The Current - Jax Irwin’s viral calls to strangers in Atlantic Canada

Episode Date: September 7, 2026

It seems like chatting-it-up is part of Maritime culture. People love to talk, even with strangers. So, Jax Irwin has made a delightful gig of this friendly way of life. She’s a Toronto broadcaster who is originally from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. On her social media, she calls random East Coast phone numbers,  numbers in the 902 area code, and chitchats with whoever answers. We talk to her about what some of those conversations are, and why she calls herself a ‘phone call enthusiast.”

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This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. Hello. Hello, hello. How are you? I'm Matt. It's like I'm listening to the radio. I've barely said anything. One thing we noticed pretty much everywhere we went in the Maritime

is that things went a bit slower maybe than we're used to, in part because, and this is kind of hard to explain. But again and again, we would run into a little bit of chat traffic. Well, it was awfully nice to meet you. I mean, we spend the mornings together. So, yeah. Kind of generalizing here. But from one place to the next, it seems that people love to talk in the Maritimes,

even it turns out with strangers. And I said, hello, and he said, oh, who are you? I love to talk. Yes, there's an island expression that I heard from this old guy who mentioned somebody that had been in talking to me, and he looked at me, says, he's a hard man to get clear of. Which means you can't get away from him. No, he just keeps talking.

That's it. I don't have any problem to strangers, but there's people out there that don't want to. They're suspicious. They don't know what they're missing out on. It is true. Chatting it up is part of maritime culture. Jacks Irwin is a Toronto broadcaster who is originally from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. And on her social media, she calls random East Coast phone numbers, numbers in the 902 area code,

and talks with whoever answers the phone. Hello. Hey, you? What's going on? What's going on? Yeah. Well, we're sitting here at the table, open mail, eating grapes. That's what's going on.

You're open in the mail while eating grapes, are you? Yeah. That is the best way I've ever heard to open mail. It takes your mind off it, eating the grapes. Jacks Irwin calls herself a phone call enthusiast. Jacks, good morning. Good morning. Thanks for having me.

Thank you for doing this. What are you doing? It started from a little bit of homesickness, and I will literally just take out the white pages. call a random number and see how long they'll chat with me. Now, people sometimes, you know, right off the bat say, who is this? And I always identify myself. I don't want to trick anybody. But more folks than not will just keep gabbing. It's wild. They're just looking to have a conversation, you know, nothing personal, just, you know, what's going on? What's for supper?

And how's the weather? What was the homesickness that got you thinking about doing this? You know, I've been in Toronto now for, living in Toronto for 12 years. And I'm from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. I had a trip home a couple years ago that I just, I think after COVID, I think after, you know, after isolation, I just realized how much I miss talking to people, just about nothing. I've been on TikTok and Instagram for a couple of years and I like to do prank calls, but I don't really like the joke being at somebody's expense. So I wanted to try something out new and I thought, why not call home? Because I was just straight up homesick. I realized how many people

will just gab with you back on the East Coast and it all kind of accidentally came to fruition with this. You're only calling numbers with the 902 area code? Well, I do sometimes call Newfoundland numbers, and then Prince of Rhode Island, I do believe, has 902 as well, but predominantly 902 numbers, yeah. But you're not calling 416, which is the city of Toronto, or 604, which is Vancouver. What do you think if you call people in those area codes? Matt, I don't think they'd pick up, to be honest with you. I don't know if I get them. And because I use the white pages, it's mostly landlines.

But, you know, I think folks are a little bit more skeptical in the larger. cities. I'm sure, you know, bigger cities get a bad rap, but there are lots of warm, kind folks there. But I don't think I'd have as much success, that's for sure. Is there, and it's maybe difficult to generalize, but is there one demographic that is more likely to be a good chat? 60 plus people from Cape Breton, always. They'll gab with you. And what is that about? I don't know. I don't know. I was just like, I was just actually up on the island last week. And there is just this warmth and this um they don't take themselves too seriously and they're just looking to chat and if if i'm like looking for a good call i can always i can always count on a

caper i want to play another one of your calls have a listen to this hello hey you hello hey you how you doing oh good i'm so i can't hear you we're having a torrential rain and thunder and lightning storm so well i wanted to check in i heard you guys are getting buckets of rain i couldn't believe it was over emily's for a minute I ran into the house and it was stripping off me. It's just like last summer, remember all that? Yeah. Did you end up having any flooding in your basement or anything?

No, last October, I had to get a new sun pump, but that took care of it. Was that costly? No. It was like $100 and some. Okay. You're staying cozy, are you? Oh, yeah. I'm staying here.

And what's for supper tonight? Nothing. Nothing? What do you mean nothing? I stopped out McDonald's and got a chicken burger. Oh, you bad girl, did you? Yeah. Did you get fries?

Oh, of course, you get fried. All right. Well, I just wanted to check in and you stay dried tonight, will you? Oh, I will. I will. Okay. We'll be talking. Have a good one.

Okay. Bye. How did you learn how to do this? To talk to random people like that? And that was the first call I ever did, actually. That was kind of an accident. I mean, I'm, you know, a broadcaster by trade. But I think most East Coasters can kind of cover the pillars.

It's, you know, what are you eating? What's going on and what's the weather? And I've worked mostly service jobs outside of broadcasting. And also, I talk to folks on the phone like I would talk to my aunt Linda or my mom, you know? And it's usually the same sort of pacing and topics. And I also genuinely want to know what they're up to because most of the callers are kind of spicy, you know? They're fun. What do you mean?

Well, it's just like I think you expect an older person to be just going to get groceries or doing this or doing that. but, you know, I've had folks that are going out to jam at the Legion or going down to the bingo hall or some of them are talking about their neighbors. Like there's more going on, I think, than we expect in people's lives. And I love to hear it. You're also very clear that, and you said this earlier, you're not making fun of people. No, no, no, no, absolutely not. No. Why do you think this has become such a thing?

The videos get millions and millions of views on Instagram and on TikTok. Yeah, I didn't think it would be anything more than a call, much less, you know, it's, been doing them for two years. I think that they're popular because there's not much to them and they're just warm. And I think a lot of content online, there's more to it. There's a catch or, you know, there's a lot of overproduction, etc. Or a lot of times when people are calling it's a scam, right? That someone's trying to take your money or it's pretending it's your grandson or something like that. Yeah. And I don't want to trick any, like we are in a dark world in so many ways. And I think it's just like seeing something simple, light. And a lot, you know, I get a lot of messages being like,

this sounds like my nanny or this sounds like my uncle. And it's like having connection through anything right now. It's just really important. So, yeah, I think that's why. There's also just something just finally. There's something really nice about small talk, right? Yes. Yeah.

It's so much of the way that we communicate now is meant to be efficient or it's meant to extract something from it. And that this isn't that at all. I just want to gab about what's for supper. And Matt, I have so many recipes now, thanks to the nannies and crampies of the Maritimes. I'm like, my God, it's so good. So you're using the white pages for this?

I'm using the white pages online. I got a lot of pop-ups going on, so I've got to figure out a way to streamline that. But I'll sit there. I'm committed. There are calls still to be made. Oh, there are many more to come. Jacks, I love this. This is perfect. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor. Jacks Irwin was in our Halifax studio when we spoke. Tune in to the current Thursday for our special program from the East Coast.

One final note for the East Coast. And for those of you particularly in Cape Brighton right now, dealing with the after effects of the floods. The pictures have been terrible. from out there. And we are certainly thinking of you as you deal with that. This has been the current podcast. You can hear our show Monday to Friday on CBC Radio 1 at 8.30 a.m. at all time zones. You can also listen online at cbc.ca.ca slash the current or on the CBC listen app or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca slash podcasts.