Episodes

  • CBC President and CEO pours gasoline on the fiery debate over Conservative calls to defund the Corps

    CBC President and CEO pours gasoline on the fiery debate over Conservative calls to defund the Corps
    Oct 25 2024
    This week on NOW and NEXT:

    Catherine Tait makes a scorched Earth retreat from her third and final appearance before the parliamentary Heritage Committee in Ottawa. The outgoing CBC President and CEO accused the committee, (mostly the Conservatives at the table), of attempting to "villify" her and the CBC.

    Our NOW and NEXT C.A.S.T., (Comms And Strategy Team), says Tait not only failer herself with that performance, she failed the CBC and Canadians.
    • We also weigh in on Robert Fife's reporting in the Globe and Mail this week, suggesting high level government officials "leaked" intelligence information about India to the Washington Post, just before the RCMP said there is evidence Indian government agents "have been linked to homicides, extortions and other violent criminal activities in Canada."
    • We may still be in recovery mode after COVID, but did we learn anything?
    • And Pierre Poilevre's getting top marks from the C.A.S.T. for his approach to provincial disability support programs. (Anti-poverty advocates even admit the Conservative Leader's on the right track!)
    YOU CAN NOW LEAVE US A VOICE MESSAGE ABOUT THE SHOW!

    Let us know what you think. Comment on the discussion. What would you like us to talk about.
    Use this LINK and LEAVE YOUR MESSAGE!

    YOU CAN ALSO WATCH THE SHOW ON YOUTUBE

    Meet the NOW and NEXT C.A.S.T!

    Brad Ross has made a career leading the communications strategies for the City of Toronto and the Toronto Transit Commission.
    Lindsay Broadhead brings her comms experience and insights base on her time leading teams at the Toronto Region Board of Trade and, most recently, the Chief Communications Officer at the City of Toronto.
    Bob Reid applies his earned experience as a major market journalist and a Senior Advisor to the Premier of Ontario to his analysis of the communications "Touchdowns and Fumbles".
    Anne Marie Aikins is a "media relations maven", a sought after pundit and speaker, and a strategic comms adviser specializing in public transit in Ontario.
    Dave Trafford is a “Podcast Journalist”, the Chief Executive Producer at Story Studio Network, and a Recovering News Director, (having led the news operations at Global News Toronto, Newstalk 1010 and AM640 radio in Toronto) with more than forty years of experience in Canadian media.
    Show More Show Less
    56 mins
  • Taylor Swift helps improve Toronto's infrastructure and META fires staffers who misuse UberEats coupons

    Taylor Swift helps improve Toronto's infrastructure and META fires staffers who misuse UberEats coupons
    Oct 18 2024
    This week on NOW and NEXT:

    Great to have Barb DiGuilio and Kym Geddes return to the N&N podcast!


    • Barb and Kym riff on the state of NEW media post secondary education programs. Are there any jobs for grads coming out of the broadcast and journalism streams? You might be surprised.
    • Taylor Swift descends on Toronto in a few weeks. She's not just a force of nature in the entertainment and music industry, her presence has forced a major infrastructure upgrade in downtown Toronto!
    • META has fired a numnber of employees, some making healthy six-figure salaries, because they misused $20 or $25 food coupons.
    • Will the cult of Justin Trudeau lead to an extinction event for federal Liberals in the soon-to-come national general election?
    • Catholic school board trustees offer a mea culpa after spending $145k on a trip to Italy to buy religious art for a new school. Is saying sorry "enough" or should the "penance" be tougher?
    • And heaing into the final days of the US Presidential campaign, Harris goes head to head at FOX while Trump takes the opportunity to tell profane jokes at a major Catholic charity event in New York City.
    WATCH the show on YouTube: youtube.com/@davetraffordpodcasts
    LISTEN on Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/now-and-next/id1436509533
    LISTEN on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/46OXwCbf8Ww5kAaP17HfT8?si=f2e5d94d078f4343
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 7 mins
  • The NEW media strategy for Kamala Harris and Justin Trudeau

    The NEW media strategy for Kamala Harris and Justin Trudeau
    Oct 11 2024
    This week on NOW and NEXT:

    We make the final turn in the Race for the White House and VP Kamala Harris does a 60 Minutes sit down on CBS but causes more of a buzz by appearing on the Call Her Daddy podcast with Alex Cooper.

    At least, it excited her base. At best, it added to the base on the margins. And in a race that will come down to a hand full of votes in a hand full of counties in a hand full of states - margins matter.

    Justin Trudeau was on a similar media march this past week - making stops on The Late Show and a podcast sit down with Nate Erskine-Smith, (who happens to sit in the back benches of Trudeau's government).

    But it's not at all clear that Trudeau gained any traction with his base. He's struggling to hold his caucus together never mind beefing up his approval rating among voters.

    So, we've assembled the C.A.S.T (Comms and Strategy Team!) to pick over the pixels of attention. Is
    the media still the message for Harris and Trudeau?

    YOU CAN ALSO WATCH THE SHOW ON YOUTUBE

    Meet the C.A.S.T!

    Brad Ross has made a career leading the communications strategies for the City of Toronto and the Toronto Transit Commission.

    Lindsay Broadhead brings her comms experience and insights base on her time leading teams at the Toronto Region Board of Trade and, most recently, the Chief Communications Officer at the City of Toronto.

    Bob Reid applies his earned experience as a major market journalist and a Senior Advisor to the Premier of Ontario to his analysis of the communications "Touchdowns and Fumbles".

    Anne Marie Aikins is a "media relations maven", a sought after pundit and speaker, and a strategic comms adviser specializing in public transit in Ontario.
    Show More Show Less
    55 mins
  • Big changes at CFRB fifteen years ago!

    Big changes at CFRB fifteen years ago!
    Sep 30 2024
    This week on NOW and NEXT:

    By accident or design I stumbled across an old mp3 file. It's a recording of the final episode of Toronto at Noon - a radio show I hosted and co-produced on 1010 AM CFRB in Toronto at - you guessed it - Noon!

    That show aired fifteen years ago this week, (as we post this edition of NOW and NEXT). And it reminded me of just how energetic and connected the show, (and the statiion for that matter) was to the community and the audience.

    We broadcast the finale from the Keg Steakhouse Mansion at the corner of Jarvis and Wellington Streets. The Mansion was the site of CFRB's very first broadcast studios. RB is Toronto's oldest English-language broadcaster and it all started in February, 1927. The original frequency was 1030 kHZ. It moved to 1010 in 1948 - 2 years after a young fellow named Wally Crouter joined the station.

    Our Toronto at Noon audience voted and decided we'd do the final show from the old mansion.

    And what a show. What a line-up.

    You'll hear "the regulars", including Christie Blatchford, Fred Ketchen, Rose Reisman, Jeff Marek, Rick Hodge and Robert Turner. But we also has special guests and friends to the show - Teri Hart, Blair Packham, and Bob Reid.

    And we hear from the crack production team that kep the show on the air and on the road! Jeff Moss, (it was his last day at the station), Eileen Berardini, Paul Gatt and Nick Maiorano.

    And all in 46 minutes, during the noon hour of Friday, October 2, 2009. It was RADIO RIGHT WHERE YOU LIVE.

    Hope you enjoy it.
    Show More Show Less
    53 mins
  • The Middle East is on the "brink of an imminent catastrophe"

    The Middle East is on the "brink of an imminent catastrophe"
    Sep 24 2024
    Today on NOW and NEXT:

    We are joined by (Ret) RCAF Major-General and former NORAD Director of Operations Scott Clancy and Phil Gurski, President and CEO Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting and former Strategic Analyst at C-SIS.

    As we record this episode, it is the deadliest day of bombardment in Lebannon in nearly thirty years as Israel and Hezbollah trade missile fire. The heavy fire exchange comes less than a week after thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members exploded. At least 20 were killed and as many as 450 were injured. Israel's being blamed for the attack, Israel hasn't confirmed nor denied responsibility.

    The regional war only seems to be escalating. What will it mean in the Middle East? What role will the U.S. and the Saudis play in resolving the crisis? And what effect could the Hamas-Israel-Hezbollah war have on the U.S. Presidential Election?

    The U.N. special coordinator in Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasscharet, said in a post on X that "with the region on the brink of an imminent catastrophe, it cannot be overstated enough: there is NO military solution that will make either side safer".
    Show More Show Less
    29 mins
  • Trudeau and Singh hit the skids. How soon will they hit the hustings?

    Trudeau and Singh hit the skids. How soon will they hit the hustings?
    Sep 19 2024
    This week on NOW and NEXT

    It has been a Summer of Discontent for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his federanl Liberals. Now that NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has ripped up their "Supply and Confidence" deal, are the Liberals facing a Fall of Despair?

    Our INSIGHTS team is a gathered around the table to sift through the political entrails and the four major federal parties jockey for position anticipating a national election.

    Meet the team!

    Brad Ross has made a career leading the communications strategies for the City of Toronto and the Toronto Transit Commission.

    Lindsay Broadhead brings her comms experience and insights base on her time leading teams at the Toronto Region Board of Trade and, most recently, the Chief Communications Officer at the City of Toronto.

    Bob Reid applies his earned experience as a major market journalist and a Senior Advisor to the Premier of Ontario to his analysis of the communications "Touchdowns and Fumbles".

    Anne Marie Aikins is a "media relations maven", a sought after pundit and speaker, and a strategic comms adviser specializing in public transit in Ontario.
    Show More Show Less
    35 mins
  • Trump blew the debate but will that move the needle for Harris?

    Trump blew the debate but will that move the needle for Harris?
    Sep 12 2024
    Today on NOW and NEXT:

    It was billed as the most consequential Presidential Debate in more than a generation. Although, it's arguable, the Biden vs. Trump tilt in June might have taken top spot when you consider President Biden's free fall from grace as the presumptive Democratic nominee.

    Okay, let's call it a toss up. Either way, the September 10th debate on ABC was a critical campaign point as we head towards Election Day on Novermber 5th in the United States.

    By most measures, Vice President Kamala Harris won the day. As John Wright at Maru Public Opinion put it, "She was the first person who didn't whither under Trump's barrages of name calling."

    To top it off, Taylor Swift posted here "endorsenment" for Harris mere minutes after the debate finished. Professor David Schultz at Hamline University in Minnesota had expected a Swift endorsement would come as an "October Surprise" but it came a month early.

    More voters have registered since the debate. It's likely the Harris campaign will enjoy a sharp increase in campaign donations. But will her performance a difference among the undecided and uncommitted voters in the key swing states?
    Show More Show Less
    23 mins
  • After one year on the job, how does Mayor Olivia Chow score on her first annual report card?

    After one year on the job, how does Mayor Olivia Chow score on her first annual report card?
    Jul 31 2024
    This week on Now and Next:

    Lindsay Broadhead, Bob Reid, Anne Marie Aikins and Brad Ross are around the table. These wizards of words are comms pros who've spent a good deal of their careers in and around Toronto City Hall.

    So who better to assess Olivia Chow's first year in the Mayor's Chair in Toronto?

    The consensus is:

    "Mayor Chow gets along well with others and is very collaborative in her approach.
    There is room for improvement, however, when it comes to her willingness to take responsibility for her performance. Stop blaming the previous administration. And she implicitly admits to her own leaderhip failures when she publicly blames city staff for shortcomings or bureaucratic bungles.

    The Mayor could also spend more time reviewing briefs on issues of the day.

    In keeping with the Olympic season, the Mayor was awarded one Silver, one Bronze and two "failed to make the podiums".
    Show More Show Less
    49 mins