Since then I’ve generously been mentored and taught by some of the best in the business. But there’s still so much I don’t know. What’s worse, I don’t really know everything I don’t know. So all I can do is keep listening to stuff that’s far, far better than what I create, and then try to sound more like them.
I’ve written before about my love of This American Life and my discovery of How Sound. Both are amazing resources that expose you to the possibilities of what can be done using radio. That’s the first step in making great radio: knowing what’s possible. Now I’ve finally discovered PRX. Short for the Public Radio Exchange, this is a huge database of amazing sounds and stories and radio shows made by public radio producers around the world- mostly American, but Australians, Norwegians, and, yes, the CBC are all on there as well.
I’ve been exploring the site and the accompanying blog that go along with it and am just being blown away. It makes everything I’ve made sound terrible, which is great, because it means there’s so much for me to learn. I’m going to eventually put together a list of my favourite radio pieces, but in the meantime I encourage anyone interested in making radio to head over to PRX and start listening.
Filed under: journalism, radio | Discussion