The Curious Journey of Brian Konrad

In part 2 of Brian’s Curious Journey, host Brian engages with Mayor Linnsie Clark in a unique role reversal where the mayor asks the questions. They discuss the evolution of media funding, the importance of storytelling in journalism, and the challenges of maintaining truth and trust in the current media landscape. The conversation also touches on the rise of podcasts, the critical role of radio in emergencies, and the historical context of community responses to crises. They reflect on gratitude, military history, and the spirit of community in Medicine Hat, concluding with personal anecdotes from the broadcasting world.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Role Reversal

00:53 The Evolution of Media Funding

02:24 Storytelling in Journalism

05:51 Navigating Truth and Narrative

08:59 The Importance of Trust in Media

12:02 The Rise of Podcasts

15:01 Radio's Role in Emergencies

17:55 Historical Fires and Community Response

20:42 Gratitude and Community Spirit

23:37 Military History and Community Support

25:58 Strange Experiences in Broadcasting

28:51 Reflections and Closing Thoughts

Takeaways

The funding model for media has changed significantly over the years.

Storytelling is a crucial aspect of journalism, requiring a balance between truth and narrative.

Trust in media is essential for democracy and requires integrity from journalists.

Podcasts provide a platform for nuanced discussions and storytelling.

Radio remains vital during emergencies, providing immediate information to the public.

Community spirit and volunteerism are key to Medicine Hat's identity.

Historical events shape community responses and awareness.

Gratitude for public services like fire departments is important.

Military history contributes to the community's resilience and support.

Personal experiences in broadcasting can be both strange and enlightening.

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Transcript

0:00

Hey, this is Brian again. And I'd like to ask you to do a favor. We can't do this work without people like you. So if you can, please, like, share, subscribe. Tell your friends about bring back the porch. Something's different. I got it. You're on the wrong side of the table. I'm supposed to be over there, but didn't. Not today, not today. Kind of a Sadie Hawkins feel to this. And if you remember, Sadie Hawkins dances. Used to be where the girls asked the guys. They they changed roles. So for this episode of Bring Back the Porch, Mayor Lindsay Clark is going to be asking the questions. And I am on the hot seat, so to speak. This episode of Bring Back the Porch, brought to you by Bernie Leahy, River Street Realty. Let's get you home. welcome to bring that back the porch. So, what's the funding model for media different when you started out, or was it the same, but just to a lesser extent? Well, when I came to medicine, had to work a chat in 1978, one radio station that was in there was the second radio station that had been applied for and turned down, but everybody knew that there was going to be another coming. And in 1982, in CJC 1391 on the air, I was the original sports director. And now the advertising pie, instead of being just divided between the medicine that news and chat. Now there's the third party in there. And over the next number of years, satellite television, pay television, all the other the media, the pie didn't get any bigger than that. It just got sliced smaller and smaller and smaller to the point where, you know, it just wasn't economically viable for a lot of entities to exist anymore. Well, that's, that's an interesting point. And with online advertising as well. Oh, yes. Slices of of pie to the point where we actually lost our television broadcast news broadcast. Silence. Yeah. Very recently. And, you know, huge loss for the city and that continuity of of storytelling for city. Do you when we talk about storytelling, that's a you you talk about you, you know, don't want to be the news. But storytelling is also such an important part of your job. So kind of transferring or drawing out a story or a narrative from a person. And you mentioned you were had some creative writing skills. Yes. I wrote a book. I wrote a play when I was in grade six. Yes. It was an old TV show called The Time Tunnel. I don't know if you remember it, but the premise was that the U.S. government had, a secret operation where they had developed a way to travel in time so they could, you know, alter time to their benefit. Right. And there was these two characters, Tony and Doug, I think, were their names, and they went back in time. In the first place they landed was on the Titanic. And they're they're like two days before it hits the iceberg and, you know, the ethical concerns. What would we tell them, you know, that were it was very well done. And, I like that idea. And then, of course, Star Trek came along with different, possibilities for stories. So I wrote, an episode of The Time Tunnel where, I went back in time and I met, Private John Kennedy. Okay. To warn him not to go to Dallas in 1963, but, I, I you I had that in my drawer for years and years and years, but I think in one of my movies, it finally got, Yeah. I don't remember how it turned out. How I, how I wrapped it up. But we actually put the play on in our grade six class at, Fleetwood School in Lethbridge. Oh, yeah. So you do have to use some of those skills. Oh, yeah. And and the cast, how do you balance truth in narrative? Do you know what I mean? Like, so you need a story. You need to tell a narrative, a story. But sometimes the truth is boring. Oh, the old expression. Never let the facts get in the way of a good story. Yes. Right. Yeah. Oh, my. I guess the way I've always approached it is the best way to tell a story is how would you tell this to your neighbor over in the back fence? Right. Oh, that's that was another one of the things that, was, brought to me by an instructor that we had at, Fanshawe College. His name was Jay Paul Huddleston. Jay Paul had the goatee. He was an American. He had been the news director at Los Angeles for about eight years. So he was, you know, he was he was a showman, but he always made sure that there was substance and meat in your stories. And actually, I worked for Jay Paul in Calgary for a couple of years, too. But that was his thing is, how would you tell this story to your neighbor over the back fence? And, you know, you have to simplify it and try to get rid of all the bureaucratic language and all the other stuff that comes in and just boil it down to. And what is Paul Harvey used to say? Just shucked the cob right down to the kernel. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, try to keep it as simple as you can. So in a sense you're a bit of an interpreter. Well. Without pushing the person one way or the other. Yeah. So in this current media state that we're in, what do you see as ways to kind of improve our ability to distinguish news. Just the facts ma'am. Kind of news from things that look a lot like news. But maybe are more opinion based or less fact based. Anyway, I don't know if I have the answer to that. So I think. If I did, I'd probably be a lot richer. Well, supply and demand. Right. Have you seen over time, greater thirst for salacious material? I going back to, John Kennedy and JFK or, you know, some of the other, presidents or people of that time. There were scandals, certainly, but they were. Yeah. Can you talk about that a little bit? Yeah. You you read the history and, you know, there were people who knew that, John Kennedy wasn't as, virtuous as perhaps they painted him. But there was this old boys club at the time where they just didn't talk about things like that. Never mind. It doesn't matter. Forward to today or I mean, any little rumor. Innuendo. It's it's on your phone within seconds. Yeah. And it it's it's just that's why I say you don't know what to believe anymore. Because there's just so much stuff coming at you and this. Wow. What was that? Oh, no. What did he say? Who I. The one thing that really concerns me is the fact that, I understand that, Sait used to have a journalism and broadcast journalism course, and this is a couple of years ago now. They had 24 seats. They had six students. Nobody wants to get into this business anymore. They want to go into the glitz and glamor, and they're attracted by the, you know, the stardom, I guess. And journalism is being down in the mud doing, you know, the day to day work, building relationships with people so they trust you and that then there's something that they think the public needs to know. They'll call you. And it's not like, okay, now, why is this person leaking this to me? There's already the walls go up today. But there was a day when people used to deliberately leak information to governments, you know, run up the flag, see what somebody says will disavow any knowledge of it. But maybe if it sounds like the public is in favor of it, then, you know. It's good. Yeah. Media has been used a lot over the years. In many different ways, I'm sure. So part of the way that you approach the news displays that you really respect the media's role in maintaining democracy. Oh, naturally. Absolutely. Because if we're not there to tell people what's happening, and sometimes you almost want to reach through that TV screen or the radio and grab them by the lapels and say, hey, this is important. You need to pay attention. You need to know about this. Yes. And and that balance between what what, what do people need to know? So when you're getting tips or you're getting, leaks, what analysis when you are asking yourself is this news? Yeah. Why are you telling me this? Yeah. So what's your. How did you go about that? What was your process for kind of sussing out what the news was? Just ask a lot of questions. Ask a question. And as somebody once told me, do you know, you control an interview, know you ask a question, you know, you keep control of the interview. Ask another. Ask another question. That's right. Okay. Yeah. So you just you try to find out where, you know, the truth is because sometimes it's obscured and it's hidden, and you talk to more than one person and get various sides and, you know, some issues are not always just black and white. There's a lot of gray. Yes. And, you know, then there's things like, oh, well, I didn't know that. If I had known that, that would have been germane to the discussion or, you know, this was what people were saying. But the truth is, you know, we fact check everything now and, to make sure that it actually is truthful, not just somebody's speculation or attempt to rip on the water. Yeah. And and like you said before, it comes down so much to that trust, trust in our institutions of government, but also trust in media. Yeah. So, it's it's a huge responsibility for media and not to make mistakes. You know, government makes mistakes. We all make mistakes. But there is a process in media that if you make a mistake, you print a correction. Yeah. So that how how do you apply that to other institutions. The, the idea that you take responsible for mistakes. And how important is that, do you think for, for that trust building. I think the word is integrity, right. Yeah. And you can sell a lot of things, but you can't sell your hold your integrity because without that you are nothing right. And so you protect your reputation by telling the truth and being honest and having nothing to hide. And then I think people will give you their trust. Yeah, but you have to earn it. Yeah. It's not a given. Not just because I'm in front of a TV camera. I'm, I'm an influencer now. Yes. Oh, well, you are a bit of an influencer. You have your own podcast? Yes. How how do you see, the role of podcasts in our media landscape? I think we feed, a niche, for people to have a place where they can be comfortable to come in and talk about the issues, and that's not going to be. What did you do that for? What were you thinking? There's no accusatory, no anger. It's there are ways you can ask a question and get the same answer without being, in your face with the fist closed. And. Yeah. And that's what we hope we have built here. Yeah. And it's, it's a longer form. Oh yes. Yeah. Which allows for that nuance and. We don't want that in it. Yeah. Oh you don't ever edit a new. Every little cough, every little hiccup. That burp I had about 15 minutes ago. That's, that's in of. Real. People. Yeah. I, I also think there's, you know, an opportunity with podcast. It's more like radio. It's a you can do it, listen to it passively. You can listen to it whenever, wherever, however. Yeah. And, and the advertising format for podcasts is a little different, you know, than broadcast media. Do you can you explain how that works a little? I'm still trying to figure that one up myself, but in a radio day, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., there are program elements, there's music, and then there are stop sets that they call them. And at 20 after six, you might hear 3 or 4 advertisements and then they'll play more music. There might be a newscast at the bottom of the hour that is brought to you by Joe's pool hall, and that goes on. If you're not listening to the radio at that time. You miss it. You miss it. With us, we can put an ad in at the top of the show as we do. You know, this podcast is brought to you by Bernie Leahy, River Street Realty. We can do that for anybody. And then they can whenever anybody watches that, that will always be there. Right? You can put them in the middle of the, the broadcast. More than one. We can put them at the end. We can put sponsor logos up. You know, there are more opportunities, more vehicles for us, I think, than there are in the other media. That's that's interesting. And you can be very specific about it. However, I, I, was having a conversation with, an another, lady who has, history in journalism, and she reminded me of the importance of radio in emergencies. Oh, first. Yes. So can you, other than just the loss of the media aspect of radio, can you tell us what other purposes radio serves that maybe the average person doesn't normally think about? Well, as you mentioned, it is the first place where people go when there's an emergency and sadly, when there's nobody there to tell you what the emergency is. That concerns me. Because so much of the programing on radio stations everywhere now is, prerecorded. So the opportunity to run in, unless somebody actually knows is running okay, which buttons, you know, they, they have to be trained to know how to interrupt that program with whatever information they have. And I'm not sure that there are emergency plans in place. We used to have them back in the day, and we were the radio station used to be operated 24 hours a day, and they think the only time they weren't was maybe on Sunday night from, midnight to 6 a.m., because the engineers would have time to take things down if they had to do some work and whatever. But that was there was always somebody there to answer the. Phone. Right, to talk. The police knew that if there was a problem, they could get the person on the air to say, tell people to stay away from this area like it was immediate. It. Yeah. And, matter of fact, in 2017, when we were having the, the problems with the wildfires in that October year, not only out and Cypress County, but here in Medicine Hat, one of the people in the city's communications department called me because we were working late. And she says, I'm going to give this to you before I even put it on social media, because I know you've got the reach. And we got that story out. It was an emergency. Southwest Hill power was out and there was power lines dangling, and the trees were starting to catch fire. And we could hear the concern among the fire dispatchers like, you know, you might have to evacuate this whole block. Like, you could feel that they were worried. And we were able to tell people that this is what's going on. People didn't have to make up their own stories or listen to rumor. They could get it right there, right now. And I think that's been lost. Yeah, well, sometimes you don't find out what you've lost until. You don't know what you've got til it's gone. And, crisis happens. And. Wait a minute, where's the radio? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. You leaned on it for so many years. You took it for granted and. Yeah. So I want to ask you about another fire. Another fire? I didn't start any of them. Would you? I know, and probably you weren't even alive when the city of Medicine had experienced, Devastating fire. When was that? And and like, how did that shape our city? I think you're referring to, I think it was like 1897. Yeah. They were worried more back then about prairie fires, naturally, because there was nothing to stop it. If a prairie fire got going, there was nothing in the way water was. What are you going to get the water? There was a fire. It took out, several buildings I believe in, in the business district, which at that time would have been along the rail lines and the people, in the city, business and merchants said we need protection. This was still just a town. It wasn't even a city. And so, that was when they started to think about, the idea of fire protection. They started to, you know, put some pieces together. And, they used to, was used to be a building where City Hall is now. Not quite, but where the end of Findlay Bridges, it was a little light building that served as sort of a town office. And they kept their fire equipment in the back. They had volunteer firefighters who would come when they heard the bell. And, that was the start of our, our fire service. And, it grew slowly. And, there was I, as I recall, reading some of the old news articles that there was a fire district. And if you lived outside of that district, you were out of luck, right? You didn't contribute to the, to the cause, so to speak. And if your house started fire, well, you know, sorry. Yeah. Although the bad news is fire spreads. It does. It might get to the district. Yeah. So if it's coming from your property outside the district and my property's inside the district, I'm going to pay attention. Yeah. So the, medicine that fire, department did, fire service did a video recently about some of that history. I think it's on the City of Medicine. YouTube. And it is fascinating to think about, present day and how fortunate we are. And you talk about taking radio for granted. You know, we don't think about, like, we pay our taxes and we don't necessarily always appreciate, you know, how wonderful it is to have the knowledge that if there's a fire, we have people who are trained to come out and protect us and our city. It you, it's it's I mean, if you've had a fire in your house recently, you certainly remember. But, how did what do you think? Is important for not taking things for granted. How do we how do we be grateful for what we have? What what, strategies can we use to really be grateful? It's, it's an old expression, but count your blessings. Yeah. You know, you probably count your blessings. They outnumber any of your troubles 10 to 1. Be thankful for what you have. Yeah. Instead of always reaching for what you think you need. Yeah. Just count your blessings. And, the fire service is one of them. Yes, absolutely. We also have a very rich, military history here. Oh, yes. We actually had one of the largest prisoner of war camps. And that's where the stampede grounds. Yeah. Yeah. Well. Do you do you know much about that? I, I, we're I'm working with West Cross. Who is the fountain of knowledge? Again, that's another one of my projects that we're working on is, is military history. And Medicine Hat. It goes back to, into the, 19th century here, with the rail rebellion and, serving, a regiment. I always get the mixed up regiment battalions, like, I don't I don't mean. West will sort you. Well, he will, I told you, I told him, I said you got to help me with this. But, Yeah, there was there was, people here who, in case something happened in 18. 80. Six, something like that. There are some old pictures that allude to them camped up by Alexandra School. But, when the First World War, broke out, there were a lot of people here that were right there with their hands up in the air and said, yes, I'll, you know, they formed groups and, military history. We've talked about Private Pete Robertson, Robertson Memorial Branch, there's a park named after him, gave his life in the Battle of Passchendaele. What show? We talk with West about in one of our episodes and, Yeah, it, we have a very good military tradition here, and one that, I'm proud of. Yeah. And and one of the things that I learned through West and going through the, military Museum at the Patterson Armory, was the role they play just in helping out? Oh, well, in the floods, yes. You look at 2013 particularly, they were here. They set up a field hospital up in present heights because we weren't sure if we were going to be able to cross that river because those bridges were looking like they might be in peril. So they set a field hospital up so that people could be treated in the event that we couldn't get to our regional hospital. They were in there helping people move out and sandbag and everything. You bet. Yeah. And again, they don't have do it's people who are volunteering to, to help out because help is needed, not because of the going back to media, the celebrity status, or just those people who are quietly working in the background to make our community better. I think that is, if there's one thing that I appreciate about medicine, that it's the volunteer attitude. Yeah. When we need to, we come together and matter what you might think about this or that or whatever, when there's something that needs to be done, we get together and we get it done. And I think we will continue to do that. I think you're right. To me, it's kind of like a family where I grew up, five siblings. We could we could, say mean things to each other sometimes. But you don't say something mean about my sister. My brother and I think, medicine. That's kind of like that. Like we have our disagreements, but ultimately, we are a community that that cares about each other and wants to protect what we have. And share it. Yeah. We want to tell the stories about Medicine Hat on our podcast here. And, hopefully people will join us. I, I think that, you're you're gaining traction. I hear about you guys a lot. I know lots of counselors come on here and you help us to share our story. Very well. My mind was blown here the other day when Lynnette Schneider, our, producer, was telling me that, to the end of January, our various little vehicles, because we have the long form podcast, and then there's reels, and then there's what do they call them, the voids, something like that. There's lots of terminology I don't get there. They can take the podcast and slice it. Oh yeah. Yeah. Into various different things. And that's on like Instagram and Facebook and how on TikTok. Look at you. Like everywhere. Our work is up to the end of January has had over 1.2 million views. Oh, yeah, that's in the city of medicine. Out of 64,000 people. That's in kind of. But but can you tell if people outside of the city. Oh, yeah, they have all the demographic. We have people who are watching us in Singapore. Really? Do you know that you are speaking Mandarin Chinese right now? Through the magic of YouTube, they are able to translate our work into, I think it's 23 different languages Russian and Ukrainian and German and French. Well, hopefully I didn't accidentally say something in Mandarin. They. Yeah, I want to learn about that too. But yeah. So one last question for you. We were talking about, you deciding what's news and whether you're going to do a story on something. Is there ever a story where it was so juicy and you were really amped about all of this? It's a great story, but you couldn't quite get to the point where you could write about it. And I nothing comes to mind. So no, no, no particular scandals or. No. I, I've always made a habit of whenever, when someone tries to tell me gossip, I turn it off. Okay? It's if it's not fact, I don't want to know. I, I like that. Okay, try this one on for XYZ. Then. What is this strange guest experience that you've had in your broadcast history? Or one that stands out as, did that really happen? I remember sitting in on a seance once. What? Yeah, I used to have to do a program in Calgary when I was at Castle Radio and, I was invited to sit in because there was this group that was sure that this house was possessed. It was an old house not too far from Saint and they were going to have a seance. So I said, do you mind if I bring the recorder in? And, okay. I apologize. So they called the news. Well, about the. No, they called me. Okay. Yeah. Because I, they knew I did this program and I was open to it and went and sat and, it was interesting. I didn't really think that I felt any, spectral presence. Yeah, but we had a lot of people who, who called and said, yeah, it was fun. It was fun? Yeah. Did anybody say, what the heck were you doing? Oh, no. No no no no, they saw it. For what? It was just a, you know, hold a mirror up to something and see what's there. Yeah. Just report. Just report the facts, ma'am. Did anything ever come of that? No, no, no. Have you ever been on the ghost tour? No. Apparently we have, a ghost tour. Oh, I think, I don't I don't know if, you get an actual ghost sighting of it, but, you know, the the going through historical buildings, there's always that sense of history. I've heard that about in the Delta. Yeah. Yeah. So, that's interesting. And, and the fact that you got, you know, real positive feedback about it is, is pretty cool. Yeah. A peek into someone else's life. Yeah. Yeah. Very cool. Well it has been a delight. Is there anything else you would like to add. I forgot to add the big scoop question. I don't think so. I think we've just about covered everything. My life has been laid bare for everyone to fat. Well, you have had a very interesting life, and I disagree. I feel like we've only scratched the surface. And, you know, I think the wisdom that you have, with respect to broadcasting and, and its role in really guarding our democracy and and ensuring that the people can contribute because they have the information to contribute. I think, you know, if you, could write a book about that. Bob Wrigley, Bob Bradley and I used to joke that we should write a book someday. Yeah, he he would have more stories than I would because his, his background with the Tigers over 50 years, he told me lots of stories that are not ready for broadcast. So we had a good time. Yeah. So he you might he might have been able to answer the question. Did you ever not be able to. Oh yeah. Yeah yeah yeah yeah. He would. Yeah. Well, it's been a pleasure. And I'm sure I'll see you again. Maybe on the other side of the table. I hope so, and thank you, for agreeing to be my Sadie Hawkins. Okay. Thank you. I'm.