This weekly programme, hosted by Cree author and broadcaster Rosanna Deerchild, airs on CBC Radio One (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) and can be heard internationally as a podcast. Episodes, averaging about forty-five minutes in length each, encompass wide-ranging topics that intersect with contemporary Indigenous life. Many address art forms and popular culture, with musical expression appearing on dedicated episodes, as in one dedicated to the Juno awards, or as part of other themes. While expressive culture topics are common, the programme’s broad focus is such that Indigenous foods and hockey’s Indigenous roots are not out of place when they air. Guests bring a wide expertise to the programme, and include scholars—from current students to established scholars—authors, visual artists, musicians, game designers, and politicians. Some episodes are dedicated to single topics, such as a full-length interview with Inuk politician Natan Obed, while others are thematic, as in the 26 May 2019 show “Transformation” that featured, among others, Cree drag queen Quanah Style, Cree band nêhiyawak, Métis architect David Fortin, Onondaga photographer Jeff Thomas, and Hepi Mita, son of Maori filmmaker Merata Mita. Other formats include concerts: a William Prince show aired on 15 December 2018. Episodes also include playlists of music by contemporary Indigenous artists.

The podcast releases separate language programming in short episodes entitled “First Words.” These short (typically five to ten minutes) sub-issues include an English-language interview with a speaker of an Indigenous language. Native speakers and later learners share thoughts on the role of language in their lives, and episodes feature geographically and linguistically diverse languages such as Tlicho, Wolastoqey, Swampy Cree, Kwak’wala, Michif, Navajo, Koasati, Nakoda, Anishinaabemowin, and Munsee. Speakers share words or short phrases that, with repeated listens, an audience member could learn. As Indigenous language and song revitalisation often work together, it is not surprising that some of these episodes include song. In one episode, Anna Marie Sewell shares songs, including an honour song, in Mi’kmaq (18 December 2018). Sewell has learned many songs from elders Gilbert Sewell and Maggie Paul; her episode includes a few of these, and her reflections in and about the Mi’kmaq language. She reflects on singing, “I love the sound of it. I love the way I can hear the eastern woodlands when I sing it or when I hear other people sing it.” She repeats words more times than in some other language episodes, so the listener has a good chance of being able to say thank you in Mi’kmaq—wela'lin.

Winner of the 2019 Indigenous Music Award for “Best Radio Station Program Promoting Indigenous Music,” “Unreserved” follows in the footsteps of previous Canadian podcast programming in Indigenous popular culture. Successful elements from previous CBC podcast “Ab-Originals” are especially apparent. In this precursor, which was specifically focused on music, a set of core hosts offered commentary and curated playlists of Indigenous pop content. Suzette Amaya, David DeLeary, Melissa Spence, Wab Kinew, and Kim Wheeler presented regularly; Rosanna Deerchild hosted special programming on this podcast in the early 2010s.

Deerchild’s interviews with authors showcase her background as a writer, while her perceptive questions and approachable style evince the familiarity with which she interacts with musicians. A knowledgeable interviewer, she asks detailed questions that show, as she quips when asking Alanis Obomsawin about how the famous filmmaker liked to squeeze into the family’s chicken coop as a child, “we do research here.” Deerchild makes space for her interviewees to think through their ideas on air, which leads to fruitful results. Clearly of interest to those invested in Indigenous popular culture, musicians and scholars of all sorts have much to learn from Deerchild. With pop musician Kinnie Starr, for example, Deerchild discusses the artist’s return to making music after a traumatic brain injury. Their dialogue flows through Starr’s creative process and how she navigates collaborations in the recording studio. They discuss gender bias the musician has faced in the industry, and its effects on her working style.

“Unreserved” does not shy away from potentially thorny topics. One that returns repeatedly across episodes is how guests navigate their own understandings of mixed ancestry. Across interviews whose primary focus is elsewhere, guests talk about how they understand themselves and move through the world as people whose heritage includes multiple Indigenous nations and European ancestry. Deerchild listens as interviewees narrate how they approach their own mixed ancestry, both in terms of bloodlines and cultural upbringing. In the 24 March 2019 episode, rock musician Tom Wilson talks at length about how he came to learn that he had been adopted from a Mohawk family. He reflects on his return to Kahnawake First Nations Territory as an adult, and considers how this impacts his music at this advanced point in his career. Topics in current media—like controversy around appropriation of Inuit music by non-Inuit Indigenous musicians—resonate with themes on the show.

The show’s Canadian location and focus is clear. Some current events and regional attitudes may be less familiar to those who reside outside of Canada, but the tone of the podcast is clear enough to speak to an international audience. According to its official website (www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved), the show aims to be “the radio space for Indigenous community, culture, and conversation.” Episodes of “Unreserved” address issues that have currency across many geographies and nations, such as repatriation, access to clean water, love stories, and Indigenous futurism.

“Unreserved” offers an engaging listen for musicians and scholars of popular culture. Its format makes it a convenient and thought-provoking companion for commuting or general mobile listening. Scholars may be intrigued to hear the level of critical depth that can be achieved in this general audience format. The treatment of musical topics alongside those resonating in literature and film demonstrates both how boundaries between art forms can be porous, and how common it is today for cultural workers to be active across spheres. Tanya Tagaq, widely known as popular musician and throat singer, is featured as a writer, for example, on an episode dedicated to an Indigenous literature renaissance. Concepts familiar for scholarly application, notably Indigenous modernity, appear in “Unreserved” in conversation that is designed for a wide audience. This show exists at a crossroads between popular culture journalism, public intellectualism, and music broadcasting. It offers engrossing content, and a promising model, for deep public discussions and engaged music listening,