CBC Massey Lecturers reveal how the talks changed them
6/3/202654 min
This podcast features an all-star, and bestselling, lineup of CBC Massey Lecturers from the past decade:
Payam Akhavan (2017) and the police officer who pulled over to the side of the road to keep listening; Sally Armstrong (2019) and the women’s rights groups listening to her talks in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and China; Ron Deibert (2020) and his conviction that ‘philosophical’ radio is more crucial than ever; Esi Edugyan (2021), Tomson Highway (2022) feeling astonished when a stranger recognizes his voice after hearing him on the radio; Margaret MacMillan (2015); Tanya Talaga (2018) and her surprise when an older white man in the audience declares Indigenous activists should “go forth and conquer”; Astra Taylor (2023) and how her secret desire is to work at IDEAS; Jennifer Welsh (2016) comforting an audience member who’d served in Afghanistan; and Ian Williams (2024) on how his lectures have more meanings than he realized — so much so, that he’d like a “second date” with IDEAS.
*This is the third episode in our special programming marking our 60th anniversary. It originally aired on Dec. 3, 2025.
Listen to other episodes in this series:
The time when a guest said, "I love you!"
How an IDEAS episode on traffic changed a doctor's practice
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
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Martin Luther King Jr· Soundbite0:35
[upbeat jingle] This is a CBC podcast.
Nahlah Ayed· Host0:39
[upbeat jazz music] Welcome to our special series marking the 60th anniversary of Ideas. I'm Nahlah Ayed. The 60th anniversary is of course known as the diamond jubilee. And given the six-decade union between Ideas and the CBC Massey Lectures, that diamond designation could not be more fitting. The lectures, or the Masseys as we behind the scenes call them, have been given by some of the most brilliant minds of our time.
Speaker 41:19
Among them, Northrop Frye, C.B. Macpherson, John Kenneth Galbraith, R.D. Laing, Doris Lessing, and others.
Speaker 51:27
[audience applauding] From the Arts and Culture Center in St. John's,