Chris Kelly is a producer, director, and co-founder of Kelly&Kelly, now part of New Metric Media. His podcast work — including Broomgate, Dirtbag Climber, Supreme: Battle for Roe, and Let’s Make a Sci-Fi — has earned an Ambie and multiple Webby Awards and Signal Awards, in partnership with CBC, Al Jazeera, Audible, iHeart, and The New York Times.

How many years have you worked in podcasting or audio?

10+ years

What is your current role, in your own words?

I’m a podcast producer and director, and VP of Podcasts at New Metric Media, a Canadian comedy and entertainment studio. I develop and produce documentary, narrative, and comedy audio (and increasingly video) with broadcasters and platforms in Canada and the around the world.

What types of projects do you typically work on?

I love quirky stories, surprising unexpected things with lots of character and characters.

How many years have you been a Signal Awards judge?

1–3 years

What excited you about joining the Signal Awards Judging Academy?

I love hearing new work. Often as producers we get so locked in on making our own shows that we don’t take the time listen to shows outside our immediate circle. Being on a panel like this exposes me to shows that I may not ever encounter.

What is one recent podcast you’ve loved and would recommend?

Expert Witness from CBC Uncover. All of Sam Mullins’ shows are very easy to listen to. It’s largely in the writing and delivery. Sam is never afraid to put in a joke while telling a crime story. Thats is so rare!

What separates good audio storytelling from great audio storytelling?

Thoughtfulness at every level. Great audio storytelling is when nothing is accidental — the music, the sound design, the cover art, the episode titles, the pacing. The best shows feel inevitable, like every choice was made by someone who cared deeply about the listener’s experience from the first second to the last.

What project are you most proud of and why?

I still think it is Broomgate, the story of the biggest scandal in curling history. Its the kind of story I love to find – the perfect blend of narrative, entertainment and humour. It’s what we internally like to call “low stakes, high drama.” Listeners are drawn in because of some kind of scandal but you get have fun because the stakes aren’t particularly high but the drama is. If the story takes places in a niche world (like curling) all the better!

What podcasting trend, challenge, or opportunity has your attention these days?

Video, but that seems like a boring answer (I do think about it a lot though). I think the challenge of making limited run narrative works is the thing I am most interested in solving. I’ve long felt these kind of shows are closer to books, than they are to chat shows. If chat shows are biting the Youtube model, maybe narrative shows take on the publishing model.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to emerging creators?

Hold onto your IP as long as you can, and start building your own audience earlier than you think you need to. It’s tempting to give your best ideas away in exchange for a greenlight — but if you can afford to make something yourself first, even scrappily, do it. The audience you build is yours. The show you own is yours. Those things compound over time in ways that a production credit doesn’t.

What are you currently listening to? (podcasts, music, anything)

The Mubi Podcast, Everything Is Fake (And Nobody Cares), OnlyFantasy, A History of The US in 100 Objects, Blank Check, Panic World