In this episode, crew members working behind the scenes of the Canadian Mountain Podcast introduce themselves as a team, explore the podcast hosting and production process and share their personal experiences. They also detail their work in this fourth season and what they look forward to in future episodes. The Canadian Mountain Podcast is produced by Mount Royal University students with different backgrounds and interests in collaboration with the Canadian Mountain Network.
Co-hosts Catalina Berguno and Eric Tanner lead two group panels with members of the Canadian Mountain Network podcast team in different stages of their podcasting careers. The first panel involves second-year members of the podcast and returning hosts, Ethan Ward, Gabrielle Pyska and Eric Tanner, who are all fourth-year journalism students at Mount Royal University living in Calgary, Alberta.
They detail the Canadian Mountain Podcast’s dedication to knowledge mobilization of science and research in mountains areas in Canada and internationally. The podcast’s digestible format allows general audiences to understand this research and why it is important. A large component of the podcast is dedicated to including both Indigenous and settler perspectives and reaching out to voices that are not often heard in research media but are engaging with these mountain places.
The panel also discusses the evolution of the podcast from one-on-one interviews in earlier seasons, to more of a panel style discussion, which allows researchers from different backgrounds and parts of the country to build and bounce ideas off one other. The camaraderie and chemistry have provided many magical moments and incredible stories about their work.
Another important aspect for the crew members was learning about the importance of land acknowledgements and including Indigenous voices. Creating the podcast’s land acknowledgement was a major learning experience for the podcast crew. At the time, this was truly uncharted territory as there were very few podcasts that included land acknowledgements. Understanding that a land acknowledgement can never be perfect – like the podcast itself – was crucial in moving past the fear of saying the wrong thing, and accepting that it can improved as we evolve, grow and continue to learn.
Previous podcast producer Sarah Buffalo’s Indigenous perspective helped immensely to create the land acknowledgement. She asked the crew to think about what this land, which encompasses all our memories and relationships, meant to them. They realized that this land was where they learned to tell stories and where we have told them for generations.
The second panel includes the newest members of the podcast team, Syd Klassen, Vanessa Forbister and Catalina Berguno, who have recently joined the team. They talk about their histories with podcasting, advantages and challenges of podcasting format, as well as what they wish to incorporate and improve upon during this fourth season of the podcast.
They look forward to this exciting learning opportunity, collaborations between Indigenous and settler perspectives, and partnerships between hosts, guests, students and researchers. They hope to gain podcast and interview skills, learn more about the Canadian mountains and step out of their comfort zones. They will also be building confidence on how discuss important issues with diverse people, coordinate interviews and effectively work and communicate together.
Through this podcast, these students are being exposed to important research and sharing stories that may not otherwise be told, so that listeners may gain a better understanding of diverse perspectives and mountain research throughout Canada. They hope that they can inspire listeners to learn more and seek out even more knowledge to understand issues that matter to them so that they can get involved.
This podcast was featured in Jsource recently as they discussed their learnings and new understandings.