Rogers Sports & Media’s Frequency Podcast Network has launched In This Economy?!, a spin-off of its daily affairs podcast, The Big Story, billed as a “survival guide” to help navigate an unpredictable economy.
Hosted by Jordan Heath-Rawlings, the weekly show will share the stories of real people seeking out realistic solutions to money problems. Since the launch of The Big Story five years ago, the show’s producers say the singular theme that’s emerged is that a growing percentage of the population can’t afford to live basic, comfortable lives.
In an introductory segment entitled “Why we’re making this show,” Heath-Rawlings described In This Economy?! as “a money podcast for the end of the world.”
“It’s a show that will hopefully let us explore how we got into this mess. If you’re a person just trying to live a regular life and afford things that people have been affording for decades – a home, a child, a car, a gym membership, a wedding…all the sort of normal expenses of modern life that so many people see as out of reach right now,” said Heath-Rawlings. “And when they wonder why it’s out of reach, they’re told just to work harder. And I don’t think that that’s right and I think what we do on The Big Story is we explore the forces behind issues that matter to Canadians and that’s what I want to bring to this show.”
“We want people to actually come out of this doing better than surviving, so that’s why I’m calling it a road map or a travel guide because we have to navigate this shit, but we hope that we won’t just drag ourselves across the finish line bloodied and hurt…we’ll actually be able to achieve the things we assumed we would be able to one day and suddenly couldn’t,” he continued.
Heath-Rawlings said the show will take a more empathetic approach than traditional news coverage to a very personal topic.
“When I talk to people about money and I hear people talk about money, it’s something that needs a lot of empathy right now and I didn’t want to cover it from a traditional news bent,” he explained, adding that the show will essentially fall into the category of “service journalism” and won’t take the austerity tone of some other personal finance podcasts intimating that listeners simply need to cut back on daily lattes or avocado toast.
“That’s what we’re really trying not to be,” said Heath-Rawlings. “We won’t judge you for treating yourself to an ice cream while trying to buy a car or going to see Taylor Swift…”
Each week, producers will take one problem and put it before the experts with an eye to helping listeners achieve personal financial goals. The first episode dives into the out-of-reach challenge of home ownership for many renters and explores the concept of real estate co-ownership.
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