Alberta Podcast Network
‘Let’s Find Out’ digs deep into history – onion cakes and the Edmonton Fringe Festival
A curious mind can lead you in all sorts of unexpected directions, as Chris Chang-Yen Phillips has discovered with his podcast, Let’s Find Out.
Chris Chang-Yen Phillips
He created the show in 2016 as part of his work as Edmonton’s historian laureate. He invites questions about local history and finds out the answers together with his curious correspondents.
“I’m not an expert about all things ‘local history,’ but I am curious and not afraid to ask questions,” he says. “With Let’s Find Out, I’m trying to turn that into a public good in giving people the tools to get to know their city better.”
When his term as historian laureate ended in 2018, he kept the show going, and it continues to earn accolades. The show received a silver medal at the Canadian Online Publishing Awards earlier this year, and it has been nominated for a Canadian Podcast Award in the Documentary category.
He also does live shows from time to time. The next one — Let’s Find Out: How Nature Shapes Us — will take place in Edmonton on Feb. 9, and will form the basis of the next season of the podcast.
Let’s find out a little more about the host of Let’s Find Out:
What will people get out of listening to your podcast?
A. We feature stories and characters you’ve probably never heard before. Whether you’re in the mood for a surprising look at the history of green onion cakes or a deep dive into Alberta’s past eugenics programs, we’ve got a big range of stories.
Listeners tell me all the time that because of our podcast, they now know how to offer protocol to elders, or which libraries and archives might be able to help them out down the road. And in the long run, my mission is to give people a stronger sense of ownership and belonging in this city.
What podcasts do you listen to?
A. I love listening to shows like Radiolab and HowSound because they teach me so much about the craft of good audio storytelling. I also love Terra Informa, an environmental news show based here in Edmonton, because they cover stories nobody else does. I used to help make the show, and I adore the team producing it now.
What is the most interesting comment you’ve received from a listener?
A group of archaeologists told me once that they listened to our episode A Lesson in Protocol in the car on the way to meet an Indigenous elder. The episode is about an illustrator from a settler background who makes a lot of history resources, who wanted to learn more about which food plants have been important to Indigenous peoples in this area. It was a really challenging episode to create and I ended up making one big mistake in real life: I offered tobacco at the end of our conversation with an elder, instead of at the beginning. I included my mistake in the episode, hoping it would be helpful to listeners. These archaeologists said that actually made it memorable, so they were able to pull it off correctly in their own meeting with an elder after listening! That was gratifying.
Do you have any unusual hobbies or talents that would surprise your listeners?
A. I row! And I’m also an illustrator. I’ve recently started sharing comics with the world.
If you could have any guest on your podcast, who would you choose?
A. Someone who lived in this region a few thousand years ago, because people have lived here for so long and I’m just starting to understand how humans and this land have shaped each other over the millennia. Who did they love, what stories did they tell, what were they afraid of, what were their hopes and dreams?
What has been your favourite episode so far?
A. About Green Onion Cakes, because it was such a good excuse to talk about a snack we all love and the messy and complicated history of Chinese immigration and food culture in Canada. Also because it got so many people talking about this humble food and the chef who popularized it here, Siu To.
Be sure to connect with Let’s Find Out on Facebook and Instagram.
Todayville introduces you to members of the Alberta Podcast Network each week. Click here to learn about more Alberta podcasts.
The Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB, is on a mission to:
- Help Alberta-based podcasters create podcasts of high quality and reach larger audiences;
- Foster connections among Alberta-based podcasters;
- Provide a powerful marketing opportunity for local businesses and organizations.
Alberta Podcast Network Ltd. is pursuing this mission with funding from ATB Financial and support from other sponsors.
When disaster strikes, our ability to manage it depends a lot on the lessons we’ve learned from past incidents and experts in the field. EPIC Podcast brings those lessons to life.
EPIC stands for Emergency Preparedness in Canada, and that’s what the podcast delivers: current, relevant, Canadian content regarding disasters and their management.
Dr. Josh Bezanson and Grayson Cockett interview industry leaders, explore emerging research, and share practical tools of the trade. Their aim is to transfer knowledge to other emergency management professionals, but it’s pretty interesting stuff to regular folks, too. We all have a role in preventing bad things from happening, or mitigating the damage when they do happen.
Bezanson and Cockett are clearly passionate about what they do, and they have the qualifications to back up what they say. They are both members of Canada Task Force 2, the disaster response team based in Alberta. Bezanson is an emergency medicine resident who also has a journalism degree, and Cockett has a master’s degree in disaster and emergency management.
The podcast usually comes out about once a month, but they’re planning a blitz for Emergency Preparedness Week starting May 6. So be prepared for that by subscribing!
In the meantime, let’s learn a little more about EPIC:
Q. What will people get out of listening to your podcast?
A. They’ll get to hear subject matter experts, disaster scholars, and industry leaders discuss ideas, trends, and recent developments in the field of disaster management from a uniquely Canadian perspective.
Q. If you could have any guest on your show, who would you want?
A. Enrico Quarantelli, a pioneer in disaster sociology.
Q. How did you and your co-host meet?
A. Through our various first-responder endeavours.
Q. Write your own epitaph — what would it say?
A. He died the way he lived… in a state of total disaster!
Q. What has been your favourite episode and why?
A. Our episode commemorating the 100-year anniversary of the Halifax explosion was particularly rewarding, as it truly was a formative event, and has so many rich lessons which are still relevant today.
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Be sure to connect with EPIC Podcast on Twitter or Facebook.
Over the next several weeks, Todayville will introduce you to members of the Alberta Podcast Network, so you can invite even more Alberta-made podcasts into your ears! You can find EPIC Podcast and dozens of other shows at albertapodcastnetwork.com.
About Alberta Podcast Network
The Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB, is on a mission to:
- Help Alberta-based podcasters create podcasts of high quality and reach larger audiences;
- Foster connections among Alberta-based podcasters;
- Provide a powerful marketing opportunity for local businesses and organizations.
Alberta Podcast Network Ltd. is pursuing this mission with funding from ATB Financial and support from other sponsors.
If you’re interested in looking after yourself a little better — and who isn’t? — Healthy Lifestyle Design provides an easy and pleasant step in the right direction.
This is a podcast featuring Janet and Pamella Heikel, a mother and daughter who believe “it takes only a single step to make a positive change in your life: body, mind, and soul.”
Every two weeks, they have frank, intergenerational conversations about health and wellness, grounded in their own experiences. They also offer tips and suggestions, and the episodes often end with a few minutes of guided meditation, to send you into the rest of your day in a more relaxed frame of mind.
Each episode features not only useful insights, but also just the pleasure of hearing two people with a deep love and respect for each other.
Let’s learn a little more about the women of Healthy Lifestyle Design:
Q. What will people get out of listening to your podcast?
A. Perhaps inspiration, feeling connected to a community, solutions to their health and wellness challenges, a different point of view.
Q. If you could have any guest on your show, who would you want?
A. Janet would want Oprah for sure, just to have the chance to talk to her about how they both are very determined women who don’t let anything hold them back! Pamella would want Peter Rollins. He is a co-host of The Fundamentalists podcast and a modern-day philosopher from Ireland. We would talk about God, religion, and the human condition, while sipping gin.
Q.What podcasts do you listen to?
A. Rob Bell’s The RobCast; You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes; The Fundamentalists; Armchair Expert; Bliss and Grit; Conversation with Alanis Morissette; SuperSoul Conversations; Serial; Under the Skin with Russell Brand; Move Your DNA; The Living Experiment.
Q. Do you have any unusual hobbies or talents?
A. Pamella is a poet (something she doesn’t always talk about but would define herself as solely). Janet is ambidextrous.
Q. Write your own epitaph — what would it say?
A. Pamella: I loved and lived deeply and died passionately.
Janet: I came. I saw. And lived it ALL my way.
Q. What has been your favourite episode and why?
A. Episode 75, Samskara: We got a lot of traction with this topic from listeners. We talked about what this word/idea is and how it shows up in our life. It finds its way into almost all of our episodes. The idea of repeating habits and patterns; stored energy; clinging to life that is always changing. It was a great conversation.
Click to listen to ‘Samskara’
Be sure to connect with the show through Pamella on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, and Janet on Instagram.
Over the next several weeks, Todayville will introduce you to members of the Alberta Podcast Network, so you can invite even more Alberta-made podcasts into your ears! You can find Healthy Lifestyle Design and dozens of other shows at albertapodcastnetwork.com.
About Alberta Podcast Network
The Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB, is on a mission to:
- Help Alberta-based podcasters create podcasts of high quality and reach larger audiences;
- Foster connections among Alberta-based podcasters;
- Provide a powerful marketing opportunity for local businesses and organizations.
Alberta Podcast Network Ltd. is pursuing this mission with funding from ATB Financial and support from other sponsors.
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