December 15, 2023 • 26 mins
Matt is a news reporter for the iHeart Media station in Boston and he produces content for the radio stations award winning Tik Tok account.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Yeah, I've always been excited by the idea of highlighting
just the weirdness of reality, because like, it's so much
more entertaining than stuff you can make up.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast with your host
Buzz Night. On this episode, Buzz takes a walk in Acton,
Massachusetts with a guy that's making lots of noise in
Massachusetts and beyond with his work on wb zam's groundbreaking
TikTok account. He and the station have won multiple awards
(00:33):
for his work. Reporter Matt Sheer is our guest on
Taking a Walk with Buzz Night.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Well, hello you, hot shot, Matt Sheer.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
Oh, thank you so much, hot shot, Buzz Night.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
It is so great to be taking a walk with
you here in lovely Acting. Describe this beautiful place we're at.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yes, so, Acton is my hometown and this is the Arboretum,
which is a big park with some paths in the woods.
At parts it looks like the public Garden in Boston
or Central Park in New York, but it's in this
quiet little town of Acting. And I don't know, I
was just saying to you before we started rolling, like
I feel like it's a really underrated spot in town.
(01:16):
It's usually pretty quiet. People come here to walk their dogs.
But there's flowers and trees and hills and it smells
delicious and it's great.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
It's beautiful. Now, this is an in person taking a
Walk episode. We do do virtual ones from time to time.
So let me just stress to those listening because this
has come up before. People go, well, it sounds like
you guys were huffing and puffing a little bit, And
I'm like, well, yeah, because we were walking, so we
actually are walking.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
This is the healthiest podcast there is. I mean, you're
not sitting down in one place.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
This feels great. It's a beautiful day too.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
I gotta say late October, it's like sixty something degrees.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
The colors.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
The being back in my hometown too, makes me feel
like a kid again.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
What was it like growing up in the mean streets
of Acton.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Well, that's the first time that's ever been said, good morning.
It was nice. You know.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
It's so funny when you grow up in a small
town like Actin, all you want to do is get
the hell out of town, you know, especially being a
kid who's like into music, you want to go out
in the city where all the bands play and all
that kind of stuff. But then like you graduate and
you start looking around at houses and stuff, and you're like, well,
Acting is actually a really great place with a nice
school system, and if I could raise a family here,
(02:36):
it'd be wonderful. So I don't know, I'm really grateful
for having grown up in Acting. I was lucky to
have like a really good friend group who I still
keep in touch with, you know, thank God for I
don't know what people did before group chats existed, Like
did you actually like call your friends?
Speaker 4 (02:51):
That's crazy?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
So you know what, we we text all the time
and meet up in the city.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
We all have our own kids. Now. I would love
to live in Acton again, but can't really afford it
at the moment.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
It's gone way up in price, and for good reason.
It's got one of the best school districts in the state,
and it's relatively safe, and you know, you got places
like this the Arboretum.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
So for those listening in, I don't know Phoenix or
Czechoslovakia for that matter, I don't know. Acton would be
considered metro west of Boston.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Right, Yeah, it's about twenty miles west of the city.
It's on the commuter rail, so you can easily get
into Boston pretty quickly.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
I always it's one of.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Those places where if you grow up here, you just
tell people from the rest of the country that you're
from Boston. But if you tell anyone from Boston that
and they find out you're from Acton to make fun
of you, you'll never hear the end of it.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
And then if you're from West Acton or Wackton.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
And that's where I'm from, Wacton exactly, I think it's
better than being from Sacton though, So that.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Explains to every thing, Matt, it doesn't, yeh unfortunately. Yeah,
So tell everybody right now what you're doing at this
point career wise. That is so exciting that we want
to be able to talk about.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
So I am a news reporter for a radio station,
a legendary station in town WBZ News Radio, one hundred
and one year old station, and a couple of years
ago my boss came to me and said, we want
to get the station on TikTok and like my first
reaction was, Okay, we're one hundred and two year old
radio station trying to fit in on a platform full
(04:34):
of children, like, how are we going to look cool
without being cringe?
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Right?
Speaker 2 (04:39):
We're not going to be doing dance moves in the studio,
I hope, And you know, all these silly trends that
TikTok loves to do. I want to have a little
bit of you know, I want to do what we do,
which is tell compelling stories in forty five seconds or less.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
So that's what I started doing.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
It started taking off, and it's to the point now
where we're winning all kinds of awards for our or there.
I was nominated for a New England Emmy because of
TikTok It's which is crazy vertical videos shot on my
Android phone could be eligible for an Emmy.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Didn't win that, but that's.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Okay because I just got back from New York City
last week where we accepted a national Edward R.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Murrow Award for Excellence and Innovation.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Because what's happening is there's a whole young audience that
has never pressed the AM button on their cars radio
who are now suddenly aware of WBZ News Radio, and
some of them are even asking Alexa to play it
on their smart speaker or listening on the iHeartRadio app.
And you know, we're actually seeing results in the numbers too,
(05:39):
in particularly that younger demographic who's active on TikTok, and
you can't it's as you know, buzz, it's really hard
to say exactly where those listeners are coming from or
how they found us, but you know, coincides with when
we started doing the social media stuff. So it's cool
because people across the biz, not just radio but also
journalism and social media are kind of keeping an eye
(06:02):
on what we're doing because it's working.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
I think it's so exciting. Congrats on all the awards.
When did you first realize that this thing, you know,
was blowing up?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
You can see it right in the numbers right there.
When you open up TikTok, you can see how many
times a video.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
Has been viewed, which is wild.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Could you imagine in radio if you could actually see
at any given moment how many people were listening. But
you know, I had my first video that hit over
a million, and that was me going on. I was
looking at a map of Boston and I realized that
there's a little circle of about a half mile in
the downtown area where there's fifteen Dunkin Donuts in that
(06:45):
half mile radius, and so I went and I was like,
I'm going to do a little food tour like you
see sometimes on TikTok where they're like, come along with
me as I check out these cafes. And so I
did that, and every single spot was dunkin Donuts and
people started sharing that around and one of my favorite
things I saw on Twitter, somebody shared that and said,
(07:06):
what gives this news station any right to be this funny?
And so I kind of rolled with it, and but
I didn't, you know, I couldn't do that joke or
that video over and over again, you know, because that
would gets stale.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
We all follow those.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
People on social media right who have like one joke
and they just beat it to death. So I just
got back to what I was doing, which is covering
local news. The next one that really blew up for
me was when one of three market baskets on the
same street and go Rica, Massachusetts, closed and the entire
town flipped out about it like they were losing their
(07:43):
minds because they had to drive five minutes down the
road to go to a different market basket the same road.
And for those listening not from Massachusetts, market basket is
a local chain of grocery stores, a beloved chain of
grocery stores, and.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Uh yeah, that one. That one made national news.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
I started seeing celebrities following me on Twitter, which was crazy,
and Instagram as well. And then finally there was another
one that got really big where just next town over
from here, in Stowe, Massachusetts, they lost both of their
Dunkin Donuts within a matter of months, and again the
town was losing their minds because now they had to
(08:21):
drive to the next town over to Maynard to get
their Duncan donuts. And that one went international, Like we
were getting write ups on that in like the Daily
Mail over in the UK, and I was getting interviewed
about it by media outlets across the country, Washington Post,
Hit Me Up, and Today Show. And I wasn't on
(08:42):
the Today Show, just on Today dot Com. I would
have been cool, but I post that link and everyone
thinks I was on the Today.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Show, which is perception is reality.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
So I would say like those three were the ones
that really kind of kickstarted the whole thing.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
And now it's to the point.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Where I've had other videos that have gone over a
million and gone, you know, done really well, but none
received quite the media attention that those three did.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
So what do you think the key to something going
viral is? I mean, do you have any formula that
you can describe for that?
Speaker 4 (09:19):
That's a great question.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I mean I try not to think in terms of
formulas because I don't want my stories to come off
as formulaic. I feel like when you do that, you
lose a ton of authenticity.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
You know, people have.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Asked me, you know, you know, how do you do this, like, well,
we're trying to do something like what you do at
our radio station, And I say, honestly, I try not
to do what I do, like I try every video.
I want to be different, Like I guess that's kind
of the artist in me. And I think that if
anything is really the secret, the answer is like kind
of have you have to take an artistic approach and
(09:54):
be willing to try something different. At the very least,
that's how you grow a following. It's not necessar, it's
maybe a long way to get like a viral moment
or a viral video, but it definitely helps girl following
because if you're scrolling through TikTok or Instagram and you
see somebody who's doing something that's unique and different, but
you actually like it and you want to see more
(10:15):
of it.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
That's when you hit follow. If you see somebody who's.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Just kind of doing the same thing as everyone else,
like trend chasing, trying to you know, be like, oh,
everybody's using that meme, let's come up with how that meme,
you know, ties to our brand.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
You might get a bunch.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Of likes on that, but you're not going to get
somebody to actually follow you and engage with you.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
In the future.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
So I think originality is key and authenticity and you know,
I hope somebody finds a new formula.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
If you will, to go viral.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I hope people continue to try and innovate because that's
that's that's what's exciting to me.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast. Well,
some would say in the content creation world that frequency
of posting is really important because you are to some
degree throwing things against the wall to see what sticks.
(11:13):
Do you agree with that, Yeah, to.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Some extent, I don't necessarily agree with just putting stuff
out there for the sake of putting stuff out there,
and you use the term content creation, which I understand
is kind of the boilerplate term for like what we're doing.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
But my wife I hate it too.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Why does she hate it? I'm curious.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Oh, well, she's a photographer, so for her, I think
probably it's the throwing against the wall concept exactly.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
Yes, she's an artist totally.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Like for me, it sounds so boardroom, like an executive
boardroom term where you're sitting with like a projector screen
and there's like an Excel spreadsheet and it's like, how
do we fill this with? You know, like that's not
that's not art man Like, I don't know. I guess
it's because my backgrounds a musician, Like you don't.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
You don't want.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Musicians just creating content, right, just like putting out stuff
to see what works. I mean, I think of a
good example especially, and this goes back to your previous
question about like formulaicness.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Right. You know Weezer Dan Weezer.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Everyone loves their first two albums and then after that,
sure they've had some big hit singles because they're following
a formula, but the albums haven't done all that great,
and people are if you talk to any Weezer fan
they're gonna tell you the Blue Album or Pinkerton, And
the reason is because it was when Rivers was so
young and just so just literally pouring his heart out
(12:46):
onto the page, to the point where he can't even
listen to Pinkerton anymore because it's so deeply personal and
embarrassing almost to him. It's like, imagine the whole world
had access to your diary from when you were like
sixteen years old. Like that's super embarrassing to him. But
it's honest and it's genuine, and it's why people love
(13:06):
that album. And after that, he's even admitted he has
like spreadsheets where he keeps track of how he writes songs,
and he thinks he has like a formula to writing
the perfect hit song, and it's worked.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
A few times here and there, but it.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Doesn't really like make people feel something the way that
they did when he was younger.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
But you are posting every day, correct.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Early on I was, But to be honest, ay, I've
pulled back a little bit. It's really every other day now,
just because every day was.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Too much for me.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
It takes a lot to go out record these stories,
edit them, write them, post them.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
And I got two little kids at home. You know,
I was losing sleep.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I didn't want to cut down on my hours of
work or hours with my kids, so what I was
cutting down on was my sleep. And I had a
conversations with my boss and they're like, you know, we
love it you're posting every day, but we never asked
you to. So if you want to cut back, like
by all means, do it. And I did, and it's
been much better for my health. And I haven't really
(14:10):
seen too much of a you know, dip in the views. Certainly,
I'm not growing as many followers as fast as I
was early on, and I think maybe that's, you know,
the benefit to posting every day. But if you do that,
then people are eventually going to get sick of you
and they're not going to engage with your stories as much.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
So that's my philosophy.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Have there been stories you posted that you really thought
were gonna take off that didn't do as well?
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Oh yeah, it happens all the time.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Usually the ones I put the most effort into, it's
the ones where I'm just kind of half ass. I
mean I don't half ass anything really, but the ones
where I just kind of get it done as quickly
as possible and put it up there that seem to
get the most attention. I think maybe people that's because
people can tell when you're trying too hard on social media.
I don't know, but there have been somewhere I've posted
(14:59):
and like I knew it was going to take off
because I knew that, like people in Massachusetts could relate
to that kind of nostalgia, and you know, people were
going to be excited to hear from this person.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
It's just I try. I got to try to not
allow myself to get.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Too attached to the idea of a video blowing up,
because if I do, I'm just setting myself up for disappointment.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
You know, it's really good advice. So how from start
to finish? So when you think of something that you
really want to take to the next level of the story,
what's your your process?
Speaker 2 (15:36):
So it's kind of different every time, depending on what
the story is like. For example, if it's a story
where there's not any booking that I need to do,
if it's just pure interviewing people on the street. I'll
give you an example. A couple of weeks ago, I
did one about jaywalking in Massachusetts. Because you go to
some states where everybody actually waits at the crosswalk for
(15:57):
the little signal, the little hand to go away and
the little person to come up, and that's when they
crossed the street. It's not like that in Massachusetts at all.
You cross when you feel like it, and the cars
they better stop for you, and if they don't, they're
gonna get a lawsuit and you're gonna get paid. That's
the mentality around here. People just walk out into the street.
So I wanted to do something about that because I
was reading that the fine for jaywalking in Massachusetts is
(16:21):
only one dollar. That's why it's never enforced. That's why
everybody just does it. So I went out and tried
to get a ticket. I literally ask I literally asked
police officers, can you please write me a ticket for jaywalking?
Speaker 4 (16:33):
And they just said no, I don't think it was
worth their time.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
So for a story like that, there was no there
really didn't need to be any planning involved. That kind
of just went out on the street and started jaywalking
and interviewing people. And but like, I also think it's
really important to to, you know, come encounter characters. I
want to I want to meet people along the way
(16:59):
who and bring something to the table that I never
could or say something that I would never think of
on my own.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
And that's what takes time.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Like you gotta spend time out on the street actually
interviewing people. You see a lot of news reporters across
the country, and you can tell when like their interviews
are just the first two people they bumped into, because
the people don't really have.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
Anything interesting to say. Like if it's a story about
like a heat wave.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
They're like, oh, yeah, really hot, gotta turn on the
AC today, Like was that.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Really worth people's time watching?
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Right?
Speaker 2 (17:30):
You know, like, yeah, find the person who's sweating their
ass off and complaining, you know who knows, like, find
someone with something really interesting to say.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
So that can take time.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
And but then once I feel like, you know, I've
talked to enough people and I have some great stuff
to work with, I go sit down, I listen to everything.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
I pull out the clips that I like and.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
The great moments that I like, and then start writing
around it. And I do all my audio first, and
I think that's because you know, I'm I'm an audio
production guy, Like that's my background, that's my how my
brain works. And then I put the video on afterwards
and that you know, it's It's definitely adds time to
(18:10):
the process to be.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Able to do it that way. But I'm so picky
about audio. I'm much less picky about video.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Hence the Android Green Texts for Life, by the way.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
But I think it's interesting how you know in the
tools that you have available that for the video side
of things, the tolerance level is, you know, at a
point where you could shoot with your phone and no
one suggests that that's an issue. I mean, you're from
an audio first guy. That's why you do the way
(18:44):
you do it. But the video world, everyone can shoot.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
I tell that to young people all the time. They're like,
what do I need to kind of get started with this?
I was like, you already have everything in your pocket
right now, you know. I didn't have that when I
was a young kid wanting to get into radio. I
couldn't just reach into my pocket and record a podcast,
you know, like I needed to actually get equipment. You
could just do it. And like, especially for young people
(19:10):
trying to start the stuff, like just do it, and
sure it's not going to be perfect at first, but
you need to learn, you know, like and that's the
perfect time in your career to learn. I still my
stuff's still not perfect, Like, I'm still looking for ways
to improve, and with each video I make, I try
a different little editing trick or something that I've never
done before, and along the way I learn. So I
(19:33):
don't know, people need to let go of this idea
that everything's got to be perfect. I think it's because
they know that when they put something up on the Internet,
there's potential for millions of people to see it, and
so you don't want to screw it up. But mistakes
are natural, man, Like, that's that's real, that's reality.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
So what would you tell somebody who was just entering
school thinking about a crossroads of a career, and you know,
as someone who has spent time still is in radio,
how would you encourage them to find their path radio?
Speaker 4 (20:10):
Specifically?
Speaker 2 (20:10):
You're saying yes, yeah, I would say. I would say
a lot of programmers now are looking for somebody. Well,
first of all, they all want somebody who's also a
content creator to use that term that I don't like.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
Especially from the younger crowd.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
So I would say, think of new ways to broadcast,
like new and interesting, innovative, ways to.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
Be both on the radio and online.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
You know, find ways to kind of integrate the two,
incorporate what you're doing on social media on the air
and vice versa, and just start playing around with it. Now,
Like like I said before, you know that you have
everything you need if you want to get into radio,
Like you can start a podcast, you can start an
online radio show. There are all kinds of places that
(21:02):
will host you. You know, go to uh you know,
if you haven't picked a college yet, pick one with
a college radio station and just do it and you
never know, so you might come up with something great.
I think it's But again, I go back to the
innovation thing. I think it's really important for people to
constantly be thinking of what's new, what's next, because I
think programmers, as you might agree buzz are starting to
(21:25):
notice that too. They're starting to notice if we want
to survive as a medium, we need to innovate just
to keep with the young people. Then again, there are
programmers who are like, well, the young people are already gone,
so let's not waste our time with them, and that's unfortunate.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Look, if those programmers are not thinking that way, then
they probably shouldn't be programmers. Yeah, I agreed. I hate
to be so harsh about it.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
So living in an area with such a way, should
we goroad?
Speaker 4 (21:52):
We haven't gone this way?
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Let's go this way?
Speaker 4 (21:54):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Yeah, living in a market so rich over the years
with comedy. Who are some of the comedians that have
had an influence on the way you put stuff out there?
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Oh that's interesting. Yeah, it's not even so much local comedians,
but like some of the people I see on TV
who aren't necessarily journalists but are doing stuff that I
find hilarious. Like Nathan Fielder, I think is absolutely brilliant,
the way he kind of like, sorry, hey, how are you?
(22:29):
The way he kind of mixes reality with this like
just bizarre.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
Miss So.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I loved him growing up. I love Billy Eichner and
what he does with Billy on the Street. That's something
that I could never do, where he just goes up
to people and yells at them.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
But just the fact that it's.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
So original and it's such a like he's taking real
people in these real moments, putting real people in weird situations.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
And so, yeah, I've always been excited by the idea
of highlighting just the weirdness of reality, because like it's
so much more entertaining than stuff you can make up,
you know, like if you show something somebody, if you
show somebody something that's so ridiculous and say this is real,
Like this is a real place or a real person.
(23:18):
That's way more interesting than this is a sketch that
I came up with. Not any there's anything wrong with
sketch comedy. I think it's great, and there are some
absolutely brilliant sketch comedians out there, But.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
I just don't think I'm that kind of funny, you know.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
So in closing, I saw that video that you mentioned
earlier when you guys were in Times Square after you
had won the Edward R. Murrow Award, and it just
radiated of joy. Describe that feeling as you were creating
(23:53):
that piece and coming off of the happiness of getting
that award.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
Oh yeah, it was a black I mean.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
And it goes back to something I say all the time,
which is like, if I'm not having fun doing a story,
then why should I expect anybody to have fun watching
it or listening to it? And so hey, let's go.
And so I was just trying to have as much
fun as possible. I was having fun. I was having
a blast. I had just come out of an award
show where not only did I get this big award,
(24:22):
but all these big industry people were coming up to
me and you know, saying really nice kind things about
my work. I mean, how can you not be in
a great mindset after that to.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
Do a story. So yeah, So it was late at night.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
I wasn't even planning on doing a story about that
whole thing, but my boss suggested I do something to
get the word out there to TikTok that we just
won this big award for the TikTok.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
So I was like, all, right, after.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
The ceremony, let's go into Times Square and let's see
if anybody wants to take a picture with us now
that we're famous. And obviously we're not famous, and obviously
no one was gonna know who the hell we work
as we were in New York City, although we did
find one guy who recognized me in that full furry
first suit.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Yeah, and he was the.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Best part is and I didn't even include this part,
but he wasn't even from Massachusetts. He was from Seattle.
But he was aware of what we were doing, because
he came across us on social media and he followed
us anyways.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
So it was a blast.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
I just love to go out and have fun, like
the world is like a playground and let's play.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
I love it all right, So give a plug. How
do people find the TikTok? Yeah, sure, so it's uh
it sounded like Larry King there. First do people find
the TikTok, Well, you have to go to the app
store search TikTok.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
It's WBZ News Radio is the handle across all platforms.
But if you want me specifically on Instagram, I'm reporter
Matt That.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
It's so great to take a walk with you. I'm
so happy.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Likewise, Buzz and hey, thank you, and I just want
you to know too. Obviously for those listening, Buzz and
I worked in the same building for a little while
the very beginning of my career, and Buzz was one
of the few like higher ups in that building who
was just so nice to me and encouraging and made
me really feel like I could have a future in
this business. And so this full circle moment of us
(26:12):
coming back together and talking here is really special.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
Thank you, Buss.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Oh my pleasure. Hopefully I then use the word content creation.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
No, that wasn't a term back then. This is gonna
date myself. What content creator? They were called influencers back there.
Oh okay, which is even worse, to be honest.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
Thanks Man, of course, Thanks Buzz.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts.
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Yeah, I've always been excited by the idea of highlighting
just the weirdness of reality, because like, it's so much
more entertaining than stuff you can make up.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast with your host
Buzz Night. On this episode, Buzz takes a walk in Acton,
Massachusetts with a guy that's making lots of noise in
Massachusetts and beyond with his work on wb zam's groundbreaking
TikTok account. He and the station have won multiple awards
(00:33):
for his work. Reporter Matt Sheer is our guest on
Taking a Walk with Buzz Night.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Well, hello you, hot shot, Matt Sheer.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
Oh, thank you so much, hot shot, Buzz Night.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
It is so great to be taking a walk with
you here in lovely Acting. Describe this beautiful place we're at.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yes, so, Acton is my hometown and this is the Arboretum,
which is a big park with some paths in the woods.
At parts it looks like the public Garden in Boston
or Central Park in New York, but it's in this
quiet little town of Acting. And I don't know, I
was just saying to you before we started rolling, like
I feel like it's a really underrated spot in town.
(01:16):
It's usually pretty quiet. People come here to walk their dogs.
But there's flowers and trees and hills and it smells
delicious and it's great.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
It's beautiful. Now, this is an in person taking a
Walk episode. We do do virtual ones from time to time.
So let me just stress to those listening because this
has come up before. People go, well, it sounds like
you guys were huffing and puffing a little bit, And
I'm like, well, yeah, because we were walking, so we
actually are walking.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
This is the healthiest podcast there is. I mean, you're
not sitting down in one place.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
This feels great. It's a beautiful day too.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
I gotta say late October, it's like sixty something degrees.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
The colors.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
The being back in my hometown too, makes me feel
like a kid again.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
What was it like growing up in the mean streets
of Acton.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Well, that's the first time that's ever been said, good morning.
It was nice. You know.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
It's so funny when you grow up in a small
town like Actin, all you want to do is get
the hell out of town, you know, especially being a
kid who's like into music, you want to go out
in the city where all the bands play and all
that kind of stuff. But then like you graduate and
you start looking around at houses and stuff, and you're like, well,
Acting is actually a really great place with a nice
school system, and if I could raise a family here,
(02:36):
it'd be wonderful. So I don't know, I'm really grateful
for having grown up in Acting. I was lucky to
have like a really good friend group who I still
keep in touch with, you know, thank God for I
don't know what people did before group chats existed, Like
did you actually like call your friends?
Speaker 4 (02:51):
That's crazy?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
So you know what, we we text all the time
and meet up in the city.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
We all have our own kids. Now. I would love
to live in Acton again, but can't really afford it
at the moment.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
It's gone way up in price, and for good reason.
It's got one of the best school districts in the state,
and it's relatively safe, and you know, you got places
like this the Arboretum.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
So for those listening in, I don't know Phoenix or
Czechoslovakia for that matter, I don't know. Acton would be
considered metro west of Boston.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Right, Yeah, it's about twenty miles west of the city.
It's on the commuter rail, so you can easily get
into Boston pretty quickly.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
I always it's one of.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Those places where if you grow up here, you just
tell people from the rest of the country that you're
from Boston. But if you tell anyone from Boston that
and they find out you're from Acton to make fun
of you, you'll never hear the end of it.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
And then if you're from West Acton or Wackton.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
And that's where I'm from, Wacton exactly, I think it's
better than being from Sacton though, So that.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Explains to every thing, Matt, it doesn't, yeh unfortunately. Yeah,
So tell everybody right now what you're doing at this
point career wise. That is so exciting that we want
to be able to talk about.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
So I am a news reporter for a radio station,
a legendary station in town WBZ News Radio, one hundred
and one year old station, and a couple of years
ago my boss came to me and said, we want
to get the station on TikTok and like my first
reaction was, Okay, we're one hundred and two year old
radio station trying to fit in on a platform full
(04:34):
of children, like, how are we going to look cool
without being cringe?
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Right?
Speaker 2 (04:39):
We're not going to be doing dance moves in the studio,
I hope, And you know, all these silly trends that
TikTok loves to do. I want to have a little
bit of you know, I want to do what we do,
which is tell compelling stories in forty five seconds or less.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
So that's what I started doing.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
It started taking off, and it's to the point now
where we're winning all kinds of awards for our or there.
I was nominated for a New England Emmy because of
TikTok It's which is crazy vertical videos shot on my
Android phone could be eligible for an Emmy.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Didn't win that, but that's.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Okay because I just got back from New York City
last week where we accepted a national Edward R.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Murrow Award for Excellence and Innovation.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Because what's happening is there's a whole young audience that
has never pressed the AM button on their cars radio
who are now suddenly aware of WBZ News Radio, and
some of them are even asking Alexa to play it
on their smart speaker or listening on the iHeartRadio app.
And you know, we're actually seeing results in the numbers too,
(05:39):
in particularly that younger demographic who's active on TikTok, and
you can't it's as you know, buzz, it's really hard
to say exactly where those listeners are coming from or
how they found us, but you know, coincides with when
we started doing the social media stuff. So it's cool
because people across the biz, not just radio but also
journalism and social media are kind of keeping an eye
(06:02):
on what we're doing because it's working.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
I think it's so exciting. Congrats on all the awards.
When did you first realize that this thing, you know,
was blowing up?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
You can see it right in the numbers right there.
When you open up TikTok, you can see how many
times a video.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
Has been viewed, which is wild.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Could you imagine in radio if you could actually see
at any given moment how many people were listening. But
you know, I had my first video that hit over
a million, and that was me going on. I was
looking at a map of Boston and I realized that
there's a little circle of about a half mile in
the downtown area where there's fifteen Dunkin Donuts in that
(06:45):
half mile radius, and so I went and I was like,
I'm going to do a little food tour like you
see sometimes on TikTok where they're like, come along with
me as I check out these cafes. And so I
did that, and every single spot was dunkin Donuts and
people started sharing that around and one of my favorite
things I saw on Twitter, somebody shared that and said,
(07:06):
what gives this news station any right to be this funny?
And so I kind of rolled with it, and but
I didn't, you know, I couldn't do that joke or
that video over and over again, you know, because that
would gets stale.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
We all follow those.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
People on social media right who have like one joke
and they just beat it to death. So I just
got back to what I was doing, which is covering
local news. The next one that really blew up for
me was when one of three market baskets on the
same street and go Rica, Massachusetts, closed and the entire
town flipped out about it like they were losing their
(07:43):
minds because they had to drive five minutes down the
road to go to a different market basket the same road.
And for those listening not from Massachusetts, market basket is
a local chain of grocery stores, a beloved chain of
grocery stores, and.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Uh yeah, that one. That one made national news.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
I started seeing celebrities following me on Twitter, which was crazy,
and Instagram as well. And then finally there was another
one that got really big where just next town over
from here, in Stowe, Massachusetts, they lost both of their
Dunkin Donuts within a matter of months, and again the
town was losing their minds because now they had to
(08:21):
drive to the next town over to Maynard to get
their Duncan donuts. And that one went international, Like we
were getting write ups on that in like the Daily
Mail over in the UK, and I was getting interviewed
about it by media outlets across the country, Washington Post,
Hit Me Up, and Today Show. And I wasn't on
(08:42):
the Today Show, just on Today dot Com. I would
have been cool, but I post that link and everyone
thinks I was on the Today.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Show, which is perception is reality.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
So I would say like those three were the ones
that really kind of kickstarted the whole thing.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
And now it's to the point.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Where I've had other videos that have gone over a
million and gone, you know, done really well, but none
received quite the media attention that those three did.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
So what do you think the key to something going
viral is? I mean, do you have any formula that
you can describe for that?
Speaker 4 (09:19):
That's a great question.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I mean I try not to think in terms of
formulas because I don't want my stories to come off
as formulaic. I feel like when you do that, you
lose a ton of authenticity.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
You know, people have.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Asked me, you know, you know, how do you do this, like, well,
we're trying to do something like what you do at
our radio station, And I say, honestly, I try not
to do what I do, like I try every video.
I want to be different, Like I guess that's kind
of the artist in me. And I think that if
anything is really the secret, the answer is like kind
of have you have to take an artistic approach and
(09:54):
be willing to try something different. At the very least,
that's how you grow a following. It's not necessar, it's
maybe a long way to get like a viral moment
or a viral video, but it definitely helps girl following
because if you're scrolling through TikTok or Instagram and you
see somebody who's doing something that's unique and different, but
you actually like it and you want to see more
(10:15):
of it.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
That's when you hit follow. If you see somebody who's.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Just kind of doing the same thing as everyone else,
like trend chasing, trying to you know, be like, oh,
everybody's using that meme, let's come up with how that meme,
you know, ties to our brand.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
You might get a bunch.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Of likes on that, but you're not going to get
somebody to actually follow you and engage with you.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
In the future.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
So I think originality is key and authenticity and you know,
I hope somebody finds a new formula.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
If you will, to go viral.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I hope people continue to try and innovate because that's
that's that's what's exciting to me.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast. Well,
some would say in the content creation world that frequency
of posting is really important because you are to some
degree throwing things against the wall to see what sticks.
(11:13):
Do you agree with that, Yeah, to.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Some extent, I don't necessarily agree with just putting stuff
out there for the sake of putting stuff out there,
and you use the term content creation, which I understand
is kind of the boilerplate term for like what we're doing.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
But my wife I hate it too.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Why does she hate it? I'm curious.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Oh, well, she's a photographer, so for her, I think
probably it's the throwing against the wall concept exactly.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
Yes, she's an artist totally.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Like for me, it sounds so boardroom, like an executive
boardroom term where you're sitting with like a projector screen
and there's like an Excel spreadsheet and it's like, how
do we fill this with? You know, like that's not
that's not art man Like, I don't know. I guess
it's because my backgrounds a musician, Like you don't.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
You don't want.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Musicians just creating content, right, just like putting out stuff
to see what works. I mean, I think of a
good example especially, and this goes back to your previous
question about like formulaicness.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Right. You know Weezer Dan Weezer.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Everyone loves their first two albums and then after that,
sure they've had some big hit singles because they're following
a formula, but the albums haven't done all that great,
and people are if you talk to any Weezer fan
they're gonna tell you the Blue Album or Pinkerton, And
the reason is because it was when Rivers was so
young and just so just literally pouring his heart out
(12:46):
onto the page, to the point where he can't even
listen to Pinkerton anymore because it's so deeply personal and
embarrassing almost to him. It's like, imagine the whole world
had access to your diary from when you were like
sixteen years old. Like that's super embarrassing to him. But
it's honest and it's genuine, and it's why people love
(13:06):
that album. And after that, he's even admitted he has
like spreadsheets where he keeps track of how he writes songs,
and he thinks he has like a formula to writing
the perfect hit song, and it's worked.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
A few times here and there, but it.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Doesn't really like make people feel something the way that
they did when he was younger.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
But you are posting every day, correct.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Early on I was, But to be honest, ay, I've
pulled back a little bit. It's really every other day now,
just because every day was.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Too much for me.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
It takes a lot to go out record these stories,
edit them, write them, post them.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
And I got two little kids at home. You know,
I was losing sleep.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I didn't want to cut down on my hours of
work or hours with my kids, so what I was
cutting down on was my sleep. And I had a
conversations with my boss and they're like, you know, we
love it you're posting every day, but we never asked
you to. So if you want to cut back, like
by all means, do it. And I did, and it's
been much better for my health. And I haven't really
(14:10):
seen too much of a you know, dip in the views. Certainly,
I'm not growing as many followers as fast as I
was early on, and I think maybe that's, you know,
the benefit to posting every day. But if you do that,
then people are eventually going to get sick of you
and they're not going to engage with your stories as much.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
So that's my philosophy.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Have there been stories you posted that you really thought
were gonna take off that didn't do as well?
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Oh yeah, it happens all the time.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Usually the ones I put the most effort into, it's
the ones where I'm just kind of half ass. I
mean I don't half ass anything really, but the ones
where I just kind of get it done as quickly
as possible and put it up there that seem to
get the most attention. I think maybe people that's because
people can tell when you're trying too hard on social media.
I don't know, but there have been somewhere I've posted
(14:59):
and like I knew it was going to take off
because I knew that, like people in Massachusetts could relate
to that kind of nostalgia, and you know, people were
going to be excited to hear from this person.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
It's just I try. I got to try to not
allow myself to get.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Too attached to the idea of a video blowing up,
because if I do, I'm just setting myself up for disappointment.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
You know, it's really good advice. So how from start
to finish? So when you think of something that you
really want to take to the next level of the story,
what's your your process?
Speaker 2 (15:36):
So it's kind of different every time, depending on what
the story is like. For example, if it's a story
where there's not any booking that I need to do,
if it's just pure interviewing people on the street. I'll
give you an example. A couple of weeks ago, I
did one about jaywalking in Massachusetts. Because you go to
some states where everybody actually waits at the crosswalk for
(15:57):
the little signal, the little hand to go away and
the little person to come up, and that's when they
crossed the street. It's not like that in Massachusetts at all.
You cross when you feel like it, and the cars
they better stop for you, and if they don't, they're
gonna get a lawsuit and you're gonna get paid. That's
the mentality around here. People just walk out into the street.
So I wanted to do something about that because I
was reading that the fine for jaywalking in Massachusetts is
(16:21):
only one dollar. That's why it's never enforced. That's why
everybody just does it. So I went out and tried
to get a ticket. I literally ask I literally asked
police officers, can you please write me a ticket for jaywalking?
Speaker 4 (16:33):
And they just said no, I don't think it was
worth their time.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
So for a story like that, there was no there
really didn't need to be any planning involved. That kind
of just went out on the street and started jaywalking
and interviewing people. And but like, I also think it's
really important to to, you know, come encounter characters. I
want to I want to meet people along the way
(16:59):
who and bring something to the table that I never
could or say something that I would never think of
on my own.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
And that's what takes time.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Like you gotta spend time out on the street actually
interviewing people. You see a lot of news reporters across
the country, and you can tell when like their interviews
are just the first two people they bumped into, because
the people don't really have.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
Anything interesting to say. Like if it's a story about
like a heat wave.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
They're like, oh, yeah, really hot, gotta turn on the
AC today, Like was that.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Really worth people's time watching?
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Right?
Speaker 2 (17:30):
You know, like, yeah, find the person who's sweating their
ass off and complaining, you know who knows, like, find
someone with something really interesting to say.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
So that can take time.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
And but then once I feel like, you know, I've
talked to enough people and I have some great stuff
to work with, I go sit down, I listen to everything.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
I pull out the clips that I like and.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
The great moments that I like, and then start writing
around it. And I do all my audio first, and
I think that's because you know, I'm I'm an audio
production guy, Like that's my background, that's my how my
brain works. And then I put the video on afterwards
and that you know, it's It's definitely adds time to
(18:10):
the process to be.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Able to do it that way. But I'm so picky
about audio. I'm much less picky about video.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Hence the Android Green Texts for Life, by the way.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
But I think it's interesting how you know in the
tools that you have available that for the video side
of things, the tolerance level is, you know, at a
point where you could shoot with your phone and no
one suggests that that's an issue. I mean, you're from
an audio first guy. That's why you do the way
(18:44):
you do it. But the video world, everyone can shoot.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
I tell that to young people all the time. They're like,
what do I need to kind of get started with this?
I was like, you already have everything in your pocket
right now, you know. I didn't have that when I
was a young kid wanting to get into radio. I
couldn't just reach into my pocket and record a podcast,
you know, like I needed to actually get equipment. You
could just do it. And like, especially for young people
(19:10):
trying to start the stuff, like just do it, and
sure it's not going to be perfect at first, but
you need to learn, you know, like and that's the
perfect time in your career to learn. I still my
stuff's still not perfect, Like, I'm still looking for ways
to improve, and with each video I make, I try
a different little editing trick or something that I've never
done before, and along the way I learn. So I
(19:33):
don't know, people need to let go of this idea
that everything's got to be perfect. I think it's because
they know that when they put something up on the Internet,
there's potential for millions of people to see it, and
so you don't want to screw it up. But mistakes
are natural, man, Like, that's that's real, that's reality.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
So what would you tell somebody who was just entering
school thinking about a crossroads of a career, and you know,
as someone who has spent time still is in radio,
how would you encourage them to find their path radio?
Speaker 4 (20:10):
Specifically?
Speaker 2 (20:10):
You're saying yes, yeah, I would say. I would say
a lot of programmers now are looking for somebody. Well,
first of all, they all want somebody who's also a
content creator to use that term that I don't like.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
Especially from the younger crowd.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
So I would say, think of new ways to broadcast,
like new and interesting, innovative, ways to.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
Be both on the radio and online.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
You know, find ways to kind of integrate the two,
incorporate what you're doing on social media on the air
and vice versa, and just start playing around with it. Now,
Like like I said before, you know that you have
everything you need if you want to get into radio,
Like you can start a podcast, you can start an
online radio show. There are all kinds of places that
(21:02):
will host you. You know, go to uh you know,
if you haven't picked a college yet, pick one with
a college radio station and just do it and you
never know, so you might come up with something great.
I think it's But again, I go back to the
innovation thing. I think it's really important for people to
constantly be thinking of what's new, what's next, because I
think programmers, as you might agree buzz are starting to
(21:25):
notice that too. They're starting to notice if we want
to survive as a medium, we need to innovate just
to keep with the young people. Then again, there are
programmers who are like, well, the young people are already gone,
so let's not waste our time with them, and that's unfortunate.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Look, if those programmers are not thinking that way, then
they probably shouldn't be programmers. Yeah, I agreed. I hate
to be so harsh about it.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
So living in an area with such a way, should
we goroad?
Speaker 4 (21:52):
We haven't gone this way?
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Let's go this way?
Speaker 4 (21:54):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Yeah, living in a market so rich over the years
with comedy. Who are some of the comedians that have
had an influence on the way you put stuff out there?
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Oh that's interesting. Yeah, it's not even so much local comedians,
but like some of the people I see on TV
who aren't necessarily journalists but are doing stuff that I
find hilarious. Like Nathan Fielder, I think is absolutely brilliant,
the way he kind of like, sorry, hey, how are you?
(22:29):
The way he kind of mixes reality with this like
just bizarre.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
Miss So.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
I loved him growing up. I love Billy Eichner and
what he does with Billy on the Street. That's something
that I could never do, where he just goes up
to people and yells at them.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
But just the fact that it's.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
So original and it's such a like he's taking real
people in these real moments, putting real people in weird situations.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
And so, yeah, I've always been excited by the idea
of highlighting just the weirdness of reality, because like it's
so much more entertaining than stuff you can make up,
you know, like if you show something somebody, if you
show somebody something that's so ridiculous and say this is real,
Like this is a real place or a real person.
(23:18):
That's way more interesting than this is a sketch that
I came up with. Not any there's anything wrong with
sketch comedy. I think it's great, and there are some
absolutely brilliant sketch comedians out there, But.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
I just don't think I'm that kind of funny, you know.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
So in closing, I saw that video that you mentioned
earlier when you guys were in Times Square after you
had won the Edward R. Murrow Award, and it just
radiated of joy. Describe that feeling as you were creating
(23:53):
that piece and coming off of the happiness of getting
that award.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
Oh yeah, it was a black I mean.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
And it goes back to something I say all the time,
which is like, if I'm not having fun doing a story,
then why should I expect anybody to have fun watching
it or listening to it? And so hey, let's go.
And so I was just trying to have as much
fun as possible. I was having fun. I was having
a blast. I had just come out of an award
show where not only did I get this big award,
(24:22):
but all these big industry people were coming up to
me and you know, saying really nice kind things about
my work. I mean, how can you not be in
a great mindset after that to.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
Do a story. So yeah, So it was late at night.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
I wasn't even planning on doing a story about that
whole thing, but my boss suggested I do something to
get the word out there to TikTok that we just
won this big award for the TikTok.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
So I was like, all, right, after.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
The ceremony, let's go into Times Square and let's see
if anybody wants to take a picture with us now
that we're famous. And obviously we're not famous, and obviously
no one was gonna know who the hell we work
as we were in New York City, although we did
find one guy who recognized me in that full furry
first suit.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Yeah, and he was the.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Best part is and I didn't even include this part,
but he wasn't even from Massachusetts. He was from Seattle.
But he was aware of what we were doing, because
he came across us on social media and he followed
us anyways.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
So it was a blast.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
I just love to go out and have fun, like
the world is like a playground and let's play.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
I love it all right, So give a plug. How
do people find the TikTok? Yeah, sure, so it's uh
it sounded like Larry King there. First do people find
the TikTok, Well, you have to go to the app
store search TikTok.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
It's WBZ News Radio is the handle across all platforms.
But if you want me specifically on Instagram, I'm reporter
Matt That.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
It's so great to take a walk with you. I'm
so happy.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Likewise, Buzz and hey, thank you, and I just want
you to know too. Obviously for those listening, Buzz and
I worked in the same building for a little while
the very beginning of my career, and Buzz was one
of the few like higher ups in that building who
was just so nice to me and encouraging and made
me really feel like I could have a future in
this business. And so this full circle moment of us
(26:12):
coming back together and talking here is really special.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
Thank you, Buss.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Oh my pleasure. Hopefully I then use the word content creation.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
No, that wasn't a term back then. This is gonna
date myself. What content creator? They were called influencers back there.
Oh okay, which is even worse, to be honest.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
Thanks Man, of course, Thanks Buzz.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts.
Hosts And Creators
Bobby Bones
Amy Brown
Lunchbox
Eddie Garcia
Morgan Huelsman
Raymundo
Mike D
Abby Anderson
Scuba Steve
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