Talking podcast production with Katie Jensen
Canadian podcast producer Katie Jensen compares her job to wistfully wandering around a party. “Gravitating towards the most interesting person and then listening really closely to what they say. Then recounting that story later to someone else to see what parts of the story are the most interesting,” Jensen said. “It’s about taking it all in, figuring out what the best parts of the story are and then figuring out the best way to package those stories.”
Jensen, who has worked as a producer on the popular podcast CANADALAND and is currently working on The Secret Life of Canada, is coming to share some of her experiences in the field with a free-to-attend talk at the Okanagan College Penticton campus on Friday, Feb. 16.
Jensen got her start in podcasting while attending McMaster University in Hamilton. After she was done her studies there, she continued to do her college radio show on experimental music remotely.
Her first podcasting gig came at CANADALAND, a crowdfunded news site and podcast network which features topics ranging from politics to art.
“I just wanted to become a journalist because I had been reading the newspaper on my lunch break, listening to podcasts on my lunch break and during my commutes, so I was really saturated with media,” Jensen said.
Through a cold call (more specifically a cold email) to CANADALAND host Jessie Brown, she got an interview, made some pitches, and was on the team for two years.
“It was very exciting to work on a podcast featuring current events and news media and it really got me hooked on current events podcasting and politics, which I had never been particularly engaged with before,” Jensen said. “So working at CANADALAND and working on investigative work was really exciting for me.”
Her passion for her work has been there since she was a teenager heading on a science and tech field trip.
“I sat down on an audio editing program and created the score for this one scene in a Disney movie,” she said. “I’ve always really been drawn to this stuff as a hobby and for fun.”
Her upcoming speech at the Penticton OC campus is titled “How to trick people into learning: Using humour in podcasting,” a tactic Jensen particularly enjoys herself.
“I think the easiest way to learn something and have something be memorable is to have an emotional connection with it and humuor for me is a really emotional thing,” Jensen said. “I really resonate with podcasts that make me laugh. I feel closer with the hosts that make me laugh.”
Looking to the future, Jensen is continuing her work on The Secret Life of Canada, taking a closer look at Canadian history and significant areas and events. Like the episode surrounding a book that won the Governer General’s Award in the ‘70s called “Bear.”
“It’s essentially this piece of Can-lit erotica about a bear,” Jensen said. “You would not think that kind of book would get a Governer General’s Award or shake up the Canadian lit scene. But it’s a really, really funny book. Very, very, very not safe for work though.”
She’s also planning to open up a studio with business partner and national columnist for Metro and the Toronto Star Vicky Mochama in downtown Toronto in the next few months. She hopes the space will be an accessible and affordable way for podcasters to get started and uplift voices not typically heard on the airwaves.
Jensen’s Feb. 16 talk takes place at 7 p.m. in room 107 of the Ashnola building at Okanagan College and the talk is presented as part of the CFUZ Listen Up! speaker series.