From Idea to Air

I spent this past Saturday at Tod Maffin’s From Idea to Air workshop at the Royal York in Toronto. It was a day-long workshop based on his popular e-book, and run as a fundraiser for the MS Society of Canada.

I started freelancing for the CBC about three years ago. I started by selling short documentaries to Radio Syndication, and continued by making radio pieces for shows like Metro Morning, Definitely Not the Opera, and Outfront. I continue to make items for CBC’s Content Factory and Brent Bambury’s Saturday morning show Go.

… And I wish that three years ago I’d had the opportunity to participate in Tod’s workshop. It was great, and Tod took the group through everything you need to get a piece to air on CBC Radio. He covered finding an idea, pitching the idea, collecting audio, interviewing, scriptwriting, mixing… and getting paid. Personally, I was familiar with a lot of what was covered, but it was inspiring to be in the same room with so many people excited about making radio, and listening to samples of some great work (much of it from my favourite radio program, This American Life).

Tod’s doing his workshop two more times, and the next one is in Vancouver. If you want to make public radio, but don’t know where to start, think about applying for a spot. It’ll be well worth your time.