Inside the Audio Industry: A Conversation with Gary Krantz

Proof positive One of the last times I hung out with Gary was alongside classic rock legends Alice Cooper Jimmy Page and Brian May in London But I digressKrantz has taken entertainment companies and brands from conventional broadcast to digital business models and helped fuel the radio careers of such notable figures as Carson Daly Ryan Seacrest and Rachel Maddow In a conversation for Insider Interviews podcast he explains how he leveraged his quotsticktoitivenessquot to go from unpaid quotgopherquot to helping run MJI Broadcasting later acquired by iHeart where he became executive vice president of its Premiere division then becoming president of Air America to chief digital media officer at Westwood One We learn how his gut instincts led him to syndicate some of the biggest names and events onair and ultimately landed him in the utopian landscape of podcastingThe conversation is toplined here and edited for clarity Please subscribe and listen in its entirety on Apple Podcasts Stitcher Google Podcasts and TuneInEB Moss Gary quite simply how did you get startedKrantz I got the sledgehammeroverthehead moment of what I wanted to do when I walked into the college radio station and boom there it was I did a blues radio show and some other interesting people were on the air there too Brad Paul who did a folk show went on to be the head of promotion for Rounder Records and a guy named Doug Herzog who loved reggae went on with some other college pals to start MTVIn those days you didn39t have this consolidation But every week this vinyl disc started coming in called the King Biscuit Flower Hour which was before real format radio It would be a live recording of say the Allman Brothers from the Fox Theater in Atlanta and opened by like Bruce Springsteen And that was my first taste of radio syndicationMoss You then went to work for what was then a startup MJIKrantz Yes I became the second employee there but didn39t get paid for the first couple of months I thought my father was gonna kill me That company grew into one of the largest independent radio networks in the country Then in 1996 all these companies started to consolidate I became vice president of programming at AMFM Radio Network which had a platform of 60 rock and 70 country stations We bought the rights to American Top 40 with Casey Kasem and Rockline with Bob Coburn which all benefited from this new technology called satellite to interview artistsI got recruited to be president of Air America Radio and we hired Rachel Maddow podcast legend Mark Marin was my morning man and Al Franken was my afternoon guy Then I went to Westwood One as chief digital officer at the apex of when you could be a publiclytraded company We had rights to almost every sports contract for radio big entertainment archives going back to the seventies and it was really the beginnings of the radio business changingMoss Then you launched KMG Krantz At that time in other media you started to hear things like quotIt39s not TV it39s HBOquot and people were watching television very differently I thought quotMaybe KMG could be like that amp8212 a highly focused company that specializes in best in brandquot That happened to coincide with the 30th anniversary of John Lennon39s death and the people who did the last interview with him wanted to do a recollection show So it was me at my kitchen table securing the interview rights from Yoko But it was a hit That began the company and we continue to be an independent producing and helping to distribute and monetize content in terrestrial radio satellite radio streaming and podcastsMoss Like the content I mentioned the Classic Rock Awards amp8212 hence how we were hanging out with Jimmy PageKrantz Right I had learned of an influential classic rock magazine doing an awards show at the Roundhouse in London There were a hundred tables Roger Daltrey was at one Mick Jagger was at another Unbelievable They were syndicating programming and wanted to do these awards from the United States My gut said yes so I went to iHeart which owns 70 classic rock stations and they became our radio partner We did the second year in London when a young woman named EB Moss found Gibson Guitars as a sponsor and we got oneonone interviews with yes Jimmy Page and Alice CooperMoss And now you39re in podcasting tooKrantz Yes this is a time of incredible expansion of audio entertainment So I created KMG Utopia Studios We had to unlearn everything we knew about being quotwithin formatquot and playing the right song or talking too much we could be free The downside is how do you get people to know about your podcasts and create enough value where an advertiser could spend some money I came to the conclusion that you can identify categories and talent that already have a huge following in a particular vertical So the first podcast was with a gentleman called Fred Minnick amp8212 the foremost bourbon expert in the world amp8212 who has a builtin audience and a builtin advertiser baseMoss He basically drinks bourbon and interviews country music stars Love itKrantz I think today because of the plethora of content out there you have to have a unique take on itAnother is with Politicon which is the Comicon of politics And Clay Aiken will host a bipartisan panel in front of a live audience each weekMoss Tell me about some of the challenges in podcasting todayKrantz I think the biggest one is awareness If you do a deal with iHeartRadio then you know that audience is going to be there In this case you do have the freedom to create anything you want But in order to get the sponsorships you need to have the listeners beyond the exuberance amp8230 from brands just wanting to be associated podcasts based on a feelingMy friend Danny Goldberg wrote a book called Bumping Into Geniuses which I love He got that from asking music executive Ahmet Ertegun what his secret to success was He says quotI bump into geniusesquot I think that39s a great analogy You know I just try to find that genius and then build off of thatDon39t stop now Stay in the know on audio and media industry trends with executive interviews and more from EB MossClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

Inside the Audio Industry: A Conversation with Gary Krantz

Author

Publish date

Channel

Archived in

E.B. Moss

FEMA and the Ad Council Encourage AANHPI Communities to Enhance Disaster Preparedness in New PSAs - Ad Council InSites

More Videos:

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

Inside the Audio Industry: A Conversation with Gary Krantz

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

E.B. Moss

Stay in the know with more from MediaVillage

FEMA and the Ad Council Encourage AANHPI Communities to Enhance Disaster Preparedness in New PSAs - Ad Council InSites

Cookies