Matt: I might also point out that that's a bit of a fault of mine.
Matt: And that's sometimes you wait too long.
Matt: If only I had known, if only if I had acted sooner.
Matt: I can't tell you how many times in business people said, if only I had acted
Matt: sooner, I would have, it would have been different. It would have worked out better.
Matt: It could have worked out worse. But often when we talk about if only I had acted
Matt: sooner, we're talking about something that could have been better.
Danny: Hi, and welcome to 5 Random Questions, the show with unexpected questions
Danny: and unfiltered answers.
Danny: I'm your host, Danny Brown, and each week I'll be asking my guests five questions
Danny: created by a random question generator.
Danny: The guest has no idea what the questions are, and neither do I,
Danny: which means this could go either way.
Danny: So sit back, relax, and let's dive into this week's episode.
Danny: Today's guest is Matt Cundill. Matt is a recovering broadcaster turned podcast producer and host.
Danny: He's the founder of the SoundOff Media Company, where he develops and produces
Danny: a diverse portfolio of original and branded shows spanning industry commentary,
Danny: culture, tourism, lifestyle, and music storytelling.
Danny: His flagship program, The Sound Off Podcast, is now in its 10th year,
Danny: approaching 500 episodes, and remains a leading voice in North American podcast
Danny: and broadcast industry conversations.
Danny: He also publishes The Sounding Off newsletter, widely followed by media professionals
Danny: across Canada and the United States.
Danny: So Matt, welcome to 5 Random Questions.
Matt: Thanks for having me. I've actually always wanted to be on this show
Danny: Ah you're you don't have to say that mate i got you on anyway so thank you i appreciate that,
Danny: And we've known each other a little bit. We've met actually in person.
Danny: I think we met online first, obviously, but then we've met in person at podcasting events.
Danny: And as I mentioned in the intro there, your leading podcast,
Danny: your main podcast, 500 episodes or almost 500 over 10 years,
Danny: which is almost, I think, if my math is correct, about an episode a week.
Danny: So what's the secret to consistency and just essentially longevity keeping going?
Matt: I think I got, it's jealousy is the answer. And I was really jealous of people
Matt: who are really good at this.
Matt: And one of the things I said, well, how do you keep doing? And they said,
Matt: well, I keep creating every week and I'm always trying to reinvent what I'm doing.
Matt: And I'm always adding to it. I said, well, if I can just be consistent with
Matt: the, with the whole thing, then good things will happen.
Matt: And consistency is really, you know, one of the keys to building audience
Matt: I had Aaron Monkey from Lore sort of say, well, why do you release sometimes
Matt: on Thursdays and sometimes on Tuesdays?
Matt: And he said, if you can be consistent with it, you can build a great audience from it.
Matt: And, of course, I should have known that being a radio broadcaster because you
Matt: should see the number of people who go to the Radio Hall of Fame just by showing
Matt: up every day at the same time and putting in a mediocre job,
Danny: Right? Just shipping it. And it's funny you mentioned Hall of Fame there,
Danny: because obviously your background is in media production, podcasting, etc.
Danny: And the creative front. But obviously you've got many interests outside of that.
Danny: And being Scottish, from Scotland originally, I've been in Canada for the last 20 years now.
Danny: But I don't know a lot about American football.
Danny: And yes, I'm calling it American football because my football is a proper one.
Danny: But I don't know a lot about American football. And I noticed on a recent social
Danny: media post that you said there are a lot of truly petty people in the world.
Danny: And those people are the ones who did not vote Bill Belichick to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Danny: So what's all that about? Why are they all petty?
Matt: Well, it's sports writers who vote on this stuff. And it's very odd.
Matt: You know, we're punishing Pete Rose all the time for, you know,
Matt: he can't go to the Hall of Fame because of something that he did.
Matt: Bill Belichick got caught up in something called deflate gate,
Matt: where there was a little cheating involved, where the footballs were not quite
Matt: as inflated as they should be, which led to, of course, less fumbles.
Matt: But media has it in for some of these sports professionals, and it's just petty.
Matt: Listen, this is the winningest head coach of all time.
Matt: This is a simple, simple thing to do. You put him in the Hall of Fame,
Matt: but on the first ballot and in his first year of eligibility,
Matt: they didn't do it. And it's, I guess, some people have got an axe to grind with the sports media.
Matt: And if you go back and look at a number of his media conferences,
Matt: he would often hold them at seven in the morning.
Matt: He would force the media to get out of bed. There were a lot of curt answers.
Matt: There's a lot of great sound bites.
Matt: He would answer the same way every time. He had tremendous disdain for the media.
Matt: And this was their way of getting back in a minute. It's petty.
Danny: So I guess it's the media, like I said, I don't really understand or don't know.
Danny: I understand. I know American football. I understand that. I've played it on
Danny: the Sega Genesis way back in the day.
Danny: So I'm guessing the Hall of Fame, it's all primarily media-led for nominations,
Danny: recognition awards, et cetera, then?
Matt: Yeah, there's people inside football who get to vote on this too,
Matt: but it's perpetuated in a strange way. Listen, he's not a likable guy. That's fine.
Matt: Is this the way we should be sort of getting back at him and judging him?
Matt: It seems like a petty way to do it.
Danny: Okay well what we will try and thanks for explaining that
Danny: and we will try not to be we will try not to be petty with our questions and
Danny: answers here but and continuing the hall of fame like theme i'm going to invite
Danny: you now to the hall of fame collection that have been on the random question
Danny: hot seat are we ready for this i'm ready awesome let's bring up the random question generator,
Danny: OK, yeah, I think this may have been up before, but it's been a while since
Danny: it came up. And I'm always curious for questions like this.
Danny: So, Matt, question number one, if you had $10 million, would you still be working
Danny: or going to school if that was an option too?
Matt: Absolutely. I absolutely would still be working.
Matt: I don't know what I would do if I didn't have work. And I know these are kind
Matt: of like the words of somebody who may be a workaholic,
Matt: but I've been getting out of bed and working and excited
Matt: to go to work too every day for like a very long
Matt: time now if i didn't like my job and it didn't involve microphones
Matt: and recording audio dealing with audiences making people happy that sort of
Matt: thing you know what i might i might quit but i have made it a part of my life
Matt: to do something that i really really enjoy and be sure to wake up every morning
Matt: to something i want i like to wake up to the future every day i think podcasting's
Matt: got a great future in front of it and i'm excited so absolutely 100 if i had
Matt: 10 million dollars i would still be doing exactly what i'm doing so
Danny: What would you and i kind of figured you might know you as a person um what
Danny: would some of the changes be that we'd make with that extra money so events
Danny: you go to more events more podcast events would you create bursaries would you
Danny: create x y studios what would you do with the 10 million.
Matt: I'd probably work in a little bit more travel, uh, into, into it.
Matt: So let's say there's podcasting events I couldn't afford to go to.
Matt: I would definitely find a way to afford to go in and explore the world and as
Matt: well, you know, see what podcasting is like in, in other parts of the world.
Matt: I'm sure that I could probably have just one too many drinks that I would part
Matt: with some of that money and into some company or something.
Matt: In fact, actually just before, you know, we started recording this,
Matt: I had a phone call from somebody who was looking for a little bit of money for their app.
Matt: And I thought, well, if I had that, I would probably do it.
Matt: And if I had $10 million, I definitely would have given this person the $1,500
Matt: they wanted as a contribution towards the development of their app.
Matt: So I would definitely be a little bit more.
Matt: I would be spending a little bit more if I had the $10 million.
Matt: I got a soft spot, you know?
Danny: Yeah, no, 100%. And it's funny you mentioned what you would do to help app developers,
Danny: for example in podcasting you know pros and people new to industry i'm curious
Danny: is there anything you would use the money to kick out with the podcasting space
Danny: or the production or media space that's kind of bad and holds people back if you like yeah.
Matt: So i've often thought about this and the question that comes up quite often
Matt: is what would you do if you had a hundred thousand dollars to to market your podcast.
Matt: I think I would probably be looking for ways to make shows more popular.
Matt: I'm not sure that there's a direct spend with any of that money,
Matt: but it would be something that I would look to, to try to increase voices.
Matt: I just don't know how to spend that money. You see, I'm very cautious with money.
Matt: I'm like, well, I have it. I'm not really sure if I should be jumping into that.
Matt: I'm going to take a year to think about this idea.
Matt: And if I wake up in about a year and I still love the idea, then I would probably jump at it.
Matt: And I might also point out that that's a bit of a fault of mine.
Matt: And that's sometimes you wait too long.
Matt: If only I had known, if only if I had acted sooner, I can't tell you how many
Matt: times in business people said, if only I had acted sooner, I would have,
Matt: it would have been different. It would have worked out better.
Matt: It could have worked out worse. But often when we talk about if only I had acted
Matt: sooner, we're talking about something that could have been better.
Matt: That's my characteristics.
Matt: That's what would happen with $10 million. In the end, I would still have $10
Matt: million plus interest and I wouldn't have acted. I'd still be thinking about it, though.
Danny: Yeah. I mean, interest would rack up pretty quickly, I feel, on 10 million.
Danny: So then you've got like an added problem of, well, now I can't spend it.
Danny: Now it's 10 and a half. Now it's 11. Now it's a loan and a half.
Matt: You know, there's a B part to that because of the question that says,
Matt: you know, going to school, would you still go to school?
Matt: I think I love working in this space because I'm a student of podcasting.
Matt: You know, even though I've got, you know, 10, 15, 20 years of experience having,
Matt: you know, very simply even uploading to what was iTunes, you know,
Matt: at the time, I still want to be a student of, you know, audio and learn every
Matt: day. I think that's part of it.
Danny: No, I like that. And like I say, yeah, I mean, I think once we feel we've learned
Danny: all we can about podcasts in this space that we both love, clearly,
Danny: that's time to hang up the mic, personally.
Matt: Hey, I just got $10 million. I don't even know how to grow the space yet.
Danny: Well, I can help you with that for a mere $3 million. So I'm not even taking
Danny: a big chunk yet. So you're all good there, Matt.
Danny: But okay, I like that. And that's a nice, informal, easy one, I feel.
Danny: A gentle one to kick off proceedings. So let's have a look and see what comes
Danny: up with question number two.
Danny: Okay. Question number two. And I'm wondering, we were speaking,
Danny: you mentioned Green Room earlier prior to recording there, Matt.
Danny: We were speaking about Netflix and stuff like that.
Danny: So question two, what is the worst movie that you've seen?
Matt: Well so there are a lot of them um i
Matt: thought zapped with scott baio back in
Matt: 1980 something that that was terrible uh i
Matt: thought gone girl more recently i think it was like 2015 maybe 2014 that was
Matt: terror i didn't like that movie i didn't like the movie with matt damon going
Matt: to space and i'll tell you in terms of quality of movies i don't find movies
Matt: to be i've never thought it was time well spent.
Matt: And, you know, if you only go to see one movie a year, you'd hear that in the
Matt: trailer. If you only see one movie a year,
Matt: Uh, well, I'm the person who actually only sees one movie a year.
Matt: And I made it a point for many, many years to just see one movie a year that,
Matt: you know, was word of mouth that people said I had to go see,
Matt: then I would be excited to go see the movie. But there are so many movies out there.
Matt: And I thought there was a turning point with, with gone girl.
Matt: I met my, my now wife and she said, I love going to movies. Let's go.
Matt: And what are we going to see? We're going to see gone girl. Okay.
Matt: And I went to watch it. I was impatient. I didn't like it.
Matt: I don't remember much. I don't, it didn't identify with what was going on.
Matt: Some people found it clever.
Matt: I, I thought I'm never getting, you know, two hours of my life back after that investment.
Matt: So I'm quite, I'm quite careful with it. What I look for in a movie is I like good writing.
Matt: I'll have a great story and I love characters that, that make me laugh at,
Matt: you know, make me love them, make me hate them, something like that.
Matt: But if your movie doesn't have that, don't bring it around here.
Matt: Don't bring your two star movie here and do not bring your three or three and
Matt: a half star movie here either. I want fours and fives.
Danny: And you mentioned that you make it, or made, I'm not sure if it's still the
Danny: case now, but you made it a point of just seeing one movie a year.
Danny: So do you prefer just staying at home and wait until it comes on the streaming
Danny: then or buy it on digital to watch?
Danny: Or is it, you mentioned obviously that's how you met your wife.
Danny: Was that a movie? Or going to the movie, not that movie. Didn't go in there
Danny: and met her in the dark or whatever. But going to a movie theatre.
Danny: Is it still something that you still go, even knowing that you probably won't
Danny: enjoy the movie you're going to see, or are you just like, you're fair to stay at home now?
Matt: If I sense I'm not going to enjoy the movie, I'm not going to the movie.
Matt: Often, and this is where my wife has a great job, she will, she knows I love documentaries.
Matt: So we will watch, like, for instance, the Bruce Springsteen movie,
Matt: which not everybody loved.
Matt: I enjoyed it. I did like that one when it came out, which talks about Bruce
Matt: Springsteen's time between recording Born in the USA and Nebraska in that 1982,
Matt: 83, 84 period. I really enjoyed that one.
Matt: But yeah, she'll bend over for that. But, you know, to help me,
Matt: you know, to make it so that we can watch the movie together.
Matt: It's just not often we can do that
Matt: because there's only so many history documentaries she's going to enjoy.
Danny: And that's your jam then, History Docs?
Matt: Yeah, I love nonfiction. I love history. I'm a history major.
Matt: Just love studying history. When I went to Acadia University,
Matt: the professor, he was giving me C's and C minuses, but that didn't matter.
Matt: I fell in love with the whole thing.
Matt: And he taught me how to study it and how to appreciate history.
Matt: And I've kind of been in that space ever since.
Danny: It's also expensive to go to the movie theatre now. We've got two teen kids,
Danny: so if we were to go as a family of four and buy the tickets,
Danny: then the popcorn, drinks, whatever.
Danny: And then let's say we're hungry either before the movie or after it.
Danny: You're talking probably, I don't know, $300 for an evening out maybe?
Matt: Yeah, I'm sad actually because we don't go to movie theatres as much and inside
Matt: the theatres there's only movies that we are familiar with. You know,
Matt: they're generally a bunch of reboots. There's a bunch of remakes.
Matt: I did go see, for instance, you know, the Barbie movie.
Matt: That was my one movie for that year, actually, that I did go out to go see.
Matt: You know, I enjoyed it. But I feel that we've lost a little bit with streaming into the house.
Matt: It's nice to have the convenience, but I just moved to a very small town.
Matt: There's only a few thousand people in Saint-Henri-Dal-Quebec,
Matt: where I live now. But we have a movie theater.
Matt: And the movie shows movies in French and in English. And this is a predominantly
Matt: Francophone town, too. So I am happy to be in a town where there's a nice movie theater.
Danny: That's awesome. We're actually in a small village, too. Probably about the same kind of numbers.
Danny: There's 800 families, so let's say that's about 3,000 people, probably.
Danny: We don't have a movie theater, but if we drive 15 minutes away,
Danny: there's an old-fashioned one.
Danny: It's got just two rows, leather chairs, a little dinky screen,
Danny: no huge Dolby Atmos or whatever.
Danny: And I do enjoy that because that takes me back to when I was a teen going to see a movie, right?
Danny: Perfect perfect so we know that maybe with your 10 million you could like make
Danny: a little indie movie that could go to these little theaters.
Matt: You know i i probably would um do that and in fact in my top desk drawer there's
Matt: about three or four podcast ideas that are sitting there that would probably
Matt: go straight from we'll skip the podcast and we'll take it right to to make a documentary with it i
Danny: Showed i was going to say i'll take you up and up but i won't because i want
Danny: my three million for the idea so i'll leave you with a seven to make the movie then but.
Matt: Listen this is what we make you executive producer for i
Danny: Like it i'm going to put that on my side of my desk my little i'm going to get
Danny: a background sign for that matt's executive producer sounds good all right i
Danny: like that then let's have a look then at question number three what is the last
Danny: thing you do before you go to sleep.
Matt: I put on a podcast i
Danny: Can't i wasn't sure if you're going to say that or not but it's kind of feel
Danny: that you might have but okay cool.
Matt: And that's because of the way i grew up i grew up in montreal
Matt: i grew up with an am radio beside my am fm
Matt: clock radio actually beside my bed but predominantly i would listen
Matt: to am 10 o'clock at night i would listen
Matt: to sports with ted tevin who is a detroit broadcaster also montreal broadcaster
Matt: but you know montreal canadians hockey game or the montreal expos game would
Matt: end and i would listen to the phone calls And I learned to fall in love with
Matt: the radio and that got a little bit boring.
Matt: I would turn the dial and I could move it from 600 down to six 60, which is WNBC.
Matt: Oh, wow. I'm getting a New York radio station piping right into my bedroom.
Matt: You could turn it a little further. You get to, uh, get to eight,
Matt: 10, get to Detroit. You pick up, you know, WLS.
Matt: It was 800 actually was Detroit. Eight, 10 was WLS.
Matt: I'm, I'm going off memory. These are all call letters and frequencies that are,
Matt: that are, you know, that nobody talks about as much anymore.
Matt: But I fell in love falling asleep.
Matt: Listening to the radio. And that really hasn't changed today.
Matt: I'm not much for a TV in the bedroom.
Matt: This has been a bit of a sticking point with my wife and I, she loves the TV
Matt: in the bedroom. I do not like the blue light.
Matt: That doesn't stop me from picking up an iPad every once in a while.
Matt: And I do know that if I wake up in the middle of the night, I do not want to
Matt: check the phone. I do not want to look at an iPad or anything because that's blue light.
Matt: Blue light will keep you awake. And I like to get my sleep. I think that's important to get your sleep.
Matt: So I find it wonderful to drift off with uh with the sound of of a voice and
Danny: Do you have like um set podcasts you listen to because i'd imagine maybe there's
Danny: some genres like true crime which maybe maybe not but if you got like a really
Danny: gory scary true crime story that might keep you or keep some people awake is
Danny: there any genre or certain podcast you you drift off to.
Matt: Oh i have a story because this happened the
Matt: other night i went to sleep listening to christy lee
Matt: canadian true crime and the story
Matt: involved you know bad things of course and my
Matt: wife woke up in the morning she said i dreamt of this bad thing and
Matt: this bad thing and i said well i take responsibility because i was the podcast
Matt: was on and it probably put that in your mind and that's how
Matt: you got to dreaming about that sort of thing so when i do fall asleep it will
Matt: be sports it could be politics i love falling asleep to politics is so dull
Matt: that you just sort of lose yourself and and then you fall asleep to it um if
Matt: it's something instructional if it's something that's going to be good for me it's You know,
Matt: I used to do this at university. I would read a textbook before going to bed.
Matt: I was done after a page and a half of political science. I'm done. I'm asleep.
Matt: You know, it's, it's, it's good stuff to, uh, to fall asleep to.
Matt: I like to listen to some sports, but I, sometimes if I'm emotionally invested,
Matt: it will get my heart racing. It will have the reverse effect.
Matt: So I don't need to hear anything else about the Buffalo Bills and their tragedies.
Matt: Because that just makes me sad and it keeps me up at night. They literally keep me up at night.
Matt: So I can't listen to any sports that talks about something sad like that.
Danny: No, I hear you. So obviously you mentioned that your wife woke up and she couldn't
Danny: sleep while she was having nightmares and dreams about the topic of the true crime.
Danny: Do you feel, not buy into, that's the wrong word, do you feel that subconsciously
Danny: what we listen to prior to going to sleep can help, or even while sleeping.
Danny: So if you want to learn a new language, for example, like people say,
Danny: well, go to sleep, listen to learning Spanish or learning French or whatever.
Danny: Or if you want to learn history, you know, and be better prepared for your exams,
Danny: go to sleep, listen about the topic.
Danny: You're going to be examined, examined on, examined, I think that's a verb.
Matt: Tested.
Danny: Tested, there you go, thank you. Do you believe that? Is that something you have seen?
Matt: Yeah, it actually happened just last night. And
Matt: And she said, well, she woke up this morning and said, well,
Matt: I was dreaming of being in a hotel. And I said, well, maybe you wouldn't be
Matt: dreaming of being in a hotel if you weren't booking hotels as the last thing
Matt: you were doing before you went to sleep last night.
Matt: We often, and this goes back to the television too.
Matt: I don't like the television in the room, you know, especially if the show is
Matt: going to be of a nature where there's like murder or crime or something sad happening.
Matt: I'll bring that feeling to bed with me and I won't feel good about it.
Matt: So, I mean, I like to go to sleep with butterflies and unicorns and,
Matt: you know, my wonderful chicken farm and other things that I'm imagining and in faraway places.
Matt: But yeah, if you, if you bring, you know, for instance, the Sopranos is a tough
Matt: one before bed because it's heavy storylines, heavy conversation.
Matt: There's murder, there's blood, you know, it gets the heart going and,
Matt: you know, you can sleep a little bit of discomfort.
Matt: So that's why I'm not a fan of, of the TV in the bedroom. I've managed to keep
Matt: the television out of the bedroom to this point since we moved about a year ago.
Matt: And I think as a couple, we're better for it.
Danny: Yeah. I know my wife used to watch Dexter a lot. She'd binge watch Dexter before bed.
Danny: And then she'd wonder why she wasn't getting good night's sleep and having nightmares and stuff.
Danny: And I said to her, well, what are you watching before you go to sleep? Well, Dexter.
Matt: It's a heavy watch.
Danny: Exactly. And I couldn't. And I enjoy scary movies, but I wouldn't watch them
Danny: late at night before going to sleep.
Danny: I'd watch them middle of the afternoon or early evening when they're still, you know, light, etc.
Matt: Okay, so scary movies. I know we did movies earlier in this conversation.
Matt: That is, we are not doing scary movies ever. That is out.
Matt: I like lighthearted comedies, things that make you smile, things that make you laugh.
Matt: That's where I am. But I've got a wife who loves true crime shows,
Matt: listening to it. And she also watches trials.
Matt: She loves like the lawyer, you know, the YouTube channels with the lawyers,
Matt: the lawyer, you know, and stuff like that. So very invested.
Matt: She has a law background.
Matt: She loves watching that stuff, but not for me.
Danny: Not for you. But I'd imagine that's good because like often couples,
Danny: many couples I know, and watch the same stuff, enjoy the same stuff.
Danny: But it sounds like you've got two very different, you know, things that you
Danny: enjoy, which I'd imagine offers some great conversation as well when you're
Danny: talking about and trying to maybe explain why you enjoyed X,
Danny: Y, Z, and she's the same, you know, with her stuff.
Matt: Yeah, so, you know, we meet in the middle. At some point we have to settle on
Matt: something on Netflix or, you know, Amazon Prime or, you know,
Matt: one of those streaming services. We do have to land on something.
Matt: So we do, we do find stuff. So the studio with Seth Rogen is something I watched. We loved it.
Matt: You know, we watched it together, loved it. Hopefully there's going to be more in the near future.
Matt: So we have our shows and we meet in the middle and, you know,
Matt: she, I live, I live in American football lifestyle for, for a number of months
Matt: of the year where we travel, we'll go to see the team maybe even twice.
Matt: You know, I watch my team and, you know, she watches alongside.
Matt: Side so she's gotten into it you know just just watching me go through my my
Matt: sad emotions on Sundays well
Danny: I won't keep you uh with the sad emotion mindset
Danny: there but I like that and I like the um like you say it's just like um I am
Danny: with you 100% in the blue light I need my sleep I'm an agent now I've if I don't
Danny: get my sleep I'm grump I'm Scottish I'm a gen X Scotsman so I'm grumpy anyway
Danny: by default if I don't get my my night's sleep no I'm just don't come near me that.
Matt: But also Danny we work in front of screens all day so
Matt: yeah you know we have our fill of screens I don't need any more screens as well
Matt: I'm making content all day and listening to other people's stories and making
Matt: stories I don't need some to watch somebody else's story because I'm going to
Matt: watch go well they missed the writing there well I can see that coming I go
Matt: watch it from such a different perspective it's almost like not fun to be with me almost I said I
Danny: Know well I've met you And I know what you mean. So we'll leave that there. I jest, I jest.
Danny: So on that note, before Matt reaches through the screen and rearranges my face,
Danny: let's have a look at what comes up on question number four. And I like this one.
Danny: It's come up before, but I do like this. So Matt, question four.
Danny: What is one of the top things on your bucket list?
Matt: Wow. Okay, so I haven't really thought about my bucket list for a long, long time.
Matt: Because I thought as I was going through life, I was checking them off when
Matt: I didn't even really need to check them off.
Matt: I want to see Metallica. Well, I've seen Metallica now 10 times.
Matt: I had the luxury of working in radio and even got to see Metallica play at the
Matt: North Pole at one point in my life where I met Adam Curry, who if you know anything about podcasting,
Matt: was one of the very first to create a podcast.
Matt: And there was Adam Curry who was, And I don't know why I'm telling the story
Matt: because I haven't answered the question yet, but there he was doing some live streaming.
Matt: And I said, well, what's his live stream? He said, well, I'm live streaming
Matt: the concert from the North Pole. And I thought, wow.
Matt: Anyway, that was, that turned out, I mean, at one point just seeing Metallica
Matt: was, was, was on my bucket list.
Matt: Today, it's just simply, you know, travel to Asia.
Matt: I've never been. um i also have never been to africa so i've got two things
Matt: and they both involve travel
Matt: in places to go and i'm beginning to really think about
Matt: it now that i've you know i'm well into my 50s and
Matt: you know is it japan or is it thailand you know and where do i go in africa
Matt: and i've got a lot of podcast listeners in nigeria and i've made connections
Matt: with people there and i thought that might be an interesting place to go but
Matt: people tell me kenya is is remarkable. So the bucket list
Matt: is it definitely involves travel and those two parts of the planet are just
Matt: under traveled in my on my passport
Danny: It's interesting it's like um i think
Danny: travel is such a key thing as well like um a few of the past episodes on this
Danny: season funnily enough uh we've been talking about why people should travel if
Danny: they get the opportunity and for so many reasons and like africa and asia it
Danny: just it seems like because they're so far away from where we are as well,
Danny: it makes it such an interesting and desirable place to go.
Danny: And I know we probably know some of the, we probably have some fellow creators
Danny: from Africa that we both know.
Danny: Is there like, what's the main reason for choosing there as opposed to,
Danny: let's say, Europe, I guess that's easier to get to maybe, or Australia or,
Danny: you know, Or is it just a completely different culture from what we might get in North America?
Matt: So I picked out two continents, and they're just two places I have not been.
Matt: I think they'd be challenging places to go. I wouldn't find Australia very challenging to go to.
Matt: I feel like I know Australia just from getting on the lift at Whistler.
Matt: I've met enough of the lifties there who can help me.
Matt: I feel like those places would be the challenging ones.
Matt: But Europe, I've been to quite a lot. And, uh, I've spent a lot of time in Spain.
Matt: You know, I love it. It's an easy place to work from. I can spend one month of my life there.
Matt: It's, you know, in the South of Spain is, is Malaga.
Matt: The weather's nice. I can get out of the Canadian winter for a little bit.
Matt: It's, it's kind of an easy place to do it, but it's not travel.
Matt: I'm actually living there for, you know, anywhere between four and six weeks.
Matt: And, you know, I enjoy it and I enjoy the food.
Matt: I know a little bit of the language. I like to practice the language,
Matt: but it's time to probably leave the box and, and, you You know,
Matt: try, you know, try Thailand, try Japan.
Matt: Something in asia just you know sort of travel a little bit further than normally
Matt: than what i would be used to again this takes a little bit of research it takes a little bit of
Matt: definitely some preparation to go to places to it definitely takes preparation
Matt: to go to a new place because you want to get the most out of it in the amount
Matt: of time that you're going to spend there
Danny: Well that's the thing it's like that's what i was going to ask you actually so
Danny: i'm glad you brought that little segue perfect there it's
Danny: like it's like you're a pro mate it's like you're a pro but um would you i guess
Danny: how long would you want to go there for and would you do a mix of the larger
Danny: metropolitan metropolitan areas getting my words out properly um and then go
Danny: deeper into the country to discover off the beaten track or how would you mix that up.
Matt: Probably with research and a lot of word of mouth so i would probably ask other
Matt: people who have been there you know and this is another thing and that's youtube
Matt: youtube has really opened up the
Matt: world to travel to say Oh, here's an experience. I'd like to do this too.
Matt: Instagram as well has told us some of the great places we can go try and what we can eat.
Matt: It, it's, it's changed the game and it's changed the game in another way.
Matt: And by the way, Anthony Bourdain did this as well.
Matt: He would go to places and he would sort of show the experiences and then people began to mimic it.
Matt: And he realized, and a lot of successful YouTubers are really realizing if I
Matt: go and promote this restaurant, if I go to promote this tourist attraction,
Matt: this place is going to get slammed if I do it right and I make it look good.
Matt: And it happens. There are, there are specific restaurants I know in,
Matt: in, in Barcelona that are largely tourists.
Matt: Tourists go there. There's still some locals, but by and large,
Matt: it's a lot of tourists who go and they've been sold by other Instagrammers or
Matt: by other YouTubers, uh, to go in. So yes, I would fall down that trap.
Matt: I would definitely use YouTube to help me sort of, sort of frame my experience.
Matt: Uh, cause if you see one person do it, then we can mimic it and then we can go copy it.
Matt: We used to use the voters book to find out where to go those are very good too
Matt: but now we've got YouTube and we can see for ourselves what the experience is
Matt: like and I preface that by saying for better or worse
Danny: No, I agree. I wish I had usual.
Danny: I did a backpacking trip to Australia in my early to mid 30s or 20 plus years ago.
Danny: And it was all about, I knew one person from Australia and he was like a waiter
Danny: at one of the diners I went to.
Danny: So you'd say, okay, well, if you're going to New South Wales,
Danny: you have to do this and this, but then you have to do that. But if you never
Danny: knew that guy, I'd have no idea what to do with us now.
Danny: I know we give a lot of sticks sometimes to YouTube and some of the creators
Danny: on there and TikTok, et cetera.
Danny: But it's such a great platform, or these are great platforms as well,
Danny: to help you, you know, when it comes to decisions like that, I think.
Matt: One of the things that really comes up when I'm thinking, okay,
Matt: Metropolis is easy. You know, I want to learn how to use public transportation.
Matt: That's the first thing I want to learn. To leave, though, and go to the countryside,
Matt: how am I going to do it? Can I take a train?
Matt: Fine, I will take a train. Is there a bus? Okay. I'll take a bus.
Matt: Do I have to rent a car? Is that easy? What side of the road do I drive on?
Matt: You know, is there a stick shift that doesn't bother me? I have a stick shift.
Matt: I know how to work that thing.
Matt: These are some of the questions that get asked when I wanted to leave the metropolis
Matt: and head to the countryside.
Matt: I did some driving in Italy and Spain, and then I realized I wasn't necessarily
Matt: on holiday because I found myself paying so much attention to what was going
Matt: on on the road that I said, well, this doesn't feel as much like a holiday.
Matt: So I learned to use public transportation wherever possible.
Danny: Especially like if you go to Rome, there's like a massive roundabout smacking
Danny: the middle of Rome that's a nightmare.
Matt: I did it. You did that one? I survived it. And it's not far from the train station
Matt: and across the street from the train station is where you can rent the cars.
Matt: And it's like one of the first things you encounter. All I can tell you about
Matt: driving in Italy is it's twice as bad as you've been told in Rome and only half
Matt: as bad when you're in the countryside.
Danny: I can imagine that. I've never been, like I've not been far out in Italy,
Danny: but I just remember that roundabout.
Danny: There's another one in Paris as well, near the Arc de Triomphe,
Danny: where it's just, and my wife, she's Canadian, so she's used to doing little
Danny: dinky roundabouts that have got two lanes tops, but normally one lane.
Danny: And then she looks at that and she has palpitations even thinking about driving there.
Matt: I've got one worse, and I'll throw it at her, and that's called Bermuda,
Matt: where they've got the roundabouts, but they're going around on the left side in the other direction.
Danny: Oh.
Matt: So I'm a regular visitor to Bermuda, and driving on the left on a scooter is, I enjoy that.
Matt: Actually, I really do enjoy that. And then I can deal with the roundabouts.
Matt: You just got to be prepared to give way.
Danny: Yeah, because Bermuda, so you mentioned the left there. So I'm assuming Bermuda
Danny: does the same side of the road driving as the UK and Australia then.
Matt: Yeah, it's a British island.
Danny: Oh, it's a British island. I forgot that completely.
Matt: And listen, this is one of the cleanest places on the planet.
Matt: They serve tea at four o'clock and everybody is dressed well.
Danny: High tea.
Matt: High tea is served at four.
Danny: High tea with scones and cream and strawberries and such as.
Danny: Oh, man. Done it again. Last week's episode, I mentioned to my guest we were talking about pizza.
Danny: And I said, I've got to stop talking about food on the show because every time
Danny: I do, I want to have what we're talking about after the episode finishes recording.
Danny: Now I need to make like a scone. Well, I've not got a scone,
Danny: but I've got muffins, English muffins. I have to try to find some cream and jam for that then.
Danny: Thanks for that, Matt. I appreciate you making me think about food again on an episode.
Danny: Alrighty, we're doing well. We've got to the last question. So let's see what
Danny: question number five brings up.
Danny: And yeah, okay. This may tie into your first answer, actually,
Danny: about procrastination, maybe. I'm not sure.
Danny: Anyway, Matt, question number five, mate. What's one thing that you would like
Danny: to change about yourself? Not necessarily would, but would like to?
Matt: Um that's a hard one and i'll tell you why it's because i i think about that a lot
Matt: and and what i would like to be and it's
Matt: something that i work on quite often and that's i would like to learn
Matt: how to let go of control i have control issues and i don't have a fear of flying
Matt: but i'm very very nervous about flying so before the plane takes off i'm saying
Matt: a little mantras i'm calming myself down but what i learned was i don't really
Matt: have a fear of flying i've got a control problem.
Matt: And that's letting somebody else operate the plane to take me to my next destination.
Matt: So which also leads to a little bit of trust issues. So there's control and trust in there.
Matt: I'd like to learn a little bit more about being more comfortable with not being in control.
Danny: Interesting.
Matt: Yeah. So this goes to producing a radio show. I had to have my finger on the
Matt: buttons. I like to be in control of what's going on.
Matt: I like to be in control of the sound and the production. And,
Matt: you know, it's to my detriment.
Matt: If I could let go of a little bit more, I'd probably get more done in the day.
Matt: If I could let go of a little bit more, things might flourish a little bit better.
Matt: I'm kind of like the person who overwaters their plants, probably spends too
Matt: much time hovering over a situation.
Matt: Spends too much time over focused on
Matt: something that just doesn't need to be doesn't need
Matt: any attention we've written the program the program works what are we doing
Matt: well me i like to fiddle with it a little bit more right because it because
Matt: i'm comfortable being in control it gives me a good feeling uh i'd like to be
Matt: told i'd like to know when to knock it off and to not worry about having a controlling moment.
Danny: Do you think this might have, like, I'm not sure if it was like before or after?
Danny: Obviously, you've spent many, many years in production, you know, in the media space.
Danny: Was that a trait that you had prior to going into that?
Danny: Or do you think you picked that up as you learned more and you started to control
Danny: more of productions, you know, studios, et cetera?
Matt: Yeah, that's a good question. So I would probably...
Matt: I think I've been to enough therapy to know that I got into radio in this particular
Matt: space because there were things that I could control.
Matt: And because I could control what was going on the radio or what the content
Matt: was or the direction we'd be headed,
Matt: that led me to being a manager, which led me to running radio stations and then
Matt: starting my own company and having degrees of control over it.
Matt: And, yeah, I mean, it's something that was ingrained at me at a younger age
Matt: where I wanted to sort of have or exert a little bit of control.
Matt: So I'm not controlling in a sense of I'm going to control this relationship
Matt: or I'm going to control the outcome of something. I just like to have my hands on the wheel.
Danny: Now, that makes me wonder. So obviously you've got various podcasts,
Danny: you produce various podcasts.
Danny: And one of the ones you do is podcast Super Friends with you and for co-hosts normally.
Danny: And you, not control, you produce that.
Danny: Would you be willing to hand the reins over to one of the other co-hosts to
Danny: produce that or would that have to be you?
Matt: So we actually had a guest on from Riverside, Kendall, who is the community manager there.
Matt: So it only makes sense that we would use Riverside in order to record this episode.
Matt: So happy to let that go. Yeah, I would totally let that go and let somebody else do it.
Matt: I would probably find a little bit of joy for a day. But there's a little bit
Matt: of that rush that when I'm sort of driving, I'm like, oh, yeah,
Matt: there's a little bit of a rush there to how we're going to be producing with
Matt: five or six people on the screen.
Matt: And is it all going to work? And what are we going to bring in at what point?
Matt: But yeah, I'd be more than happy to pass it off now because I'm running the recording system.
Matt: We do share hosting duties. And I think that's, that's part of it is just,
Matt: you know, maybe today I should let go.
Matt: What can I let go of today that will serve the greater good of our group?
Matt: And by the way, that's something that I've had to learn in my thirties,
Matt: late twenties, into my third, especially in my younger thirties was just,
Matt: just to let go a little bit.
Matt: But eventually I found my way to a yoga mat and they really,
Matt: really taught me how to let go just to this, let that go into the universe and
Matt: it's going to be okay. And they didn't lie.
Matt: Everything's fine. It's going to be okay. And it, you know, it's also my,
Matt: my dad, my late father, he, he, he would say to me, um, after I would come back
Matt: from a day's work of blah, blah, blah, this, this, this, this,
Matt: and this, all this is wrong in my life.
Matt: And he would say, you know what, it's going to be okay. Why don't you just let
Matt: that go? It doesn't matter.
Matt: You'd be surprised by the number of things that we worry about that just don't matter.
Matt: And I'm still learning that I'm still to say, and now often I find myself just
Matt: saying to Pete, to my kids too,
Matt: you know, that doesn't matter you know when i see somebody riled up or and especially
Matt: in this day and age post pandemic seeing people on the street or they go off
Matt: and there's a tweet or this or that
Matt: you'd be surprised how that doesn't matter and i find myself telling other people
Matt: this stuff and sometimes i also have to tell myself that too no
Danny: It's funny you mentioned that like um like i say we live in a little village
Danny: um but we moved here from just north just west of toronto a few years back.
Danny: So we went from a big place to a really small place.
Danny: So it took a bit of a mindset change to adapt to that. And one of the things
Danny: that we have up here is like because we've got a lot of snow in the winter,
Danny: we have a lot of trails, etc.
Danny: So there's a lot of snowmobilers, I guess. And it took me, and even now sometimes
Danny: if someone goes by and the snowmobile is just a little bit loud,
Danny: I think, oh, turn that down. You don't need that loud. But I'm thinking, but who cares?
Danny: You know, you're not hurting anyone. You're not, or my wife says that to me, I should say.
Danny: But who are they hurting? They're not doing drugs. and not terrorizing pensioners
Danny: or out on their snowmobiles enjoying the outdoors. What's bad about that?
Danny: So I get you. And it's like you say, it's hard to, when you've been so long
Danny: of one mindset, it's hard to try to forget it at times that,
Danny: you know, don't let that upset you.
Matt: Yeah, we used to have these discussions in radio where we get together and we
Matt: say, well, this is the way it's done and this is the way it should be.
Matt: And we get hung up on it and then the results wouldn't be there.
Matt: And one of the things I learned was just, let's try somebody else's idea.
Matt: Even if it's bad, Let's try the idea. One of two things is going to happen.
Matt: It's going to be bad and we will then know it is bad or it's going to work out and be good.
Matt: But both the results are great because you get feedback.
Danny: And you might get a really awesome outcome for that change.
Matt: Yeah. So as controlling as I am, as much as I know that I like to be in control
Matt: of things, I like trying other ideas as well because you never know.
Matt: And if I knew, then I would know. But I just have to admit, sometimes I just don't know.
Danny: No, I like that. And I feel that's a nice one to finish off your time in the hot seat, mate.
Danny: But speaking of handing over control and, you know, driving the train or driving
Danny: the car, whatever, I've had you in the hot seat for around about 40 minutes or so there, mate.
Danny: So it's only fair to take that pressure off and hand over the question asking baton to you.
Matt: So I gave some thought to this one. And then about just between question three
Matt: and question four, I thought, oh, I see.
Matt: This is, yeah, Danny gets on about food and I've got a food question.
Danny: He's swine. I'm going to edit this as no be no guest question this week.
Matt: Well, I brought it back up. So I may let you pass on this one,
Matt: but I know that you're in Huntsville, Ontario, and I know the region well.
Matt: It can be cold, especially over the last number of weeks, some long nights,
Matt: cold ones. And I'm wondering what your favorite comfort food dish is on a cold
Matt: night in Huntsville, Ontario.
Matt: And how do you make it if you do make it yourself?
Danny: Ooh. So generally, if I'm looking for comfort food, I might just get something from a drive-thru.
Danny: But it's too much effort to get out there, especially in the winter, to do that.
Danny: So I guess my comfort food, the one I like, which is fairly easy to make as well.
Danny: I will do, and this is going to sound disgusting, it's like a Scottish thing,
Danny: so it probably is disgusting.
Danny: So I like warm food, if comfort is going to be warm, for one.
Danny: So I'll make some toast, so that's pretty easy.
Danny: And then I'll get some cold meat, so it can be ham, it can be turkey slices, whatever it is.
Danny: And I'll bang that in and warm that up. And then I'll throw on some hot sauce
Danny: and mush that in with that.
Danny: Throw on a lot of mayonnaise, but that's got to be hot and warm as well.
Danny: And so you, depending on what you want to do you can slice the meat up and throw
Danny: it in the mail and like put that in the microwave and heat that up,
Danny: and then get some little, so once you get the toast and you've got all this
Danny: meat that's on there and if you want to put more hot sauce on,
Danny: you'll do that, throw it on there as well so it's nice and hot and spicy,
Danny: but then, and this is the disgusting part,
Danny: I'll get chips or crisps as I call them, but chips so it can be any flavour
Danny: but I tend to like just a plain one because you've already got the flavour on
Danny: there and dip the the chip into the bread and the sandwich or the toast or what
Danny: you've got made there and scoop that up and just eat that.
Danny: And sometimes just if I'm feeling really lazy, I won't even bother making toast.
Danny: It'll just be like the bread with all that stuff on it and then crinkle up a
Danny: bunch of chips, sprinkle that on top and then fold the bread over it and then
Danny: eat it that way. And that would be my comfort food.
Danny: There's no name for it, just a hot shot mess.
Matt: Okay, excellent. I like that. And I love how you walked us through each step to do this.
Danny: Well, I'm sure you want to make this now. You know, you're going to come off
Danny: this recording, mate. You might have some work to do this afternoon,
Danny: but you're going to come off this recording.
Danny: And I know you're going to make that. And you're going to tell me exactly how
Danny: much awesomeness it was.
Matt: So I'm finding that a lot of my comfort food does revolve around bread.
Matt: And there's something in bread. It must be the sugars or something that has
Matt: me coming back all the time.
Matt: And of course, every once in a while, I need to, you know, slow down and
Matt: maybe eat something that doesn't involve bread. And that's kind of the week that I'm in this week.
Matt: We're just having a no carbs kind of week. But I find when I get hungry and
Matt: I get a craving, it generally involves something, you know, bread.
Matt: And what's better than a sandwich? Who doesn't have a favorite sandwich of some
Matt: sort that they can rely on? And who wouldn't eat a sandwich every day for lunch if they could?
Danny: Oh, that's it. My favorite, and I used to hear it as well. My mom would make
Danny: cheese and onion sandwiches for my dad.
Danny: So slices of cheese, sliced onion, and then just throw it on top of the cheese,
Danny: butter, big, thick Scottish bread, and then serve that up.
Danny: And I got to like onion because of my mom making these sandwiches years and years ago.
Matt: You know, Scotland has some of the most unique stuff in the world.
Matt: I was waiting for something involving haggis. I was wondering if haggis would show up.
Matt: There's also the deep fried and the battered Mars bar.
Matt: Battering a whole bunch of stuff and seeing whatever comes out of it.
Matt: So that's why I sort of reserved this question for you and put it off to the
Matt: side because I knew I would get something unique.
Danny: Yeah, I would make. I guess it's really hard to get here and battering stuff.
Danny: It's just, it takes too much time. For me, I'm lazy. If I want something really
Danny: fast and comfort, I just want it quick.
Danny: So that's why microwave, bread, toast, whatever, meat, mayo, you're good to go.
Danny: But I don't know, I appreciate the fact that now I will probably have to go
Danny: make myself some food again.
Matt: Well, of course, we're going to conclude this show and then we're going to go make food.
Danny: Exactly. Maybe even some of that comfort food. So I appreciate that,
Danny: Matt, and I appreciate you being on the Random Question hot seat today.
Danny: For anybody that wants to check out your production stuff and your media stuff,
Danny: listen to your podcast, watch the videos that you do, or maybe even get in touch
Danny: with you to work with you, where's the best place to connect,
Danny: reach out, all that good stuff?
Matt: All the podcasts we make are at soundoff.network and my podcast is a Sound Off
Matt: podcast, which you can find at soundoffpodcast.com.
Danny: That sounded super professional. You've done this before, Matt.
Matt: Yeah, I didn't even mention that I do voiceover.
Danny: I was going to say you do voiceover work as well. And I will leave links to
Danny: Matt's voiceover page, if that's okay.
Matt: That's great. You can find that at mattcundlevoice.com.
Danny: And there you go. And you've got a sample, so you know exactly what you're going to get.
Danny: As always, I will leave links to that in the episode show notes.
Danny: So whatever app you're listening on, or even you're listening on the website,
Danny: check out the episode show notes. All the good stuff will be there.
Danny: So again, Matt, thanks for appearing on today's 5 Random Questions.
Matt: Thanks for having me.
Danny: Thanks for listening to 5 Random Questions. And if this was your first time
Danny: here, feel free to hit follow and check out past episodes.
Danny: If you enjoyed this week's episode, I'd love for you to leave a review on the
Danny: app you're currently listening on.
Danny: And if you know someone else that would enjoy the show, be sure to send them
Danny: this way. It's very much appreciated.
Danny: Until the next time, keep asking those questions.