Podcast appearances and mentions of Ryan Wilson

On today's episode, it's another Young Fella Wednesday! Ryan Wilson and former NFL GM Ran Carthon pick out players around college football and NFL rookies to go under the spotlight! (00:00) Intro (3:27) Carson Beck, Miami (14:39) Dante Moore, Oregon (21:53) Taylen Green, Arkansas (24:59) Haynes King, Georgia Tech (32:44) LSU Secondary (36:59) Oklahoma TE Jaren Kanak (44:57) Arizona RB Ismail Mahdi (48:09) Tennessee WR Chris Brazzell II (57:17) New Mexico EDGE Keyshawn James-Newby (1:01:20) Cam Ward (1:06:55) Dillon Gabriel (1:10:26) Jalon Walker & James Pearce Jr (1:15:00) Grey Zabel (1:20:35) Young Fellas Of The Week! Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In today's episode we have your NFL Week 2 recap! Ryan Wilson is joined by former NFL GM Ran Carthon and CBS Sports Lead NFL Insider Jonathan Jones to break down the biggest storylines from Sunday's games. What should we expect from the Bengals without Joe Burrow? Where do the Chiefs currently land on the panic meter? Will Justin Fields make it through the season as the Jets QB? All that and more! Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on Radio Labyrinth Podcast, we welcome Dan Pasternack — producer, historian, and lifelong comedy fan — for a wide-ranging conversation about his career and some incredible projects he's bringing to audiences in 2025. Dan is currently on the road with the Airplane! Live Tour, celebrating the legendary parody classic with screenings and stories. He's also behind the John Candy: I Like Me documentary with Ryan Reynolds, which is hitting the road for special events, and later this year he'll be touring Stand By Me with the surviving cast to mark its enduring legacy. Beyond his producing work, Dan is a serious comedy collector with over 500 autographed comedy albums in his archive — a passion we dive into along with plenty of behind-the-scenes tales from his unique career.

On today's episode Ryan Wilson and former NFL GM Ran Carthon pick out players around college football and NFL rookies to go under the spotlight! Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Ravens and Bills played the most thrilling game of week 1, but there were plenty of other storylines to come out of the start of the new season. Ryan Wilson talked about a handful of them during his weekly visit with Vinny & Haynie.

This week on Radio Labyrinth Podcast, we welcome actor John Kapelos — a true legend of film and television. You know him as Carl the Janitor in The Breakfast Club, Dino in Weird Science, and Rudy in Sixteen Candles. Beyond his John Hughes classics, John takes us back to his early days at Second City Chicago, his hilarious work on SCTV, and of course his unforgettable turn on Seinfeld as Barry the Sniffing Accountant. We also hear the story of how he accidentally insulted Emilio Estevez to his face on the set of The Breakfast Club, plus plenty more behind-the-scenes stories from his career spanning movies, TV, and comedy stages.

In today's episode, Ryan Wilson and Former NFL GM Ran Carthon unveil their final Preseason 2026 NFL Mock Draft. The guys go pick-by-pick for all 32 teams in the first round in real time as we sit just one day away from NFL kickoff. DISCLAIMER: This mock draft was taped prior to Micah Parsons being traded from the Cowboys to the Packers Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In today's episode, Ryan Wilson and Former NFL GM Ran Carthon provide their 2026 NFL Draft risers and fallers following Week 1 of the college football season! Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week in the Labyrinth we're joined by an incredible guest — and a family connection! Guitarist Browan Lollar from St. Paul and The Broken Bones drops by to talk about their upcoming self-titled album (out October 10th). Browan is also the younger brother of our own Dustin Lollar, so we get some fun family stories along the way. Plus, Tim and Browan dive into some Frank Zappa talk, influences, and what it's like balancing band life with side projects (including Browan's surf rock outfit Tsar Bomba). If you're a fan of Southern soul, psychedelic grooves, and stories from the road — this one's for you. Watch the show on YouTube: https://youtu.be/htimVveCrjk

Ryan Wilson and Former NFL GM Ran Carthon react to the blockbuster trade that sends Micah Parsons to the Packers from the Cowboys! Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ryan Wilson and former NFL GM Ran Carthon answer your questions as we near the start of the NFL season! Leave us a 5-star review for a chance to have a question answered in future shows! Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In today's episode, Ryan Wilson and former NFL GM Ran Carthon break down the latest surrounding NFL roster cuts. Ryan also unveils his preseason Big Board for the 2026 NFL Draft ahead of Week 1 in College Football!  (00:00) Intro (3:15) Browns Trade Kenny Pickett (5:18) How Trey Hendrickson Impacts Micah Parsons (7:12) Front Office Outlook During Roster Cutdowns (9:30) Travis Kelce & Taylor Swift Engaged (10:21) Top 10 Prospects In Big Board (20:33) Top QBs In Big Board (29:57) Players Too High On Big Board (38:28) Players Too Low On Big Board Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

00:00 - 19:16 - Ryan Wilson from CBS then joins the show to discuss Anthony Richardson, and what history says about quarterbacks who get benched multiple times by the team that drafts them. 19:17 - 44:24 - Stephen Holder of ESPN joins the show! Stephen and JMV discuss Riley Leonard, and if there is any real chance that he starts games this season. They look at the tight end position, and who might be on the outside looking in when the roster is cut down to 53 tomorrow.Support the show: https://1075thefan.com/the-ride-with-jmv/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:00 – 26:09 – JMV begins the show by discussing the Colts preseason finale against the Bengals, how well 3rd-string QB Riley Leonard played against his fellow backups, and if there is any merit to wanting Leonard to be the backup (or even start). 26:10 – 41:19 – JMV reviews the past weekend of high school football! He then takes some calls from listeners of the show! 41:20 – 43:56 - The first hour ends with another phone call from a listener! 43:57 – 1:07:54 – JMV takes a call from a listener of the show! Ryan Wilson from CBS then joins the show to discuss Anthony Richardson, and what history says about quarterbacks who get benched multiple times by the team that drafts them. 1:07:55 – 1:24:03 – JMV takes some calls and reads some comments from listeners of the show! 1:24:04 - 1:27:42 – JMV wraps up the 2nd hour of the show! 1:27:43 – 1:55:09 - Stephen Holder of ESPN joins the show! Stephen and JMV discuss Riley Leonard, and if there is any real chance that he starts games this season. They look at the tight end position, and who might be on the outside looking in when the roster is cut down to 53 tomorrow. 1:55:10 – 2:03:50 – JMV takes a call from a listener of the show! 2:03:51 – 2:10:15 – JMV remembers his friend Robin Miller, who passed away 4 years ago today. He then wraps up the show! Support the show: https://1075thefan.com/the-ride-with-jmv/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're joined by Dungeon Crawler Carl creator Matt Dinniman and legendary audiobook narrator Jeff Hays! From self-publishing to bestsellers, TV adaptations, Dragon Con, and the voices behind Carl & Donut—this is the definitive DCC interview.

In today's episode, Ryan Wilson and former NFL GM Ran Carthon give their favorite 2026 NFL Draft prospects ahead of the College Football season. Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In today's episode, Ryan Wilson and former NFL GM Ran Carthon give their winners and losers from Week 2 of the preseason! The guys also discuss the biggest things they will be watching in the preseason finales this week. Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kent Lewis grew up in the Seattle area. In college he studied business and marketing. After college he went to work for a PR agency but left to go into the digital marketing industry in 1996. Kent has formed several marketing agencies during his career. He is quite up front about challenges he faced along the way as well as what he learned from each issue he faced.   Kent's philosophy about community is quite interesting and well worth adopting. He believes very much in giving back to his community. Today his day job is serving as “Executive Director of NextNW, a non-profit trade association that unifies the Pacific Northwest advertising & marketing professionals interested in professional development, sharing best practices, and collaborative problem-solving”.   Kent gives us many relevant and timely business insights. I hope you agree that this conversation gives us some good business lessons we all can use.     About the Guest:   Kent Lewis, Executive Director, NextNW Lewis is currently Executive Director of NextNW, a non-profit trade association that unifies the Pacific Northwest advertising & marketing professionals interested in professional development, sharing best practices, and collaborative problem-solving. He is also Founder of pdxMindShare, Portland's premier career community, with over 12,000 LinkedIn Group members. With a background in integrated marketing, he left a public relations agency in 1996 to start his career in digital marketing. Since then, he's helped grow businesses by connecting his clients with their constituents online. In 2000, Lewis founded Anvil Media, Inc., a measurable marketing agency specializing in search engine and social media marketing. Under his leadership, Anvil has received recognition from Portland Business Journal and Inc. Magazine as a Fastest Growing and Most Philanthropic Company.  After selling his agency in March 2022, he became a CMO for the acquiring firm. Beyond co-founding SEMpdx, Lewis co-founded two agencies, emailROI (now Thesis) and Formic Media. As a long-time entrepreneur, he's advised or invested in a host of companies, including PacificWRO, Maury's Hive Tea and ToneTip. Lewis speaks regularly at industry events and has been published in books and publications including Business2Community, Portland Business Journal, and SmartBrief. For twenty years, he was an adjunct professor at Portland State University, and has been a volunteer instructor for SCORE Portland since 2015. Lewis tours nationwide, averaging 30 speaking engagements annually, including a regular presenter role with the Digital Summit conference series. Active in his community, Lewis has been involved in non-profit charity and professional trade organizations including early literacy program SMART Reading and The Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO).  Industry recognition and awards include Portland Business Journal's Top 40 Under 40 Award, American Marketing Association Oregon Chapter Marketer of the Year, and Top 100 Digital Marketing Influencers by BuzzSumo.   Ways to connect with Kent:   Links https://kentjlewis.com/   And LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kentlewis/     About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes:   Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:20 Well, hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of unstoppable mindset. Today. We get to chat with an award winning entrepreneur, and he just told me a really interesting factoid. We'll have to, we'll have to talk about it, just because it is about one of the most fascinating things I've heard in quite a while, and a very positive thing. But I'm not going to give it away, because I'm going away, because I'm going to let him talk about it, or at least start the discussion. I'd like you all to meet Kent Lewis. Kent has been an entrepreneur for a while. He helps other entrepreneurs. He works in the non profit arena and does a variety of different kinds of things. And rather than me telling you all about it, you could read the bio, but more important, meet Kent Lewis and Kent, welcome to unstoppable mindset.   Kent Lewis ** 02:05 It's, it's a pleasure to be on the show. Thank you for having me, sir.   Michael Hingson ** 02:10 Now where are you located? I'm based in Portland, Oregon, yeah. So you're, you are up up the coast, since I'm in Southern California. So yes, you know, one of these days I'll be up that way again. Well, Alaska Airlines will fly me up there.   Kent Lewis ** 02:27 Yeah, totally right. Yeah, good   Michael Hingson ** 02:29 to have you, unless you come this way first. But anyway, well, I'm really want to welcome you to unstoppable mindset. And why don't we start? I love to do this. Tell me a little bit about kind of the early Kent growing up and all that stuff.   Kent Lewis ** 02:44 Yeah, so I grew up in Seattle, Washington. I think something that's influenced me is that my dad was is, or is, a retired architect. And so there was always this design esthetic, and he was an art collector enthusiast, I should say. And so I was always surrounded with art and mid century, you know, furniture and there's just style was a it was a thing. And then my mom was always in when she was a social worker and went into running nonprofits. And so I grew up around that as well of just giving back. So if you ever heard that common term, you know, learn, earn, return. Start your life you're learning, then you're maximizing your earnings during your career, and then when you in and around later in life, you start giving back, right, returning, right. And I learned from my mom that you never stop you never stop learning. You never stop returning. And my my mantra as an entrepreneur is never stop earning right? So, so I've always been giving back and donating my time, and I've always appreciated sort of good design and well thought out things. And I think that's influenced my career in marketing and as an entrepreneur, business owner, and now more of an advisor, Coach type,   Michael Hingson ** 03:59 well, so growing up in Seattle, did you visit pikes market very often?   Kent Lewis ** 04:04 My dad used to work right, right, like, two blocks away. So I would go there all the time. In fact, I remember when there was just one Starbucks when I was a kid, yeah, at Pike Place Market, and they used to sell large chunks of delicious, bitter sweet chocolate, I know, you know, in the behind the counter, and it was a very hi and you could smell the teas and all that. It was a very different experience, very cool place. And so, yeah, love   Michael Hingson ** 04:33 the pipe waste market. I understand that they don't throw the fish anymore. No, they do. They do. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Maybe it was just during the pandemic that they decided not to do that, but   Kent Lewis ** 04:44 think you're right about that. But they definitely, they, they're still, it's still a major attraction. It's too big of a thing to stop.   Michael Hingson ** 04:51 Wow, that's what I was thinking. And that's just way too big of a thing to to stop. My probably not the greatest fish fish catcher, I've been there, but I. I never caught a fish.   Kent Lewis ** 05:02 Yeah, that's only got, like, one or two in my life. And I don't, I don't do it much, but   Michael Hingson ** 05:08 Well, well, that's the place to go anyway. So where did you go to college?   Kent Lewis ** 05:13 I went to Western Washington University in Bellingham, uh, just 1020 minutes from the Canadian border, because, in part, when I was in school, it was a 19 year old drinking age in Canada, so I was 20 minutes away from my earlier drinking age. Turns out, I grew up going to Vancouver, BC quite often for the soccer exchange program when I was a real young youngster. So I fell in love with Vancouver, and as I've had been fortunate enough to travel the world a bit, I realized that it was one of my favorite cities, and it still is. It is such a global, amazing egalitarian, like, no matter your color, race, creed, you could be a millionaire or you could be a bus driver. There was no not the same class, classism you see in other US cities or around the rest of the world. It's truly an amazing and it's also, of course, beautiful   Michael Hingson ** 06:04 there. I found that true throughout Canada, and I've enjoyed every Canadian city I've ever been to. One of my favorites is really going to Toronto. I was always impressed as to how clean it really was.   Kent Lewis ** 06:17 You know, that's true. I've been there a couple times in conferences, and I found it to be clean and impressive, you know, and then, but my, one of my favorite, other cities I only spent overnight, there was Montreal. What a beautiful, beautiful place, absolutely stunning. I   Michael Hingson ** 06:35 spent two days in Montreal once when I was selling some products and turn the TV on at 1131 morning that I was there and watched the Flintstones in French. That was unique. That was unique. Cool. How cool is that? Yeah, it's awesome. That was kind of fun. But, you know, so you, you went to college. What did you major in?   Kent Lewis ** 06:58 I majored in business with a marketing concentration, which is great because I ended up doing marketing for a career, and for 22 years ran my own agency, or my own business, basically.   Michael Hingson ** 07:10 So what did you do when you got out of college?   Kent Lewis ** 07:14 I went immediately into the world of public relations agency life. I always wanted to be a found out after college that I, what I really wanted to be was a copywriter, you know, writing ads. I just coolest thing as a kid. I just didn't know that. It's, I didn't realize what it, what it you have to go to Ad School. You can't, you can't graduate regular college and become a copier. At least you weren't able to when I was, you know, back in the mid 90s. So I started in PR because it sounded hard to pitch the media and try and get them to say what you want them to say about your brand, your client and your brand. And that did me well, because when I got in from went from PR in 94 to digital marketing, SEO, search engine optimization 96 my PR background was extremely helpful. You know, in in that, in that whole world. So because doing PR builds Domain Authority, which builds your rankings in Google, and the rest is history. So, so it was very helpful. It gave me a bit of an edge. And then my business background meant I was better equipped to to go from doing the work to managing people, they're doing the work, to doing my own thing, you know, and running a instant running team, I was running a business. So that was super cool. You   Michael Hingson ** 08:38 know, it's interesting. I've especially because of the World Trade Center, but not only, but before it as well, I learned a lot about dealing with the press. And I've, I've watched a lot of press interviews today, and it's, it's amazing how often and then people have said that this is the way you should do it. No matter what the press person asks you, you answer with the with the answer you really want to give, whether you answer their questions or not. And I think that's an interesting approach, and I suppose it can be positive, but especially for for politicians who don't want to answer the tough questions. But I I know that for me, I've always tried to structure my answers in such a way that it gets them to take the question that they originally asked that I might sort of answer and reframe it so that I will answer a lot of times that, for example, talking about blindness and blind people, there are just so many misconceptions about it and and all too often, like first time I was on Larry King lives, Larry was asking questions about guide dogs. And he said, Now, where did you get your guide dog? And I said, from San Rafael, California. He said, well, but the but the main. School is a new is in Michigan, right? And I said, No, it's a different organization. And what we learned after doing that interview was that the way to deal with Larry was to program him and send him questions in advance with answers. Then he did a lot better, because the reality is, he didn't really know necessarily the answers in the first place. It's just amazing how you know how a lot of times it's just shallower. The Press tends to over dramatize. But I appreciate what you're saying about marketing and PR, I've done so much of that over my lifetime, and for so many reasons, in so many ways, I know exactly what you're talking about.   Kent Lewis ** 10:47 Yeah, yeah. That's, yeah, it's, it's a fascinating world that I've, that I've, you know, been live, living and working in. And I, yeah, I'm impressed, yeah, Larry King Live. That's pretty cool. And, you know, hopefully you've helped people just side note, you know, get a clear understanding of what it is, what it is both like to be blind and then how you navigate this world successfully, as if you're, you know, fully sighted. You know,   Michael Hingson ** 11:18 well, one of the things that I actually learned over the last couple of years is something that I've actually written an article and had it published about, and that is that we've got to change our view of disabilities in general. People always say, well, disability is a lack of ability. And I say, and I always say, No, it's not. And they say, Well, yes, it is. It begins with dis. And I said, then, how do you equate that with disciple, discern and discrete? For example, you know they begin with D is the reality is, disability is not a lack of ability. You think it is. But I've added to that now when I point out that, in reality, every person on the planet has a disability, but for most people, their disability is covered up. Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb, or at least we give him credit for it back in 1878 so for the last 147 years, all we've done is spent so much time improving on the technology that provides light on demand, which just covers up your disability, but it's still there. And I realized that one day I was at a hotel in Los Angeles at three in the afternoon when we had a power failure, and everybody started to scream, even down in the lobby, when they had all these nice big windows that were letting in all sorts of light, but it wasn't giving them the light that they wanted and the amount that they wanted, and people panicked. So I realized then, oh, well, now the reality is they're light dependent, which is as much a disability as my light independence is. It's just that it manifests itself differently, and there are a whole lot more light dependent people than light independent people. But we've got to really change our definition and how we view it. So   Kent Lewis ** 12:58 that's really insightful. It's good to think about.   Michael Hingson ** 13:01 Yeah, it's kind of fun. But, you know, so, so where did you, where did you go off and go to work in the in the marketing world? So you did? You didn't go to Copyright School? Or did you? No, no,   Kent Lewis ** 13:13 I just know. I once I talked to the creative director at this agency in Seattle where I did my first internship. He's like, Yeah, you'd have to go back to art school. And I was like, what school I just finished? So, you know, it didn't really matter. And we So, with that said, we, you know, I moved into PR, and then I moved to down to Portland from Seattle, because I could actually get a paying job because the internship I did three months full time, virtually, basically no pay, I found a low paying job instead in Portland. So I moved I only knew one person here in Portland, my cousin. She's still here. We both have families now, and I know a lot more people, but I basically have, since moving here to do my second agency job. I've been, I've been a part of 10 agencies in my career. I've been, I founded two, co founded two, fired from three and exited the four that I created, or co, co founded, basically. And so right now I have a consultancy. I could say that's my 11th agency, but I don't even really count it as an agency. I'm just a fractional CMO, you know, marketing advisor at this point, just a few hours a month, because my my day job as of January, is running a nonprofit called next northwest.org which is a it's a trade organization for marketing and advertising and creative community, the creative services world. And it has 119 year history in Portland. And now it's, it's now expanded to five states and into Canada. And so I've got this I'm working. I manage a board of, you know, decent sized board, and a decent sized advisory. Committee that I created, and just the last couple months, and we do learning events for the creative community and networking events and celebrations, like, you know, awards, award shows to celebrate the work. So that's kind of my day job. And then I also speak and write a lot you and I share a passion for for education and learning and sharing knowledge. And so I've been, I've probably averaged 25 speaking engagements a year for the last 20 years, and last year was 30. For instance, I fly yours, mentioned your your travel. I'm flying to Tampa on Sunday to present on Monday, on a panel about AI in the senior care space, for instance. And then I come back and I, I, you know, got it. I got one or two more. But I, you know, I typically do a dozen fly flying gigs, and then I do a lot of webinars and local gigs as well.   Michael Hingson ** 15:55 So what are you what are you going to say? What are you going to say about AI in the senior care space?   Kent Lewis ** 16:01 That's a great question. So what my focus as a marketer is, here's how you can use AI to streamline and automate and maintain or improve quality. So it's not meant to it's not a secret hack, cheat code to lay people off. It's a It's get more out of your current resources, basically, and do more with less, and do it more effectively. That's kind of, that's, you know, that's my, what I'll be talking about is the how you know how to use it for research, ideation, content creation, content editing, reporting, synthesizing information, customer service, that kind of thing. So I only have, you know, it's a panel event, so I'm only doing like a 10 to 15 minutes part, and then there are other presenters doing their part, and then we have a little Q and A, usually, I'm a sole presenter on whatever topic, usually digital marketing or employee engagement, which is what I got passionate about. Once I sold my agency. After 22 years, I became an employee at that the agency that acquired my company, and I was immediately underwhelmed and disappointed in what it was like to be an employee, and wanted to fix it. So that's what I had been focusing on when I given a choice. I want to evangelize. You know, what I learned from my experience, and I've done a good amount of research, and, you know, two weeks ago, I presented in Portland on the topic to entrepreneurs. Then the next day, I flew to Denver and did the same presentation to a group of agency owners. And then the next day, I did a webinar for similar group of entrepreneurs, you know, so three versions, three days in a row, a 3060, and 90 minute version. So,   Michael Hingson ** 17:42 pretty fun. Yeah. So how many books have you written?   Kent Lewis ** 17:47 Ah, I knew you'd say that so or ask that. I have not written any books, but I have, darn but I've written, you know, probably 200 articles. I could easily AI them into some sort of book, if I wanted to. You know, I went from writing 80% to 90% of my art content was on digital marketing for the first 20 years. And then the last 10 years, I focused almost exclusively on writing about entrepreneurship and and business ownership, leadership and employee intention, retention, engagement. And, you know, so I mostly syndicate my articles, like business journals, occasionally in Ink Magazine, etc. So if I were to write a book, it would be about the business side of things, instead of the second, I would write something about digital marketing. Not only am I no longer an expert, and consider myself an expert relative to others, those books are outdated the second they're printed, right? So, so it doesn't make sense to really write a book on digital marketing, and everything's already been said, etc. So, so if I wrote a book, it would be probably more on the employee engagement side versus anything. But I will say that I don't know if you know who Seth Godin is. He's the number one marketing blogger in the world. He's written many best sellers, Purple Cow, permission, marketing, etc. He's remarkable guy. And I had was fortunate to talk with him and then meet with him over lunch in New York City 15 years ago. And he said, after our two hour lunch, he charges $75,000 for speaking engagement. So it gives you a sense of who he is. He has for for 20 years. And so he said, Kent, you've got a book in you. I was like, I wish you hadn't said that, because now I don't want to, I don't want to disappoint him, right? So there you go.   Michael Hingson ** 19:31 Well, if you write one at some point, you have to send us a picture of the cover and we'll stick it in the show notes whenever. Yeah, that sounds great, but yeah, I you know, I never thought of writing a book, but in 2002 we went to the AKC Eukanuba canine championship dog show in Orlando. It was in December, and among other people I met there. Here I met George Berger, who was at that time, the publisher of the American Kennel Club Gazette, and he said, You ought to write a book. And I went, why? Well, because you you have a great story to tell. You should really write a book. Well, it took eight years and a lot of time sitting in front of Microsoft Word to get notes down, but eventually I met someone named Susie Flory who called because she was writing a book called Dog tails. And it was a story of what she wanted to write stories of, actually, 17 different dogs who had done some pretty interesting and miraculous things. And she wanted to write a story about my guide dog at the World Trade Center, Roselle. And she said, Tell me your story, if you would. And I did. And when we were done, there was this pause, and then she said, You need to write a book. And since I've written books, I'll help you. And a year later, underdog was published, and it became a number one New York Times bestseller. So that was pretty cool.   Kent Lewis ** 21:01 That's fantastic. Congratulations. Very impressive.   Michael Hingson ** 21:04 And then last year, well, in 2013 we published a children's book called running with Roselle, but more adults by a thing kids, because it's not a picture book, but it tells the story of me growing up and Roselle growing up, and how we met, and all that. So it isn't really as much a World Trade Center book. But then last year, we wrote, live like a guide dog. And the intent of live like a guide dog is to say to people, look fear is all around us, and so many people just allow themselves to be paralyzed, or, as I say, blinded by fear, so they can't make decisions. They don't learn how to control it. But if you learn how to control fear, you can use fear as a very powerful tool to help you stay focused, and you'll make better decisions. So we use lessons I learned from my guide dogs on my wife's service dog to write, live like a guide dog. And so it is out there, and it's it's a lot of fun, too. So you know, it isn't the easiest thing to write a book, but I would think you have a book in you, and you should, well, I   Kent Lewis ** 22:03 appreciate that vote of confidence. And hey, I mean, you did it, and you had an amazing story, and you've done it multiple times. Actually, it's great inspiration for me.   Michael Hingson ** 22:16 Well, I'm looking forward to reading it when it comes out. You'll have to let   22:20 us know. Yeah, will do so   Michael Hingson ** 22:23 you at some point, switched from being an employee to being an entrepreneur. How did that all happen? Why? Why did you do it? Or what really brought that about?   Kent Lewis ** 22:38 Well, I kept getting fired.   Michael Hingson ** 22:40 So why'd that happen?   Kent Lewis ** 22:42 Yeah, so that's the fun part. So I I've never been fired for cause like a legit clause. I'm a high powered, high performer, and so I actually, that's why. So the first time I was fired was by the guy that invited me to co found an agency. His name was Ryan Wilson. He was my he was my boss. And then he was fired by our larger agency. He ran a team that I worked on. I worked for him. I was inspired by him. I I was mentored by him. I thought the world of him. So when he came to me three months after he got fired, it was about, it's always about a girl. So he he basically, he got divorced. And so this other woman, they met at the office, and they were soul mates, and they he had to clean up his life. And he did, and he said, I've got an agency die. I've got two clients ready to sign. I need key employees, and you're one, one of them, then I would hope you would join me. I said, No, the first time he got his act together. I said, yes, the second time, and that. So I we built an agency together with, you know, we start with six people. I brought in two other people and another gal that ran the PR side. I was running the digital side. She brought in somebody said we had six of us on day one, and a year later, we didn't have a formal share shareholder agreement for our percentage of the company that went from being worth zero to being worth a few million dollars, and we felt that we should have something in writing, and before he could, we could get something formally in writing. My, my other partner, she, I didn't really want to do the business with her, but I didn't really have a choice. I want to do the business with him. She said, I'm asking for more equity. I said, Okay, I feel like that's fair. I think we've earned it, but, and I'll, I'll be there with you, but I wouldn't have done this if she hadn't said, I'm going in. Are you with me? So when I we asked, she asked me to make the ask. I wasn't necessarily prepared or thinking about it, and it really offended him. He was really mad, and he was playing to fire her, and by me teaming up with her, he felt, you know, slight. And he fired us both, and the next week, I started anvil, my agency, Anvil Media, that I ran for 22 years, I did a couple other starts, one with a college friend and a guy I had met at that that at one of the first, one of the earlier agency agencies I'd worked at. He and we, he and I and my college buddy started an email marketing agency in 02 and then I decided, well, this isn't for me, but I now learn it's not that scary to hire employees. So then I started hiring employees at anvil and late 03 and so I ran anvil with employees for, you know, 20 years. Two of those first two years were just me and some contractors and and then, oh, wait, I started a second agency because I needed a more affordable solution for my partners in small business called Formic media. Ran that for five years before I merged it with with anvil. But in between, I was also fired. When I first started anvil, I was it was just a hang of shingle in 2000 to do some consulting, but I wanted a full time gig, and a year later, I had an opportunity to run my my team from the agency. I was fired from that company. That agency was sold to another agency for pennies on the dollar. And when my old boss died, rest in peace, we hadn't really cleared the air yet, which is it still is one of my greatest regrets. You know, for nine months we didn't talk, and then he passed away. Everybody peace, not before he passed away, I was able to get, yeah, his his soul mate. They weren't married yet, but they were going to get married. She told me that two weeks before he died, he expressed regrets and how we had ended the relationship, how he had fired me, and he was looking forward to reconnecting and re engaging our friendship. And so that made that meant the world to me. I had a lot of peace in knowing that, but I so the first the second place I got fired was this agency again about a girl. So the first time was a girl telling me, you need to ask the boss for more money or more equity. And I did, and that offended him. And the second time was my girlfriend at the time, who's who moved over from that agency to the new agency where my my old boss died before he could really start there. She was dating on the side the Creative Director at that agency, and he'd been there over 20 years. And so when I started there, I saw something was up, and I was like, Is there anything going on? She's like, No. And so eventually I just broke up with her anyway, because I just it wasn't working, even if she wouldn't admit that she was having a side relationship. But I was eventually fired because he was a board, you know, he was on the board. He was, he wasn't my boss, per se, but he was one of the senior partners, and they just wanted me out. You know, she might have money. Wanted me out. He definitely wanted me out. So that was the second time I got fired. And then the third time I got fired was it kept the stakes get given, getting bigger. When I sold my agency 14 months later, they fired me, really, not to this day, not for any cause. It's that they asked me to take an 80% pay cut a year into my buyout, and I and then I they were going to close my Portland office, which I was, I own the building, so I didn't want to lose my own myself as a tenant, so I offered to reduce my rent 30% so I basically, for two and a half months, worked for free for this agency that had bought my agency. So they were making payments to me. I was carrying the note, but they they couldn't. A year later, they're like, I'm sorry. So they a year later, I took a pay cut for two and a half months, and when I asked them, you know, when am I getting back to my pay? They said, Well, you know, we can't guarantee. We don't have a path for you back to your full pay. And I was like, Okay, well, then I told my wife, let him inform them that we're going to go back to, we are going to go back to our full rack rate on our rent. And when I, when we notified them, they they totally, they totally fired me. So they canceled the lease, and they fired me, and so they so it. And you know, I, my team was slowly being dismantled, a 10 of us, 11 of us, I guess 10 or 11 us went over, and within a year, there were only two wait. Within two years, there was only one person left on my team. So it was a really sad, sad experience for me. It wasn't as hard to sell my business as I thought. It wasn't as hard, you know, just emotionally, it wasn't as hard to sunset my brand after 22 years. Wasn't easy, but it was way easier than I thought. What was hard for me was watching them was was closing the office. It broke my heart and and then watching them dismantle my team that I spent, you know, two decades building, most of that team was within 10 years, the last 10 years, last even five years of of our business. Us. There was a relatively new team, but we were so tight, and it was just heartbreaking. So, you know,   Michael Hingson ** 30:09 yeah, wow. So what do you think was your biggest mistake in running your own agency?   Kent Lewis ** 30:19 That's a great question. I think the biggest, biggest mistake was not understanding the Hire great people and get out of the way. Lee Iacocca, you know, to paraphrase him, I hired great people and I got out of their way. But what I didn't do was make sure they had all the proper training, alignment of core values that they had, there was enough trust between us that they could come to me with they were struggling or failing. Apparently, I was a fairly intimidating figure for my former my young recruits, but most of that time, up until the last five years, I always had a senior VP my right hand. I hired her with the attention that she might take over the business someday, she was totally creating a wall between me and my employees, and I didn't know it until 2012 and so, you know, I had 10 years to try to undo what she had created the first 10 years, basically of a fear based management style, so that that didn't help me, and I didn't believe it. I didn't really see it. So then I rebuilt the company, and from the ground up, I blew it up in 2013 so 10 years after of having employees, 13 years of having the business, I completely dismantled and blew it up and rebuilt it. And what did that look like? It started with me just not wanting to go to work in the building, and I realized I can't quit because I'm the owner, so I have to fix it. Okay? I don't mind fixing things. I prefer to fix other people's problems instead of my own, but I really a lot of people do, right? Yeah. So I wrote a credo, basically, what would it take for me? What are, what are it got down to 10 truths, what? What are the truths that I need to go into work and that others around me, co workers, team members, need to also agree on so that we can work together successfully. So it went from being about clients to being about the team and being about accountability. And you know, it was so it was so decisive. It was so radical for my current team that had been with me five to 10 years of they lose clients, I get more clients. And I eventually told them, I can't replace clients as fast as you're losing them. It's not a sustainable business model, so you need to be accountable for your actions and your decisions. That's the new anvil. You and you're out. I gave them 72 hours to think about it and sign it. Signed literally to these credo. It's not a legal document, it's just a commitment to credo. And half the team didn't sign it, and they quit. And then within 12 months, the rest of the team either quit or we've I fired them because they did not fit in the new anvil. And it's funny because everybody else that I brought in didn't even it didn't even register. The credo was so unremarkable to them, because we were already aligned by the time we hired them, we'd done our research and the work to know who fit, and so they didn't register. So eventually we just dropped the credo was no longer needed as a guide or a framework. It's still on the website, but, but you don't, you know it doesn't really matter. But that's what I got wrong, is I did not build the trust. I did not have I had processes in place, but but without the trust, people wouldn't tell me how they felt or that they were struggling. So a lot of process wasn't recognized or utilized properly. So I rebuilt it to where and rebuilt the trust to where the team that was with me when I sold I was very close with them. There was 100% trust across the board, a mutual respect, arguably a mutual love for the craft, for each other, for the company, for our clients, and it was a lot of fun to work with them. I didn't sell because I was unhappy. I sold because I was happy, and I thought now's a good time to go and find a good home. Plus my wife was my operations manager for five years, and she wanted out. Frankly, I thought it was easier to sell the business than try to replace my wife, because she was very good at what she did. She just didn't like doing it, yeah? And she also didn't like, you know, me being her boss. I never saw it that way. But once she explained it, after I sold, she explained, like, you know, you boss me around at work, and then you try to boss me around at home, and I'm not having it. You pick one? Yeah, so, so I was like, I think, like, I bossed you around. And she's like, Hey, you just, it was your company. It was always going to be your company. And, you know, that's fine, but you know, I want to move on. I was like, Okay, why don't we just sell and so that, yeah, they the operational people. And so it took her, took that load off of her. She's worked for. Nonprofit now, so she's happy, and so that's good.   Michael Hingson ** 35:05 Well, it also sounds like there were a lot of people that well, first of all, you changed your your view and your modus operandi a little bit over time, and that's why you also got you fired, or you lost people. But it also sounds like what you did was you brought in more people, not only who thought like you, but who really understood the kinds of goals that you were looking at. And so it was a natural sort of thing. You brought in people who really didn't worry about the credo, because they lived by it anyway.   Kent Lewis ** 35:38 Yeah, that's exactly right. And that was, that was my lesson. Was, you know, I always knew there's a concept called Top grading. You know, you thoroughly vet client, you hire slow and you fire fast. Most entrepreneurs or business owners hire fast and fire slow, and it's very, very expensive and but, you know, I got that part and I just better. I was far better at, I was far better at, what would I say, creating processes than kind of feeling, the love? And so once I figured that stuff out, it got a lot it got a lot better.   Michael Hingson ** 36:16 It's a growth thing. Yes,   36:18 exactly, yeah. Well, you   Michael Hingson ** 36:21 have something, and you sent me something about it. You call it Jerry Maguire moment. Tell me about that.   Kent Lewis ** 36:28 Yeah. So that's, you know, I just, I just sort of backed into the story of just being unhappy. But what ended up happening more specifically that Jerry Maguire moment was putting my son to bed in March of 2013 and I mentioned that feeling of not of dread. I didn't want to go to work. I was frustrated with my team, disappointed in my clients, not appreciating the work we were doing, frustrated with some of my partners. You know, in the business, I felt disconnected from the work of digital because I'd worked on the business for longer than I'd worked in the business by that point, and so I just, it was, it was, I was a bit of a mess. And I realized, like, I need a reason to get up and go to work in the morning. And that's when I came up. I was inspired by Jerry Maguire's manifesto from from the movie, and apparently you can find it online. It's a 28 page manifesto. So I ended up distilling into those 10 truths that we called the credo, and so what happening is just again to recap, it took me a like a couple days. I had instant clarity. I like I fell asleep like a rock. Once I realized I had a plan and I had a framework, I felt better about it, even though there was much work to do. So as I mentioned, you know, half the team quit within the first week, the other half bled out over the next year. That meant 100% employee turnover for two years in a row. As like as I upgraded my team, that was painful. I had to hire three people in order to keep one good one. You know, as I as I search, because we don't have formal degrees in the world of digital marketing, right? So it's hard to find the talent, and you want to hold on to the good ones when you get them. So it took a long time to get the team dialed. Meanwhile, my clients got tired of the turnover. As I was trying to figure it out, they started leaving in droves, and so in 2014 in March, a year later, exactly, I lost my five biggest clients in a 30 to 45 day period. So I lost, you know, 40, over 40% of my revenue vaporized, and I could not replace it fast enough. So I didn't take a salary for nine months. I asked two senior execs to take small pay cuts like 10% and as we hunkered down, and so I didn't have to lay off any good talent, and so I didn't, and we sprinted, we rebuilt, you know, the pipeline, and brought some new clients in. By the end of the year, I paid back my my two senior employees, their 10% that they pay cut. I paid them back, but I didn't take a salary for nine months of that year. It was the worst year I'd ever had, and the only time I ever had to take a pay cut or miss a paycheck myself. So that was the price I paid. The plus side is once I realized that the focus should be on the employees, which was what the credo was, I didn't realize at the time that it wasn't about my clients anymore. They were the life blood. They were the blood flow, right? But we have this organism that needed love, so we I breathe life back into it, one employee at a time until we had a higher functioning group. So it took me five or six years, and in 2019 so six years after I blew the business up, I had an offer on the table, had a sale agreement finalized, and we were less than a week away from funding, and I backed out of the deal because I felt, one, it wasn't a good cultural fit, and two, there was more work to do. It wasn't about increasing my valuation more. It was about finishing my journey of an employee first agency and. Three years later, I sold for one and a half x higher multiple, so an additional seven figures to to another agency based on a stronger profitability, even though the revenue is about the same, stronger, you know, profitability right better. Happy clients, stable clients. It was a lower risk acquisition for them and the so that was the high point. The low point was becoming an employee and wanting to be the best damn employee that agency had ever seen to being a very disappointed, disengaged, disheartened, disheartened employee. And I then I decided I started writing notes of everything, not to do that they were doing wrong. And I decided, once they let me go, I need to focus on this. I think I needed to help my other fellow entrepreneurs ways to avoid going through what I went through as an employee, because I had just been one, and most of my employ, my entrepreneur friends, haven't been an employee for over 10 years. You easily, quickly forget what it's like to be an employee, and I want to remind them and as other senior leaders, how important it is to put your employees first, otherwise you can never deliver on your brand promise no matter what it is, because they won't deliver to your standards. Because it's you know, they don't feel the same attachment to a business if they as if they're not owners, right?   Michael Hingson ** 41:22 But it sounds like you also, when you did sell, by that time, you had employees, one who had bought into the credo, into the philosophy, and two were satisfied. So it was a much better situation all the way around. Anyway,   Kent Lewis ** 41:38 exactly. It's right? And that's, that's the thing is, I realized it's not about throwing money at a problem. It's about throwing time and care at a problem. And the problem is that most employers, there is no loyalty employ to employees anymore, and therefore there's no employee loyalty to brands anymore, to their employers. And so I'm trying to unwind that. And it's not about pension plans, per se. It's not about bonuses, really at all. That's one of 120 items on my punch list of auditing and employee journey is, yeah, do you have a bonus program? Mine was basically spot bonuses, little spot bonuses for timely things, because the big cash bonuses blew up in my face. You know, i i the biggest bonus check I ever wrote. The next day he quit and created a competing agency. Now, he had planned that all along it, the bonus was only helped him do it faster, but I realized there was no appreciation for the bonuses. So stop doing that. So instead, I would bonus, reward the team with experiences rather than cash. And they the cash they got from a really, I paid over market, so that money was not an issue, and so that experiences were the memorable part and the fun part, and it helped motivate when we'd have a little contest with, you know, the wind being a dinner or whatever it was, something fun, right?   Michael Hingson ** 43:00 I was, earlier today, talking with someone who's going to be a guest on the podcast. He's in Germany, and we were talking about the fact that there's a major discussion in Germany right now about the concept of a four day work week, as opposed to a five day work week, and in the four day work week. Inevitably, companies that subscribe to the four day work week have higher productivity, happier employees, and some of those companies have a four day work week with a total of 36 hours and up through a four day work week with 40 hours, which is, of course, 10 hours a day. And what he said, I asked the question, did it make a difference as to whether it was 36 or 40 hours? What he said was mainly not, because it was really about having three days with family, and that that whole mental attitude is really it that we, we have forgotten, I think, in this country, about employee loyalty so much, and we just don't see anything like what we used to see.   Kent Lewis ** 44:09 100% you are correct,   Michael Hingson ** 44:13 and so it is. It is an issue that people really ought to deal with in some way. But you know now the new chancellor in Germany wants to go back to a five day work week, just completely ignoring all the statistics and what's shown. So the discussion is ongoing over there. I'll be interested to see how it goes.   Kent Lewis ** 44:36 Yeah, yeah, totally. I would be in Troy. Yeah. We know for whatever reason, for whatever reason that they've you know that well, I guess it kind of makes sense. But you know, you wouldn't think you could be more productive fewer days a week, but the research is showing that these people, that you know, that the like the Northern Europeans, are the, you know, Finnish and Scandinavians are like the half. People on the planet, despite not being in maybe the friendliest climate, you know, 12 months of the year because of a lot of how they value, you know, work life balance and all of that. And I think that's the thing, you know, we we came from an industrial age where unions got us the weekends off. You know, it's a very different we've come a long way, but there's still a lot more to go, so I, I will be interested to see what happens with the with that concept that four day work week.   Michael Hingson ** 45:26 Well, the other part about it is we had the pandemic, and one of the things that came out of the pandemic, at least, I think, in the minds of a lot of employees, was even working at home, and having to do that, you still got to spend more time with family and people value that. Now I don't know how over time that's going to work, because I know there's been a lot of advocating to go back to just everybody always being in the office, but it seems to me that the better environment would be a hybrid environment, where, if somebody can work at home and do at least as well as they do at the office. Why wouldn't you allow that?   Kent Lewis ** 46:04 Right? Yeah, I think it's that's the other thing is, I do believe hybrid work is the best solution. We were doing three three days, two days in the office, required, one day, optional flex. I ended up going in most days of the week before I, you know, even after we sold and we sell at the office, because I like, I'm a social being, and I really enjoyed the time at the office. And it was, it was, I designed the space, and it was, you know, as my place, and it was my home away from home, you know. So I feel like I've lost a little bit of my identity, losing that office. Yeah, so, but yeah, I do think that it makes sense to be able to do remote work, whatever, wherever people are most effective. But I do know there is a reality that companies are fully remote have a struggle to create cohesiveness and connectiveness across distributed teams. It's just it's just science, right? Psychology, but you can be very intentional to mitigate as much as you can the downside of remote and then play up as much as you can the benefits of remote people having their life and they see, on average, I heard that people valued their remote work about to worth about $6,000 on average, that there's a number that they've quantified.   Michael Hingson ** 47:21 Wow. Well, I know I've worked in offices, but I've also done a lot of work at home. So for example, I had a job back in the late 1970s and worked and lived in Massachusetts until 1981 and the company I worked for was being pursued by Xerox. And the the assumption was that Xerox was going to buy the company. So I was asked to relocate back out to California, where I had grown up, and help integrate the company into Xerox. And so I did. And so that was the first time I really worked mostly out of home and remotely from an office. And did that for two and a half, almost, well, a little over two and a half years. And my thanks for it was I was terminated because we had a recession and the big issue really was, though, that Xerox had bought the company and phased out all the people in sales because they didn't want the people. They just wanted the technology. And I've always believed that's a big mistake, because the tribal knowledge that people have is not something that you're going to get any other place. Totally, totally agree. But anyway, that occurred, and then I couldn't find a job, because the unemployment rate among employable blind people was so high, since people didn't believe blind people could work. So I ended up starting my own company selling computer aided design systems, CAD systems, to architects. Some of the early PC based CAD systems. Sold them to architects and engineers and so on. So I did have an office. We started, I started it with someone else, and had an office for four years, and then decided I had enough of owning my own company for a while, and went to work for someone else, and again, worked in an office and did that for seven years. Yeah, about seven years, and then I ended up in at the end of that, or the later part of that time, I was asked to relocate now back to the East Coast, because I was selling to Wall Street and New York and Wall Street firms really want, even though they might buy from resellers and so on, they want company, companies that make products to have them an office that they can deal with. So I ended up going back and mostly worked out of the office. But then, um. I left that company in 1997 and it was, it was a little bit different, because I was, I I had my own office, and I was the only person in it for a little while. We did have some engineers, but we all kind of worked in the office and sometimes at home. But for me, the real time of working at home happened in 2008 I was working at a nonprofit and also traveling and speaking, and the people who ran the nonprofit said, nobody's interested in September 11 anymore. And you know, you're you're not really adding any value to what we do, so we're going to phase out your job. Yeah, nobody was interested in September 11. And three years later, we had a number one New York Times bestseller, but anyway, your face yeah, so I ended up opening the Michael Hinkson Group Inc, and working out of home, and I've been doing that ever since. I enjoy working in an office. But I can work at home and I can, I can adapt. So my exposure to people and working not at home is when I travel and speak and get to go visit people and interact with them and so on. So it works out   Kent Lewis ** 51:05 that's, that's fantastic, congratulations. That's awesome.   Michael Hingson ** 51:10 It is, it is, you know, sometimes a challenge, but it works. So for you, what is your philosophy? You obviously do a lot of giving back to the community nowadays, is that something that has kind of grown over time, or you always had that? Or what's your philosophy regarding that?   Kent Lewis ** 51:29 So I I believe that, as I mentioned, I believe earlier that learn and return us. I believe that you should giving, giving back your entire life, as soon as you're able to, in whatever way. And so I, you know, when I first moved to Portland, I barely knew anybody. I was volunteering at this local neighborhood house where it was, you know, as tutoring this kid, and ironically, in math. And I'm terrible at math. Then I went to Big Brothers, Big Sisters for a while, and then I for the last 19 for last 25 years, I've been a volunteer, and for eight or nine of those years, I was on the board of smart reading. It's a, it's a, it's not a literacy program in that you're not teaching kids to read. You're teaching kids a love of reading. So you just sit with, you know, title, title, one school kindergarteners in an area near you, and you sit and read with them for 10 to 15 minutes, that's it. And it's a game changer, because some of them didn't own any books. And then they get to take books home with them, you know, like scholastic style books. So anyway, I I decided, of all, like I have friends, that their their passion is pets, others, it's like forests or planet or whatever. To me, I think I can, I can solve all of those problems if I invest in children, because they're shaping our future, and we can put them on a trajectory. So for instance, statistically, prison capacity is based on third grade reading levels in blue. So if you're if you can't learn to read, you can't read to learn, so you need to have a be a proficient reader by third grade, or you're left behind, and you're more likely, 10 times more likely, to be in the system, and you know, not in a good way. So I realized, well, if I can help these kids with a love of reading, I was, I was slow to learn reading myself. I realized that maybe we, you know that one kid that you find a love of reading, that finds books they love and is inspired by the books and continues to read and have a successful educational career, then that's that person may go on to solve cancer or world hunger or whatever it is. So that's kind of how I look at so that's my theory in general about giving. And then specifically my passion is children. So that's kind of my thing, and I think there are a lot of different ways to do it. Last night, I was at my wife's auction or the fundraiser for her nonprofit, which is around the foster system. It's called Casa court, important court, court appointed special advocate. So these kids in the foster system have an advocate, that that's not a lawyer or a caseworker, you know, by their side through the legal system. And I think that's a fantastic cause. It aligns with my children cause. And I was, I had seven my parents fostered seven daughters, you know, Daughters of other people, and the last two were very that I remember were transformative for me as an only child, to have a sister, you know, foster sister that was living with us for, in one case, two years. And it was invaluable and helpful to me. She helped me find my love of reading, helped me learn my multiplication tables, all that things that your parents might be able to do, but it's so much cooler doing with somebody that's, you know, I think she was 17 when she moved into our house, and I was, like, nine, and she was so helpful to me, so inspiring. So in a nutshell, that's, that's what we're talking about   Michael Hingson ** 54:55 when you talk talk about reading. I'm of the opinion and one of the best. Things that ever happened to reading was Harry Potter. Just the number of people, number of kids who have enjoyed reading because they got to read the Harry Potter books. I think that JK Rowling has brought so many kids to reading. It's incredible.   Kent Lewis ** 55:14 Yeah, yeah. 100% 100% I Yeah. I think that even you may, you know, you may or may not like rolling, but I as a person, but she did an amazing thing and made reading fun, and that that's what matters, yeah, you know,   Michael Hingson ** 55:33 yeah, well, and that's it, and then she's just done so much for for children and adults. For that matter, I talked to many adults who've read the books, and I've read all the books. I've read them several times, actually, yeah, now I'm spoiled. I read the audio versions read by Jim Dale, and one of my favorite stories about him was that he was in New York and was going to be reading a part of the latest Harry Potter book on September 11, 2001 in front of scholastic when, of course, everything happened. So he didn't do it that day, but he was in New York. What a you know, what a time to be there. That's fantastic. But, you know, things happen. So you one of the things that I've got to believe, and I think that you've made abundantly clear, is that the kind of work you do, the PR, the marketing, and all of that kind of interaction is a very time consuming, demanding job. How do you deal with work and family and make all of that function and work? Well,   Kent Lewis ** 56:41 good question. I, I believe that that the, well, two things you have to have, you know, discipline, right? And so what I've done is really focused on managing my time very, very carefully, and so I have now keep in mind my oldest, I have three kids, one's graduating college as a senior, one's a sophomore who will be a junior next next year, and then The last is a sophomore in high school, so I'm there at ages where two are out of the house, so that's a little easier to manage, right? So there's that, but similarly, I try to maximize my time with my youngest and and with my wife, you know, I built in, you know, it was building in date nights, because it's easy to get into a rut where you don't want to leave the house or don't want to do whatever. And I found that it's really been good for our relationship at least once a month. And so far, it's been more like almost twice a month, which has been huge and awesome. But I've just intentional with my time, and I make sure 360 I take care of myself, which is typically working out between an hour and an hour and a half a day that I'm I really need to work on my diet, because I love burgers and bourbon and that's in moderation, perhaps sustainable, but I need to eat more veggies and less, you know, less garbage. But I also have been at the gym. I go in the Steam Room and the sauna, and I'm fortunate to have a hot tub, so I try to relax my body is after my workouts, I've been sleeping more since covid, so I work out more and sleep and sleep more post covid. And because I'm working from home, it's really I find it much easier to get up and take breaks or to, you know, just to manage my time. I'm not traveling like I used to, right? That's a, that's a big factor. So, so anyway, that's, that's kind of my take on that. I don't know if that really helps, but that's, that's kind of where I'm at.   Michael Hingson ** 58:59 The other part about it, though, is also to have the discipline to be able to be at home and work when you know you have to work, and yeah, you get to take more breaks and so on, but still developing the discipline to work and also to take that time is extremely important. I think a lot of people haven't figured out how to do that   Kent Lewis ** 59:19 right exactly, and that is so I do have an immense amount of, I do have an immense amount of, what would you say discipline? And so I don't know, yeah, I don't have that problem with getting the work done. In fact, my discipline is knowing when to stop, because I get into it, and I want to get things done, and I want to get it off my plate, so I tend to do sprints. But the other lesson I have from covid is listening to your biorhythms. So, you know, we're a time based society, and we look, you don't want to be late for this and that I you know, that's great, fine. But what's really more important in my mind is, um. Is to, is to be thinking about, is to let your body tell you when it's tired, if and and more importantly, is to not stress about in the mornings when I wake up early. By that, I mean between four and 6am before I really want to get up at 630 and I just if I'm awake, then I'll write stuff down to get it out of my head, or I will just start doing my start my day early and and not stress about, oh, I didn't get enough sleep. My body will catch up, yeah, it will tell me to go to bed early, or I'll sleep better the next day, or whatever it is. So that was important, and also to learn that I'm most I can get a lot of tasks done in the morning. And I think bigger picture, and that's what, that's why I wake up early, is all the things I need to do that I forgot. I didn't write down or whatever, and I think of them at between four and 6am but the other is that I do my best writing in the afternoon, like between four and six. So I told my, my wife and my, you know, my my kids, you know, my first figures out when they were both in the House. I was like, I may be working late, jamming out an article or doing whatever right before dinner, or I might be a little late. Can we can wait for dinner for a little bit? They're like, Yeah, that's fine. We don't care, right? So, but normally I'd be like, I gotta get home because it's dinner time. But now that I'm already home, I just keep working through, and then, and then, oh, I can take a quick break. But my point is, they're totally adaptable.   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:27 But you communicate, yes, communication issue is key. Is key, absolutely. That's really the issues that you do communicate.   Kent Lewis ** 1:01:36 It's all about setting expectations. And they had no expectations other than eating dinner. And we've been eating dinner later. Just, just a natural evolution. So it's not, it's not even an issue now, because I don't want to, I don't want to, what, right? What? Late at night, I just found it late afternoon, I just in a zone. Anyway, yeah, you listen to your body, and I'm way less stressed because I'm not worried about, oh my god, I have to get to bed at a certain time or wake up at a certain time. It's like, just kind of run with it, you know, and and go from there. So what's next for you? What's next? So I want to shift from going from speaking for free to speaking for a fee. There you go. And the re the reason why is I never asked for, and I'd even waive, you know, honorarium or pay because I got more value out of the leads. But now that I don't have an agency to represent, two things. One is, I want to get paid to do my employee engagement retention talks, because it's I'm getting great feedback on it, which is fun. But I also am being paid now by other agencies, a day rate, plus travel to go speak at the conferences. I've always spoken on that like me and want me and I just represent. I just changed the name that I'm representing. That's it, you know,   Michael Hingson ** 1:02:56 well, and there's value in it. I realized some time ago, and I k

This week on Radio Labyrinth, we're celebrating a little recognition—we made the list! That's right, we're officially #57 on Million Podcast's list of the 100 Best TV Show Podcasts! Big thanks to everyone who listens, watches, shares, and supports the show. We're also digging into the endgame for The Boys as filming wraps for the final season. What does that mean for the future of Vought, Butcher, and the Supes? We break down where things left off for both The Boys and Gen V — including Butcher's virus, Starlight on the run, and Homelander embracing full dictator mode. PLUS:

On today's episode, Ryan Wilson and former NFL GM Ran Carthon pick who they would want to lead their team for the next 5 years in their annual Franchise QB Snake Draft. Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's episode, Ryan Wilson and former NFL GM Ran Carthon discuss Week 2 Preseason storylines around the NFL. From top rookies, to under-the-radar players, the guys go through all that and much more! Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

James Cook got the big payday he was looking for today. Who will be the next notable player to end their training camp hold out? Ryan Wilson had some thoughts on that.

We're back in the Labyrinth this week and kicking things off with Season 14 of King of the Hill! The gang dives into the revival's first episodes — the callbacks, the cameos, the feels — and whether the Netflix run still has that old network sitcom soul. Plus, we ask the big question: if you could update any classic show with the characters aged up, what would you pick? We've got ideas for The Sopranos, Married… with Children, The Larry Sanders Show, Freaks and Geeks, and more. In this episode, we also remember and dedicate the show to our dear friend and longtime listener Jeff Lisle — a kind, funny, and truly great man who will be missed dearly. Our thoughts are with his family.

The Mountain of God, by Ryan Wilson

It's the Maul or Nothing Season Finale — and the Wallabies have the final word. Australia take the Third Test 22–12 in a weather-soaked Sydney to deny the Lions a 3–0 whitewash… the Series ends with just a ONE point swing on aggregate

Ryan Wilson and former NFL GM Ran Carthon continue their Summer Scouting series looking at the linebackers they rank 1-5 right now for the 2026 NFL Draft. They also discuss the latest surrounding Micah Parsons' contract situation with Jerry Jones and the Cowboys (00:00) Intro (5:39) Last Year's LB Rankings (8:24) Micah Parsons Latest (19:01) Individual LB Rankings (25:31) 5. Whit Weeks - LSU (31:53) 4. Harold Perkins Jr - LSU (37:28) 3. Deontae Lawson - Alabama (41:05) 2. CJ Allen - Georgia (52:23) 1. Anthony Hill Jr - Texas Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week in the Labyrinth, we're taking aim at Happy Gilmore 2—and not just to see if we still "got it." We're talking Easter Eggs, hilarious cameos, and what Netflix got right (and wrong) in their sequel to the cult favorite. Then it's back to South Park, which somehow manages to roast everyone, from liberals to Lucifer himself. We also say goodbye to three cultural icons:

Ryan Wilson is joined by East-West Shrine Bowl Director of Football Operations Eric Galko to discuss the release of the Shrine Bowl 1000 watch list. From top players, to guys flying under-the-radar, Ryan and Eric discuss all that and more! Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ryan Wilson and former NFL Defensive Lineman Leger Douzable continue their Summer Scouting series looking at the EDGE rushers they rank 1-5 right now for the 2026 NFL Draft. They also preview the Lions and Chargers kicking off preseason football. Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mike Renner and Kyle Long are joined by With the First Pick's Ryan Wilson to catch up on all the news from training camp. Then they fill the roster of an All-Breakout offense and defense unit. Intro (0:00) Injuries (0:32) Hendrickson Ends Holdout (6:40) Jets Sign Folk (12:09) All-Breakout Offense (16:03) All-Breakout Defense (46:50) Pushing the Pile is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS Download and Follow Pushing the Pile on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2RFkEgdbFxbPBDU5F5xEjJ?si=1062d40c04e24fd5 Follow our PTP team on Twitter: @mikerenner_, @Ky1eLong, @pushingthepile Sign up for the Pick Six Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters For more NFL coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Visit the betting arena on CBSSports.com for all the latest sportsbook reviews and sportsbook promos. You can listen to Pushing the Pile on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Pushing the Pile podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Pushing the Pile podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ryan Wilson and Cover 3 podcast host Chip Patterson give their burning questions for this year's NFL rookies and biggest names in college football! Pete Prisco also sits down with Travis Hunter at Jaguars Training Camp. (00:00) Intro (2:25) Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith (5:38) Raiders RB Ashton Jeanty (9:23) Penn State QB Drew Allar (14:58) Buccaneers WR Emeka Egbuka (18:19) LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier (21:33) Patriots Rookies (25:50) Clemson Draft Prospects (29:41) Jaguars DB/WR Travis Hunter (36:17) Alabama Draft Prospects (39:30) Browns QB Shedeur Sanders Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, we welcome a very special guest into the Labyrinth: the brilliantly funny, razor-sharp, and endlessly insightful Frank Santopadre! Frank's name may not be as well known as some of the legends he's worked with, but you've definitely laughed at something he's written. From MAD Magazine to The View, from Topps trading cards to the Kennedy Center Honors, Frank has spent his career writing for—and about—the biggest names in comedy, entertainment, and old-school showbiz. He was the longtime co-creator and co-host of Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast, a true oral history of Hollywood's golden age. Now, Frank returns with a brand-new podcast: Fun For All Ages, a nostalgia-fueled celebration of 20th-century pop culture—from classic toys and cartoons to the stars and stories behind the screen. In this episode, we talk with Frank about: * The origins and legacy of the Amazing Colossal Podcast * What he learned from working with Gilbert Gottfried * His encyclopedic love of TV credits, novelty candy, and forgotten pop culture gems * His new show Fun For All Ages, and what makes it special for anyone who grew up glued to the tube * It's a funny, fascinating, and heartfelt chat with a guy who's truly been there, written that, and still keeps the spirit of vintage entertainment alive.

Ryan Wilson and former NFL GM Ran Carthon continue their Summer Scouting series, sharing their top 5 defensive lineman in the 2026 NFL Draft Class. (00:00) Intro (1:00) Christian Wilkins released by the Raiders (5:00) Last Year's Rankings (6:30) Individual Rankings (7:15) Darrell Jackson Jr | Florida State (11:30) Lee Hunter | Texas Tech (21:00) Christen Miller | Georgia (30:00) Caleb Banks | Florida (37:45) Peter Woods | Clemson Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ryan Wilson and Josh Edwards go pick-by-pick in this live version of a 2026 NFL Mock Draft! All 32 picks made in real time as top prospects prepare for the college football season. Drafted order is based on reverse Super Bowl odds and includes picks traded during the 2025 NFL Draft. Disclaimer: The PFF Mock Draft Simulator was missing a few names, so other players were selected as fill-ins Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're back in the Labyrinth and things are getting… sharp.

Ryan Wilson and former NFL GM Ran Carthon continue their Summer Scouting series sharing their top 5 offensive lineman in the 2026 NFL Draft Class. (00:00) Intro (1:40) Last Year's Rankings (3:30) Individual Rankings (4:30) Isaiah World | Oregon (8:00) Connor Lew | Auburn (12:30) Caleb Lomu | Utah (15:45) Spencer Fano | Utah (21:00) Francis Mauigoa | Miami (25:00) Kadyn Proctor | Alabama  (29:30) Why aren't second round picks signing? Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ryan Wilson and former NFL GM Ran Carthon continue their Summer Scouting series, sharing their top 5 TEs in the 2026 NFL Draft Class. (00:00) Intro (2:30) Last Year's Rankings (4:30) Individual Rankings (5:30) Luke Hasz | Ole Miss (10:10) Eli Stowers | Vanderbilt (18:11) Jack Endries | Texas (27:15) Max Klare | Ohio State (37:32) Kenyon Sadiq | Oregon Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're back in the Labyrinth this week and taking flight with James Gunn's Superman (2025)! With the Man of Steel soaring back into theaters, we revisit the legendary lineup of Superman actors, TV shows, movies, villains, and more. Who wore the cape best? Who made us believe a man could fly? And just how many times can Lex Luthor escape prison?

Ryan Wilson and former NFL GM Ran Carthon continue their Summer Scouting series looking at the RBs they rank 1-5 right now for the 2026 NFL Draft. (00:00) Intro (00:55) Last Year's Rankings (2:53) Individual Rankings (3:45) With The First Pick Flashback (5:40) Makhi Hughes | Oregon (11:23) Le'Veon Moss | Texas A&M (19:35) CJ Baxter | Texas (27:30) Nick Singleton + Kaytron Allen | Penn State (37:13) Jeremiyah Love | Notre Dame Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ryan Wilson and former NFL GM Ran Carthon continue their Summer Scouting series looking at the WRs they rank 1-5 right now for the 2026 NFL Draft. Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ryan Wilson is joined by Lions star edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson. The pro bowler discusses his recovery process after suffering a season-ending leg injury last year. They also look back at the 2022 NFL Draft process, discuss the turnaround in Detroit, and much more! Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on Radio Labyrinth, we head back in time to revisit one of the most iconic films of all time. Released July 3, 1985, Back to the Future launched a trilogy that helped define a generation—and we're unpacking its legacy, the cast's careers, and why this Gen X touchstone still hits hard in 2025. Would Marty even travel to 1955 today... or maybe 1995? Dustin brings a Back to the Future Trivia Game packed with deep cuts—no softball questions here. Plus, we compare the epic Summer of ‘85 box office to the current Summer of ‘25 lineup and get nostalgic for DeLoreans, VHS tapes, and hoverboards.

Ryan Wilson and former NFL GM Ran Carthon continue their Summer Scouting series looking at the QBs they rank 1-5 right now for the 2026 NFL Draft. (00:00) Intro (2:50) 5. Cade Klubnik (Clemson) (9:32) 4. Fernando Mendoza (Indiana) (19:00) 3. Drew Allar (Penn State) (28:12) 2. Arch Manning (Texas) (36:47) 1. Garrett Nussmeier (LSU) Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ryan Wilson, covers the NFL For CBS Sports, joins G&D to discuss the Steelers-Dolphins big trade plus a national perspective on Terry McLaurin.

6.30.25 Hour 4 1:00- Ryan Wilson, covers the NFL For CBS Sports, joins G&D to discuss the Steelers-Dolphins big trade plus a national perspective on Terry McLaurin. 18:30- We get to our new staple segment, Sizzlin & Fizzlin.

Ryan Wilson is joined by, 2x Super Bowl Champ with the Steelers, Bryant McFadden to react to the trade between the Steelers and Dolphins. Expectations for the Steelers this season and thoughts on giving up Minkah Fitzpatrick in the deal. Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ryan Wilson and former NFL GM Ran Carthon begin their Summer Scouting series looking at the QBs they rank 6-10 right now for the 2026 NFL Draft. Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week in the Labyrinth, Tim bids farewell to a true Gen X radio hero — the legendary Doctor Demento. We take a fun, nostalgic dive into the history of the Dr. Demento Show, its influence on weird comedy, novelty songs, and how it helped shape our taste in the hilariously absurd. From “Disco Duck” to Weird Al, we dig into our favorite novelty records and talk about why that kind of musical madness has all but vanished today. Plus, Jeff and Tim recount a recent run-in with a table full of loudmouths at a comedy show and lay down the law on comedy club etiquette. When is it okay to talk at a show? (Spoiler: Never.)

In today's episode, Ryan Wilson is joined by former NFL DT Leger Douzable to redo the 2022 NFL Draft. The guys go pick-by-pick through the first round as if the draft happened today with current NFL rosters. Who would the Jaguars take number 1? How high will Brock Purdy go? All that and much more! Watch With the First Pick on the NFL on CBS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS 'With the First Pick' is available for free on the Audacy app as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. You can listen to With the First Pick on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the With the First Pick podcast." Follow the With the First Pick team on X: @nfldraftcbs, @ryanwilsonCBS, @E_DeBerardinis, @ryan__stryker Follow With the First Pick on TikTok & Instagram: @nfldraftcbs Produced by: Ryan Stryker For more NFL Draft coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcast To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kyle Long is joined by Ryan Wilson to breakdown Pete Prisco's Top 100 Players list. Which players are ranked too high, too low and just right? Which teams had the most players grace the list. Did they deserve it? Find out. Intro (0:00) 1st Impressions (2:44) Patrick Mahomes Tops the List (8:49) Too High (12:34) Too Low (21:26) Just Right (34:00) List Trends (41:45) Pushing the Pile is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS Download and Follow Pushing the Pile on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2RFkEgdbFxbPBDU5F5xEjJ?si=1062d40c04e24fd5 Follow our PTP team on Twitter: @mikerenner_, @Ky1eLong, @pushingthepile Sign up for the Pick Six Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters For more NFL coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Visit the betting arena on CBSSports.com for all the latest sportsbook reviews and sportsbook promos. You can listen to Pushing the Pile on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Pushing the Pile podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Pushing the Pile podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices