The Sound Off Podcast

Tony Garcia is the co-owner of Now! Media which syndicates the Bob & Sheri show, and owner of Global Media.

You likely know Steve Pratt's name from his days as founder of Pacific Content. The company that created stories about brands set the bar for branded podcasts in the late 2010's. The company was later sold to Rogers in 2019 and just recently sold to Lower Street in the UK. Unlike our interview with (former Pacific Content Director of Audience developement) Dan Misener, we are going to ask Steve about his thoughts when it was announced Rogers would be mothballing the company he started. In this episode, we discussed Steve's career evolution from television to podcasting. He highlighted his work at YTV where he was in charge of "The Zone", CBC Radio 3, and later Pacific Content, emphasizing the importance of creating unique, audience-focused content. Steve shared insights on the challenges and successes of branded podcasts, such as Slack's "Customer Success Podcast", Charles Schwab's "Choiceology" and Red Hat's "Open Source," which avoided direct brand promotion. He also discussed the impact of AI on content creation and the need for high-quality, differentiated content. Steve's new book, "Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers" offers strategies for earning audience engagement through creative storytelling. A video and transcript of the episode can be found on the network website. Please sign up for the SOUNDING OFF Newsletter. Full of all the verbal diarrhea you never knew what you were missing in your life. Also we added the Sound Off Podcast to the The Open Podcast Prefix Project (OP3) A free and open-source podcast prefix analytics service committed to open data and listener privacy. You can be a nosey parker by checking out our downloads here. Thanks to the following organizations for supporting the show: Nlogic - TV & Radio Audience Data Solutions Mary Anne Ivison at Ivison Voice. - Make her the female voice of your radio station. Matt Fogarty Voiceovers - It's great to have Matt back for 2024 supporting our show. Make him the imaging voice for your radio station by contacting him through his website. Megatrax - Licensed Music for your radio station or podcast production company. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

After 7 and a half years, the longest gap between appearances in Sound Off Podcast history, Leslie Scott finally returns. And to say things have changed is a massive understatement.

Jordan Heath Rawlings, host of the Big Story Podcast, returns to discuss the evolution of daily news podcasts over the past five years. We first had Jordan on the show in 2019 after year one on the show. Since then, he noted the increased competition and the shift to virtual interviews post-pandemic. There's simply more choice with outlets having rushed into the space after the success of the The Daily and The Big Story. The Big Story has evolved into video, releasing episodes on two YouTube channels, reaching 100,000 views, despite minimal video content. Some of the original challenges of balancing geographic and subject matter diversity, aiming for a balanced news diet. The Big Story remains majority Apple-listened, with Spotify growing. Notable guests over the last year include Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Peter Mansbridge. A Transcript and video version of the episode is available on the network page. Please sign up for the SOUNDING OFF Newsletter. Full of all the verbal diarrhea you never knew what you were missing in your life. Also we added the Sound Off Podcast to the The Open Podcast Prefix Project (OP3) A free and open-source podcast prefix analytics service committed to open data and listener privacy. You can be a nosey parker by checking out our downloads here. Thanks to the following organizations for supporting the show: Nlogic - TV & Radio Audience Data Solutions Mary Anne Ivison at Ivison Voice. - Make her the female voice of your radio station. Matt Fogarty Voiceovers - It's great to have Matt back for 2024 supporting our show. Make him the imaging voice for your radio station by contacting him through his website. Megatrax - Licensed Music for your radio station or podcast production company. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Over a year after Matt recorded a Summer of Discontent - he looks back on a second summer of discontent which feature more radio stations closures on AM, small FM size stations and one FM station in Canada's #4 market. Also layoffs in Kingston and London, and across iHeart in the USA. Matt also wonders why no one in radio seems to talk much about the audience... Matt reaffirms that the Sound Off Podcast is about audience building and teases a few episodes in the works with Steve Pratt, Valerie Geller, and others. Sign up for Matt's Newsletter called Sounding Off Books mentioned: Tom Webster's Book - The Audience is Listening. Steve Pratt's Earn It. Valerie Geller's new book is coming soon. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.