The Media Roundtable is back! This week we’ve dusted off our trusty crystal ball for a look into 2025. What trends will shape the audio industry next year and beyond? Stay tuned… Dan Granger (CEO, Oxford Road & Veritone One) hosts fellow audio prognosticators: Steven Goldstein (Founder & CEO, Amplifi Media) Tom Webster (Partner, Sounds Profitable) Peter Birsinger (CEO & Founder, Podscribe) “ If this is an existential threat for open RSS, it's going to be because the podcast clients innovated for creators, but did not innovate enough for the user and the user experience. And that's what YouTube is nailing.” - Tom Webster (Partner, Sounds Profitable) The team is talking: Spotify’s YouTube Envy, Revenue Predictions, The Future of Attribution, and more. Let’s jump in.

“Anybody that tries to change what the audience wants is crazy.” - Dan Granger (CEO, Oxford Road & Veritone One) The Media Roundtable is back! This week we’re taking a look back at the biggest trends that shaped audio in 2024. It’s an epic recap of a huge year for our industry. Dan Granger (CEO, Oxford Road & Veritone One) hosts: James Ingrassia - EVP, Client Service, Oxford Road Stew Redwine - VP Creative Services, Oxford Road Miranda Romano - SVP, Media, Oxford Road Neal Lucey - EVP, Strategy & Product, Oxford Road Conor Doyle - President, Veritone One The team is talking: the Podcast Election, Big Money Deals, the Rise of Video, and so much more. Let’s dive in.

“There's interesting data that's been coming out suggesting that podcasts and hosts are the most trusted figures in media.” Brian Reed, (Host of Question Everything, S-Town - This American Life) The Media Roundtable is back! This week we’re bringing you a hard-hitting story featuring a unique, journalistic perspective on the landscape of audio and media. Dan Granger, (CEO & Founder, Oxford Road) sits down with journalist Brian Reed, (Host of S-Town, The Trojan Horse Affair, This American Life) about Brian’s new hit podcast Question Everything, 7 years in the making. Back in 2017, Australian journalist, Gay Alcorn criticized S-Town as being "morally indefensible". After brushing off that criticism, Brian Reed did something extremely clever: he sat down for an in-depth chat with Alcorn in the Question Everything podcast pilot. Together, Dan and Brian discuss: the origins of S-Town and Question Everything, ethics and bias in storytelling, journalistic principles for advertisers, and more. Let’s dive in.

This week Oxford Road's CEO Dan Granger speaks on American broadcasting entrepreneur, Norm Pattiz, founder of both the radio network Westwood One and the podcast network PodcastOne, who passed away on Sunday at the age of 79.

This week, on the Media Roundtable: Industry Edition, the agents of influence are tackling the future of podcasts, from misinformation to the specter of ad overload. Let’s dig in.

This week, on the Media Roundtable: Industry Edition, the agents of influence are tackling media nutrition labels, Twitter’s problems, and more.

This week, on the Media Roundtable: Industry Edition, the agents of influence are tackling free speech and brand safety. Returning to host is Oxford Road’s founder and CEO Dan Granger, along with fellow Oxford Road experts Kristen Duenas, Neal Lucey, and Steven Abraham.

This week, on the Media Roundtable: Industry Edition, the agents of influence are tackling legitimacy–from partners grading their own homework to watermarking voices. You won’t want to miss it. Hosting is Oxford Road’s very own Head of Marketing, Jennifer Laine, along with fellow Oxford Road experts Stew Redwine and Neal Lucey. And we’re welcoming special guest Bryan Barletta of Sounds Profitable, a newsletter about the business of podcasting (a must-read if you’re making or spending money on podcasts).

This week, on the Media Roundtable: Industry Edition, the agents of influence are tackling key metrics: what’s a sham and what’s worth shelling out for. Listen up to avoid pulling a Wanamaker. Leading the charge is Oxford Road’s VP of Creative Services, Stew Redwine, along with fellow Oxford Road experts Kristen Duenas, Neal Lucey, and James Ingrassia. Also bringing deep insider knowledge is special guest Alyssa Meyers, a reporter at Morning Brew’s always insightful Marketing Brew Newsletter. (A great subscribe–will easily be your second favorite marketing newsletter).

This week’s Media Roundtable: Industry Edition tackles the news marketers like you need to hear, including Industry layoffs, Spotify’s podcast dominance, and why marketers need to take a deeper dive into your influencers before agreeing to anything. This week, Kyle Jelinek hosts the episode alongside returning Oxford Road team members Dan Granger, Spencer Semonson, and Kristen Duenas. Listen as these “Agents of Influence” put their years of industry experience to work, helping you make sense of the latest podcast news while occasionally taking a short detour into the inane with fake ad reads and just enough nonsense to keep it interesting.

Media Roundtable Industry Edition returns this week, with the entire panel just back from their trip to Podcast Movement 22. Host Jennifer Laine leads this week’s discussion with Roundtable veteran Dan Granger and newcomers Tamara Zubatiy from Barometer and Oxford Road’s Gary Brown. The show begins with the panel discussing the biggest news of his year’s Podcast Movement; Ben Shapiro’s unannounced appearance and the social media s#*t storm that transpired.

Back by popular demand! This week’s Media Roundtable: Industry Edition tackles the news you need to hear about including Spotify’s new brand safety tool, the panic and perils around hidden persuaders, and what a
CNN transition means for the direction of journalism in this country.

Media Roundtable’s “Industry Edition” returns to discuss the hot topics of the day, including a quick recap of the latest from PodNews, the industry’s latest solutions for brand safety, the loss of HBO Max, and much more. This week, Dan Granger returns as host alongside other members of the Oxford Road team, Kristen Duenas, Spencer Semonson, and Stew Redwine, as they discuss the most critical topics in the world of marketing from those of us working in the media and audio industries.

“Take big swings.” - Robbie Giles (VP, Performance & Lifecycle Marketing, MasterClass) The Media Roundtable is back! This week we’re bringing you one of our favorite panels from the CAO Summit, recorded live at Spotify’s Pod City Campus. There’s no bigger performance lever than our topic— message optimization. Stew Redwine (VP Creative Services, Oxford Road) hosts all-star CAOs Brynn Greenelsh (Marketing Manager, Auctane–Stamps.com & ShipStation) Robbie Giles (VP, Performance & Lifecycle Marketing, MasterClass), Emily Deason, (Senior Manager, Offline Marketing, Babbel), and Cassandra LaPrairie (Performance Marketing Lead, Audio, Wise). This all-star lineup is talking: testing the right thing, trusting hosts, cross-pollination, and more.

Media Roundtable’s “Insider Edition” Returns to discuss the hot topics of the day, including more on how the advertising industry is responding to the economic downturn, the future of podcast discoverability, how advertisers may be ruining America’s pastime, and much more. 

This week, Jennifer Laine (Head of Marketing) hosts the show alongside fellow Oxford “Roadies,” Stew Redwine (VP Creative Services), Charisse Miller (Senior Account Lead Director), and Kyle Jelinek (Senior Account Lead Director) as they discuss the most critical topics in the world of marketing from an insider’s perspective.

The Influencer presents our first ever Media Roundtable “Industry Edition” where industry insiders discuss recent industry news in true roundtable fashion. This week, host Dan Granger is joined by fellow Oxford Road team members, Jennifer Laine Vanbeek (Head of Marketing), Stew Redwine (VP Creative Services), and Kyle Jelinek (Senior Account Lead Director). Together, these four “Roadies” discuss the hottest topics of the day and provide their unique insights into what they mean for your business.

The Media Roundtable takes a bit of a turn this week with guest host Stew Redwine (Oxford Road VP, Creative Services) taking the mic to discuss the art of sound with fellow audiophile Dallas Taylor, Creative Director of Defacto Sound, the sonic source for the world’s most thoughtful brands, and the host and creator of the award-winning podcast, Twenty Thousand Hertz.

Gillie Da King and his cousin Wallo267 co-host the hit podcast Million Dollaz Worth of Game from Barstool Sports, and today they take a seat at the Media Roundtable. Gillie and Wallo have an ability to be genuine and non judgemental, creating a show where guests like Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Mike Tyson, Alicia Keys, and Swizz Beatz can open up and speak honestly, producing must-listen episodes. This authenticity also allows Gillie and Wallo to disentangle complex cultural issues like balancing cultural appreciation and appropriation with white audiences, social sensitivity, and forgiveness.

Matt Belloni, former top dog at The Hollywood Reporter, current co-founding partner at Puck News, joins us to discuss his recently new podcast The Town, from The Ringer, where he takes you inside Hollywood with exclusive reporting about the business of show business. Marketers concerned with the implications of the latest changes and challenges facing media will find this conversation meaningful. Tune in to hear our discussion around the discovery of the edges of the digital media universe, and much more.

In a world where, according to Edelman’s Trust Barometer, corporations are more trusted than the government and media, what do you do with that trust? At SXSW, we assembled a powerhouse panel to answer that question. This week, Oxford Road’s Founder and CEO, Dan Granger joins media veterans, Jory Des Jardins (CMO, Countable) and Natasha Simko Morgan, Ph.D. (Head of Enterprise Marketing, Indeed) to discuss the increasing challenge of aligning brand values with media spend.

This week we’re serving up a panel discussion with some of the leading minds of the industry, from last month’s SXSW for you to feast upon. Oxford Road’s Jennifer Laine sits down with industry experts Bryan Barletta founder of Sounds Profitable, iHeart Radio’s Chief Creative Officer, and self-proclaimed recovering Creative, Rahul Sabnis, and Ph.D., Engineer, and Polarization Expert, Kevin Kells to discuss the state of Podcast and what’s next in the medium.

If you look back at the history of our newsletter, The Influencer, you’ll oftentimes find articles and insights sourced from Morning Brew. Morning Brew is many things we want The Influencer to be; a witty, to-the-point, take on media trends. You owe it to yourself to subscribe to Morning Brew, the self-proclaimed “world’s wittiest business insights newsletter” and its sister newsletter, Marketing Brew. It’s with “stan” admiration that we’re elated to have Morning Brew’s Jason Schulweis as a guest on the Media Roundtable.

Retired San Francisco Ad Man Joey Dumont knows the power of engaging with uncomfortable truths when it comes to working with brands. While a former Questus managing director, Dumont wrote his memoir so his sons would have a record of the messiness of their father’s previous transgressions as an executive in Media. A self-proclaimed recovering douchebag, Dumont’s new journalistic platform, True Thirty lives in that same messy middle, exploring today’s most thorny issues through the lens of “slow journalism” with a politically-diverse team that we believe is a model for the future of journalism.

The term Renaissance man doesn’t do Baratunde Thurston justice. He’s an Emmy-nominated host who’s worked at The Onion and The Daily Show, advised the Obama White House, and wrote the New York Times bestseller How To Be Black. “Everything we know is becoming something we don’t know—constantly.” -Baratunde Thurston Currently, he’s the creator and host of one of Apple’s favorite podcasts of 2020, “How to Citizen with Baratunde,” he hosts the new PBS show, America Outdoors, and he’s a founding partner of the new media startup Puck where he just wrote the incredibly thoughtful piece “Will Smith’s Tragic Lesson.” Thurston understands what’s happening now and where we’re heading in a very, very rare way. Even rarer, you’re going to come away from this conversation without a sense of doom, but with an earned optimism that’s worth strengthening by, in his words, “citizening.”

“When you can find the right partnership with a host, it can truly transform your business.” Steve Blackford (Head of LifeLock Customer Acquisition, Gen) The Media Roundtable is back! This week we’re featuring one of the most insightful talks from the CAO Summit–Audio’s Role in the Marketing Mix. James Ingrassia (EVP, Client Service, Oxford Road) moderates an all-star CAO panel with Alexis Gossard (Senior Manager, Media Strategy, Bayer), Ethan Shibutani (Senior Director, Growth Marketing, DraftKings), Steve Blackford (Head of LifeLock Customer Acquisition, Gen), and Tor Thilert (Senior Lead for Global TV Advertising, Shopify). They’re talking: Audio Allies, Budget Splits, Podcast’s Blurring Lines, and more. Let’s dig into it.

Lisa Carmen Wang knows about resilience. Despite achieving national success as a gymnast in her teens, the never-ending pursuit of success left her feeling hollow. It wasn’t until she stepped into her full power that she realized, “A woman steps into her full power NOT when she is finally given permission to do so, but when she realizes she never needed it in the first place.” Wang is now a serial entrepreneur, podcaster, angel & crypto investor, and the founder of the Bad Bitch Empire, which helps women unapologetically build self-worth and wealth by leveraging the power of Web3. Her new podcast of the same name is out now and demands a listen.

This panel will get real about responsible media and our culture, breaking down the shifting responsibilities of consumers, brands and media. We will discuss: Is it now up to you as a media consumer to determine what's true and what isn't? Everyone says they want just the facts from news media. What does that mean? What is the responsibility of brands to align themselves with truthful content, We will introduce Barometer and we will discuss why, apart from what Barometer is doing in podcasts) why is it so hard to do that?

Tackling tough social issues while being funny at the same time is a tall order, few can do well. This week’s Media Roundtable guests are one of the few. Kulap Vilaysack and SuChin Pak produce the hit podcast Add to Cart where they share physical and metaphorical items they’re adding to their carts in tangential, honest conversations. Apple Podcasts spotlighted the show and fan reviews say it’s “Like a warm cup of tea and cookies with besties.”

Oinounou is that incredibly rare thing–a voice of reason. To listen to him is to feel calmer and more informed. After seeing how the incentive structure of the media landscape rewards the most opinionated and click-baity news coverage, Oinounou is trying, and succeeding with a different approach. Oinounou has created his own curated and well-sourced news channel, Mo News, on Instagram where he shows tremendous respect for his nearly quarter-million strong audience. He informs without panicking, and provides much needed context. He is a perfect example of a new type of news source that brands should be falling over each other to align with and sponsor.

No one sees the truth and the Internet like Virginia Heffernan. Online since she was a child in the ‘70s, Heffernan is a Harvard Ph.D. whose book examining digital culture, “Magic and Loss: The Internet As Art ” was called “An illuminating guide to the internet” by the Wall Street Journal.

Heffernan’s a contributing editor for Wired, frequently writes for The LA Times, The Atlantic, and the NY Times, and hosts the podcast This is Critical which fans call “my drug of choice” and “a joy to listen to.” This week she joins Media Roundtable to talk about her career, the state of culture, and how the internet has changed life as we know it. 

For Heffernan, advertising thrives on the blurring of lines between fact and fiction (that’s why ads try so hard to sound like the unpaid content that surrounds them). Brands can drive action by hypnotizing the audience because they don’t know what is true. But Heffernen argues, your brand will do better by meeting your audience in a playful space with ads that are clearly meant to entertain and engage a “willing suspension of disbelief.

This episode of Media Roundtable is a little different than the norm. Last Sunday, over 100M viewers tuned in to watch the best of the best collide to establish dominance in America’s greatest showdown. We’re not talking about the Rams and Bengals; we’re talking about the commercials, and in true Media Roundtable fashion, the impact they have on the world. This week, latter-day madmen, Stew Redwine and Jason Harris break down the biggest winners and losers during what they’re calling The Nostalgia Bowl. But this exercise is not just a fun bit of “Monday morning Creative Directing”, their insights unlock creative insights your brand can use all year long.

If you want to understand the future of podcast advertising, spend 5 minutes with Bryan Barletta. This week, The Media Roundtable gives you almost an hour with the self-described “Podcast ad-tech by day, dungeon master by night.” Barletta is a towering authority when it comes to podcast ads. With an ad-tech background from Claritas and Megaphone, he founded Sounds Profitable, a weekly podcast ad-tech newsletter and podcast jam-packed with industry insights that are actually enjoyable to listen to.

It’s Black History Month and if you want to learn from someone who has been on the front lines of advancing underrepresented Black voices over the past 3+ decades, you may want to tune into this week’s episode. This week’s guest, Kierna Mayo has played Queen and Kingmaker since the ’80s, in equal parts as a cultural critic, curator, and contributor. This conversation goes deep and offers levity at times, but is challenging to anyone who concerns themselves with living anti-racist.

Serial entrepreneur Michael Bosstick has done it all. He’s sold beds for private jets and overcame his fear of public speaking to launch a hit podcast with his superstar wife, Lauryn Evarts Bosstick. But the reason we asked him to join us on the Media Roundtable is because of his tireless work as CEO of the podcast network, Dear Media, where he has created a platform for female podcasters to dominate the landscape.

Media Roundtable returns with our 2022 season debut featuring an interview with a podcast host who is the walking embodiment of our values. Bari Weiss is an award-winning journalist and the author of How to Fight Anti-Semitism. Weiss worked as a staff writer and opinion editor for The New York Times until her 2020 principle-driven resignation letter (a must-read) sent her on a path toward independent journalism driving her to create the hit podcast Honestly, and her Substack newsletter, Common Sense. After more than a year of invitations, this week, Bari Weiss joins Media Roundtable to talk about her journey to save journalism and the free exchange of ideas in our democracy.

The world’s only podcast solely dedicated to audio ads is back! Presenting Ad Infinitum Season 2, Episode 9 - "Simulacrum Ex Machina." Newly-dubbed Audio GOAT Stew Redwine (VP, Creative Services, Oxford Road) welcomes Oskar Serrander (Co-Founder/CEO, Wondercraft) fresh from the launch of Wondercraft. Join Stew and Oskar as they talk Wondercraft's origins, how to think in audio, and the most important audio factor: Ryan Reynolds. Plus–breaking down ~$20M in audio ads from BetterHelp, Toyota, Whole Foods, and Mint Mobile (Guess which one’s the best/hint: Ryan Reynolds). “I just think audio deserves a little bit better.” Oskar Serrander (Co-Founder/CEO, Wondercraft)

In this season of gratitude, Jennifer Laine, Head of Marketing at Oxford Road and Executive Director for Media Roundtable, joins Dan for this single episode recap of our Fall Season of Media Roundtable. Together, they look back at the changes we've made to the series, how we're living out the Media Roundtable Values within the Ad Industry, and debate/recap/highlight all ten guests from the last season.

“Life is not about paper.” - Metta Sandiford-Artest Metta Sandiford-Artest, aka Metta World Peace, aka Ron Artest, is ahead of every curve. He was canceled before you could get canceled. He’s been a passionate advocate for mental health for over a decade. And it sure seems like Facebook’s rebrand is following in his footsteps. How did he do it? Maybe it’s because Metta embraces transformation. He’s a podcaster with a new show Mettaphorically Speaking, has multiple business ventures including Artest Management Group, he’s an author, and a grandfather. In other words, he’s come a long way since being at the center of the infamous Malice at the Palace brawl that he estimates cost him $50-100 Million in his career. For marketers shepherding their brands, or recovering from controversy, Metta is living proof that you can change the way people see you., But, it won’t just come throughbut it’s not through a quick rebrand. It’s through the kind of passionate, time-intensive focus, ownership of mistakes, and years of impactful actions that are impossible to fake. All of which makes his new podcast worth consideration for almost any advertiser, but especially those looking to connect with authentic influencers like Metta. Click below to learn why Metta had no problem auctioning off his champion ring for charity, how he used his math major for basketball, and the power of forgiveness in this positive, wide-ranging conversation.

“If you’re not advertising in the Latino space now... in twenty years you’re just not going to be relevant.” - Julio Ricardo Valera Growing up bilingual and bicultural in Puerto Rico and the Bronx, Julio Ricardo Valera didn’t see media that was made for him by people who looked like him. Establishment media (and big advertisers) have long misunderstood that the Latino community is far from a monolith, and younger Latinos like Valera simply aren’t served by Univision alone. A Gen-X Harvard graduate, Valera’s desire for English-language Latino-focused media that catered to the younger generation of Latinos led him to create Latino Rebels in 2011. Because Valera has been able to build a loyal, underserved audience, that he can speak directly to through the audio medium he can now definitively state “our demographic is exactly the kind of Latino demographic that you want to be looking for.” And it’s paying off. His shows have attracted such big brands as Progressive, Miller Light, Don Julio, and Oxford Road’s own Indeed.

If Media were Politics, Walk-Ins Welcome would be a viable third-party option for Brands. Host, Bridget Phetasy is a walking masterclass in branding, who has pioneered a new, balanced approach to politics and culture. Comedian, writer (Playboy, The Atlantic, Newsweek), podcaster (Walk-ins Welcome), and YouTube star (Dumpster Fire), Phetasy invented the word phetasy to mean “when reality becomes parody” and vice versa back in 2006 for her disruptive greeting card company. Authenticity like Phetasy’s doesn’t demand perfection, it just asks that you seek to act in a manner becoming of what’s truly important to you. Her intellectual curiosity allows for opinions to change, and that flexibility (even when unpopular) is one of the promises her brand makes to her audience, and one of her strongest assets. With so much content trapping brands into a forced alignment with extremes, Phetasy offers listeners and sponsors a third option, bringing wit, humor, and a non-judgemental approach to a world that so badly needs it. This is why the show appeals to so many performance marketers like Netsuite, Quip, Helix Sleep, and many more. Meet Bridget Phetasy and see if her content is right for your brand in this week’s edition of The Media Roundtable.

When Dave Mays was a sophomore at Harvard, he started a single-page newsletter to serve the hip-hop community he loved with a pipe dream of becoming hip-hop’s answer to Rolling Stone. With millions of readers, a notorious annual awards ceremony, a nationally syndicated radio show, a clothing line, as well as being the first entrepreneur to introduce hip-hop to Madison Avenue, Mays’ fanzine The Source became an institution. Now, Mays turns his gaze to the world of Podcast with the new multi-media network, Breakbeat Media, built to serve the interests and perspectives of the hip-hop audience. For anyone who’s interested in authentically marketing in a way that will be embraced by a community, Breakbeat Media offers a point of entry to reach the hip-hop community and this episode is a great first step to find your way in.

There are plenty of talking heads in the media. But how many became part of the news cycle themselves, over and over again, on the largest stories of the last century? Enter former corporate-attorney-turned-journalist, Megyn Kelly. In this week’s episode, we’ll cover the good, bad, and ugly of Kelly’s career while she shares her perspective on which advertisers are and are not a good fit to sponsor her content, and how she goes the extra mile to make live reads her own… music to the ears of any advertiser. Whatever you think you know about Megyn Kelly, please set it aside and listen without prejudice. You will hear from someone who truly embodies the values of the Media Roundtable, and who just might be your next top spokesperson.

What can manners teach you about marketing? Based on this week’s episode, quite a lot. Emmy Award-winning journalist Nick Leighton and stand-up comic Leah Bonnema are the creators of the hit podcast Were You Raised By Wolves? a show about etiquette and manners in everyday life, and they join The Media Roundtable to connect what mamma taught you to a sound business strategy.

Success has many fathers, but FOMO only has one. His name is Patrick McGinnis. Yes, he’s a venture capitalist, writer, speaker, and creator/host of the hit podcast FOMO Sapiens, boasting over 2 million downloads, but his true place in history has been secured as the literal inventor of the Oxford Dictionary-recognized word “FOMO” (Fear of Missing Out), naming the psychological force that has shaped our feelings (and marketing strategies) for years whether we knew what to call it or not.

Years ago, advertisers could essentially run their commercials anywhere, as long as they hit their marketing objectives. But today, more and more advertisers demand far deeper insights than just what their ads mean to their bottom line. Marketing in today’s climate is about not only knowing if something “works” or not but, you want to feel good about the media you support. To that end, we’re excited about this week’s guest whose work through the podcast network she’s created and the shows she hosts is extremely purpose-oriented. Our guest this week is Amy Westervelt, an award-winning climate print and audio journalist. Westervelt is the founder and executive producer of the Critical Frequency Podcast Network, and also the host of the hit true-crime climate podcast Drilled, along with the upcoming podcasts Rigged and Damages. Westervelt is a podcast giant not only for the massive amount of thoroughly researched journalism she’s produced but for the sharp insight she has into her audience that makes her a case study for successful podcast marketing. Tune in to learn why lawsuits are the sign of a great story, why fact-checking on podcasts is so much less common than on radio, what it looks like when climate change deniers go after Big Oil, and why all the moderate climate solutions are no longer an option.

They say history repeats itself, so there may be no better person than American history aficionado and podcast mastermind, Lindsay Graham to show us what we have in store for the future of the medium. Lindsay’s podcast pedigree is unmatched, with nearly everything he touches worthy of sponsorship consideration for most advertisers. This week, he gives an insider’s look at the myriad of things it takes to make a great podcast, and what he desperately needs from the brands he endorses. Lindsay Graham (the podcaster, not the other one) has had a chart-topping rise to podcast prominence at the same time as the podcast industry itself broke into the mainstream. Over the last past few years, Graham has evolved into a podcasting titan. He’s the Webby Award-winning host of American History Tellers, American Scandal, and American Elections: Wicked Game. He’s also the executive producer of scripted podcasts 1865 and Terms and has worked on Dirty John and Dr. Death, among many others. Needless to say, Lindsay Graham has impacted tens of millions of listeners through his work.

The world’s only podcast solely dedicated to audio ads is back! Presenting Ad Infinitum Season 2, Episode 8 - "Sonic Truths." Fearless host Stew Redwine (VP Creative Services, Oxford Road) welcomes JJ Healan (Vice President, U.S. Marketing, Brand Content and Engagement, McDonald's) for a big bite of McDonald’s. The Golden Arches are an audio advertising giant, (celebrated extensively in Ad Infinitum S01 E07 ‘It’s all in the Execution’) and we’re mining insights from Mickey D’s 20+ year “I’m Lovin’ It” journey. Join Stew and JJ as they explore; sharing the pen, fan truths, and being flawesome. Let’s indulge: “We no longer ask, when we have ideas presented, ‘will it work?’ We ask if it's true. Because if we know it's true, we know we're on to something.” – JJ Healan (Vice President, U.S. Marketing, Brand Content and Engagement, McDonald's)

Our conversation begins in the 1960s, when Guiliani, then a promising young Democrat, meets two men he admires: John and Bobby Kennedy. Two decades later, Guiliani is U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York prosecuting the heads of the five families, when John Gotti motions to order his assassination. Fast forward to 2001, we all know Giuliani’s role on 9/11 as the picture of leadership during a crisis, earning him recognition as Time Magazine's Person of the Year, being Knighted by the Queen, and dubbed, "America's Mayor" by Oprah. The morning of our interview, he retraces his steps in Lower Manhattan, reliving his experience of that fateful day. Nowadays, Rudy describes how some people run up to hug and thank him for his leadership, while at the same time, others yell expletives that he is unwilling to repeat. For those of us who long to recreate an age where our leaders set aside personal differences to stand united in the face of an existential threat, Rudy Giuliani will not be of service. His podcast, Common Sense, features a steady stream of unfiltered claims against leading Democratic figures. Spoiler Alert: Rudy does not like the Bidens. As a podcaster, his goal is to provide information that The New York Times will not. While Giuliani’s placement on the Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart ranks the show on par with Rachel Maddow and Anderson Cooper, advertisers who might consider alignment with his program must count the risks of his position on the right as commentator and participant. The search for a modern unifying figure in America feels like an acid trip through a house of mirrors. The Rudy Giuliani we see today is beleaguered, but defiant, resembling more of the New York Prosecutor of the 80's than the unifying figure we met on September 11th, 2001, but this time, without backing from the halls of power.

The new season of The Media Roundtable will launch as our (dare we say) final iteration of the program, which will serve as a sort of “Unboxing” or “Buyer’s Guide” to personality-driven shows for brands and consumers.

What do T-Pain, Bill O’Reilly, NYT’s Ben Smith, and leaders from GARM, IAB, and 4As all have in common? They are all featured in our season finale of The Media Roundtable Podcast. 

We know you’ve been busy, so this should be a fun way to catch up as Dan guides you through curated clips. With American’s trust in media eroding and news consumption becoming more partisan by the minute, this podcast is a must-listen for media and marketers looking to balance brand values with business objectives. 

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