Amanda Cupido is the new Director for Talk and Talent at AM640 in Toronto. Her hiring sends a clear message about where News/Talk radio is headed - and that's towards storytelling and multi-platform. AM has seen its numbers shift drastically over the last few years. Listening is longer, shorter, terrestrial, online and on smart-speakers mores than ever. Unquestionably the pandemic has created some super-uses of radio, but also the growth in podcasting has made radio news outlets take notice.
In this episode, we talk Amanda's journey through the industry (including receiving military training before working as a journalist in Afghanistan), as well as her thoughts on how Canadian broadcasting could evolve.
There are University dissertations shorter than Amanda's resume, so for brevity's sake, she is currently: Director of Talk & Talent at AM640 in Toronto, entrepreneur, freelance podcast consultant herself, author of a best-selling book, and a Journalism instructor at both Ryerson University and Seneca College.
Amanda and Matt also go deep on podcasting and discuss Canada feeling behind terms of podcasting, but Amanda shares some excellent ideas about how we can elevate quickly. And the best news - there is plenty of space for more Canadian podcasts.
At the outset of the show, Matt mentioned that Amanda's hire is ideal for the 2020's. Given the data that has surfaced from Edison Research and analyzed from Steve Goldstein at Amplifi Media, radio could use a few more audio disruptors in the Director's chair at talk radio stations. Do not pass up Steve's blog post if you are in radio... I'll even give you a second chance to click to it.
If you are looking to start a podcast - please contact myself or one of the Podcast Superfriends. We are full of useful information to get your brand soaring to new heights.
For reference - follow Amanda on LinkedIn or her personal website.
If you're somehow still not convinced about her expertise, or just want to connect with her personally, check out her LinkedIn or her personal website.
I'd also highly recommend picking up her book, Let's Talk Podcasting, or listening to any of her speaking engagements if you want to hear more of her sage wisdom.
Finally, we mentioned Larry Gifford near the end of the show, and you should definitely give him a listen on the Radio Stuff Podcast. We noticed that the podcast was not in all the places we would expect it, but Larry has a really important podcast called "When Life Gives You Parkinsons" which we featured before its second season. Subscribe to it here.