What’s a Plodcast?

There is a difference between a conversation and an interview. An interview is designed to glean information, challenge false assumptions, and perhaps even goad confrontation. Believe me, I know. I’ve performed thousands of interviews over my 33 years as a working journalist.

These podcasts are not interviews. Or at least, not the kind of interviews with which you are no doubt familiar.

This project grew out of the pandemic, when so many of us found ourselves going for long outdoor walks with trusted friends and acquaintances, simply as a way to prevent going stir crazy at home. We would talk about people we knew, places we love or longed for, ideas that quickened our pace. It’s the joy of walking with another. You both have something to do that takes minimal effort, you’re not staring eye to eye across a table, and you are free to opine on whatever crosses your mind.

People tell each other things on walks they may never raise in other settings. Nietzsche said “all truly great thoughts are conceived while walking”. Dickens, an inveterate pedestrian who walked a dozen miles a day, conceived his best novels while strolling. And whether you Walk on the Wild Side, Walk like an Egyptian, or just love Walking on Sunshine, you know walking is just that thing that makes you happy. Happier, if you have good company.

One last thing. I’m a Canadian who’s traveled and explored parts of every province and territory of this massive country. I have a deep love for the place, and I think it matters that people in one far-flung corner tell their stories to people who live in other far-flung corners. Spoiler alert: you will hear that there is much more that ties us together then separates us. I think we don’t hear that enough.

Thanks for listening.

d./

Bio

With more than three decades of experience as a journalist, former CBC Radio host David Gray has filed stories from around the world, focusing on Europe and North America. Based in Calgary, David is an avid adventurer, diver, skier, and cyclist.

David, a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographic Society, has travelled by sea with the RCGS in the Eastern Arctic and Atlantic Canada, (including a particularly memorable excursion to Sable Island). On the West Coast he has explored the islands of Haida Gwaii with Maple Leaf Adventures, and continues to serve as a guest lecturer aboard Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth II to Alaska. He also hosted a conversation with a prestigious panel of Indigenous leaders at the 2018 Fellows Dinner at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, and a more informal gathering of Western-based Fellows at McDougall Centre in Calgary.

Whether it’s skiing from the heights of the Chic-Choc Mountains down to the shores of Gaspé, kayaking Johnstone Strait with the orcas of Robson Bight, or hiking the ridges of the Bugaboos above the glaciers of the Purcells, David has a deep passion for Canada’s wild spaces. He is an amateur ornithologist and former park naturalist, with a growing passion for photography. He has also launched a new Canada-wide podcast, GraydioCanada.

His documentary work has won numerous national and international awards and he is a frequent guest host on well known CBC radio programs such as “As it Happens”, “Sunday Edition” and “Cross Country Checkup”. His daily morning program “The Calgary Eyeopener” was one of Canada’s top-rated local radio shows for over a decade. 

In his spare time, he performs with Calgary band Sweet Potato. David and his wife Kim have two children.