This was one of the three story ideas that were included in the original pitch for CBC Yukon. At the time, the working title (for lack of anything better) was “Cold Smoked” and it was outlined as follows:

These days, it ain’t easy being a smoker—especially in Whitehorse. New city bylaws designed to put smokers in the hot seat have actually thrown them on the cold streets during our occasionally unforgiving winters. We’re curious to know how those who can’t butt out to save their lives have adapted to their harsh new habitat. In this episode, our non-smoker (but willing to try) correspondents will hit the town in search of smokers wherever we can find them—huddled in doorways, exposed to all elements, idling in cars—to answer the questions: where’s the best place to smoke in town, and how tough do they really have it?

At one point, balmy weather and a backlog of more time-sensitive Canada Games story ideas convinced us that we might have to take a pass on this segment until next winter. Then the Yukon was hammered by a wicked cold snap at the end of February. What soon became a nightmare for the Canada Winter Games organizers was a gift to a pair of freelance radio dudes. The story was resurrected under the new working title “Cold Turkeys.”

The first clip that appears in the piece—of local doctor Kate Brown—was actually recorded in January, before we decided we wouldn’t do this story and then changed our minds again. Kate was kind enough to provide the interview, despite her deep suspicions about our motivations. You could hardly blame her. Mark had developed a line of “serious” questioning about smoking-related illnesses, but it was all just leading up to the “punch line” questions about Smokers’ Frostbite. In order to ensure the spontaneity of Kate’s answers, Mark remained a little vague and cagey about the true slant of the interview. At some point, words to the effect of “I know you—there’s just something about you I don’t trust” were actually uttered, but she eventually put her reservations aside. The interview was recorded in about two minutes using a cheap Panasonic RR-US500 IC recorder with an internal mike—which accounts for the odd, distant sound quality of that clip in the finished radio piece. We debated trying to re-record the interview with a proper mic and mini-disc, but decided we’d rather have a raw but spontaneous sounding clip than a more professional sounding clip where the interview subject was wise to the joke.

The bulk of the “field study” took place on the night of March 2nd, following a performance of BYTE-sponsored Post Northern Dreamtime at the Yukon Arts Centre. It was about minus 25 with a stiff wind—not nearly as cold as the previous week—but cold enough that Jesse and Mark figured anyone smoking outside would have to be a little crazy—at least from a non-smoker’s perspective. The first group we encountered consisted of three young guys at the front entrance to the building. One of them was actually smoking in a T-shirt. We’re not sure if it was our presence or a sudden bout of common sense, but he soon darted inside, leaving us to interview two other scantily-clad specimens. We thought the one young guy had a great “smoker’s voice,” but we couldn’t smoke too much information out of him or his friend.

Our next pair of smokers—cornered at the back entrance of the building, near the Green Room—provided much more entertaining and colourful clips. Afterwards, we realized that it was the second consecutive segment where we’d raided the CBC ranks for commentary. (We’ve since instituted a moratorium on interviewing CBC staffers). At that point, we figured we probably had enough good material. But since Mark needed a ride to Riverdale, he and Jesse decided to cruise downtown looking for a couple of more subjects in front of Main Street bars. Believe it or not, there was not one to be found at about 9 p.m. on a Friday night. However, Jesse did spot a few in front of the Taku/Discovery Bar on his way home after dropping Mark off. While none of the clips were actually used in the piece, Jesse did manage to learn some very interesting facts from a cold but chatty smoker who might best be described as Yukon’s very own Cliff Clavin.

The following week, over a lunch hour, Mark and Jesse went to interview Andrea Rodger at Sportees. Earlier in the day, Mark had phoned to say we were working on a radio piece about “how Yukon smokers are adapting to the tragic loss of habitat.” Andrea seemed perplexed about why we’d want to talk to her about this, but like many a good Yukoner, she gamely agreed to play along. After a nice chat and interview, she sent us away with some complimentary Yukon government-sponsored condoms, as well as a few ideas for future stories.

Around this same time, the segment took a great creative leap forward with the idea of framing the story around the metaphor of a biological field study. This would involve, among other things, an unlikely comparison between ourselves and Karsten Heuer of Being Caribou fame and an intro homage to the beloved Hinterland Who’s Who television spots of CBC yesteryear. Our final title, "Being Smokers," was born soon therafter.

The main production meeting took place in Mark’s living room, as they often do, bright and early on Sunday, March 11. In a mere two hours, we went over the rough outline, choose the clips, and reworked the outline to incorporate them. All this with more than a week before the segment was scheduled to air—a productivity milestone for Wicker Hog Media! In short order, Jesse was headed off to Mt. Sima for a day of snowboarding. He also lured Mark’s partner along, so Mark was left to lord over Munchinkinland for the rest of the day.

By Monday evening—still more than a week before air date—Jesse had turned the outline into a solid working script. The one missing piece was Jesse and Mark actually smoking. That was easily solved the next night. First stop, Riverside Grocery where we received some useful tips on smoking in the cold and purchased our cancer and impotence-causing props. I don’t know if the cashier was impressed or alarmed that we choose the unfiltered variety, but that’s exactly what we did. As a couple of non-smokers, we figured the coughing would come naturally enough no matter what we smoked, but these Export nasties were our insurance policy. Sure enough, they worked like a charm. There was nothing staged or forced about the hacking you heard in the radio piece.

As for the cold…. The temperature was a relatively balmy minus 15 by the time the Activity Cube pulled up in front of the doorway / smoking alcove of the CBC Yukon building—our chosen smoking location. We figured we might have to pretend we were colder than we actually were, for the sake of the clip. Turns out, we needn’t have worried. After a little difficulty getting our smokes lit, we puffed away for a couple of minutes until we realized that not only were our lungs burning—our hands were frozen stiff. After less than one smoke each, we packed it in. Feeling a little buzzed, Mark then returned home to get an unscripted reaction from his partner, who threatened to bar his smoky-flavoured ass from the master bedroom.

On Wednesday night, Jesse fixed up the script, recorded his voiceover, and enjoyed an unprecedented four days to edit the piece and tinker with the mix before final delivery to CBC.

(Posted March 2007)