People You Need to Meet: The Metal Show

Most of you know that I'm passionate about podcasting.  Matt Wardlaw from the Metal Show, is a podcaster/blogger that works in radio.  Being in the radio business myself, I have a vested interest in this new medium and believe there are good things in store for both.

I met Matt via blogging.  I'm a big metal music fan and reading his blog and listening to his podcast has been pure heaven for a headbanger like me.  Matt is on the cutting edge of technology by using blogging and podcasting to help promote his radio show and there will be many more stations and shows learning from him in the future, I'm sure.

I interviewed Matt for this People You Need to Meet feature and I'm sure you will learn from his insight and experience.  Enjoy and rock on!

Business Thoughts:  You are a blogger and a podcaster.  How did you get started?

Matt Wardlaw:  Well, I've always been a huge fan of the Internet, with an insatiable appetite for music news and anything about music in general.  My early surfing on the Internet fulfilled that need for constant information with great sites like Addicted To Noise, and the early online presence of Rolling Stone magazine, which I had been a subscriber to for many years.  Once I discovered early online stores like Music Boulevard(which later merged into CDNow) that would allow you to buy virtually any catalog CD that you could think of, I was hooked.  And then, along came Ebay, which would allow you to find all those out-of-print CDs that you had spent years going to area record conventions looking for.  I think I found everything I had spent years looking for, in a number of months, on Ebay.  The bad part, as I discovered, was that I merely acquired new CDs to look for after I had found everything.  It's an ongoing addiction that continues today.

After a few years on the radio side of things, Bob Neumann, who was my boss at the time, gave me the opportunity to do a radio show called The Metal Show.  It was his idea, he came up with the name for the show, and gave me my "metal" on-air name of The Warlock.  Being that metal is a bit of a niche format, I developed a very basic area of the station website, that was dedicated to the weekly playlist for the show, and eventually, interview clips and metal music news of interest to the audience that listened to the show.

When Blogger came along, I started to use it, as it was a good quick way to get information out there about the show, very quickly.

In mid-2003, we joined Xtreme Radio to do our show, after an 8 month break which came after I left my previous full-time radio employment. At that point, my co-host Chris Akin insisted on putting together a full-blown website for the show, which was something we had never had.  I was amazed that the show had made it through many years and several different program directors, and at the time when we were at the previous radio station, I shot down the idea of a full website frequently, because I didn't want to call too much attention to the show around the station, because I thought chances were good it might get yanked.  We flew under the radar the entire time we were at the previous station, and that was always a good thing, in my book.

Once we got to Xtreme, things were different - they had come to us, on the strength of the show and listening audience that we had built, and asked us to bring the show to Xtreme Radio.  So, at that point, it made sense to put up a website, and we initially put together a PHP-based site that was a bit of a bitch to maintain, but was good for blogging all of the latest details on the show.  In late 2003, I had begun blogging quite a bit on the show's Myspace page, so we eventually got rid of our main webpage all together, and drove all web-traffic to our Myspace page.

As for podcasting, a good part of my day job stuff for quite a long time was web work, so I have always made the effort to stay up on the latest developments from a web standpoint, and so I was interested when I heard about this "podcasting" thing that was developing with Adam Curry as the resident pretty face representation for the movement.  Not having an Ipod, I ignored it for a short period, because like many, I figured you had to have an Ipod to be a participant.  But, I had been reading a few radio guys that were blogging about it, and it was this post by Ray Edwards in particular, calling out the average morning show to take advantage of a FREE way to grow their audience, that got my attention, and launched me into reading up to find out what podcasting was all about.  I found a quick and dirty phpfile that would generate the necessary RSS file, and began to throw up our regular weekly show.  I didn't seek any sort of company permission to do it, and figured that if someone was upset on the radio side, that I would deal with that, whenever it came to that point.  As it happened, one of the first emails that I got, was from someone at the corporate office that was a fan.

At the same time, I was continuing to read up on podcasting, listening to Curry's Daily Source Code, and working on putting together my "home studio" setup.  I'm still working on that setup, and getting it right, but I have enough of a basic setup, that I can podcast at will.  In early November, I dumped the PHP script, and installed Wordpress to take advantage of the automatic RSS feed that it would generate for the MP3 attachment for each podcasting post.  Also, I wanted to have a blog that would be completely dedicated to all podcasting related activities.

We are now at the end of March 2005, and I think I am finally satisfied with my website for the podcast (for the moment), and I am now working to continue refining my recording setup.

BT:  Tell us more about your "day job".

MW:  When I left radio full-time in late 2002, I dabbled a bit in some marketing work, based out of my house, and discovered something new about myself, that I hated working out of my house.  I enjoy that day-to-day interaction with people, and that was sorely missed during my time working out of my house, despite the flexible schedule.  A friend of mine, in the record business, said to me once "it's very strange, having to leave your house, to leave work."  And he was 100 percent right about that, which I discovered during my time in 2003.  In December 2003, I got the chance to join Envision Radio Networks, an exciting start-up helmed by Danno Wolkoff, who I had known of, from his days working for MJI Broadcasting (which later became Premiere).  When I joined Envision, there were about 5 shows and services that they were handling, with only 1 salesperson on staff.  By the time June rolled around, the staff had grown to 5 full time salespeople, and about 14 different shows and services. 

Currently, we represent a number of shows and services, including the popular morning show prep services Bitxchange and Today's Bits, and in early 2005, we have begun working with both BDSRadio.Com and Air America Radio, both of which I am very excited about.  Certainly, a highlight of working at Envision, has been the chance to represent Rockline with Bob Coburn, which I grew up listening to.  An average day finds me on the phones from 9am-6pm talking to radio stations throughout the southwest, letting them know about the various shows and services that we have available, and also dealing with any problems and needs that pop up with our affiliate radio stations.  It's been a great company to be involved with, and much like my early days on the radio side, I enjoy going to work everyday.

BT:  Do you have any goals you are trying to achieve with your blogging and podcasting?

MW:  Well, we are currently one of only two heavy metal podcasts out there. Heavy metal, it seems, has long been a niche-audience format, and I am well aware and appreciative of the audience that digs the music that we play, as much as we do.  My goals with blogging and podcasting are the same ones that I have had for our show, and that is to create a show that has a little bit of something, for everyone that is listening.  Anyone who listens to our show, knows that we go out of our way to cover the entire spectrum of heavy metal and rock music.  We like a lot of different stuff musically, and the show certainly reflects that.

Goal-wise, I would be open to affiliating the show with the right network of podcasting programming.  There are a lot of different for-profit companies that are emerging right now, and it's hard to know who is going to be the first one to figure out how to make money, but if someone wanted our program to be a part of other quality programming, it would certainly be an interesting discussion.

On the tech side, Skype has come a long way, and the quality is finally good enough, that Chris and I are planning to do a collaborative show at least once a week in addition to our regular broadcast show.  Chris did his first band interview via Skype today, and we have a few others in the works.  I introduced Chris to Skype last week, and he has been wasting no time in integrating it into his recording setup.  For anyone doing a college/commercial specialty show like us, Skype is a GREAT way to do an interview with a band for your show, without having to worry about how you are going to get a studio to record it.

BT:  What are your hobbies?

MW:  Full time music geek definitely goes a long way towards describing it.  I have always enjoyed the frequent visits to the choice record store in the area.  My family moved around quite a bit as I was growing up, so I have been fortunate enough to live in a diverse collection of cities and states, and most of them had a good record store, or two.  I enjoy a good road trip to go see a concert.  Chicago was my initial destination of choice, having spent some time there growing up.  Recently, I've been digging going to Detroit, where a good friend of mine works at the local rock powerhouse WRIF.  It seems like WRIF always has a good show or 20 on deck, so there is no shortage of potential roadtrips to pick from.  Most recently I was up there in November for a club show with Velvet Revolver.  I love collecting high quality soundboard and FM concert recordings.  My radio friends know me to be the guy they can get in touch with when they are looking for a great live show to round out a contest weekend, or for a "post-concert echo". 

I also enjoy good times spent with good friends - I'm not always the best at keeping in touch, but when we get together, it always seems like only a few days have passed since the last time we got to hang out.  Also, I am a big laserdisc aficianado - if you're looking to get rid of your collection, you can donate it to me here in Cleveland, and I will take good care of it!  Obviously a huge Internet fan, and enjoy reading the various tech blogs maintained by Dave Winer, Robert Scoble, and TDavid, and I also enjoy reading a wide variety of other blogs, including this one!  One of these days, I will finally get an Ipod, and will have more time to listen to podcasts.  Some of my favorites include Bibb and Yaz Take Over The World, and Jawbone Radio, which just happens to originate right here in Cleveland, where I live.  Hopefully the Jawbone crew will have me on as a guest one of these days.  I'm also addicted to Rocketboom.  I can't quite explain it.  I do enjoy writing for Blogcritics in my spare time, and that gives me a good outlet for writing about everything that I enjoy. 

We haven't even begun to discuss all of the various music news and celeb gossip sites I frequent!  Info junkie?  That's me.  I was at the public library at age 10 reading Billboard Magazine, and I am afraid my habits have only intensified since then.

BT:  What else would you like people to know about you?  What are you most proud of?  What do you love doing the most?

MW:  I'm very proud that I was fortunate in these times, to have parents that gave a damn about raising me well, and they taught me early on to treat people well, as I would want to be treated in return.  Part of being in radio for me, was to prove that you could exist in such a dirty business, and still be a good person.  I am proud of those years that I spent working full-time in radio, all of the great experiences that I was able to go through being in radio, and all of the great people that I got to experience them with.  As a total music geek, I got to meet virtually all of my musical heroes (minus Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, and Eddie Van Halen), and when I decided post-radio to move in a different direction, I truly had no regrets. 

I am most proud of my fiance Kelly, and my family, for all that they add to my world.  It takes special people to put up with me, and they do a great job of making it look easy.  I am also very proud of the people that have taken the time over the years to share their wisdom and advice with me, and continue to do so to this day.  I love making others happy - whether it is with the show, or through my actions in everyday life, I work hard to make those around me feel appreciated.  You can't accomplish that all of the time, but you can try.

UPDATE - 4/7/05
[link] to Hollywood Reporter's article (4/2/05) on podcasting mentioning Matt's Metal Show

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tags:  podcasting | radio | metal | skype | interviews | blogs