TORONTO – Rogers Media’s Frequency Podcast Network announced today it will launch an eight-part investigative podcast series which explores former Toronto mayor the late Rob Ford’s rise to power.
The series will open with two episodes on October 31st, the anniversary of the day Toronto Police Services confirmed it was in possession of video evidence of Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine, reads the press release, with weekly episodes to follow.
The Gravy Train is an original investigative podcast exploring Ford’s rise to power while at the same time revealing how politics and media were changing at the same time, “a legacy that persists in governments around the world today,” says the release.
Hosted by Jordan Heath-Rawlings, veteran newspaper journalist and current host of flagship daily news podcast The Big Story, this new series also explores the rise of “scandal-ridden-but-beloved populist leaders and the distortion of truth in the media – two themes that began in Toronto with Rob Ford and spread around the world from there.”
“How did Rob Ford spiral so dramatically out of control? And stranger still, even during the worst of it, why did much of the city still love him?” asks the release.
The Gravy Train features more than 25 original interviews with key players in the saga and podcast producers delved into CityNews and 680NEWS archives to discover some never-before-heard audio, plus audio from Ford’s time on council and in office “that seems all the more relevant and revelatory today, a decade after his election as mayor.”
Now in its second year, adds the release, Frequency is seeing some success with listeners with The Big Story having won the Canadian Podcast Award for “Outstanding News and Current Affairs” podcast, and the new season of parenting podcast, Moms in the Middle “is enjoying 300% growth over last season,” says Rogers.
Recent additions to Frequency include The Lawn Chair Prophets, with Garner Andrews and Bryce Kelly from Edmonton’s Sonic 102.9, The Biggs & Barr Show from CHEZ in Ottawa, and Someone Else’s Movie, hosted by Canadian film writer Norm Wilner.
