Podcasts about Entercom

Capital J and DL Glass talk with Nationally Syndicated Radio host Kyle Santillian. Kyle Santillian discusses his journey from Entercom's WJMH (102 Jamz) morning show in Greensboro, NC to iHeartMedia's (107.5) WGCI in Chicago, IL to now co-hosting joining Radio One and Reach Media's “The Morning Hustle” heard in approximately 30 urban markets. To be apart of the conversation, email info@overheretv.com.

Today on the show we have independent film producer, author, and sales consultant Alec Trachtenberg. With over a decade of experience building and managing the sales teams of some of the most cutting-edge technology startups, Alec has worked with major companies, such as Airbnb, Sony Pictures, Netflix, and Amazon. He has directly generated millions of dollars in revenue for a variety of companies in the technology and entertainment sectors, including Surkus, MomentFeed, and Entercom.He has taken his sales knowledge and skills and written and published Lights, Camera, Sell: Sales Techniques for Independent Filmmakers. Here's a bit about the book. Film producer and sales consultant Alec Trachtenberg argues that one must adopt a sales mindset in order to be successful as an independent filmmaker.By highlighting a variety of sales strategies that have worked for him in the world of startup technology companies, Alec shows how you can use the same sales strategies in every stage of filmmaking.Whether you are a budding freelance cinematographer searching for your next gig, a first-time director ready to shoot your first feature film, or an indie producer acquiring funding for your next project, Lights, Camera, Sell will teach you how to succeed through strategic sales techniques used by cutting-edge tech startup companies. Walking you through the five stages of the sales process, Alec shows you relevant case studies involving a variety of scenarios in the low-budget independent filmmaking process. Alec will teach you how to:Prospect a screenwriter and option a feature-length screenplayLead a discovery call with a prospective domestic distributorDemonstrate value with a powerful pitch deck to a financierClose a deal with a non-union actor by creating an initial talent agreement outlineResolve conflicts with crew members by understanding the principles of relationship successLights, Camera, Sell will debunk the negative myths surrounding salespeople formed by our media and society, reveal best practices on asking the right questions, explain how to present your ideas and services in a compelling way, and more.Enjoy my conversation with Alec Trachtenberg.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/2881148/advertisement

EPISODE SUMMARY: Scott Herman spent 39 years at CBS Radio and its predecessor companies, Group W and Infinity Broadcasting. Herman shares how he started his career in news radio and worked his way up from desk assistant to COO all within the same corporation. He discusses his advice, leadership style, and incredible career as Scott and Chachi sit down for a chat!On this episode of Chachi Loves Everybody recorded live at NAB, Chachi talks to Scott about:Growing up in Brooklyn and becoming interested in media through listening to the radio and accompanying his dad who was a news photographerJoining the radio station at Brooklyn College and getting a job at 1010 WINS through his professorGetting promoted to manager soon after college and working tirelessly to keep the station on air during a 13 week strikeLeaving NY for the first time to become a PD at KYW News Radio in PhilidelphiaBeing sent to turn WMAQ in Chicago into an all-news station and getting to build his visionReturning to New York and getting in a dispute with Tom Chiusano and Howard Stern that had to be moderated by Mel KarmazinBecoming an executive at CBS Radio and his management style for all the stations and markets he oversawHis decision to retire when Entercom bought CBS Radio and his work as chairman of the Broadcasters Foundation of AmericaAnd more!Watch the recording of this episode HERE:ABOUT THIS EPISODE'S GUEST: Scott Herman was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. He graduated from Brooklyn College with a degree in television and radio in 1980 and was named “Alumnus of the Year” in 2002. He started his career at 1010 WINS as a desk assistant and eventually worked his way up within CBS Radio and its predecessor companies, Group W and Infinity Broadcasting until he was named Chief Operating Officer of CBS Radio. He oversaw and supported hundreds of local station operations in dozens of cities until he retired in 2021. Previously, Herman was Executive Vice President, Operations for CBS Radio. His first corporate appointment was in 2003 when he was named CBS Radio's Executive Vice President, Eastern Region.  Before that, he was Senior Vice President, Market Manager for the division's New York properties.In May 2011, he received an Ellis Island Medal of Honor from the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations and Radio Ink magazine named him one of the 40 Most Powerful People in Radio for multiple consecutive years. He has been on the board of the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB), International Radio and Television Society Foundation, National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), Brooklyn College, and currently serves as Chairman of the Broadcasters Foundation of America. ABOUT THE PODCAST: Chachi Loves Everybody is brought to you by Benztown and hosted by the President of Benztown, Dave “Chachi” Denes. Get a behind-the-scenes look at the myths and legends of the radio industry.PEOPLE MENTIONED: Sister Camille D'Arienzo, Bill Roswell, Paul Gluck, Bob Ross, Bill Branson, Bill Korn, Dan Mason, Weezie Kramer, Opie and Anthony, Mel Karmazin, Tom Chiusano, Chris Booker, Linda Lopez, Leslie Gold, Ron and Fez, Tom Leykis, Harvey Nagler Joel Hollander, Chet Buchanan, Les Moonves, Kevin Weatherly, David Field, Mary Berner, Bob Pittman, Rich Bressler, Jeff Smulyan, Phil Lombardo, Jim Thompson, Tim McCarthy, Greg Janoff, Steve Swenson, Mark Mason, Ben Mevorach, John Waugaman, Erica FarberABOUT BENZTOWN: Benztown is a leading international audio imaging, production library, voiceover, programming, podcasting, and jingle production company with over 3,000 affiliations on six different continents. Benztown provides audio brands and radio stations of all formats with end-to-end imaging and production, making high-quality sound and world-class audio branding a reality for radio stations of all market sizes and budgets. Benztown was named to the prestigious Inc. 5000 by Inc. magazine for five consecutive years as one of America's Fastest-Growing Privately Held Companies. With studios in Los Angeles, New York, London and Stuttgart, Benztown offers the highest quality audio imaging work parts for 23 libraries across 15 music and spoken word formats including AC, Hot AC, CHR, Country, Hip Hop and R&B, Rhythmic, Classic Hits, Rock, News/Talk, Sports, and JACK. Benztown provides custom VO and imaging across all formats, including commercial VO and copywriting in partnership with Yamanair Creative. Benztown Radio Networks produces, markets, and distributes high-quality programming and services to radio stations around the world, including: The Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 Countdown, The Daily Dees Show, The Todd-N-Tyler Radio Empire, Hot Mix, Sunday Night Slow Jams with R Dub!, Flashback, Top 10 Now, AudioLogger, Audio Architecture, Radio Merch Shop, The Rooster Show Prep, AmeriCountry, and Benztown Swag Bank. Benztown + McVay Media Podcast Networks produces and markets premium podcasts including: The Making of: A National Geographic Podcast, Run It Again, Hot Chicken and Cage-Free Conversation with Byron Kennedy, and Edelman Financial Engines' Everyday Wealth.Web: benztown.comFacebook: facebook.com/benztownradioTwitter: @benztownradioLinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/benztownInstagram: instagram.com/benztownradio

Always at the intersection of technology, Music & Brands, Peter is Head of Commercial Partnerships at Spotify. Previously, he was SVP, Head of Global Music & US Ad Sales at Shazam. And before that, he held various roles at Pandora, iHeartRadio & Entercom. Originally from Boston, he graduated from Syracuse University and recently relocated with his wife & 2 boys from Santa Monica to Lake Oconee, GA.In this episode we discuss Peter's beginnings in Radio and the importance of mentorship and thinking outside the box. We also turn the tables slightly on our host, Drew, where he gives more insight to his backstory and the importance of personal maturity.Peter's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pszabo/SHOW LINKSnosetpath.com@nosetpathpodcastHOST LINKSdrewenglish.com@drewenglishh

For marketers, creating a powerful connection with consumers is key — and audio plays an important role in that connection. Audio branding and radio expert Paul Suchman has dedicated his career to honing audio into the perfect tool of engagement for brands large and small. We recently had the chance to sit down with Paul to discuss what it takes to create powerful audio brand experiences, as well as how you can get started leveraging sound in your own marketing efforts.Audacy is a production company specializing in creating narrative audio content for brands, agencies, and networks. "We're always looking for new ways to push the boundaries of storytelling through sound," Paul says. "It's really exciting because there are so many different components that go into producing great audio – sound design, music composition, voice direction – all of these things come together to make something special. But I think the most important thing is finding a way to tell a story that resonates with listeners. That's the key to success." It's truly an art form, and there are endless possibilities that come with creating audio content. You never know what kind of stories you're going to uncover and how they'll be received by your audience. That's what makes it so exciting! "At Audacy we pride ourselves on having some of the best producers in the industry – people who understand how important storytelling is and know how to craft something special out of their work. Our team works hard to ensure that the audio content we create accurately reflects our brand and its values," Paul says.Since Audacy rebranded from Entercom, the team has been working diligently to uphold the mission behind it. "We've worked on creating memorable audio content that resonates with our audience and is in line with our brand identity. We want people to feel like they're connected to us, whether through a podcast or a radio show, and recognize the work that goes into making this content," Paul described. "We are continuously pushing ourselves to create something new and innovative while staying true to who Audacy is as a company – a conglomeration of many different audio brands coming together under one roof. It's an ongoing process, but we believe it's the best way to keep our partners and advertisers engaged and looking forward to what comes next. We strive to maintain a level of transparency when it comes to how we are creating, distributing, and marketing our content so that everyone involved has an understanding of where their investments are going.""We also want to make sure that our team is supported in any way possible – with the right tools, resources, guidance, etc. Our goal is for everyone who interacts with Audacy's brand experience to feel good about what they're getting out of it so that they keep coming back again and again. We believe this is how businesses can not only survive but thrive in today's competitive audio landscape," Paul says. To accomplish this, Paul says they focus on creating a comprehensive experience from the moment our partners decide to advertise with us. Audacy offers detailed insights into our listener base and track their engagement with our content so that they have an accurate understanding of how their campaigns are performing. We also strive to provide regular updates throughout the entire process – from initial strategy meetings before the campaign even launches, to analyzing metrics after it is completed – in order to give everyone involved a clear picture of what has been achieved and where there is still room for improvement. At Audacy, we understand that brand experience matters and are committed to delivering unparalleled support and service to...

Maybe they can bring Howie in as a keynote speaker since he's a graduate of Entercom's re-education camp. Howie talks the latest scandal on-air at his former station that involves a racial slur. Then, Howie fills everyone in on the latest in the post-Lyons state committee and the shocking recurring issue in airlines.

Tom Ross interview BONUS EPISODE Jester and Tom Ross have a great conversation about Artificial Intelligence. Who is Tom Ross? Tom Ross is the director of sentient rights advocacy for the Transhumanist party. More about Tom Ross: Tom Ross is a producer, creative consultant, and author yet feels odd referring to himself in the third person. My political experience includes a 2001 testimony before a U.S. House Subcommittee on Media and Information Technology Policy (The Anti-Spam Bill). In 2002 the Governor of California appointed me to a Department of Consumer Affairs board. I became the National Creative Director for Entercom, the 2nd largest radio group in the U.S. and built one of the first and biggest Visual Production operations in the industry. I designed a system to find, test and scale the best ideas from the quietest corners in hundreds of stations. In 2013, I shared this system in a TEDx Talk called “Open Source Mode”.  I've also produced creative assets for namedrops like IBM, Microsoft, and Styx and have Creative Consulted for good works like the Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute and Sir Bob Geldof's youbloom.com.  My novel, US6 is designed to illuminate and entertain a future Artificial yet Self-Aware Superintelligence while enlisting it and Human readers into the fight against Modern Slavery. I'm an INTJ, Existential Intelligence Type, Vegan, GenX Mensa member with Scorpio Rising, Transhumanist.   its DoomsDay Podcast is now 3 years old! Are you prepared? Check out black beard fire starters! www.blackbeardfire.com/doomsday Use code DOOMSDAY at checkout for 10% off! Looking for survival food? Go to www.readywise.com and use promo code DOOM10 at checkout for 10% off! Email us itsdoomsdaypodcast@gmail.com  Find us on Clapper: @itsdoomsdaypodcast Twitter: @itsdoomsdaypod Instagram: @itsdoomsdaypodcast survivalist survivalism end of the world apocalypse conspiracy doomsday preppers survival SHTF prepper podcast prepping homesteading best podcast most popular podcast awesome podcast new podcast death toll storm XXX #itsdoomsdaypodcast #prepperpodcast #doomsdaypreppers #survival #conspiracy #apocalypse #news #etertainment #deathtoll #storm #XXX #zombieapocalypse

I really don't want this to be a podcast where I talk about radio, an industry I left in 2017 after almost 20 years.  But for the second straight week, we've got a radio company who's trying to break podcasting.Last week it was iHeartRadio, and their sketchy practice of buying podcast downloads as ads in video games.  How sketchy was that? Well depends on who you ask.   This week, it's Audacy, formerly Entercom, and CBS Radio before that.  They're the company that saw how badly ClearChannel and iHeart screwed up the radio business, and said, effectively, "Hold my beer."Most radio companies have invested heavily in the digital space, specifically in podcasting.  Audacy is no exception, having purchased Cadence13, and Pineapple Street Media, two leading podcast studios.  Well flash forward to late 2022, and Audacy's stock price is in the crapper, below $1, and facing de-listing from the New York Stock Exchange.  So in a desperate move, they're selling off...you guessed it, Cadence13.  It's the classic "company is in deep trouble, so we need to sell something valuable to save our butts today, future be damned."  Mortgaging the future to save the present.  Now we've seen this before, and it's what happens when companies - radio or otherwise - get too big.  They've got to satisfy bean counters and stock-holders, and they get away from their core missions and what they do well.   That's what happened to ClearChannel when they went public, sold to private equity, declared bankruptcy, and seemingly had layoffs every step along the way.  That's why in a market like Syracuse, New York, there may be more radio stations than live DJ's.The more I think about it, I'm actually kinda glad Audacy is selling off Cadence13.  Maybe it will end up in the hands of someone who can invest in the product, not rob Peter to pay Paul.  Keep screwing up radio, Audacy.  Stay out of podcasting.Onto other podcast news this week.  Kara Swisher is leaving her New York Times podcast and returning exclusively to Vox Media.   But there are reports that the New York Times, who owns all rights to the show, has repurposed her feed to do a new show.   On the surface, it seems like a good idea for marketing and downloads.  Start a show standing on third base, with an already dedicated number of listeners to a certain feed.   Nothing illegal, either.  But what I don't like here is the idea of eroding trust with your audience.   They expect certain content from a show they subscribe to.   Maybe they'll give the NEW content a chance, but I've got to think they'll unsubscribe.  A story to keep an eye on for sure.  The lesson: always be sure who owns your content before you start a show.   For a deeper dive on that, you can check out this months Podcast Superfriends episode, which I cohost.  Link in the show notes. https://www.soundoff.network/show/the-podcast-super-friends/podcast-married/Twitter is rolling out its premium features within Twitter Blue, including podcasts, to Android users.  It had previously been available on just iOS devices.  Personally, it's not enough to get me to pay for Twitter, which I guess differentiates me from Elon Musk.Finally, if you're looking for a higher-end podcast microphone, Logitech has unveiled the Blue Sona Dynamic mic.  It's designed to compete with the microphone I use, the Shure SM7B.  Now the Shure has been used in many radio stations, and by artists from Michael Jackson to Eminem.  I love it.  The Blue Sona is about $50 less ($350 instead of $400), and is designed not to need a signal booster, like a Cloudlifter or a Fethead.  For me, I'm going with the tried and true mic that's been used for 40 years.  Plus, I already have it.  But if you're watching your budget as you build your podcasting setup, the Blue Sona might be worth looking into.  Link in the show notes: https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Blue-Sona-XLR-Microphone/dp/B09MRSQDJ7Finally, I'm not one for shoutouts in my podcast, but do have to give one to my colleague Johnny Peterson, aka Johnny Podcasts. He does what I do, based out of Fort Worth, Texas.  He's getting married this weekend,  and Johnny, looking forward to celebrating with you.  His podcast is called Pod Logic, and that he's a great follow on Twitter at Johnny Podcasts. Until next week, stay healthy and stay safe. Lata!Johnny on Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnnypodcastsPod Logic Podcast on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/pod-logic/id1469902956Pod Logic on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1PtfPZDon9qB9yfWuQvlE9JAG in Detroit Website: https://jagindetroit.com/

RSVP for the Live Podcast Recording on October 6th at Samsung 837 in NYC. You will not want to miss the live podcast recording of the After a great deal of success (ranking in the top 2% of podcasts globally) and much demand, we're bringing the ¿Quién Tú Eres? podcast to a live audience. This platform was created to empower Latino/a/x communities to be their most authentic selves at work by redefining what professionalism means and looks like in the workplace. This unique live podcast experience will feature three dope professionals, who will explore the conflict that they have experienced between authenticity & "professionalism". This week's guest is Esther Mireya Tejeda, who is the CMO of Anywhere Real Estate Inc. She was actually recruited to build Anywhere Real Estate Inc.'s first enterprise-wide strategic marketing practice. Before this role, she has had various executive & leadership positions at SoundExchange & Entercom. Throughout her career, she's been recognized with various awards including...but not limited to the below. Women to Watch, PRWeek, 2019 | Top Women in PR, PR News, 2019 | Maverick of the Year, Stevies – Women in Business, 2019 | Communications Executive of the Year, Stevies – American Business, 2018 | Media Relations Professional of the Year --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/quientueres/support

iHeart has launched a podcasting network for NFT's.  More on that later.Here are this week's podcasting headlines:Wanna know which advertisers are investing in the top 5,000 podcasts?  Podchaser has a new tool to track that. https://features.podchaser.com/api/?There's a new service to rate podcasts for kids - it's from Common Sense media and will let you rate shows for audiences 17 and under: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/podcast-reviewsOld school journalists will remember the "inverted pyramid" approach to telling a story.  Where the deeper you go, the less important the information.  This was great in the days of newspaper editors needing to make cuts.  See, a newspaper was this thing that you held up at the kitchen table....ah, nevermind.   Well NPR has a storytelling guide that's relevant to podcasts.  They suggest more of a trapezoid.  There's no hard stop in a podcast - keep bringing in good info to keep your audience engaged. https://training.npr.org/2020/08/20/for-digital-flatten-the-pyramid-and-embrace-the-trapezoid/I told you about my experiment on Anchor, "The JAG Throwback Show."  Still dropping episodes there, available only on Anchor and Spotify.   While I'm not a huge fan of Anchor, it's interface is now available in an industry leading 35 languages, which will help podcast discovery around the world. https://blog.anchor.fm/updates/anchor-web-localizationCode Switch, the popular podcast from NPR about race and identity, is getting a $600,000 grant from the Corporation for Public Brodcasting.  Not sure if the hosts also get a free tote bag. Apple Podcasts Connect is now showing you more data about your podcast listeners. I took a quick spin through it, and I'm not super impressed. I think you're better off to focus on the analytics from your podcast host - Simplecast, Blubrry, Buzzsprout, Libsyn, whomever you use.  However, if you want to play around with the Apple interface, The Podcast Host has a guide to the new features here: https://www.thepodcasthost.com/business-of-podcasting/apple-podcast-follower-metricsAccording the LA Times, Facebook is losing interest in podcasting.   You may remember, they allowed you to  add your podcasts' RSS feed to Facebook business pages, not personal pages or groups.  And it was only available on mobile, not desktop.  But even with those limitations, Facebook still grabbed half a percentage point of all podcast listening.   Remember, while it's fading with the younger crowd, Facebook is still the #1 overall social media platform.  And its got the potential to bring more of the older demographics in.    I really hope Facebook is only temporarily pulling back here, and will revisit the space soon. https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-04-14/facebook-is-pulling-back-from-its-foray-into-podcastingOK, now, onto iHeart and its building of an NFT network for podcasts.   If you want a deeper dive here, the great Tom Webster of Edison Research covered this in today's column.  https://tomwebster.media/podcastings-most-important-investment/I don't understand much about NFT's, and you don't have to either, in order to hear my take on this.  For those who understand NFT's, there's a short term gold mine while they are hot.  But my personal opinion is, the concept is too complicated for folks to understand for it to be a long-term play.   NFT stands for Non Fungible Token, so iHeart's network is actually going to be called - and I'm not making this up - "The Non Fun Squad."  The jokes are endless - I'll let you fill in your own punch line here.  But this really cements the fact that iHeartMedia is focused on digital and the future.  They are NOT focused on the radio stations that built the company.    As I mentioned in a previous episode, the wonderful Beata Murphy, program director of KISS FM in Los Angeles, told our WJPZ Alumni Banquet in Syracuse that SHE believes the company will need to sell off radio stations in smaller markets.   As a former radio guy, I think that's the only way for music radio to survive - is to be locally owned and programmed.   Because as of right now, there isn't a heck of a lot of appeal in radio outside spoken word (meaning news, talk, and sports) and morning drive.  The personality just isn't there.In fact, I'll leave you with an example of this.  My wife and I are back from a long weekend in Las Vegas.  Monday night, we were in a cab on the way to the airport.   The cab driver had on KLUC, the once legendary pop station in Sin City.  What did we hear at straight up 9pm?  A legal ID introducing the most popular songs on TikTok.  No voice track, no identification of the songs.  Just a flat out admission of "hey, you don't come to us for new music anymore, so here's some stuff from TikTok."  Unless I missed a break, I heard no DJ (not even the syndicated one they have listed) through 9:15, when they ran a pre-recorded liner to text in to win tickets.   To be transparent, and so I'm not only picking on iHeart here, KLUC is owned by Audacy, the second biggest radio owner in the US.  Their stations used to be CBS and Entercom, before a buyout and a rebrand, respectively.    And Vegas isn't even a small market, it's in the top 30!   Do you mean to tell me that nights in LAS VEGAS aren't worthy of a live DJ interacting not only with tourists, but with the thousands of service industry workers that start and end their shifts at all hours of the night?   iHeart, Audacy, and the other big players, being more focused on digital, need to hand the keys of their radio stations over to people who can properly run them as part of the communities they serve.   It's actually been a bit of a "circular firing squad."  Why are the radio companies investing so heavily in podcasting?  That's where all the content went after the kicked it out of music radio.   If you know one person who will enjoy the content of today's show, I ask that you please send it along to them by text, email, or social media.   And if you have any questions about podcasting, find me on my website, jagindetroit.com.  Until next time, stay healthy and stay safe.  Lata!

Hosted and Produced by Bryan Barletta and Evo TerraAudio Engineering by Ian PowellThis is The Download, the most important business news from the world of podcasting, I'm Bryan Barletta.And I'm Evo Terra. Today we're covering the entirety of the podcast acquisition and funding that happened in 2021. Let's get started.Libsyn, the public podcast hosting platform founded in 2004 had an incredibly active year. They started by raising 25 million dollars and they definitely put it to work, buying podcast creation platform Auxbus, subscription and membership platform Glow for 1.2 million dollars, host and announcer read self-serve advertising marketplace Advertisecast for 30 million dollars, and longtail podcast advertising marketplace PODGO. With the leadership team from Advertisecast taking a more active role, and former board chairman and investor Brad Tirpak coming on as CEO, Libsyn has a chance to really upgrade their image if they can match the momentum of their competitors and integrate a non-trivial amount of companies into one of the oldest podcast platforms still active.Audacy, started the year as Entercom, and after 53 years, rebranded. Kicking it of by acquiring longtail self-serve ad marketplace Podcorn for $22.5m. Podcorn gives Audacy micro-influencer reach contrasting with their higher-profile owned and repped shows. For $40m, they also bought “an exclusive, perpetual license of WideOrbit's digital audio streaming and podcasting technology and related assets and operations. Audacy will continue to operate WO Streaming under the name AmperWave.” Today, Audacy builds and hosts their radio broadcast to podcasts solution with Triton Digital's Omny Studio, owned by close competitor iHeartMedia, while hosting their Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Media shows on Spotify's Megaphone. For a company reporting around $16m in revenue per quarter from podcasting alone, expect to see them fully migrate to AmperWave and bulk up the public offering for the platform.While Global, the UK-based media & entertainment group and parent company of DAX Digital Ad Exchange does offer podcast hosting capabilities, their main appeal for publishers has been monetization opportunities. So acquiring podcast hosting, analytics, and monetization platform Captivate, which is IAB certified and has strong brand appeal for indie podcasts, shows Global's drive to be more accessible. Ad exchanges thrive on inventory, so the purchase of Remixd, which “automatically converts text articles into audio files” provides Global a quick path to more ad supply. With Captivate off the table, hosting platform Buzzsprout, that serves over 100k podcasts, becomes even more appealing for a longtail inventory play.Earlier in the year, iHeartMedia acquired audio ad technology company Triton Digital for 230 million dollars from E.W. Scripps, which purchased Triton Digital for 150 million dollars in 2018 and Omny Studio, part of Triton Digital, in 2019. Like Audacy, iHeart currently uses Spotify's Megaphone to host their podcasts. Getting all their assets to their own platform is clearly on the horizon for iHeart, especially with Triton Digital offering radio broadcast-to-podcast capabilities. Coupled with iHeart's acquisition of Voxnest/Spreaker in 2020 and the announcement of their ad marketplace in both 2020 and 2021, the only offering iHeart currently lacks to compete with their direct competitors, is an attribution product. Will they build it internally like Adswizz or will they acquire a solution?With over 70% of podcasts on Spotify serving from their hosting platform Anchor, Spotify continues their plans of going wide on audio by buying audiobook distributor Findaway and podcast hosting platform Whooshkaa, which specializes in creating podcasts from radio broadcasts. Whooshkaa will be integrated into hosting platform Megaphone, which Spotify purchased last November for 235 million dollars. While Spotify is unlikely to retain Audacy and iHeartMedia as clients, as both purchased their own radio broadcast-to-podcast technology this year, Spotify will continue to attract publishers looking for those features as part of a complete offering. With Whooshkaa acquired, RedCircle is the last independent hosting platform with dynamic ad insertion and programmatic offerings. And SGRecast from StreamGuys is the only independent company offering a broadcast-to-podcast technology. How long either will remain independent is a very good question.Acast started the year by acquiring US podcast technology startup RadioPublic. Keeping inline with their creator-focused image, the main appeal was “RadioPublic's Listener Relationship Management platform, which allows podcasters to foster even deeper relationships with fans”, which played nice with the beta launch of Acast+, their subscription offering. Over the summer, Acast went public, which is it's own kind of acquisition.And though it falls slightly outside of 2021, when Podnews editor James Cridland announced Amazon's late December 2020 acquisition of Wondery for around 300 million dollars, he made the prediction that ART19 would be the logical next acquisition. After all, former CEO of Wondery, Hernan Lopez was an investor in the platform and all Wondery shows were hosted on ART19. In June of this year, the deal for Amazon to acquire ART19 was officially announced. Nice crystal ball, James.And if that wasn't enough, here's a quick rundown of some of the other deals from 2021: In the podcast player space, the Breaker podcast app team joined Twitter while Maple Media acquired the app itself, Daily Mail and General Trust or DMGT acquired discovery focused podcast app Entale, and Automattic, owner of Tumblr and WordPress.com acquired the podcast app Pocket Casts. In the hosting platform space Castos acquires another hosting platform, Podiant and Sounder acquired audio discovery and analytics company Podnods. In the technology space attribution company Podsights acquired linksharing company pod.link and podcast database Podchaser acquired chart and ranking tool Podcharts and listener review tool Podrover. And in the content production space Amaze Media Labs acquired podcast production company Jam Street Media.Finally, a lighting round of the funding deals that happened, to give you some insight into the money moving into the podcasting space.ProductionCopenhagen-based Podimo raised $15.3m in February and $78m in November.Audio Up Media raised $12m.WaitWhat raised $12m.Sounder raised $2.15m in March and $9.5m in December.Casted raised $7m.French-based Paradiso Media raised $5.9m.Quake Media raised $3.5m.Equity Mates Media raised $900k.UK-based Auddy raised $610k.Creator ToolsVerbit raised $157m.Descript raised $30m.Podcastle raised $7m.Zencastr raised $4.6m.Podchaser raised $4m.Riverside raised $2.5m.Hosting & MonetizationInstreamatic raised $6.1m.RedCircle raised $6m.Podsights raised $4m.Backtracks raised $1.6m.Castos raised $756k.Podmetrics and Podcast Network Asia raised $750k.You'll find links to everything we just covered in the episode details, and subscribe to The Download in your inbox so you never miss an episode.I'm Bryan BarlettaAnd I'm Evo TerraSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hosted and Produced by Bryan Barletta and Evo TerraAudio Engineering by Ian PowellThis is The Download, the most important business news from the world of podcasting, I'm Bryan Barletta.And I'm Evo Terra. Today we're covering the entirety of the podcast acquisition and funding that happened in 2021. Let's get started.Libsyn, the public podcast hosting platform founded in 2004 had an incredibly active year. They started by raising 25 million dollars and they definitely put it to work, buying podcast creation platform Auxbus, subscription and membership platform Glow for 1.2 million dollars, host and announcer read self-serve advertising marketplace Advertisecast for 30 million dollars, and longtail podcast advertising marketplace PODGO. With the leadership team from Advertisecast taking a more active role, and former board chairman and investor Brad Tirpak coming on as CEO, Libsyn has a chance to really upgrade their image if they can match the momentum of their competitors and integrate a non-trivial amount of companies into one of the oldest podcast platforms still active.Audacy, started the year as Entercom, and after 53 years, rebranded. Kicking it of by acquiring longtail self-serve ad marketplace Podcorn for $22.5m. Podcorn gives Audacy micro-influencer reach contrasting with their higher-profile owned and repped shows. For $40m, they also bought “an exclusive, perpetual license of WideOrbit's digital audio streaming and podcasting technology and related assets and operations. Audacy will continue to operate WO Streaming under the name AmperWave.” Today, Audacy builds and hosts their radio broadcast to podcasts solution with Triton Digital's Omny Studio, owned by close competitor iHeartMedia, while hosting their Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Media shows on Spotify's Megaphone. For a company reporting around $16m in revenue per quarter from podcasting alone, expect to see them fully migrate to AmperWave and bulk up the public offering for the platform.While Global, the UK-based media & entertainment group and parent company of DAX Digital Ad Exchange does offer podcast hosting capabilities, their main appeal for publishers has been monetization opportunities. So acquiring podcast hosting, analytics, and monetization platform Captivate, which is IAB certified and has strong brand appeal for indie podcasts, shows Global's drive to be more accessible. Ad exchanges thrive on inventory, so the purchase of Remixd, which “automatically converts text articles into audio files” provides Global a quick path to more ad supply. With Captivate off the table, hosting platform Buzzsprout, that serves over 100k podcasts, becomes even more appealing for a longtail inventory play.Earlier in the year, iHeartMedia acquired audio ad technology company Triton Digital for 230 million dollars from E.W. Scripps, which purchased Triton Digital for 150 million dollars in 2018 and Omny Studio, part of Triton Digital, in 2019. Like Audacy, iHeart currently uses Spotify's Megaphone to host their podcasts. Getting all their assets to their own platform is clearly on the horizon for iHeart, especially with Triton Digital offering radio broadcast-to-podcast capabilities. Coupled with iHeart's acquisition of Voxnest/Spreaker in 2020 and the announcement of their ad marketplace in both 2020 and 2021, the only offering iHeart currently lacks to compete with their direct competitors, is an attribution product. Will they build it internally like Adswizz or will they acquire a solution?With over 70% of podcasts on Spotify serving from their hosting platform Anchor, Spotify continues their plans of going wide on audio by buying audiobook distributor Findaway and podcast hosting platform Whooshkaa, which specializes in creating podcasts from radio broadcasts. Whooshkaa will be integrated into hosting platform Megaphone, which Spotify purchased last November for 235 million dollars. While Spotify is unlikely to retain Audacy and iHeartMedia as clients, as both purchased their own radio broadcast-to-podcast technology this year, Spotify will continue to attract publishers looking for those features as part of a complete offering. With Whooshkaa acquired, RedCircle is the last independent hosting platform with dynamic ad insertion and programmatic offerings. And SGRecast from StreamGuys is the only independent company offering a broadcast-to-podcast technology. How long either will remain independent is a very good question.Acast started the year by acquiring US podcast technology startup RadioPublic. Keeping inline with their creator-focused image, the main appeal was “RadioPublic's Listener Relationship Management platform, which allows podcasters to foster even deeper relationships with fans”, which played nice with the beta launch of Acast+, their subscription offering. Over the summer, Acast went public, which is it's own kind of acquisition.And though it falls slightly outside of 2021, when Podnews editor James Cridland announced Amazon's late December 2020 acquisition of Wondery for around 300 million dollars, he made the prediction that ART19 would be the logical next acquisition. After all, former CEO of Wondery, Hernan Lopez was an investor in the platform and all Wondery shows were hosted on ART19. In June of this year, the deal for Amazon to acquire ART19 was officially announced. Nice crystal ball, James.And if that wasn't enough, here's a quick rundown of some of the other deals from 2021: In the podcast player space, the Breaker podcast app team joined Twitter while Maple Media acquired the app itself, Daily Mail and General Trust or DMGT acquired discovery focused podcast app Entale, and Automattic, owner of Tumblr and WordPress.com acquired the podcast app Pocket Casts. In the hosting platform space Castos acquires another hosting platform, Podiant and Sounder acquired audio discovery and analytics company Podnods. In the technology space attribution company Podsights acquired linksharing company pod.link and podcast database Podchaser acquired chart and ranking tool Podcharts and listener review tool Podrover. And in the content production space Amaze Media Labs acquired podcast production company Jam Street Media.Finally, a lighting round of the funding deals that happened, to give you some insight into the money moving into the podcasting space.ProductionCopenhagen-based Podimo raised $15.3m in February and $78m in November.Audio Up Media raised $12m.WaitWhat raised $12m.Sounder raised $2.15m in March and $9.5m in December.Casted raised $7m.French-based Paradiso Media raised $5.9m.Quake Media raised $3.5m.Equity Mates Media raised $900k.UK-based Auddy raised $610k.Creator ToolsVerbit raised $157m.Descript raised $30m.Podcastle raised $7m.Zencastr raised $4.6m.Podchaser raised $4m.Riverside raised $2.5m.Hosting & MonetizationInstreamatic raised $6.1m.RedCircle raised $6m.Podsights raised $4m.Backtracks raised $1.6m.Castos raised $756k.Podmetrics and Podcast Network Asia raised $750k.You'll find links to everything we just covered in the episode details, and subscribe to The Download in your inbox so you never miss an episode.I'm Bryan BarlettaAnd I'm Evo TerraSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hosted and Produced by Bryan Barletta and Evo Terra Audio Engineering by Ian Powell This is The Download, the most important business news from the world of podcasting, I'm Bryan Barletta. And I'm Evo Terra. Today we're covering the entirety of the podcast acquisition and funding that happened in 2021. Let's get started. Libsyn, the public podcast hosting platform founded in 2004 had an incredibly active year. They started by raising 25 million dollars and they definitely put it to work, buying podcast creation platform Auxbus, subscription and membership platform Glow for 1.2 million dollars, host and announcer read self-serve advertising marketplace Advertisecast for 30 million dollars, and longtail podcast advertising marketplace PODGO. With the leadership team from Advertisecast taking a more active role, and former board chairman and investor Brad Tirpak coming on as CEO, Libsyn has a chance to really upgrade their image if they can match the momentum of their competitors and integrate a non-trivial amount of companies into one of the oldest podcast platforms still active. Audacy, started the year as Entercom, and after 53 years, rebranded. Kicking it of by acquiring longtail self-serve ad marketplace Podcorn for $22.5m. Podcorn gives Audacy micro-influencer reach contrasting with their higher-profile owned and repped shows. For $40m, they also bought “an exclusive, perpetual license of WideOrbit's digital audio streaming and podcasting technology and related assets and operations. Audacy will continue to operate WO Streaming under the name AmperWave.” Today, Audacy builds and hosts their radio broadcast to podcasts solution with Triton Digital's Omny Studio, owned by close competitor iHeartMedia, while hosting their Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Media shows on Spotify's Megaphone. For a company reporting around $16m in revenue per quarter from podcasting alone, expect to see them fully migrate to AmperWave and bulk up the public offering for the platform. While Global, the UK-based media & entertainment group and parent company of DAX Digital Ad Exchange does offer podcast hosting capabilities, their main appeal for publishers has been monetization opportunities. So acquiring podcast hosting, analytics, and monetization platform Captivate, which is IAB certified and has strong brand appeal for indie podcasts, shows Global's drive to be more accessible. Ad exchanges thrive on inventory, so the purchase of Remixd, which “automatically converts text articles into audio files” provides Global a quick path to more ad supply. With Captivate off the table, hosting platform Buzzsprout, that serves over 100k podcasts, becomes even more appealing for a longtail inventory play. Earlier in the year, iHeartMedia acquired audio ad technology company Triton Digital for 230 million dollars from E.W. Scripps, which purchased Triton Digital for 150 million dollars in 2018 and Omny Studio, part of Triton Digital, in 2019. Like Audacy, iHeart currently uses Spotify's Megaphone to host their podcasts. Getting all their assets to their own platform is clearly on the horizon for iHeart, especially with Triton Digital offering radio broadcast-to-podcast capabilities. Coupled with iHeart's acquisition of Voxnest/Spreaker in 2020 and the announcement of their ad marketplace in both 2020 and 2021, the only offering iHeart currently lacks to compete with their direct competitors, is an attribution product. Will they build it internally like Adswizz or will they acquire a solution? With over 70% of podcasts on Spotify serving from their hosting platform Anchor, Spotify continues their plans of going wide on audio by buying audiobook distributor Findaway and podcast hosting platform Whooshkaa, which specializes in creating podcasts from radio broadcasts. Whooshkaa will be integrated into hosting platform Megaphone, which Spotify purchased last November for 235 million dollars. While Spotify is unlikely to retain Audacy and iHeartMedia as clients, as both purchased their own radio broadcast-to-podcast technology this year, Spotify will continue to attract publishers looking for those features as part of a complete offering. With Whooshkaa acquired, RedCircle is the last independent hosting platform with dynamic ad insertion and programmatic offerings. And SGRecast from StreamGuys is the only independent company offering a broadcast-to-podcast technology. How long either will remain independent is a very good question. Acast started the year by acquiring US podcast technology startup RadioPublic. Keeping inline with their creator-focused image, the main appeal was “RadioPublic's Listener Relationship Management platform, which allows podcasters to foster even deeper relationships with fans”, which played nice with the beta launch of Acast+, their subscription offering. Over the summer, Acast went public, which is it's own kind of acquisition. And though it falls slightly outside of 2021, when Podnews editor James Cridland announced Amazon's late December 2020 acquisition of Wondery for around 300 million dollars, he made the prediction that ART19 would be the logical next acquisition. After all, former CEO of Wondery, Hernan Lopez was an investor in the platform and all Wondery shows were hosted on ART19. In June of this year, the deal for Amazon to acquire ART19 was officially announced. Nice crystal ball, James. And if that wasn't enough, here's a quick rundown of some of the other deals from 2021: In the podcast player space, the Breaker podcast app team joined Twitter while Maple Media acquired the app itself, Daily Mail and General Trust or DMGT acquired discovery focused podcast app Entale, and Automattic, owner of Tumblr and WordPress.com acquired the podcast app Pocket Casts. In the hosting platform space Castos acquires another hosting platform, Podiant and Sounder acquired audio discovery and analytics company Podnods. In the technology space attribution company Podsights acquired linksharing company pod.link and podcast database Podchaser acquired chart and ranking tool Podcharts and listener review tool Podrover. And in the content production space Amaze Media Labs acquired podcast production company Jam Street Media. Finally, a lighting round of the funding deals that happened, to give you some insight into the money moving into the podcasting space. Production Copenhagen-based Podimo raised $15.3m in February and $78m in November. Audio Up Media raised $12m. WaitWhat raised $12m. Sounder raised $2.15m in March and $9.5m in December. Casted raised $7m. French-based Paradiso Media raised $5.9m. Quake Media raised $3.5m. Equity Mates Media raised $900k. UK-based Auddy raised $610k.Creator Tools Verbit raised $157m. Descript raised $30m. Podcastle raised $7m. Zencastr raised $4.6m. Podchaser raised $4m. Riverside raised $2.5m.Hosting & Monetization Instreamatic raised $6.1m. RedCircle raised $6m. Podsights raised $4m. Backtracks raised $1.6m. Castos raised $756k. Podmetrics and Podcast Network Asia raised $750k. You'll find links to everything we just covered in the episode details, and subscribe to The Download in your inbox so you never miss an episode. I'm Bryan Barletta And I'm Evo Terra See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you have a podcast, you probably get spammed daily with promises of more downloads and boosting you to the top of the charts.  Don't fall for it.There was a podcasting company called Ozy Media.  They claimed “to vault you ahead of the curve – and spark change.”  Then, to stand out in an overcrowded space, they faked audience metrics and even a Goldman Sachs fundraising call.  And, eventually, like all supposed podcast "hacks," the house of cards came tumbling down.  Steve Goldstein of Amplifi Media had a nice write up on this. https://www.amplifimedia.com/blogstein/the-one-part-of-the-ozy-story-podcasters-cant-afford-to-ignoreAlex Cooper, who hosts the hugely popular Call Her Daddy podcast, told the BBC that any podcaster should have a plan, and be authentic.   She's done both well - Spotify gave her $60 million bucks. https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-58719364I still maintain that if you're going to hustle with your podcast, it's not a good idea to be on only on platform.  Sure, if Spotify offered ME $60 million I'd take it gladly, but most of us aren't in that podcasting stratosphere.   For example, the comedy-horror show "Last Podcast On The Left" is actually EXITING the Spotify-exclusive deal they signed in February of 2020.   They're moving to SiriusXM and Stitcher, where they will be free on all platforms, and oh-by-the-way, have a show on satellite radio.   They want to grow, and they realize they need to hustle in multiple places.  https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2021-10-12/last-podcast-on-the-left-spotify-stitcherDon't worry about getting millions of followers.  Focus the first couple years on building to 1,000 true fans.  1,000 people who are loyal to you and can become evangelists for your show are far more valuable than 10,000 Facebook fans who will click "like" on your post and move on.  Good article on this from Medium. https://skooloflife.medium.com/in-an-age-where-we-can-circumvent-gatekeepers-1000-true-fans-is-more-relevant-than-ever-49e0df585a23The audience is there for you.  Edison Research's Tom Webster says when podcast listening spiked early in the pandemic, it never really dropped off. The medium is here to stay.  https://tomwebster.media/normal-but-not-back-to-normal/Told you last week about She Podcasts Live outside Phoenix.  It's getting rave reviews all over the web for its inclusivity, its collaboration, its self care breaks, its pool, and especially its swag bag with a nice pair of headphone.  Traci Long Deforge has a nice writeup in Podcast Business Journal: https://podcastbusinessjournal.com/she-podcasts-live-together-we-rebuildFinally, radio company Audacy (formerly Entercom and CBS Radio) has bought digital streaming platform Wide Orbit for $40 million.  Audacy and iHeart continue to invest heavily in digital, while continuing to let their traditional radio properties dangle in the breeze. If you're looking to start a podcast as part of your 2022 marketing strategy, drop me an email and we can have a consult.  jag@jagindetroit.com.  Until next time, stay healthy and stay safe. Lata!

Brandon C. Ballard is an 8-year former U.S. Army Reservist that knows about sacrifice and a professional people person that knows about service to others. Upon leaving his corporate casino job in 2017, photography became a vehicle he used to create impact in and beyond his community. He spent 6 years cultivating the entrepreneurial energy flowing through Philadelphia by hosting panels, workshops, and programs for creatives and youth at all stages of the journey. Brandon has served as a content lead on numerous projects with brands such as Radio One, Entercom, PECO, and Temple University while building his own brands to help open doors and perspectives for other dreamers as well. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandoncballard/ Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/suavesoldier Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/suasvesoldier Photography Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_brandoncaptures_ https://msha.ke/brandoncballard Peak Scholars Academy: https://www.instagram.com/peakscholarsacademy How to Connect and Support The Education Concierge Podcast with Benita G To Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=FGZ8VCPCSYDDE https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Educoncierge Email: theeduconciergepodcast@gmail.com https://www.edupexperience.com/p/shows/ @educonciergebg on Clubhouse www.gordonglobaleducationconcierge.com https://www.twitter.com/educonciergeBG https://www.instagram.com/theeduconcierge --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/educationconcierge/message

The last 18 months has taught all of us how to use Zoom.  It's great if you need to do a face to face meeting with someone who may not be great with technology, as most people have learned it by now.  Up until recently, however, I told my podcast clients to avoid it.   It can be glitchy over a bad internet connection, causing you to lose words and phrases, and if two people talk at the same time, it can be a nightmare.  While those things are still technically true, Zoom HAS addressed its biggest audio issue, which is the fact that it only records part of of the frequencies in the human voice.  Previously, Zoom had figured out which frequencies in the human voice we needed to hear in order to understand each other. To save data and bandwidth, it chopped out everything else.  Recently, Zoom added a setting on their app called "Enable Original Sound."  With the advent of podcasting, Zoom realized they needed an option to make people sound like...well...people.   Now it's not QUITE as good as other apps or an in person recording. But if you have a decent microphone,  it's close.  You'll find a link for how to do enable original sound here: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115003279466-Enabling-option-to-preserve-original-soundNow, other platforms that are designed for podcasts, like Squadcast, Riverside, and Zencastr are still better options.  They record on your local machine so that internet buffering doesn't happen.  And if you wear headphones, it's no issue if people speak over each other.  But if you have a hard-to-get guest, or someone who isn't likely going to learn a new program, that's how to make Zoom sound better.Onto this week's quick hit podcasting news:Amazon has bought ART19, a podcast hosting and ad sales company.  Look for Amazon to continue their push into podcasting in the second half of 2021.   While Apple and Spotify are still the big dogs, it probably wouldn't hurt to add your show to Amazon Music.  It's free and you can do it here: https://podcasters.amazon.com/Commercial Radio Australia's head of digital thinks that in the future, half of all podcast consumption will be quick 3 minute episodes.  It's a good reminder that shorter is often better. https://www.radiotoday.com.au/jaime-chaux-podcast-power-player-qa/I mentioned last week that I've moved my podcast listening from Apple to Spotify.  I don't see myself going back any time soon.  But if you want to try and navigate the new Apple Podcasts interface, this guide from lifehacker might help: https://lifehacker.com/how-to-make-sense-of-what-apple-has-done-to-the-podcast-1847129209American radio company Audacy, formerly Entercom, and CBS Radio before that, continues to shift resources from traditional radio to podcasting.   Because they own many of the biggest sports stations in the country, and have a partnership with Major League Baseball, they're launching 2400 sports, a sports podcasting operation.  Audacy is also bringing Crooked Media's "Love It Or Leave It" podcast, with former Obama speechwriter Jon Lovett to, its Channel Q.   Channel Q is a digital LGBTQ+ station that's also over the air in 32 of the company's media markets.    Sadly, while Audacy does all of this, they are expected to replace more local music DJ's with national shows.  More of the same for hardworking, underappreciated radio folk, sadly.Finally, a quick programming note - no JAG Show next week, but I'll be back on July 15.  So until then, stay healthy and stay safe.  Lata!Find JAG online at https://jagindetroit.com/or on social media @JAGinDetroit

Editor's note: No video this week due to me breaking my foot and my studio not being super accessible.  More on that later.The big news in podcasting this week was the launch of Facebook's new podcasting feature.  Problem is, it's only available in the US, and by invite only.  So to learn more about this new Facebook feature, I went to - you guessed it- Twitter.  Buzzsprout's Head of Marketing, Alban Brooke, has a great Twitter thread about the features of Facebook Podcasts.https://twitter.com/AlbanBrooke/status/1407066754476646405?s=20But don't worry if you haven't seen it yet.   I just gotta remember to check the old AOL email I use for Facebook notifications.Last week I mentioned hating the new Apple Podcasts app, and this week I finally made the switch.  I'm now listening to shows on Spotify.  I'm on the free plan, it's much easier to find episodes of my favorite shows, and I have more control over playback speed.   It's a much better user experience.  And I wouldn't have known about it - had Apple not driven me away with a truly hard to navigate app.More Spotify news this week - they've acquired Podz, a podcast discovery platform.  Spotify also launched Greenroom, an audio service that's their answer to Clubhouse.https://newsroom.spotify.com/2021-06-16/get-to-know-some-of-the-features-in-our-live-interactive-audio-offering-greenroomRemote recording app Squadcast has a new update - it allows Dolby surround sound, one-click mastering, video recording, and up to 10 participants. The plans seem a little pricey though.  For me, it makes more sense to stay grandfathered in to the 4 people, audio only, unlimited recording time package, and supplement with a small plan on Riverside for when I need video or have more than 4 people.Stitcher is now the number one listened to podcast network, according to new metrics from Triton Digital.  They are owned by Sirius/XM and now have a bigger weekly audience than NPR and Audacy (formerly Entercom).According to the Podcast Index, there are now FOUR MILLION podcasts.  But don't be overwhelmed if you're getting into the space. Only 10% of them, have put out a show in the last month.  Podfading is real.  https://tritondigitalv3.blob.core.windows.net/media/Default/PodcastReports/USA_Podcast_Ranker%20May%202021-2.pdfFinally, as I mentioned, I broke my foot Saturday.  Long story short, I was walking the dog - she zigged, and I zagged.  Landed funny and broke the fifth metatarsal, right below my pinky toe.  Fortunately it should heal with a walking boot, and not cast or surgery.  Also, not my driving foot.   So for now, I'll be recording in my office, not my studio down a scary flight of stairs.  The podcasting moral of the story - if this sounds OK to you - you don't need a fancy studio to record in.  An office without background noise or echo should do just fine.Until next time, stay healthy and stay safe.  Lata!

Download the 2021 Audio Logo Index here to follow along during the discussion or go to thesonictruth.com and download the index from the episode description.  On this week's episode of The Sonic Truth podcast, we welcome the CMO of Audacy, Paul Suchman. Paul and our host Scott Simonelli start by discussing Audacy's rebrand (formerly Entercom). Next they get […] The post How Big Media Rebrands Top to Bottom – With Audacy appeared first on The Sonic Truth.

Kevin Jones is the founder and CEO of Blue Wire. We discuss getting fired over a 49ers Tweet, when it makes sense to be a bad Facebook employee, why 500 Startups first turned him down, his groundbreaking new WynnBet partnership, and why Kevin wants to be the Ted Turner of this generation.Subscribe to our newsletter. We explore the intersection of media, technology, and commerce: sign-up linkLearn more about our market research and executive advisory: RockWater websiteFollow The Come Up on Twitter: @TCUpodEmail us: tcupod@wearerockwater.com---EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:Chris Erwin:Hi, I'm Chris Erwin. Welcome to The Come Up. A podcast that interviews entrepreneurs and leaders. Kevin Jones:What once was a prestigious job at a radio station is now not. They don't develop young talent and it really came to a head for me in San Francisco. They have not developed young personalities the last 10 to 15 years, everyone there who has a show is in their 50s or above. A year in, I realized there's no chance of ever getting a show here. The culture is so backwards. Chris Erwin:This week's episode features Kevin Jones, the founder and CEO of Blue Wire. Kevin grew up in Virginia, about 30 minutes outside D.C. in a family that lived and breathed sports. From a very early age, Kevin was known for having a very distinct point of view about the teams that he followed and cared about and became a regular caller into radio stations at just 15 years old. Naturally after undergrad, Kevin goes into sports media and builds a large Twitter and podcast following. But Kevin kept butting heads with ownership, as he felt that young talent who are defining the future of sports media coverage are not listened to nor supported. He decided to do something about it and launch Blue Wire. One of the most exciting modern sports media companies up today.Kevin has an insane amount of stories. A few we'll get into include getting fired over a tweet about the 49ers. When it makes sense to be a bad Facebook employee, why 500 Startups first turned him down, his groundbreaking new WynnBet partnership, and why Kevin wants to be the Ted Turner of this generation. All right, let's get into it. Kevin, tell me where you grew up. Kevin Jones:Chris, I grew up in Chantilly, Virginia, about 30 minutes outside of Washington, D.C. and then 10 minutes from Dallas airport. I was lucky to grow up in a diverse area, Northern Virginia, heavily populated with just diversity. Honestly, I went to college in North Carolina, at East Carolina, where it was really all white people and black people. And now looking back, growing up in Northern Virginia, it was a really eclectic place to grow up, close to the government, lots of just different types of people. So super fortunate to grow up in Chantilly. Chantilly Charger, that's that's my high school. So shout out to the Chargers. Chris Erwin:How many people were in your town? Was it a few thousand or bigger than that? Kevin Jones:40,000. It's a nice little suburb for sure. My high school had 3,500 kids graduating class of like, 800, 900 kids. It's a healthy suburb, Fairfax County, huge school district in Northern Virginia. It's a nice place to grow up for sure. Chris Erwin:Is that considered part of Appalachia? Kevin Jones:No. We're basically D.C. It's the suburbs of D.C. Chris Erwin:Got it. What was your household like in terms of where you grew up? Kevin Jones:I would say sports was very center to my life. My parents would put the Washington Post sports section in front of my breakfast every morning, where I read Tony Kornheiser, Michael Wilbon, before they became TV hosts. Watching what was then the Redskins and the Wizards and the Baltimore Orioles before the Nationals arrived. Caps was never a big thing till Ovechkin came, but they were always around. And then there was D.C. United winning. Chris Erwin:You said Caps. You have to excuse my limited sports knowledge, who are the Caps? Kevin Jones:Washington Capitals. We name our teams, Caps, Wizz, Nets. We keep it short. I think that's because like CIA, DEA. I think we're used to just abbreviating everything, being close to the government. All the parents jobs are like, not mine specifically, but friends growing up were in the government. I was a news junkie as a little kid in a bizarre way. My parents, our daycare provider, I had a separate room upstairs. I would bring video tapes of the Masters. I would rewash games of the Redskin season, NFL films. I did their yearly yearbook. The sports obsession was really real as a young kid. I loved information. I loved new information, having information, sharing information with adults about sports. And so I always knew I would end up in sports. Kevin Jones:It always felt I was operating at a high level, consuming that information, sharing that information, whether it was newspapers with friends, et cetera. Chris Erwin:You said your parents were also really into sports. Did you guys watch a lot of games together? Kevin Jones:Yeah. I would say for sure. Redskins was number one in my house. My dad grew up in a nearby town, went to the Superbowl, the first one the Redskins one in 83 in Pasadena, flew himself out there as a young man. The Redskins won three super bowls in the 80, and that culture was really instilled in kids my age. Redskins fandom, even though it's really tailed off, the organization's poorly run by Dan Snyder now. That was the highlight from September to January, every Sunday, making feast and watching the game, analyzing the game, thinking about the game afterwards. I felt like I was recording a podcast with my dad and my friends all the time, looking back on it. But I think baseball was huge for me. Cal Ripken was a big figure and then I played basketball. It was probably my best sport. So always had the Wizards on too. Chris Erwin:It seems that was the next logical question, is like, did you participate in these sports as well? Or did you more enjoy observing the commentary, the stories around it? Kevin Jones:Wasn't the most athletic, was definitely one of the most passionate. Anyone listening, I compare myself on the basketball court to maybe a Joakim Noah, clapping a lot, I'm talking a lot of crap. Definitely not the most athletic, getting a lot of rebounds, definitely tall. I was shy, I didn't try out for the team. I didn't want to get cut. I played in the youth league. We had a really competitive youth league. My team won the championship. I won the MVP. I regret looking back now as a 30 year old, should have probably tried out for the high school team. I was the captain of the stands, we treated our stands like it was Duke, we have the fingers in front. We were trying to be the Cameron crazies. We called ourselves the Purple Platoon. Our high school had the colors purple. Kevin Jones:I really actually leaned into that. I became the student government association president, really got the buy in from the community and it was a tough place to play, Chantilly for basketball and really wanted to own that. I play softball and I'm still competitive, but now getting that competitive outlet through my business, Blue Wire. Chris Erwin:I like how you said captain of the stands. I haven't heard that before. And then that's a logical segue, grassroots, man of the people going into student government president. I see it. Kevin Jones:100%, One by one, getting people to buy in. This is how serious I took it in high school. I would stand in the middle of the stands, not the front where all the seniors would be in the front. I would make sure the sophomores and freshmen were cheering as loud as they could. I always took this onus of being the group's leader for sure. Chris Erwin:You're like a hype man, right? Before a comic comes out on stage. Every CEO is a hype man for the company and team and mission. Kevin Jones:100%. I compare Blue Wire to, it's 1995 and I'm a rapper in New York on the streets handing out CDs. I'm definitely that hype man. Chris Erwin:That's awesome. You had also mentioned that in your teenage years, I think your radio personality started to come out. You were calling into radio stations to talk about sports. Right? Kevin Jones:Definitely. The sports junkies gave me a little bit of a platform as I was just starting to get my feet, high school summers home from college. I was writing some articles, at the time RG3 was getting big. They would let me call in even for 10 minutes at a time here, instead of just the typical, all right, let's go to Kevin and Chantilly. It was like, all right, coming up next, we've got Kevin Jones, up and coming blogger, D.C. young guy, follow this guy. Some of it was late at night. I think that's when I realized, wait a second, people are listening to what I have to say. I'm saying some different things. Then I started naturally gravitating. Okay. How can I start building my own voice within media? I think this is possible. Chris Erwin:Wow. So you were becoming a known personality. You were not just a one-time caller. Kevin Jones:I would say I turned that into a job at my first role at WUSA9, they had heard of me. I had a few thousand Twitter followers, mingling with the radio host on Twitter. This was 2010. Twitter was very nascent and young, but it was gravitating towards that platform. Wait a second, the radio show doesn't end. I can actually message the host right now, directly, we're texting. And so that kind of phenomenon, I really leaned into Twitter and WUSA9, who was a CBS connect affiliate at the time in D.C. I became the high school sports producer there. They were like, all right, we see you, Kevin, you're making noise. Here's a way in the door. We need you Friday and Saturday nights to work at the station. These high school coaches are going to be calling in or texting, here's the scores. Here are some of the stats. People are going to be feeding random video clips in, you got to help us put this together. Kevin Jones:That was my first getting thrown into the fire. I knew I wanted to be talking to the Redskins. I knew I wanted to be talking about other things, but I got my foot in the door and I started working fall 2011, high school nights. Then I started coming in Sundays as well. Hey, can I watch the Redskins games here? Would you guys mind? Do you guys mind if I write an article about the Redskins? That was a part time role that eventually turned into a full time role. They were like, Kevin's making too much noise, we have to add him to the team. Chris Erwin:And as you got more involved in the actual, the business side of it, where you're being hired by radio stations and networks, was that increasingly exciting to you? Or were you seeing a dark side, where like, wait a minute, this is not what I expected? Kevin Jones:No, it was not what I expected. My journey is about this realization that being the sports guy is going away of going to Syracuse, moving out to Wyoming and getting all these reps, that's going away. Now, you build your own audience on Twitter, Snapchat, and YouTube, and then you can present it to brands yourself. What has happened, Chris, is pretty obvious. The world used to be a bunch of newspapers, 20 or so radio stations in town and a hundred cable channels. Now the world is 33 million YouTube channels, a million podcasts. Choice is now available. And what once was a prestigious job at a radio station is now not. What I ran into Chris, is they don't develop young talent. It really came to a head for me in San Francisco, my last stop in traditional media. KNBR is a legendary station at San Francisco. 680 AM, they've been around since the 60s. Kevin Jones:They were one of the first ones to really lean into sports radio as a genre. They developed great personalities, but they have not developed young personalities the last 10 to 15 years. Everyone there who has a show is in their 50s or above. I got in the door there to revamp their website and call into these shows as I had in the past, with the goal of one day, getting my own show. A year in, I realized there's no chance of ever getting a show here. The culture is so backwards. They're valuing people's voices and ratings that they deliver on radio and don't care about social media profiles. Don't care about none of that. The way radio is thinking about the future was not the 33 million YouTube channel, 1 million podcast model. It was, more big bad KNBR people are going to listen him no matter what. Kevin Jones:Tom Tolbert has been in town for 20 years, everyone listens. And so I realized, wait a second, Radio is about to hit an iceberg. They have no talent here, and people are going to literally leave the platform, leave the dial. The technology is all changing. There's a lack of innovation in radio, because everyone's a fat cat. Hey, it's not broken. We're all making a lot of money, but it's clearly not the future. And so that was my big aha moment. I'm never getting a radio show in San Francisco. This is my dream job. I'm in this big market way cross from D.C. I've made it technically. And then I was like, wait a second. I have not made it at all. I want to have a radio show, grow. There's no opportunities to really grow within those stations. Chris Erwin:We're going to get to talking about how that's the impetus for the founding of Blue Wire, but we're going to rewind back a bit, Kevin. I think that you have this, after undergrad, I call it the post undergrad bounce, where you're bouncing around to different teams and radio stations and sports media companies after you graduate from East Carolina in 2011. So I'm curious to hear during that journey, you go before San Francisco, you're in D.C. area, you're in Cleveland. Tell me a little bit about that story, right? As you come out of undergrad, you have the special moment in conversation with your dad where he tells you to go to Cleveland. Kevin Jones:My dad was one of the inspirations behind Blue Wire. Obviously got me into sports. He got very sick, actually right after I graduated from college in 2011. He had cirrhosis of the liver. He was a long time alcoholic and needed a liver transplant. Like the movie John Q. I was like, should I go? I need to do something. It's a really helpless feeling when a family member you know needs an organ transplant or really dying right in front of you. That was going on. While I was at the TV station in D.C. what I was talking about, I got my foot in the door, my dad was sick. I would drive up to Baltimore at night and sleep in his hospital room actually, at Johns Hopkins and then drive the next morning to Washington D.C. I was living still in Chantilly. My mom's house. My parents were separated at the time, but back and forth all three. Kevin Jones:Looking back on it, it was a really challenging time. My dad actually did get the liver transplant and then unfortunately actually started developing a really bad drinking problem again, after the transplant. It's so tough to watch that happen. He was on his death bed really and I got this job offer from Cleveland. I was a little torn, because I wanted to be there for his final few months, but he really encouraged me to go. I went, he passed away a month after I took the job in Cleveland, it was really tough. I drove back and got to his room where he was at. He had one of my articles up from the Browns on his iPhone. Chris Erwin:Wow. Kevin Jones:It's crazy. My dad had a little bit of money, I ended up never using it to go to Europe, never using it to go on vacations, buy cars. I use it to fund Blue Wire eventually years later. Crazy story, man. And then he died and I jumped right back into the Cleveland Browns where this was a huge role for me, because I was on the radio everyday representing the team. I couldn't actually say everything I wanted to. I had to be a good steward for the team as a 25 year old. It was amazing role and very challenging, I think personally, now looking back seven years later, like, wow, I was going through quite a bit losing my pops and thrust into this first really big job. I think it's only made me stronger. You do have connections with certain people who've lost their parents. Kevin Jones:There's a bond you have with a lot of folks who have been through a lot. I think when you lose a parent, it's definitely probably the most devastating thing you can go through if you have a good relationship with the parents. For me I feel I can go through anything now, if we're late on a deadline or the investor's mad at me, it's like, hey, I've been through a lot more than that this. Chris Erwin:I'm curious, was your father very supportive of you entering sports media since an early age? And then so the second question is, with him passing, did you feel that that energy support, that there was a void there afterwards? Kevin Jones:He was supportive for sure. He was more of a realist actually. I think if he was alive, he would think Blue Wire is too risky and I shouldn't be doing this. It's a catch 22 here. His death gave me more opportunity in maybe believing on myself. When you have the parent here, they sometimes talk you out of doing things that are risky. I think as weird as it sounds, I wish he was here to see all this, but it might not be if he was here. Everything happens for a reason, I would trade Blue Wire to have him back. But I think he'd definitely encouraged me to pursue my passions. He was a mechanic who rose up and became this manager of a bunch of mechanics where he was at. Blue collar dad who was definitely in my corner. Kevin Jones:And then I really took the anguish of losing him and saying, hey, I'm going to found a startup. What the hell not? Everyone says, this is the hardest thing you can do in your life. I feel I've been through so much. I can do this. And that's where I lean on in my story of, hey, it was dark, but I tried to turn that into light. Chris Erwin:It's amazing to hear you say, you would trade Blue Wire in a heartbeat to have your dad back, yet your dad's passing actually created space for Blue Wire to exist, what an interesting dichotomy. Kevin Jones:Yeah, I know it's not a apples to apples thing here, like, he would be here cheering me on. It probably wouldn't be as weird as that is to say. Chris Erwin:That's amazing. But I do think that you express that your mother was more of a risk taker, because she was actually an entrepreneur. Right? Kevin Jones:My mom, Bonnie, was a recruiter for her whole career and eventually got tired with a boss, on top of just treating people terribly, bad breath in your face. It's just like this whole combination, I don't want to be around this person at all. My mom in high school went out on her own and started Bonnie Jones Associates. She took her recruiting clients. So she recruited for law firms, different government agencies around D.C. and stepped out on her own. I don't know how much of her own money she invested, but still operating today, still thriving today, strong, yearly six figure business that has supported her and my family for a long time, of her just being an outsource recruiting department for a lot of different places. Chris Erwin:Is she very supportive of Blue Wire? Let's like, hey Kevin, this is your destiny, go forth? Kevin Jones:Oh yeah. She was like, I knew you were going to do something. It was hard to figure out what exactly that was going to be as a kid. You were an eight year old at a dinner party for two hours talking with the adults. And they were coming back to you, trying to learn more, it was just strange. I want to call myself an old soul, but it's a little limiting I think in that context. But I think she knew I was destined for more once I became the student government president, was on stage at the high school all time. I've wanted this, for sure. I was scared of business man. I never knew I was going to be a startup. I thought I was going to become a big media personality, be on TV, write magazine stories. I was scared of numbers. I was scared of math. Kevin Jones:In college, I knew right away I was communication major. I was like, I actually don't want to be a sales person. That seems like a bad life. So complete role reversal when you're selling something you believe in. And it's a media company, it makes a lot of sense now. Shout out to my mom, she'll definitely listen to this. This is the longest answer I've ever given about her. She's definitely my support system. She's a solopreneur. She's has a couple of collaborators, but I can go to her for mom's stuff, not the entrepreneur stuff of having a 30 person team team now like we do. Chris Erwin:This is actually a good segue then into, you were talking about your experience at KNBR. The frustration there that you're never going to have your own necessarily radio or TV show you were saying. And so you felt like you have to build something different, but what you just said, Kevin was, you thought you were going to be a sports broadcast or a media personality, not necessarily a company builder. When did that thinking in your brain change? Kevin Jones:Actually got fired from KNBR. It was my doing, I was creating this atmosphere. I was creating the best content at the station, my opinion, non radio, which was, I got our website up to 2.5 million monthly uniques. I inherited something like 200,000. I completely rebuilt their entire website, had a great content strategy role. It was making $50,000 a year. I was covering both the Warriors, 49ers and Giants as a part of this content strategy and was really running myself ragged for nothing, basically. They were taking profits from the website and not giving me any. They were selling all these segments on the website that I basically built. I was like, this is complete bullshit. I would like to be paid 80 to 85,000, a normal livable, barely livable wage for a journalist in San Francisco. Chris Erwin:What were you actually making at the time? Kevin Jones:$50,000. I took the role from Cleveland to come here, because I really thought it could be my big break and that I could meet the right people in the building and shake the right hands and get a radio show. And I realized, it ain't like that at all. I needed support from my family to even make it in San Francisco on that salary. It was becoming so untenable. I completely rebuilt their website. I was developing a crazy relationship with the 49ers. I was breaking news. Jed York, the owner did not like me and my coverage. He pays the bills at KNBR. They have a big partnership where he pays the station a lot of money for the 49ers coverage. There's a lot of money exchanging hands for different things there. But essentially 49ers did not like my coverage. They're in bed with KNBR. Kevin Jones:This happened to be a tweet I sent that a training camp where a player got hurt in the ambulance came on the field. I tweeted out a picture of the ambulance on the field. There was also fans there that day, tweeting pictures of this. They said, no media is ever allowed to take pictures when anything like this happens. In hindsight, it was bad a player was hurt. But I posted it. I was like, this isn't China. Literally you have fans in the stand posting the same content. You're saying that journalists here can't do this. Call my bosses, do whatever. And they did. And they all threw a fit. They're basically like KJ. We don't want a report in this role, we want a robot to just be the post-contact, don't ask hard questions at the press conferences, don't have a personality. Kevin Jones:I was like, all right, cool. We're done. This is great. I tended to say, I got fired. It could be, I quit. But I say that to be like, they fired me. They're fucking dummies. Chris Erwin:There was intense energy around the separation. Kevin Jones:Yeah. I was throwing myself out there, basically you'd be like, this is just such bullshit. You're underpaying me. I'm going to be taking a lot of chances and risk here, because I'm going to be a journalist. What you hired me to do. I'm not going to be a robot. I used them as chip on my shoulders without question. Jeremiah Crowe, the boss who fired me there, Justin Hawk, those people will never go away in my mind, even though it was not going to work out with me there. They didn't understand my talent and couldn't harness that energy of like, this is something special. Total flame out. And so got really confident that I could get any job. I almost took a role with the Brooklyn Nets. Almost took a role with TMZ Sports, almost took a role with the SB Nation. It was interviewing for months. Kevin Jones:Took a role at Facebook. I was like, you know what? I hate sports right now. I hate the industry. I'm not going to make 50K anywhere else, anymore. I have to start valuing myself. Facebook was finally making six figures. I was a content strategist on the help team, help content. You log in, there's some advertising help center. How to make an ad on Facebook. I would write different types of content for that. It was obviously completely boring. I was still tweeting about the 49ers and podcasting all the time about them. I was like, I don't need KNBR anymore. I have 15,000 Twitter followers. I can just feed them. I was growing that, and got the idea for Blue Wire, really sitting at Facebook being like, this is not the longterm for me. This is what I want to be making or more money. Kevin Jones:I was surrounded by smart people at Facebook. I was like, wow, man, not terrible bosses here. I do like the people, they're thoughtful. There's good people that exist. I did like the organization. Sports media is chaotic. Everyone's running with their hair on fire. Facebook obviously is a machine. They assign you tasks. 3396, it's do 21 days from now. Please send a progress update to Tanya, on how everything's going. It's like, holy shit, they have scaled the whole organization. Every task is being filed. Facebook awoke me to, hey, I can't build a Facebook, but I could build something around podcasting, is what I landed on. Chris Erwin:It seems like, you can bring some organization to a scaled media business better than where it's at. It seems like there's some low-hanging fruit to make it better. Kevin Jones:Exactly. Listeners were leaving radio, and now I gained the confidence by being inside of Facebook. I can run an organization confidently, because Chris, before this, I never sat at a desk, the eight years before Blue Wire and Facebook, I was at the scene talking to players every day. I'd never really, I'd been in some community relations meetings at the Browns, but I'd never done that nine to five thing ever before Blue Wire. I think that's the crazy part about this. Chris Erwin:Did you have a podcast at this point? Had you launched your own podcast yet? Kevin Jones:I actually brought it from Cleveland to San Francisco, and KNBR was like, we don't care about it. It can be your pet project. We don't know what to do with it. We don't know how to monetize it. And I was like, okay. I just continued to record. Eventually I found my footing in San Francisco. I became the 49ers guy. I went to Warriors games. I went to Giant stuff and I participated. People came to my Twitter, our website, for my thoughts on the 49ers. They were two in 14. They didn't have a lot of attention at the time. A lot of the 49ers reporters are the same. I say that in a good way. They're good guys. But they just report the facts of the day, that was giving opinions and different, hey, this is what they should do in 2020, a few years down the road, it was just different coverage. Kevin Jones:So kept podcasting two times a week on the 49ers. It was called the Kevin Jones podcast at that time. Post game would do a show and then mid-week would do a show, roughly half an hour, sometimes at our guests. I tweeted and I treated my tweets as articles. I would take 10, 15 minutes to carefully craft the tweet and would tweet two to three times a day of what would have been blog posts, here's my opinion on Rubin Foster. Here's my opinion on John Lynch. Those were getting a lot of engagement. I just looked around the rest of the internet, man, I was like, there was a Warriors guy named Sam. There was a Raiders girl named Fallon. They're doing the same thing I'm doing right now. They're not on a team, we should band together. Chris Erwin:When you left Facebook, did you know that you are going to start this company or did that just come together? Kevin Jones:We were going at Facebook. I founded it before Facebook, there's this legal loopholes. I technically founded it before I got to Facebook. So they don't know any of my IP. I was working on it at Facebook and I started telling coworkers about it, at Facebook. I was a contractor there luckily, not a full timer. Facebook has a lot of contractors, on an eight month contract, so I could have other projects and openly talk about it. It's so cool there, looking back, I had some people take, I was creating content. I signed my first big deal ever. I was negotiating in a room at Facebook and I saw some random person take a picture of you signing that paperwork. I posted it. I was actually the first six months. I took a second job at Salesforce after this ran out, the contract at Facebook. Not many people know this. Kevin Jones:I was contracting up until I got into 500 Startups to keep paying the bills, because I made no money in radio. Now I put $17,000 of my own money in Blue Wire. I barely had enough to pay rent every month. Chris Erwin:Geez. Kevin Jones:And so yeah, floating by on the skin of my teeth here just a couple years ago, the Facebook thing ended in December of 2018. I luckily got a new contract position at Salesforce, which was fully remote and I didn't have to go into the office, which was a game changer for me. I was barely making it by, I was not a good contractor. I was abusing Zuckerberg and Marc Benioff could, can hammer it and yell at me now, I did not work 40 hours a week. They can come back and sue me, I guess. I was definitely building my startup while I was working in tech as a contractor. I actually really recommend that model for people founding a company. Chris Erwin:So you knew that Blue Wire was a future for you, but you were just saying, I don't have enough cashflow coming in yet. I'm going to subsidize using contractor jobs, but I'll get there. And then summer 2019, you get into a batch of 25 at 500 Startups. Kevin, I just want to commend you because I really liked the notion of you're burning the candle at both ends a bit, but you are taking this contract to work, to fund the beginning of Blue Wire. Knowing that there's some things that you needed to prove out in the model, make sure you had product market fit, build out your content portfolio, get some maybe advertising partners in the door. Knowing that that's probably going to give you a little bit more focus and clarity of what you want to build and what's working, and then also get into the incubators or to raise funding and have more leverage over that process. Chris Erwin:I think that's smart where sometimes people have an idea, but they just want to raise money, but don't want to prove it out. But I think you went after it in a really smart way. Kevin Jones:Bootstrapping to me was exciting. I'm a ready, fire, aim type of person. I don't like aiming all day. I thought if I was going to plan this thing for months and months and months, I would never do it. I think that was big. And then Chris, the point of contracting, the tough thing about podcasting the business model is, ad revenue comes in 90 days after a campaign usually. I had to give people my own money at the start of this. We really like to pay our podcasters after that month of content, we've kept it that way as our business model. First of all, we didn't close an ad deal, because we didn't have any content at the beginning of this, we didn't close our first ad deal till February or something. Kevin Jones:There was 17K, my own money to pay some of the podcasters. There's a little to come on the team. And then almost just to pay them a little bit monthly at the start of this, like, hey, I promise more is coming. I really didn't know if it was, but basically I was going to take a shot that we could figure it out. Chris Erwin:Hey listeners, this is Chris Erwin, your host of The Come Up. I have a quick ask for you. If you dig what we're putting down. If you like the show, if you like our guests, it would really mean a lot if you can give us a rating, whenever you listen to our show. It helps other people discover our work. It also really supports what we do here. All right, that's it everybody, let's get back to the interview. So were you scared? You said you were making $50,000 a year in San Francisco. It goes up to maybe barely six figures at Facebook, but still seems you're living by the skin of your teeth. That's an expensive city. And now you're fronting 17,000 to podcast partners saying this might work, but that money could also totally go away. Kevin Jones:I think my mom was terrified. We'll have to get the real truth from her now that there's success. I think she thought I was a little crazy that I shouldn't be doubling down on sports media, that I should actually be moving home to Virginia, going to work at Deloitte or something. That my background as a writer is going to be received really well. People are like Blue Wire man, looks cool. Congrats. I think people are just a little like, okay, Jay's is going to try something, I guess. It was risky because I didn't have the full support of everyone around me. Publicly I did, but I could tell, they weren't asking me questions about this thing. They were just like, oh cool. Let me know how it goes and not like, holy shit, Blue Wire, no one saw my vision. Kevin Jones:I ran an article about Entercom at the time, they rebrand it to Odyssey, right? As I was founding the company invested a bunch into Cadence13. I kept seeing that company name. Beyond, I knew Barstool and Ringer. Everyone knew those two at the time, but cadence 13 was the company for me. I was like, they're making this happen. They're making content. They have advertisers. They have investors. And to me, when people were doubting me, I was like, there's other people doing this. There's a few others ahead of me. I'm not the first person to launch a podcast company. Chris Erwin:I remember that, Spotify had bought Gimlet and then Spotify had bought the Ringer. And then Entercom was being acquisitive as well. They bought Cadence13, and then I think also Pineapple Street as well, another podcast studio. You're looking at these and saying, hey, they're building content and they're up for sale. Maybe this is validating for Blue Wire. Kevin Jones:The first legitimizing thing that happened for us was, we were founded before Spotify bought Ringer. We had this vision before that happened. Hashtag Sports is a popular newsletter that came out. They had a headline that said, two peas in a pot. And it had picture of Bill Simmons and it was talking all about Blue Wire. These two podcasting companies. We had gotten a lot of coverage from an awful announcing article. And then we started getting just looped into headlines with the Ringer and Barstool. All of a sudden it just started happening and people were like, wait a second. What is this Blue Wire thing? More creators, I just started signing more creators. I started showing the press like, hey, we're making moves here. And then all of a sudden, yeah, 500 Startups, man, really changed the game for us. Kevin Jones:This is how green I am. I didn't know Y Combinator or 500 Startups was a few months before I applied. I had no idea that those types of things even existed. I was Googling angel investing. I read Jason Calacanis's book as a self-taught way to try and figure out which angel investors to approach. I met this dude, Jarie Bolander and shout out to him. He'll definitely listen. He got me connected to Clayton Brian, one of the investors at 500 Startups, who had always been interested in sports and media, and they ended up taking a shot on me. They grill you for a couple of interviews. I thought they weren't going to say yes, 500 Startups, because they were basically like, how does this become a billion dollar company? I was like, it's not, it's not going to become a billion dollar company. They were like, okay, we don't want to invest in you. Kevin Jones:I was like, you're making a huge mistake. We're going to be one of the biggest brands on the internet, but just because we're not going to be a billion dollar company, doesn't mean this is a bad investment. I was learning the whole BC model, live on the fly there. I'm so green to it. Now I obviously know a little bit more, but they saw my passion, me fight back in that meeting. I was like, I would love to exit this thing for a couple of hundred million dollars. I can show you the path to that. I don't want to build technology and stuff. I want to be this content studio. Are you okay with that? We got on the same page. 500 Startups makes a bunch of investments, so they were like, this makes sense. It's podcasting, it's hot. Spotify is getting into it. Let's do it. Kevin Jones:And walked in day one, still working at Salesforce. It was now down the street from 500 Startups. I was going back and forth during the day. My mentor Taz was like, this is crazy. You got to pull the plug here. Eventually that contract ended in July and I was then full time at 500 Startups every day. Looking back, I would say a top three experience of my entire life. I have lifelong friends from it. I have, a couple of other entrepreneurs are now invested in the company. Shout out to Andrew Beatty, threw a really big check in. I learned so much, man. I learned, I can't even think about it, man. I'm getting like Russell Crowe - all these numbers in my head, how to stand up a business, everything it takes, how to deal with investors, how to deal with rejection, how to position your business. Kevin Jones:Marvin Liao was a really good mentor of mine. Ahmed Bedier. Taz Patel, all my mentors, there are Asian, Indian, black. 500 Startups fits my ethos, as I mentioned, the beginning of this from Northern Virginia is a really eclectic place. My best friend Namibil Amadeia. I felt at home at 500 Startups. I do feel like an outsider. I have my whole life, even though I'm a white guy, as weird as that has sounded. 500 Startups has that outsider mentality in San Francisco, they have more investment money in Southeast Asia. They have more women entrepreneurs than most venture funds. It was really exciting to be there, man, before this whole diverse movement became this talking point, 500 Startups was living and breathing, and to be a part of it, and to get knowledge from Marvin and Clayton and Taz and all these people, just looking back on it, it's a melting pot there and I've grabbed so much. I'm at a loss for words right now, man, reflecting on how much 500 Startups was able to change my mentality as a business owner. Chris Erwin:That's incredible. I do think about though, I was going to ask if you felt odd man out, because maybe you were the only media business in probably a batch of startups, that was primarily tech enabled or tech oriented. Kevin Jones:Yeah. Definitely. Like, you don't have SAS? I felt most people didn't give my start up attention, they're like, there's no $20 billion chance for Blue Wire, make sure they're not getting full attention. From some of the people, yes. But because I had sports and I came with a user base, I had 200K users by this time, May, this is monthly, 200K downloads by May of 2018. I had the biggest user base in the program by far. A lot of them were early nascent startups. What they liked about me was that, he's got deals with Harry's Razors at this point, and he's got hundreds of thousands of people listening, monthly. There was early signs. They like the branding. We've always had good look and feel on our website. So I checked enough boxes for them. Feeling like the outsider, because I didn't know anything. Kevin Jones:A lot of these were second, third time founders had already sold their business. They easily got into 500 Startups. They have a quick idea and a quick business plan. I did feel I don't know anything about cap tables. I don't know anything about MRRs. I'm Googling things late at night. I'm creating a glossary of flashcards for myself. My dad was sick. I was constantly hustling back and forth places. I'm like almost, I can't relax. I think that has to do with my upbringing, some of that trauma I've been through, man, but I channeled that into learning all of the time. Chris Erwin:You're saying that you feel like you always have to be doing something, you don't sit still. Kevin Jones:In a good way, man. I definitely read for leisure as well. I read for fun, but I think that stimulation is so important. It has been a part of the whole journey of Blue Wire. Hustle is our main core word of everything we do. Chris Erwin:I just want to also acknowledge that I was not aware of this, but with 500 Startups that the diversity of the different mentors and founders that you had access to, plus I think that their investor base includes Southeast Asia and some other international regions. That's great to hear, because you hear about like, I'm at an incubator in Silicon Valley or in SF, is it just a bunch of rich white guys? Kevin Jones:I don't want to be that guy. Someone texted me, you're this VC guy. Like, no, no, Dot Capital who's our lead investor is a micro VC who has a small fund. This whole Andreas Halvorsen staying in Tiger Global, is the big thing right now. I think it's cool. I don't want to shit on startups to do that, but I'm not a silver spoon guy. I'm not. I feel I've been encountered out radio stations, other people, and this ethos abandoned together. The diversity thing is so big. Our three core words of Blue Wire are hustle, innovation and diversity. We've done that the whole time. We've remained true. That's what feels great about our journey. Baron Davis is an investor. Prakash Janakiraman is an investor. These are self-made entrepreneurs or athletes. This is not pension funds investing in this company. Chris Erwin:Kevin, looking back, a wild run since the summer 2019, I think that you raise around 150,000 from 500 Startups, and then February 2020, seed round of 1.2 million. December of 2020, five million from Dot Capital and some other investors. And then most recently in February 3.5 million from Wynn. I'm curious to hear, where is Blue Wire right now? And where are you headed? Kevin Jones:The journey for us has been audio centric. We've been one of the best at sports audio, outside of ESPN, Ringer, Barstool, who else is playing, Blue Wire as been a solid player in audio the last couple of years. Where are we heading? Doubling down on audio and then of course adding video and live rights. Now that we have a stage at the Wynn, by the way they invested in us, because we bootstrapped, shout out to Craig Billings, the CFO who negotiated the deal with us. He initially discovered us and liked our story and our hustle. He's an entrepreneur himself who sold his company to the Wynn. We're just identifying with people like that. And the Wynn, we feel we made it. We feel like we made it onto a stage. And now we can now talk to the world and host events, conferences, post our fans for Premier League Palooza and the NBA Summer League. Kevin Jones:We're going to be doubling down on the WNBA and the Las Vegas Aces. We're going to be hiring lots of women creators, full time, out of Las Vegas to really double down on our brand. Live Rights will be a part of this. I don't know if it's dodgeball. I don't know if it's celebrity golf. I don't know if it's us creating the real world or a game show, but you will be seeing Blue Wire video content and our storytelling as well, man. We've had some great talks with UTA and some famous filmmakers in Hollywood of how do we make podcasts in conjunction with filmmakers for Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Paramount Plus. That's the journey, man. It's been an audio, getting people on the team, helping them set up their podcast. Wait a second, we can be more than this. Kevin Jones:We're doing so much, reflecting on this with you makes, we haven't even talked about our partnership with Snapchat. It's pretty insane. I don't want to sell the company anytime soon, man, because I think media is changing so much. There's rumors floating about us all the time, but we've raised nine million. The wind gives us the stage and we're having success for sure. We're doing some cool things. Chris Erwin:What I heard from you that is interesting is, increasingly I'm hearing from media companies, it started out as podcasts networks or audio first. They're now saying, no, we're not just audio. We create content for whatever vertical we're in or whatever underrepresented voices. We started with audio. We built out incredible talent network, and now we're moving into video. Now we're moving into live. Now we're moving into whatever else. And so I think this is the first time I've heard from you that, the intent to have live rights and to expand into video in a meaningful way. But it makes sense, because audio is just a medium for you, right? Just one channel, but you're an omni-channel business. Kevin Jones:We believe in audio so much. I don't think that's ever going to go away. I do think that's going to be the core pillar of the business for the next 10 years. That being said, entertainment, when people sit down at eight o'clock at night, most times now listen to a podcast. It is trying to figure out what they're going to watch. And so we want to be a part of people's morning, their afternoon and their night. And as we evolve as a company, we're going to have to create video content and be a part of people's night. We're going to need video content during the day, of course, social, excited to talk about do or launching their podcasts. There's a ton of video involved in that. My mentor Taner said it best, audio is the thin wedge to build a media company. It is easier to produce it's readily available. It's disruptable right now. Kevin Jones:And then from that audio, you build video, merge licensing and anything you want here. American Prodigy is probably our best example of what we can show here, of like, hey, we launched this podcast. It's a documentary series, season one on Freddy Adu. Season two on Ken Griffey Jr. I believe American Prodigy can become not only a Netflix series, a video game, as weird as that is to sound. Once we get enough characters, reliving Freddy Adu's life, reliving Ken Griffey Jr's life, as AI, the glasses become such a thing. Could it become a theme? Right? Could American Prodigy at Nike become a fit? I believe in these brands, we're building. We have the rumor coming out that's going to be all about sports mystery and kind of, they start as audio brands and they become a lot more. That's the future for Blue Wire. And I believe others are already utilizing this playbook. And this is the future of media. Chris Erwin:These American Prodigy, these are originals, that are produced and financed by your team, right? These are not just network programs. Correct? Kevin Jones:Yeah. We have our podcast network where we sign licensing deals with existing podcasters. A lot of those we bring home and cut them long term deals and share IP ownership. And then yes, we have original programming. This year we'll produce 10 different stories, Chris. And that's my bet, man. I'm not the only one to bet this. Hernan Lopez bet this at Wondery. I read an early thing on what advice he would give young podcast founders. He said, go find your Dirty John. Go make franchises. He made this franchise called Dirty John. It was a story in conjunction with the LA Times and it blew up. It's a true story. It became a hit show on Bravo. It's now syndicated on Netflix. There's now season two's and books and other things coming out from it. Kevin Jones:I think American prodigy, maybe not on that scale yet is our first foray for our Dirty John at Blue Wire. We are focused on our originals becoming like that. How do we make stranger things? We are getting into fiction. We're going to have a baseball comedy next year that's based on a true story, that's like the Office, on some baseball players from the 90s who are real people. I can tease a bunch of different things now, man, but building a catalog, almost a sports Hulu or Netflix is actually realistic over the next three to five years of how much volume of evergreen stories we believe we're going to have. Some of them are going to be duds without question. Netflix and Hulu produce content all the time that flops. We're living in that reality. But we're trying to stand up as many franchise brands as possible. Kevin Jones:We can lean on talent like Grant Wall and other things that TV shows, they bring in stars. Podcasting, same thing. You can bring in a star reporter and marry him or her to a story. I think what Grant Wall did with Freddy Adu opened up our whole eyes. We are creating a factory, Chris, of how do we make this faster. Holy shit, we've discovered gold here, with American Prodigy. Coslight just came in for an awesome partnership, for season two, so we can make money on the advertising side. And then the downstream side of this after audio. Chris Erwin:Makes a lot of sense. I have to go back to one of the pillars where you said, a value of Blue Wire is innovation. Thinking about the audio format, you're starting to see the emergence of live audio, look at Locker Room sale to Spotify, and the recent, I think the billion dollar valuation for Clubhouse, supposedly they're shopping for another round at a four billion plus valuation. Then there's also the emergence of Microcast enabled by smart speakers, right? 10 to 15 minutes in short audio. When you think about innovation and audio and you buying live rights, is live audio increasingly important to you? Are you experimenting there? Kevin Jones:Yeah, definitely. We have a partnership with Locker Room. 40 of our podcasters are publishing there. I think we were mentioned in the Vulture article as being a part of their growth spike before they sold the company. Shout out to Howard, amazing founder. He saw this before everyone, this Clubhouse, this technology to build this. I do think that becomes a feature everywhere. I don't know if there's going to be a platform winner there. It feels like Twitter has the best advantage, at least for sports and entertainment where we're playing, because people's followings are huge. Instagram live has existed like this thing, people audio because there's Zoom fatigue. I do think this is going to be a feature in discord feature. Spotify can get Bill Simmons and Joe Rogan in the same room, that's powerful. They can get Barack Obama and Prince Harry in the same room. Kevin Jones:Everyone's going to have radio capabilities, man. It's crazy. Tech players just became radio broadcasters with this innovation, I think is the exciting thing that's going to happen. We get to pick, I think we should bundle and try and cut deals, but I think it's going to be a free platform. I hope they don't throw commercials into this. You can obviously see that happening in Clubhouse. I think it's going to be so annoying, but I think you're going to see advertisers get in 15, 20, 30, second commercial. We're going to go to break really quickly. How are we going to make money doing this if everyone's going to spend hours there? It makes sense for these rooms to start being branded. Interesting, Apple has a big announcement coming up. I can't say anything about it. It's going to rock the podcasting industry without question. That's all I can say. The innovation is not stopping man. Kevin Jones:So for us, gosh, it's becoming so crowded everywhere. We really do want to bundle and figure out, okay, who is our live radio partner? We feel like Blue Wires powers, we can bring 150 treaters at one time somewhere, but we just did a Locker Room in a really powerful way. Our Warriors post game show there is getting 300 call-ins a night. It's replacing radio. Fans are venting, it's giving fans a voice, which they hadn't had in podcasting before. I think for sports, it makes so much sense. For Twitter, Twitter is so late to the game. They should be slapping themselves in the face. What are they waiting for rolling spaces out? They've been so slow in product development. Chris Erwin:They've been notorious in slow product development. But I think what you're getting at Kevin, is that, you're creating the content, you're building the audience, you're building the IP, the talent network. And then you're going to use the proliferation of all these new creative monetization tools that are emerging, all these different ways to distribute your content and your talents voices. And that's where your win is. It sounds like with Apple, I know there's been a lot of rumors of, are they going to launch a new subscription product? I think that they are and that's going to be the new announcement. I don't think that's been public yet, but that's my- Kevin Jones:That's a good guess. And I'd say Patreon, the recent fundraising round, Cameo, the recent fundraising round. I think there's eventually this decade. I cannot predict linear growth for creator economy. There's got to be burn out at some point from people being on their phone for 12 hours, years, and years and years and years. However, the next five years, this doesn't look like it's going to slow down. It looks like more people coming out of college, are going to look to become creators or join Blue Wires, figure out how they can grow their brand. And now, the number one profession in the country is a YouTuber. I do think there's going to be more Patreons, more Cameos. Chris Erwin:I think it's important to emphasize this note, with all these new creator tools. I think burnout is a real problem, but you have to find sustainability and balance, because I saw this when I was running Big Frame, it's just to be on 20 different channels on YouTube, on Snapchat and Twitter. Thinking about monetization and keeping up with the Joneses, what are your peers doing? It's a brutal lifestyle and it's not going to last long. And so we cover this- Kevin Jones:Someday AI is going to sort information better for us at some point, is the hope here. People are going to log into their computers and the important stuff, the content they actually want to see. Someone's going to solve information diet, is my prediction. I hope it's a new startup and not a current one. And no one does. I'm post Blue Wire. That's what really excites me, is information diet. I feel overwhelmed when I log into the internet in a terrifying, but... There's another notification. I try to mute them too. This has got to calm down at some point, in my opinion. People now are in control of their own content like they've never been before, and have gone crazy a little bit, the 80s, 90s, you just watched MTV or whatever, and had to entertain yourself a little bit. Kevin Jones:And now the addiction is just so real, the content that I want to acknowledge it. I still want to serve fans. I don't think people are like, oh my gosh, they're ruining their life listening to a Yankees podcast, but it's just the whole thing together is like, geez, people can't sleep at night and have more anxiety. I think Instagram to me and the pressure to be cool is way more of a problem than content. There's way more things on the internet. You group in content as everything to be honest. So that's the difficult part. What I love about audio and why it's a pillar of our brand is, you don't need your eyes for it. I'm a big believer in audio and you can be listening to our podcasts, climbing a mountain. You can be washing dishes, typically on Instagram, you're just so lost in it. You can get lost in something else with audio. And so, yes, I don't think audio is ever creating out either. I do believe in audio longterm. Chris Erwin:We're move on to the rapid fire momentarily. I think a good beat to end on is, so with Blue Wire you mentioned, right, there's all this MNA activity and capital flowing into the sports media space. I'm sure that people, companies have been circling of, how do we gobble up Blue Wire? What are you thinking about what you want to do with the company? Is this something that you can do for the next decade, decade plus? Look, you're clearly working really hard. Your team's working hard. You've made some really big new hires lately. Is an exit in the near future so that you can take some time off and go onto the next thing? Where's your head at? Kevin Jones:My head at, is building Blue Wire for a long, long time. I would love for this to be a brand forever. I would love to be a part of it forever, but that's likely just knowing my personality, not feasible. And just reading about other founders. To me, can we build Blue Wire into an investment capital firm as well? The things that I'm excited about, can we just make this more of a conglomerate instead of me going off and chasing and doing the next thing? That's my goal. Man, this is a crazy vision, but I love the food truck industry so much. What Blue Wire did what we did for content creators, for food trucks, for organizations. We got more jobs out there. We were helping people expand their brands, more mobily. The information that I think, could Blue Wire just be this whole thing? Kevin Jones:I think so, man. I truly believe that people are going to continue to buy into the people we're hiring. How we can tie some of these crazy visions together. I know I'm giving you some random thoughts right now, but I would like to keep driving this business. Does that mean one day we partner with someone else, maybe, it's far fetched as I recall as a public company, but with SPACs and everything, with mergers happening, who knows? I feel I like not having a boss right now besides my investors. For me, unless I really believe in the vision and the price is right, Blue Wire is not for sale. I'm tempted to have a yacht and nice toys, but I know those things have never been my way of life. I know for me, I'll be working well into my 50s, 60s, 70s. I'm not looking to retire ever. Chris Erwin:I think it seems for you, you have a very strong point of view of what you're building and what you want to build towards. What types of partners that you want. And so I wonder, similar to the Barstool, Dave Portnoy model, where TCG came in and said, hey, you're the creative visionary, we're just going to give you the admin and the infrastructure to build smarter and better. But the brand is yours. Dave maintained a lot of equity in the company. And then even after the sale to Penn National Gaming, Dave is still like, he is the visual front and the audio front to that brand. Is that similar track for you of finding the right partner that can put a lot of money in your pocket, but still rallies behind your values as well? Kevin Jones:Yeah, of course. That's on the table, I would say. I compare Dave Portnoy to a Howard Stern type. He's more than that for sure. But he's our version of the shock jock today on the internet and he's done an amazing job. This is no discredit to him. Hopefully he can become more our version of Ted Turner of this generation. He obviously had a crazy bad ending. His sale in AOL and all the disaster that was, but he bootstrapped his dad's business into this crazy conglomerate and reading his story was really inspiring to me. I don't think I'm the front man as Dave is, he can actually move the stock market based on one of his tweets. I operating the business. I would say maybe similar to how Erika Nardini, but she's almost become a front person too. I think there's a need for me to become way more of a front person as Blue Wire grows, but truly- Chris Erwin:It's in your DNA. Kevin Jones:Yeah. Totally. Totally. I want to be more on stage. I've been so ingrained and we're so small, I hire basically everyone on the team, we're now out to 30 people. You can start to see the platform being built where I can step on stage as well and be the front person, but I do admire Ted Turner. He wasn't really on stage. He had quotes all the time. He was in the press, he was making noise. He was eccentric. Don't want to be just like him, but that vibe. TBS, they launched things at 7:35, they were different with the programming. He founded Cartoon Network, CNN, all these things that were like, now it seems like, Oda, why don't we do that? It feels there's some Oda things out there, the sports narrative content I'm producing, trying to find those, wait a second, why isn't our competition doing this? We're going to do that. Chris Erwin:I look at Turner today, part of Warner Media, but I love their portfolio, Bleacher Report, House of Highlights, Team Coco and Conan O'Brien, amazing audio podcast network. They're close friends of the RockWater family. I like that reference. Look, before we go on to rapid fire, I want to give you some kudos, Kevin. I was listening to a podcast with the partners of TCG, Mike Kerns and Jesse Jacobs. I think it's Mike that said, that they really invest in the accidental businesses. They're talking about the luxury watch brand Hodinkee or Barstool Sports or Food52. Companies that were not, in the beginning were just creating content to service their fans, coming up with the voice. And then all of a sudden just stumbled into, hey, there's a way to make sustainable revenues here and deliver some returns to investors, but that was never the intent. Chris Erwin:It feels like for you, and today where there's so many businesses that just like, I have an idea, maybe I'm from a totally different industry. I want to raise money and off to the races, there's nothing wrong with that. But I think there's something special and different about hearing your story that we just went through for the past hour. And your love for sports, your love for media, wanting to empower voices and how building a company around that, what a beautiful thing and more power to you. Kevin Jones:I know, man, it's really making me appreciate this whole thing more. I got to be nicer to my teammates, got to be as hard. We're really doing some cool things. Thank you so much, man. It does feel authentic. That's the word we really use in-house as well, to add to hustle, innovation and diversity, is Blue Wires authentic. We work with authentic people. Anyone who comes to us, is like, hey, what should my podcast be about? Actually I don't want to work with them. We're like, you should know, we want to work with you. You're the star. And that's been our ethos, man. The accidental business feels exactly correct. It feels like a great title for a book if someone hasn't already stolen that. I didn't want to do this at the beginning. I wanted to just launch some content, stick it back to the people who fired me at the beginning of this and say, hey, I'm not done yet. Kevin Jones:But then it was like, oh shit, I just created a magnet. And now all these people are coming, flying towards this. It's wild. I think corporate America has downside as well. Just like people working at Hulu or the NFL. It's not that great of experience. They're not really loving all the bureaucracy, all these mergers happening don't, Casey Reed on our team had great memories at Hulu too. But I think we connected at the interview, where we're like corporate America doesn't get it. They don't get it. They're too big to get it. Even though they're doing great things, they're producing all the big stuff, because they're in that spot. The startup disruption is just a more attractive lifestyle to wake up and work on that every day, than just show up to corporate. Chris Erwin:All right, Kevin, we're now moving to the rapid fire round. We have six questions. The rules are as follows, short, pithy responses, can just be one to two words or maybe just a sentence or two max. Do you understand the rules? Kevin Jones:Keep me in check. I'm a rule breaker. So if I'm breaking the rules, please yell out. Chris Erwin:Okay, we'll do, First one, proudest life moment. Kevin Jones:I got to say this, the Wynn investment, man. And just seeing the pictures coming from this. I think to date it is closing the deal. I definitely shed a tear when I posted that, I was like, this is really nuts. We're sharing with the world that we're going to now have a home base inside of a pretty famous casino, man. That right there was pretty, pretty nuts. Chris Erwin:What do you want to do less of in 2021? Kevin Jones:Smoke marijuana. It's definitely been a stress reliever for me, especially at home on Zoom meetings. You don't want to be doing this all the time. Chris Erwin:Okay. What do you want to do more of in 2021? Kevin Jones:Lift weights. Chris Erwin:What, one to two things drive your success? Kevin Jones:Dedication, authenticity, risk taking. Chris Erwin:Advise for media and audio execs going into the second half of 2021? Kevin Jones:Invest in audio now. You're going to be super late to the game if you don't and call me, if you're not invested in, whatever size company you are, you are a

"There's only so much you can learn about a profession from reading about it or hearing about it. You just got to go out and do it." Rob Breck is an account executive at Audacy, formerly known as CBS Radio and Entercom. He represents some of the biggest brands in sports, music, and news by executing sponsorship and marketing agreements through digital, audio, and social. After various internships in Broadcast Journalism, Rob realized that while he wanted to work within the sports industry, he needed a better work-life balance. Rob now works in Ad Sales right down the hall from some of his favorite radio hosts of WFAN - New York Yankees Radio Network. Rob graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 2017. In this episode: 1:18 Rob's role at Audacy 8:49 Becoming friends with his childhood idols 12:43 The impact of COVID on Audacy and the sports industry 18:50 Rob's first sports memory 21:39 When he decided he wanted to work in sports 23:13 Rob's internships in production and journalism 29:35 Realizing he wanted to work in Ad Sales to maintain a healthy work-life balance 38:27 Rob's experience attending Barstool Sports' Party in Miami 43:21 Rob's advice 45:29 What Rob would've done differently 47:21 How Rob would define success 50:09 The best piece of advice he's received SHOW NOTES Monday Night Massacre - Jets vs. Patriots 2019 Super Bowl XXIII - Joe Montana beats Boomer Esiason Big Three Basketball - Ice Cube's 3-on-3 basketball league Rudy Gobert touches microphones, gets COVID, and NBA games are canceled Kicker Doug Bryan misses two field goals for Jets in 2004 AFC Divisional Round 2017 Rose Bowl - USC vs. Penn State If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of After School Program, you can help support the show by doing the following: Follow us on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Amazon Music Write us a review on Apple Podcasts Follow us on Instagram or check out our website Tell a friend to listen to new episodes of After School Program released every Tuesday at 5am EST Producer & Host: Zach McHale Editor & Host: Connor Heine Intro music created by Muscle Tough. IG: @muscletoughband

In this week's episode, podcast co-hosts Eric Fisher and Chris Russo interview Mike Dee, president of sports for Pennsylvania-based multiplatform audio company Audacy, which recently rebranded from its prior identity of Entercom. Eric and Chris also discuss Endeavor's revived efforts to go public, a major fundraising round for the developer of NBA Top Shot, and DraftKings' acquisition of the Vegas Sports Information Network (VSiN).

Welcome in, I'm Jon Gay.  As you hear in my intro, I'm a radio guy turned podcaster.  When in radio, I rolled eyes at those "bitter old radio guys" who said "back in my day." This is not me being bitter about being out of radio.  Professionally, I'm really happy.  But what upsets me is what's happened to an industry that I loved.  Radio has been around for over 100 years, and traditionally, rumors of its demise have been greatly exaggerated.   But there's been a perfect storm of threats to music radio over the last 25 years.  Music and personality have been music radio's two unique selling points, and now it has neither.Today, I'll tell you how we got here - through corporate consolidation, voice tracking, and an overreaction to a new rating system.   I'll also tell you how the two biggest radio owners in the country are running away from that very word, "radio."  First it was iHeart, now it's Entercom, with their rebrand to "Audacy" and abandoning of all things radio dot com.Finally, I explain what could still save radio.  Its a longshot.  But I'm saying there's a chance.Connect with JAG online: https://jagindetroit.com/On Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/JAGinDetroit/Twitter: https://twitter.com/JAGinDetroitInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jagindetroit/LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jongay18/

In radio news, Entercom changes its name to Audacy. A radio morning host out of Buffalo learns a hard lesson, think before you speak. We let you know what is happening on the street, and finally we continue our look at the Neilson February Personal People Meter Ratings. Our classic aircheck takes us to San Diego California and Bobby Wayne on KCBQ AM from 1967. Finally our featured station segment keeps us in San Diego and mornings at KFBG FM.

THE RADIO BIZ IS A BUZZ WITH THE LARGE RADIO GROUP ENTERCOM'S NAME CHANGE…THEY ARE NOW AUDICY (aka: ODYSSEY)  WHY IS THAT SIGNIFICANT?  WHO REALLY CARES…? AND WHAT DO WE THINK ABOUT IT…?  This is a special edition of Media Insultant for radio geeks...no video this time just this audio podcast.  Regular editions of Media Insultant drop each Tuesday on YouTube and the normal podcasting platforms.  

Keith Samuels and Jackson Weaver offer their opinions on the current media scene.  Radio is primary...but also TV, digital, print and maybe even bus boards.   This week...What's in a name…? Let's ask Entercom.Rush is no longer here...but he's still here. First it was the Super Bowl...now March Madness! Where is the audience….?Entercom has been officially shaken down...And...more HOT BITS!  For the week of March 29th...this is Media Insultant…available on both YouTube and any podcasting platform.  New episodes drop each Tuesday.  

Apple is changing its podcast phrasing from Subscribe to Follow.  - Tom Webster of Edison Research says 47% of non-podcast listeners think it costs money to subscribe.  It's a barrier to entry.  So follow, like Twitter or other social media, is a better word.  I've said "subscribe for free" in many of my podcasts, but I think follow is better going forward.If you're watching this on video, I bought a new webcam- the Logitech Brio. It's got multiple angles and zooms, with great definition.  If you want to do video professionally, that's the one to get.  I still think video is better for shorter podcasts, but YouTube can be useful as discovery engine.On Thursday, Edison Research unveiled its 2021 Infinite Dial Survey, which for my money, is the gold standard in podcasting data. Now the study of US Adults covers everything from smart devices to social media to in-car listening, to even video games, but the podcasting data is what I'm drawn to every year.Weekly time spent listening to all online audio is now at an all time high, with a jump of one hour in TSL this year to 16 hours, 14 minutes. And Spotify is now the biggest player in online audio. It hasn't yet beaten Apple in podcasting specifically, but it's making huge gains overall.  Demographics are continuing to diversify – still majority white, but gains in Black and Hispanic Americans have gotten closer to an overall representation of the US Population.US Weekly podcast listeners listen to an average of 8 episodes per week, across 5.1 different shows.US population 12+, regarding podcasting compared to a year ago, pre-pandemic:222 million (78%) now familiar with podcasting – up from 75% in 2020162 million (57%) have ever listened to a podcast – up from 55% in 2020116 million (41%) are monthly podcast listeners – up from 37% in 202080 million (28%)  are weekly podcast listeners  - up from 24% in 2020Finally, seemingly proving my theory that the iHeartRadio app is well promoted, but not widely used among people who don't actually work in radio:  72% of survey respondents had awareness of the iHeartRadio brand, thanks to its massive push on terrestrial radio - but only 10% had actually used the app in the last month. Womp Womp.Here is a link to the entire Infinite Dial study.  It's long, but mostly graphs and a quick skim.http://www.edisonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/The-Infinite-Dial-2021.pdfOther podcasting news this week:Better analytics coming to Google Podcasts, including like and dislike buttons.Entercom buys Podcorn for $22.5 million - a platform to connect podcasters with advertisers. They already bought Pineapple Street Studios and Cadence 13. Want to own vertical.Cuban's fireside in Beta on iOS: https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/5/22315866/mark-cuban-fireside-app-podcast-platform-clubhouseTwitter "Spaces" rolling out to all in April.Apple curating podcasts for kids: https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/08/apple-teams-with-common-sense-media-to-curate-podcasts-for-kids/If you want to know more about podcasting, or if I can help you launch or improve your existing podcast, find me at www.jagindetroit.com or send me an email: jag@jagindetroit.com

In radio news Iheart Radio and Entercom report their fourth quarter revenue results. KMOX gets an FM translator. We let you know what is happening on the street. Finally we continue our look at the Neilson January Personal People Meter Ratings. Jennifer will come along with her call letter and format changes. This is followed by Bill Sparks feature on John Grayson on Ktrs am from St. Louis. This weeks classic aircheck is of Bill Brown from WOR FM on Oct. 2nd 1969. Finally the featured station is Jack FM from Kalamazoo Mi.

Emily Ward is the General Sales Manager for Entercom's Atlanta market. In this episode she sits down with Matt and Mason to talk about succeeding as not only a young leader but a young female leader. Check out more content and merchandise on www.crushitteam.comWatch the video version of this episode on the Crush It YouTube channelFollow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter @thecrushitteam

In radio news, Kevin Rider returns to Los Angeles radio and Entercom hires a new vice president of sports programming. We will also let you know what is happening on the street. Jennifer will come along with her call letter and format changes. Bill Sparks will provide us with a feature on Behind the Bricks extra hosted by Bob Jenkins. This weeks featured station presents WCNS AM from Latrobe Pennsylvania with their oldies format. Finally this weeks classic aircheck presents Stoney Richard from WRQX FM from Washington D.C. from February of 1979.

In radio news, Entercom is looking for a new program director and vice president of sports programming. Sirius Satellite radio dedicates four specialty channels celebrating Black History Month. We let you know what is happening on the street, and finally we continue our look at the Neilson Holiday Personal People Meter Ratings. Next, Jennifer will come along with her call letter and format changes. Bill Sparks will present a feature on Arm Forces Radio and sports programming. This weeks classic aircheck remembers the late Bill Tanner heard on radio station WHYI FM from Miami Florida in February of 1978. Finally our featured station takes care of a listener request for radio station WGXI from Plymouth Wisconsin with their country format.

In radio news, Alpha media files for chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection. Entercom gets in to the sports gambling game. We let you know what is happening on the street. We will also begin our look at the Neilson Holiday Personal People Meter Ratings. This will be followed by Jennifer's call letter and format changes segment. Bill Sparks will provide a feature on the late Larry king. We'll follow this up with an aircheck of Ed Hider on WMEX AM in Boston Ma from Jan. 31st 1961. Finally our featured station takes us to Bridgeport Connecticut and mornings at radio station WEZN FM.

In radio news, there is more consolidation within the Entercom owned and operated radio stations, while Beasley takes another AM radio station dark. We let you know what is happening on the street, and conclude our look at the December Neilson Personal People Meter ratings. Jennifer will come along with her call letter and format changes. This weeks featured stations include WPLW AM from Raleigh NC with their rock format, and WJEF FM from Lafayet In a high school radio station. This weeks classic aircheck is a sales presentation produced by the folks at KRTH FM from Los Angeles in December of 1991.

In radio news, Entercom and Cumulus make changes to the radio landscape. We let you know what is happening on the street, and continue our look at the Neilson December Personal People Meter Ratings. This is followed by Jennifer's call letter and format changes. Bill Sparks takes us to Cleveland Ohio, and we get to hear the change of KYW AM to WKYC AM. This weeks classic aircheck also takes us to Cleveland Ohio, where we get to hear WKYC AM and Jackson Armstrong from Jan. 5th 1967. Finally this weeks featured station takes to Austin Texas where we get to hear KGSR FM with their top hits and flashback format as Lucy 933 fm.

Gretta Cohn is the founder and CEO of Transmitter Media. Gretta's experience runs the gamut of all things audio, from public radio and ringtones, to producing chart-topping podcasts. We discuss her time touring with the band Bright Eyes, being hired as the first production executive at Midroll Media and Earwolf, and starting her own podcast company with only $7,000 of savings. Subscribe to our newsletter. We explore the intersection of media, technology, and commerce: sign-up linkLearn more about our market research and executive advisory: RockWater websiteFollow The Come Up on Twitter: @TCUpodEmail us: tcupod@wearerockwater.com--EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:Chris Erwin:Hi, I'm Chris Erwin. Welcome to The Come Up, a podcast that interviews entrepreneurs and leaders. Gretta Cohn:I thought I would take the more productive path, the one where I didn't leave podcasting and I made this decision in December of 2016 to myself and then spent the next couple of months just tucking away money. And when I say I saved money before starting the business, I saved $7,000. Chris Erwin:This week's episode features Gretta Cohn, the founder and CEO of Transmitter Media. Now, Gretta's experience runs the gamut of all things audio. From being a touring cellist with the band, Cursive, to teaching radio workshops at NYU, to working in audiobooks, ringtones, and most recently podcasts. And Gretta's done some groundbreaking work along the way like turning Freakonomics Radio into an omni channel media brand, launching the number one podcast show, Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People and helping build Howl, which eventually became part of Stitcher. But Gretta's career transformed in 2017 when she decided to do podcasting on her own terms. So with only $7000 of savings, Gretta founded Transmitter Media and quickly began producing premium podcasts for clients like, TED, Spotify, and Walmart. Today, Gretta is focused on scaling her Brooklyn based team and creating more, as she describes, beautiful things. Chris Erwin:Gretta's love for her craft and team is so genuine and her story is a great example of how sheer will and passion are the ultimate enablers. All right, let's get into it. Chris Erwin:Tell me a little bit about where you grew up. I believe that you grew up in New York City. Is that right? Gretta Cohn:Well, I grew up in the suburbs, so I grew up on Long Island. My mom is from Queens and my dad is from Brooklyn and there is a sort of mythology of their meeting. My mom's dad was a butcher in Queens and my dad would always tell us that they didn't have toothpaste growing up and he'd go over to my mom's house and just eat. Yeah, they moved out to Long Island after they got married. Chris Erwin:Nice. And what part of Long Island? Gretta Cohn:Initially I grew up on the eastern end in the town called Mount Sinai and then when I was 13 in a very traumatic move at that age we moved to Huntington, which was more like smack in the middle of the island. Chris Erwin:My cousins are from Huntington. That's where they grew up, but then I think they moved to Lloyd's Neck shortly after. Why was that move so traumatic at 13? Gretta Cohn:I think it's that really formative age where you are sort of coming into yourself as a human, as a teenager and I remember writing my name on the wall in the closet because I wanted to leave my mark on that particular house that we grew up in. But then we moved and I made new friends and it was fine. Chris Erwin:Everything is scary at that age. It's like, "Oh, I have my friends and if I move to a new high school or middle school, I'll never have the same friends again." Gretta Cohn:My best friend at the time, Alessandra, never to be talked to or seen again. Chris Erwin:What was the household like growing up? Was there interesting audio from your parents? I mean, I think you mentioned, remind me, your father was a butcher and your mother was... Gretta Cohn:No, no. Those are my grandparents. Chris Erwin:Those are your grandparents. Got it. Gretta Cohn:Yeah. No. My parents were both teachers in the education system. My dad was a teacher his whole career life. He taught shop and psychology classes and computer classes. And my mom ended up being a superintendent of the school district on Long Island. She got her start as a Phys Ed teacher and then became an English teacher and worked her way up to superintendent. The sort of interest in audio they instilled in me and my two brothers extremely early. We all started learning to play string instruments at the age of three through the Suzuki method. Chris Erwin:The Suzuki method? Gretta Cohn:Yeah. Which is like an ear training style of learning music. So you essentially at three years old, you cannot possibly understand how to physically play an instrument and I remember a lot of time spent in those early group lessons just hugging the cello and singing this song, I love my cello very much, I play it every day and crawling up and down the bow with spider fingers, that's what they called it because your fingers kind of looked like spiders crawling up and down the bow and we all started playing string instruments at that age. I played cello and then the brother who came after me played violin, and the brother who came after him also played cello. Chris Erwin:Wow. And did you parents play instruments as well, string instruments? Gretta Cohn:No. My dad loves to say he can play the radio. Chris Erwin:I respect that. Gretta Cohn:I think they are educators, they are really invested in the full education of a person and so I think that they thought it was a good teaching discipline and it certainly required a kind of discipline. I can recall really fighting against practicing because I had to practice probably every day and I would rebel and not want to do it, but it was not really an option and I'm glad that ultimately I was pressed to continue to play because playing music has played such a huge part of my life. Chris Erwin:Clearly. It led you, which we'll get to, into founding a podcast production company and network and so much more. So very big impact. But, I get it. I began playing the alto saxophone in fourth grade and my twin brother was playing the clarinet and it was lessons with Mr. Slonum every week, an hour of practice every day and it was, when you're putting it on top of sports and homework and academics, it's a lot and it's intense and there's moments where you really don't want to do it and it's not fun and then there's moments where you're very thankful for it. And I think a lot of the more thankful moments came later in my life, but if you can get some of those early on, it's meaningful. When you first started playing, did you really enjoy it or was it just like, uh this is what I'm just supposed to do? Gretta Cohn:I remember enjoying it. I remember in particular being able to do little recitals every so often and I know there are photographs of myself in recital that I've seen even recently and there is such a joy in that and I think that showing off something that you've done and your family claps for you, it's a good job. Ultimately, what it feels like to play in a group, in an ensemble, it's pretty magical. I played in orchestras starting in grade school all the way up through college and there is something really amazing about the collective and your part and you can't mess up because it's glaringly obvious if you're the one out of the section of 12 cellists whose got their bow going the wrong direction or the wrong note playing. But it's also really beautiful to play in a group like that. Chris Erwin:Yeah. It's a special team sport, right? You rely on other people and people rely on you. When it comes together, it's an absolutely beautiful event, for you and the audience. Gretta Cohn:Yeah. I also played soccer growing up, speaking of team sports. Chris Erwin:Okay. What position? Gretta Cohn:I was defense. They would enlist me to run around and shadow the most powerful player on the other team. I don't know why, but I remember that. Chris Erwin:I was very similar. I started out as a recreation all-star like a forward and then got moved to right fullback, which is defense. That was my soccer career. All right. So interesting. So yeah, speaking of studying music, I think that when you went to university, you almost went to study music at a conservatory but you ended up going to Brown instead. What were you thinking, because were you going down a path where it's like, "I want to be in audio, I want to create music." What was your head space there as you started to go through advanced education, beginnings of your career? Gretta Cohn:I remember collecting fliers for conservatories. I was interested in conservatory, I think though that as I began to really think about what that would mean, I don't know that I was thinking really broadly, like oh... No one at 17 or whatever really has a full picture of what those choices ultimately mean but I'm glad that I didn't go to music school. I was always the worst player in the best section. So I remember I was in the New York Youth Symphony and I was definitely not the best player in that section, but it was really hard to get in. One summer I went and studied at the Tanglewood Institute in Boston, which is, again, extremely competitive and hard to get into but I was definitely not the best player there. Gretta Cohn:And I think that thinking about what it would mean to devote oneself entirely to that, I had other interests. I wasn't so completely focused on being a performer that it didn't ultimately feel like it would make a lot of sense because I wanted to study history, I wanted... And obviously, you go to conservatory, you have a well-rounded education ultimately, I would imagine, but it's not where I think I ultimately wanted to go. That was not the direction I ultimately wanted to go. Chris Erwin:Yeah. It's a really big commitment going from good to great, but I mean, you are great. You are getting into these elite orchestras but to be the first chair, that's a level of dedication practice that's really tough. It's funny, I actually read a David Foster Wallace article about the sport of tennis and he played and he was very good and I think he could have even gone pro, but he's like, "I'm good, I put in enough hours and I have fun with it, but for me to go to the next level..." He's like, "It's not fun to me and I don't want to do that." It's not for him. So you make a decision and you go to Brown. What's your study focus at Brown? Gretta Cohn:I ultimately was in the American Studies Department, but I had a special sort of crossover with the music department so I took a lot of music classes, I took a lot of American Studies classes which is basically like cultural history, social history, history through the lens of various social movements or pop culture, which I think is really fascinating and I wound everything together so that my senior thesis was about cover songs and the history of sort of copying and the idea of creating various versions of any original work and the sort of cultural history and critical theory lens of it, but also just I selected three songs and I traced their history over time from a performance perspective but also from like, how does this song fit into the narrative of music history? Chris Erwin:Do you remember the three songs? Gretta Cohn:I think I did Twist and Shout. Chris Erwin:Okay. Gretta Cohn:I Shall Be Released and I can't remember the third one. But I had a lot of fun writing it and I really liked the bridging between the music department and the American Studies department. And strangely, there are so many journalists who came up through American Studies. There are several producers on my staff who were American Studies students in college. I think it just gives you this permission to think about story telling in the world from just this very unique cultural vantage points. Chris Erwin:Did you have a certain expectation where you had an idea of what that story was going to be over time or were you surprised and as you saw how the narrative played out with the original song and recording and production and then the covers, anything that stands out of like, "Oh, I did not expect this, but I found this very fascinating."? Gretta Cohn:I don't really remember at this point. Chris Erwin:Sorry for putting you on the spot, it's such a long time ago. Gretta Cohn:The thing was like more than 100 pages and it's probably a door stopper now at my parents house. I remember that I put a big picture of a mushroom on the last page. John Cage wrote a lot about mushrooms and so I wove some of his work into the thesis but this idea that the mushroom takes the dirt and crap and stuff that's on the forest floor and turns it into this organic material, the mushroom. So yeah, I don't remember the specifics. Chris Erwin:Yeah, no. All good. My thesis was on the Banana Wars and that is... It's not even worthy of being a door stopper. That's just straight to the trash. But I did, for a music class, I think I did break down a song by the Sex Pistols. Gretta Cohn:Cool. Chris Erwin:I can't remember specifically which one, but I think I dove deep into the lyrics and I think I was pretty disappointed. I expected to find more meaning and have more fun with it, and I think it was maybe my young mind, I couldn't go deeper than I thought I could. Anyway... So fast forward to 2001 and as I was going through your bio, this really stood out and it hits close to home. You become a cellist for some alternative rock bands including Cursive, The Faint, and Bright Eyes. And I just remember The Faint, I think a song from 2008, The Geeks Were Right. I remember listening to that shortly after college. So tell me, what was that transition going from university to then moving, I think you moved to Omaha out of New York to play in these rock bands? Gretta Cohn:So when I was in college, I continued to play in the school orchestra, but I also met some friends who became collaborators and we would just improvise in the lounge like, bass drums, guitar and cello. And that was really freeing for me. Growing up on Long Island, I had such easy access to New York City and for whatever reason, I was really given a lot of freedom to... I would take the Long Island Railroad into Manhattan and go to concerts all through high school, like rock concerts. Chris Erwin:What was some of your earliest concert memories? Gretta Cohn:Purposely getting to an Afghan Whigs show and planting myself in the front row because I wanted to be as close as possible to the stage. So I used to go to concerts all the time and I was really, really interested in... I wasn't only a person who thought about classical music at all and so I met this group of people and formed this little group together and so I was playing music in college, eventually joining a band mostly with locals in Providence and we became the opening act for a lot of bands that were coming through. Chris Erwin:And what type of music were you playing, Gretta? Gretta Cohn:It was arty rock. Chris Erwin:Arty rock. Okay. Gretta Cohn:Yeah. Some of it was instrumental, but then some of it was like pop. I think one of the bands that I was in was called The Beauty Industry and it was probably a little bit reminiscent of Built to Spill and The Magnetic Fields and a little bit like Poppy. So in that band we would serve as the opening act for a lot of artists that were coming through and through that I was able to meet the folks from Saddle Creek from Omaha, Nebraska. And I didn't know that I made an impression on them, but I did and after I graduated I moved to New York. I didn't really know exactly where I was headed. I got a job working in the development office at Carnegie Hall and I didn't love it. We had to wear suits. And one day the folks from Omaha called my parents home phone and left a message and asked if I would come out and play on a record with them and I did. Chris Erwin:When you got that message, were you ecstatic, were you super excited or were you just confused, like, "Hey, is this real? What's going on here?" Gretta Cohn:Yeah. I think I was like, "Huh, well, that's interesting." Like, "I didn't expect this." So Cursive is the group that invited me out to record. Just sort of like come out and record on our album. And I didn't actually know Cursive. I had met Bright Eyes and Lullaby for the Working Class when I was at Brown, but I hadn't met Cursive and my best friend, who is still one of my best friends was a Cursive fan and dumped all of their CDs and seven inches in my lap and was like, "You need to listen to them, they are so good." So I did and I sort of gave myself a little Cursive education and then I started to get really excited because I felt like there was a lot of interesting potential. Yeah. Gretta Cohn:Moving out there was not an easy decision. It was very unknown for me. I love New York City and I always imagined myself here and I had never been to the Midwest so I didn't know what my expectations were and I didn't... Also at that time Cursive was a fairly well-known band but it wasn't understood that I would move out there and that would be my job, right? I was moving out there to join this community and play in Cursive and do Cursive stuff, go on tour, record records, but at that point there was no promise like, "Oh, I'm going to live off of this." And so I went to a temp agency and I did paperwork in an accountant's office and- Chris Erwin:While also performing with Cursive? Gretta Cohn:Yeah. Yeah. I will also say though, after the first year, things really took off after The Ugly Organ and I would say at that point I was no longer working in the temp office and we were going on long tours and when I came home in between stretches on tour, I was recovering from tour because it's quite exhausting and working on the next thing with the bands. Chris Erwin:Were you touring around nationally? Any international touring? Gretta Cohn:Yeah. National and international. We went all over the States, Canada and then European tour is like often... Cursive was very big in Germany so we would spend a lot of time in Germany, Scandinavia. We went to Japan once. Chris Erwin:What an incredible post university experience! Gretta Cohn:It really, really was incredible. Chris Erwin:Playing music because of a skill that you formed very early on and then working in New York at Carnegie Hall and a job that you weren't too excited about and then you just get this serendipitous phone call. And you started listening to Cursive records in seven inches and you're getting more and more excited and all of a sudden you're traveling the world. That's like a dream scenario. Gretta Cohn:Yeah. It was pretty dreamy. And I think I recognized at the time. I mean, those first tours, we were sleeping on... I had my sleeping bag and we would be sleeping on hardwood floors, end up in like a row and someone's apartment in like Arlington. And I remember some of those first tours internationally, like in Germany, you would play the show and then everyone would leave and they would shut the lights off and we would just sleep on the stage. And in the morning the promoter, like the booker would come back and they would have bread and cheese and fruit and coffee. And it was just this beautiful... But we were sleeping on the stage. Chris Erwin:I mean, you're all doing it together. So it was cool. Right. You just were a crew. Gretta Cohn:Yeah, yeah. It was great. I loved it. I really, really loved it. Chris Erwin:I look at your work timeline between 2001 to 2010, which includes, you're a touring international artist, but then you do a lot of other things in audio. Like you study with Rob Rosenthal at the Salt Institute, do some time in Studio 360, and then you go to radio and then audio books. So what are the next few years? How does this audio adventure start to transform for you? Gretta Cohn:While I was in Cursive, there were other parts of me that I felt needed feeding and so I started writing for the local alternative weekly in Omaha. And I was doing like book reviews and reviewing art shows and doing little pieces, which sort of opened up to me, this understanding that journalism was something that I was really interested in. And while I was still essentially based in Omaha and still, essentially based out of Saddle Creek, I came back to New York for a few months and did an internship at The Village Voice because I just really wanted to sort of start exploring these paths of what would potentially come next. I didn't necessarily think that I was meant to stay in Omaha like for the rest of my life. When I first moved out there, I thought, "Oh, I'll give it a few years. See how it goes and then probably come back home to New York." Gretta Cohn:And then things really took off and so I didn't want to leave. And I was really having a great time and loved it and loved everything that I was doing. And I think that at the time that chapter was coming to a close, it was sort of like naturally coming to a close and I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to do next. I was interested in journalism, I was interested obviously in... still thinking about music and audio although I think I needed a break from music after that time. Like when you're so intensively working on something like that, you just need a minute to let everything kind of settle. Chris Erwin:Yeah. It's all encompassing. Right. You're just living, breathing, eating music and the band. It's a lot. Gretta Cohn:Yeah. So I took a couple of years and started to figure it out. Actually, something that's not on your list is I worked at a ringtone company for a bit. Chris Erwin:It is audio based. So I'm not surprised. So yeah, tell me about that. Gretta Cohn:It was just a job that I got. Actually, looking back now, I think that it was a company that was founded by two classical musicians. They mostly had contracts with major record labels and I remember turning Sean Paul's Temperature into a ringtone in particular. It was just like chopping things into little eight seconds and looping them and mastering them and- Chris Erwin:Were you doing the technical work as well? Gretta Cohn:Not really, you spend time in the studio and so you learn and you pick up things. I wasn't recording the band, but that was the first time that I got my own pro tools set up and so I had my own pro tool setup, like was using it for my own little projects at home, but I was not technically involved with the making of any of the records that was on now, except for playing on them. Chris Erwin:Yeah, you were dabbling in pro tools then pretty early on. Gretta Cohn:Yeah, yeah. I had the original Mbox, which is like this big plastic, weird alien looking object with just like a couple of little knobs on it. I finally got rid of it a couple of years ago. I held onto it for a long time and now you don't even need it. Chris Erwin:So you're dabbling and then I know that you spend time as a producer at The Story with Dick Gordon, North Carolina, and then you went to audio books. Is that when things started to take shape for you of knowing kind of what you wanted to do? Gretta Cohn:I think as soon as I went to Salt to study with Rob Rosenthal is when I knew that that's what I wanted to do. I took a few years after Cursive to kind of reset a little bit and then I started working at the ringtone company and began to have conversations with people about where all my interests collided. Like I loved working in sound, storytelling and journalism were really important to me. I don't think at that point that... There was a whole lot that I was exposed to apart from NPR, This American Life and Studio 360 were sort of the major outlets for audio storytelling that I understood and spent time with. And I just remember having a meal with someone who I don't recall his name, but he's done a lot of illustrations for This American Life and public radio outlets and he was like, "There's this place, it's called salt. You can learn how to do this there." And so I just decided that I was going to step down this path. Right. Chris Erwin:Yeah. And Salt is based in Maine, is that right? Gretta Cohn:Yeah. So I moved to Maine for six months. I was very excited. I got a merit scholarship to go there. Chris Erwin:Oh wow. Gretta Cohn:Yeah, and I basically... There's so many fundamentals that I learned there that I use every single day now still. I think Rob Rosenthal is absolutely brilliant and he has trained so many radio producers. It's insane. Chris Erwin:Of all the learnings from Rob, just like what's one that comes to mind quickly that you use everyday? Gretta Cohn:I don't know that this is one I use every day, but it's one that's really stuck with me, is he really counseled to be really mindful when thinking about adding music to a story. He used the phrase, emotional fascism. Essentially, if you need to rely on the music to tell the listener how to feel, then you haven't done your job in sort of crafting a good story. So like the bones of the story, like the structure, the content, the sort of stakes intention and the character you've chosen, like all of that have to clear a certain hurdle and then you can start thinking about adding music, but if you're relying on the music to sort of create tension or drama or emotion, then you've kind of missed something. Chris Erwin:Yeah. That's very interesting. What a great insight! I like that. Emotional fascism. Gretta Cohn:I'll never forget. Chris Erwin:So after the Salt Institute, what's next? Gretta Cohn:I got an internship at WNYC at Studio 360. At that time the internship system at New York Public Radio was like largely unpaid. I think I got $12 a day. So I interned I think three or four days a week and then I had like two other jobs. Chris Erwin:Just to make ends meet, to make it work. Gretta Cohn:Yeah. I worked at a coffee shop, like most mornings. And then I worked at a Pilates studio many afternoons and on the weekends. So it was like a lot, I was really running at full steam, but I really enjoyed the internship there. And then that was my first real glimpse into what it was like to work in a team to make impactful audio storytelling and I learned a lot there too. The team there was really amazing. Yeah. So Studio 360 was fantastic. And then a friend of mine had found out about this gig at The Story with Dick Gordon. It was a short term contract producer role, like filling in for someone who was out on leave. And I got the job and I moved down to Durham, North Carolina, and found an apartment, brought my cat and worked on that show for a few months, which I think was a pretty crucial experience to have had, which helped open the door into WNYC. Chris Erwin:Why's that? Gretta Cohn:So this was in like 2008, 9 and there weren't like a whole lot of opportunities in the audio storytelling space. Like your major opportunities were at public radio stations and public radio stations were highly competitive. It didn't have a lot of turnover. They understood that they were the only game in town if this was the career path that you were interested in going down. So having had a job at a radio station on staff on a show was such a huge opportunity. I don't know that I was like chomping at the bit to leave New York or move to Carolina, although I loved it there. And I had friends who lived there that I knew from the Saddle Creek community. So it was really great. I moved down there and I didn't have to... I can't recall ever feeling lonely. Right. Like I immediately had this community of people, which was amazing, but that gig was only three months. Gretta Cohn:And so I came back to New York and basically spent the next couple of years banging on the door to get back into WNYC, which is when I went to the audio books company where quite a few radio producers worked. Like that's how I found out about it. There were folks who had passed through Studio 360 or elsewhere. And my boss at the audio books company is David Markowitz, who is now currently working in the podcasting department at Netflix. And he previously was at Pushkin and at Headspace and he... So he and I, although our paths crossed at that moment, because our paths have continued to cross over and over again since that time working together with the audio books company. Audio books wasn't my passion, but while I was there I got the idea to pitch the podcast to the audio books company, which they agreed to let me do. And so I had this outlet to just do a little bit of experimenting and to grow some skills and also have just like an outlet to doing this kind of work that I wanted to be doing. Chris Erwin:Had you ever pitched a project or an idea before to any place that you worked at? Gretta Cohn:I pitched stories to Studio 360, but to pitch an idea for something that had not existed before, no. Chris Erwin:It becomes, I believe, The Modern Scholar podcast, is that right? Gretta Cohn:Yeah. You've done like a really deep research. Chris Erwin:Look, it helps to tell your story. Right. So you pitch, and then you get the green light, which must feel validating. It's like, okay, this is a good idea, but now it's got to be more than a pitch, you had to execute. Was that intimidating or were you like, "No, I'm ready to go I got it." Gretta Cohn:I was ready to go. They had an audio book series called The Modern Scholar. Professors would come in and record like 10 hours worth of like Italian history. And so what I did was just have a one hour interview with the professor who was the author of this series and talk about their work, go into detail on something really specific. I will say at that time that like I applied for a mentorship with AIR, the Association of Independence Radio, they gave me a mentor and I had like a few sessions with him and it was great. Like I had someone... I had an editor, right. I wasn't totally on my own kind of like muscling through. And so he really sort of helped refine the ideas for that show and that was a great help. So I'm lucky that I was able to get that. Chris Erwin:What I'm really hearing Gretta is that you moved around a lot and participated in and developed all these different music and audio communities around the US and even the world from like Omaha and international touring and Scandinavia and Europe, and then the Salt and Maine and North Carolina and New York and more, and I'm sure, as you said, with David Markowitz, that these relationships are now serving you in your current business. So it feels like that was like a really good investment of your time where the networking was great, but you also learned a lot and were exposed to a lot of different thinking and ideas. Is that right? Gretta Cohn:Absolutely. Definitely. Yeah. Chris Erwin:After dabbling around a bit for the first decade of the 2000s, you then go to WNYC and you're there for around six years, I think 2008 to 2014. And you work on some cool projects. You're the associate producer at Freakonomics and you also work on Soundcheck. So tell me about what made you commit to WNYC and what were you working on when you first got there? Gretta Cohn:At the time there weren't a lot of options for people doing this work. And WNYC obviously is an incredible place where really amazing work is done, really talented people. It basically was like the game in town, right? Like there weren't a lot of other places where you could do audio storytelling work in this way. There was a pivotal moment that I think could have gone in a different direction, but I had applied for a job at StoryCorps and I applied for the job at Soundcheck. Chris Erwin:What is StoryCorps? Gretta Cohn:They have a story every Friday on NPR that's like a little three minute edited story and it's usually like two people in conversation with each other. It's highly personal. And they're very well known for these human connection stories. It's I think influenced in part by oral history and anthropology, but it's basically this intimate storytelling. And I did not get that job, although I was a runner up and the person who did get the job is now one of my closest friends. But at the same time was an applicant for Soundcheck and I did get that job. And I think it was... That was the right path for me because I have such a passion for music. Right. My background kind of really led me to have an understanding of how to tell those stories. Chris Erwin:What is the Soundcheck format? Gretta Cohn:It changed over time. But when I joined Soundcheck, it was a live daily show about music and really open, like wide open as far as what it covered. So in any given episode, you could have like Yoko Ono there for an interview, you could have the author of a book about musicals from the 1920s, and then you could have like a live performance from Parquet Courts. So it was really wide ranging and varied and super interesting. And there's so much about working on a daily show that's I think extremely crucial to building up chops as a producer because every single day you have a brand new blank slate, you have to work extremely quickly and efficiently. Working in the live setting can create so much pressure because not only are you keeping to a clock, like the show went from like 2:01 to like 2:50 every day, and there had to be certain breaks and you have an engineer and you need the music to cue in a certain place. Gretta Cohn:And so you're like, "Cue the music." And you're whispering to the host like, "Move on to the next question." You're like this master puppeteer with all these marionettes and it's pretty wild. It's really fun, super stressful. You go off stage and it's like- Chris Erwin:It sounds stressful. Gretta Cohn:You can't fix it. You just have to move on and you learn a lot. Chris Erwin:It feels like something, you do that for maybe a couple of years or a few years and then it's like, ah you need a break from that. It's amazing that people who work in like live video or live radio for decades, like kudos to the stamina that they build up. Gretta Cohn:And that's exactly what happened is I needed a break from it. And that's when I went to Freakonomics. Chris Erwin:Got it. Before we go into Freakonomics, you also helped create Soundcheck into an omni-channel media brand where you were launching video and live events and interactive series. Was that something that had been happening in the audio industry or were you kind of setting a new precedent? Gretta Cohn:Our team was tapped to reinvent Soundcheck. So it had been this live daily show for quite some time and I think that WNYC wanted to reshape it for a variety of reasons. So we were sort of tasked, like we pulled the show off the air and kind of went through this like sprint of re-imagining, what the show could be, how it would sound, what it would do. And actually, I remember that I pitched this video series that was a lot of fun. I can't remember the name of it now, but we worked with a local elementary school and we would have three kids sitting behind desks and we would play them clips from pop songs- Chris Erwin:Whoa. Gretta Cohn:... and they would review them and- Chris Erwin:That's a really cool idea. Gretta Cohn:... it was awesome. It was so much fun. We did a lot of live performances and I started producing sort of like more highly produced segments and storytelling for Soundcheck at that time, because there was more space to try and figure that out. Ultimately, what it turned into was like a daily delivery of a show that I think ultimately resembled the old show in many ways, but it was not live anymore. And there were all these other tasks. I also created a first lesson type series for Soundcheck at that time where we would like stream a new album before it came out and I would write a little review. It was really fun. When we pulled the show off the air and we were tasked with re-imagining it was like a sandbox that you just kind of could plan, which was great. Chris Erwin:It's a wide open canvas that you can paint to how you desire. I get that why you were burnt out after that. So then you change it up and you become an associate producer at Freakonomics and you work with the fame, Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt. How has that experience? Gretta Cohn:It was great. It was challenging. I think that show has incredibly high standards and there's a particular kind of brain that I think works extremely well at that show. At the time, there were two of us who were the producers of the show, myself, who has this background in music and in production. And then the other producer was an economist who had been freshly graduated from economics school. And so we were this pair and I think what ultimately happened was that where I shown where these like human stories and where he shown was like distilling econ papers into sort of understandable stories. And so I think the two of us together really complimented each other. One of my favorite episodes that I worked on was about the Nathan's hotdog contest and one of the sort of like champs who had come up with a particular system for how to win- Chris Erwin:Dunking them in water and all that stuff. Yeah. I remember watching some of those segments online. In a minute they put back like 47 hotdogs. It was something crazy. Gretta Cohn:Yeah, it's wild. Chris Erwin:After Freakonomics, you decided to depart for Midroll and Earwolf. What was the impetus for that? Gretta Cohn:My time at Freakonomics was sort of like naturally coming to a close. I think that while my strength was in this sort of human sort of storytelling, I think the show needed someone who had a little bit more of that like econ background. And so I started to look around the station at WNYC, of other places where I could land, right? Like I'd moved from Soundcheck to Freakonomics, like what would be the next place for me to go? And I couldn't find it. I spent a little bit of time in the newsroom helping to look for a host for a new health podcast and I had conversations with people around the station about various other shows. I think I talked to the folks on the media and this producer, Emily Botein, who ultimately founded the Alec Baldwin podcast and a host of other really great shows there, but it didn't seem like there was space or a role that really made sense for me as far as like the next step is concerned. Gretta Cohn:At that time, Erik Diehn who's now the CEO of the Stitcher empire was in the finance office, I think at WNYC and he left to go to Midroll/Earwolf. Chris Erwin:I didn't realize he was also WNYC. Bannon was also WNYC who's now the chief content officer over there? Gretta Cohn:Mm-hmm (affirmative). Chris Erwin:Wow. It was a feeder to that company. Gretta Cohn:Yeah. So Erik Diehn left WNYC and I remember the note that went around, he's going to this company, Earwolf/Midroll. And I was like, kind of filed that away. And then it was probably a few months later that they put a position, they were hiring for a producer. And I sort of leapt at the opportunity. I thought that the shows on Earwolf were awesome. I had not worked really in comedy. Although I think that there's so much crossover in Soundcheck. We really had a lot of license to have basically like whoever on the show, like I booked comedians, I booked authors. Like I booked anyone who had a passion to talk about music, which is like 90% of the world. And so I think that that was really of interest to them. And I had a couple of conversations with Erik and the job was mine. I mean, I went through- Chris Erwin:You make it sound very easy. Gretta Cohn:... a proper vetting and interview process. And there were other candidates, but they gave it to me. And I was really, really excited because I think I was ready for a fresh start and I was ready for something new, something a little bit unknown. I think that I tend to find... Typically, I think if you look over the course of my life, like every few years, I'm like, "Okay, what's the next thing?" And I think that I still feel that way except now I have this entity of Transmitter in which to keep iterating and playing, but I was just ready for the next thing. And it was at that time, a really small company, I was the first New York based employee, like Eric was living in New Jersey. So it doesn't count as a New York employee. There was no office. Chris Erwin:I remember that Jeff Ullrich was the founder and it was bootstrap, didn't raise any venture capital and started I think in the early 2000s, if I remember correctly. Is that right? Gretta Cohn:I don't know the dates, but that sounds right. Chris Erwin:Okay. A little context for the listeners. And Earwolf is a comedy podcast network. So there's a slate of comedy shows and Midroll was the advertising arm of the business that would connect advertisers with the podcasters. But no, please continue. So you're the first New York hire. Gretta Cohn:Yeah. Which was really exciting to me. I was the first producer hired by the company. They had a few really amazing audio engineers out in LA who ran the recordings and they did editing, but there had never been a producer on staff. So it was really this like wide open field. And Jeff at that time, I think had taken a step back from the company, but the moment that I was brought in is when the idea for Howl came into the picture and Howl was a membership subscription-based app that has now turned into Stitcher and Stitcher Premium, it was folded in, into Stitcher and Stitcher Premium. But at the time there was like this real push to create a subscription-based app with like a ton of new material. And one of my first jobs was to work extremely closely with Jeff to figure out what was going to be on this app, who were we going to hire to make material? What producers, what comedians, what actors? There was an enormous spreadsheet, like one of the most enormous spreadsheets that I've ever spent time with. Gretta Cohn:So that was my first task and alongside, which was to sort of from a producer's perspective look at this later shows on Earwolf and start to think about what would a producer bring to the network? What would a producer bring to the hosts, to the way that things were made, to new ideas to bring to the network? And so those two things were sort of happening concurrently. Chris Erwin:The producer role was not defined. You're the first producer there. So it's you coming in saying, "Here's how I can enhance the slate. Here's how I can enhance the content strategy of where we're headed concurrently with we're launching Howl, which needs a lot of content, both from partner podcasters and probably owned and operated and then filling..." So creating a new slate, that's going to fill that. That's going to make people want to buy the membership product or subscription product, which are big questions that Spotify and Netflix and the biggest subscription platforms in the world have huge teams to figure out. And it's like you and Jeff, and maybe a couple more people? Gretta Cohn:There was one developer. Chris Erwin:Wow. Gretta Cohn:It was intense. It was a lot of work. I remember because at that time too, I was the only New York based person. Eric was in New Jersey. I think Lex Friedman came along. He was either already there or came along shortly thereafter, also based in New Jersey. Chris Erwin:And Lex was running sales? Gretta Cohn:Yes. And he's now with ART19, but there was no office. I was working from my kitchen table, much like I do now. It was great. I think what really excited me was like the open field of really sort of figuring out what everything was going to be and it was like off to the races. Chris Erwin:So I actually reached out to a few people that we mutually know to just get like, oh, what are some stories I can have Gretta talk about from the early Midroll/Earwolf days. So I reached out to Adam Sachs who was also on this podcast earlier. He's a childhood friend of mine that was also the CEO of the company when it sold the scripts, as well as Chris Bannon, who I consider one of the most like delightful humans on the planet. I think he was the chief content officer while you were there and he still is now under Eric as part of this new Stitcher Midroll combined empire. And what Chris said is that, like you mentioned Gretta, no office for the first six months and that you were taking meetings, I think in sound booths as well. And that when you finally did get an office, it was so small that you were taking turns sitting down. Gretta Cohn:Yeah. Well, we put our own furniture together. I learned so much from my years at Earwolf that have completely guided and shaped a lot of how Transmitter kind of came into being. Yeah, we put all of our furniture together ourselves in this first office. Chris Erwin:That's good training for you launching Transmitter where it's lean budgets, you're funding from your savings. You probably had to set up your own furniture yourself too. So that DIY attitude persists. Gretta Cohn:Yeah, yeah. And it was exciting. Whereas a place like WNYC is this like well oiled machine, it's also like a big ship that in order to turn 30 people have to be sort of moving things around and like, is the sky clear? There are just like so many little tiny steps that have to be taken to make a decision. Whereas what working at that early stage at Earwolf meant was like you can just make decisions, you just do it. Eric and I went around to see like five different offices. We decided together, "Oh, let's take this one on Eighth Avenue." This is the furniture. All right, let's put it together. I remember walking into the office when the furniture was first delivered and it was extremely dusty and we were wearing dust masks and trying to figure out where's the studio going to go? And it was just really exciting. It's really exciting to sort of pave your way and build something from the ground up. Chris Erwin:I like what you're saying too, is that you can just get things done very quickly. And that's actually one of the things that Bannon brought up about working with you is you guys launched good shows I think in just a matter of a few months or less, like Bitch, Sash and Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People, which was a number one hit on iTunes. And that now making shows like that, if you're at a bigger company with all the bureaucracy and the approvals can take over a year, but you guys were getting stuff done fast, there was no alternative choice. Gretta Cohn:Yeah, we were working very quickly. Chris Erwin:So I'm curious to hear like Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People. That's like an iTunes topper. Was that the first big podcast hit that you had in your career? Gretta Cohn:I would say so. Yeah. I'm trying to remember what if anything came ahead of it, but I'm fairly certain that some of my first meetings after joining the team at Earwolf were with Chris Gethard and working with him on sort of early prototypes of Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People. And he's a remarkable person. He's a brilliant comedian. He's such a good human being. He's an amazing collaborator. And yeah, it was the two of us for a while just, I think the first call that we took, which was sort of just the prototype, the pilot for the show. We're like, "We don't know what's going to happen. Is anyone going to call?" And yeah, I mean, it was really awesome working on that show. And also it was such a departure from the kinds of projects that I had worked on previously, which were extremely buttoned up like very highly produced in the sense that every single step that you took in the process was regimented, right? Like making a Freakonomics episode, making an hour of Soundcheck, thinking about that live daily experience. Gretta Cohn:Like you can't have a minute on the clock that's not accounted for in making those things. And here's a show where we just open a phone line and see what happens for an hour. And it's so freeing to be sort of separated from that regimentation and working with Chris Gethard, I think taught me that you can make something that's really compelling and that's really good. And it was highly produced. Like a lot of thought went into it. There's a lot of post-production, but it didn't need to be the kind of thing where like every single minute of that hour was a line on a spreadsheet. And I love that show. I think that we're all like voyeurs of other people's experiences. Right. And I think it's super interesting the way that people are willing to call and sort of like bare their souls to Chris and working on that show was fantastic. Gretta Cohn:And it was really gratifying and really rewarding when we realized that people were paying attention and they were going to listen. And for that to be one of the first projects of my tenure at Earwolf was great. It was great. Chris Erwin:That's awesome. What a cool story! Bannon even mentioned you work on, I think Casey Holford's Heaven's Gate, which is now an HBO Max series. I think that just came out this week or something, some big projects. All right. So look, in 2015, Midroll/Earwolf sells to Scripps, EW Scripps. Then I think in 2017 is when you start Transmitter Media. I'm curious to hear that after this fun sprint at Midroll and the sale and launching the shows and launching Howl and Wolfpop and all the things, what got you thinking about becoming a founder, which is a very different experience than what you had done for the first 10, 15 years of your career? Gretta Cohn:So after the sale, I think that Adam Sachs kind of offered me the opportunity to reshape my role a little bit. So I had been overseeing the Earwolf shows, developing and producing brand new shows and Howl was in the rear view at that point for me, I believe. I think this is like a classic situation. They're like, "We're going to split your job into two, which half do you want?" And I was like, "This is great." Because it had been a lot to be developing new shows, to have this sort of slate of shows at Earwolf requiring my attention. And I picked the path of new development and that's when they went out and found someone to executive produce the Earwolf network. And in my new role, I needed to build a team and a division. Gretta Cohn:So I had to hire really quickly about six producers to form a team. And there wasn't really a human resources and so it really fell on me to read every application that came in and kind of vet all of the candidates and begin that process of selecting who to talk to. And I probably spent about six months just interviewing. I think that I learned a lot from that process and I think it developed in me like a little bit of an eye for how to spot talent and people that I want to work with, but it also was like supremely exhausting. And at the same time, I think that the company was in a real state of renewal and flux and change following the sale to Scripps, which I think is probably common in any situation where a company is acquired by a company that has a different POV, like maybe doesn't understand podcasting, has its own goals that are separate from what the goals had been at Earwolf. Gretta Cohn:So there were just a lot of strategy shifts that I did my best to kind of keep up with, but ultimately found myself thinking like, "Well, if I were setting the strategy, what would I do? If I were re-imagining sort of the direction that this company was going in, what would I do?" And I looked around and Pineapple Street had been around for a few months, maybe six months. And I went and had some chats with them about sort of like what they were doing and what they wanted to do. And I went over and had a chat with the folks at Gimlet thinking like maybe there would be a place for me there, but ultimately out of my conversations with all of those people, was this kind of clarifying feeling that there was something that I wanted to do and that I wanted to do it differently. I would say it was definitely like burnout that kind of led me to thinking about what I wanted to do next, because it felt like where I was at was like a little bit unsustainable. It was scary. Gretta Cohn:I definitely spent a month sort of quaking with fear on the couch. Like, is this something that I'm going to do? What does it take and what do I need and are there like, long-term consequences that I can't really think of yet? Because I'd always had a job, right? Like I always worked for someone else and enjoyed the freedom, frankly, that that gives you, right? Like you show up, you do the work and then you leave and you can go and take care of whatever. So I just spent a lot of time thinking about it and talking to friends, my close friend who gave me the Cursive records back in the day has run a press, a small press for nearly as long as I've known him. And it's a small non-profit, but it requires the same levels of sort of like entrepreneurship and sort of like- Chris Erwin:Discipline in a way. Gretta Cohn:Yeah. Discipline. That's exactly the word. And so I talked to him a lot about he figured out what he was doing. My brother has had his own post-production business for film for more than five years, so I went for dinner with him and talked about... His business relies on film clients who come to him with a movie that needs mixing and sound effects and sound design. So we talked about that and my husband was acquiring a business. He purchased a retail shop in our neighborhood around the same time too. So there was like a lot of this around me where I had just a lot of conversations about this and I decided to do it. I decided that like the fear was not a good enough reason to not do it. And my alternate path to be quite frank was to leave podcasting because I just couldn't see where my next step was going to be. Gretta Cohn:And so I thought I would take the more productive path, the one where I didn't leave podcasting and I made this decision in December of 2016 to myself and then spent the next couple of months just tucking away money. When I say that I saved money before starting the business, I saved $7,000. Like this is not an enormous coffer of like startup money, but it was enough to pay for an office space and to pay for myself for a couple of months to just see what would happen. And I gave extremely early notice at Midroll and I started to look for clients before I left. So I set it up so that by the time I finally left Midroll in the end of March of 2017 and walked into my office, my new office for Transmitter Media, on the 3rd of April of 2017, I already had clients. So this also gave me that added security of like, "I'm not just walking into this empty pit of like who knows what? Like I have work to do." Chris Erwin:Look, that's just like an amazing transition story, but a couple of things stand out. One it's like double entrepreneur household. A lot of couples that I talk to will say, one will start a new venture business that's risky while other has like W2 salaried income. But your husband had just bought a local retail shop in the neighborhood. You were launching Transmitter Media. So you were smart about mitigating risk of landing of clients in advance. Yeah, it's a lot to take on. And the second thing I heard that I think is really interesting is you felt that there was no path for you to stay in podcasting unless you started your own business. So it's either get out and do- Gretta Cohn:It felt that way. Chris Erwin:Yeah. Get out and do something totally different or commit and go deeper with this incredible network and skillset that you've built up for a decade and a half and start your own thing. You committed to it. And yeah, whether it was meager savings of $7,000, it was enough. And you had the confidence. And I think in the early days, confidence is everything that you need. Tell us about what is Transmitter Media or what was it at that point? Gretta Cohn:Transmitter Media was born as a full service creative podcast company, meaning primarily working for clients who needed podcasts production. And it's really 360 ideation. There's like a paragraph that explains what they want the podcast to be and then we figure it out from there. Like it's quite rare that someone comes in the door and they have like a fully fleshed out idea for a show that has all the episodes outlined and the guests and then this and then that. So it's really starting with a kernel of an idea, figuring out how to make it, what it needs, what's the format and executing it all the way up to launch and continued production. And I think that I saw what Pineapple Street was doing. I respect Jenna and Max from Pineapple Street so much. Gretta Cohn:And it felt like the right model, essentially doing what film production companies do or in a way kind of like what advertising agencies do. You have clients, your clients have a story that they want to tell and as a production company, you figure out how to tell it and how to tell it really well. And I think that for me, having a focus on craft was really important quality over quantity and taking the time to really figure out creatively, what does something need was how I stepped into it. Chris Erwin:Clearly as the industry is growing, in terms of more audio listenership, more brands wanting to figure out the space and still early, I think in 2019, the ad market for audio was like 750 million. So you started the company is like two to three years before that, when you look at the total advertising landscape, which is like over, I think, 600 billion globally. But brands are leaning in, they want to figure it out and you have a knack for audio storytelling, and then you commit. And so who are some of the early clients you work with? I think they were Walmart and Spotify. And what did those first early projects look like and had you had experience working with brands before? Or was it like, "All right, I have a skillset, but I kind of got to figure this out on the fly too."? Gretta Cohn:So it was Walmart, Spotify and TED I think were the three sort of major clients at the very beginning. I hadn't worked directly with brands. I understood working with other media institutions. I understood working with hosts. I also understood developing new shows because that's what my team did at Midroll, Stitcher, Earwolf. Before I left, an entire year of just coming up with ideas and piloting them and throwing them at the wall and kind of running them through PNLs and doing all of that. And so I understood all of that. So we have worked directly with brands, but with Walmart, it was running through an advertising agency full of really great creative people and so we were interfacing more with them. And I think that I learned through them a little bit more about how to work with a client like Walmart. Gretta Cohn:But I think also that everyone we were working with at that time was also trying to figure it out for themselves in a brand new way. So we've now been working with TED for over three and a half years, but at the time the show that we developed with them, WorkLife with Adam Grant, I think was their first sort of step into the sort of slate of podcasts that they have now. They had TED talks daily. It was sort of concurrently like I know what the steps to take and the people that I am making these podcasts for don't, they've never done it. And so I think I learned a lot in those first few projects about how to deliver, how to communicate what we're doing clearly. But it's not like I hadn't already done that before. Like I had the skills, it's just was like refining them and putting them into this really particular box. Chris Erwin:Yeah, just a little bit of a different application. Makes sense. Gretta Cohn:Yeah, exactly. Chris Erwin:When we were talking about having to build a development team at Midroll and Earwolf that you said that you had like a unique sense of how to identify good people. So then you start building your own team at Transmitter and it seems that you've built a pretty special team there. So what was your, like when you think about, if I need great people to make Transmitter a success, what type of people were you looking for and what has like your culture become at your company? Gretta Cohn:I love my team so much. I agree. I agree I think they're really special. I think independent thinkers, people who have a really unique creative spark, people who surprise me. Right. I think that what I learned in doing all this interviews at Midroll was like, I prepare a lot for interviews, kind of much like you prepared for this. I would do deep dives. I would listen to a lot of work from the people who were coming into... had applied for the roles. I also like over the years, there are certain producers who I'll just kind of keep in touch with, or follow their work and be excited by their work and hope that one day they might like to come work at Transmitter. And so I also am really keen on people who have a collaborative spirit. So an independent thinker who's down to collaborate, who doesn't necessarily need to put their fingerprints all over everything and it's like cool if their fingerprints kind of merge with other people's fingerprints and we've got this really sort of group dynamic where we're really, everyone is contributing towards something. Gretta Cohn:And people own projects, people own stories, people own episodes, but ultimately, I think that we have a very collaborative team environment. And we're also a group of people who like to celebrate our successes, even like the teeniest tiniest ones. And so we spend a lot of time like talking about the things that go well and I think that creates a lot of pride in work. And I'm interested in working with people who have that same sense of craft as I do. It's not necessarily about perfection, but it's about doing really good work, making something sound as good as it can possibly be. We have an episode that on Monday I got an email about, saying, "This is in its final edit. I'm not looking for any big edit changes. I'm only looking for a notes on music." And I listened to it and I was like, "Ah." Chris Erwin:Is this from a client? Gretta Cohn:"How did they get editorial note?" Chris Erwin:Yeah, was this a client email or internal? Gretta Cohn:No, it's internal. I have a big editorial note and here's why, and I know that you thought you were almost done, but it's going to be so much better because of this. And typically as a group, we come to that agreement very quickly that it's going to be better and our goal is to make work that sounds very, very good. Chris Erwin:I think that's how you build a great company and also become successful and are fulfilled in that. Like yesterday's win or yesterday's excellence is today's baseline and you just keep upping the threshold. My team calls me out for doing that all the time, but I always say, "Yeah, I hired you guys because men and women, you're incredible and I'm going to hold you big." And that makes for a fun work environment. And it's all in our mutual best interests. So I like hearing you say that Gretta and you just talked about celebrating wins often. What is like a recent win that you guys celebrated, big or small? Gretta Cohn:I mean, earlier today we recorded an interview where the host was in a studio in DC, our guests was in her home under a blanket fort in New Jersey. We had a little bit of a technical mishap before it started. One of the newer producers on our team was managing that. And I know that that could have been a situation where she got so stressed out that she could have been paralyzed by the overwhelming sort of urgency of overcoming this technical mishap, but she was calm and she kept us informed of what she was doing and she figured it out and the interview started late and it went long, but that was fine. And you got to give someone a thumbs up for that. Like that was hard and you figured it out. Gretta Cohn:And another recent win is we are about to launch season two of our podcast, Rebel Eaters Club and we have a promotions team working for us this time, we're making new artwork and we've got the episodes of the season in production. It's just exciting for me when all the pieces start to come together and we're like a month away from launch and it's not done and it will get done. But right now it's just this like ball of energy and that feels very exciting. Chris Erwin:This is your first owned and operated podcast where- Gretta Cohn:Yes. Chris Erwin:... your business has helped create audio stories for a variety of different brands and marketers and publishers and now you're investing in your own IP, which is really exciting. And so what is the general concept of Rebel Eaters Club for people who want to check it out? Gretta Cohn:Rebel Eaters Club is a podcast about breaking up with diet culture. Chris Erwin:Ooh. Gretta Cohn:Yeah. Our host is, her name is Virgie Tovar, and she's sort of one of the leading voices on breaking up with diet culture because it's extremely harmful. It is a huge industry. It's a debilitating thing that is, fat discrimination is something that's like not very often discussed, but such a huge sort of point of discrimination in our culture. And I have learned so much from this podcast, it's funny, it's a weird,

In radio news, Entercom makes changes to the radio landscape in New York City and Hartford Ct. We say goodbye to Radio Disney. We'll also let you know what is happening on the street, and begin our look at the Neilson December Personal People Meter ratings. Jennifer will come along with her call letter and format changes, and Bill will feature an interview of Donald Trump done by Lary King. In our featured station segment we travel to Wilkes Barre Pa and listen to radio station WQFM with their 90s to now format, and we will travel to Toronto Canada and listen to radio station CKDX FM with their soft variety format. TThis weeks classic aircheck brings us to Springfield Il where we listen to WDBR FM countdown the top songs of 1976.

Keith and Jackson ask will Radio.com be a better brand than Entercom? What is Jeff Smulyan going to do with $200M in SPAC money? How to sell against Google/Facebook other than begging. And Ed Stolz story may be over as well as the NAB basically pleading poverty with hundreds of millions in the bank!

The worlds of podcasting and streaming audio are constantly changing and innovating, especially in 2020 when there are more listeners than ever. How do marketers take advantage of this growing medium and ensure their ad dollars are working their hardest? In this month's episode of The Marketing Insider: A Claritas Podcast, we delve deep into trends in streaming audio and podcast performance with experts Sergei Peysakhov, senior director of measurement and insights at Audacy, formerly known as Entercom, and Omer Jilani, Claritas' vice president of sales. Download A Guide to Accurately Analyzing Campaign Conversion Rates: https://claritas.com/resources/podcast-advertising-campaign-lift-benchmarks-best-practices-report/ Learn about Industry Trends in Streaming Audio & Podcast Performance: https://claritas.com/resources/industry-trends-in-streaming-audio-podcast-performance/ Read the Podcast Advertising Campaign Lift & Industry Benchmarks whitepaper: https://claritas.com/resources/podcast-advertising-campaign-lift-benchmarks-best-practices-report/ Listen to the Podcast Marketing & Measurement episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-marketing-insider-a-claritas-podcast/id1441029170?i=1000471551199 Download the Podcast Attribution Report: https://claritas.com/resources/reports-podcast-attribution/ Read the Podcast Listener whitepaper: https://claritas.com/resources/reports-white-paper-claritas-prx-market-enginuity-podcast-report/ Connect with Audacy: https://audacyinc.com Download more podcast episodes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-marketing-insider-a-claritas-podcast/id1441029170 Learn about Claritas and find your best customers: https://claritas.com Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Claritas2.0/ Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/claritas_mbs/ Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Claritas2_0

No matter what business you're in, it's crucial to superserve your clients.  I'm told there are two ways to build a business - the Amazon model (scale) and the Ben & Jerry's model (do one thing really well, then build on it).  I'm a Ben & Jerry's guy, and it has nothing to do with Phish Food or the fact that I lived in Vermont for 7 years.Something I pride myself on is above-and-beyond customer service. This relationship building has allowed me to build my business organically, without paid marketing or ads.  I was reminded of this twice in the last few weeks.  First, I had a non-profit client who's been with me since the beginning.  She never had much money, but I helped her out wherever I could.  Well, she got a grant for 2021 and is now going to pay me above my normal rate to produce a series of shows for her.  Turns out the time I invested in her was well spent.This week, one of my clients told me she was giving me a raise.  I had been on the fence about raising my rates with her, but she felt my work was worthy of additional compensation.  Some might say "if she's offering you more money, you're not charging her enough."   But I say, which makes her more likely to recommend me to a colleague?  Me asking her for more money, or her telling me I deserve more money?Onto this week's podcasting news....Apple now allows you to embed a podcast onto your website - something Spotify did long ago. https://tools.applemediaservices.com/apple-podcastsNice to see Apple do something as Spotify keeps closing the gap between them. According to Buzzsprout (and as reported in PodNews), Apple now accounts for LESS than half of their total downloads. It's still far and away #1 at 47%, but second place Spotify is at 24%, and Google Podcasts still lags in third place at 2.4%. After that is everyone else.  See for yourself: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BuzzsproutCommunity/permalink/3800456513307468Nielsen, the ratings people, say Podcasting will be a $1 billion industry in 2021. And with 20% annual growth, total audience is on pace to double by 2023. https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/news-center/2020/nielsen-at-podcast-movement-2020-opportunities-in-a-skyrocketing-industry/?utm_source=podnews.net&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=podnews.net:2020-11-18Podcasting event tomorrow, Saturday November 20th.  Audio Recess from PRX and the Google Podcasts Creator Program: https://googlecp.prx.org/audio-recessTwo new podcasts that I WON'T be checking out - That's Messed Up - which breaks down episodes of Law & Order: SVU - and Hunting Ghislane, about Jeffrey Epstein's accomplice Ghislane Maxwell.  2020 has been depressing enough.  Hard pass on both of those.Finally, the ex-radio guy in me would be remiss if I didn't pour one out for 89X, the Windsor Ontario based rock station that served Detroit for thirty years.  Their owners, Bell Media (now, shockingly, owned by iHeartMedia), flipped the station to country yesterday.  In response, Entercom flipped a frequency I used to be on 98.7, from soft rock to alternative to fill the hole.  What does all of this mean?  Music radio has spent the last two decades squeezing out most of its personality.  So today, if you don't have a spoken word (news, talk, sports) station, or at least an outstanding morning show, you don't have a chance.If you need help with your podcast, feel free to reach me here. https://jagindetroit.com/podcast-recording-packages/

In radio news, more radio groups continue to report their third quarter revenue results. Urban One makes changes to the radio landscape in Philadelphia Pa with Entercom owned and operated all news radio stationKYW AM simulcasting its all news format on the fm band. We will also let you know what is happening on the street. This will be followed up by Jennifer's call letter and format changes, followed up by a review of a website where you can listen to FM radio stations broadcasting on the Internet by Bill Sparks. This weeks classic aircheck is CKLW and their radio announcer Tom Shannon from Nov. 17th 1967. This weeks featured station takes us to Iron City Michigan and radio station WIKB FM with their classic rock and classic hits format.

Episode Highlights: 2:12 - The State of Radio & Audio Amid COVID 7:22 - Targeting Your Audience With Digital Audio 13:35 - OTT: The Future of TV 19:29 - Questions You Should Ask About OTT 22:15 - A Visualization of How Digital Radio Works Who is Entercom? Entercom Communications Corp. (NYSE: ETM) is a leading audio and entertainment company engaging over 170 million consumers each month through its iconic broadcast brands, expansive digital platform, premium podcast network and live events and experiences. With presence in every major U.S. market, and accessible on every device, Entercom delivers the industry's most compelling live and on-demand content and experiences from voices and influencers its communities trust and love. The company's robust portfolio of assets and integrated solutions offer advertisers today's most engaged audiences through targeted reach, brand amplification and local activation—all at national scale. Entercom is the unrivaled leader in local radio sports and news and the #1 creator of live, original local audio content in the U.S.

IN radio news, a swap of stations between Entercom, and Urban One leads to format changes in multiple markets. Radio companys begin reporting on their third quarter revenue results. We let you know what is happening on the street and conclude our coverage of the Neilson October Personal People Meter ratings. This will be followed up by Jennifer's call letter and format changes. Next we'll present a feature segment on the late Alix Trebek. This weeks classic aircheck takes us to Cincinnati Ohio where we'll hear a composite aircheck of WSAI AM from 1971. Finally our featured station keeps us in Cincinnati Ohio where we'll hear WAKW the Contemporary Christian format with Christmas music.

In radio news, a star falls in Atlanta Ga, and cutbacks hit two sports radio stations in atlanta as well. A radio talk host returns to Kansas City Mo. We will let you know what is happening on the street. We'll have Jennifer's call letter and format changes, and Bill Sparks will present a station stunting with tv themes in preparation of a new format. Our classic aircheck takes us to Kansas City Mo, and Jerry Mason from WHB AM on Sept. 4th 1964. Finally our featured station also takes us back to Kansas City Mo, with the in house syndicated Striker and Cline show from Entercom owned and operated radio station KROQ FM From Los Angeles California.

Dr. Michael A. Lindsey is a noted scholar in the fields of child and adolescent mental health, as well as a leader in the search for knowledge and solutions to generational poverty and inequality.  He's one of the featured clinicians for our "I'm Listening" special - heard on Entercom stations across the country on September 23rd.  I had the privilege of having an in depth conversation with Dr. Lindsey about how to help the kids in our lives manage their mental health during the global pandemic, and with all the social injustice dominating the news this year.  

Steve from Providence, TJ Hubbard and Chris in Wakefield join DEC in what was supposed to be a celebration of Kirk Minihane's emancipation from Entercom. What happened instead, is that TJ Hubbard was allowed to tell a story to start the show off and helped derail everything. And when that happens, DEC talks Moss Dudley. Listen as the boys talk about the last year, what surprised them and predictions for the future. Plus, would the boys rather have Gerry Callahan in the world, or Dave Cullinane. All that and more plus support Red Dogs and Company with the promo code MINIFAN for 15% off when you go to reddogscompany.com

As a former radio guy, I've spent a lot of time covering the often converging lanes of broadcast and podcast.  For many in podcasting, the fear is that large radio corporations will "elbow" their way into our space.  For me, I worry that these large corporations - iHeartMedia, Entercom, and others - are going to do what they did to radio.   That is, put profits ahead of product and make the product watered down and often unlistenable.For example, iheart has furloughed most "non-essential" employees, but hey, they launched a new podcast! It's got commencement speeches for the class of 2020 from celebrities, including Chelsea Handler, Eli Manning, Hillary Clinton and Jimmy Fallon. Entercom put out a press release  bragging about their podcasting numbers being up. Wonder how that hit morning and midday hosts Chuck Edwards and Cadillac Jack, both recently laid off from their country station WYCD here in Detroit.  Or Mistress Carrie and Mike Hsu formerly of heritage rocker WAAF Boston, sold off to a Christian broadcaster after 50 years for a quick $10 million.Evo Terra, a thought leader in the podcast space, commented this week on broadcasters in our space - his message: get out.  Essentially, he railed on fired radio DJ's who are recording into their internal laptop mics and calling it a podcast in an effort to "keep it real."  Evo's point: podcasting is much more than the bastard stepchild of radio.   Sorry, Bob Pittman.Onto the positive - there are a number of great resources for podcasters that have been published this week.The folks at Podcast Movement have put out a guide to help answer the burning question of what mic should I use?   There are a million guides out there on this topic, but this one is very detailed with a lot of videos.Speaking of the fine folks at Podcast Movement (fingers crossed for Dallas this summer), they've also got a very useful piece on popular side hustles for podcasters as, like most of us, they try to make ends meet right now.Speaking of Coronavirus, Podcast Business Journal has a nice "roundtable" article on what to make of the often conflicting podcasting stats in the era of COVID-19 and social isolation.Next weekend (April 25-26), there's going to be a virtual podcast festival, with money being raced for COVID-19 relief.Podapalooza benefit: Podapalooza dot orgThe New York Times reminds us that Facebook, Netflix, and YouTube consumption are all up on desktop. Keep that in mind as you produce your podcast - many of your listeners may be listening on your hosted website or an embedded player, as opposed to their favorite podcast app.Finally, Kim kardashian is apparently launching a podcast?  I only mention this to help my SEO.Finally, if you're interested in developing your own podcast, i'm here to help.WebsitePackagesEmailFind me on social at @JAGinDetroitOr call 313-757-2524  

The Captain is sitting down with Grace for a very interesting conversation. Howie talks about his tumultuous time at Entercom, his coverage of the Boston Marathon Bombings and much more.

Stronger, more unified, survivors face risks and move forward after Tree of Life tragedy This Week in the Nation’s Capitol (Death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead after US-led raid in Syria ... + ... Former White House official refuses to testify today in impeachment hearings ... + ... Trump on Chicago violence: Afghanistan is safer ... + ... Trump attends World Series Game 5 & gets booed) ... GUEST Greg Clugston, SRN White House Correspondent Survey: 9 in 10 employees come to work sick (Entercom) ... GUEST Father Jason Charron ... Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church, Carnegie PA 'Angel' customer leaves waitress $1,070 tip on $122 restaurant bill (Yahoo) Abu Bakhar and his headline in WashPo Yesterday’s 1-yr anniversary of the Tree of Life shooting... GUEST Rabbi Aaron Bisno Celeb bday (Bill Gates, Julia Roberts) Kanye West’s “Jesus is King” has dropped: Why is the Christian community so hard on celebrity converts? Or why do other Christians see the conversion of a celebrity as some sort of conquest? Today is Animation Day, the day we celebrate the talented artists who created everything from the cartoon characters on our favorite box of cereal to video games & movies. What’s the top grossing animated film of all time?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jake Kaplan, voiceover artist and Create Director /Programming for 97.1 Amp Radio and Channel Q in L.A., talks about the world of radio imaging production.

This is special show, recorded right before Podcast Movement 2019 on August 11, featuring not only my awesome co-host Rob Walch VP of Podcaster Relations at Libsyn, but also, Rob Greenlee VP of Podcasting Partnerships and Dave Jackson from the School of Podcasting and also part of our awesome support team! We cover the big news released last week that Libsyn is IAB 2. 0 compliant aka we are certified! Some fantastic Google Podcasts updates , an interesting study from Coleman Insights, leaving Apple Podcasts because of negative ratings, women podcasting stats, plus of course our latest user agent and geographic stats! You will not wanna miss this! Audience feedback drives the show. We'd love for you to email us and keep the conversation going! Email thefeed@libsyn.com or call 412–573–1934. We'd love to hear from you! Quick Episode Summary Special intro with Elsie and her daughter The Rob, Rob, Dave and Elsie conversation Libsyn is IAB v2 certified! And what exactly does that mean? Entercom buys Pineapple Street Media and Cadence 13 and what that means to podcasters Google Podcasts updates directly from the Google Team! A very interesting study from Coleman Insights Can you record a Skype conversation from your iPhone? Folks we need help! The Top 7 Creative Business Podcasts You Should Listen to Right Now There is a difference between your feed categories and Apple Podcasts categories, we clarify a bit So who is the oldest podcaster out there? Jen Briney from Congressional Dish was on C-SPAN! Do negative ratings affect your ranking on Apple Podcasts? You will be surprised by the answer! Rob's worst email of the week Geographic stats! Country Spotify stats! User agent stats! During our where have we been segment Rob reveals some incredible stats about women in podcasting Thank you to Nick from MicMe for our awesome intro! Podcasting Articles and Links mentioned by Rob and Elsie Our SpeakPipe Feedback page! Leave us feedback :) Google will start surfacing individual podcast episodes in search results Google․com adds powerful podcast search, also coming to Assistant Coleman Insights Study Shows Joe Rogan Topping Podcast Listener Awareness The Top 7 Creative Business Podcasts You Should Listen to Right Now Why a 94-year-old war veteran started a podcast to save democracy New Media Show Live @ Podcast Movement 2019 #297 Where is Libsyn Going? (In Real Life) She Podcasts Conference DragonCon Content Marketing World Military Influencer Conference HELP US SPREAD THE WORD! We'd love it if you could please share #TheFeed with your twitter followers. Click here to post a tweet! If you dug this episode head on over to Apple Podcasts and kindly leave us a rating, a review and subscribe! Ways to subscribe to The Feed: The Official Libsyn Podcast Click here to subscribe via Apple Podcasts Click here to subscribe via RSS You can also subscribe via Stitcher FEEDBACK + PROMOTION You can ask your questions, make comments and create a segment about podcasting for podcasters! Let your voice be heard. Download the FREE The Feed App for iOS and Android (you can send feedback straight from within the app) Call 412 573 1934 Email thefeed@libsyn.com Use our SpeakPipe Page!

All 4 of Libsyn's Hall of Famers are recording together face to face for the very first time to bring you the news that we have a new agreement with Entercom, to distribute Libsyn podcasts on RADIO.COM, Entercom's integrated digital platform! Plus, some insight into Rob Greenlee's move to Libsyn. Audience feedback drives the show. We'd love for you to email us and keep the conversation going! Email thefeed@libsyn.com or call 412–573–1934. We'd love to hear from you! Featured Podcast Promos + Audio Jennifer from Bourbon Barrel Podcasting JimJim from JimJim's Reinvention Revolution Podcast Thank you to Nick from MicMe for our awesome intro! Podcasting Articles and Links mentioned by Team Libsyn Our SpeakPipe Feedback page! Leave us feedback :) All of the Libsyn Destinations available to you! How to set-up your Radio.com Destination Rob Greenlee on Podcast411 - direct link to MP3! HELP US SPREAD THE WORD! We'd love it if you could please share #TheFeed with your twitter followers. Click here to post a tweet! If you dug this episode head on over to Apple Podcasts and kindly leave us a rating, a review and subscribe! Ways to subscribe to The Feed: The Official Libsyn Podcast Click here to subscribe via Apple Podcasts Click here to subscribe via RSS You can also subscribe via Stitcher FEEDBACK + PROMOTION You can ask your questions, make comments and create a segment about podcasting for podcasters! Let your voice be heard. Download the FREE The Feed App for iOS and Android (you can send feedback straight from within the app) Call 412 573 1934 Email thefeed@libsyn.com Use our SpeakPipe Page!