SYDNEY, N.S. — If it’s true that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, then Jordan Bonaparte’s five-year-old son is in for a very interesting life.
Bonaparte, who was raised in Sydney, is the creator, researcher, writer, producer and host of the Nighttime Podcast, an online audio documentary series that investigates the unexplained.
The 35-year-old started the podcast three years ago on his laptop from the basement of the Halifax home he shares with his wife and sons Dom, 5, and Gabe, who is nine months old.
“He (Dom) loves it,” said Bonaparte, who also holds down a full-time job in the insurance industry and was a member of a former Cape Breton-based band called Airport.
“In his mind it is our show and I see it that way as well — someday I’ll pass on the passwords to him and he can take it over, although he says he’s ready to do it now.”
Whether the podcast will still be around when Dom comes of age is unknown, but with Bonaparte just signing a deal that will see his episodes broadcast live on a national commercial radio network, it’s a good bet that Bonaparte the Younger will be well versed in all things mysterious.
Earlier this week it was announced that the Nighttime Podcast, up to now only available online, will also be broadcast across Canada on Corus Entertainment’s Curiouscast network, which has Global News Radio AM stations in cities such as Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, London, Hamilton and Toronto.
Chris Duncombe, Corus Entertainment’s director of streaming and podcasting, said Nighttime will debut on radio in the third week of October.
“We’re thrilled to be working with Jordan — bring the Nighttime Podcast into our network and to the air on our news talk stations will give Canadian radio listeners the opportunity to enjoy what avid podcast listeners have enjoyed for the past few years,” said Duncombe.
For Bonaparte, the increased exposure means, of course, more listeners and more potential story ideas.
“I started off with stories in Atlantic Canada, but now I’m hearing about things across Canada — my most recent story, which I just released this week, is about a missing person case at a ski resort in British Columbia,” he said.
“I still haven’t even come close to scratching the surface and, in fact, as the show gets bigger and more people are tuning in, I’m hearing from more listeners who are letting me know about the bizarre little thing that happened in their hometown — it’s like a moving target, I have no fear of running out of the strange stories that Canada has to offer.”
Bonaparte’s first podcast, uploaded to the web in October 2015, told the story of a UFO sighting his grandparents experienced in 1986 over Munro Point, located across St. Anns harbour from Englishtown.
He went on to produce an additional six podcasts over the next three months, including one episode dedicated to alleged Sasquatch sightings in Pictou County. Within a year, he had completed some 21 episodes and had garnered more than one million downloads.
To date, his episodes have received more than five million views, a number that will only climb once the podcast hits the radio airwaves.
Although his work has received accolades from around the world, the energetic Bonaparte maintains that his hobby is driven only by his own personal interest.
“I think people like it because they know I’m not a professional and that I’m just doing it out of my own curiosity and although it may not resonate with the majority of people, I do think it is what gives the show its colour,” he said.
“I cover things that interest me and by luck I’ve managed to find enough other people who like the same kind of stuff as me — when I started I thought that maybe my family and friends would listen, and that I’d get maybe a hundred or so people online, but it’s far exceeded anything I ever expected.”
All of the show’s episodes can be downloaded at www.nightimepodcast.com . And, starting on Oct. 22, on select radio stations across Canada.
