PODCAST EXPLORES UNTOLD STORIES IN THE COMMUNITY
Podcasts are a relatively new way people are consuming information and entertainment online, and former CBC journalist Eric Anderson understands that. His new Saskatoon-centric podcast titled YXE Underground explores the stories of people around the city who do interesting and important work but often go unnoticed. Anderson spoke to the Starphoenix about his new individual project.
Q What gave you the idea to start a Saskatoon public focused podcast?
A I worked at CBC for about eight years, and we would do this bit every year called the CBC Future 40, and we would get nominations of people doing great things within the province under the age of 40 ... in the last couple of years at CBC, when we would get nominations I knew so many of the people just because they were so active on social media — and that’s totally fine — but it just got me thinking there’s probably another level of people that are doing great things that maybe aren’t as active on social media.
Q Out of all the different avenues of media, why go with a podcast for this?
A The nice thing about this podcast is that I don’t feel any time restriction in terms of doing the interview. At CBC, we would aim for kind of a six- to eight-minute interview, that was kind of the sweet spot. But with this, there’s no limit. I want every episode to be about 25 to 35 minutes long. The podcast gives you room to really breathe as an interviewer ... there’s so much discovery that happens during the interviews, I feel comfortable to go down a path that maybe I didn’t see (myself ) going down before because it’s not like, oh, I’ve got to stay on the question line, I
only have six minutes to do this.
Q Who are you trying to shine a spotlight on with this project?
A I have some people in mind, but it’s not like there’s a checklist ... I’m really trying to focus on people whose stories haven’t been told in kind of a mainstream sort of way. It means doing a lot of digging ... I think when listeners hear the podcast, they’re going to realize there are some really amazing people in Saskatoon who are flying under the radar but are working their tails off to make this city a better place. And then ... they’ll also discover why these people are doing it. And to me, that’s the real crux of this.
Q Is this a money-making venture for you?
A It’s a pure passion project. I miss going out and meeting people in the community, in terms of doing interviews with them. All the interviews are done on location ... that’s the biggest part of the job that I miss ... I do have sponsors — local businesses that have sponsored two of the first three episodes — which covers the cost of my photographer and website maintenance. Other than that, it costs me money. But that’s totally OK.
Q Why do you believe that this podcast is going to take off ?
A I think the podcast community is growing ... I don’t think there’s something like this here in Saskatoon right now in terms of this type of podcast focusing on these types of stories ... I think Saskatoon is ready for it, and I think podcasts are becoming more popular right now. I certainly listen to more than I did a few years ago, and I think the more that I listen, the more I realize I could do something like this, and I hope there’s an audience for it.