1. Witchpolice Radio
2. Bikini Drive-In
3. One Great History

Witchpolice Radio host Sam Thompson describes the podcast as “an interview show that focuses on Manitoba musicians or adjacent. It could be someone who is from here and … still active in the community or someone who is from here originally and is now applying their trade somewhere else and also people who are connected to the music scene, like music photographers, or they design posters, or they produce records.”

Thompson says the “Witchpolice” name was something of an accident.

“There was a song by a band that I was in called ‘We are the Witchpolice.’ I originally made a free website to post one of those songs online ... This was in 2009. It really is a name that isn’t related to anything, and I just sort of got stuck with it. Now it’s associated with the podcast, I guess,” Thompson says.

Thompson started the show in 2012, when he was playing in multiple bands. The podcast began as a way for him to stay in touch with the music scene, and the show has grown significantly since then.

“When it started off, it was me and multiple co-hosts usually just sitting around and talking about records, and it was kind of a way for me to stay in touch with my friends,” Thompson says. Eventually, it morphed into a more journalistic interview series. However, Thompson likes to keep the interviews conversational.

In some ways the COVID-19 pandemic has been a boon to the podcast.

“Before the pandemic, I used to go out and physically interview all of the guests (in person),” Thompson says. “Because of the pandemic, I have been doing (interviews) remotely, and that has actually turned out to be a good thing ... I get better-quality recordings, because you don’t have to account for wind or people eating in the background or whatever else.”

Published in Volume 76, Number 12 of The Uniter (December 2, 2021)