As if two episodes a week of Dark Poutine weren’t enough for Michael Browne, he’s still hungry for more true crime.
Corus has tapped the Langley native to host a slate of its true crime podcasts in a new two-hour radio series called Crime Time.
“We’re looking at branching out and possibly having other Canadian podcasts come in with their content on the radio,” he said in an early November interview, adding that he’s become a museum curator of sorts.
The project brought back memories of the radio station in his hometown of Bridgewater, N.S., CBKW, where he once took a tour. The man who showed him around told him he had to start at the bottom, sweeping floors, and work his way up.
That wasn’t quite what Browne had in mind. It wasn’t radio, so he took another path. Once podcasting took off, he returned to his dream and started serving up true crime fries with cheese curds and gravy on Dark Poutine.
“It’s crazy because Corus tells me it’s the first show of its kind in Canada and I’m like, ‘Okay, I’ll do that,’” he said. “I didn’t even really have to think about it when they asked because as a kid I always wanted to be on radio.”
Dark Poutine draws from Canada’s vast history of true crime, from Perth, Ontario’s Wilson-Lyon duel of 1833 to the 2022 Saanich, British Columbia bank robbery shootout.
Crime Time joins Browne’s growing list of projects, including two books, Murder, Madness and Mayhem: Twenty-Five Tales of True Crime and Dark History (2021) and Strange, Spooky and Supernatural: Curious Tales of Fascinating People, Places and Things (2024).
A third book is underway with HarperCollins Canada, following his first collection of Canadian true crime cases.
“I always wanted to use my voice and my storytelling as something that would get me by,” Browne said. “Strangely enough, here’s what I’m doing. I’m writing books. I’m writing podcast episodes. Now I’m on the radio. It’s like a dream come true for me.”
Crime Time airs on Toronto’s CFIQ Fridays from 9 to 11 p.m. and Sundays from 9 to 11 p.m.
London’s CFPL carries the show Sundays from 9 to 11 p.m. Winnipeg’s CJOB airs it Saturdays from 12 to 2 a.m. and Sundays from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m. Calgary’s CHQR runs it on Saturdays from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. Edmonton’s CHED airs Saturdays from 12 to 2 a.m. Vancouver’s CKNW carries it Saturdays from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m.