Cooking podcasts to get you through another lockdown
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The full moon has come and gone. Did you hear any howling? Perhaps it was your neighbourhood werewolf’s bar mitzvah.*
Two weeks ago, I told you that I was about to attempt to roast my very first turkey. I used Melissa Clark’s simple roast turkey recipe, and you know what? It turned out PERFECTLY.
While attempting to manoeuvre a 17 lb. bird, up to my elbows in turkey juice and cursing my ambition, I listened to a lot of Home Cooking with Samin Nosrat and Hrishikesh Hirway. They were lovely company, but I did find it so strange to be transported back to the early days of the pandemic when the show was launched.
It was almost like a time capsule—everyone was writing in to ask about what to do with all the beans they were hoarding.
Remember when we were all hoarding beans and no one had a clue what was going on and we (I) thought things would be back to normal by summer? It actually made it a little hard to listen to, being brought back to that time, but in 20 years time when a young person asks what it was like to live through the pandemic, I will play them the beans episode. Regardless, Samin is such a delight that I would listen to her read subpoenaed group chats of people saying mean things about me.
I also perused Spotify for interviews with Ina Garten. My absolute favourite one was a conversation with Ina and Stanley Tucci on the Cherry Bombe podcast. The audio quality is very meh, but they are both extremely charming and they talk a lot about Stanley’s time filming Julie & Julia. As an advocate of Nora Ephron Autumn, I will take any and every opportunity to listen to actors talk about working with her.
Spoiler alert: Stanley Tucci cooked with Meryl as part of their prep for the movie. I die!
Now that commutes are no longer a part of my life, the main time I listen to podcasts (other than silly little walks) are when I’m doing Big Chores. It really does feel like having a pal around, not helping at all, but at the very least, entertaining me.
*I am aware I used a werewolf bar mitzvah GIF a few weeks ago, but that song takes up a lot of real estate in my brain
The deadline for the Globe and Mail's prestigious summer program is Friday, October 29! They’re hiring in lots of departments INCLUDING podcasting, so if you want to work with the lovely team at the Decibel, do apply.
And if you don’t want to wait until next summer to start a job at the Globe, there are a bunch of editorial positions available right now—they’re hiring a few different editors, a bilingual reporter in Montreal, and a host for the Decibel.
Hate weekends? Love the CBC? Great! Apply to be the weekend reporter, local Ontario regions. This is a permanent, part-time role, and you should apply by midnight on October 26.
Didn’t I post this job three weeks ago? Looks like CBC Ottawa is still looking for someone to cover a maternity leave in their parliamentary bureau—they’re still hiring a temporary, full-time field producer. Apply by October 26 at midnight.
Do you love podcasts so much you wish you could literally SELL them to people? Well now, you can! Spotify is hiring a podcast sales specialist to help their expansion into the Canadian market. The job is based in Toronto but is remote, for now.
CBC is accepting pitches for its doc mentorship program from now until November 20th! This is a great opportunity for emerging/intermediate doc makers to work on a story with a mentor at CBC. You can read a bit about the mentees from the spring program to get a sense of what kinds of stories have been chosen recently. Good luck and happy radio-making!
Ever wondered how the folks behind 99% Invisible make such a WILDLY popular show? Wonder no more! Soundpath is hosting a webinar with 99PI producers Chris Berube and Vivian Le. It’s free for AIR members, and 10 bones (USD!) for everyone else. It’s at 3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. PT on Thursday, October 28.
More on this next week—the Canadian Association of Journalists is about to launch their next mentorship program, so if you’re not a member yet, do register as a member if you’re in the market for a mentor!
If you’ve been reading this newsletter throughout this fair, spooky month, I don’t have to tell you that I’m a terrible horror-concierge. Take last week, when I found two podcasts that were REALLY well produced and looked amazing and I couldn’t even listen beyond the trailer.
But luckily, there are better spook-aficionados on the Vocal Fry team. Digital producer (and editor of this newsletter!) Emily Latimer wrote a blog post rounding up 16 spooky pods to get you in the Halloween mood. She will do a better job than I ever could. She's also been making TikToks about them! They're ridiculous!
The second episode of Wider Lens, our new podcast with the Directors Guild of Canada in Ontario, is out! This month, host Annie Bradley talks to production designers Caroline Hanania and Dean O’Dell and location manager John Rakich about building the world of SEE, the hit Apple TV+ series starring Jason Momoa. If you spotted him traipsing around Toronto in the fall of 2020, that’s the show he was filming.
You know what else is spooky? Brains! If you haven’t listened to Playing with Marbles, our new show with Brain Canada, you should.
That's all for this week! Did you get this newsletter from a friend? Subscribe at the link below to get Vocal Fridays straight outta the frying pan!
We want to hear from you! What are you looking for in your podcast news? Let us know on Twitter, Instagram, or by email at info@vocalfrystudios.com. Thanks to Emily Latimer for editing this newsletter, and to Katie Jensen for designing it.
We’ll see you again on October 29. Until then, here’s the tiny frog that producer Max met on her trip to Ontario.
Yours in friends and fries,
Michal
