Cited Media has appointed Hot Docs and Canadaland alum Alan Black as Director of Operations and Development.
Black will help lead the academic-focused podcast production company’s growth, overseeing podcast production and operations while developing new projects, partnerships, and client relationships.
“Alan brings an extraordinary depth of experience and a rare combination of creative and organizational leadership,” said Cited Media Director Dr. Gordon Katic., in an announcement. “His leadership will be central to Cited Media’s exciting next phase of growth.”
Headquartered in Toronto, Cited’s approach is founded in collaborative academic journalism. The company has co-produced content with CBC, as well as publications like Mother Jones, The Georgia Straight, and The Tyee. Its content has won numerous awards, including Bronze for The Rationality Wars in the Education Podcast category at the 2025 New York Festivals Radio Awards and a Bronze award for the fourth season of environmental podcast, Green Dreams, in the same category last year.
“I’m thrilled to join Cited Media at a moment when there is so much opportunity to use academic podcasting to enrich public discourse,” said Black. “Cited Media has built an impressive model for bringing together journalism, research, and audio storytelling, and I am looking forward to helping grow that work and building the creative and operational capacity to take them further.”
Black joined Canadaland in 2022 as Chief Operating Officer after a decade as Director of Operations for the Hot Docs Festival and Managing Director of Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. He went on to found his own production house and consultancy, Left Of Dial Media, in early 2025. Its first original podcast, Tubby, was downloaded more than 200,000 times in its first season and named one of Amazon Music and Apple’s Best Podcasts of 2025.
