paulcrosstoronto’s Podcast
by Paul Cross
Inside, expert commentary and analysis of history and developments in audio media in Canada including radio and podcasting. Media history, commentary and analysis. Designed for post-secondary students and aficionados of broadcast radio, podcasting and radio news. Researched, written, hosted and produced by Paul Cross.
Episodes
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Season 10, Episode 1
On media literacy: an introduction to the No Embargo podcast From October 30, 2026 I'm launching Season 10 of Cross Talk during Media Literacy Week in Canada and an international media literacy awareness campaign by UNESCO. What happened when the War of the Worlds drama was broadcast on the radio...
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No Embargo - Introduction
Today: Why are we making No Embargo? Introduction: Trevor Campbell and Paul Cross discuss why we’re making this series No Embargo and how we hope it has value to the listener. Trevor is a public relations specialist. Paul is a veteran news broadcaster. Through our professional and career...
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No Embargo - Advance Episode Extra
Today: Remembering September 11, 2001. From September 9, 2026. Trevor Campbell and Paul Cross remember the moment they heard about the tragic events in New York and how newsrooms and the public reacted. This episode contains additional material not included in this week's No Embargo Advance…
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No Embargo - Advance Episode 7
Today: Our first grab-bag of current issues including the trade situation, recent by-election outcomes, a shout-out for good news coverage, and a start at remembering 9-11. From September 9, 2026. No Embargo - Unfiltering news and spin Commentary and analysis. Opinions are our own. More episodes...
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No Embargo - Advance Episode 6
Today: Is it a trade war? And how much of it is news? From September 2, 2026. As Canada and the United States struggle to re-negotiate a free trade deal, the dispute is being commonly referred to in the news across various platforms as a "trade war". Trevor Campbell and Paul Cross question…
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Coming soon: No Embargo - Advance Episode 5
We're getting closer to the formal launch of our new podcast series No Embargo. Today: To block -- or not to block -- a data centre From August 5, 2026: Plans and proposals to build data centres in various communities are sparking controversy. But is the concern more acute because people equate…
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Coming soon: No Embargo - Advance Episode 4
As Trevor Campbell and Paul Cross move closer to the full launch of the No Embargo podcast here's your latest taste of what's coming. No Embargo: the podcast featuring a public relations professional and a radio news pro. Media literacy, narrative strategy, and behind‑the‑scenes truth‑telling…
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Coming Soon: No Embargo - Advance Episode 3
Here's another taste of what's coming soon as Trevor Campbell and Paul Cross prepare to launch No Embargo - the podcast featuring a public relations professional and a radio news pro. Media literacy, narrative strategy, and behind‑the‑scenes truth‑telling from two insiders who unpack how stories...
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Coming Soon: No Embargo - Advance Episode 2
Teaser from Trevor Campbell and Paul Cross A news guy and a public relations strategist decode what makes news and why. Media literacy, narrative strategy, and behind‑the‑scenes truth‑telling from two insiders who unpack how stories develop - honest talk, nothing held back: No Embargo. Today: The...
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Coming Soon: No Embargo - Advance Episode 1
Coming soon from Trevor Campbell and Paul Cross: No Embargo A news guy and a public relations strategist decode what makes news and why. Media literacy, narrative strategy, and behind‑the‑scenes truth‑telling from two insiders who unpack how stories develop - honest talk, nothing held back: No...
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Cross Talk: Season 9, Episode Six
On 25 years of indifference. On the 25th anniversary of a targeted murder of a young Black man by a racist white gang, during a public celebration in a municipal park, a look back, and links to related resources. I have found no recognition of the story at all today, in a search across news media...
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Cross Talk Season 9, Episode Five
On the Passing of a Panther. From January 14, 2026. Exactly 32 years before this date, I sat with a former member of the Black Panthers Party for Self-Defence in an interview at CHUMFM in Toronto. We knew him from the 60s as H. Rap Brown. In 1994, he was known as Jamil al-Amin. On his death in...
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Cross Talk Season 9, Episode Four
On remembering the Quebec referendum of 1995: I was there. From October 30th, 2025. Thirty years ago, voters in Quebec voted narrowly -- narrowly -- to remain in Canada, and against pursuing separation. It was a tumultuous time 15 years after the previous referendum. It's one of the rare…
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Cross Talk: Season 9, Episode 3
On the radio call-in heard around the world: WWL New Orleans and local radio in times of local crisis. On September 2nd 2005 the mayor of New Orleans phones radio station WWL870 after the fifth day of the crisis brought on by Hurricane Katrina. Mayor Ray Nagin's call -- his words on the radio --...
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Cross Talk: Season 9, Episode Two
Forty years ago: Remembering Air India Flight 182. When an Air India jet was bombed over the Atlantic Ocean on June 23rd 1985 hours after taking off from Toronto, it was recognized as the single deadliest incident of terrorism involving a passenger flight in world history. I remember that day...
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Cross Talk: Season 9, Episode 1
On Air India - in 2025 and 40 years ago. The tragic crash of an Air India jet on June 12, 2025 comes just days before the 40th anniversary of the bombing of an Air India jet on its way from Toronto to India. I was already planning an episode in time for that stark anniversary, digging into my...
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Cross Talk: Season 9 Trailer
From February 13, 2025: In time for World Radio Day. But I'm not focused on the annual tribute to radio today. I'm thinking about the need for better radio in Canada as the very sovereignty of this country is threatened. Canada needs tougher, bolder, more thoughtful and life-experienced radio.…
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Cross Talk: Season 8, Episode 5
On World Radio Day 2024: A century of radio history - entertaining, informing and educating. From February 13, 2024. Each year I produce an episode of the pod focused on the themes of World Radio Day - designated by UNESCO. Yes, well into its second century, radio continues to entertain, educate...
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Cross Talk: Season 8, Episode 4
How corporate ownership imperils local radio – and the few voices raised to save it. From February 9, 2024. No company owning radio stations in Canada has ever made a move to shed so many radio stations on the basis of wanting to get out. Forty-five radio stations are being sold off by Bell. But...
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Cross Talk: Season 8, Episode 3
On getting past a terrible, horrible, really bad year for AM radio in Canada. From January 18, 2024. Canadian listeners lost several AM radio stations in 2023. Many were heritage stations that had been on the air almost as long as radio itself has been around. Tuning around on the dial to the...
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Cross Talk: Season 8, Episode 2
On the 85th anniversary of the War of the Worlds radio broadcast. From October 30th, 2023. This is the sixth in my series of episodes in defence of the Mercury Theatre on the Air broadcast as brilliant radio drama that has been the subject of flawed research and what I perceive as a bias against...
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Cross Talk: Season 8, Episode 1
On radio and the great power failure of 2003. From August 14, 2023. On the 20th anniversary of a power failure that left 50 million people in Canada and the United States without electricity. Radio knew exactly what to do. But 20 years later, there are consumers unaware of local radio, failures…
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Cross Talk: Season 7, Epsiode 5
On sports betting ads during play-by-play broadcasts. From May 4, 2023. The preponderance of advertising for sports betting apps -- including apps that let a gambler bet on a game in progress -- is changing the experience of watching live sports such as NHL Hockey. And it may be having an impact…
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Cross Talk: Season 7, Episode 4
On getting caught in the act of staging fake news. From April 27, 2023 - examining a broadcast of March 19th. If you're going to brand your show as documentary, and title an episode "Fake News?" extra care may be required. In the age of "fake news" a legitimate show needs to be sure its content…
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Cross Talk: Season 7, Episode 3 - Special
In advance of World Radio Day 2023 - February 13th. The UNESCO theme for World Radio Day this year is Radio and Peace. That seems to have some resonance with students in my RAMP 5504 Program Making - Radio Lab class in the graduate certificate Radio and Media Production program at Humber College…
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Cross Talk: Season 7, Episode 2 - Special
In advance of World Radio Day 2023 - February 13th. The UNESCO theme for World Radio Day this year is Radio and Peace. That seems to have some resonance with students in my RAMP 5504 Program Making - Radio Lab class in the graduate certificate Radio and Media Production program at Humber College…
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Cross Talk: Season 7, Episode 1
On Radio and Roswell: 75 years later. On July 8, 1947 the U-S military announced it had recovered a flying saucer near Roswell, New Mexico. A day later, it rescinded the story; but not before the individual who had "discovered" the wreckage had told their story in an interview for broadcast on…
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Cross Talk: Season Six, Episode 11
On trust in radio on World Radio Day. From February 11, 2022. UNESCO -- the United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organization -- designates February 13th as World Radio Day. Each year's recognition has a new theme; this year's is trust. Let's consider that, in light of the three...
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Cross Talk: Season Six, Episode 10
On how to frame the events on Parliament Hill. From February 4, 2022. As a protest by a group calling itself Freedom Convoy continues in Ottawa, perhaps some more attention should be given in the news to the people who seem to be looked up to by the protestors. What started out being billed as a...
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Cross Talk: Season Six, Episode Nine
On radio station branding – and what’s in a name. From January 27, 2022. Another information radio station in Toronto has rebranded - changed its name and its on-air imaging that signifies how it wants to be perceived. It's probably not wise to have "News" in the name of your radio station if…
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Cross Talk: Season Six, Episode Eight
On media manipulation: the premier’s snow job. From January 20, 2022. The Premier of Ontario takes a drive after the worst snowstorm Toronto has experienced in years and the news media falls for his good guy tactics. Commentary and analysis. For educational purposes. Makes fair dealing use of…
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Cross Talk: Season Six, Episode Seven
On covering the insurrection. From January 12, 2022. On January 7th -- one day after the anniversary of the assault on the U-S capital -- I check in with a radio and tv reporter who was there, reporting the events as they were happening. Reggie Cecchini is a Washington correspondent for Global...
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Cross Talk: Season Six, Episode Six
On transmedia and multiplatform storytelling in the age of the pandemics. From December 17, 2021. In the time of the pandemic, users are using more of our creative content to meet their wants and needs. As I was producing this episode, we were on the verge of a new round of restrictions on…
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Cross Talk: Season Six, Episode Five
How local radio reacts – the murder of John Lennon. From December 8, 2021. FM rock radio in New York City breaks the news to listeners...on December 8th, 1980. For educational purposes. Makes fair dealing use of bits of audio from The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS, 1964 and radio aircheck and archive...
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Cross Talk: Season six, Episode Four
On preserving Canada's radio and tv history. From November 25, 2021. Radio history is part of our history. But there's no publicly-funded, organized institutional repository or archive of significant audio or other records from Canada's radio history. By contrast, the United States has a Radio...
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Cross Talk Season Six, Episode Three
On the podcast career accelerator at Hot Docs. From November 12, 2021. The Hot Docs documentary festival in Toronto is offering young independent podcast makers an opportunity to learn from experts. Their initiative seems like something that would appeal to many of the students I teach in the…
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Cross Talk: Season Six, EpisodeTwo
On the Future of News - Part One. From November 4, 2021. On various occasions this season I will explore aspects of The Future of News from perspectives of news production, distribution, audience -- including uses and gratification, user experience, and user feedback and response. I will connect...
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Cross Talk: Season Six, Episode One
On resisting the ongoing abuse of the War of the Worlds broadcast. From October 27, 2021 - just ahead of World Audio Drama day October 30th. This is the fifth episode in my ongoing defence of War of the Worlds as brilliant fiction on radio; so powerful it gave the aggrieved print media of 1938…
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Cross Talk Season 5 Extra: You Won‘t Hear this on the News - Episode 12
From September 30, 2021. On the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. There is a role for everyone to play. Here are some thoughts, based on points I raised in a letter to my member of parliament, in the days following the Every Child Matters march in July.
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Cross Talk Season 5 Extra: You Won‘t Hear this on the News - Episode 11: 9/11
From September 10, 2021. On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the events of September 11th, 2001. Broadcasting, podcasting, newspapers and online sites are full of features, analysis, documentaries and special reports about 9/11 including the memories of people who reported the events. Some of...
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You Won't Hear this on the News - Episode10/Cross Talk Season5 Extra
On Emancipation Day. Suppose it's the first time Canada officially commemorates Emancipation Day as a national holiday. That would be on the news that day, would it not? I think news coverage was severely lacking. Not a word in some major newspapers that weekend. Almost nothing on broadcast news…
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You Won't Hear this on the News - Episode 9/Cross Talk Season Five Extra
From July 1, 2021: The Every Child Matters March through downtown Toronto. This time: walk with thousands from the Toronto Council Fire building at Parliament and Dundas Streets to Nathan Phillips Square at Toronto City Hall. Days after unmarked graves are discovered, containing the bodies of…
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Cross Talk extra: The Erasure of Race: The murder of Howard Joel Munroe. Part 1 - A Killing in the Park - documentary
The murder of a young Black man by members of a racist white gang in a city park during fireworks for the Victoria Day holiday in 2001 should have sent waves of shock and outrage through the mid-sized city where it happened. And beyond. It was two years before anyone was arrested in the killing…
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Cross Talk extra: Season Four, Episode 15 reload
In April 2021 there has been a great deal of coverage on podcasts, radio and tv of the one-year anniversary of the mass murder in rural Nova Scotia: April 18 and 19, 2020. For an in-depth examination of the case I highly recommend the series 13 Hours: Inside the Nova Scotia Massacre from...
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You Won't Hear this on the News - Episode 8
The government of Ontario wants police to start random stops of people on the street or in traffic to make them justify having left their homes during the stay-at-home rules of the pandemic. Who do you think would be likely to get targeted and stopped? A frightening order to be taking effect on…
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Cross Talk: Season Five, Episode 19
On the first all-female broadcast crew in NBA history. From March 25, 2021. The Toronto Raptors become the first team in NBA history to have a game with an all-female broadcast crew: play-by-play announcer, analyst-colour commentator, sideline reporter, and broadcast show co-hosts. It's just the...
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Cross Talk: Season Five, Episode 18
“How radio listeners need their own baseball play-by-play”. From March 18, 2021. Listeners have been tuning in on radio to live play-by-play of baseball games for nearly a century. In Toronto, Blue Jays baseball on the radio became the soundtrack of the city in the glory years of the early 1990s,...
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Cross Talk: Season Five, Episode 17
On pandemic stories in audio fiction. From March 11, 2021. On the first "anniversary" of living in the pandemic, I'm listening for audio stories about living in a pandemic. Audio drama -- ensemble, assembly or solo fiction -- is giving us new ways of exploring life in times of a pandemic...as...
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You Won't Hear this on the News - Episode 7
On the passing of radio news star Dick Smyth. From March 7, 2021. Stories are being told as news reaches us that Dick Smyth has passed away. His newscasts and his commentaries on 1050 CHUM are legendary. One of a kind. My unscripted thoughts, having worked with him at 1050 CHUM starting in 1985.…
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Cross Talk: Season Five, Episode 16
“On women in radio on International Women’s Day”. From March 4, 2021. When academics and researchers write about women in radio they tend to lean toward public radio and community radio. That's largely the case in a new book about women in radio in Canada. It's another worthwhile edition. I…
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About this show
Inside, expert commentary and analysis of history and developments in audio media in Canada including radio and podcasting. Media history, commentary and analysis. Designed for post-secondary students and aficionados of broadcast radio, podcasting and radio news. Researched, written, hosted and produced by Paul Cross.
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Paul Cross
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