Lend me your ears

Live podcast can be like seeing favourite band

The podcast has come of age. No longer just the province of early adopters, podcasts have gone mainstream. They have become a necessity for bored commuters, gym rats and anyone who wants to be entertained while cooking dinner or doing other mindless chores.

Given the devoted fan following podcasts have gathered in recent years, it’s hardly surprising that they’ve also stoked a demand to meet the people behind the microphones. And podcasters have responded by taking their shows on the road, doing live performances and playing festivals like this week’s second annual Hot Docs Podcast Festival in Toronto.

Alan Black, co-curator of the Hot Docs festival which takes place at the eponymous documentary-screening cinema, likens going to see a podcaster to attending a favourite rockstar’s concert. “It’s a whole different amplified experience”, he says. “The listening relationship is very personal.”

At Hot Docs, which Black describes as a “showcase for the best in audio storytelling,” fans will hear from some of the biggest names in the podcasting business. Dan Taberski, for example, who topped the iTunes chart and achieved podcast stardom only to fall precipitously from grace when New York Times writer Amanda Hess called his Missing Richard Simmons podcast a “morally suspect exercise.”

Taberski had set out to discover what had become of his former friend Simmons, a fitness guru, who one day just walked away from his life as he knew it and locked himself inside his house. Hess accused Taberski of turning a “loved one’s personal crisis into a fun mystery investigation and recorded it for a hit podcast.” At Hot Docs, Taberski will discuss what it was like to become “the subject of a thousand think pieces.” He will also tempt fate by presenting a moment from the show’s finale that has never been made public before.

In other high profile appearances, Jesse Brown, host of the successful Canadaland podcast, will interview and record Daniel Dale, the Toronto Star’s Washington correspondent, about what facts mean in the current political climate. And in the perennially popular true crime category, CBC podcasters Connie Walker (Missing and Murdered) and David Ridgen (Someone Knows Something) will discuss “using crime stories to explore unforgettable characters and important social issues.”

Their session is one of a number that seems designed to cater not just to fans but to aspiring podcasters. While Black and his colleagues first envisioned the festival as a listener-focused event, they quickly realized there was a “cottage industry of people looking to talk shop, art, craft and the business.”

For those recording their thoughts on cheap mics in echo-free closets and dreaming of being the next big thing, the festival also includes panels about recording, editing and distributing your show.

The Hot Docs Podcast Festival runs from October 12–15.