TSAI

FOREWORD

In 2001, I was the program director of Q100 in Atlanta and an architect for the Blessed Media Event—known as the “Birth of The Bert Show.” I went on to work for MTV Networks as president of the CMT channel for seventeen years before returning to radio and podcasting at Bert’s new radio home, Cumulus Media, in 2019. My job at MTV Networks honed my skills at casting shows, developing scripts, and imagining unforeseen twists in shows, films, and music. Television and radio have each fueled my lifelong love of creative risk-taking. We produced series, big music events, TV movies, and Academy Award–winning theatrical releases.

One of the great pleasures of my return to radio was discovering all Bert and the show had accomplished in my absence. I remembered Bert and accomplices as nervous, hyperactive kids, suddenly thrust onto Atlanta radio’s big stage. In the interim, they—and the cast members who came after them—blossomed into Atlanta’s “morning-show-of-record.” This was four and a half daily hours packed with indelible characters. They were authentic, infinitely curious about other humans, honest, and vulnerable. These are characteristics which, in my experience, in every medium, are always precursors of success and longevity. Bert Weiss and The Bert Show have won the hard-earned love of millions.

The attributes that propel smash TV hits, long-running morning radio institutions, big films, and winning podcasts come from the same place.

They are interchangeable. The podcast landscape is the wild frontier, exploding with possibility, yet ever more crowded with entrants. Some podcasters, like Bert, with six million downloads a month, have conquered podcasting, while others fearfully struggle to “decode” this new audio world.

Mass entertainment arrived on the scene in the 1920s with the advent of “radio plays,” comedy shows, and live big band concerts. Free entertainment crackled into the living rooms of those suffering through the American Depression. The nature of entertainment never changes. It is storytelling—built on human drama, humor, and legend. Yes, it shifts quickly to new format models and platforms. It embraces new technology, tone, and aesthetics. But now, armed with Bert’s experience and ability to teach in these fields, you will have a distinct advantage.

With Bert as your guide, you need have no fear. You are on the “inside” of the audio content juggernaut now. Each new era in audio has brought seismic change in audience expectations, business models, and new opportunities for the next generation of people with bold, lucrative new ideas. That’s you!

In a universe of more than two million podcasts, you’ll need to stand out in distinctive ways and market yourself cleverly to get noticed. As you have no doubt observed, these are Bert’s gifts, which he happily shares with each of us in this book. Have a great time mastering the Art of the Perfect Podcast. I leave you in good hands!

—Brian Philips, Head of Content and Audience, Cumulus Media