Age of Persuasion

One of my favourite radio shows (yes, that’s right) is Age of Persuasion on CBC Radio One.  I find it a wonderful source of little tidbits for my social studies class, but also just a wonderful look at advertising in the modern world.  For any of us interested in a well written show that gives us an interesting look at one of the great drivers of modern society this is it.  The host, Terry O’Reilly (no not the Boston Bruins star), is an award winning director of ads and he gives wonderful insight in a 30 minute show that is wrapped around a theme.  In various episodes he has discussed censorship, political campaigns, technological revolution and much more.  His show today (Privacy) dealt with privacy protection and modern advertising, and the differences between ‘digital natives’ and the generations that came before them.  Very topical and and very interesting from a perspective that we don’t often think about, but which is definitely a force in the world.  Every show seems to provide something different and is worthwhile listening to, although others are certainly more applicable to my social studies class than others.  Although I’m fairly certain that if I was teaching any number of other subjects I would find what’s included to be of great interest, just different from what I might find interesting.  I am also a big fan of the humour in the shows, it’s a little off-beat (obvious references to the Boston Bruins are sprinkled very lightly), but I find the corner of my lips turning up more often than not.  The wonderful thing about living in our modern world, our ‘age of persuasion’ if you will, is that this is available to those well beyond Canada’s shores.  Unfortunately due to the vagaries of legalese it is not yet available in podcast form, you can see the reasons here, but you can listen to it in streaming form.  Not quite as convenient, but still fairly easy to access as long you go to the program’s website.

If you happen by the site I would recommend the following as some of my favourite episodes (however any episode will do):

1. Embracing New Media
2. Pitchmen
3. The Real Deal: Authenticity (amusingly uses Tiger Woods as an example in the days when he was more ‘authentic’)

Just a note that the episodes are not immediately available in streaming audio, so in the case of the episode I listened to today ‘live’ on the radio was not available at the time of writing, but it will come out in due course.