December 30, 2024 • 45 mins
With over 25 years of experience at the Walt Disney Company, Phil Guerini was there for Disney Music’s biggest moments!
From the launch of Hilary Duff’s career to the Jonas Brothers “Burning Up“ the charts, Phil chats with Will and Sabrina about his career highlights throughout the years!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
And welcome to this Park Hopper episode of Magical Rewind.
We got the you know, I say this all the time,
we got a special one, but it's true. One of
the things that we're really starting to delve into when
it comes to the world of dcom is all of
the other things that go into making one good, yes.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Let alone making one great.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
And one of the things that we keep coming back
to constantly is the music. So if you can help us,
please welcome Phil Goreini, Hey, hey, Hello, how are you film?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Oh gosh, hey, you look so cool.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Occasion I will say I don't wear this every day,
but knowing that I was gonna be with the two
of you, how to do it good?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I love it?
Speaker 5 (01:05):
I love it?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
We're great? Thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
We have been so as we've been delving into dcom
after dcom after dcom. Yeah, the one thing that keeps
coming back to us all the time that really is
make or break for the movie is the music. Sure,
but I'd like to start with a little of your
personal life, if that's okay, And I'm just curious is
(01:32):
to where your love of music came from? Is something
you had your entire life, and how did you get
into this side of the industry.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah, actually, it's a great question. I grew up less,
grew up in a home that was filled with music.
Every single member of my family, with my mother and father,
exposed us to a lot of various types of music,
and for as long as I can remember, it has
been as much a part of my life as anything,
(01:59):
and I again have been blessed to pursue that as
a profession for my entire life. So, yes, it's it's
definitely I would consider part of my DNA and I
can't imagine doing anything else.
Speaker 6 (02:13):
Wow, you're so good at it.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Are you a musician as well?
Speaker 3 (02:19):
I wouldn't say that, that would be probably an overstatement.
I did pursue it for a period of time, but
very early on came to the reality that that was
not just not gonna be my path. I think like
many kids who aspire to be a rock star, I
thought I was going to be one as well, and
that it was just a matter of time until someone
(02:39):
discovered me or my band or whatever it was that
at that time, and that just never happened. And then
into my high school years of participating in the choir
and different musical productions, what have you. And even beyond
a little bit into into college, the reality sunk in that,
you know, any type of at that time formal education
(03:03):
was going to lead you down a path of becoming
a music teacher. I loved my music teachers, but I
didn't want to be a music teacher. And all of
the incredible opportunities that that music students have today just
didn't weren't available at that time. Music business, music, you know,
take this. There's dedicated universities here, certainly even in Nashville,
(03:24):
and that you know, a core program of what they
do is is to focus on music. That was just
not the time that that that I grew up in.
Speaker 5 (03:32):
Yeah. So then out of high school, what was it
that you were kind of pursuing? How was that that
journey for you once you once you graduated high school?
Speaker 3 (03:41):
I will say, you know, by the hand of God,
you know, I was placed into situation and exposed to
opportunities that led me in a different direction. Very early
on in back when I when I was in college,
was exposed to the college radio station and began to Actually,
funny story is my first job in radio. I was
(04:03):
at the University of South Georgia at the time, and
I responded to a help wanted ad for the agricultural
business news reporter at a local radio station. Now I
was went San Diego. I grew up in South Florida,
so I knew nothing about agriculture. As fate would have it,
(04:24):
I went in, I interviewed, and all they were really
looking for was someone who could read.
Speaker 6 (04:30):
Okay, that.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
At the time thing that literally there was a wire
that that was was in in the other room and
you just tore the reports off of that and and
you read them back. And that that put me on
in the space of a radio station where other things
were happening through a series of events and what have you.
(04:54):
I during that period had an opportunity not just there,
but in South Florida markets, had the opportunity to uh
to be around music Immerston music exposed to artists and
really just fell in love with it.
Speaker 5 (05:10):
Wow, And you were part of like the concert tickets
that you could win, and how you know are you
were you in charge of the winners? How did they
what was the keys and the good clues on how
to actually win these tickets?
Speaker 3 (05:24):
You know, it was actually less about that and that
that actually came about a good bit later sort of
in uh, for lack of better my my career, because
I was actually part of the marketing team who created
at that time the the Tiffany Mall tour. Oh okay,
pre dated so many of these things, and it was huge, Like.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
To think we're alone now.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
The video was shot at her mall tour. I mean,
this was this was kind of a groundbreaking thing in music.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Absolutely and at the time, and it was such a
simple concept. It was how do we reach the audience
that we're trying to in in a non traditional way
because no one really knew who she was at the time,
and you're not gonna be able to sell tickets. But
we knew at that time, you know, malls were the
(06:20):
place where preteens and teens gathered literally hundreds of punk
thousands of and the growth of the mega mall with
a center court that was perfect for these type of
opportunities just presented the most robust environment to do that at.
(06:43):
And simultaneously, I had had spent at that point a
number of years at various radio stations where we literally
would would buy venues out and give away every single
ticket to a show as a birthday celebration as a
(07:04):
give back to to the audience, and so that where
the earliest uh sort of experiences in that approach, which
then would of course, many years later for me at Disney,
I would apply some of those very same approaches to
(07:25):
countless UH projects and UH initiatives to really connect and
at that point engage. This is all pre social media
h with with the audience. And you know, from the
top of this conversation, you know d coms attempted to
(07:46):
do that same thing.
Speaker 6 (07:48):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 7 (07:56):
Okay, Well I have to ask because that I was.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
One of those mall kids. I mean I never saw
a show, but I was that age. I mean I
was the perfect age. And so Tiffany was everywhere. Did
did Tiffany birth the mall tour? Or did the mall
tour birth Tiffany? What came first?
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Any birthed the mall tour?
Speaker 1 (08:15):
She did? So that was you had the artist and
you were just this is how we're going to sell her?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Correct that a charge?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
It's so genius, it is.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
It's such a simple concept. You know. One of the
biggest challenges, and I met with an artist this morning,
is even if you have the most amazing material, and
this applies to just about anything. It's how do you
bridge the gap between having that material and connecting it
with an audience. Got to get it to the audience.
(08:50):
One of the biggest challenges today in this streaming ego
that we're in is there's so much materials, so many songs.
Do you discover anything in that process? And I'll Spotify
and the others do a tremendous job at highlighting and
(09:12):
algorithms that hopefully connect with you all of those things,
there's still not a direct connection in most cases to
how do you bring that music program whatever it may be,
to the audience. Don't make them find it, bring to them.
(09:33):
And that's how the Tiffany Tour and so many other
projects I've been involved it was really at it at
its core, understanding the audience. And I would say, with
a tremendous credit to the Disney Channel and all of
the teams there, the leadership there, that's what they did best.
(09:54):
They understood and they understand the audience better than anyone.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Else, as I would agree, absolutely Unlike a lot of
different networks, they also have a very clearly defined audience,
which which some people don't. I mean, Disney knows what
they do and they do it well, which is which
is interesting. And speaking of Disney, then how did you
get from working at radio stations and working in marketing
(10:18):
to the channel.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Well, I actually I did run a stint at in
radio which led to a stint in the label business.
And at that point I was in a transition point
between label moving to another label while under noncompete, and
I had opportunity that I was presented to. I had
(10:42):
worked with a lot of folks at Disney because I
was based in the Atlanta area so regionally. And you
mentioned Debbie Gibson. I believe Debbie and Tiffany who came
up at the same time, right, and a lot of
those artists, young artists were perfectly suited. At that time,
the new Mickey Mouse Club that are you know, Christina
(11:06):
and Brittany and Justin that was filming at the Disney
MGM studios. So it created a perfect opportunity and recipe
for bringing that talent through Walt Disney World. In addition
to at that time something that has since been sunset,
(11:29):
but they had something called grad Nights, the big end
of year graduate celebration that had a tremendous number of
artists being featured. They had also launched a new area
of the Walt Disney World resort called Pleasure Island booking
(11:50):
artists as well. So I stepped into in addition to
that with which I originally came in through the operations
side of the business, to get a better understanding of
the of the business itself. But in truth, I thought
I was only going to be there for a short
period of time until my noncompete ran out and I
(12:10):
would find myself back in the record business because that's
what I had been doing for so long, and I
found the experience, I found the people and the opportunities
that I was able to pursue despite the fact that
I really was not inclined to pursue a music path
within Disney. I wanted to expand my experiences and my
(12:33):
skill set, and I knew that, you know, even at
that time we're talking about the early nineties. At that point,
that with which represented a year, two years even better,
if I could be at the Disney Company for five
years and put that on my resume, it was going
to be meaningful to some one. And so that's exactly
(12:57):
what happened. It was three years and I was having
such a great time, and it became five and five
turned in seven and seven and before I knew it,
and I looked back on it, and I've done it
longer than Sabrina's been a lot. So it has been
definitely the greatest blessing of my life.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
It's so cool. I mean, to think of how many
artists you knew before they were who they are now
is just unreal. I mean, I love it. When did
Radio Disney become something? Because when did like, when did
Radio Disney open up.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Radio Disney memory suits? Because this somewhat predates me, although
I was there. I'm going to say ninety six, okay.
And the interesting thing about that is because I was
at that time one of the talent a talent executive.
I'm at Walt Disney World, and Radio Disney was being
(14:03):
broadcast from the Disney MGM studios in addition to its
home base in Dallas. I fit the very earliest stages,
was involved with that team. You may recall the name
Robin Jones, Sabrina, you know, who is certainly one of
the original architects of the business and to be credited
(14:24):
on so many levels for all that that she brought
to the network. I'm going to say mid mid nineties,
and I have an opportunity. Robin and I had had
been having conversations when I was contemplating on some moves
and what would eventually come about was in two thousand
and four I went out to Brebank to work at
(14:44):
the Music Group. That's when we about when we would
have met for the very first time on of course
the Chead Girl projects and we would travel together and
do the macy S Thanksgiving brand so so many other amazing.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
You froze out on the in the early mornings of
that career right next to us.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
While and that led to a handful of years at
the Music Group, and then an opportunity arose for me
to contemplate a couple of opportunities at the time. One
was to work with the Jonas brothers who were coming
up in the in the space and I had been
(15:26):
a key player in bringing them to the company, or
to go to Radio Disney, and I just at the
time saw the Radio Disney opportunity as a larger one.
I was stepping in as head of marketing, not in
a programming capacity, but uh and and didn't have it
at any vision on that becoming the outcome, but it
(15:50):
would evolved that way in just a couple of years.
That that led to really just a tremendous run of
experiences and opportunities which I certainly credit the entire team,
and fortunately we're all still rather close. It's a family.
(16:11):
It's a family.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
So, as Sabrina said, you were there to see some
I mean these artists before they became megastars.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Oh yeah, I mean the reality of radio disease. And
this even predates my my time being there in that capacity,
has had programming and general manager and all of the
other things. You know, what Radio Disney did and what's
so so missing in today's landscape and in that regard,
and part of it's about the Disney Company, and even
(16:43):
a larger part is not. And that was recognizing talent
at a younger stage in their career and actually getting
behind them, supporting them, and giving them an outlet to
further develop into. And that was both within the Disney
Company as well as outside of the Disney Company. There
(17:04):
were not There certainly were plenty of radio stations out there,
but they weren't prepared to give an opportunity to fourteen
year old in year old with music. We had the
foresight and the confidence that out of the multitude of
people that we were going to support, we were going
(17:26):
to identify through that process, some would go on and today, honestly,
and this is not patting any of us on the back,
but some of a better percentage of the biggest artists
in the world today. All truly, it's not that it
defined them, but that they had a moment, and many
(17:49):
of them had their first songs played on Ordered By
and got exposure on Radio Disney.
Speaker 5 (17:55):
Absolutely, I mean I feel like my last Radio Disney
I went to the Radio Disney Awards. You actually personally
invited me, so thank you. But I remember sitting there
and this kid comes out on stage and I'm like,
look how adorable this little kid is.
Speaker 6 (18:12):
He is so cute.
Speaker 5 (18:14):
I met him backstage such as like cutie Pie and
now he's Shawn Mendes, Like, I mean, like he had
a couple songs and he came out and he was
I mean that was he was younger than Justin Bieber
and this was Justin Bieber's like thing, and I'm like,
oh man.
Speaker 6 (18:33):
This kid is so cute.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
I hope he makes it just like Justin Bieber, and
it's like he sure did. And it was like wow
to see him little. But we were at the Radio
Disney Awards. He wasn't going to be on Empty of
You or you know, show like, he wasn't going to
get that opportunity. And there he was, and the little kids,
all the young girls around me were going bonkers over him.
And they still are. But yes, this that had to
(18:57):
have been his first radio like big award show that
he had ever performed at.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
I had, and that particular example, I have to know.
I have a daughter who's now twenty three.
Speaker 5 (19:10):
No, no, she is not.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
As you remember her when she was a fine size
yet teen.
Speaker 5 (19:18):
Little six or seven year old, Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Because we moved to she moved to la And the
very first day they got there, we were all together
at the disney Mania three taping at Disney's California Adventure.
Speaker 5 (19:37):
It was the first Cheetah Girls performance live ever ever.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
It was it was two thousand and four.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Wow, man, so is there one like?
Speaker 1 (19:47):
So, We've got Sean Mendez, we know the Demi Levados.
Everybody is there. In your entire career, if you have
to think of one artist that the second you saw
or heard you were like superstar.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Who would that be?
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Yeah, wow, that's a really great question with I mean
so many and and and yet it's probably not for
the obvious reasons that people immediately gravitate towards because again
you're seeing I was seeing we were seeing these young
artists at such an early stage, and you would really say,
(20:23):
oh wow, you know that's a massive hit hit song.
But it was a combination and I'll I'll say, you know,
with no agenda here, the young lady that you're sitting
alongside of had every bit that seal whoa, it's so
(20:45):
so true. And it was a combination of things. It
was seeing the motivation and the light that one needs
to have in pursuit of any thing. Sure that this
isn't something that mom or dad or you know, other
factors are influencing to bring that about. And you can
(21:10):
see that, you know, as in an individual. You have
to see that when this individual engages with others, how
do people you know respond to them, you know, let
alone when they get on stage. Are they able to
translate that across And there is a lot to be
(21:33):
said to that. It and we talk about it. We
don't know exactly what it is. And every single one
of those who have who have achieved that level of
success has done it differently. I can say from the
earliest engagements with somebody like Taylor, which we were right there,
(21:53):
Taylor was going to outwork anyone and everyone, and she
still does it to this day. Yes, and while some
can argue, you know, she doesn't have the voice of
Ariana Grande or some of the most notable performers of
this time, she has the unique drive and motivation to
(22:23):
make everyone feel part of her life, part of her community.
And that's a tremendous talent in and of itself, and
others do it in their own ways. And I can
tell you what what's been most rewarding through those experiences
(22:44):
have been to see how they've evolved and how people's
motivations artists motivations have not purely been to be the
biggest star in the world, that to be a common
sort of thread and position, but those it would come
into my office or to our conference room and share
(23:05):
that you know, they've had a difficult time there, their
parents may maybe be walking through some illnesses or whatever.
I just want to help them pay some of those bills.
There's there's greater selflessness to the pursuit of of some
of it, not holistically, but the paths and the ways
(23:25):
that that that that so many of these have evolved.
Of course, with all of the promotion for Wicked out there,
you know, despite the fact that Ariana Grande was a
Nickelodeon artist and a Nickelodeon actress, I and we took
the leap of faith that she had everything through various
(23:50):
times with us that was necessary to break through that
and break above that. And if you go back and
look at the performance of arian Rende after Radio Disney
Music Awards opening up the Radio Disney Music Awards wearing
mouse ears when she was still at Nickelodeon, it makes
(24:11):
a statement to the fact of how we were supporting
and that was Ariana's breakthrough performance of the solve problem.
Speaker 6 (24:19):
Mm hmm, geez, wow, it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
And we have to talk about d cooms a little bit.
Sure were you involved at all in the idea of
what kind of movies would get, what music, what artists
songs would be put in certain I mean, obviously, if
you get something like a camp rock and you have
the Jonas Brothers.
Speaker 6 (24:39):
You know that there's going to be Jonas Brothers music involved.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
But we've been watching some movies where you know, there's
just Radio Disney artists, Disney artists that have nothing to
do with the film.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
But it's clear they want the synergy.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
And I'm just curious who would decide what song goes where?
And you know what DCOM would get some songs, we
get some decoms that they clearly have no real in
music from the from the channel.
Speaker 6 (25:02):
Uh So who makes those decisions?
Speaker 7 (25:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (25:05):
A team of individuals, which which I was peripheral to
in many cases. But you hit the nail on the
head when you said the synergy, you know, and there
certainly was a concerted effort and a focused approach to
supporting things that had a shared interest. Whether that was
(25:25):
across you know, Radio Disney helping with bringing an artists,
or whether or not that was within our music group,
whatever it may be, that's certainly a cornerstone of the
Disney model. However, you can trace the evolution of d
cooms back to to not their earliest days, because most
(25:47):
of them were born of the after school movie franchise
as as opposed to being a musical or whatever it is.
I mean many will earmark things like high school musical,
the first high school musical sort of being the breakthrough.
(26:09):
But I can tell you and certainly Sabrina can the
success of that. She dated that in so many ways,
the Luziy McGuire movie. There are things that had, you know,
music at its core, if they're really you know, yes,
there were loosely based stories to thread it all together,
(26:34):
but at its core their musical musicals or musical movies.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Right, yeah, right?
Speaker 5 (26:42):
And what about I know we were for the Cheetah Girls.
You guys offered like we did a Christmas album and
then it was like, what do you guys think about
going on tour with that? Like would you guys go?
And it was how did that kind of stuf?
Speaker 6 (26:56):
I mean did you?
Speaker 5 (26:57):
Was it just your background and knowing, like from your
days with Tiffany and them all, like we got to
get these these these acts out in front of the
audience because there is such a huge platform for them
to be doing live shows.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Yeah, I can't take credit for that, it certainly was.
It was a team effort and the reality is, again
much of it can be traced back to previous success,
because really in that regard, and even for the Cheetah Girls,
it was Hillary. Yeah, Hillary set that bar. Hillary broke
(27:36):
out of Lizzie McGuire and was literally able to I
booked Hillary at the time on her very first The
irony of some of this is that the steps and
how it all comes together each and other cases is
rather unique. And for Hillary. Hillary had contributed some songs
(27:56):
to the Lizzie McGuire soundtrack that would of course made
have made sense. But keep in mind, Lizzie or Hillary's
character on the show was not was not a musical
in anything. No, yeah, that was not. That was not contemplated. However,
there were certainly examples, well outside of and many years
(28:21):
before it, where television shows had given birth to individuals
that an audience cared so much about that they were
able to do music.
Speaker 6 (28:30):
Partridge Family jumps right to mind.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Yeah, exactly exactly. And as a result of that and
Hilary having that that success, the very first album that
Hillary released was.
Speaker 6 (28:44):
A Christmas album, Oh Wow.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
Christmas album called San plaus Lane. And so I was
still at at Walt Disney World at the time and
booked her to do our Christmas show. Okay, formed that
that was actually her first tape in that way, and
that was a precursor to going on tour that then
would give way to the Cheetah Girls, you know, coming
(29:09):
sort of right behind it, and then it was sort
of off to the race is because the reality, a
big leap of faith was that you could take what
we knew to be a real artist like the Cheetah Girls,
which was an evolution from Hillary character that had developed.
And then you get to something like high school musical
(29:32):
and you're talking about musical individuals and actors and actresses,
but it's not a group and it's a musical dcom.
But how then do you translate that? And oh, by
the way, the star of the films isn't really the singer.
Speaker 5 (29:57):
Yeah, say so crazy.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
How much do you think your job would have been
different if social media was then what it is now?
Speaker 3 (30:17):
I think it may have you know, created another We
were blessed. I mean that we we again, we were
at a period in time where some of that was
just really starting, but certainly not as as critical or
as as significant as it is today. I often ponder,
(30:39):
and as as we have you know, so many including yourself,
Sabrina on the artist at that time, individually or collectively.
When I think about bu MH, it didn't have the
benefit of having a community in that way that you
could promoted to, that you really could have connected with
(31:03):
and built. We were even back at that time, you know,
reliant upon what promotional exposure could we gain on other platforms, right,
And in many ways that was can we get an
interstitial or promo on the Disney Channel, can we do
(31:23):
something on Radio Disney? And even that was a broadcasting
out to a broad audience as opposed to connecting one
on one and building that that real engagement. So I
think it would have changed. And yet I wonder often,
you know, for those artists too, and when when we
(31:45):
think about artists who predate a lot of that, including
to a certain degree, the Jonas brothers, but artists like
the Backstreet Boys and others, they didn't have that definitely,
I mean, you know, all of the artists and didn't
have those But yet they found a way, you know,
and maybe maybe it was actually better.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Yeah, yeah, well there was there was the synergy, like
you said, because I remember we would do Boy Me
Throw promos or ABC promos and it would be and
sync would be coming on to do the TGIF Bumps
with us or they were definitely trying to make sure
that they were getting out there as much as they
possibly could.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Yeah, and I will say I became exposed to and
actually became part of the synergy team back at Walt
Disney World, and within the first few years of me
being there, and I as a marketer first and foremost
was fascinated by how this company and how large it was,
(32:49):
how was it able to create such a seamless experience
in that way. And it was across the board at
the time being at Walt disney World and rain sing
our celebrations for various ends and launches of new product
offerings like the Cruise Line and what have you, and
(33:10):
and how we would even you know, get behind the
release of a new film and literally the teams of
people that were behind the scenes to ensure that on
the day and I'll never forget the release. Mulan was
a film that was created in Orlando, one of the
few films that we created at the animation studios there,
(33:34):
and day and day with that theatrical release, we had
had Stevie Wonder who was part of the soundtrack ninety
eight degrees and Christina and Aguilera, who would also go
on to be one of one of my highlight moments
when booking Christina for the Super Bowl that for the
(33:55):
halftime show, and how that just completely connected on every level.
There was a new parade, everything had been changed out,
the stores, all of the promotion was there, and you're
talking about a built in audience that were coming through
the theme park gates on the days leading up to
(34:17):
the release and certainly on release date. You know, tens
of hundreds of thousands of impressions in people that they
were connecting with, and to your point, such a very
targeted audience as well across the lines of business, that
if you were coming to a Disney theme park and
seeing exposure to whatever it was, or you're coming to
(34:39):
the Disney Channel, or you're coming to the Disney going
to the Disney Store, whatever it was, that's an audience
that's already predisposed to love all of it, right, and
that would would prove itself out in much of the
research that we did that if you could bring a
Disney enthusiast in through any one and of the various
(35:01):
doors of the company, they were inclined to be supporters
and advocates bands of the other Disney businesses. We just
needed to galvanize that reach so that the Cheetah Girls
or any of our internally born franchises had the ability
(35:23):
to reach throughout the rest of the company.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Yeah, well, I mean talk about I mean Disney could
always do the parties, the premiers, everything, because for Mulan,
I still have my Mulan blanket.
Speaker 6 (35:34):
I remember we went to the premiere at the at.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
The Hollywood Bowl and everybody got their Mulan blanket and
you got to wrap up as you watch the film outside.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
It was phenomenal.
Speaker 6 (35:43):
We had done such a good time.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
It was so cool.
Speaker 5 (35:47):
I have to ask you, what would you think is
the hardest part of your job? There's so many great
perks and so many amazing things, but like, what would
be the hardest part that you kind of had to
endure while you were with Radio Disney or the Disney
you know, franchise.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
I think I'll answer that in two ways. You know,
One is that the limitless potential that it has and
recognizing that there's only so many hours in a day,
so many resources, and the ability to do so many things.
That's that's the honest truth. There was never a day
(36:24):
that I was at Disney contemplating what the next day
or the next week was going to look like, and
I wasn't excited about how it was going to constantly
be shifting and how new opportunities were going to be
created resulting from that. The one challenge, and this is
not being critical of Disney anyways, it just happens as
(36:46):
the nature of things getting larger, it can become much
more complicated than it needs to. You have meetings, to
have meetings, to talk to other people to get consensus,
and all of these things as opposed to just going
I mean thinking back, which will forever be one of
(37:08):
my greatest highlights of being part of a team, and
I often say my greatest takeaway from the experience was
having the ability to be part of something so much
bigger than I could have ever created myself, and those
lifelong moments and experiences. But we took a shot, after
(37:30):
going through a really difficult period of time having to
divest of our stations and the loss of so many
individuals and friends across the business, we took a shot
at creating something called the Radio Disney Music Awards. Never
forget walking into that venue just across from the Staples
Center Nokia Theater, and we didn't even have funding for
(37:52):
anything other if you look back at the pictures, we
had two banners, two failing the floor band. That's all
we could have forward on a show, but with the
with the goal of putting on the best possible show
that we could with the artists that that we had
(38:13):
that that year, and if we did it well, we'd
have another shot. Uh And by that second year, Gary Marshoes,
the head of the Disney Channel at that time, was saying,
We've got to put this on on television. And it's like,
but we had too bad. We'll we'll work together and
(38:34):
uh yeah, what a tremendous team effort. But it just
we affirms you know that any dream worth pursuing, and
anything that you can galvanize and and motivate others to
to share in enjoining that pursuit, you can achieve.
Speaker 6 (38:58):
Okay, that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
All right.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
So question, Yeah, excluding Cheetah Girls, because I'm I'm assuming
that would be the pick. Excluding Cheata Girls, what is
your favorite dcom of all time?
Speaker 3 (39:12):
Oh? Wow, I don't know that I've ever been asked
that question. Favorite dcom of all time. I may be.
I'm sure I'm in the majority. I would have to
say High School Musical one.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
One, Okay, solid answer. I mean it's yeah, good one. Yeah,
it's a great one.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
It's a great one. I mean I think probably I'm
a little bit biased because we obviously leading up to
it new is something special and have having been a
former choir kid myself, and what it reflected and the
story and the principles let alone, but then to see
(39:54):
not only how it developed, but how we found ourselves
really chasing it at times because we were not prepared
or it to to blow up in the way that
it did. And I mean across every aspect of the
business and beyond, no one was prepared. There's certainly, I mean, listen,
(40:17):
there there's so many amazing d coms for for different
different reasons. But yeah, i'd have to have to say
that that definitely it would be amongst, if not my favorite.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Yeah, great answer.
Speaker 5 (40:33):
Were you there when they were and that Times Square
thing happened? Oh yeah, I remember hearing about it.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
It just yeah, yeah, exploded.
Speaker 3 (40:43):
It was amazing, Yes, I mean, and there were so
many moments like that. Actually, even proceeding that we've had
the the opening and I'll send you all the picture
and you may have actually been there, Sabrina, but we
did the open of Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom. There
(41:06):
is a class photo that we did with the members
of High School Musical. This is before it had all
had all blown up crazy and the Jones brothers that
I mean, it's just who's who of the stars of
so many of the stars today and again, I mean,
we're just so I'm so moved by the fact that
(41:29):
it just continues on. Obviously here most recently with Suprena
Carpenter also was someone who got her start on Radio
Disney and performed at the Radio Disney Music Awards. And
I mean, the list just goes goes on and on,
and that certainly would be enough. But also working with
(41:50):
the young artists that I work with today and even
speaking with and the inspiration that those individuals, and what
a special and certainly it's a basis for your podcast
as well. There is such an affinity and for the
two of you and so many others that have had
(42:10):
a special and hold a special place in the hearts
of so many. It was such an incredible time to
be part of the Disney Channel and the Disney Company.
Speaker 1 (42:23):
It was well, it's a wonderful company to work for.
It always has been and probably always will be. We
can always hope. But thank you so much for joining us.
This has been great.
Speaker 5 (42:33):
You are such a genuine amazing and I mean for
me the support you gave me over the years. I
can't thank you enough.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
That means the world to me. If the feeling is
certainly mutual, and we all did it, you know, to
coin the high schoolings creen, you know, we're all in
it together.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
We're all in this together.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
That's an incredible time and look look forward to continuing
to make additional memories. So thank you both timing the opportunity.
Speaker 6 (42:58):
Thank you so much. We'll see again.
Speaker 5 (43:01):
Bye.
Speaker 6 (43:01):
Thanks by.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
Man another person where I swear I feel like I
could sit down with him and just let him talk
for three hours and it would just be the coolest
story after the coolest story after the Sure he was.
Speaker 5 (43:17):
There from the beginning throughout so many of these. I mean,
think about like Miley Cyrus, you know when she everybodysnah Montana.
I mean, like he said Sabrina Carpenter, who I listened
to Kiss FM. They play her every three to four minutes,
I swear. I mean she's just blowing up and Ariana
(43:39):
Grande you know again, that was huge because she I
remember Ariana Grande was coming and was like, she's a
Nickelodeon kid, you know, like and she is from the
other team, right, I mean it was kind of it brought.
It wasn't a thing I think between like actors at all,
but you knew, like like we've talked to who did
we just say? It was like, you are either a
(44:00):
Nickelodeon kid or you're a Disney kid, and when you
hop over, you can't go back, you know. I was
I was both yeah, oh and it's like you know,
but she was on the Disney channel. They're the Radio
Disney and blew up.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
Anyway, thank you everybody for joining us for this kind
of behind the scenes park Opper episode.
Speaker 4 (44:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
I kind of see a little bit how the sausage
is made, and I love that unless you don't like sausage,
in which case you probably shut it off halfway through listening,
which is fine. But join us next time over on
our other feed there where we watch our movies, critique
our movies, try not to rip apart the movies because
we're trying to watch them like kids. We were loving
them most of them. We should say some some of
them and is good, I'd say, like good ninety Yeah,
(44:45):
we're in the eighties or eight I would say, probably
come on higher than that.
Speaker 6 (44:52):
But thank you everybody for joining us.
Speaker 1 (44:53):
Don't forget you can follow us on Magical Read Wine
Pod that is on the Instagram machine and we'll see
you next time.
Speaker 6 (44:59):
Bye, everybody.
And welcome to this Park Hopper episode of Magical Rewind.
We got the you know, I say this all the time,
we got a special one, but it's true. One of
the things that we're really starting to delve into when
it comes to the world of dcom is all of
the other things that go into making one good, yes.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Let alone making one great.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
And one of the things that we keep coming back
to constantly is the music. So if you can help us,
please welcome Phil Goreini, Hey, hey, Hello, how are you film?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Oh gosh, hey, you look so cool.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Occasion I will say I don't wear this every day,
but knowing that I was gonna be with the two
of you, how to do it good?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I love it?
Speaker 5 (01:05):
I love it?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
We're great? Thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
We have been so as we've been delving into dcom
after dcom after dcom. Yeah, the one thing that keeps
coming back to us all the time that really is
make or break for the movie is the music. Sure,
but I'd like to start with a little of your
personal life, if that's okay, And I'm just curious is
(01:32):
to where your love of music came from? Is something
you had your entire life, and how did you get
into this side of the industry.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah, actually, it's a great question. I grew up less,
grew up in a home that was filled with music.
Every single member of my family, with my mother and father,
exposed us to a lot of various types of music,
and for as long as I can remember, it has
been as much a part of my life as anything,
(01:59):
and I again have been blessed to pursue that as
a profession for my entire life. So, yes, it's it's
definitely I would consider part of my DNA and I
can't imagine doing anything else.
Speaker 6 (02:13):
Wow, you're so good at it.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Are you a musician as well?
Speaker 3 (02:19):
I wouldn't say that, that would be probably an overstatement.
I did pursue it for a period of time, but
very early on came to the reality that that was
not just not gonna be my path. I think like
many kids who aspire to be a rock star, I
thought I was going to be one as well, and
that it was just a matter of time until someone
(02:39):
discovered me or my band or whatever it was that
at that time, and that just never happened. And then
into my high school years of participating in the choir
and different musical productions, what have you. And even beyond
a little bit into into college, the reality sunk in that,
you know, any type of at that time formal education
(03:03):
was going to lead you down a path of becoming
a music teacher. I loved my music teachers, but I
didn't want to be a music teacher. And all of
the incredible opportunities that that music students have today just
didn't weren't available at that time. Music business, music, you know,
take this. There's dedicated universities here, certainly even in Nashville,
(03:24):
and that you know, a core program of what they
do is is to focus on music. That was just
not the time that that that I grew up in.
Speaker 5 (03:32):
Yeah. So then out of high school, what was it
that you were kind of pursuing? How was that that
journey for you once you once you graduated high school?
Speaker 3 (03:41):
I will say, you know, by the hand of God,
you know, I was placed into situation and exposed to
opportunities that led me in a different direction. Very early
on in back when I when I was in college,
was exposed to the college radio station and began to Actually,
funny story is my first job in radio. I was
(04:03):
at the University of South Georgia at the time, and
I responded to a help wanted ad for the agricultural
business news reporter at a local radio station. Now I
was went San Diego. I grew up in South Florida,
so I knew nothing about agriculture. As fate would have it,
(04:24):
I went in, I interviewed, and all they were really
looking for was someone who could read.
Speaker 6 (04:30):
Okay, that.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
At the time thing that literally there was a wire
that that was was in in the other room and
you just tore the reports off of that and and
you read them back. And that that put me on
in the space of a radio station where other things
were happening through a series of events and what have you.
(04:54):
I during that period had an opportunity not just there,
but in South Florida markets, had the opportunity to uh
to be around music Immerston music exposed to artists and
really just fell in love with it.
Speaker 5 (05:10):
Wow, And you were part of like the concert tickets
that you could win, and how you know are you
were you in charge of the winners? How did they
what was the keys and the good clues on how
to actually win these tickets?
Speaker 3 (05:24):
You know, it was actually less about that and that
that actually came about a good bit later sort of
in uh, for lack of better my my career, because
I was actually part of the marketing team who created
at that time the the Tiffany Mall tour. Oh okay,
pre dated so many of these things, and it was huge, Like.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
To think we're alone now.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
The video was shot at her mall tour. I mean,
this was this was kind of a groundbreaking thing in music.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Absolutely and at the time, and it was such a
simple concept. It was how do we reach the audience
that we're trying to in in a non traditional way
because no one really knew who she was at the time,
and you're not gonna be able to sell tickets. But
we knew at that time, you know, malls were the
(06:20):
place where preteens and teens gathered literally hundreds of punk
thousands of and the growth of the mega mall with
a center court that was perfect for these type of
opportunities just presented the most robust environment to do that at.
(06:43):
And simultaneously, I had had spent at that point a
number of years at various radio stations where we literally
would would buy venues out and give away every single
ticket to a show as a birthday celebration as a
(07:04):
give back to to the audience, and so that where
the earliest uh sort of experiences in that approach, which
then would of course, many years later for me at Disney,
I would apply some of those very same approaches to
(07:25):
countless UH projects and UH initiatives to really connect and
at that point engage. This is all pre social media
h with with the audience. And you know, from the
top of this conversation, you know d coms attempted to
(07:46):
do that same thing.
Speaker 6 (07:48):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 7 (07:56):
Okay, Well I have to ask because that I was.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
One of those mall kids. I mean I never saw
a show, but I was that age. I mean I
was the perfect age. And so Tiffany was everywhere. Did
did Tiffany birth the mall tour? Or did the mall
tour birth Tiffany? What came first?
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Any birthed the mall tour?
Speaker 1 (08:15):
She did? So that was you had the artist and
you were just this is how we're going to sell her?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Correct that a charge?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
It's so genius, it is.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
It's such a simple concept. You know. One of the
biggest challenges, and I met with an artist this morning,
is even if you have the most amazing material, and
this applies to just about anything. It's how do you
bridge the gap between having that material and connecting it
with an audience. Got to get it to the audience.
(08:50):
One of the biggest challenges today in this streaming ego
that we're in is there's so much materials, so many songs.
Do you discover anything in that process? And I'll Spotify
and the others do a tremendous job at highlighting and
(09:12):
algorithms that hopefully connect with you all of those things,
there's still not a direct connection in most cases to
how do you bring that music program whatever it may be,
to the audience. Don't make them find it, bring to them.
(09:33):
And that's how the Tiffany Tour and so many other
projects I've been involved it was really at it at
its core, understanding the audience. And I would say, with
a tremendous credit to the Disney Channel and all of
the teams there, the leadership there, that's what they did best.
(09:54):
They understood and they understand the audience better than anyone.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Else, as I would agree, absolutely Unlike a lot of
different networks, they also have a very clearly defined audience,
which which some people don't. I mean, Disney knows what
they do and they do it well, which is which
is interesting. And speaking of Disney, then how did you
get from working at radio stations and working in marketing
(10:18):
to the channel.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Well, I actually I did run a stint at in
radio which led to a stint in the label business.
And at that point I was in a transition point
between label moving to another label while under noncompete, and
I had opportunity that I was presented to. I had
(10:42):
worked with a lot of folks at Disney because I
was based in the Atlanta area so regionally. And you
mentioned Debbie Gibson. I believe Debbie and Tiffany who came
up at the same time, right, and a lot of
those artists, young artists were perfectly suited. At that time,
the new Mickey Mouse Club that are you know, Christina
(11:06):
and Brittany and Justin that was filming at the Disney
MGM studios. So it created a perfect opportunity and recipe
for bringing that talent through Walt Disney World. In addition
to at that time something that has since been sunset,
(11:29):
but they had something called grad Nights, the big end
of year graduate celebration that had a tremendous number of
artists being featured. They had also launched a new area
of the Walt Disney World resort called Pleasure Island booking
(11:50):
artists as well. So I stepped into in addition to
that with which I originally came in through the operations
side of the business, to get a better understanding of
the of the business itself. But in truth, I thought
I was only going to be there for a short
period of time until my noncompete ran out and I
(12:10):
would find myself back in the record business because that's
what I had been doing for so long, and I
found the experience, I found the people and the opportunities
that I was able to pursue despite the fact that
I really was not inclined to pursue a music path
within Disney. I wanted to expand my experiences and my
(12:33):
skill set, and I knew that, you know, even at
that time we're talking about the early nineties. At that point,
that with which represented a year, two years even better,
if I could be at the Disney Company for five
years and put that on my resume, it was going
to be meaningful to some one. And so that's exactly
(12:57):
what happened. It was three years and I was having
such a great time, and it became five and five
turned in seven and seven and before I knew it,
and I looked back on it, and I've done it
longer than Sabrina's been a lot. So it has been
definitely the greatest blessing of my life.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
It's so cool. I mean, to think of how many
artists you knew before they were who they are now
is just unreal. I mean, I love it. When did
Radio Disney become something? Because when did like, when did
Radio Disney open up.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Radio Disney memory suits? Because this somewhat predates me, although
I was there. I'm going to say ninety six, okay.
And the interesting thing about that is because I was
at that time one of the talent a talent executive.
I'm at Walt Disney World, and Radio Disney was being
(14:03):
broadcast from the Disney MGM studios in addition to its
home base in Dallas. I fit the very earliest stages,
was involved with that team. You may recall the name
Robin Jones, Sabrina, you know, who is certainly one of
the original architects of the business and to be credited
(14:24):
on so many levels for all that that she brought
to the network. I'm going to say mid mid nineties,
and I have an opportunity. Robin and I had had
been having conversations when I was contemplating on some moves
and what would eventually come about was in two thousand
and four I went out to Brebank to work at
(14:44):
the Music Group. That's when we about when we would
have met for the very first time on of course
the Chead Girl projects and we would travel together and
do the macy S Thanksgiving brand so so many other amazing.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
You froze out on the in the early mornings of
that career right next to us.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
While and that led to a handful of years at
the Music Group, and then an opportunity arose for me
to contemplate a couple of opportunities at the time. One
was to work with the Jonas brothers who were coming
up in the in the space and I had been
(15:26):
a key player in bringing them to the company, or
to go to Radio Disney, and I just at the
time saw the Radio Disney opportunity as a larger one.
I was stepping in as head of marketing, not in
a programming capacity, but uh and and didn't have it
at any vision on that becoming the outcome, but it
(15:50):
would evolved that way in just a couple of years.
That that led to really just a tremendous run of
experiences and opportunities which I certainly credit the entire team,
and fortunately we're all still rather close. It's a family.
(16:11):
It's a family.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
So, as Sabrina said, you were there to see some
I mean these artists before they became megastars.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Oh yeah, I mean the reality of radio disease. And
this even predates my my time being there in that capacity,
has had programming and general manager and all of the
other things. You know, what Radio Disney did and what's
so so missing in today's landscape and in that regard,
and part of it's about the Disney Company, and even
(16:43):
a larger part is not. And that was recognizing talent
at a younger stage in their career and actually getting
behind them, supporting them, and giving them an outlet to
further develop into. And that was both within the Disney
Company as well as outside of the Disney Company. There
(17:04):
were not There certainly were plenty of radio stations out there,
but they weren't prepared to give an opportunity to fourteen
year old in year old with music. We had the
foresight and the confidence that out of the multitude of
people that we were going to support, we were going
(17:26):
to identify through that process, some would go on and today, honestly,
and this is not patting any of us on the back,
but some of a better percentage of the biggest artists
in the world today. All truly, it's not that it
defined them, but that they had a moment, and many
(17:49):
of them had their first songs played on Ordered By
and got exposure on Radio Disney.
Speaker 5 (17:55):
Absolutely, I mean I feel like my last Radio Disney
I went to the Radio Disney Awards. You actually personally
invited me, so thank you. But I remember sitting there
and this kid comes out on stage and I'm like,
look how adorable this little kid is.
Speaker 6 (18:12):
He is so cute.
Speaker 5 (18:14):
I met him backstage such as like cutie Pie and
now he's Shawn Mendes, Like, I mean, like he had
a couple songs and he came out and he was
I mean that was he was younger than Justin Bieber
and this was Justin Bieber's like thing, and I'm like,
oh man.
Speaker 6 (18:33):
This kid is so cute.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
I hope he makes it just like Justin Bieber, and
it's like he sure did. And it was like wow
to see him little. But we were at the Radio
Disney Awards. He wasn't going to be on Empty of
You or you know, show like, he wasn't going to
get that opportunity. And there he was, and the little kids,
all the young girls around me were going bonkers over him.
And they still are. But yes, this that had to
(18:57):
have been his first radio like big award show that
he had ever performed at.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
I had, and that particular example, I have to know.
I have a daughter who's now twenty three.
Speaker 5 (19:10):
No, no, she is not.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
As you remember her when she was a fine size
yet teen.
Speaker 5 (19:18):
Little six or seven year old, Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Because we moved to she moved to la And the
very first day they got there, we were all together
at the disney Mania three taping at Disney's California Adventure.
Speaker 5 (19:37):
It was the first Cheetah Girls performance live ever ever.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
It was it was two thousand and four.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Wow, man, so is there one like?
Speaker 1 (19:47):
So, We've got Sean Mendez, we know the Demi Levados.
Everybody is there. In your entire career, if you have
to think of one artist that the second you saw
or heard you were like superstar.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Who would that be?
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Yeah, wow, that's a really great question with I mean
so many and and and yet it's probably not for
the obvious reasons that people immediately gravitate towards because again
you're seeing I was seeing we were seeing these young
artists at such an early stage, and you would really say,
(20:23):
oh wow, you know that's a massive hit hit song.
But it was a combination and I'll I'll say, you know,
with no agenda here, the young lady that you're sitting
alongside of had every bit that seal whoa, it's so
(20:45):
so true. And it was a combination of things. It
was seeing the motivation and the light that one needs
to have in pursuit of any thing. Sure that this
isn't something that mom or dad or you know, other
factors are influencing to bring that about. And you can
(21:10):
see that, you know, as in an individual. You have
to see that when this individual engages with others, how
do people you know respond to them, you know, let
alone when they get on stage. Are they able to
translate that across And there is a lot to be
(21:33):
said to that. It and we talk about it. We
don't know exactly what it is. And every single one
of those who have who have achieved that level of
success has done it differently. I can say from the
earliest engagements with somebody like Taylor, which we were right there,
(21:53):
Taylor was going to outwork anyone and everyone, and she
still does it to this day. Yes, and while some
can argue, you know, she doesn't have the voice of
Ariana Grande or some of the most notable performers of
this time, she has the unique drive and motivation to
(22:23):
make everyone feel part of her life, part of her community.
And that's a tremendous talent in and of itself, and
others do it in their own ways. And I can
tell you what what's been most rewarding through those experiences
(22:44):
have been to see how they've evolved and how people's
motivations artists motivations have not purely been to be the
biggest star in the world, that to be a common
sort of thread and position, but those it would come
into my office or to our conference room and share
(23:05):
that you know, they've had a difficult time there, their
parents may maybe be walking through some illnesses or whatever.
I just want to help them pay some of those bills.
There's there's greater selflessness to the pursuit of of some
of it, not holistically, but the paths and the ways
(23:25):
that that that that so many of these have evolved.
Of course, with all of the promotion for Wicked out there,
you know, despite the fact that Ariana Grande was a
Nickelodeon artist and a Nickelodeon actress, I and we took
the leap of faith that she had everything through various
(23:50):
times with us that was necessary to break through that
and break above that. And if you go back and
look at the performance of arian Rende after Radio Disney
Music Awards opening up the Radio Disney Music Awards wearing
mouse ears when she was still at Nickelodeon, it makes
(24:11):
a statement to the fact of how we were supporting
and that was Ariana's breakthrough performance of the solve problem.
Speaker 6 (24:19):
Mm hmm, geez, wow, it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
And we have to talk about d cooms a little bit.
Sure were you involved at all in the idea of
what kind of movies would get, what music, what artists
songs would be put in certain I mean, obviously, if
you get something like a camp rock and you have
the Jonas Brothers.
Speaker 6 (24:39):
You know that there's going to be Jonas Brothers music involved.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
But we've been watching some movies where you know, there's
just Radio Disney artists, Disney artists that have nothing to
do with the film.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
But it's clear they want the synergy.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
And I'm just curious who would decide what song goes where?
And you know what DCOM would get some songs, we
get some decoms that they clearly have no real in
music from the from the channel.
Speaker 6 (25:02):
Uh So who makes those decisions?
Speaker 7 (25:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (25:05):
A team of individuals, which which I was peripheral to
in many cases. But you hit the nail on the
head when you said the synergy, you know, and there
certainly was a concerted effort and a focused approach to
supporting things that had a shared interest. Whether that was
(25:25):
across you know, Radio Disney helping with bringing an artists,
or whether or not that was within our music group,
whatever it may be, that's certainly a cornerstone of the
Disney model. However, you can trace the evolution of d
cooms back to to not their earliest days, because most
(25:47):
of them were born of the after school movie franchise
as as opposed to being a musical or whatever it is.
I mean many will earmark things like high school musical,
the first high school musical sort of being the breakthrough.
(26:09):
But I can tell you and certainly Sabrina can the
success of that. She dated that in so many ways,
the Luziy McGuire movie. There are things that had, you know,
music at its core, if they're really you know, yes,
there were loosely based stories to thread it all together,
(26:34):
but at its core their musical musicals or musical movies.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Right, yeah, right?
Speaker 5 (26:42):
And what about I know we were for the Cheetah Girls.
You guys offered like we did a Christmas album and
then it was like, what do you guys think about
going on tour with that? Like would you guys go?
And it was how did that kind of stuf?
Speaker 6 (26:56):
I mean did you?
Speaker 5 (26:57):
Was it just your background and knowing, like from your
days with Tiffany and them all, like we got to
get these these these acts out in front of the
audience because there is such a huge platform for them
to be doing live shows.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Yeah, I can't take credit for that, it certainly was.
It was a team effort and the reality is, again
much of it can be traced back to previous success,
because really in that regard, and even for the Cheetah Girls,
it was Hillary. Yeah, Hillary set that bar. Hillary broke
(27:36):
out of Lizzie McGuire and was literally able to I
booked Hillary at the time on her very first The
irony of some of this is that the steps and
how it all comes together each and other cases is
rather unique. And for Hillary. Hillary had contributed some songs
(27:56):
to the Lizzie McGuire soundtrack that would of course made
have made sense. But keep in mind, Lizzie or Hillary's
character on the show was not was not a musical
in anything. No, yeah, that was not. That was not contemplated. However,
there were certainly examples, well outside of and many years
(28:21):
before it, where television shows had given birth to individuals
that an audience cared so much about that they were
able to do music.
Speaker 6 (28:30):
Partridge Family jumps right to mind.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Yeah, exactly exactly. And as a result of that and
Hilary having that that success, the very first album that
Hillary released was.
Speaker 6 (28:44):
A Christmas album, Oh Wow.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
Christmas album called San plaus Lane. And so I was
still at at Walt Disney World at the time and
booked her to do our Christmas show. Okay, formed that
that was actually her first tape in that way, and
that was a precursor to going on tour that then
would give way to the Cheetah Girls, you know, coming
(29:09):
sort of right behind it, and then it was sort
of off to the race is because the reality, a
big leap of faith was that you could take what
we knew to be a real artist like the Cheetah Girls,
which was an evolution from Hillary character that had developed.
And then you get to something like high school musical
(29:32):
and you're talking about musical individuals and actors and actresses,
but it's not a group and it's a musical dcom.
But how then do you translate that? And oh, by
the way, the star of the films isn't really the singer.
Speaker 5 (29:57):
Yeah, say so crazy.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
How much do you think your job would have been
different if social media was then what it is now?
Speaker 3 (30:17):
I think it may have you know, created another We
were blessed. I mean that we we again, we were
at a period in time where some of that was
just really starting, but certainly not as as critical or
as as significant as it is today. I often ponder,
(30:39):
and as as we have you know, so many including yourself,
Sabrina on the artist at that time, individually or collectively.
When I think about bu MH, it didn't have the
benefit of having a community in that way that you
could promoted to, that you really could have connected with
(31:03):
and built. We were even back at that time, you know,
reliant upon what promotional exposure could we gain on other platforms, right,
And in many ways that was can we get an
interstitial or promo on the Disney Channel, can we do
(31:23):
something on Radio Disney? And even that was a broadcasting
out to a broad audience as opposed to connecting one
on one and building that that real engagement. So I
think it would have changed. And yet I wonder often,
you know, for those artists too, and when when we
(31:45):
think about artists who predate a lot of that, including
to a certain degree, the Jonas brothers, but artists like
the Backstreet Boys and others, they didn't have that definitely,
I mean, you know, all of the artists and didn't
have those But yet they found a way, you know,
and maybe maybe it was actually better.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Yeah, yeah, well there was there was the synergy, like
you said, because I remember we would do Boy Me
Throw promos or ABC promos and it would be and
sync would be coming on to do the TGIF Bumps
with us or they were definitely trying to make sure
that they were getting out there as much as they
possibly could.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Yeah, and I will say I became exposed to and
actually became part of the synergy team back at Walt
Disney World, and within the first few years of me
being there, and I as a marketer first and foremost
was fascinated by how this company and how large it was,
(32:49):
how was it able to create such a seamless experience
in that way. And it was across the board at
the time being at Walt disney World and rain sing
our celebrations for various ends and launches of new product
offerings like the Cruise Line and what have you, and
(33:10):
and how we would even you know, get behind the
release of a new film and literally the teams of
people that were behind the scenes to ensure that on
the day and I'll never forget the release. Mulan was
a film that was created in Orlando, one of the
few films that we created at the animation studios there,
(33:34):
and day and day with that theatrical release, we had
had Stevie Wonder who was part of the soundtrack ninety
eight degrees and Christina and Aguilera, who would also go
on to be one of one of my highlight moments
when booking Christina for the Super Bowl that for the
(33:55):
halftime show, and how that just completely connected on every level.
There was a new parade, everything had been changed out,
the stores, all of the promotion was there, and you're
talking about a built in audience that were coming through
the theme park gates on the days leading up to
(34:17):
the release and certainly on release date. You know, tens
of hundreds of thousands of impressions in people that they
were connecting with, and to your point, such a very
targeted audience as well across the lines of business, that
if you were coming to a Disney theme park and
seeing exposure to whatever it was, or you're coming to
(34:39):
the Disney Channel, or you're coming to the Disney going
to the Disney Store, whatever it was, that's an audience
that's already predisposed to love all of it, right, and
that would would prove itself out in much of the
research that we did that if you could bring a
Disney enthusiast in through any one and of the various
(35:01):
doors of the company, they were inclined to be supporters
and advocates bands of the other Disney businesses. We just
needed to galvanize that reach so that the Cheetah Girls
or any of our internally born franchises had the ability
(35:23):
to reach throughout the rest of the company.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Yeah, well, I mean talk about I mean Disney could
always do the parties, the premiers, everything, because for Mulan,
I still have my Mulan blanket.
Speaker 6 (35:34):
I remember we went to the premiere at the at.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
The Hollywood Bowl and everybody got their Mulan blanket and
you got to wrap up as you watch the film outside.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
It was phenomenal.
Speaker 6 (35:43):
We had done such a good time.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
It was so cool.
Speaker 5 (35:47):
I have to ask you, what would you think is
the hardest part of your job? There's so many great
perks and so many amazing things, but like, what would
be the hardest part that you kind of had to
endure while you were with Radio Disney or the Disney
you know, franchise.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
I think I'll answer that in two ways. You know,
One is that the limitless potential that it has and
recognizing that there's only so many hours in a day,
so many resources, and the ability to do so many things.
That's that's the honest truth. There was never a day
(36:24):
that I was at Disney contemplating what the next day
or the next week was going to look like, and
I wasn't excited about how it was going to constantly
be shifting and how new opportunities were going to be
created resulting from that. The one challenge, and this is
not being critical of Disney anyways, it just happens as
(36:46):
the nature of things getting larger, it can become much
more complicated than it needs to. You have meetings, to
have meetings, to talk to other people to get consensus,
and all of these things as opposed to just going
I mean thinking back, which will forever be one of
(37:08):
my greatest highlights of being part of a team, and
I often say my greatest takeaway from the experience was
having the ability to be part of something so much
bigger than I could have ever created myself, and those
lifelong moments and experiences. But we took a shot, after
(37:30):
going through a really difficult period of time having to
divest of our stations and the loss of so many
individuals and friends across the business, we took a shot
at creating something called the Radio Disney Music Awards. Never
forget walking into that venue just across from the Staples
Center Nokia Theater, and we didn't even have funding for
(37:52):
anything other if you look back at the pictures, we
had two banners, two failing the floor band. That's all
we could have forward on a show, but with the
with the goal of putting on the best possible show
that we could with the artists that that we had
(38:13):
that that year, and if we did it well, we'd
have another shot. Uh And by that second year, Gary Marshoes,
the head of the Disney Channel at that time, was saying,
We've got to put this on on television. And it's like,
but we had too bad. We'll we'll work together and
(38:34):
uh yeah, what a tremendous team effort. But it just
we affirms you know that any dream worth pursuing, and
anything that you can galvanize and and motivate others to
to share in enjoining that pursuit, you can achieve.
Speaker 6 (38:58):
Okay, that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
All right.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
So question, Yeah, excluding Cheetah Girls, because I'm I'm assuming
that would be the pick. Excluding Cheata Girls, what is
your favorite dcom of all time?
Speaker 3 (39:12):
Oh? Wow, I don't know that I've ever been asked
that question. Favorite dcom of all time. I may be.
I'm sure I'm in the majority. I would have to
say High School Musical one.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
One, Okay, solid answer. I mean it's yeah, good one. Yeah,
it's a great one.
Speaker 3 (39:32):
It's a great one. I mean I think probably I'm
a little bit biased because we obviously leading up to
it new is something special and have having been a
former choir kid myself, and what it reflected and the
story and the principles let alone, but then to see
(39:54):
not only how it developed, but how we found ourselves
really chasing it at times because we were not prepared
or it to to blow up in the way that
it did. And I mean across every aspect of the
business and beyond, no one was prepared. There's certainly, I mean, listen,
(40:17):
there there's so many amazing d coms for for different
different reasons. But yeah, i'd have to have to say
that that definitely it would be amongst, if not my favorite.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Yeah, great answer.
Speaker 5 (40:33):
Were you there when they were and that Times Square
thing happened? Oh yeah, I remember hearing about it.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
It just yeah, yeah, exploded.
Speaker 3 (40:43):
It was amazing, Yes, I mean, and there were so
many moments like that. Actually, even proceeding that we've had
the the opening and I'll send you all the picture
and you may have actually been there, Sabrina, but we
did the open of Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom. There
(41:06):
is a class photo that we did with the members
of High School Musical. This is before it had all
had all blown up crazy and the Jones brothers that
I mean, it's just who's who of the stars of
so many of the stars today and again, I mean,
we're just so I'm so moved by the fact that
(41:29):
it just continues on. Obviously here most recently with Suprena
Carpenter also was someone who got her start on Radio
Disney and performed at the Radio Disney Music Awards. And
I mean, the list just goes goes on and on,
and that certainly would be enough. But also working with
(41:50):
the young artists that I work with today and even
speaking with and the inspiration that those individuals, and what
a special and certainly it's a basis for your podcast
as well. There is such an affinity and for the
two of you and so many others that have had
(42:10):
a special and hold a special place in the hearts
of so many. It was such an incredible time to
be part of the Disney Channel and the Disney Company.
Speaker 1 (42:23):
It was well, it's a wonderful company to work for.
It always has been and probably always will be. We
can always hope. But thank you so much for joining us.
This has been great.
Speaker 5 (42:33):
You are such a genuine amazing and I mean for
me the support you gave me over the years. I
can't thank you enough.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
That means the world to me. If the feeling is
certainly mutual, and we all did it, you know, to
coin the high schoolings creen, you know, we're all in
it together.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
We're all in this together.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
That's an incredible time and look look forward to continuing
to make additional memories. So thank you both timing the opportunity.
Speaker 6 (42:58):
Thank you so much. We'll see again.
Speaker 5 (43:01):
Bye.
Speaker 6 (43:01):
Thanks by.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
Man another person where I swear I feel like I
could sit down with him and just let him talk
for three hours and it would just be the coolest
story after the coolest story after the Sure he was.
Speaker 5 (43:17):
There from the beginning throughout so many of these. I mean,
think about like Miley Cyrus, you know when she everybodysnah Montana.
I mean, like he said Sabrina Carpenter, who I listened
to Kiss FM. They play her every three to four minutes,
I swear. I mean she's just blowing up and Ariana
(43:39):
Grande you know again, that was huge because she I
remember Ariana Grande was coming and was like, she's a
Nickelodeon kid, you know, like and she is from the
other team, right, I mean it was kind of it brought.
It wasn't a thing I think between like actors at all,
but you knew, like like we've talked to who did
we just say? It was like, you are either a
(44:00):
Nickelodeon kid or you're a Disney kid, and when you
hop over, you can't go back, you know. I was
I was both yeah, oh and it's like you know,
but she was on the Disney channel. They're the Radio
Disney and blew up.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
Anyway, thank you everybody for joining us for this kind
of behind the scenes park Opper episode.
Speaker 4 (44:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
I kind of see a little bit how the sausage
is made, and I love that unless you don't like sausage,
in which case you probably shut it off halfway through listening,
which is fine. But join us next time over on
our other feed there where we watch our movies, critique
our movies, try not to rip apart the movies because
we're trying to watch them like kids. We were loving
them most of them. We should say some some of
them and is good, I'd say, like good ninety Yeah,
(44:45):
we're in the eighties or eight I would say, probably
come on higher than that.
Speaker 6 (44:52):
But thank you everybody for joining us.
Speaker 1 (44:53):
Don't forget you can follow us on Magical Read Wine
Pod that is on the Instagram machine and we'll see
you next time.
Speaker 6 (44:59):
Bye, everybody.
Hosts And Creators
Will Friedle
Sabrina Bryan
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