Tag Archives: tod_maffin

Podcasting: the CBC dips the rest of the foot in the water

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Okay, so it isn’t the revolution. But it’s a big step forward for Mother Corporation as the CBC unleashes a whole bunch of new podcasts on an unsuspecting public.

Every day will bring a new edition of a particular podcast:

  • Monday – The Best of Ideas
  • Tuesday – Dispatches
  • Wednesday – The Best of Outfront
  • Thursday – The Best of The Current
  • Friday – The Best of As It Happens
  • Saturday – Quirks & Quarks
  • Sunday – The Best of DNTO

That enough for you? Wait, don’t answer – there’s more, updated with varying frequency:

  • CBC Radio 3
  • Sounds Like Canada: The Digital Extra
  • CBC Radio Editor’s Choice
  • Words at Large
  • Word of the Week

Still got some room on that iPod? There’s also a weekly roundup of stories from every region of Canada.

The upshot is a dramatic multiplication of the CBC’s podcast offerings, with a promise of more to come. This has to be pretty gratifying for the broadcaster’s in-house tech visionary and podcast evangelist, Tod Maffin, who’s done a lot to make this happen. Online communities around each podcast would be a natural next step, but this is terrific progress.

Want to do freelance radio? Don’t miss Tod’s seminar.

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If you harbour any interest at all in doing freelance non-fiction radio work, especially if it involves storytelling, then I strongly recommend –

– no, actually: I command –

– that you hie thee over to Tod Maffin’s upcoming “How to Be a Radio Storyteller” seminar, coming to Toronto and Vancouver:

I’m thrilled to announce that I will be conducting two seminars (one in Toronto and one in Vancouver) aimed at independent producers, freelancers, writers, and people who want to get into radio — specifically non-fiction radio storytelling. This will be a full-day, in-depth seminar covering: Storytelling, narrative structure, how to pitch (and how NOT to pitch!), how to voicetrack at home, what microphone you should use, field recording, how to interview someone, and much much more.

You will also receive a free copy of my e-book, “From Idea to Air: A Freelancer’s Field Guide to Selling to CBC Radio.”

And most importantly, this session will be admission by donation.

(The donations, by the way, will go to Tod’s campaign to raise $5,000 for the Canadian M.S. society.)

Why am I so insistent? Because I took a similar seminar with Tod a few years ago, and it was absolutely marvellous. And I learned more about telling a good story (let alone a good radio story) than I got out of the Robert McKee seminar, several dozen screenwriting books and that Jam This Thing Into a Socket in The Back of Your Head and It Will Download Everything You Need to Know about Storywriting Straight Into Your Brain gizmo I bought on eBay.

Combined.

Seriously, this is a steal. And I’m guessing it’s good for podcasters, too. So go. Learn more here.

Tod Maffin for CBC President

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If we ever elect the position of CBC President — and that might not be a bad idea — Tod Maffin already has a killer platform.

Anyone who has missed great radio during the CBC lockout should give Tod’s podcast a listen. For one thing, it’s, well, great radio: passionate, engaging, entertaining and personal.

And for another thing, Tod’s manifesto is a compelling case for a revitalized CBC. It’s a heart-felt cry from someone who genuinely loves radio, loves the CBC, and hates what’s happening — not just with the lockout, but the whole direction Canada’s public broadcaster has taken in recent years.

He takes a swipe at the federal government for underfunding, but the core of his critique is the corporation’s insistence on a “flexible” workforce — by which CBC management means contract employees.

That’s pretty much what the rest of the corporate world has meant over the past two decades, too. But Tod has a different take. He argues that the CBC already has a flexible workforce — smart, nimble, and with a proven record of adapting to rapid change within tight financial constraints.

The only thing is, management won’t let them in the building right now.

That isn’t just a challenge to the CBC’s leadership. It’s a rebuke to the fashionable idea that a modern workforce is one you can discard whenever you need to.

Which makes me wonder: if we can’t vote Tod in as CBC President…

…maybe there’s some other elected office he might be even better suited for.