A week or so ago, I got a call from Raju Mudhar from The Toronto Star. We had a great chat about the state of podcasting in Canada. I honestly forgot all about it, but in today's Toronto Star there's an article entitled "Have We Reached Peak Podcast?".
Most of what I said was left on the cutting room floor, but I did make the finished article.
"Listen, if I read another article about the $6 billion that companies are spending in podcasts, I'm going to be sick.
These are obviously American articles... The fact that I have six different companies cutting me a cheque every month is the exception, not the norm in the Canadian independent podcast game outside of Jesse Brown (whose Canadaland is funding through crowdfunding via Patreon)," says Mike Boon, who podcasts as Toronto Mike, interviewing notable people from the city for years. He recently posted his 560th episode.
He also runs a digital marketing and services company, and provides podcast production services for a number of former radio personalities, such as Humble and Fred and sportscaster Mark Hebscher. He has a dedicated audience, sponsors and runs live events. Boon is the classic podcast enthusiast who has turned something he's passionate about into his own little podcasting empire.
"I'm really proud of the fact that I'm at the point I am now," he says. "And I don't love doing (the sales aspect), but luckily, I haven't had to do a lot of hustling because people hear the show and they want to be a part of it."
Sure, being in the Sunday Star isn't what it used to be, but it's still pretty cool. Just to clarify, I don't just provide podcast services for former radio personalities and there happens to be one Toronto Mike'd sponsorship spot open for January 2020.
