Region of Waterloo Podcasts
Update: As of 2019-06-12, many of the active podcasts on this list are listed on http://wrdashboard.ca as a consumable RSS feed.
I spend far too much of my life listening to podcasts. They may be my primary form of entertainment/distraction. Lately I have noticed a distressing trend in my subscriptions: more and more of the podcasts I consume are produced in the United States, most often from California. I do not like this although US podcasts are entertaining, podcasting is accessible enough that it should be a worldwide phenomenon, which means that it should be possible to hear a diversity of voices from around the world.
This page is my attempt to document some local podcasts -- those produced in Waterloo Region. I went looking for such a listing and could not find one easily, so I decided to pull a Yahoo! and list the ones I can find. My hope is that this will provide locals (and maybe non-locals) with a way to add local voices to their podcasting consumption.
I do not listen to most of the podcasts here, and as such I do not endorse them. There are certainly local podcasts that I have no interest in consuming, but other locals might.
For the purpose of this listing I will classify podcasts into two categories: functional and defective. A functional podcast has the following properties:
- It is active, in the sense that it continues to receive updates. A podcast that is not active is defunct.
It provides an RSS feed that you can use with your podcast software. A podcast that does not provide an (open) RSS feed is unsubscribable. There may be podcasts that have walled-garden feeds (such as iTunes) but do not provide proper open RSS feeds; because I am a jerk I consider such podcasts to be unsubscribable as well.
Update: sometimes http://getrssfeed.com can discover the hidden RSS feeds from Soundcloud and iTunes. So some of these defective podcasts might not be defective.
- It provides episodes that you can download and consume while offline. A podcast that cannot be consumed offline is undownloadable.
To be included in this list the podcast should be produced locally, i.e. within Waterloo Region.
Ideally, all podcasts would be licensed such that they can be archived and redistributed (at least), and would be available in low-bitrate encodings, and would have options to be encoded using free software codecs like OGG. But these are unreasonable criteria for most podcasts to meet.
As of this writing the podcasts are in no particular order, although I tend to add podcasts to the top of the listings.
Please Help!
If you know of other directories of local podcasts, I would be very interested to know what they are.
If you know of other local podcasts not listed here, please send them to me and I will add them to the list.
Similarly, if you find dead links please report them and I will clean things up.
If you would like to take over the curation of this list please let me know. I would love to avoid the responsibility.
Here are some podcasts I believe should exist, but which I have not found yet. If you find feeds please pass them along:
Universities, colleges and other organizations that host public talks should release those talks as podcasts. Any time you use a microphone and sound system to amplify sound, you could be recording audio.
Local media stations that produce content for the public airwaves should release their content as podcasts, especially if they are noncommercial.
Functional Podcasts
CIGI and The Logic have a podcast called Big Tech, which is about "how emerging technologies are reshaping democracy, the economy, and society." The RSS feed is https://feeds.simplecast.com/FJSi7gLl .
Lacey J Heels produces The Maker's Collective, a "podcast for Makers, Side-Hustlers, and Creative Enterpreneurs". The RSS feed is http://makerscollective.club/feed/podcast/
Local tech hub Communitech has a podcast series called Nimble Hippo Radio. The RSS feed is http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:187132556/sounds.rss (Thanks to Andrew Cant for the link.)
Bossy Women is a podcast dedicated to celebrating women entepreneurs. It provides tips, advice, and inspiration for aspiring women bosses, and is hosted by Katie Steckly and Katie Bentz. The feed is https://bossywomen.ca/feed.
On Wisdom is co-hosted by University of Waterloo professor Igor Grossman. It covers the latest empirical science on wisdom and decision-making.
The Devil's Cut Podcast conducts interviews centred on "Midtown, Kitchener-Waterloo". The RSS feed appears to be http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:241224705/sounds.rss .
Full Stack Radio is a software development podcast hosted by Adam Wathan. (Thanks to Andrew Cant for the link.)
Torqd is a podcast produced by local web development shop Vehikl.
Fanthropological is a weekly podcast about fan culture. It discusses different fandoms and how they developed. In fact, there are two other podcasts at https://thenickscast.com/: "Who in Review" (about Doctor Who) and the "Zeal Archives" about Chrono Trigger.
Gary Will hosts a podcasts about the startup ecosystem called Cultivating Startups. The podcast feed is: http://cultivatingstartups.com/feed/podcast/ . (Thanks to <kwdashboard.ca> for the link.)
The Wilfrid Laurier Community Cord newspaper has an associated arts and culture podcast, which you can subscribe to here: https://communityedition.ca/feed/podcast/ . (Thanks to Bob Jonkman for the link.)
Jonathan Fritz and friends produce the "Slightly Sauced" podcast at http://slightlysauced.com. It describes itself as a show about "everything and nothing" with a "quirky Canadian focus." The podcast went defunct, but supposedly is in production again? (Thanks to Bob Jonkman for the link.)
Stephen Paul Weber, Christopher Vollick and Daniel Weber host a podcast on faith, life, philosophy and other muddy topics called Mud Dive. Subscribe at https://muddive.stream/index.xml . They have an OPUS feed as well, which is accessible from their webpage. (Thanks to Andrew Cant for the link.)
Cambridge resident Adam Wathan hosts a software development podcast called Full Stack Radio. Subscribe at http://simplecast.com/podcasts/279/rss . (Thanks to Andrew Cant for the link.)
Tech startup Funnelcake has a marketing podcast called the Honest Marketer. It has an RSS feed at http://honest.getfunnelcake.com/podcast?format=RSS . (Thanks to Andrew Cant for the link.)
The Kitchener-Waterloo Linux User Group publishes a podcast of its monthly meetings here: http://kwlug.org/podcasts. (Disclaimer: I am involved in the production of this podcast.)
There is a music/pop-culture podcast called "Pull the Plug" at http://ptppodcast.com. Its RSS feed is difficult to find, but exists: http://ptppodcast.libsyn.com/rss
The River of Life Fellowship releases its sermons online: http://www.riveroflifefellowship.ca/site/?page_id=27
The Waterloo Pentecostal Assembly releases its sermons online: https://wpa.church/section/sermons/feed/
The First Baptist Church in Waterloo releases (some?) of its sermons online: http://podcast.fbcwaterloo.com/sermons.xml .
The Kitchener Baptist Church releases its sermons online: http://kitchenerbaptist.org/sermons/feed
The Perimeter Institute in Waterloo publishes its seminars on a site called PIRSA: http://pirsa.ca . I find the site hard to navigate (the help page does help) but here is a link to their primary (?) podcast feed: http://pirsa.org/podcast/S001 . (If that gives you an empty feed then use their help page.)
CIGI (the Centre for International Governance Innovation) publishes a podcast called "Inside the Issues". There is an audio and a video version. The audio version is avilable at http://feeds.feedburner.com/cigi/insidetheissues-audio an the video one (with its gigantic files) is http://feeds.feedburner.com/cigi/insidetheissues .
Andrew Coppolino publishes some audio podcasts for his Waterloo Region Eats website. The RSS feed appears to be https://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:65906711/sounds.rss.
Rebel Time Radio is a punk rock show with a (very!) political flavor. They play a wide variety of punk, hardcore, ska and oi while having a laugh at politicians and rich people. The feed is https://feeds.feedburner.com/RebelTimeRadio. (Yay! They are alive again, as of 2019-06)
Defective Podcasts
The Grand River Media Collective releases a daily (!) podcast called the Daily GRRR! http://grandrivermc.ca/taxonomy/term/4/feed (Sadly, this has gone missing.)
Similarly, the Anti War at Laurier (AW@L) group releases a podcast as part of the Rabble.ca podcast network: http://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/awl (This has gone missing too)
The LibrePlanet Ontario group is not specific to Waterloo Region, but several people from the region participate in its meetings and its podcast is produced locally. It has an RSS feed at http://podcasts.libreplanet.ca/feed.xml . (Thanks to Bob Jonkman for the link.) (This is dormant.)
WFIOKW (We'll Figure It Out, Kitchener-Waterloo) is a variety podcast. The podcast feed is at https://wfiokw.com/feed/. (Thanks to Bob Jonkman for the link.) (This appears to be defunct)
The Grand River Podcast is a show discussing various topics from pop culture to politics to business. There has been only one episode, as of April 2019. The feed is http://www.podcasts.com/rss_feed/eb4b6756722be42d1835302dbf655fcf.
Kitchener resident Derek Vollebregt produced The Global Shuffle, where he interviews "leaders from around the world who are leveraging innovation to make the world a better place." There appears to be an RSS feed here: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:46743366/sounds.rss . Maybe this podcast will be revived, but as of this writing (July 2018) this podcast appears to be defunct. (Thanks to Sarah Marsh for letting me know about this podcast.)
The Tech Startup Podcast conducts interviews with founders of local startups. It is produced weekly, and has an RSS feed here http://tspweekly.com/feed/ (Thanks to Bob Jonkman for the link.) (Sadly, this seems defunct.)
There is a Chiropractic/Naturopath/Massage Therapy outfit called KW Health Connection which has a podcast feed here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/a2zen/your-health-connection Update: the podcast appears defunct. It is no longer on the kwhealth website.
Will Spaetzel has a startup podcast management service called CastRoller . Associated with this is his CastRoller Podcast: http://blog.castroller.com , which covers aspects of the software, conversations, technology news, and picks of the week. (Thanks to Bob Jonkman for the link.) Update: This has not been updated since 2013, so may be defunct.
Local talk radio station 570 News releases a bunch of (possibly non-local?) content in podcast form: movie reviews, sports, technology, their midday show, and others. You can find their programs here: http://www.570news.com/audio/ . This organization has now gotten rid of their RSS feeds, so their podcasts are defective.
The Kwartzlab Makerspace (http://kwartzlab.ca) hosts a podcast called The Heavy Lab, which documents events and people involved with the space. The RSS feed exists but is hard to find, so I reproduce it here: http://www.kwartzlab.ca/category/heavy-lab/feed/
Sadly, hosts Bevan and Darcy have declared this podcast defunct, although they might post "special episodes" to the feed from time to time. So it may still be worth subscribing.
Disclaimer: I have appeared as a guest on this podcast.
There is an interesting project called "Building Stories" which seems to cover buildings in Southwestern Ontario. Unfortunately the podcast has no RSS feed. http://www.buildingstories.co/listings.php?ListType=Podcasts&MenuItemID=21
Although not quite in Waterloo Region, there is a newspaper called the Brant Advocate that has a podcast. As of this writing, it was last updated in 2013, so may be defunct: http://brantadvocate.podomatic.com/
The Kitchener Unity Church produces a podcast that is active, but which inexplicably does not include an RSS feed. Find it here: http://www.unitykitchener.com/podcast
The Trinity United Church in Kitchener produces a podcast of its sermons, but I could not find a working RSS feed: http://tuckitchener.org/sermons/
Knox Presbyterian Church in Waterloo releases its sermons. The iTunes feed works, but the RSS feed appears to be broken. http://knoxwaterloo.ca/home/?page_id=1546
The KW Symphony Orchestra produced a number of podcasts about upcoming attractions, but it appears to be unsubscribable and maybe defunct: http://kwsymphony.ca/knowbeforeyougo/podcasts/index.php
There was an interesting beast called the "Kitchener Fraudcast", which was undownloadable and may be defunct. http://kitchenerfraudcast.podbean.com/
The Greater KW Chamber of Commerce started a podcast, but it appears to be defunct: http://greaterkwchamber.com/en/aboutUs/chambercast.asp
Second year Conestoga College Journalism students produce content for a publication called "The Spoke". You can sort of get a feed of their videos here, but they are all Youtube videos and thus undownloadable: http://spokeonline.com/category/video/feed/