Little by little, we’ve been sprucing up our website to make it easier to navigate and better at showcasing our podcasts and sponsors. Here’s a little survey of what we’ve done and why:

Banner

When we launched the website and announced the network in May of 2017, our main image was a picture of the Smoky River, taken on a weekend excursion. It conveyed “Alberta,” but it didn’t really say “podcast.” Nor did it say “network,” unless you stretched the river metaphor rather far.

Our logo is intended to reflect the ripples that our podcasters send out into the world each time they publish; it helps that the shape is reminiscent of sound waves. The three concentric circles represent the three important players in our endeavour: listeners, podcasters, and sponsors. Together they reflect our mission to build listenership for Alberta-made podcasts and connect those listeners to Alberta-based businesses and organizations.

We gave those ideas to Laura Diaz of Laura Diaz Designs, and she came up with the striking image you see at the top of our site now. The triple fist-bump reinforces the collaboration among the three players, and reflects the co-operative spirit that we hope infuses everything we do. The colour palette is bold and somewhat ecumenical for an Alberta-based network — we’ve stayed away from the colours of the main sports teams in Edmonton and Calgary!

Grid

When we announced the initial 10 members of the network, we could easily display them all on the home page. At first we organized them alphabetically, and then, as we grew, we re-organized them by subject. But at 40+ member podcasts and more affiliates on top of that, the home-page display was becoming too unwieldy.

So, with the help of the ever-versatile and patient Breanne Byrne, we’ve come up with nine tiles representing categories that our members and affiliates fall into. Some straddle more than one category, but we’ve chosen the one that seems to fit best. Each tile clicks through to a page where you can learn more about the podcasts and access to their websites.

Our affiliated podcasts, which are produced by our sponsors, are now integrated into these categories instead of languishing near the bottom of a very long scroll-down.

Sponsors

Speaking of sponsors, they are now more visible, thanks to our more compact grid. We can’t thank these businesses and organizations enough for their ongoing support of the Alberta Podcast Network, particularly our founding sponsor, ATB. There’s a small summary of them on our home page, and we connect them to their affiliated podcasts on our Sponsors page.

If you’d like to harness the power of a local podcast network to spread the word about your business or organization, we’d love to help. Displaying your logo in this array is but one small piece of the value we deliver to our sponsors. Learn more.

Navigation

We’re building this airplane while we’re flying it, so coming up with coherent navigation under ever-changing circumstances has been… tricky. We think we’ve settled on a decently intuitive menu now. Look under “About” for more on our story, as well as information on how to join, how to sponsor, and how to pitch yourself as a guest to our podcasters.

There’s also an alphabetical listing of all of our member podcasts linked on our Contact page.

As always, this is a work in progress. Many thanks to our podcasters for all of their hard work, and to the listeners who invite them in. The best way to stay up-to-date on the network is to subscribe to our newsletter. If you have questions, hit us up at hello@albertapodcastnetwork.com.

We’ve gathered up all of the episodes published over the holidays, and we introduce you to our two newest members. You’ll also find a crossover between the prolific Ed and the always entertaining Tight Ends, as well as the start of a new season of Putting It Together and a crossover with That’s a Thing?!. Plus, a new Ken Likeley story, some World Juniors heartbreak, an Alberta politics mailbag, fun takes on movies, food and Copernicus, and a lot of reflections on 2018.

Don’t forget our SeatGIANT offer

We’re pleased to have partnered with SeatGIANT, the Canadian ticket resale marketplace. You’ll save five per cent off your purchase by using the promo code “apn” at checkout. You’ll be helping the network out, too.

The new year brings a couple of new members to the Alberta Podcast Network, both of which have storytelling at heart.

The Read-Along is “a mini-book club for your ears,” conducted by the husband-and-wife team of Scott and Anita Bourgeois. They choose a book, and every week, they discuss a chapter. They’ve done three books so far, and are about to start the next one.

If your New Year’s resolution is to read more, this could be a great spur. And Anita and Scott have such lovely chemistry that it’s fun to hear even if you’re not caught up on the book. Their voices may be familiar — Scott is a co-host on I Have Some Notes, on which Anita has appeared, including as a co-host on a rather clever gender-flipped episode.

Our other new addition is OtherWise, “a variety podcast dedicated to empowering diverse communities living in Treaty 6 territory by sharing the stories of their lived experiences.” We introduced you to this podcast in September when it became an affiliate, made possible by the Edmonton Heritage Council grant received by the Ribbon Rouge Foundation to start the show.

Now that OtherWise is up and running, we’re thrilled to bring it over to the member side. That means we’ll be able to send a bit of money back to the team, and to include it with our other Edmonton-centric, story-focused podcasts such as Let’s Find Out. We’ve already heard fascinating episodes from Keren Tang, Moréniké Ọláòșebìkan and Ahmed “Knowmadic” Ali, and look forward to more from them and fellow team members Maegan Robinson-Anagor and Jenna Mulji.

Ribbon Rouge’s Arts 4 Action and OtherWise are putting on a live event on Jan. 18 called “What is Black Community?”, a topic that Moréniké explored in her recent OtherWise episodes (Part 1 and Part 2). It’s a World-Cafe-style discussion, “a unique fusion of dialogue, arts, culture, food, dance and live entertainment.” Admission is by donation — get your ticket today!

Many thanks to our founding sponsor, ATB Financial, and ongoing sponsors such as the Edmonton Community Foundation and Park Power, for making it possible for us to continue to bring more podcasts into the network. There will be more to come in 2019!