FEED: Your background is rooted firmly in both radio and newsroom broadcast. What made you pursue this challenging career and what were your early experiences?
ERIN TRAFFORD: I grew up in downtown Toronto in the eighties, which is where my father, Dave Trafford – now my managing partner at Story Studio Network – began his broadcast career. He launched the campus radio station at the University of Toronto, which is still on air to this day! That meant, while I was learning to walk, I was learning to radio. I was bitten by the broadcast bug quite early; I have very fond and vivid memories of leaving school early to go with him to the studio, and of watching newsrooms from back in their heyday. I knew from an early age that media, radio and broadcasting were going to be a part of my life. My first role was an internship on Toronto radio when I was 16. My first real job, straight out of grad school, was launching a radio station. It was a start-up success story, launching to number one and staying there for around five years. It’s always been a part of me. In 2013 or 2014, I left the newsroom, but I never stopped doing it. I was still doing it through integrated media and I had my own consulting firm. Then, in 2021, my dad texted me saying: “I have more people asking me to produce podcasts than I can handle.” (He was still on air in Toronto at the time.) I called him back and we had a 90-minute conversation that resulted in forming Story Studio Network. “MY FIRST REAL JOBWAS LAUNCHING A RADIO STATION. ITWAS A START-UP SUCCESS”
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