{"author_name":"The Sound Off Podcast","author_url":"https://art19.com/shows/sound-off-podcast-series/episodes/995a34a9-2b72-4ad3-b623-d7e752d31029","description":"<p><strong>Doug Downs</strong> joined me to trace his journey from a tape-recorder-obsessed kid in Scarborough to radio, TV, corporate communications, and ultimately podcasting. Doug shared how overnights at a country station, brutal newbie pranks, and a move through Ajax, St. Thomas, London, Kirkland Lake, Sudbury, and eventually <strong>Edmonton</strong> shaped his love of audio and storytelling. We reminisced about the ITV / CFRN days, that micro-fame of local TV, and why he ultimately pivoted into PR at <strong>Epcor</strong>, learning to think in terms of stakeholders, key messages, and strategy.</p><p>We dug into why <strong>ums and ahs</strong> can actually help comprehension, how PR thinking makes for sharper podcast positioning, and why your <strong>premise and target audience</strong> matter more than trying to be Joe Rogan. Doug broke down the real role of <strong>video and YouTube</strong> (discovery, not depth), how to use <strong>consumption metrics</strong> from Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, and why podcasters should <strong>not disappear over the holidays</strong>.</p><p><a href=\"https://storiesandstrategies.ca/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Connect with Doug and launch your podcast. </a></p><p><a href=\"https://magic.beehiiv.com/v1/6d47025e-1d58-4baa-a093-62edafe3a734?email={{email}}\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Please sign up for the SOUNDING OFF Newsletter.</a>&nbsp;All the things that went unsaid on the show.</p><p>Also we added the Sound Off Podcast to the The Open Podcast Prefix Project (OP3) A free and&nbsp;open-source&nbsp;podcast&nbsp;<a href=\"https://soundsprofitable.com/update/prefix-analytics\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">prefix analytics service</a>&nbsp;committed to open data and listener privacy.&nbsp;<a href=\"https://op3.dev/show/225d70b7-fcaa-5bd3-a828-9dc948ab122d\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">You can be a nosey parker by checking out our downloads here.</a></p><p><strong><u>Thanks to the following organizations for supporting the show:</u></strong></p><p><a href=\"https://www.megatrax.com/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Megatrax</a>&nbsp;- Licensed Music for your radio station or podcast production company.</p>","html":"<iframe src=\"https://art19.com/shows/sound-off-podcast-series/episodes/995a34a9-2b72-4ad3-b623-d7e752d31029/embed\" style=\"width: 720px; height: 200px; border: 0 none;\" width=\"720\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"></iframe>","provider_name":"ART19","provider_url":"https://art19.com","title":"Doug Downs: Strategic Storytelling for Brands","type":"rich","version":"1.0","width":720,"height":200}