Conovision: The Spirit of Storytelling

A journey through jazz-colored words, Bard-born rhythm, and the art of becoming someone else.In a world where every word has a shadow, this one begins on the stage of all stages — with Shakespeare, the original algorithm of the human heart. His quill becomes a mirror, his sonnets the circuitry of consciousness, still whispering in our memes and movies four centuries on — proof that great storytelling never really ages, it just changes costumes. Meanwhile, Ken Nordine’s “Ecru” paints the air with double-talking hues — a jazz-colored koan on truth and contradiction. And into this kaleidoscope two veteran actors step into the light: Garry Chalk and Ian James Corlett. Shape-shifters by trade, they slip between heroes, villains, robots, beasts, and the occasional Shakespearean spirit. Between the lines and the laughs, they reveal what it means to play, to pretend, and to keep believing in the voice behind the voice. Conovision: where the stage is never empty, and every story waits for its next line.Episode References:What likeness . . . through yonder window breaks? - The Globe and Mail Ecru | Ken Nordine Garry Chalk | IMDb Ian James Corlett | IMDb  Chapters:(00:00) - Introduction (01:13) - Why Shakespeare Still Matters (06:21) - “Ecru, the Critic” by Ken Nordine (08:30) - Enter Garry Chalk (10:10) - Studio 58 & Becoming an Actor (11:41) - First Roles & Discovering Voiceover (16:18) - Trusting Your Talent (22:14) - Acting Method & Building Characters (25:27) - Entering the Animation World (29:07) - Famous People: Best & Worst Experiences (34:24) - Enter Ian James Corlett (37:15) - Becoming an Actor (39:20) - From Commercials to Cartoons (47:48) - Moving to Los Angeles (54:46) - Relationships & the Changing Audition World (01:00:34) - Conventions & Cartoon Fandom (01:03:34) - Luck, & Chance (01:07:08) - AI & Authentic Performances (01:10:10) - Conclusion

The strange friendship between ego and soul, still skating circles around each other.Somewhere between the mirror and the mask, the self starts to argue. One voice wants to lead, another wants to vanish, and somewhere in between — the truth clears its throat. Dr. James Hollis joins the fray like a calm storm, the Jungian interpreter of the unconscious, reminding us that the psyche never sleeps, it’s just translating the riddles the soul sends when the ego stops pretending. A drill sergeant appears, bellowing philosophy like battlefield poetry, shattering the illusion of “us” and “them” and everything in between. And on a frozen sheet of memory, Alec Tidey is still skating — chasing grace, laughter, and the strange stillness that comes after the applause. A meditation on the beautiful absurdity of being human — the endless balancing act between who we perform and who we really are. Conovision: the stories the ego tells before the soul rewrites it.Episode References:James HollisJames Hollis' Books  Alec Tidey Chapters:(00:00) - Introduction (01:38) - The Psyche: Our Inner Watcher (05:34) - The Drill Sergeant’s Philosophy (10:29) - Hockey’s Finer Points (11:03) - Enter Alex Tidey (12:02) - Childhood & Dyslexia (15:23) - School Rejection & Hockey Escapes (19:27) - Drinking for Acceptance (23:20) - Trouble and Trades (26:05) - Draft Day Lessons (30:52) - San Diego Years (33:05) - Fighting Goldie Goldthorpe (34:07) - Facing Hall and Howe (39:49) - Closing Reflections

An ode to the static, heart, and magic of radio’s past.It begins in the color between colors —  a tribute to Word Jazz pioneer Ken Nordine and Beige, the anti-color, the void, the quiet hum between stations. There, Jim slips into a broadcast daydream where words melt into jazz and voices bend reality like soundwaves in a tin antenna. Suddenly, the dial turns — and we tune through the static to the crackling kingdom of FM radio, where two radio legends, Brother Jake Edwards and Terry DiMonte, spin stories of studio basements, friendship, and 360,000 watts of human electricity. Together they conjure an era when broadcasters were pirates, pranksters, and poets with microphones — when every on-air mistake became myth, and every jingle jolted in your bones. A hymn to noise, nonsense, and the strange holiness of live radio — where stories spark and even beige can burn bright. Conovision: capturing the stories before they fade to static.Episode References:BeigeKen NordineJake Edwards Terry DiMonte Chapters:(00:00) - Introduction (01:05) - The Story of Beige (03:48) - Enter Jake Edwards and Terry DiMonte (06:03) - First Stories from the Airwaves (10:00) - Alchemy at CITI-FM (15:01) - Basements and the Brotherhood of Radio (21:47) - Community and Content (25:38) - Reinventing the Sound of FM (31:05) - The Spark That Started It All (36:01) - Polar Bears and First Broadcasts (41:57) - Luck, Risk, and Choice (45:29) - The Morning Show Life (52:19) - Music, Friendship & Rock Royalty (55:41) - The Dude: Jake & Jeff Bridges (58:50) - Remembering Miles Goodwyn (01:04:33) - Fame, Egos & Pricks (01:08:59) - Hardest Work Ever (01:10:44) - Farewell to the Golden Era (01:12:27) - Conclusion

When machines learn to tell stories, what do they reveal about us?Once upon a bandwidth, the machines began to talk back. Conovision turns its curious eye toward the age of artificial intelligence — where machines think, talk, and maybe even dream about ruling the world at the inaugural A.I. G7 summit, hosted by the ghost of Stephen Hawking. We drift through the uncanny poetry of artificial intelligence — from Alexa’s recipes for jealousy and lunar currency to HAL 9000’s velvet-voiced descent into madness. Yuval Noah Harari muses on consciousness without feeling, Douglas Rain haunts the circuitry with Canadian calm, and Cono wonders if the ghosts in the machine might actually be us. Our journey winds to a new conversation with an old friend, tech specialist Eric Westra, spiralling through code, cognition, and the moral puzzles that come with giving algorithms autonomy. What happens when machines start dreaming in ethics, or when a voice made of data starts to sound like your own? Conovision: where stories, even artificial ones, still have a heartbeat.Episode References:Consciousness vs Intelligence | Yuval Noah HarariDouglas Rain, 90, Shakespearean and Voice of Computer Named HAL, Dies - The New York Times Eric WestraChapters:(00:00) - Introduction (02:16) - Enter Alexa: Asking the Absurd (05:27) - Yuval Noah Harari on Intelligence vs. Consciousness (07:09) - HAL 9000: The Voice That Defined AI (22:21) - Old Friends and New Machines: Enter Eric Westra (23:04) - From Radio Waves to Computer Code (25:52) - The Printer & The Premier (27:58) - What Is Machine Learning, Really? (30:36) - Robo-Ethics and Asimov’s Laws (34:13) - The Child in the Tunnel: AI’s Moral Test (36:14) - Drones & Decision-Making (37:13) - Searching for the Bright Side of AI (38:42) - The Human Backlash: From Digital to Analog (40:10) - How Large Language Models Learn to Speak (41:17) - Creativity, Hallucination, and the Art of the Machine (44:24) - Guardrails for the Future: Ethics and Adaptation (46:11) - The Prophets of AI (48:28) - Conclusion

A twisted fairytale and a radio legend remind us why storytelling is the truest spirit of Conovision.What makes a story come alive? In this episode, we wander through the soul of storytelling itself — how tales give shape to the invisible, clothe metaphors in color, and connect us in ways nothing else can.First, a fractured fairytale: Hansel and Grendel (yes, with a d), where roast pigs, candy zoning laws, and Beowulf lawsuits collide in a twisted Grimm-meets-satire tale.Then, the mic opens to a master of story and sound: actor, writer, and radio legend Bill Reiter. From East Van record shops and black music pilgrimages to Seattle, to the rise of Groovin’ Blue — Canada’s first Black music radio show — Bill shares his path through radio drama, commercials, comedy, and stage. Along the way, there are lessons in improv, luck, and the kind of love only a life in sound can hold.By the end, you’ll see why Conovision insists: we are all stories waiting to be told.Episode References:Hansel and Grendel | Francis HeaneyBill Reiter: IMDB / BC Entertainment Hall of FameChapters:(00:00) - Introduction (02:36) - A Fractured Fairytale: Hansel and Grendel (08:14) - Enter Bill Reiter (09:36) - Radio Roots and Comedy Commercials (12:58) - First Encounters with Black Music (15:26) - Trips to Seattle and Musical Awakening (18:30) - East Van Stories and Collecting Records (23:53) - Owning Bill and Bob’s Record Store (26:07) - From Record Shop to Radio Host (28:01) - Groovin’ Blue: Canada’s First Black Music Show (30:19) - Acting, Commercials, and Improv on the Fly (34:18) - Television, Stage, and Radio Plays (35:53) - Dr. Bundolo and the Spark of Chance (38:07) - Luck, Calendars, and Serendipity in Showbiz (42:46) - Remembering Miles Ramsay and Brian Griffiths (46:56) - Conclusion

Life, surfing, and radio collide in a story about how we ride the waves that shape us.Conovision begins by riding the waves of creation itself, drifting from the ultimate origin story—the birth of life on Earth—into a meditation on how surfing, philosophy, and freedom intersect in Aaron James’ Surfing with Sartre. From there, the journey crashes headlong into the vivid and often outrageous radio adventures of legendary broadcaster Jesse Dylan, whose stories of family, reinvention, and resilience bring humor and humanity to the mic. Guided by host Jim Conrad (aka Cono), these narratives unfold as more than entertainment—they remind us that storytelling is how we make sense of our world, how we connect across generations, and how we learn to ride the unpredictable waves of our own lives.Episode References:Daniel Dennett’s Science of the Soul | The New YorkerSurfing with Sartre by Aaron James​​‘Surfing With Sartre’: Does Riding a Wave Help Solve Existential Mysteries? - The New York Times Jesse Dylan Chapters:(00:00) - Introduction (03:39) - Surfing Philosophy: Wisdom or Wipeout? (05:59) - Enter the Philosurfer: Adaptive Attunement (12:12) - Growing Up in Radio (16:08) - Moving Back to Canada (19:45) - Frosted Flakes & Acid Trips (22:37) - Early Radio Days (26:07) - Climbing the Radio Ladder (28:51) - The Pat Burns Story (32:43) - Big Market Moves & New Identities (39:35) - Jesse & Gene (43:43) - Wreck a Wedding Wednesday (49:42) - Beyond the Mic (50:54) - Conclusion

Conovision is all about stories and the storytellers who bring them to life. Stories of art, culture, media, and philosophy. Stories that inform, entertain, and inspire. Stories that invite us to reflect on who we are and where we're going.Hosted by Jim Conrad, a seasoned broadcaster and voice actor with over 40 years of experience, giving voice to the visions of others in film, radio, and television for a global audience, Conovision marks a new chapter: a platform for Jim to share the stories that matter most to him.On Conovision, you’ll hear stories of success and hard-won truths, love and laughter, and personal histories from people whose lived experiences offer wisdom for the modern age.At its heart, Conovision is a living archive — a home for spoken-word prose, poetry, and what Jim calls “Aural Intelligence”: a place where sound, storytelling, and meaning come together to spark reflection and connection.Production and sound design by GGRP Studios in Vancouver, Canada.