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Speaker 1: You're listening to Math and Magic, a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. I worked at the local TV station, I

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Speaker 1: worked at the radio station, I worked in college paper.

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Speaker 1: I did everything to learn. I just jumped in the water.

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Speaker 1: I didn't know a thing until take the job, get

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Speaker 1: your sec license. You're on the earth. Guess what the

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Speaker 1: guy got sick? You're doing the organized okay, and you learn,

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Speaker 1: you jump in the water. That's my theory in life,

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Speaker 1: just jumping. I am Bob Pittman, and welcome to Math

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Speaker 1: and Magic Stories from the Frontiers of market. Today, we

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Speaker 1: have a real life magician of marketing, John Slide's. WelCom John,

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Speaker 1: so good to be here in our space. I've known

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Speaker 1: John since we started MTV. He was a part of

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Speaker 1: the team that created MTV in n He had already

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Speaker 1: been in the record business at CBS Record, working in

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Speaker 1: a real job and also as a college rep. You

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Speaker 1: left MTV to go be an agent at CIA with

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Speaker 1: the legendary Mike Ovits. Two years later you went to

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Speaker 1: be the head of Champion Entertainment, Tommy Mottola's management firm,

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Speaker 1: and you had Paul of Notates, John Mellencamp, Carly Simon Taylor,

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Speaker 1: Dane Ran Carry and others. Nineteen nine e president of

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Speaker 1: Chrystalis Records, Billy Idol, Pat Benatar, Set O'Connor n. Chrystalis

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Speaker 1: merges with em I. You become e v P of

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Speaker 1: em I Music Publishing under the legendary Marty ben Deer

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Speaker 1: returns to m TV Networks to head v H one,

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Speaker 1: picks up CMT Network two, moved over to the CEO

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Speaker 1: of Infinity Radio, which became CBS Radio. Came back to

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Speaker 1: him TV Networks to head network development, and left MTV.

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Speaker 1: Finally in two thousand and eight. We worked together for

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Speaker 1: a while in the private equity group and investments, and

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Speaker 1: finally we joined up again at iHeart Media. And you've

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Speaker 1: been running the entertainment Enterprises group. Is that right? Right?

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Speaker 1: So that's all the time we have left in It's

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Speaker 1: over now, it's over. Before we dig into all this

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Speaker 1: and some of your stories we want to do. John

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Speaker 1: Sykes in sixty seconds, give us your immediate answer. Beer

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Speaker 1: or wine? Wine prefer Syracuse or New York City, New

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Speaker 1: York City. Okay, let's see Schenectady or Syracuse. Oh, Syracuse

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Speaker 1: was the big town Okay behind the music or pop

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Speaker 1: up video. Uh, PUPA video was more clever vinyl or screening.

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Speaker 1: Oh that's a typhone. I'm a streamer now. Elvis Presley

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Speaker 1: or Elvis Durant. Oh, Elvis durand alt rock or yacht rock.

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Speaker 1: I'm still hanging out all rock east coast to west coast.

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Speaker 1: Oh boy, I'm starting to lean west. MTV or v

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Speaker 1: H one. Oh boy, you killed me on that one.

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Speaker 1: The two children. I gotta say, MTV will always be

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Speaker 1: the mark radio or TV I think now in the

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Speaker 1: next phase of my life. Radio. Most fun talent to

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Speaker 1: manage or work with. Bryan Seacrest. Ryan Seacrest is a

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Speaker 1: consummate professional. Anything you ask him to do, he makes

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Speaker 1: it better. Flthood Hero, I'll Mickey Mantle. First job deliving newspapers,

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Speaker 1: and I needed money so badly growing up. I had

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Speaker 1: two paper outs. I had the morning the afternoon that

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Speaker 1: my sister would say, nobody has two paper outs. I said, well,

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Speaker 1: I gotta buy a set of drums. If you want to.

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Speaker 1: You can talk about second or third job when you

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Speaker 1: talk about summers in Saratoga Springs. The really first job

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Speaker 1: was a summer intern at Saratoga Performing Arts Center. And

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Speaker 1: if you live in a hicktown like Schenectady, which I

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Speaker 1: loved growing up in the big town. Came to Schenectady

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Speaker 1: every summer. That's when all the rich people from the

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Speaker 1: racing people from Kentucky, Leanderbilt's, the Whitney's, Johnny Carson, Mick Jagger,

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Speaker 1: Frank Sinata all come to Saratoga for the races. And

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Speaker 1: so at that time Governor Rockefeller built an amphitheater with

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Speaker 1: state money and brought in the New York City Ballet,

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Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Orchestra. But to fill in the dates, they

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Speaker 1: bring rock bands. So who Eric Clapton, bands that I

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Speaker 1: grew up just staring at albums, were all of a

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Speaker 1: sudden coming into my town, and he needed someone to

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Speaker 1: be the intern to pick him up with the airport

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Speaker 1: run the contracts. When I would see that Eric Clapton

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Speaker 1: is making one hundred thousand dollars to play for forty

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Speaker 1: five minutes, I've got to get in this business. I

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Speaker 1: got to learn the business by driving them and asking

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Speaker 1: them questions from the airport. There were no private jets.

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Speaker 1: They were barely limousines. This was not a big business.

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Speaker 1: Back in the seventies. Rock and roll was just exploding.

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Speaker 1: So one day they said, you're gonna pick up Frank Sinatra,

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Speaker 1: and I went, I'm going to pick up Frank Sinatra.

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Speaker 1: Oh my god, I said, wash the car. So I

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Speaker 1: went in the Saratoga car of the same car I

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Speaker 1: picked up Eric Clapton, George Bound, She and everybody. I

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Speaker 1: went to a different airport. I didn't go to all

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Speaker 1: of the airport. I went to this landing strip, and

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden, this thing I've never seen called

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Speaker 1: a private plane landed, and off the plane comes some

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Speaker 1: comedian with gold jewelry around him, the giant security guard,

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Speaker 1: and then the most beautiful woman I've ever seen from

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Speaker 1: Las Vegas who had a denim jump suit on on

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Speaker 1: the zipped right down. And then Frank gets off the plane,

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Speaker 1: walks towards the car, and I said, Mr Sinatra, I'm

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Speaker 1: here to drive you to the Performing Arts Center. And

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Speaker 1: then this big dude next to him called Chili Rizzo,

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Speaker 1: who died mysteriously a few years later, says, nobody drives

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Speaker 1: Frank but him. And also this guy gets off the

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Speaker 1: plane with neck and fans popping out, and another car

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Speaker 1: just pulls up right next to us out of nowhere,

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Speaker 1: and They get in the car and he goes, you're

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Speaker 1: going with me? I go, okay, he's gonna kill me now.

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Speaker 1: They drive off and I follow the car and I

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Speaker 1: get there and walking down the hallway and Frank Sinatra

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Speaker 1: sees me, goes, hey, kid, sorry, we have security. We

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Speaker 1: have to do it this way. And I go, I'm okay.

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Speaker 1: He goes, what do you do? I go, I go

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Speaker 1: to college and goes to college. Hey. They all laugh

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Speaker 1: at me, and he goes, what do you want to do?

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Speaker 1: Is I wanna get in television? He says, I'm on television.

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Speaker 1: I do television. So he said, you look thin. They

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Speaker 1: pay you here like they pay me. Okay, goes, when

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Speaker 1: I leave, take my food. Sony boxed off the food

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Speaker 1: and they left, and that was my introduction to show business.

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Speaker 1: That's pretty good, a bunch of free food. Some things

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Speaker 1: never change. Here's young John Pikes in your life there,

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Speaker 1: small town, Your dad was an independent businessman. What happened

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Speaker 1: there that is so integral to who you are today?

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Speaker 1: We all know growing up, you know it's nature nurture.

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Speaker 1: I think there's a combination. I grew up in a

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Speaker 1: house of five kids, four sisters and myself or crazy type.

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Speaker 1: As sisters, we had a dinner table where we debated.

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Speaker 1: We debated everything. My mother was a left wing Democrat

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Speaker 1: college professor. My dad was a very kind of moderate

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Speaker 1: conservative businessman. But we did have a picture of the

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Speaker 1: Pope and John Kennedy on the TV sets. We were Democrats.

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Speaker 1: What I love so much about that was that we

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Speaker 1: debated every night at six o'clock. The Vietnam War was

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Speaker 1: on television. Politics were flying around a family, but no

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Speaker 1: one took it personally. When we debated, everybody could have

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Speaker 1: a wicked argument of wicked debate, and you better come prepared. Also,

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Speaker 1: I just always wanted to do something big. I have

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Speaker 1: so many ideas, but I don't want him to live

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Speaker 1: and die in this town. I want to be able

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Speaker 1: to amplify those And that's why I fell in love

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Speaker 1: in that small town with media, with radio and television

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Speaker 1: and music, because those were platforms springboards for an idea.

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Speaker 1: And I remember watching Johnny Carson. What I like the

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Speaker 1: most is when the camera went out wide, I saw

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Speaker 1: the guy holding the que cards, I saw the guy

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Speaker 1: at the desk with the glasses. I said, he must

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Speaker 1: be running this. He's doing this so he's taking this

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Speaker 1: thing in the studio and it's going everywhere. So for me,

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Speaker 1: that was a little bit of the nature. I was

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Speaker 1: just always born to somebody who wanted to think big.

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Speaker 1: Nothing against a small town. It was always like, if

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Speaker 1: it's a good idea in Schenectay, it could be a

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Speaker 1: good idea in l A, Dallas, Chicago, it could be anywhere.

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Speaker 1: But the great thing about a small town is it

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Speaker 1: gave you the opportunity to be bored. And when you're bored,

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Speaker 1: you dream. When you're sitting in Jackson, Mississippi, or Schenecting,

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Speaker 1: New York, you're a Jackson boy and you're looking up

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Speaker 1: at the sky and you see an airplane fly over,

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Speaker 1: and you go, who's in that plane? And how can

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Speaker 1: they afford to be in that plane? Are they on

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Speaker 1: to Paris? And can I get in that plane? And

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Speaker 1: I want to get in that plane? So you go

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Speaker 1: to Syracuse. Why is it so many leaders in media

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Speaker 1: came out of Syracuse. I mean, it's an abnormal number

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Speaker 1: of people came out of Syracuse. It is a magical place.

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Speaker 1: Thanks to sign new House, the older one who was

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Speaker 1: a newspaper magnet, the magazines, and of course broadcasting. He

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Speaker 1: put millions and millions of dollars into a creative lab

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Speaker 1: at Syracuse called the New House School. The first thing

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Speaker 1: they said to you when you went to that campus was,

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Speaker 1: this is not a technical school, and it can to

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Speaker 1: teach you how to run the dials. This is a

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Speaker 1: school about ideas. This is school about creativity. So guess what.

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Speaker 1: The next two years, you're going to go up the

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Speaker 1: hill to the arts and science schools, gonna take religion, philosophy, psychology,

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Speaker 1: and you're going to learn about something to write about

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Speaker 1: to put on radio and television. Right now, we don't

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Speaker 1: need anyone to operate the cameras. It's not why you're here.

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Speaker 1: You go to Columbia School of Broadcasting for that. And

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Speaker 1: if you want to get experience, go get a job somewhere.

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Speaker 1: Go write copy for a radio station, Go do layout

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Speaker 1: for newspaper. So that's what I did. I worked in

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Speaker 1: the local TV station, I worked at the radio station,

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Speaker 1: I worked in college paper. I did everything to learn.

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Speaker 1: I just jumped in the water. I didn't know a

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Speaker 1: thing until take the job. Get your FEC license. You're

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Speaker 1: on the earth. Guess what the guy got sick? You're

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Speaker 1: doing the organized, okay, and you learn, you jump in

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Speaker 1: the water. That's my theory in life, just jump in.

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Speaker 1: Other kids were partying on weekends whatever I was doing

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Speaker 1: the overnight shift at the radio station. I was downtown

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Speaker 1: laying on a newspaper. But that gave me the tools

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Speaker 1: to call you up when you were starting MTV and say,

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Speaker 1: I know how to do this. I've done it, alright,

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Speaker 1: I've done this since I was caused ambition. So let's

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Speaker 1: talk about MTV. It's night. The word gets out that

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Speaker 1: working on this do music channel. How do you hear

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Speaker 1: about it? What does it mean to you? And how

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Speaker 1: on earth did you really get connected to us to

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Speaker 1: get on that original team. I grew up with three

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Speaker 1: things in my life. Radio, television, music. That's all I

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Speaker 1: cared about. When I wasn't listen to the the radio station,

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Speaker 1: I was watching TV or listening to music. Those things,

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Speaker 1: to me shaped our culture. So I'm at school, Cable

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Speaker 1: TV is just starting up, and I saw the cable

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Speaker 1: channels are empty. The music was all over the radio,

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Speaker 1: was it on television? So we used to go and

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Speaker 1: shoot the concerts in circus and we pay them and

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Speaker 1: send them to new channels and we play the concerts

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Speaker 1: and people like, oh my god, I can see the band.

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Speaker 1: And all I wanted to do at that point was

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Speaker 1: put music on television. When I graduated, I wanted to

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Speaker 1: go for a network, and I went to CBS, said

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Speaker 1: let's put music on let's run concerts. These three Martini

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Speaker 1: lunch guys in New York looked at me and like

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Speaker 1: it was crazy, and they said, get a job in

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Speaker 1: the music division. Get a job with the record company

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Speaker 1: because CBS is now Sony. So I got a job

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Speaker 1: in the record business, promoting radio stations. I wanted to

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Speaker 1: run the radio station. I didn't want to promote them

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Speaker 1: on the rail, but that's the job I had. So

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Speaker 1: I would go into the record office there and in

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Speaker 1: the corner of the office there were these videos VHS.

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Speaker 1: Videos there came over from Europe of bands like The

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Speaker 1: Jackson's Cheap Trick, Boston, Bruce Springsteen, but they couldn't be

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Speaker 1: used in America, so these came over from the International division.

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Speaker 1: They would show them at the branch meeting. So I'm going, like,

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Speaker 1: why don't we put them in the record stores. Let's

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Speaker 1: put them in the windows. Put a TV and a

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Speaker 1: VCR in the window and I went to a guy

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Speaker 1: named Les Elias here ran the Loop, and I said,

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Speaker 1: once you do the Rock and Roll Picture Show on

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Speaker 1: weekends and put these videos in theaters. So then I

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Speaker 1: heard from my friends Steve Case it was a w

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Speaker 1: LS in Chicago that his great friend Bob Pittman was

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Speaker 1: in New York and he was going to start a

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Speaker 1: video channel. And I lost my mind. It just it's like,

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Speaker 1: it still gives me goose bumps. I was like, this

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Speaker 1: is what I was made to do, this is what

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Speaker 1: I wanted to do. To me, it was like music

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Speaker 1: along on television. It's a language that television was lacking.

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Speaker 1: That there was CN and it was HBO the way.

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Speaker 1: So I started calling you and I called you, and

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Speaker 1: I called you and I called you. And thanks to

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Speaker 1: your assistant and Plunkett, who I was annoying so much,

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Speaker 1: she said, all right, Bob, you please talk to this guy.

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Speaker 1: And uh we met that day with a borrowed support

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Speaker 1: jacket because I didn't know it. It's some bad hair.

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Speaker 1: But you and I connected that moment because we had

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Speaker 1: the same vision. Music and television were the two biggest

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Speaker 1: forces in pop culture and they were about to be

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Speaker 1: You know, you look back on any successful product, and

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Speaker 1: it seems easy. You were there when we didn't even

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Speaker 1: have approval from the board to do it. We just

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Speaker 1: had some money to develop it. So give us a

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Speaker 1: little color for people who think things are easy and

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Speaker 1: they always go exactly the way you plan. What that

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Speaker 1: early development was like. It is funny and people like go,

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Speaker 1: oh my god, you're in the team that started MTV.

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Speaker 1: That must have been a magical and great to go.

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Speaker 1: I don't know. I was working too hard. We were

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Speaker 1: so into trenches all the time. It only looks glamorous

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Speaker 1: that day looking back, but when you're in it, it's

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Speaker 1: a slugfest. There was this idea, but to make it happen,

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Speaker 1: we had no money and we all quit jobs. You

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Speaker 1: were at NBC, I was at CBS. I was the

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Speaker 1: promotion Man of the Year in Chicago, and I just said,

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Speaker 1: I'm quitting. What are you crazy? Career? And people like us,

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Speaker 1: we weren't going to fail. And you know, the funny

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Speaker 1: thing is, as hard as we worked, I never thought

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Speaker 1: we were going to fail. I got scared when you'd

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Speaker 1: come in and say, you know, they're gonna cut the budgets.

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Speaker 1: We've got a few more months we've got to make

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Speaker 1: our numbers. That just made me say, well, we're gonna

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Speaker 1: have to work hard to make our numbers. I do

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Speaker 1: still remember one conversation we have where I said, Okay,

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Speaker 1: we're going to the board and we're gonna pitch this

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Speaker 1: for approval, and you go, what, we don't have approval.

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Speaker 1: I quit my job. We don't have approval. But no, no, John,

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Speaker 1: this was development. All the blood ran out of your

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Speaker 1: face at that moment. I do remember I had to

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Speaker 1: look up because there was no Internet, I had to

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Speaker 1: go in the dictionary, look up the real definition of development.

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Speaker 1: I still were developing something. Development means it's not gonna

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Speaker 1: happen yet. But you know something, I got freaked. I

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Speaker 1: was like, who cares if it doesn't work unless my

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Speaker 1: my sister's couching another job. We were young, we launched MTV.

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Speaker 1: We get it underway. We're trying to get some evidence

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Speaker 1: that it's working. Because the record companies are hemorrhaging money

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Speaker 1: those years turned a lot of red ink. They were

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Speaker 1: thinking about cutting videos out of their budget, which of

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Speaker 1: course we've been a disaster for. So we said, we

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Speaker 1: gotta get some evidence ahead of the budget cycle. And

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Speaker 1: you and Tom Freston to go on the road to Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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Speaker 1: Tell me what happened in Tulsa and tell me what

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Speaker 1: that impact was for you. We believe this was working,

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Speaker 1: we felt it, but we needed facts. We needed to

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Speaker 1: convince a record business. So it was like, we need

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Speaker 1: a story, Tom, John, go on their own, don't compact.

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Speaker 1: You have a story. And Tulsa didn't happen until we

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Speaker 1: went to Syracuse, Houston and we went to the cable markets.

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Speaker 1: So Tom and I driving through Tulsa in a rental

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Speaker 1: car literally with a map of record stores in a

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Speaker 1: dry city. This is showbiz. This is the clamor show

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Speaker 1: biz going into places. So you sold any police records

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Speaker 1: selling Duran Duran sold any t the tube? Nope, nope, nope.

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Speaker 1: So we kept driving driving. I still remember, I don't

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Speaker 1: remember the name of the store whatever, but it was

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Speaker 1: a record store in an old house. And Tom Alize

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Speaker 1: drudge in and we say, you sold me this only

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Speaker 1: that's only durand drand Ran I sold two boxes of

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Speaker 1: Duran Durant records last week. We're what you sold to Bock.

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Speaker 1: You sold fifty records records in a box. Can we

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Speaker 1: have your name and can we use your phone? We

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Speaker 1: called the Bob. I said, Bob, Bob, we have a story.

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Speaker 1: We have a story. We have a record store that's

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Speaker 1: selling music only played on MTV. And you said, great,

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Speaker 1: get a name, get the information. We need an article,

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Speaker 1: and so we hang up the phone. I turned to Tom, Tom,

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Speaker 1: we get to go home. And we took that and

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Speaker 1: we wrote it as a case study and we ran

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Speaker 1: it in Billboard and the Music magazine to influence the

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Speaker 1: record company. Keep going, I have, of course you do.

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Speaker 1: You have everything we ever did at MTV. You are

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Speaker 1: the pack rat. I have that one sheet MTV sales records.

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Speaker 1: Joey Smith and boy that Joey Smith. Wherever you are

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Speaker 1: and tell us Oklahoma, thank you, thank you. We're gonna

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Speaker 1: be right back. After a quick break. Welcome back to

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Speaker 1: Matthew Magic. We're here with John Sykes. So you were

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Speaker 1: the guy who did the promotions. You came up with

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Speaker 1: these great ideas and fortunately, unfortunately the one that also

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Speaker 1: executed them. He did the Paint the House Paint promotion

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Speaker 1: with John Mellencamp, he did the Lost Weekend with Van Halen.

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Speaker 1: What formula were you using? Goes back to that s

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Speaker 1: connected New York thing of being a dreamer because I

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Speaker 1: was the kid. I was the viewer who thought, oh

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Speaker 1: my god, if only I could dot dot dot. So

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Speaker 1: when you said we've got to put together some promotions,

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Speaker 1: we gotta go bigger than life. We go what are

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Speaker 1: we gonna do? I just said to myself, Okay, what

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Speaker 1: would anybody give their eye teeth to do? What would

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Speaker 1: be the fantasy of all fantasies. He created dreams for

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Speaker 1: people to connect with artists in ways the kid from

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Speaker 1: a small town every would. When you talk about marketing,

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Speaker 1: it's not the actual event to jo to fulfill. It's

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Speaker 1: the dreams you put in the heads of the consumers

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Speaker 1: that sells the product, whether you're selling cars or whatever

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Speaker 1: it is. It's the magic of how you're going to

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Speaker 1: feel the aspirational. So we created those dreams and it

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Speaker 1: was kine of the greatest times in my life. And

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Speaker 1: I remember just John had done a song called pink Houses.

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Speaker 1: So let's give away a house and you're gonna paint

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Speaker 1: the mother pink. Tell us about the first house you bought.

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Speaker 1: When you had to execute it, I means you had

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Speaker 1: to go find a house, go to go buy a house.

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Speaker 1: You had to go actually get a team to paint

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Speaker 1: it pink. You gotta go fly people in. So we went,

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Speaker 1: and you had no money, so we had to buy

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Speaker 1: the cheap you could find. So Bob goes, take a

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Speaker 1: cashier's check and just go buy a house. And I okay.

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Speaker 1: So I flew in Indiana and John Mellencamp, who loved

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Speaker 1: the idea, sends his ex wife to meet me to

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Speaker 1: show me around it. Buy some house. She's a realtor.

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Speaker 1: So we go and I go, okay. I got about

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Speaker 1: two hours before I getting the flight back to New York.

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Speaker 1: Show me fourhouses. First house we buy, the woman is there,

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Speaker 1: just cookies for me. The kids are out front, they've

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Speaker 1: cleaned it up. This was a shock. I felt so

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Speaker 1: bad for her. She was a single mom. Look at

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Speaker 1: this house and I said, we'll do It's like we

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Speaker 1: can paint this pink. So I wrote a check thirty

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Speaker 1: two dollars, bought the house. Her jaw dropped. No realtor

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Speaker 1: just handed the check and got in the car, drove back.

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Speaker 1: We opened up Rolling Stone. Three weeks later, MTV buys

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Speaker 1: house on toxic waste dump. So so I call you

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Speaker 1: go Bob, I had no idea. John Mellencamp writes me

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Speaker 1: letter I have today. Dear John, I'm sure you've read

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Speaker 1: Rolling Stone by now, and I'm sure you wouldn't want

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Speaker 1: to give a house on a toxic waste dump. And

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Speaker 1: I'm going, oh my god, we're stuck with the house.

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Speaker 1: So I had to I can get another house. But

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Speaker 1: that's not the good double the budget, the budget. The

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Speaker 1: good story was the Last Weekend with Van Halen. That

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Speaker 1: one really really defined MTV as a serious, dangerous rock

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Speaker 1: and roll ran to consumers. There was a movie called

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Speaker 1: The Last Weekend. Raymond Land was in there and guy

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Speaker 1: loses his mind whatever. And there was a guy who

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Speaker 1: worked for us, Less Garland, who would go out and

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Speaker 1: we said, say less Garland on the Last Weekend. He

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Speaker 1: would go out and have fun whatever. And so we

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Speaker 1: just said, let's do a laws weep with a band.

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Speaker 1: Who's the craziest band out there right now? Van Halen.

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Speaker 1: Van Halen wouldn't do any promotion because they were worried

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Speaker 1: about their image. We called them with the idea like

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Speaker 1: we're in. We're in, and by the way, will fulfill

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Speaker 1: the contest. You don't have to do anything, just drop

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Speaker 1: off the fans with us, and we'll deliver him back

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Speaker 1: on Sunday. So we did that. The kid arrives and

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Speaker 1: they take him at four o'clock in the afternoon right

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Speaker 1: into the backstage, and everything you can imagine would happened

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Speaker 1: with Van Halen happened. So by the time the band

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Speaker 1: goes on stage at nine o'clock at night, this guy

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Speaker 1: is fried. There's been things that were not a Warner

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Speaker 1: m X and condoled or MTV activity, but the band

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Speaker 1: took that. So he's standing on stage completely out of

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Speaker 1: his mind, and David Lee Roth goes, we have the

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Speaker 1: winner tonight of the MT the Lost Weekend, Joe Smith,

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Speaker 1: you know, Joe Congratulations. They bring out a giant sheet cake.

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Speaker 1: He's got his hands up from there and the bands

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Speaker 1: around him, and they take the sheet cake and they

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Speaker 1: push it into his face and the guy is stunned

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Speaker 1: and he starts trolling around swinging punches at the band.

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Speaker 1: The band freaks out. They take him off and they

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Speaker 1: bring him backstage and we say to his friend, what's

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Speaker 1: wrong with him? And he said, we forgot to tell you.

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Speaker 1: He has a metal plate in his head. He was

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Speaker 1: in an accident. He's not supposed to drink, so they

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Speaker 1: had to put him in a room with a security

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Speaker 1: guard all night. But that kind of made the legend

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Speaker 1: of MTV. I wish we could take credit for that,

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Speaker 1: but that was it. So the contest. Maybe we're lucky

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Speaker 1: we can't take credit for it. You know what those

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Speaker 1: contests did. They creates the fantasy and the aspiration that

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Speaker 1: makes someone want to be attracted to a product. So

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Speaker 1: we had a great time at MTV. Things actually turned around.

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Speaker 1: Instead of losing money, we are making money. And you

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Speaker 1: left the Why did you leave? I get antsy. I'm

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Speaker 1: a startup guy. I always love startups. I loved to

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Speaker 1: see if I can defy conventional wisdom. I'd like to

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Speaker 1: try things people say it won't work. I felt that

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Speaker 1: that phase had passed, and I kind of felt that

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Speaker 1: there was another challenge coming from me. I really had

425
00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:15,479
Speaker 1: the euphoria of launching something and building it. At that

426
00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:17,920
Speaker 1: point in my life, I was thinking, what's the next

427
00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:21,720
Speaker 1: way to merge platforms. We merged radio and television together

428
00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:26,080
Speaker 1: with MTV. I thought movies, paid content and music could

429
00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:28,600
Speaker 1: be merged on another platform. So you want to work

430
00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:30,720
Speaker 1: for Mike Covids. You didn't stay a long time. You

431
00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:33,480
Speaker 1: didn't ever turn into really an agent. But what did

432
00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:36,760
Speaker 1: you learn about the business from that perspective that perch?

433
00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:39,679
Speaker 1: It's a fascinating business. I knew it wasn't for me,

434
00:21:40,119 --> 00:21:41,680
Speaker 1: and I knew I would never be a good agent

435
00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:47,600
Speaker 1: because agents are amazing transactional individuals. They don't waste time.

436
00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:50,359
Speaker 1: They move it no matter what color, size, shape it is.

437
00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:52,920
Speaker 1: They're just moving the money. And I knew I wasn't

438
00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:55,360
Speaker 1: gonna be a good agent when they called them clients

439
00:21:55,520 --> 00:21:57,560
Speaker 1: and I call them artists. One of the guys that

440
00:21:57,680 --> 00:21:59,639
Speaker 1: sea said to me, why do you keep calling him?

441
00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:03,240
Speaker 1: Are their clients? Like? What's creative artists? Where they go

442
00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:07,440
Speaker 1: their clients? We get them jobs and we turned them.

443
00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:09,560
Speaker 1: And then the other day I knew I wasn't gonna last.

444
00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:11,560
Speaker 1: There was that when the script came in for a

445
00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:13,080
Speaker 1: movie I was working, and I looked and I said,

446
00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:15,359
Speaker 1: this strip these work. I think if this isn't so,

447
00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:17,679
Speaker 1: I called the producer and I said, you know, the

448
00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:19,880
Speaker 1: guy Sean Penn would be really great in this role,

449
00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:22,240
Speaker 1: and you've got to change just change that. And two

450
00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:24,960
Speaker 1: agents called me. One agent said, don't tell the writers

451
00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:27,040
Speaker 1: how to write this you're the agent, and then the

452
00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:30,359
Speaker 1: second Sean Penn's agent, because Sean Penn doesn't work for scale.

453
00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:33,239
Speaker 1: And I said, well, when the Rolling Stones play New

454
00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:35,640
Speaker 1: York City, they play a club to be cool. Al

455
00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:38,840
Speaker 1: Pacino does American Buffalo on Broadway. Was not doing The Godfather.

456
00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:40,760
Speaker 1: It's image, you gotta be cool, and they go, we

457
00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:42,480
Speaker 1: don't care about it. So I knew it was time

458
00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:44,879
Speaker 1: to leave. I had never had a problem jumping the fence.

459
00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:46,960
Speaker 1: I'd be on the broadcast side, I'd be on the

460
00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:49,280
Speaker 1: management side, the record company's side. To me, it was

461
00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:51,480
Speaker 1: all one business. So let's move it now. You do

462
00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:55,040
Speaker 1: get the call to be a label head. Chrystalis Records

463
00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:57,320
Speaker 1: was really hot at the time. You're now a label

464
00:22:57,359 --> 00:23:00,480
Speaker 1: head ten years earlier, it's been a promo rep and Chicago.

465
00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:02,960
Speaker 1: How does that feel and what you learn there? I

466
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:05,679
Speaker 1: absolutely loved it. I love the fact that I was

467
00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:09,240
Speaker 1: no longer two steps off the side of the stage

468
00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:12,399
Speaker 1: watching someone else. I said, well, if I'm going to

469
00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:15,200
Speaker 1: run record company, I can choose what records come out.

470
00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:17,879
Speaker 1: I can actually choose which ones are promoted. And I

471
00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:20,639
Speaker 1: still love that. And we went from this cool company

472
00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:25,119
Speaker 1: two having three records in the top twenty five in

473
00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:27,240
Speaker 1: the first six months, because I got very lucky. We

474
00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:30,680
Speaker 1: signed right artists, but we marketed. We went out there

475
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:32,840
Speaker 1: and I didn't care. I would call I would do

476
00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:35,360
Speaker 1: whatever it took to get those records exposed. I would

477
00:23:35,359 --> 00:23:37,960
Speaker 1: call radio programmers I knew from my days and MTV

478
00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:41,800
Speaker 1: before MTV in Chicago. I'd go anywhere, whatever it took.

479
00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:44,239
Speaker 1: And we had the best year in twenty years at

480
00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:46,919
Speaker 1: that company because we took this great music and we

481
00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:50,520
Speaker 1: marketed it so well that they the company with E

482
00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:52,240
Speaker 1: M I and I won't take you through that, but

483
00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:55,200
Speaker 1: you had a spectacular career there too, with Marty ben Deer.

484
00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:57,800
Speaker 1: And then you finally go home to MTV Networks. Tom

485
00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:01,119
Speaker 1: Freston calls you up, says, come home, need you to

486
00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:04,840
Speaker 1: fix a V one? What did you do? As you know, Bob,

487
00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:06,960
Speaker 1: because you taught me so much of the stuff. A

488
00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:11,560
Speaker 1: brand is only valuable if there's an underserved segment of

489
00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:14,520
Speaker 1: the audience that needs. Hip hop was starting to happen.

490
00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:17,760
Speaker 1: Alterniate music was exploding, and a lot of the traditional

491
00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:20,040
Speaker 1: rock bands and R and B bands were being pushed

492
00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:22,160
Speaker 1: out and they're going to kind off of a Cliff,

493
00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:24,680
Speaker 1: and I said, there's a market here because having run

494
00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:28,439
Speaker 1: a record company, a publishing company, we were seeing these

495
00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:30,480
Speaker 1: artists that used to be called middle of the road

496
00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:33,280
Speaker 1: back then, but now they were actually vibrant pop bands.

497
00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:36,160
Speaker 1: They didn't have a place. And then I saw who

498
00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:40,720
Speaker 1: are those powerful buyers? Young adults, young college graduates, first

499
00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:43,960
Speaker 1: time making money, starting families, having access to money for

500
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:46,200
Speaker 1: the first time, not just chipping away at dollars and

501
00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:49,639
Speaker 1: cents in college. Here's a generation that's grown up on MTV.

502
00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:52,879
Speaker 1: They have money, they're affluent, and they have nowhere to go.

503
00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:56,200
Speaker 1: So I was as excited actually about v H one

504
00:24:56,680 --> 00:24:59,520
Speaker 1: as I was about MTV, and MTV is iconic and

505
00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:01,879
Speaker 1: it will be there forever. But the other thing about

506
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,680
Speaker 1: VH one to me also was it was my own.

507
00:25:05,119 --> 00:25:07,280
Speaker 1: It was something that if now you were a network head,

508
00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:09,520
Speaker 1: you've been a label head, now you're a network I

509
00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:11,320
Speaker 1: always like to do that. I'd like to run it,

510
00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:14,240
Speaker 1: and I knew if I fell, it would be on me,

511
00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:16,520
Speaker 1: it would only be on my shoulders. It would be

512
00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:20,080
Speaker 1: like out at VH one fails they used to call

513
00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:23,000
Speaker 1: VH point one was the rating of it again, and

514
00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:25,919
Speaker 1: for those people who ratings. Ratings are from zero to

515
00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:32,760
Speaker 1: whatever and point one zero. So anyway, v H one

516
00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:35,280
Speaker 1: is the ugly step child at MTV Networks. We built

517
00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:37,080
Speaker 1: it as a fighting brand, as a flank or brand

518
00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:39,160
Speaker 1: to keep. I used to say it was nails off

519
00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:41,159
Speaker 1: the back seat of a car to put flats in

520
00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:43,160
Speaker 1: the tires of the cars behind us, because we didn't

521
00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:45,600
Speaker 1: want aybody compete with MTV. But I said, now it

522
00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:49,280
Speaker 1: quietly has thirty million homes. There's a market for this.

523
00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:51,600
Speaker 1: And I looked in the room and half the people

524
00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:55,040
Speaker 1: like or asleep bicycle that Quenton staying. They had a job,

525
00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:56,959
Speaker 1: but they didn't believe in the product, but they're reflecting

526
00:25:56,960 --> 00:26:00,560
Speaker 1: a paycheck. So I said, listen, if you don't leaving this,

527
00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:02,880
Speaker 1: it's okay. We won't make a big thing and we're

528
00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:04,840
Speaker 1: gonna fire you, but we'll work out a package and

529
00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:07,760
Speaker 1: you should leave because we need people whore going to

530
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:09,600
Speaker 1: believe in this. There's a market for this, and I

531
00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:11,440
Speaker 1: believe that this is gonna be a three hundred million

532
00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:14,679
Speaker 1: dollar business in the next three years if we all

533
00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:18,119
Speaker 1: focus on that. So people came to me and said,

534
00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:20,520
Speaker 1: I don't want to do this. I didn't think they

535
00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:22,959
Speaker 1: I don't think it would come like, I don't think

536
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:26,760
Speaker 1: you're right, Like, okay, well, thank you, good bye. They

537
00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:29,000
Speaker 1: all came back three years later looking for jobs. But

538
00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:32,280
Speaker 1: it was about believing in yourself, believing your idea of

539
00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:35,280
Speaker 1: hiring people around you are better than you at executing

540
00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:37,399
Speaker 1: what they did. And we put together a team at

541
00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:42,280
Speaker 1: VH one hooping on to run NBC, Nintendo, Bravo. We

542
00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:45,639
Speaker 1: put together an all star trip so may be proud

543
00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:47,520
Speaker 1: and working with some to Redstone, I mean some of

544
00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:52,080
Speaker 1: Redstone was on his game. You walked in and said

545
00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:54,359
Speaker 1: here's my plan, here's what I want to do, and

546
00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:56,600
Speaker 1: he'd just say, fine, go do it. If you don't

547
00:26:56,600 --> 00:26:58,159
Speaker 1: do it, I'll fire you. And say that's all I

548
00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:00,400
Speaker 1: want to know. Just give me the rope, and he did.

549
00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:03,080
Speaker 1: It was a great nine years. We shattered all the

550
00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:05,280
Speaker 1: records there, but like all good businesses, you've got to

551
00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:07,800
Speaker 1: reinvent them otherwise they paid it off. You've did a

552
00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:11,160
Speaker 1: couple more things, but let's jump to doing good. You've

553
00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:14,200
Speaker 1: really been involved with some legendary efforts that really made

554
00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:17,200
Speaker 1: a difference. We started with Live Aid, Bob Geldolf and

555
00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:21,520
Speaker 1: Harvey Goldsmith and you know, We have long stories about that,

556
00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:26,800
Speaker 1: but even happens in New York and you and a

557
00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:29,040
Speaker 1: couple of folks decide you're going to do a concert

558
00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:31,040
Speaker 1: for New York with the Robin Hood Foundation. Tell me

559
00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:34,919
Speaker 1: about it. Well. Being raised by a liberal mother and

560
00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:38,760
Speaker 1: a Democratic household, we were always wanting to give back.

561
00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:41,080
Speaker 1: My mom used to teach it to prison, like that's

562
00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:42,800
Speaker 1: what she did. She said, you know something, whatever you

563
00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:44,600
Speaker 1: do in your life, you gotta give back. You give

564
00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:46,320
Speaker 1: your time, you give your money. You got to do that.

565
00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:49,200
Speaker 1: And that stayed with me. So when we're at MTV,

566
00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:51,000
Speaker 1: we did be Each one saved the music. Nickelodeon did

567
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:53,879
Speaker 1: the big help. Obviously MTV did rock the vote. Always

568
00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:56,280
Speaker 1: felt like, if you're lucky enough to run one of

569
00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:59,280
Speaker 1: these corporations, have you got to take care of the community,

570
00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:03,159
Speaker 1: whatever that might be. Nine eleven happens, and we were like,

571
00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:05,680
Speaker 1: we have to do something. This is our city, this

572
00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:08,640
Speaker 1: is where Viacom makes its money, every artist makes money

573
00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:11,840
Speaker 1: in New York. New York under attack. So I called

574
00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:15,800
Speaker 1: Jim Dolan and Square Garden dold owns Madison, Square Garden.

575
00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:18,760
Speaker 1: We had done some fundraisers before and we got talking

576
00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:20,879
Speaker 1: about it. We said, if we used the garden, the

577
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:22,840
Speaker 1: big room, then we got to turn the volume up.

578
00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:25,840
Speaker 1: What we have to do then is throw an Irish wake.

579
00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:29,359
Speaker 1: Let's figure away we can raise a ton of money

580
00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:32,280
Speaker 1: these families that desperately needed, who lost their loved ones

581
00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:34,640
Speaker 1: in this thing. And let's use the power of music

582
00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:37,720
Speaker 1: and the power of these platforms. Let's create the biggest

583
00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:42,480
Speaker 1: fundraiser since Live aid, and let's message out why everyone

584
00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:44,440
Speaker 1: from around the world should come back to the city

585
00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:47,800
Speaker 1: where they all got their start. So called you at

586
00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:50,400
Speaker 1: a O L and we did what we knew how

587
00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:52,280
Speaker 1: to do. You know, we skipped over today the video

588
00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:56,600
Speaker 1: music awards that you and I started and reinvented award shows.

589
00:28:56,840 --> 00:29:00,480
Speaker 1: So he said, let's create the biggest fundraiser since I've Aid.

590
00:29:00,760 --> 00:29:03,360
Speaker 1: And within four and a half weeks we put on

591
00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:05,640
Speaker 1: I think the biggest show has ever happened. Much money

592
00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:10,760
Speaker 1: was raised, million dollars. What we saw was the ability

593
00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:14,200
Speaker 1: to use our power to create scale for the right things.

594
00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:17,000
Speaker 1: So you've been through all these things in your life.

595
00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:20,440
Speaker 1: You gave us a few stories today, but it's just

596
00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:23,680
Speaker 1: there one overriding lesson you would give to an entrepreneur,

597
00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:26,600
Speaker 1: someone listening today, I said, I have that ambition. I

598
00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:30,400
Speaker 1: want to make something really big. What's the advice. The

599
00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:34,200
Speaker 1: best advice I can give anyone starting out is it's

600
00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:37,240
Speaker 1: a step by step process. And you may have your

601
00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:40,080
Speaker 1: eye on the end of the rainbow, but arriving in

602
00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:43,760
Speaker 1: the rainbow involves many steps along the way. So take

603
00:29:43,760 --> 00:29:47,840
Speaker 1: an idea and master that idea, master what you do,

604
00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:50,040
Speaker 1: and people will be dying to hire you to do

605
00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:53,080
Speaker 1: the next thing, or fund you the next thing. It

606
00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:56,840
Speaker 1: really is about just taking an idea and then not

607
00:29:57,000 --> 00:29:59,640
Speaker 1: letting go of it. And by the way, everything is

608
00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:02,840
Speaker 1: a good ideas an opportunity until it's not. So if

609
00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:05,360
Speaker 1: you have something, then work it and vet it and

610
00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:06,880
Speaker 1: you'll find out if it isn't and then you have

611
00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:09,880
Speaker 1: to pivot. Let's talk about today, what's going on in

612
00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:13,960
Speaker 1: marketing music today. There's a changing of the guard across

613
00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:16,440
Speaker 1: all entertainment right now. Everything that you and I did

614
00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:19,040
Speaker 1: growing up in an analog world has now just been

615
00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:22,240
Speaker 1: turned upside down. So it's either a time to get

616
00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:24,280
Speaker 1: scared and run to the hills or to say, great,

617
00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:27,360
Speaker 1: we can reinvent ourselves. So now I think it becomes

618
00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:31,400
Speaker 1: much more sophisticated data plays a huge role next to gut,

619
00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:33,320
Speaker 1: which is still about the creativity is there, but there's

620
00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:35,600
Speaker 1: so many ways now to get information out to people,

621
00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:39,120
Speaker 1: so many ways to connect. What happened to music on

622
00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:42,640
Speaker 1: TV networks? I think music on television when we did

623
00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:45,320
Speaker 1: it was wow concerts and then the British came in

624
00:30:45,360 --> 00:30:47,760
Speaker 1: and made them great videos and they created an art

625
00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:50,000
Speaker 1: form out of it. But even that kind of aged

626
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:52,280
Speaker 1: out and we had award shows where people would kind

627
00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:53,640
Speaker 1: of stand up and say good even then good after

628
00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:56,360
Speaker 1: doing good because we didn't have social media during the years,

629
00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:58,480
Speaker 1: so we needed that. Well, social media has turned it

630
00:30:58,560 --> 00:31:01,600
Speaker 1: upside down. So music is live and well. Radio was

631
00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:05,320
Speaker 1: really a personalized medium that actually lead the way for

632
00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:07,880
Speaker 1: television cable. What you and I did in change the world.

633
00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:11,480
Speaker 1: So I think for us now, there are so many

634
00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:15,480
Speaker 1: opportunities to market and it really comes down to understanding

635
00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:18,440
Speaker 1: the platforms you work for and this throwing out the tradition.

636
00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:21,960
Speaker 1: We get stuck in our ways and I think we failed.

637
00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:24,840
Speaker 1: They sometimes reinvent ourselves and that's the challenge we have. Okay,

638
00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:28,080
Speaker 1: the value a good idea for the platform. To me,

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00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:31,520
Speaker 1: it's the idea I think ideas find the platforms people

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00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:34,000
Speaker 1: talk about, Oh my god, broadcast will go away, it's

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00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:36,280
Speaker 1: going to be over the top, and this will go away.

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00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:39,960
Speaker 1: And nothing goes away. It evolves and it becomes a mix.

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00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:44,000
Speaker 1: A great idea can end up on my Heart radio podcast,

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00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:46,720
Speaker 1: be on Amazon, could be on Netflix, it will find

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00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:49,360
Speaker 1: it could be This is Us on NBC. A great

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00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:52,880
Speaker 1: hour long, amazing drama is on broadcast television, but The

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00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:56,080
Speaker 1: Crown is on Amazon. And now you have Disgrace Land

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00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:59,360
Speaker 1: on podcasts. So great ideas, I think will find the

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00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:02,000
Speaker 1: platform of moment. Okay, so let's send it the way

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00:32:02,040 --> 00:32:05,880
Speaker 1: we always do. It's math and magic. Who's the best mathematician?

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00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:11,040
Speaker 1: You know that person who just sees the world from analytics? Easy?

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00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:16,520
Speaker 1: My son Jack Sykes, He's a genius. Who's your best magician? Uh?

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00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:19,480
Speaker 1: You know who makes magic happen every day? But he

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00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:23,360
Speaker 1: doesn't come off. The magician is Lauren Michaels, Lauren Michael's

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00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:27,479
Speaker 1: Saturday Night Live. He's type be very quiet, brilliant and

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00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:30,520
Speaker 1: he makes it happen every week. And he actually has

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00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:33,120
Speaker 1: been my television mentor. We've go on a vacation for

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00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:35,880
Speaker 1: twenty years and we walk on the beach with our

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00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:38,040
Speaker 1: kids all running around, and now they're all grown up.

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00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:41,120
Speaker 1: And he tells me the history of television. And there's

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00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:45,440
Speaker 1: no one out there who understands television like Lauren Michaels. John.

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00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:48,680
Speaker 1: This has been great. Time is flown by Thank you, Bob.

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00:32:51,040 --> 00:32:52,840
Speaker 1: Here are three things I picked up from my chat

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Speaker 1: with John. One jump in the water, whether it was

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00:32:55,920 --> 00:32:58,960
Speaker 1: a college radio station, are running an award show. John's

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00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:01,920
Speaker 1: philosophy has always and to just dive into the opportunities

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00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:05,080
Speaker 1: in front of you and figure it out too. John

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00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:07,680
Speaker 1: believes you should find one thing and pour all your

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00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:10,600
Speaker 1: effort into it. As he puts it, master what you do,

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00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:12,800
Speaker 1: and people will be dying to hire you to the

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00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:16,360
Speaker 1: next thing or fund your next thing. Three b Persistent.

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00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:19,239
Speaker 1: When John gets an idea, he's tenacious about it. When

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00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:21,800
Speaker 1: he heard about MTV, he didn't stop calling my assistant

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00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:27,280
Speaker 1: until he got a call back. I'm Bob Pittman. Thanks

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00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:41,200
Speaker 1: for listening. That's it for today's episode. Thanks so much

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00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:43,440
Speaker 1: for listening to Math and Magic, a production of I

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00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:46,959
Speaker 1: Heart Radio. The show is hosted by Bob Pittman. Special

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00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:50,120
Speaker 1: thanks to Sue Schillinger for booking and wrangling our wonderful talent.

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00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:53,840
Speaker 1: Just no small feat. Nikki Etre for pulling research, Bill

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00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:56,920
Speaker 1: Plax and Michael Asar for their recording help, our editor

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00:33:57,040 --> 00:34:00,760
Speaker 1: Ryan Murdock, and of course Gayl Raoul, Eric Angel, Noel

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00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:03,960
Speaker 1: Mango and everyone who helped bring this show to your ears.

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Speaker 1: Until next time,