CBC Podcasts unveils fall slate, headlined by October Crisis and government mind control series

CBC has unveiled its fall podcast slate, headlined by historical series Recall: How To Start A Revolution, revisiting the 1970 October Crisis; new The Fifth Estate co-production, Brainwashed, exploring secret government mind control experiments; and new Elamin Abdelmahmoud-hosted pop culture series Pop Chat.

Returning series include Party Lines: Party In The U.S.A., a weekly look at the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election; sketch comedy series Tony Ho; and Seat At The Table, an in-depth conversation between friends, with a focus on personal experiences around the Black Lives Matter movement.

SEAT AT THE TABLE (6×30)

Launches Thursday, Aug. 27; new episodes released weekly: Returning for a special six-episode limited run, this talk podcast features in-depth conversations with notable guests from media, sports and pop culture. Hosted by friends Martine St-Victor and Isabelle Racicot, the new season captures personal stories about the power of the Black Lives Matter movement, the urgency of this moment, and what it will take to move forward. Listen here. 

PARTY LINES: PARTY IN THE U.S.A. (weeklyx30)

Launches Tuesday, Sept. 8; new episodes released weekly: Sometimes a little distance can offer a lot of perspective. Co-hosted by Elamin Abdelmahmoud, he and his guest co-hosts offer weekly updates on the election, in this limited run series, from outside the partisan spin and political fray.  

RECALL: HOW TO START A REVOLUTION (7×30)

Launches Tuesday, Sept. 8; new episodes released weekly: The 1960s saw a wave of radical movements:  The Black Panthers. Che Guevara and the Cuban Revolution. Quebec and Canada had the FLQ. By October 1970, Canada was in crisis. Soldiers in the streets, communities on edge, kidnapping and terror in the headlines. But those frightening weeks were just the crescendo of a wave of terror and violence that was nearly a decade in the making. The series will reveal the stories of the October Crisis through the voices of those who lived it: the bomb expert plying his nerve-wracking trade, the survivors of terror, the families of the less fortunate, and the radicals themselves. Hosted by Geoff Turner (On Drugs). 

SICKBOY (weeklyx60-90)

Launches Monday, Sept. 14; new episodes released twice weekly on Mondays and Fridays: Determined to break down the stigma associated with illness and disease, hosts Jeremie Saunders, Brian Stever, and Taylor MacGillivary tackle health taboos with people who have experienced them firsthand. Taking the lead from Jeremie’s life-long battle with Cystic Fibrosis, the three best friends, who are based in Halifax, help listeners understand that sometimes the best way to deal with illness, disease and life is simply to laugh. 

POP CHAT (weeklyx30)

Launches Thursday, Sept. 17; new episodes released weekly: Host Elamin Abdelmahmoud and the Pop Chat panel invite you into the group chat to help make sense of the cultural drama blowing up the internet. Bringing their hottest takes to the table every week, the panel will debate, discuss and work through the pop culture discourse. The Pop Chat panel features Shireen Ahmed, Angelina Chapin, Kevin Fallon, Sarah Hagi, Hussein Kesvani, Stacy Lee Kong, Kathleen Newman-Bremang, and Andrea Warner. 

BRAINWASHED (7×30)

Launches Wednesday, Sept. 23; new episodes released weekly: A co-production with CBC’s The Fifth Estate, Brainwashed is a multi-part series exposing MKUltra in Montreal and how the CIA and Canadian government funded secret experiments to find out whether people’s brains could be rewired and controlled. Listeners will learn about the psychiatrist who used his patients as human guinea pigs and discover the devastating impacts the experiments have had on the victims, their families, and thousands around the world. Hosted by Michelle Shephard (Uncover: Sharmini). 

TONY HO (10×5-15min)

Launches Thursday, Oct. 8; binge release: Award-winning sketch troupe Tony Ho (Miguel Rivas, Roger Bainbridge and Adam Niebergall) take listeners on a darkly comedic journey with their second instalment of “Residuals.” Following the success of their first season, the series of bite-sized narrative sketches explores the nature of human relationships, and how careless we can be with each other. 

Other returning/ongoing CBC original podcasts include: FRONT BURNER (new episodes daily), THE QUARANTINE CHRONICLES (new episodes weekly); THE DOSE (new episodes weekly); SECRET LIFE OF CANADA (new episodes twice monthly); MIC DROP (Season 2, Sept. 24); CHOSEN FAMILY (Season 3, mid-October); THE STORY STORE (Season 3, December); and TAI ASKS WHY (Season 3, December).

Find a complete of list of current CBC Podcasts, here.

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