The Sound Off Podcast

Mary Anne Ivison was laid off in 2021. Ivison discusses the difficult transition and mental health challenges she faced after losing her job, but how she eventually found success in voiceover work and launching her own podcast "Let's Take This Outside".

We covered the ups and downs of building a voiceover business, including the challenges of working with agents and the impact of AI on the industry. Ivison shares her perspective that while AI may take over some lower-end voiceover work, the level of direction and variation required for many commercial projects still requires human talent. We also touched on the state of the podcast industry, acknowledging the difficulties of monetization and the shift towards more VC-backed companies. However, they emphasize the importance of finding a niche and building a loyal audience, rather than chasing download numbers.

Mary Anne is candid about the mental toll of the freelance lifestyle and the need to manage expectations, and that entering these creative fields requires a realistic understanding of the hard work and persistence required for long-term success.

Another honest episode providing an insightful look at the realities of navigating a career transition and building a sustainable creative business in the modern media landscape.

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.

Donna Reed, a former radio host, podcast creator, and voiceover talent discusses her dcareer in radio, including her times at WQDR and WRDU in Raleigh, NC; then to KLOL and KODA in Houston, Texas and WCXR in Washington, DC. where she enjoyed the freedom of night shifts. She transitioned to voice acting after a car commercial opportunity and has since worked on audiobooks, commercials, and transit announcements. Reed also curated the "Leopard Print Lounge Chair" channel for AccuRadio during COVID-19, blending eclectic music for a relaxed atmosphere. She reflects on the challenges and joys of podcasting, emphasizing the need for consistency and creativity. Reed looks forward to more interviews and episodes in 2025. Give her show a follow here.

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.

Tony Garcia's journey through the radio industry over the past four decades provides a fascinating glimpse into the evolution of syndicated content and the changing landscape of the medium. From his early days as an intern at the iconic WNBC in New York during the 1980s, Tony's enthusiasm for radio was palpable, as he recounted the excitement of being part of the station's shift from album rock to the burgeoning new wave scene.

This passion led Tony to create his own syndicated show, "Wave Breaker," while at WNYU. Through sheer determination and a willingness to learn on the job, he navigated the complexities of distribution, leveraging techniques like bulk-erasing tapes to get the show into the hands of eager college radio stations across the country, and in Europe. This laid the foundation for Tony's deep understanding of the syndication business, which he would go on to apply in roles at companies like Progressive Radio Network and the Wall Street Journal Report.

Tony's insights into the strategies employed by media giants like Dow Jones, who adeptly repurposed content across their various platforms, underscores the importance of adaptability in an ever-changing industry. The transition from vinyl to CDs, and eventually digital distribution, further highlights Tony's ability to evolve with the times, always seeking to provide the most efficient and cost-effective solutions for his clients.

The story of Tony's involvement with the Bob & Sheri show, from the initial challenges to the eventual triumph, exemplifies his knack for identifying and nurturing talent. By enabling ownership of their IP and digital presence, Tony demonstrated a keen understanding of the value of intellectual property in an increasingly fragmented media landscape.

As Tony looks ahead to the future, his enthusiasm for the potential of hyper-local podcasts and the continued expansion of Bob & Sheri, and publishing ventures reflects a visionary mindset.

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.

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.

Back in 2016, Leslie was the PD for 107.7 The End in Seattle, driving the station to huge success in the millennial market. Since then, she's taken on a few more stations, been elevated to overseeing programming of Audacy's exclusive streaming-only channels... And like so many people in radio, been restructured out of a job. Their loss. We discuss where Leslie's currently at both life and career wise, but mainly this is a time for us to catch up and learn how Leslie's thoughts and predictions from 2016 have aged.

For the most part, Leslie's values remain the same: Radio and digital should be friends, not enemies; Radio stations need to focus on curating personalities above all else; and the youngest generation is a giant well of untapped potential listeners who should be catered to. However, interestingly, Leslie is no longer a part of that youngest generation. She once was a sort of "Millennial Whisperer" in the radio industry, but Gen Z is a whole different beast, which we discuss at length. 7 years doesn't sound like a long time, but it really is, especially in an industry that's been scrambling so hard to keep up with the youth, and Leslie has a lot of thoughts about the way things have changed.

We also discuss women's progress in the radio industry, or rather, its stagnation in recent years. Fred Jacobs of Jacobs Media published his AQ6 survey earlier this year, which you can read about here. It showed that women's representation in radio hasn't really improved since 2019. Being both a woman herself and serving on the board of directors for mentoring and inspiring women in radio, Leslie shares some interesting insights into why that might be.

If you haven't heard our original interview with Leslie, and you'd like to compare for yourself, you can listen to it here. If nothing else, it's an interesting time capsule to a world before TikTok.

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.

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.

Jeff Umbro, is the founder of The Podglomerate, an award-winning podcast services firm specialized in production, marketing, and monetization of outstanding content.

In this episode, we discussed his transition from book publicist to podcasting, highlighting the company's evolution since 2017. He emphasized the importance of podcast promotion, noting that cross-promos are effective but should not be the sole strategy. Jeff also shared his insights on video's role in podcasting, noting its potential for discovery and engagement. He also addressed the complexities of monetizing podcasts, including the challenges of dynamic ad insertion and the need for fair CPMs. Our conversation concludes with Jeff's plans to develop a dashboard for better data tracking and his ongoing client projects, including "Master Plan" and "A Fine Mess."

Rather unintentional, but we discussed a promo swap we did back in 2019 between the Podglomerate's Storybound and Sound Off's Writing Class Radio, and what the ROI was.

A Transcript and video version of the episode is available on the network page.

Jeff also has a podcast called "Podcasting Perspectives" which goes even deeper into podcasting than this one does. And yes - he does video on Spotify and YouTube.

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.

Sharon Taylor, Senior Vice President of Podcast Strategy and Product Operations at Triton, discusses her career journey from hospitality management to podcasting. She joined Omny Studio in 2016, initially on a contract basis, and later becoming CEO. Sharon highlights the evolution of Omny Studio from a radio tool to a comprehensive podcast platform, and its acquisition by Triton. She emphasizes the importance of brand safety and suitability in podcast advertising, and introduces Sounder, a tool developed by Triton to enhance contextual analysis and ad targeting. Sharon also touches on the challenges and opportunities for Canadian podcasters, noting the need for a unified approach and diverse revenue streams.

We also spent some time discussing the power of mobility; she has moved on multiple occasions across numerous time zones. She's currently living in my hometown of Montreal where the food is the best in Canada. Her favourite restaurant? Nyk's Bistro on Bleury.

(Not to be confused with the landmark Chez Nick's on Greene Avenue in Westmount) Take a date to Nyk's, take your mother to Nick's)

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.

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.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.