Shaun Newman talked about his podcasts at the Rotary Club of Lloydminster’s lunch on Monday. The Lloydminster resident likens podcasts to the wild west of media. Geoff Lee Meridian Source
Everyone has a story to tell. That’s the business concept and the appeal of the Shaun Newman Podcast based in Lloydminster.
Timeliness also counts, as Newman spoke about his podcasts on election day in Alberta at the Rotary Club of Lloydminster with livestream podcast coverage of the voting scheduled that evening.
“It’s a big important day in Alberta,” said Newman, who started podcasting in 2019 to hear stories from NHL legends.
A podcast is an episodic series of digital audio or video files which a user can download to listen, with Newman’s found on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube and released on Facebook and Twitter, etc.
Podcasting politics is part of a 180-degree turn he made in 2021 to discuss everything, including current events.
In the past year, his Alberta guest list included Danielle Smith.
“When it comes to politics, it’s kind of a taboo topic coming from the sporting world,” said Newman.
He’s got a bunch of different guests coming on right across the board from Kris Simms, an Alberta director of the Canadian Taxpayers Association to a lady from Antarctica to call in.
“It’s going to give it a humorous side; an Alberta lady who lived out of the country and is coming back,” said Newman.
“It’s kind of all over the board.”
Newman calls podcasting the wild west of media, but it suits him to a tee.
He had more than 1 million downloads in 2022, ranking him in the top 1 per cent of popular podcasters in the world.
Newman turned it into a full-time job after starting out playing junior hockey in Ontario, some NCAA Division III hockey in Wisconsin, and half a season of pro hockey in Finland.
He came back home to marry the love of his life in 2014 and with three young kids in tow, it was time to rethink his career in the oilfield. He started podcasting and earning money through advertising.
Newman says it’s crazy to think he’s done more than 500 podcasts to date with his first on-air guest being Ken Rutherford (Rutherford Appraisal Group).
“My second guest backed out, so I had my father come on. By episode 100 it was Ron Maclean. Don Cherry was 139. There’s been some names come on,” he said.
Newman says there’s something every person can offer on their perspective on life, and he told Rotary that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and self-help author Jordan B. Peterson are on his podcast bucket list.
About 99 per cent of his guests are from Lloydminster, including his live stream election night coverage with four personalities invited to a round-table discussion.
Newman compares podcasts to fireside chats made famous by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
“It’s a new form of radio,” said Newman.
“I was a big fan of talk radio. It’s a true back-and-forth. You can get really sucked into it. It happens to me all the time.”
