The Forgotten Corner
The Forgotten Corner is a weekly podcast recorded in Medicine Hat, the 65,000-citizen hub of southeast Alberta, where people often wonder, “When will everyone just do what we want to do?”
Scott Schmidt, Jeremy Appel and Mo Cranker have a combined journalistic experience of nearly 25 years, much of that spent covering news and politics in Medicine Hat. After garnering some attention through the Medicine Hat News for our willingness to criticize the provincial government, we thought a podcast would be a great way to have in-depth discussions with experts of any and all fields from across Alberta, and perhaps beyond.
It’s likely our focus will pertain to the world of politics, especially in Alberta, but we won’t put limits on the topics we might discuss and hope to bring you a show that is both entertaining and informative. It will also be opinionated and even bold, but as journalists, our goal is to host a wide variety of guests and relevant, necessary conversations.
In a world in desperate need of a different, more diverse voice, we figured three white heterosexual cis-male print journalists should definitely start a podcast…
Show Team
Scott Schmidt
Scott Schmidt
Scott Schmidt has been a journalist for more than 12 years, with much of that time spent at a daily paper called the Medicine Hat News. He is currently the layout editor, which means he handles the copy editing and design, as well as many content decisions, for each edition.
Schmidt began writing a weekly column, Laying It Out, in response to the continued shift to far-right ideologies in Western culture, including but not specific to the United Conservative government right here in Alberta.
Since the News is a daily paper in one of the more conservative cities in the most conservative province, Laying It Out gained province-wide notoriety for its willingness to (quite bluntly) critique an ultra conservative regime.
The idea to start a podcast was born several months before we launched, but when COVID arrived and everyone’s work life turned upside down (if not disappeared altogether), Schmidt and two of his colleagues decided the time was now or never.
Schmidt has lived more than half his life in southern Alberta and had always just been quietly progressive in a sea of conservatism. For better or worse, it was time to speak out.
Jeremy Appel
Jeremy Appel
Jeremy Appel is the municipal politics reporter for Sprawl Calgary and a frequent contributor to Passage and Progress Alberta. He also co-hosts another podcast, the Forgotten Corner.
Mo Cranker
Mo Cranker
After graduating in from j-school 2016, Mo Cranker quickly accepted a job offer from the Medicine Hat News and drove out west. Now with more than four years of experience, Mo has covered just about everything imaginable, from charity events to homicide. In April 2020, Mo was temporarily laid off from the News and thought it was the perfect time to help Scott and Jeremy launch The Forgotten Corner.
While he doesn’t speak often, Mo is often working behind the scenes to edit episodes and make sure everything is working as it should be. He uses way to help give people a platform, and to continue developing his views on the world and how it works. While he originally rejected Medicine Hat as a place to live, Mo has found a nice, enjoyable life in Alberta’s Forgotten Corner.
