In a world of popular podcasts like The Joe Rogan Experience, Call Her Daddy and Theo Von, Black is on a mission to champion the things that are strange, new, weird, trailblazing and genre-defying – shows that will be remembered a decade from now.

The problem is unlike film, podcasting doesn’t have a canon. That’s why he’s created the Essential Listening Poll, a rundown of the Top 100 Greatest Podcasts of all time, curated by a cross-section of leading audio makers, journalists and academics that’s been unveiled at Podcast Movement, with the support of Amazon Music.

We welcome Alan Black back to Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast to talk about discoverability, the broken economics of podcasting, and why he believes there needs to be more tastemaking in the audio space.

Read more about the Essential Listening Poll, here.

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Announced at Podcast Movement in Dallas on Tuesday, with support from Amazon Music, the list was voted on by a wide-ranging group of podcasters, hosts, journalists, and academics, who shared their top five shows, reflecting the work that has most inspired, engaged and influenced them. Voters included Alex Blumberg (StartUp), Brendan McDonald (WTF with Marc Maron), Hrishikesh Hirway (Song Exploder), Latif Nasser and Lulu Miller (Radiolab), Alex Sujong Laughlin (Normal Gossip), and Leon Neyhfak (Slow Burn), among other prominent audio makers. 

The Top 3 podcasts on the list are no surprise, with This American Life taking the #1 spot, followed by Serial and New York Times podcast, The Daily. Rounding out the Top 10 are WNYC’s Radiolab, S-Town, Heavyweight, Reply All, WTF with Marc Maron, Gimlet’s StartUp Podcast, and Love and Radio.

Several Canadian podcasts also made the list, with CBC Podcasts well-represented, including Hunting Warhead, which came in at #32, Missing & Murdered: Finding Cleo (#33), WireTap (#38), Stolen (#52), Sea of Lies (#97), and Terry O’Reilly’s IDEAS, which squeaked onto the list via an eight-way tie in 100th position, alongside the likes of The Joe Rogan Experience, Wiser Than me with Julia-Louis Dreyfuss, and The Diary of a CEO, among other titles.

Somewhat inspired by the British Film Institute’s Sight and Sound poll, which has ranked the Top 100 “greatest films of all time” once a decade since 1952, Black believes the lack of a podcasting “canon” means a lot of shows that have been off the charts for five to seven years, get lost in the annals of podcasting’s discoverability problem.

“Podcasting has nothing like that,” Black told Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast. “You can go Google ‘best podcasts of all time’ and you’ll find kind of annual lists, people saying the best of the year or the best of the first six months of the year, but there was really nothing that gave you a definitive list of the really important, monumental shows that inspired the shows to come.”

He’s optimistic the poll will be “a jumping off point” for new listeners to explore the history of podcasts and find those shows that broke new ground. While the Top 10 to 20 are shows the public is familiar with, Black says the rest of the list is littered with podcasts most people have probably never heard of.

“It is quite fascinating. Shows like Call Her Daddy or Theo Von…a lot of the chat cast shows, those did not make the list,” said Black. “They are insanely popular, but I think probably…those are shows people enjoy, but when you think of the things that made you, those are less significant.”

“The list is dominated by shows that stick with you. Shows that aren’t simple – like press record, don’t do much editing, do a little sound mix and publish. The shows on the list – the Radiolabs and the S-Towns and the Love and Radios – these are shows that are about mood and tone and they tell stories that are fascinating, human stories that stick with you. And I think the list tells you a lot about the things that people think about 10 years after they’ve listened to them,” he continued.

Explore the full list, along with ballots from featured voters here. You can also listen to the top 100 Greatest Podcasts of all time in a special Amazon Music collection.

Alan Black joined Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast to talk about the Essential Listening Poll, discoverability, the broken economics of podcasting and more. Listen on your favourite podcasting app or here:

The post Left of Dial Media releases inaugural Essential Listening Poll appeared first on Broadcast Dialogue.

Wayne Webster is set to retire from Stingray’s boom 97.3 (CHBM-FM) at the end of the summer after nearly five decades in Toronto radio. Webster started his 48-year career in 1977 as an intern at Q107 (CILQ-FM) after graduating from Humber College. His internship eventually turned into a full-time job as Music Director at CHUM-FM from 1979-87. From there, he joined CKFM as music director and Assistant Program Director, which evolved into Mix 99.9 where he spent a total of 21 years. He additionally programmed the music on SiriusXM Canadian rock channel, Iceberg Radio. Webster has been boom 97.3’s Music Director since 2009. Read more here.

Jack Miller is retiring from Quinte Broadcasting on Aug. 8 after a 51-year career in broadcasting. Miller, 71, has served as Sports Director for Quinte’s Belleville area stations – CJBQ, MIX 97 (CIGL-FM), and  ROCK 107 (CJTN-FM), since 1974. Among other regional sports work, Miller has served as the voice of the Belleville Bulls and Belleville Senators, hosted Global’s Ontario Hockey League Game of the Week, did colour commentary for the Ottawa Senators and has been part of World Junior Hockey broadcasts from Europe. He was previously celebrated on April 22, 2022 when the City of Belleville declared it Jack Miller Day and officially dedicated the press box at CAA Arena as the Jack Miller Broadcast and Media Centre.

Mike Letourneau has joined Torres Media as Technology Consultant to assist the company and its radio properties with IT and Engineering strategy, processes, and project management. Letourneau most recently led on-air support for Corus Entertainment’s conventional and specialty television from 2019, up until earlier this year. He previously served as Director of IT at Astral Television / Bell Media, and Enterprise Projects Director at BroadView Software. He started his broadcast career as the first dedicated IT hire for Q107 (CILQ-FM) and AM640  (CFMJ-AM) Toronto.

Leah Holiove is joining 1130 NewsRadio (CKWX-AM) as a traffic anchor. Holiove is a veteran on-air talent, who most recently was heard on CKNW contributing to “The Wrap” segment on The Jas Johal Show. She previously anchored traffic on CKWX from 2013-16.

Fatima Raza has joined the Visuals Desk at The Canadian Press (CP), following her successful CJF-CP News Creator Fellowship. In her new role, she’ll produce and edit news videos from pitch to publication, monitor live events, and contribute to visual storytelling. Raza has previously worked with Metroland Media Group as a reporter under the Local Journalism Initiative.

Kevin Ma has been appointed Network Media Group’s new Chief Financial Officer. Ma is currently the principal of corporate finance advisory firm, Calibre Capital Partners Corp., and has over 19 years of financial management and public company experience.

Nishant Grover is the new president of Ericsson Canada. Grover replaces Jeanette Irekvist, who had held the position since 2020 and will be transitioning to a global leadership role at Ericsson’s headquarters in Sweden. With 18 years of Ericsson experience, Grover most recently served as Head of Network Product Sales within Ericsson’s AT&T Customer Unit based in Dallas-Fort Worth, where he led key strategic initiatives and drove growth in the U.S.

RADIO & PODCAST:

The CRTC has approved an application by Cabin Radio to operate a new English-language commercial FM radio station in Yellowknife, while turning Vista Radio down for a second licence in the market. Cabin Radio has operated online since March 2018, broadcasting via its website and app as though it were a commercial FM station. The outlet was previously denied an FM licence in 2023, but that was before that summer’s wildfires threatened the community of roughly 20,000 highlighting the importance of local news, prompting the commission to re-open applications after Cabin Radio appealed for an exception. In a release, the CRTC said the decision would “help Yellowknife residents have better access to local news and community-focused programming, including Indigenous voices while reflecting the realities and priorities of people in the North in our broadcasting system.” Read more here.

Shushma Datt, the founder of Metro Vancouver’s RJ1200/Sp!ce Radio (CJRJ-AM) and the first Indo-Canadian woman to be granted a broadcast licence, has announced the sale of the station pending CRTC approval. Datt worked at The Times of India and the BBC before moving to Canada in 1972. Facing significant racism from mainstream outlets because of her Indian accent, by 1984 she started her own radio station, Radio Rim Jhim, which carried South Asian content and broadcast on a sub-carrier frequency. She launched Sp!ce Radio, licensed to Burnaby, in 2005. Datt said in an announcement Thursday she and son Sudhir Datta would step away from their leadership roles with the station “to pursue new directions in their personal and professional journeys.” Read more here.

Durham Radio’s Hamilton/Burlington Country station KX 94.7 (CHKX-FM) celebrates 14 years on-air this Friday, Aug. 1. Durham Radio President Doug Kirk tell us that even more noteworthy is the fact that morning show team, Bill Toffan & Melissa Forsyth, midday host Linda Martelli, afternoon drive personality Derm Carnduff and weekend and evening host Mike Fuller, are there in the same positions they were on Aug. 1, 2011. CHKX-FM originally launched on Sept. 1, 2000, as CIWV-FM with a smooth jazz format, prior to its flip to Country.

The National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA/ANREC) says a new national survey it’s commissioned affirms that campus and community radio is a growing source of trusted media. Conducted by Abacus Data from June 26 to July 2, the survey of 1,500 Canadians found that nearly one-third (32%) regularly (10%) or occasionally (22%) listen to campus or community radio—a significant increase from 2017 when that number was at 19% and up from 26% in 2022. Among Canadians aged 18-29, regular (15%) and occasional (33%) listenership rises to 48%. Read more here.

The Indigenous Screen Office (ISO) has announced the nine podcasts funded through the second year of its Podcasting Program. Through the ISO Story Fund, a total of $200,000 is being invested in the 2024–25 fiscal year, supporting the development and creation of podcasts by Indigenous screen-based and audio storytellers. This year’s recipients include six projects based in Ontario and three in B.C. Among them are Season 3 of Auntie Up!, hosted by Tanya Talaga, Kim Wheeler and Jolene Banning, as well as Criminals on Patrol, a podcast from Mi’kmaq lawyer, professor and author Dr. Pam Palmater diving into the seedy underbelly of law enforcement in North America. Find the full list of supported podcasts here.

Media Technology Monitor (MTM) has released new data from its MTM Newcomers report finding just one in three newcomers to Canada listens to traditional AM/FM radio, significantly lower than the seven in 10 Canadian-born respondents. More than nine in 10 newcomers listen to some form of online audio, a stark contrast to three in four Canadian-born individuals. Streaming music on YouTube is the most popular online audio destination for newcomers, with nearly four in five engaging with the platform for audio content.

Triton Digital has released the latest Canada Podcast Ranker for the June 2025 reporting period (June 2-29), as measured by Triton’s Podcast Metrics measurement service. In June, the overall Top Sales Network was once again CBC/Radio-Canada with 2.2M Average Weekly Downloads, followed by Audioboom with 1.1M Average Weekly Downloads, and NPR at #3 with 758K Average Weekly Downloads. The three Top Canada Podcasts ranked overall – also overlapping with the three Top Canada-Originated English-Language Podcasts – were CBC/Radio-Canada’s Front Burner at #1, The World This Hour at #2, and World Report at #3. The three Top Canada-Originated French-Language Podcasts were again La revue de presse de Paul Arcand (Cogeco Media) at #1 and Le Radiojournal (Radio Canada) at #2. Jumping to #3 in June was Alexandre Dubé (QUB).

StanLand is a new scripted comedy audio series from The Sonar Network launching this week, featuring some big Hollywood names (Rhea Seehorn, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, John Waters, Steve Little), but built from the ground up by a small, independent team with deep roots in Toronto. The limited series takes place in a surreal fantasy world overrun with vape shops and gated golf resorts and Toronto’s comedy community is all over it. Alongside the cast are familiar Toronto voices James Hartnett, Kris Siddiqi, Mark Little, Alexa Steele, Devon Hyland, Shannon Lahaie, and Cody Crain.

LISTEN: Norma Jean Belenky, the host of Podbiz, is on the Sound Off Podcast. She and Matt Cundill explore her life before PodBiz, from teaching English in South Korea to creating music and working at Podbean, which ultimately led her to launch her own podcast focused on how creators can make money in this evolving medium. She and Matt look beyond simple download numbers, discussing niche audiences and creating genuine value for listeners, emerging trends like video podcasting and community building.

SIGN OFFS:

Matt O’Neill, 55, on July 25. O’Neill is best known for his run on JACK FM (CJAQ-FM) mornings in Calgary, alongside co-host Eric Francis. “The Matt and Eric Show” started airing in May 2003, shortly after the station’s launch, running for 12 years before its cancellation in 2015. O’Neill was vocal about his struggles with both mental health and alcoholism, and returned to the morning show two years later alongside Sarah Crosbie where he opened up on-air about his personal life after getting sober. O’Neill, who moved to Calgary in 2000, formerly spent five years at Mix 99.9 (CKFM-FM) Toronto, in addition to stints at CKNS Espanola, among other stations. He was diagnosed with cancer in early 2024.

TV & FILM:

Bell and Rogers have announced an agreement to distribute each other’s specialty channels across platforms, ending a carriage dispute stemming from changes in the content licensing rights landscape that saw Rogers scoop rights to Warner Bros. Discovery’s suite of English-language U.S. lifestyle and factual brands from Bell and Corus Entertainment last year. Under the agreement, Bell Fibe TV and Satellite TV subscribers will now have access to Rogers Sports & Media channels HGTV, Food Network, Discovery, Magnolia Network and Investigation Discovery, along with continued access to Bravo. Conversely, Rogers Xfinity customers will continue to have full access to Bell Media’s Specialty portfolio, which includes USA Network, Oxygen True Crime, and CTV specialty channels, including CTV Comedy Channel, CTV Drama Channel and CTV Sci-Fi Channel. Read more here.

Bell Media’s entertainment and sports bundles featuring Crave, TSN, and RDS are now available via Prime Video Subscriptions in Canada. The bundles offer savings when services are combined compared to individual subscriptions.

George Stroumboulopoulos is undertaking a cross-country tour on behalf of collaborative industry effort, MADE | NOUS, asking Canadians “What Canadian film and television MADE you?” The MADE | NOUS campaign is shining a spotlight on the achievements of Canadian storytellers across film, TV and digital media, encouraging audiences to discover and celebrate their work. Starting in Vancouver last week and concluding in Toronto in September, Stroumboulopoulos will journey across Canada, accompanied by a film crew, making stops along the way in Edmonton, Calgary, Montreal, Saint John, Moncton, P.E.I., and Nunavut. Read more here.

Lilith Fair: Building A Mystery, the feature-length documentary from director Ally Pankiw (I Used to Be Funny, Black Mirror, The Great), will premiere in Canada on Sept. 17 on CBC and CBC Gem and Sunday, Sept. 21, on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ in the U.S., as well as Disney+ internationally (excluding Canada), following its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. The doc tells the untold story of the groundbreaking music festival featuring only women artists, started by iconic Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan and her team in the late 1990s, in opposition to systematic industry barriers that limited women from playing together on a concert bill and getting back-to-back radio airplay. The film is produced with the support of original Lilith Fair founders Sarah McLachlan, Terry McBride, Dan Fraser and Marty Diamond. 

CBC documentary Under the Arbor from writer and director Hayley Morin (Joe Buffalo, Smudge the Blades) will be premiering nationwide on CBC Gem starting Aug. 15, and CBC TV the following day. A version of the film in Cree will also be available on CBC Gem. Under the Arbor is a journey through the heart of the Powwow trail, told by the dancers, singers, and families who live it. Filmed over one summer across Treaty 6 territory, the doc follows champion dancers, grassroots drummers, and proud aunties as they gather in celebration, competition, and connection. 

Coastal Carvings (13 x 30′), a new docuseries for APTN, features Métis brothers Jeremy and Jerett Humpherville, who work together at the Coastal Carvings Fine Art Gallery in Coombs, BC, renowned for its contemporary and historic Indigenous art. Each episode focuses on different personal stories and inspiring art pieces. Produced by Rogue River Films, the series premieres on APTN lumi starting Aug. 25, with its broadcast premiere on APTN on Sept. 1, with a new episode airing every week. The Blackfoot version also premieres Sept. 1 on APTN Languages. 

Oasis headlines Hollywood Suite’s August programming with the exclusive Canadian premiere of Oasis: Live at the City of Manchester Stadium (2005) on Aug. 24. Also premiering on Hollywood Suite is Skeet (2024), a drama set in St. John’s, NL, about a recently-released convict played by Sean Dalton of The Trews. It’s set to premiere on the Hollywood Suite 2010s+ Movies channel Aug. 6. The channel is also premiering The Legend in Me (2024) on Aug. 27, a documentary following Chas Conacher, the great-grandchild of Canadian sports legend Lionel Conacher, and the challenges they face while exploring both the weight of their family’s star-athlete lineage and the evolving landscape of queer identity. 

Fifth Season has inked a wave of global sales, including for the UK and Ireland, across the first and second seasons of Sight Unseen (10 x 60’ each), the crime drama produced by Blink49 Studios and Front Street Pictures for CTV  and The CW.  The new deals include 5 and Paramount+ UK & Ireland picking up the first and second season. Additionally, Play Media (Belgium), AXN Asia (Pan Regional), Nine Network (Australia), yes (Israel), Disney Bulgaria, Action Channel (Japan) and Talpa TV (Netherlands) have also acquired both seasons. Further deals for season one include Warner Bros. Discovery (New Zealand) and Disney Middle East. The series stars newcomer Dolly Lewis and Agam Darshi (DMZ), alongside Jarod Joseph (The 100) and Daniel Gillies (Virgin River).

Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana and Toikido, a London-based entertainment company specializing in digital design and toys, have announced a partnership with ITV in the UK for animated series Piñata Smashlings (26×11). The highly-anticipated series based on the popular gaming IP will launch on ITVX this September. It will also premiere on NOGA in Israel early next year, in addition to a previously-announced rollout on YTV and STACKTV in Canada with new episodes launching this fall.

The CaribbeanTales International Film Festival (CTFF) has announced its 20th anniversary edition, Sept. 3-13 in Toronto and online Sept. 3 – Oct. 3. Under the theme “Resilience in Motion,” the milestone festival will celebrate two decades of transformative storytelling from across the Caribbean region and its global diaspora with 49 films. Festival highlights include Opening Night film: Bankie Banx: King of the Dune (Nara Garber, Anguilla/USA), featuring reggae icon Bankie Banx (aka Anguillan Bob Dylan), singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffet, actor Kevin Bacon, and Stephen “Cat” Coore (founding guitarist with Third World). 

ACTRA Toronto, in partnership with Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, has announced an amendment to the Occupational Health and Safety Act’s (OHSA) Diving Operations Regulation, formally recognizing the unique nature of diving in the screen industry, covering film, television, advertising, live broadcast, web-based, and video game production. Effective July 1, the regulation now reflects the realities of underwater work in screen-based storytelling, often involving highly choreographed, shallow water, and time-limited sequences. Previously, film and TV productions were subject to the same rules as commercial or industrial diving operations.

REGULATORY, TELECOM & MEDIA:

The CRTC has upheld a finding that OneSoccer is owned, operated and controlled by Canadians, refuting a claim by Rogers that the cable giant was effectively negotiating a carry agreement with Spain’s Mediapro. Rogers filed the complaint with the CRTC last summer, disputing an earlier finding by the commission that OneSoccer was operated by Canadians. Prior to that in March 2023, the commission found Rogers was giving itself undue preference by refusing to carry the sports streamer in competition with offerings from Sportsnet and Bell. The CRTC on Monday found that parent company, Timeless, was, in fact, the one pulling the strings at the time of the filing of the undue preference complaint and all the way through to its March decision, effectively resolving any outstanding issues preventing negotiations. Read more in our sister publication, CARTT.ca (paywalled).

Videotron workers (SEVL-CUPE 2815) have voted in favour of a tentative agreement, following an early bargaining mandate granted to the 2,500-member union last spring. After an intensive round of negotiations, the new five-year contract is set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2026, and run through Jan. 1, 2030. It includes annual wage increases of 4% for each of the first three years, followed by a fourth-year adjustment tied to the consumer price index (CPI) with a minimum of 2% and a maximum of 3%, and 3% in the fifth year. The union says the increases are intended to protect members’ purchasing power in the face of inflation. The current collective agreement expires on Dec. 31.

Cogeco Communications has launched  its mobile service in Canada. Cogeco Mobile is now available to new and existing Cogeco internet subscribers who bring their own device in Québec (Alma, Magog, Rimouski, Saint-Georges, Saint-Hyacinthe, Saint-Sauveur, Sept-Îles and Trois-Rivières) and Ontario (Brockville, Chatham, Cobourg, Cornwall and Welland). A complete rollout to all Cogeco markets is planned for the fall.

Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) has joined the call led by over 100 humanitarian organizations, demanding an immediate end to Israel’s policy of restricting aid to Gaza, which has led to mass starvation, including of journalists. According to the International News Safety Institute (INSI), lack of food and clean water has severely impacted journalists’ ability to do their jobs. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) warns that Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid are “starving Gazan journalists into silence.” JHR is also amplifying INSI’s call to allow international journalists into Gaza. Since the start of the conflict, more than 186 journalists have been killed, including 178 Palestinian, six Lebanese and two Israeli media workers – the deadliest conflict for journalists in CPJ’s 33 years of data collection.

BROADCAST TECH & ENGINEERING:

LISTEN: Broadcast archives and the original tech they were recorded on is the kind of material collectors Barry Silverthorn and Hamza ‘Betamax,‘ as he’s known, are on a mission to preserve as part of their project, Mediatheque: The Museum of Broadcast Technology. Currently located in Belleville, Ontario, we welcome Barry and Hamza to Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast to talk about fostering their shared passion for nostalgia and raising awareness of the importance of preserving Canada’s broadcast heritage. 

Bell Canada and AI-driven security company Cohere have announced a strategic partnership to provide full-stack AI solutions for government and enterprise customers in Canada and within Bell. Cohere will make its secure enterprise-grade AI solutions available through Bell AI Fabric, including leveraging North, its agentic AI platform for both customers and Bell employees. In turn, Bell will become Cohere’s preferred Canadian AI infrastructure provider.

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