How RSJ Alumni are using podcasts to tell stories that matter

Audio storytelling has taken our generation by storm. Podcasts (external link) , which are similar to  conversations that people eavesdrop in, are proving to be more than just a platform where strangers share ideas and interests. While providing an intimate listening experience, podcasts have given us a platform to hear directly the voices whose stories we are sharing.  

In recent years, many RSJ alumni have been part of podcast projects that celebrate journalism by telling stories that matter.  

Alumni Kathleen Goldhar (RSJ ‘96) has produced two of CBC’s true crime podcasts, Uncover: Escaping NXIVM, and Uncover: Sharmini. This year, it has been nominated for the 2019 Canadian Podcast Award for Outstanding True Crime Series.

Uncover: Sharmini is hosted by investigative reporter Michelle Shephard (also a Ryerson alum), who takes listeners through details of the investigation surrounding Sharmini Anandavel’s murder. She was a 15-year-old girl whose remains were found beside the East Don River, four months after she had gone missing in Don Mills in 1999.

Although the season closely follows Stanley Tippett, who was a suspect in the case, Goldhar and her team named the season, Uncover: Sharmini, because they wanted the story to be about her, a girl whose life was taken away.  

“[What] I want listeners to take away from [“Uncover: Sharmini] was that this was a girl who lost her life, and also the complicated nature in any kind of murder case, and how hard it is to not always be able to solve a crime,” she said.  

Goldhar is a podcast producer with Antica Productions. She spent many years in print journalism, and had spent over a decade as a producer at CBC’s The Current.   

“Podcasts are a really great way of giving a story breathing room, and the space to try your best to tell the whole story,” said Goldhar.

Popularity and innovation are what drive many podcasts out there. Stories told on podcasts have now become the norm for how we engage listeners to tune into conversations. And with the creative freedom that comes with putting together and distributing audio content, conversations can spark debate about issues in society.  

Industry Interrupted is an example of that. A business podcast by The Globe and Mail, it establishes the innovations in technology that affect our economy and consumers. The second season, produced by RSJ alum Tara Deschamps, focuses on the consumer perspective. The discussion centres on how companies are forced to change given digital trends, and the power consumers have in the success of a business.  

“Some of the ideas that I got were things that I had previously covered...talking to experts, chatting amongst ourselves about how different industries had changed,” she said. “And how the things that we do in our daily lives have changed because of technology, or because of innovation and the economy.”  

Deschamps describes the podcast as more documentary style, where others podcasts are more Q&A. The content is set up in a way that brings listeners through what is happening with business right now, questioning if business models have developed and adapted to digital consumerism.  

“I think there is a whole other audience you can reach through podcast. I think the Globe has been really eager and put a lot of resources behind doing that,” she said. “If we're able to do something creative and something different in journalism, and help inform more people, than I think it makes podcast all the more interesting and all the more important.”

She currently works as a business reporter for the Canadian Press. She has previously interned for the Toronto Star, and has written for Star Metro and Maclean’s. She also writes real estate columns for the New York Times.  

Deschamps first signed on to the job after a friend, another RSJ alum Stephanie Chan, offered her a role in the making of the Industry Interrupted Podcast. Since the second season of the podcast has aired, it has been nominated for a 2019 Canadian Podcast Award for Outstanding Business Series.

Podcast co-host Alisha Sawhney (RSJ’15), jumped at the chance to work on Huffpost Canada’s podcast, Born and Raised: Love. She felt very connected to it, as she feels it spoke to her identity as a second generation Canadian.  

“Our stories are told, produced, written by people who are children of immigrants, which is me,” said Sawhney. “I thought it was important to make sure that the people behind the podcast were people actually reflected in those stories, and who could talk about those experiences from the perspective of understanding; that's what makes a podcast real and authentic, and something that people can relate to.”  

As season two of the Born and Raised franchise at Huffpost, Born and Raised: Love, covers broad topics of dating, romance, sex, self-love, parenthood, and losing love.

“I...wanted to really sink my teeth into something where I felt I could make a difference, and contribute to journalism in a way that I felt was a meaningful,” she said. “So I decided I was going to join season two and help drive the conversation forward.  

Sawhney believes that podcasting can be a platform for voices that are often underrepresented, and don't receive a lot of mainstream air-time. By bringing guests on the show to share their struggles with love, she says it brings to light stories many children of other immigrants would relate to.  

When Sawhney graduated from Ryerson’s four year journalism program in 2015, she decided to stay in school and complete a masters in media production. Her love for podcasting came about while she worked on her master’s thesis project, where she was given the opportunity to make her own podcast from scratch.

“I think with the way the media is today, everybody is on their phones or wireless headphones. They're looking for ways to either keep up with the world, or listen to stories that make them laugh and make them feel things,” she said. “Whatever it is they wanted to listen to, they’re finding other ways to do it and podcasting has been a very successful medium to share more story telling.”  

On Feb. 6 there will be an event called “The Podcast Promise” that will be held at the TMX Broadcast Centre. A panel of news industry professionals will be talking about the global phenomenon of podcasting. Get tickets here (external link) .