NewFoundPod: A new listen about the province

Last fall Debbie Wiseman tried to search for podcast about Newfoundland but came up short.

Being an avid podcast listener and a Newfoundlander passionate about her province, it would have been the perfect mix of entertainment.

“For a while, I’d been searching. There are a few, but I didn’t see anyone doing specifically what I do, so I thought, why don’t I do this then?” shd recalled. “I’ve been inspired by podcasters and the stories they are telling. I love the idea of being able to create your own content and share it with the world.”

And from there NewfoundPod was born. Last fall, from the corner of her living room in a DIY fashion, Wiseman started the podcast all on her own.

“I host it, I write it, I edit it, I upload it.  I do it all myself. It’s very much a one-woman show,” explained the podcaster. “I deal with anxiety issues and this experience has really been good for me. It’s so empowering to use your voice.”

Debbie Wiseman (submitted photo) 

Wiseman seeks out different angles about Newfoundland history and stories that haven’t gained much coverage, but piqued interest. The show offers bite size portions of Newfoundland fur her listeners.

“I cover all kinds of stories from history and I also profile remarkable people from Newfoundland. I try to find stories that haven’t been told a lot,” said the host. “I recently profiled Mary Dohey, who was a flight attendant from Newfoundland and who was instrumental in defusing a hijacking.”

Wiseman always said she’d be happy if only ten people listened to each episode but this past August, NewfoundPod was downloaded over 3,000 times and it recently surpassed 4,000 downloads.

The podcast covers all things Newfoundland because Wiseman loves this province and wants others to know more about it.

“I just love this place. A piece of advice I’d give aspiring podcasters is to talk about something you love. People can tell when you really love your subject and people can tell when you don’t,” she advised.

Her favourite episodes cover Wiseman’s favourite times of the year Christmas and Halloween.

“For the Christmas episodes, I talked about some Newfoundland traditions in one, then in another, I spoke about my own family traditions,” said Wiseman. “For Halloween this year I read a short story by a local author:  The Balcony by Keith Daniels. My other episodes covered local spooky legends including a haunted hotel.”

Wiseman holding the bear, baby sister Deanne and her sister Brenda in the middle. 

To hear more from Wiseman and Newfoundland, tune into NewfoundPod.