BC's Kid Carson on cancel culture, mainstream media & his new platform.
Episode Stats
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Summary
Corey is a former radio host and current podcaster. He's been in the business for a long time and has a lot of experience in the media industry, but it wasn't until he left the industry that he realized what it really takes to be a podcaster and what it takes to do it.
Transcript
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Hey there, how's it going Mr. Carson? How are you Corey? Nice to see you. Yes, good to see you.
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I've been listening to your podcast but I get to meet you face to face here somewhat I guess
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in a virtual sense. So welcome to the show. Thank you. What a time to be alive brother.
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Oh boy, yeah well you know for a guy like me who makes a living out of ranting I mean they give me
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lots of stuff to work with so I should be thankful for that but it's pretty miserable for the rest
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of the people having to live through it. I feel the same way with content for my podcast. I'm
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never gonna run out. We've got a little bit of a journey ahead of us I think. Yeah well and you've
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sort of changed formats so I mean just to give some background to people who aren't familiar with you
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you'd been in media for some time but you were with a music format station but you'd still speak
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you know on issues and things in between right? Yeah I mean I introduce songs on the radio it's
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not a very complicated job and you know part of my job is to to connect with the audience and
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speak about things that are relevant and and but a lot of silliness as well as as the
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stereotypical morning radio show DJ giving away money and you know playing fun contests
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but you know part of connecting with your audiences is reflecting what's happening in the world
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and it started to get to the point where you know I wasn't able to speak about the things
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that were going on and at that point you start to feel like your audience is going to perceive
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you as being disconnected or out to lunch or with your head in the sand and then I started to realize
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the media landscape around me is like that and I didn't want to be a part of that so I'd really
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hoped that I could sprinkle in a little bit of what we call the truth to my audience and anytime I did
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the reaction for me personally in my Instagram with DMs and emails and messages and tweets
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was phenomenal however it obviously uh didn't fly very well with the uh with the management
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no and that story is common in a lot of areas and I mean uh you know and you didn't even go in my
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view terribly deeply into issues in that you just you know express some things break up some shows
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and we see that trend a lot like I I listen to a lot of music but I would talk radio listener or at
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least I used to be a lot because that's right a lot of political things when I'd work I'd listen
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and that's where you'd expect to hear that kind of discourse and and things and it has gone
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to to crap to be blunt because talk show hosts are afraid of shaking things up I mean that used
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to be the basis of things is is exploring concepts and policies and going into them and not necessarily
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agreeing but we've see uh I don't know if you're familiar with Daniel Smith she was a host out here
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in Alberta she ended up so many clashes with a station management she had to quit um she's on her
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own and sort of podcasting now as well but it's those those pressures that keep coming on and and it's
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unfortunate because we're getting a very uh dull vanilla world of discourse out there and it's to
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our detriment it's a very strange time these last couple of years because you know as a as a media
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personality you know we do have we have coaches and uh consultants that come in and and tell us how
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we can grow our audience and one of the big big things that I was always told is yeah if you can
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ruffle the feathers and get people uh to react you know if you can make someone laugh that's powerful but
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if you can make someone cry or get angry that's also really powerful and so I always used I dipped
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into those sort of uh bag of tricks when I'd be introducing uh you know sort of silly topics and
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you try to divide the audience you try to polarize people so that they're intrigued and interested in
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the conversation but suddenly these these topics that um have come up with with the um pandemic it's
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like if you even go there if you ruffle those feathers you're shut down and it starts to make you
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really feel uh uncomfortable in your in your stomach you think well why why why can't I engage
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in these conversations people want to I mean we're all on Instagram we can see the conversations
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happening we can see the mothers you know debating in their Facebook groups uh whether or not they
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should get their kids vaccinated um you know I wanted to be able to present both sides of the story
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and um but you're just not allowed to like that's it's almost creepy well it is I mean there's always
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been a push I think there's always been human nature in some individuals that they would rather
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just shut down contrary opinion than debate it and that's just natural but they never had so much
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power it seems as they have today I mean before they could scream and try and shut people down but
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it wouldn't happen but I mean the term is cancel culture and it's very real and it and it's it's
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shutting things down I mean you don't have to agree with somebody you should be able to debate it I mean
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if they're that far off the edge if they're that wrong talk about it don't shut them down
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especially when there's so much evidence to show there's another opinion that's very valid
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you know uh the cancel culture is not just for media personalities and and censoring people on
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Instagram it's like doctors that are coming out scientists that are coming out they're being shut
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down um you know it's it's a very I just uh interviewed a guy yesterday that's gonna be on my podcast uh
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probably later today uh Dr. Steven Pellick from University of British Columbia this guy is like
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I mean imagine a simpleton radio host trying to interview a scientist at a university um it's not
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only intimidating but it was my mind was melting with what he's telling me and he's like these facts
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that I'm sharing with you are out there everyone knows what's happening so him reading the mainstream
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headlines I mean uh he's beside himself that you know this information is in front of uh Bonnie Henry
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it's in front of all the other people making these decisions um yet they're choosing to hide it you
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know bury it and um and ignore it so dude I don't know I don't know what's next but all I know for me
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personally I couldn't just sit by and become the guy that uh is uh looks oblivious or up to lunch you
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know um although I've been interpreted in a few different ways um I see that there is a an
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insatiable appetite for just some authenticity for some truth and for being curious it's not like I
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know all the answers but I'm curious like I want to know why it's so weird that I would want to present
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another opinion why is that a bad thing so if we ask more questions if we get involved in just honest
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mature adult debate I think I mean that's where we need to go well and you know as you pointed out
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I mean there's an audience for it I mean I don't know how often I get it as well when I've gotten
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a good guest on and they talk and people say oh I I am so happy I was able to hear that I can't hear
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this person anywhere else I find them on YouTube I I see them on Twitter but you don't see them on
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CTV or CBC or any of our main outlets anymore I mean the people want to hear it and it's showing
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I mean it's giving me hope though that because we're finding ways to bypass it I mean to look at
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the the the biggest example in North America has got to be Joe Rogan I mean there's people are livid
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with him and you know Rogan himself is rarely actually said to too many controversial things it's
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guests that he's brought on uh which again right or wrong he's there to ask them he's inquiring
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and uh it's putting it out there but people don't even want that discussion to happen and that's
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that's distressing Joe Rogan is arguably the the greatest content producer on the planet right now
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his ratings are I think I don't know like 11 million a day 11 million people and just dominating
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mainstream um the next guy to go solo will probably be Tucker Carlson you know I mean uh
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because his ratings are and he's fantastic at what he does you know 3 million a night compared
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to 11 million with Joe Rogan so it's only a matter of time before he goes independent more people end
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up doing that it's disappointing though Corey because there's something about there's something
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magical about mainstream I don't know if it's nostalgia you know the way we grew up with it and it was
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always the truth um you it's frustrating to not see your your beliefs represented in mainstream media
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because there's something to it almost validates it in some way validates it with your friends your
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neighbors your your you know family members co-workers that that you that you matter that
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your opinion matters and when it's not in mainstream media um you end up feeling like a crazy person
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like I've looked at myself in the mirror going I wish I didn't know what I knew because now I'm like
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a nut job I'm the mayor of nutsville so when you have someone and that's what really motivated me to
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although it was short-lived to uh say something on the radio that's public that's mainstream
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that's a pop music station uh playing Bruno Mars and all the rest is that for so many people it was
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like oh my god this opinion was represented in the mainstream I'm not crazy um and of course now I'm
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off in the corner doing a podcast but the way the people have found me and and reached out and said
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yeah thanks for for at least it was even if it was one or two blurbs on the air um you gave me a little
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bit of hope you know so yeah you're right though it's great that we can find ways around the
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mainstream I think people are waking up especially after what happened in Ottawa we've the trust has
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been lost and people are going to be seeking out uh truth tellers wherever they are yeah well and
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and people are gaining a new audience and some commenters are already saying they'd listened to
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your uh podcast with the accountant it was very widespread and appreciated by people I mean it sounds
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like it'd be dry subject matter but no it's very actually engaging I mean if you're talking about an
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audit of a downtown business or something maybe it'd be a little dull but we're talking about some big
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dollars and some crazy stuff going on on the front and nobody else is talking about it uh and people
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are happy to hear somebody is that's a great episode actually um even when I'm interviewing
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these people sometimes I wonder oh is it going to be is it going to be dry that guy was great and the
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episode is called what happened to the convoy money on my uh podcast channel but I mean this guy was in
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the room he's describing how people are coming in with fists loads of cash after the uh GoFundMe and the
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give send go accounts were shut down people were showing up in Ottawa and just throwing money on a
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stage and volunteers are like picking up the cash coming in and that they they don't even want to
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touch it because they they feel guilty or or they don't want to be there's just so much love in the
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air so people come in and dump the cash on a table and then this accountant guy's like
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okay um bundle up into envelopes let's hand it out to the truckers I mean what he saw behind the scenes
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um is it's it's so interesting that's so far my most listened to episode people just uh love it
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but he really gives an insight into uh Tamara and who is still I believe in jail um without bail
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he gives a real insight into how she got involved and it wasn't really meant to happen that way she was
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just starting a fundraiser to help the truckers because of her savviness on social media she
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ended up becoming the face of the convoy which was never meant to be her thing um anyways it's a
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it's a fantastic interview I'm glad that your uh your audience has has checked it out that's cool
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absolutely and we're getting uh voices out that couldn't get there before uh and I think the
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mainstream really overplayed themselves a lot over this whole convoy thing I mean it was actually I got
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to admit in a self-serving sense for the western standard we gained more subscribers in this last month
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than you know in in many months of effort before I mean we'd been doing well but it spiked us because
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people and the same thing we're hearing from them oh I just can't turn the tv on anymore I can't open
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the paper uh I mean I watched that ctv or no cbc one when when a host was implying that there was
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russian involvement in the money going to the convoy like this is our our state broadcaster you guys I
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mean come on it's become like tmz in a sense yeah and definitely an agenda I mean there's always been
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some media bias that's reality there's leanings but to get so flagrant it really soured people I
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think they overplayed their hand uh another area though that we see a lot in and now that you're
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moving into that world with podcasts and things is uh you know they used to call them the intellectual
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dark web and it's tied in with joe rogan and peterson and god sod and a lot of those uh professors
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and such you know they're from universities they've been canceled in their own schools quite often and
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that's a another disturbing area because this is the next generation coming up and they're getting an
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incredibly slanted worldview as they go through higher education uh but at least these professors
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aren't just canceled and shunted out they're actually getting out and bypassing the filters
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of the mainstream media and the filters of their educational institutions and they're reaching a lot
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of people it's shocking I've been a joe rogan fan for a long time and you know don't agree with
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everything you don't ever agree with everything that someone says but I mean in my opinion that guy
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always held his guests feet to the fire you know he's got to produce he's famous for his catchphrase
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you know pull it up jamie on the screen or whatever he's got a producer in real time you know okay
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you're saying that's a fact let's pull up the document where is it tell us the website they pull
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it up they review it in real time I mean his interviews often go for you know two or three hours
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long because he is fact checking as he goes um and I think a lot of his um apologetic tone lately
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is because now that he's really moved into the mainstream with with the Spotify deal um you know
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he's no longer on the fringe in the fringe you can pretty much do whatever you want once you're in the
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mainstream now um people come after you so uh you know he's had to really lately in the last few weeks
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be much more balanced and I can even hear the way his interview style is he's very very smart the way
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he does it it almost seems like um he's arguing against his guest but to draw out more of the of the
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facts you know so um he's he's a genius it's no it's no doubt no wonder that he's uh at the top of
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his game and the number one broadcaster now in the world oh yeah I mean he's a great interviewer I mean
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for people who haven't listened to his shows I mean part of it what's it what's subtle with it is is
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he's genuinely engaged that's what's making it worth listening and he's not gonna overrun his guest
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he's curious he's he takes his questions where they will take him because he's genuinely wants to get
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an answer out of it doesn't mean he agrees with the guest but he he's pulling more information out of
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them and he's very good at it and it makes it a good listen I mean I couldn't pull off a show for
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three and a half hours I would bore everybody right to tears after uh you know after an hour and a half
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they're already starting to drop off on me here so uh for for him to actually gain followers and make
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such an engaging thing but and again these platforms didn't exist 20 years ago you know there
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was no such thing as an independent show that could be so long and so in depth and uh like I said it's a
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frustrating time but it's an exciting one I I mean the whole world is open to uh new new views now and
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it's gonna be hard to stop us yeah even for myself I mean thank god technology is where it is now where
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you know guys like us can can can reach the world and reach you know thousands of people um you know
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a few years ago I would have been dead in the water um for expressing my views and and maybe I
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wouldn't have had the courage to say something to be honest because you know I have three kids
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I have a four-year-old I have an eight-year-old and a 17-year-old stepdaughter
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and uh you know my number one job is to provide for them um but with people now I mean my Instagram
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account has been steady around 30,000 people for for a while and then after this within less than a
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week I jumped to you know I think I'm just I think I just passed 70,000 and for me I just I can't even
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it's mind-boggling I don't know how real famous people do it with their millions of followers my 70,000
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I'm trying to message people back and I'm trying it's just but and I had a basically a lump in my
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throat for the first two weeks non-stop I mean legit like getting teary-eyed reading some of these
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messages it has made me feel although I've lost my job and that's a whole another scary topic um it has
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made me feel like I'm getting paid in love if that I know that sounds a little corny um I feel more
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relevant now these last uh two or three weeks than I have for the last two years on on pop radio so um
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I'm just going to take my run um yeah Joe Rogan's a huge inspiration um I I want to kind of follow in
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his vein of of truth telling and curiosity like you mentioned interview some some voices that aren't
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getting um exposure um so I I am revitalized in my passion for broadcasting I'm excited um and there's
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a lot to cover there's a lot of territory and probably a lot of weird things are going to happen
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over the next five years you know as I watch your show yeah you know what's up there's a lot of things
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this the stage is being set for some weird stuff to go down and um I'm honored and and privileged now
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to be one of the voices out there trying to spread um another point of view yeah well it's good to
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hear from you and humanize I mean and make some people realize as well that not every person who's in
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the mainstream media or was in the mainstream media is evil or infected or bad um you know
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the institutions themselves I think are rotten to the core but a lot of people within them a lot
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of the people who make up the western standard actually are former mainstream media writers and
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and uh producers and such they've left that but landed here I mean uh there's some as you pointed
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out I mean you've still got a fear for your own job you got bills to pay like everyone else we have a
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talk radio show host in Calgary who I used to really really enjoy uh he's just really again gone so
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flatline and dull I can't handle him anymore I know he hasn't changed but he needs to keep his job
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yeah and he's got a young family and and you know he doesn't not everybody can necessarily make the
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leap into a a new platform or format I mean social media it's a scary jump and then you've made that
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jump and then so far so good yeah I mean a lot of the time it's station management they're just
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they're terrified because the people who are loudest on the keyboard you know the keyboard warriors
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you know I remember the first time I even mentioned that I didn't like wearing a mask now the full
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conversation was I will wear a mask you know in the early days I'll wear a mask to protect my
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neighbors I don't like it and the keyboard warriors came out and just my boss came in the next morning
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with thousands of emails people were so upset and I thought wow that's crazy that now you can't even
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express that you don't like wearing a mask like we're not supposed to like it we're not supposed
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to rush out and get a a mask that matches our outfit like it's not supposed to be a fun fashion
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accessory this is a crappy thing that we've got to cover half our faces but even expressing that you
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don't like something like that gets a certain type of person really riled up and that really freaks
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management out so then you know although they're not they're not bad people they don't want to lose
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ratings and lose advertisers and sponsorships and money ultimately so then they end up telling everyone
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to to shut up so you're right good people end up keeping their mouths shut for a variety of reasons and
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my hope is that you know more people in mainstream will just start to stand up a little bit I don't
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know if it's behind closed doors and try to talk to their managers and go guys like we're we need to
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stay relevant here and the the people out there they they want to hear another side it's getting a
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little tacky now that we can't stand up and have another point of view I don't know how that's going
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to happen but um you know we can just hope well we'll see I mean a lot of the mainstream they're
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not making a lot of money in those those organizations radio stations newspapers it's not
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like it used to be so they got to start re-examining themselves the model isn't working uh you know
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you're competing now with things like the standard like your podcast uh even rebel and other things
00:19:05.040
are coming out there there's substitutes and streaming music of course is really cutting into radio
00:19:09.120
stations so maybe shutting down uh you know discussion is the wrong way to go if you want to retain
00:19:14.620
audience with unique content but they they aren't ready to look that way yet maybe that'll come as
00:19:19.620
they get more desperate I think a lot of uh old school systems need to crash and burn before they're
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rebuilt and um yeah I don't know what that looks like but and it's kind of a scary nerve-wracking
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thought we all want to be comfortable but I think over the next uh you know five seven years
00:19:35.260
I think it could be very interesting lots for us to talk about most certainly well I'll let you get on
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with it I I'm looking forward to seeing uh more of your podcasts and your interviews now that you're
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unrestrained and and settling into the new world of alternative media uh you know it's it's as I said
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it's a tough realm to get into but the world's your oyster right like you could uh I think somebody
00:19:56.040
else referred to you as perhaps the next Joe Rogan or the Canadian Joe Rogan I mean that's that's the
00:20:00.360
bar to aspire to for sure someone called me the Walmart Joe Rogan I'll just start hey there's a lot
00:20:08.320
of money in Walmart hey I was still flattered I'll take it man I'm not above buying stuff from
00:20:13.620
there now and then hey time's your time thanks for the time today man it was really nice to connect
00:20:18.200
with you great thanks so where can we find what you're doing what you're up to I saw some of that
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in the background there just to remind everybody and the people listening on audio uh how can we
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find Kid Carson and and your uh shows going forward you can connect with me at uh kidcarson.com
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there's a link there with all my podcast episodes and ways that you can support and um yeah I mean
00:20:37.320
I'm just I'm I'm flattered by all the great response so far and uh yeah I'm on all the the
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platforms Apple Spotify I am doing video podcasts I'm not like you you look very comfortable behind
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the mic uh the camera um I've been a radio guy forever and never had to worry about what my face
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looked like if I had my double chin exposed so now I've got the camera set up I'm doing these
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podcasts and video which you can watch on Spotify and uh that's another whole thing I'm trying to
00:21:03.000
conquer well I'm certain you will I mean you get used to it more as you go with me it's just a
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matter of age I'm not so worried about things like when I was in my 20s I'm happily married my wife
00:21:12.720
puts up with how I look now so uh the audience can uh deal with my shiny forehead and bad hair
00:21:17.620
yeah I'm just a little shine there see yeah it's easy style in there all right well no it was really
00:21:23.640
great I hope I get the chance to talk with you again soon down the road and uh I really want to see
00:21:27.220
your podcast take off I'm looking forward thank you so much