May 8, 2025 • 44 mins
On this week's 5 Random Questions is Tom Webster, partner at Sounds Profitable and a purveyor of podcasting, stats, and jokes.
Tom's topics include funeral faux pas, an Italian love story that also has a future crime in store, why regrets can be the best thing to happen, and more. Let's jump in!
Answering the questions this week: Tom Webster
Tom Webster is a Partner at Sounds Profitable, dedicated to setting the course for the future of the audio business. His interests include podcasting, stats and jokes. Tom is a Podcasting Hall of Fame inductee.
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Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I don't know that I reallywant to get too specific about it,
but I do think secondmarriages are wonderful. I think
you're much clearer about whatit is that you want and don't want
and you spend the time gettingto know that person a little bit
more.
Hi and welcome to Five RandoQuestions, the show where every question
(00:21):
is an adventure. I'm your hostDanny Brown, and each week I'll be
asking my guests fivequestions created by a random question
generator. The guest has noidea what the questions are and neither
do I, which means this couldgo either way. So sit back, relax,
and let's dive into thisweek's episode. Today's guest is
Tom Webster. Tom is partner atSounds Profitable, a collection of
(00:41):
media properties that providesindustry leading research around
podcasts' most pressingquestions. Previously he was Senior
Vice President at EdisonResearch and he's also the co author
of the annual Infinite Dialstudy that looks at the habits and
trends of the podcastingindustry. He's also a podcast hall
of fame inductee. So, Tom withthe very, very impressive bio, welcome
to 5 Rando Questions.
(01:03):
Thanks, Danny. And I just wantto let you know that I'm terrified,
just absolutely terrified ofthis format, you know, because I
like to control everything so.
Well, I was going to say, Imean, you're a very. When I've seen
you speak and when I've metyou, I've spoken to you, you seem
a very confident person. Soit's interesting to hear. This is
like throwing you a littlebit, which is. That's a fun part
of this show, I feel.
(01:24):
Yeah, I think so. I mean, Ienjoy the speaking. I don't know
if it's confidence or not, butyou know, it's preparation times,
anxiety times, just the numberof reps I've had doing it. But I
don't know, like, I don't knowwhat you've seeded this random question
generator with. So yeah, we'regoing to find out together.
Put little AI prompts in therejust to throw you completely. And
(01:46):
I'd mentioned, obviously yourbio is super impressive, very professional,
with lots of achievements overthe years. But for anyone that follows
you on Bluesky, that's acomplete opposite and super simple
where all you do is youmention that you do podcasting stats
and jokes and that's prettymuch it. So what's your favorite
joke about podcasting or statsor favorite joke overall? And this
(02:07):
isn't part of the randomquestions. I'm just curious.
Oh yeah, I know about afavorite joke about stats, but something
a line That I cite a lot whenI see, you know, there's two kinds
of research, right? There'sresearch to show and there's research
to know. And I try to do a lotof research to know. There are plenty
of people who do research toshow they have a preordained idea
(02:28):
that they want to quote,unquote, prove, right? And the thing
that I will often say aboutthat is that they're using statistics
like a drunkard uses alamppost for support, not illumination.
So there you go. There's somestatistics comedy for you, Danny.
That's. There's not a lot ofthat in the world. That might be
the only statistics joke I know.
That's. I'm gonna open nowwith that, you know, if I ever do
(02:50):
any speak, I'm gonna open withthat and say, hey, it's good enough
for Tom, it's good enough foryou guys. And speaking. Well, no,
not really speaking of jokesas such, but speaking of stepping
away from your professionallife. You made me super jealous last
week because you got to seelegendary UK rock vocalist John Wayt
in concert without making mefeel even more jealous. How was.
(03:14):
Was phenomenal. You know, Ithink John Waite has never gotten
his full due, right? You know,not to go like too far down memory
lane with everybody, but, youknow, he had some great songs with
the babies, he had some greatsongs with Bad English, some great
songs solo. But the thing thatjust kind of blew me away, and I
saw him in a fairly smallvenue was just how great and in the
(03:35):
same key and range his voicestill is at 73. And, you know, he
closed the show with thisbananas version of Whole Lot of Love
by Led Zeppelin that RobertPlant could not even do today in
that way. And it was justlike, I don't know, I just left like
so, so full of Joy because for90 minutes he just sang his face
(04:00):
off. And I don't know anybodywho wouldn't have loved that show.
Nah. And I almost wondered if,like the singers from that era, because
obviously he was in the Babiesin the 70s, then he did his solo
stuff and then in Bad English,kind of late 8, mid-90s. I wonder
if the singers from that erajust have that longer lasting vocal
range compared. I'm notputting down any singers today, but
(04:21):
I think of. You mentionedRobert Plant. I think of Steve Perry
at Journey. You know, peoplelike that Anne Wilson of Heart, they
still seem to be able to hitthese notes and sing these songs
when they should just berelaxing in retirement as a pensioner.
You would I don't know. I, I,you know, I, I just sort of look
at it like they just love it.You know what I mean? Like, there
(04:42):
are probably a lot of peopleworking, like, at insurance companies
that when they retire, think,oh, I'm going to become a singer,
because that's what I wouldhave rather have done. Well, I think
if you have been a rock star,a pop star, or, you know, just a
gigging, working vocalist, I.Why would you quit that? As long
as your voice holds out that,you know, I'm very jealous of all
that.
I hear you. Well, speaking ofdoing something that you do outside
(05:05):
of what you do as a day job,it's time for five random questions,
I feel. Let's get you in thishot seat, Tom, and let's bring up
the random question generator.We'll see what comes up here. So
let's have a look then.Question number one. Okay, this is
a nice easy one. He says toopen up the episode. Question number
(05:26):
one, Tom. What are some thingsthat you should not say at a funeral?
Oh, some things you should notsay at a funeral. Okay. Okay. I think
number one would be, is therealso. Is there going to be food here?
Because I'm, I'm starving. Ithink that's at the funeral itself.
That's, that's probably notgreat. I'm happy to see they got
(05:48):
what they deserved. Wouldprobably be low on the list. Right.
And you know that, that guy.Thank God. Yeah. Things you should
not say at a funeral. That's.Yeah, I'm going to go with that.
Couldn't have happened to abetter person.
(06:08):
Well, I think that it's weirdbecause, like, you say you've got
the funeral and then obviouslyyou've got the service, I guess,
afterward. So I'm guessingthis is on about the funeral. Whether
that's the burial or thecremation. I was trying to think
of the word for the. Notburial, the cremation. I mean, have
you ever been to, like,without being too morbid, but have
you ever been to. If you knowwhere someone said something that
(06:29):
you've heard, you thought,ooh, shouldn't maybe not go there?
You know, it's funny. Like, Ithink any, anybody that's been to
a service of any kind. Thefunny thing to me is how people,
you know, nobody is a perfectangel. Or, you know, maybe there
are. I guess, you know, Iguess I am, Danny. But it's how people
(06:50):
kind of dance around, youknow, Bob was a complicated man,
and that's always like, youknow, it's Code for something like,
he was actually detestable.But this is not the time or place
to say that. And so it alwayscomes out as this code that everybody
can parse. Like, you know,Jill had no problem expressing herself,
(07:11):
as I'm sure many of you know.But there's always just that code.
But you're still saying thesame thing and everybody knows it.
It's like that passiveaggressive compliment, right. Like
you said, you know, thatthere's a story behind it and maybe
you'll grab that person later,you know, over the buffet or something.
But you know, their storythere. But it's. It's weird how,
(07:33):
like, I'm always a fan of,like, celebrating death, so I like
the last two funerals I'vebeen to, it's all been about celebrations.
Not, you know, beingencouraged not to be sad. You can
grieve, obviously, but maybein your own time or whatever. And
I feel like it'd be fun, forwant of a better word, when you're
talking about Funerals anddeath, etc. But it'd be fun to. To
(07:55):
have people just roast deadpeople. You know, you see these,
like, roasts on TV and like,obviously, Nikki Fraser did some
amazing roast. Was it Nikki Fraser?
Yeah. Nikki Fraser, Yeah,yeah, yeah.
Did some amazing roastrecently. It'd be interesting to
see Rosa, if you know that toyour point, you. You always try to
be respectful, right. And it'dbe interesting to flip that a little
(08:16):
bit.
I think the posthumous roastis a fantastic idea, but I think
that event would have to beinvite only. You know, I think there'd
be some generational issueswith that. And, you know, there's
a difference between friendsand family. So I think someone would
have to be very selectiveabout inviting people to that. Otherwise
it could, you know, it couldend in the wrong kind of tears for
(08:38):
somebody. But I love the idea.Maybe I'll. I'll stipulate that for.
For my own funeral. Yeah. It'stoo bad I won't be there.
Oh, and that's the thing,right? You want it to be fun and
silly and maybe cause a bitof. Not consternation, but just a,
you know, a differentenvironment. But you're not going
to know if that worked or not,Mario. It's like one of these things
that you'll just never know, I guess.
Yeah. And everybody hasunfinished business with the dead
(09:01):
and the funeral may not be theplace to kind of work that out. You
know, I think about when, youknow, my own father died about a
year and a half ago, and wedidn't actually have a funeral for
him. We just sort of. Okay,that's it. And there was not an unfinished
business ceremony. Therecertainly could have been, I think,
but I think just leave that be.
(09:23):
I hear you. Well, speaking ofleaving it be, and I enjoyed this
one as an icebreaker, if youlike, for your five questions.
Pretty tough icebreaker, Danny.
I have no control over whatpops up, mate. Like, completely new
for me.
Yeah. And now it's more about death.
Let's leave death and questionone behind and see what we have for
(09:44):
question two. Well, this islike a nice easy one then, to ease
into that from question two.And we're recording this on a Thursday,
so it's pretty timely as well.Tom, question number two. Are you
doing anything fun this weekend?
You know, I deeply love mywife and we have a great marriage,
great relationship. Know,we've been married. We've been married
(10:05):
13 years this year. And for avariety of reasons, she's been gone
like, 20 of the last 30 days.You know, her. She had a trip with
her two sons from a differentmarriage. She. Her father had passed
a little while ago, and so shehad to go and take care of some business
for that. So I just haven'tseen her in a long time. And we're
(10:28):
just going to have a fantasticdate. Like, we have not been out
to dinner, I think, in amonth, and we desperately both need
it. So we're heading to, youknow, a Boston hotspot, since I'm
here in Boston, and we'regonna have a nice date, and I'm really
looking forward to that.
And you'd mentioned,obviously, Tamsen's been your wife,
Tamsin. She's been very busy.And you've been speaking quite a
(10:51):
lot earlier this year,obviously, with the reports that
came out. You know, as Imentioned in the intro, there is
that like a regular. Well, notso regular, maybe semi regular, where
you're both kind of notpassing ships. But it's harder to
organize date nights and stuffbecause you're both so busy.
Oh, for sure. I mean, youknow, she speaks a lot of conferences.
(11:12):
I speak a lot of conferences.And there are conference seasons,
you know, and so there aredefinitely times when we're both
away from home, and thosetimes don't overlap very well. And
it can just be these, like,long stretches and complicated by
the fact that we have twogreyhounds and, you know, we live
in downtown Boston. There's noplace to really board them conveniently.
(11:33):
So, you know, taking care ofthe dogs is like, I think 90% of
my life is dog management, andthe other 10 is podcasting and sundry
other things. So it reallydoes become a logistical challenge
to have a date because thedogs really can't be left alone for.
For.
For too long. I mean, they're.They're anxious greyhounds, and who
(11:55):
knows what they're going toget on, get up to when we're not
here. And, and it's not thatthey'll tear up our shoes and clothes
and stuff, it's that they'llsit at the door and just cry. And,
you know, I don't. Nobodywants that.
And it's going to be fun foryour neighbors, I feel, having that.
We have like three littledogs, and two of them can be quite
loud, even though the little dogs.
(12:17):
Well, our immediate neighbor,you know, we live on the 26th floor
of a high rise in downtownBoston, and we're in a corner unit,
and the corner unit directlyacross the hall from us is the leasing
office. So that is the lastthing we want are like two whining,
barking dogs, or they don'treally bark, but right across on
the leasing office, you know,and it's. The leasing office just
(12:39):
moved there. And, you know, weused to, before the leasing office
was here, let the dogs run inthe halls just to kind of burn off
some, you know, because it'shard to let greyhounds run and you
can't really. They won't comeback. And we were joking that with
the leasing office up here,that they would. They'd be bringing
prospective tenants up to thisfloor, and. And all of a sudden they
(13:00):
would see that this floor isguarded by Cerberus or, you know,
some like, whirling vortex ofgiant dogs. And that would be a good,
A good reason not to, youknow, not to live here. But anyway,
it is a logistical challenge,but it's. That's what life is. So.
Yeah, no, I hear you. And whatwould be. So obviously you mentioned
it's hard to organize a date.You're in Boston. I've only been
(13:22):
in Boston once, but I lovedit. I was there many years ago, and
downtown Boston especially,like, amazing place to go. What would
be your ideal perfect datenight? That's easy to arrange but
makes for a really goodmemory. So for someone coming to
Boston, what would be a greatrecommendation for a day as well?
Yeah, I mean, there's, youknow, people don't often talk about
(13:44):
Boston for food, but I think,you know, a night in the, in the
north end of Boston would be alot of fun. You know, Pick any one
of dozens of great Italianrestaurants in the North End. It's
a very Italian neighborhood.And then they're all. They're all
sort of traditional in a waythat none of them serve dessert because
they want you to go to thedessert place across the street or
(14:05):
the dessert place next door,and you just sort of build a night
around that. And, you know,and of course, the, you know, the.
The. It's a very walkablecity. There's. There's a little brick
path called the Freedom Trailthat runs right outside our front
door because we're right nextto the old State House where the
Boston Massacre happened. It'sliterally next door to us, but not
as. Not so much massacringanymore, but, you know, it's just
(14:26):
a very walkable city. There'sso much history. And I think for,
you know, you and I both havemany friends from Europe. I think
it's the most European city in America.
No, that's a good description,actually. It's one of the things
I found when I went there. Andlike I said, it was years ago. I
think it was probably 2012,2013, something like that. And I
had a friend. I still have afriend. He's not dead. On the subject
(14:48):
of death. I still have a friend.
I had a friend. I still havehim, but I had him, too.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. He'sgonna not be my friend when he listens
to this. But, yeah, I wouldagree with that. It is a very, like,
cosmopolitan, cultural,European vibe city, which is pretty
cool to see, you know, inNorth America.
Yeah. And it's also gotpockets in neighborhoods. You know,
(15:09):
it's not a. It's not a sort ofhomogeneous city. It's a. It's a
city where people livedowntown. I think, to me, you know,
anytime you have a city wherepeople live downtown, as opposed
to, you know, commuting fromsuburbs and things like that, you
know, I think that's a healthycity. So we love it here. I mean,
you know, I actually, I did myundergraduate work at. At Tufts University,
(15:32):
which is in a suburb ofBoston. So, you know, that was my.
My formative years were here,and I've lived around the world,
around the country, but I'vebeen back here for 15 years and.
And no, no plans on leaving. Ilove this city. It's expensive, but,
you know, it's worth it.
And it's home. Right. It'slike you say, and it's got the. You
got the wife, you got the twokids, you got the two dogs. Is it
(15:54):
two kids? Or is it more. Youmentioned two.
My wife has two sons with herwith her ex and they live with him
in the North End. Actuallythey're you know, just half a mile
away from us and I have a son,I have a son in college right now.
So no, no kids actually at home.
Nice. Well, I've got like twoteens at home at the moment so I'm
very. Once again you're makingme super jealous. You got John weep,
(16:16):
you got no kids at home. It'stime. I have to end this episode
pretty soon, mate. I'm not,not enjoying this waiting push back
at me.
Well, you know, won't be long, won't.
Be long on that front on beingjealous. I'm not going to be jealous
of this anymore. Let's have alook at seeing what question number
three brings up. Okay. Andyeah, I'm curious about this. So
(16:38):
you travel a lot withprofessionally Tom, new wife travels.
But what is your favoriteholiday? And it can be a destination
or holiday that you had, youknow, prior.
You know, we have spent thelast three years and upcoming of
this summer of fourth spendinglots of time in Italy and we have
(16:59):
really, really enjoyed it.We've gone deep on Italy and my wife
has been, you know,duolingoing Italian pretty non stop
throughout the whole thing andshe's able to navigate things really,
really well. So this, thisJuly we're going to Torino and Milan.
My wife's been to Milan, I'venot been to Milan. But you know,
(17:21):
we've both been to Rome andNapoli and Florence and all throughout
Sicily. We spent a whole weekin Sicily and you know, in Palermo
and Taormina and, and I'vejust really enjoyed it. And you know,
the first time that we wentthere we did a Disney adventure vacation
and I highly recommend Disneyvacation planning. It's, it's not
(17:42):
full of Minis and Mickeys andgoofies, is just really high end
service. Right. And we went toSicily for a week and this is a couple
years ago and it was the weekin Europe that was like the hottest
week on record, you know,hotter than the sun. And we spent
the whole week in temperaturesthat were, you know, 113, 115. I
(18:06):
don't know how many of yourcentigrade that is, Danny, but it's
probably hot. Yeah, it'sreally, really hot. Right?
That's 40 plus, I think.
Yeah. And, and in the blindingsun and with outdoor activities with
two Disney Adventure tourguides and you know there were, there
were 20 of us, right. It was,it was A small group. And what kind
of blew me away about it wasnobody complained. Nobody, you know,
(18:33):
everybody could have. Theycould have complained. They could
have, you know, moaned andkvetched and everything else the
whole week, just about howdreadfully hot it was. But we all
just sort of accepted it. Wedrank lots of water and we had this
wonderful, like, traumabonding experience, you know, coupled
with how much we loved thepeople and the, and the food and
(18:54):
everything else, and it just,we just kind of fell in love with
it.
What is it about Italy inparticular? So obviously you mentioned
the last four years now, orthis will be the fourth year. Italy's
been the agenda, thedestination. What is about Italy
in particular? Is it the peakpeople? Is it the, the culture, like
the food, etc? What. What's itfor you?
Yeah, I think for me it's the.For me it's a lot of. It is the landscape
(19:18):
and the architecture. Youknow, the food is, is incredible.
You know, we certainly, youknow, especially throughout Sicily,
there's, you know, people takea real pride in. No matter what the,
the size, scope and budget ofthe restaurant is, people take a
real pride in food there andit shows in everything they do. But,
(19:38):
you know, I just love goingthrough, like, narrow cobblestone
streets and then you all of asudden enter a courtyard and there's
this magnificent church orthis magnificent fountain that, you
know, and there's. There's oneof those every couple of blocks.
You know what I mean? It'sjust. And that's true in so many
cities there, and it was justreally easy to navigate and the people
were really, really friendly.And I've traveled a lot throughout
(20:00):
Europe and, and I don't have,I don't have stereotypes about, about
people and cultures, but thereare cities that are not as friendly,
right? And, and they can bejust large cities and people are
busy and they don't have timeto talk to strangers and, and. But,
you know, between Tamson'sHalting Italian and better than Halting
and my slow, loud English,everyone was really, really friendly
(20:23):
to us. And I think, you know,it's a great, It's a great tourist
destination for, I think folksin North America.
It's interesting you mentionedabout not so much people, but cities
can be unfriendly. Like, I'mfrom Edinburgh, but I find Glasgow
a far friendlier city. Youknow, not even just for Scots people,
but anybody visiting Scotland,if you go, if you choose to go to,
(20:45):
say, Edinburgh or Glasgow,you'll probably find Glasgow needs
a more conversational one,open to Striking up a conversation.
I think the same in Toronto. Ilove Toronto as a city. Sorry, I
love Toronto's people and it'sa very multicultural city, but I
find it's very heads down,we're super busy, we have to be someplace,
you know, whereas you gosomewhere like a Montreal, very friendly,
(21:06):
very conversational, etc. It'sfunny how just different cities have
that appeal, or not appeal,but you know what I mean.
Yeah, it's very true. And Ithink you get that experience in
France, for example. I thinkif you are an American in Paris,
you're going to have adifficult time, but if you're an
American in Toulouse orsomewhere in the south, you're not.
(21:27):
And you know, some of it'sjust how, you know how fast paced
the culture is and, and howmuch time people have to give you
and, and Paris is just likeNew York. It's really big and full
of very busy people on theirway to doing something else that
just don't have a lot of timefor you. And that's not the case
in, in maybe some other citiesin France. So I don't, you know,
(21:47):
I don't typically tend tostereotype the French because I've
just had so many differentexperiences there. I do have a funny
Glasgow story. This was backin the, gosh, in the late 90s. I
used to do a lot of consultingwork in radio throughout the UK and
one of the things that I oftenconsulted on were OFCOM applications.
OFCOM is this entity that youbasically that regulates who gets
(22:10):
radio signals and who canstart new stations and things like
that. And often in a city anapplication opportunity would come
up that, the, that the city,that Ofcom would allow a new signal
in that city. And so you'dhave to do applications and you'd
have to show research and doand do your work. And so I did a
lot of that research andconsulting and I worked on an application
(22:31):
in Glasgow and I did, I didsome music testing there and I was
there with a colleague ofmine, his name was Hal. And you know,
Hal was up there playing musicoff of a, off of, you know, he had
a, he had a laptop because wehad this sort of electronic testing
thing like dials. People hadthat they were responding to these
various snippets of songs, youknow, how much they liked them or
(22:52):
didn't like them. It was in mylate 20s, I guess, and you know,
we'd played about 50 of thesesong clips and all of a sudden this
guy at the very back of theroom like full beard, thick cable
knit fisherman sweater, raiseshis hands and Hal goes, yeah, sir,
(23:14):
do you have a question? And hestands up and he goes, Hal, have
you no got better music inyour computer, man? I'll just never
forget that because that kindof, you know, threw off the rest
of the night a little bit, butjust killed me, Hal.
And I love the fact he's gothis big raggling on, you know, he's
(23:36):
probably coming from doingsome fisher fishing, you know, catching
some of the fish.
Undoubtedly undoubted. Yeah.Just straight off the boat.
It's funny you mentioned Ofcomthere as well because I feel if I
remember, it's been a whilesince I've not been in the UK for
20 years and so I forgetterms, etc. But isn't Ofcom just
simply the Office ofCommunications? That's what it stands
(23:56):
for.
Yeah, that's right, yeah.
I mean it's a very sort ofHarry Potter kind of 1984 vibe, you
know, where it's just like astraightforward name but it sounds
very official and veryserious. The Office of Communications.
It's a bizarre system. Youhave to, basically, when you put
in, this may be way off topic,but when you apply for a new station
(24:17):
through Ofcom, you have toshow that it's not going to materially
compete or materially damageother commercial radio stations in
that market. It's fine if itcompetes with the BBC, but it's not,
you know, like here inAmerica, the cities are very over
radio, there are too manysignals. You have, you know, three
or four country stations in amarket. This with we have Spotify,
(24:40):
we don't really need three orfour country stations, we need one
great one. But you know, inwith Ofcom, if there's an existing
station in your format, youcan't just start a signal and do
that and try and do it better.You have to show that, oh, we wouldn't
harm them at all. And it's avery complicated system. But you
know, it was a, I've, I've wona few and I've lost a few.
(25:01):
That's interesting. I neverknew that about Webcom. So they're
encouraging, like, I guessencouraging growth in, you know,
smaller radio stations becauseyou, you can't open up something
that's already there. So itkind of protects a little guy from
that side, I feel.
Yeah, and I, you know,honestly I, I agree with all that.
I mean, I, you know, we havenone of those protections here in
the United States and as aresult we have a very unhealthy commercial
(25:24):
broadcast radio, you know,that's in constant decline, that
has too many ads, too muchrepetition and replication in markets
and it could do with someregulation because I, you know. But
that's another show.
Well, yeah, it's funny, Iwear. I have another podcast that
I co host with my colleaguefrom Captivate where I work, called
(25:44):
in and Around Podcast. Andthen last night I recorded an episode
with James, our friend JamesGridland from POD News. And he's
obviously a big, huge radio.He's got the radio background as
well. I feel that you twotogether could have an amazing conversation
about the ends outs, the do's,the don'ts of radio and where it
could go.
Yeah, I just think, you know,a lot of the attitudes about radio
(26:05):
in America are, are influencedby American radio. And there's a
couple of really bigdifferences in American radio. American
radio is largely deregulatedcompared to other markets. Most markets,
especially in Europe, are veryprotected. And the other thing that
America does not have, which,you know, any European country does,
is a state broadcaster.America doesn't have a state broadcaster
(26:28):
and a state broadcaster. It'snot a sinister thing. It is, it's
a wonderful thing with, it'sa, you know, high budget, lots of
investment, people take pridein it, you know, and that's, that's
true across, you know, prettymuch all of Europe and there aren't
so many commercial radiostations, you know, they can all
sort of coexist in a marketand, and do very well and, and you
(26:50):
know, that the European radiomarket is much, much healthier. The
American radio marketunfortunately has shot itself in
the foot in a number of waysand you know, they're kind of burning
the furniture to keep warm.
So it's a shame to see. Iknow, like I mentioned, James, I'm
very much in radio background,but it's a shame to see. I know a
lot of the local stations hereare struggling because of, you know,
(27:10):
streaming services, you know,Spotify, Amazon Music, etc. And I
grew up as a, listening toradio. Like my granddad would have
it on and listen to it. We'dlisten to the sports results coming
through. And you don't getthat now, you know, you just check
your phone and say, okay,yeah, great team one. And that's
a shame to see that.
Yeah, I agree. I mean, youknow, I grew up with great radio
as a, as a companion. And youknow, one of the things that the,
(27:30):
that the radio business inAmerica did in response to things
like, you know, Pandora and,and then Spotify and some of the
other services was they, theytried to out Pandora, Pandora and
they, you know, they shuttheir personalities up and you know,
as a result of that they justbecame the same thing, except with
20 ads. And that's simply noncompetitive, especially for Internet
(27:54):
radio.
(29:00):
Yeah, I hear you. So there yougo, listeners. If you want to have
Tom, you know, really go on adeep dive, ask him about radio. And
I feel we could speak aboutthis for hours and hours, but we
don't have hours and hours,unfortunately, Tom, so we don't.
Let's have a look at questionnumber four. Okay, here we go. This
(29:23):
is like a bit more of aserious one maybe question number
four, Tom, what is yourbiggest regret?
Wow, my biggest regret? I, ohman, I try not to have too many of
those in life, I really don't.But I will say something that I think
probably a lot of people sharethat have had my experiences, both,
(29:49):
you know, men and women. I'mdivorced and you know, I have a,
Tamson is my, my second wife,my first wife is a, a brilliant molecular
biologist. She's a universityprofessor. And you know, I think
anytime you have a marriageend, you have to have regrets, right,
(30:10):
because you entered into itnot thinking it was going to end
and you ended it knowing ithad to end. And in between that was
all series of cascadingmissteps by one or both of you, likely
both of you. And I think Iwould regret, I don't, I don't know
that I really want to get toospecific about it, but I do think
(30:34):
second marriages arewonderful. I think you're much clearer
about what it is that you wantand don't want and you spend the
time getting to know thatperson a little bit more. And you
know, I, I don't believe I'vemade any of those mistakes with Tamson.
So, you know, knock on, knockon Felton Wood here. I hope I, I
(30:58):
don't have a second regret.
I, I hear you. I, I, I thinkthat's like you say, it's something
that, you know, anybody that'sbeen through it as well can understand.
I know my wife's mum, shedoesn't listen to the show, so she's
okay, I'm okay. But I knowit's Mum, she's been married three
times, she's on her thirdmarriage and there's a running joke
in the family about, you know,is this one going to last, is it
(31:20):
not going to last, etc. Butshe does say that each time she takes
something away from what, whatshe learned from marriage one or
marriage two, and what kind ofperson wasn't right, the, the dynamic,
etc. And this has been herlongest marriage, longest lasting.
So I feel like, you see there,there's definitely regrets of anything
(31:41):
that ends like that, but thelessons can help you, you know, to
the next stage of what thatlooks like.
Yeah. And I, you know, I don'tbelieve I would be to the extent
that I am a good husband, asgood a husband I am to Tamson without
the things that I, I reallylearned from that first marriage.
So, you know, I wish, I hopeit doesn't take multiple for everybody,
(32:02):
but sometimes it does.
Yeah. And you'd mentioned thatobviously there's kids from the first
marriages etc, as well. I knowa lot of times, maybe more with people
that date as opposed to beingmarried, but maybe married as well.
A lot of times there'srecommendations you should stay together
for the kids. Do you thinkthat's in general bad advice again?
(32:23):
You don't have to be toospecific, mate, but it's terrible.
It is absolutely terribleadvice. Yeah. I was such a better.
So my son, my son is now 20.He's a sophomore at Colorado Boulder.
And you know, when I, when,when we got divorced, he was fairly
(32:43):
young. I think he was maybefive, something like that. And, and
I was a much better father tohim after that. And I think what
he ended up getting as aresult of that was his mother's undivided
attention when, when he waswith her and my undivided attention
when he was with me. And youknow, was it, was it disruptive?
(33:04):
I'm sure it was disruptive,but I don't know. He's on a full
scholarship with straight A'sin college. He did okay. I'm incredibly
proud of him. And you know,would that have happened had we stayed
together? I, I don't doubtthat it would, but it would have
been a different and, andpotentially more difficult experience.
So I think staying togetherfor the kids is really outdated advice.
(33:27):
I think providing as thefewest disruptions and the most support
for your kids as possible,whatever that means. That's the advice.
No, like I said, I've got twoteens and if my wife and I ever did
divorce, I'd like to think wecould still be friends. And we do
amicably and we understandthat we're doing it because we don't
(33:48):
want the kids to be disrupted.Right. We don't want to see us fall
out of love with each other,hate each other, than get really
bad and what all that could bring.
Yeah, I mean, you hope that'strue. You know, I think it took my
ex wife and I many years tokind of get to that level of detente,
I think. But in no case did weever, you know, litigate this in
(34:09):
front of our son. So I thinkultimately it was good that we divorced.
And as you mentioned, it's,and this Sounds flippant, I 100%
apologize, but it all workedout for the best because now, you
know, you're happy, I'massuming. Hopefully your ex wife
is happy and obviously yourson is doing really, really well
in his life as well.
Yeah. No regrets about any of that.
(34:29):
That's always good to hear.Well, Tom, we've almost made it through
to the end, so without furtherado, question number five. Interesting.
So that kind of ties in withthe one we've just had, I guess.
But let's have a look anyway.Question number five. Would you rather
be rich and never find truelove or be poor and find true love?
(34:52):
I would say I would rather bepoor and find true love, but I mean,
I did not grow up in wealthand you know, I, I, I can make it
work, you know what I mean?But I do know how important it is
for me to have a partner. Andespecially because, you know, I don't
know about you, but I'm a realintrovert. I'm an incredibly introverted
(35:13):
person. Right. You know, youput me in a room at a party or something
like that and I will not talkto anybody if, unless they come and
talk to me first. And that'sone of the reasons why I, I worked
to get really good at publicspeaking. Because when I go to an
event and I give a keynote,people will come up to me and that's
helpful to me. So, but youknow, having that sort of one great
(35:35):
partner in your life, a lot ofpressure on them. But I would rather
have that than all the gold inthe world.
It's, it's like that the oldsaying, right? If you want to be
truly rich, be happy. Youknow, you can have all the gold in
the world, all the riches,like everything. But sometimes, I
mean, you look at somecelebrities and they look as if life
(35:57):
is amazing. They've gotmillions in the bank, they've got
yachts, private jets, youknow, celebrity hanging off like,
you know, beautiful lookingdates, men and women, when they go
to events, etc. But then yousee them after and they've got, they
just look unhappy and youknow, sometimes get into bad places
through whatever reasons it'syeah, I feel like the real happiness
(36:18):
comes deep inside like yousay, where it makes you be a better
person and be a reallycontent, happy, confident person
maybe.
Well here's my stipulationthough. I would rather be poor and
find my true love. One of mycriteria for my true love is that
she be incredibly wealthy.
And you know, if anythingtouch, touch wood, touch my felt
(36:41):
kind of gaming mat, desk woodhanging. This never happens. But
if anything ever did happenbetween you and, and Tamsin, maybe
there's a rich Italian widowwaiting in Sicily or you know, somewhere
like that that could, youknow, on, on one of the destinations
on one of the vacations way inthe future.
I think by that time Danny, Iwould be more inclined to just pull
(37:03):
a long con on, on that, onthat widow and just spend just enough
time with her to get sort of,you know, get her to trust me, get
access to her checking accountand then, and then I'm gone. It would
just be a long con if thatever happened. So don't, don't be
surprised.
Well I was going to say, Imean that's very specific there about
(37:25):
how you would do it. It soundslike you've been thinking about this
in the background, mate.
I've taken notes over theyears so. Look, you just have to
be prepared for anything,Danny. And you know, you never know
what life is going to throwyou and if circumstances ever change
in my life I have to beprepared for a life on the run.
It's like I watch this TV showin the UK I watch on YouTube now
(37:47):
it's like broadcast in the UKand it's got would I lie to you?
And one of the things that oneof the contestants like comedy shows,
questions, stuff like that,one of the guests was saying he'd
buried 1000 pound which isnothing in the grand scheme of things
but he'd buried that in casehe has to go on a life on the run.
And the whole story that camefrom that about it's a thousand pound
of what would you gonna do andwhere he would go etc. So yeah, it's.
(38:11):
I guess you would need a goodbacking behind you for life on the
run.
Yeah, exactly. I think, youknow, I should, I should be burying
things in cities all acrossthe world. Danny, I think that's
probably a good idea. Youknow, just have a go bag in every
city for, you know, when it happens.
Exactly. Well, speaking of theunexpected and speaking of planning
(38:31):
things out, we've got to theend of the five unexpected random
questions and it's as Is the,the only fair thing to do now I've
had you in the hot seat forthe last 40 minutes now, so it's
time for me to pass the batonover to you, Tom, and throw open
to your random question.
Yes, well, my question is notrandom, it's, it's thought about
(38:52):
it. And, and that is. Youknow, Danny, I've known you for a
number of years. You know, Ithink we first met at maybe like
a blog world or something likethat in a, in a very different life.
Right. And what's been thebiggest change in your life since
then and what prompted it?
Probably the biggest change ismoving to Canada, I guess back in
(39:15):
2006, so 20 years next yearand it was my wife. It's always a
girl, it's always a boy, youknow, that's why you move. But no,
I was very happy in the UK anddoing very different stuff. I wasn't
a media or anything. I waslike a typical corporate marketer
working for British Telecom.So it was like a very, very different
person then, I guess. Butyeah, I got to meet my wife online
(39:38):
on the Dashboard Confessionalofficial website forum. Music again.
So music is my background. Ifeel like yours as well, mate. Music
has so many histories and thequestion was, do I move to Canada?
Does she move to the uk? And Ifelt like she had a much more strong
family base than I did. Idon't really keep in touch with my
family with a big fallen out,which is another story for another
(40:01):
time, but a big falling out.So I don't really keep in touch with
them. So it made that decisioneasy. But then I had to sort of reinvent
myself because I was goingthrough visas and work permits and
stuff like that. Did a lot ofcrappy freelance gigs originally.
And Jacqueline, my wife wasamazing and her mum was amazing at
supporting us as well while wegot started. So that would probably
(40:23):
be the biggest change is beinga super corporate, super business,
career minded guy to being nowwhere I don't really give a crap
about, you know, financial,you know, success and blah, blah.
Be nice to have money, but Idon't give a crap about that and
living in Canada and havingtwo kids and raising kids, you know,
and then move into like a tinylittle village where we live now
(40:45):
as opposed to just outsideToronto where we used to live. So
probably a big change fromsuper corporate super business to
like life is life. And maybethat's a sign of getting older as
well, changing priorities, right?
I think so. I mean, I thinkthat's just a sign of, you know,
being increasingly comfortablein your own skin as much as anything
else.
(41:06):
Yeah, it's funny you mentionedyou're an introvert as well. A lot
of podcasters, a lot ofcreators are introverts. I'm very
introverted. I hatenetworking. I ha big events like
podcast movement. I'd ratherbe in the corner with someone I feel
really trusted and safe withand just chatting with them.
That's totally me. Andactually that's one reason why my
partner at sounds Profitable,Brian Barletta, and I are such a
(41:26):
good fit, because Brian reallyunderstands me, like thoroughly understands
me. And he knows that, youknow, after I give, he's energized
by people, you know, and if hewants, you know, if I want to meet
somebody, he will introduceus. Like, he will just dive right
in. And he also understandsthat when I'm done giving a keynote
(41:46):
or something, that regardlessof what it looked like on stage,
I'm exhausted. And heunderstands that this is not the
time to ask me to do anything.This is the time to like wheel me
into carbonite storage untilI'm ready to come out. So that partnership
has worked really well.
(42:07):
If I'm at an event where youare, I shall hunt you down. That
sounds awful. I shall look outfor you and keep me, maybe try to
keep you occupied for 5, 10minutes at least where you don't
have to worry about anybody else.
That would be lovely.
And I'm being selfish therebecause that would be great for me
too. Just to hang out with one person.
That would be lovely.
We shall look forward to it.So again, Tom, I really enjoyed getting
to know a little bit moreabout you away from the professional
(42:28):
side that we generally hearfrom you. For people that want to
know more about soundsprofitable, about what you do from
a speaking point of view,about your musical tastes, etc. Where's
the best place to eitherfollow you online or connect with
you, et cetera?
Yeah, I mean,soundsprofitable.com has a huge treasure
trove of resources aboutpodcasting and our LinkedIn page
(42:48):
does as well. I can be foundon Bluesky, and I think that's Tom
Webster Media, I think is myaccount, I believe, at bluesky. And
that is not typically a placewhere I talk about marketing and
business and things like that.That's generally where I share funny
photos or, you know, or musicrelated things. So I try not to cross
(43:11):
the streams on social mediaall that much because that gets,
that gets really tiresome.
I hear you and I'll be sureand obviously Like I say, Tom does
make me jealous because hedrops stuff on Bluesky about gigs
he's going to and people I'dlove to see live. So yeah, if you
want to upset me even further,follow Tom and just like share his
stuff with me anytime. Themusic stuff, fantastic. But I will
be I will be sure to leavethese links in the Show Notes as
(43:32):
always. So if you're listeningon your favorite podcast app or listen
online on the website, checkout the show notes for the episode.
All the links will be there totake you through to Tom. So again,
Tom, thank you so much forappearing on today's five Random
Questions.
Danny, it's been a pleasure.Thanks for having me.
Thanks for listening to fiveRandom Questions. If you enjoyed
this week's episode, I'd lovefor you to leave a review on the
(43:53):
app you're currently listeningon. And if you know someone else
that would enjoy the show, besure to send them the this way. It's
very much appreciated. Untilthe next time, keep asking those
questions.
I don't know that I reallywant to get too specific about it,
but I do think secondmarriages are wonderful. I think
you're much clearer about whatit is that you want and don't want
and you spend the time gettingto know that person a little bit
more.
Hi and welcome to Five RandoQuestions, the show where every question
(00:21):
is an adventure. I'm your hostDanny Brown, and each week I'll be
asking my guests fivequestions created by a random question
generator. The guest has noidea what the questions are and neither
do I, which means this couldgo either way. So sit back, relax,
and let's dive into thisweek's episode. Today's guest is
Tom Webster. Tom is partner atSounds Profitable, a collection of
(00:41):
media properties that providesindustry leading research around
podcasts' most pressingquestions. Previously he was Senior
Vice President at EdisonResearch and he's also the co author
of the annual Infinite Dialstudy that looks at the habits and
trends of the podcastingindustry. He's also a podcast hall
of fame inductee. So, Tom withthe very, very impressive bio, welcome
to 5 Rando Questions.
(01:03):
Thanks, Danny. And I just wantto let you know that I'm terrified,
just absolutely terrified ofthis format, you know, because I
like to control everything so.
Well, I was going to say, Imean, you're a very. When I've seen
you speak and when I've metyou, I've spoken to you, you seem
a very confident person. Soit's interesting to hear. This is
like throwing you a littlebit, which is. That's a fun part
of this show, I feel.
(01:24):
Yeah, I think so. I mean, Ienjoy the speaking. I don't know
if it's confidence or not, butyou know, it's preparation times,
anxiety times, just the numberof reps I've had doing it. But I
don't know, like, I don't knowwhat you've seeded this random question
generator with. So yeah, we'regoing to find out together.
Put little AI prompts in therejust to throw you completely. And
(01:46):
I'd mentioned, obviously yourbio is super impressive, very professional,
with lots of achievements overthe years. But for anyone that follows
you on Bluesky, that's acomplete opposite and super simple
where all you do is youmention that you do podcasting stats
and jokes and that's prettymuch it. So what's your favorite
joke about podcasting or statsor favorite joke overall? And this
(02:07):
isn't part of the randomquestions. I'm just curious.
Oh yeah, I know about afavorite joke about stats, but something
a line That I cite a lot whenI see, you know, there's two kinds
of research, right? There'sresearch to show and there's research
to know. And I try to do a lotof research to know. There are plenty
of people who do research toshow they have a preordained idea
(02:28):
that they want to quote,unquote, prove, right? And the thing
that I will often say aboutthat is that they're using statistics
like a drunkard uses alamppost for support, not illumination.
So there you go. There's somestatistics comedy for you, Danny.
That's. There's not a lot ofthat in the world. That might be
the only statistics joke I know.
That's. I'm gonna open nowwith that, you know, if I ever do
(02:50):
any speak, I'm gonna open withthat and say, hey, it's good enough
for Tom, it's good enough foryou guys. And speaking. Well, no,
not really speaking of jokesas such, but speaking of stepping
away from your professionallife. You made me super jealous last
week because you got to seelegendary UK rock vocalist John Wayt
in concert without making mefeel even more jealous. How was.
(03:14):
Was phenomenal. You know, Ithink John Waite has never gotten
his full due, right? You know,not to go like too far down memory
lane with everybody, but, youknow, he had some great songs with
the babies, he had some greatsongs with Bad English, some great
songs solo. But the thing thatjust kind of blew me away, and I
saw him in a fairly smallvenue was just how great and in the
(03:35):
same key and range his voicestill is at 73. And, you know, he
closed the show with thisbananas version of Whole Lot of Love
by Led Zeppelin that RobertPlant could not even do today in
that way. And it was justlike, I don't know, I just left like
so, so full of Joy because for90 minutes he just sang his face
(04:00):
off. And I don't know anybodywho wouldn't have loved that show.
Nah. And I almost wondered if,like the singers from that era, because
obviously he was in the Babiesin the 70s, then he did his solo
stuff and then in Bad English,kind of late 8, mid-90s. I wonder
if the singers from that erajust have that longer lasting vocal
range compared. I'm notputting down any singers today, but
(04:21):
I think of. You mentionedRobert Plant. I think of Steve Perry
at Journey. You know, peoplelike that Anne Wilson of Heart, they
still seem to be able to hitthese notes and sing these songs
when they should just berelaxing in retirement as a pensioner.
You would I don't know. I, I,you know, I, I just sort of look
at it like they just love it.You know what I mean? Like, there
(04:42):
are probably a lot of peopleworking, like, at insurance companies
that when they retire, think,oh, I'm going to become a singer,
because that's what I wouldhave rather have done. Well, I think
if you have been a rock star,a pop star, or, you know, just a
gigging, working vocalist, I.Why would you quit that? As long
as your voice holds out that,you know, I'm very jealous of all
that.
I hear you. Well, speaking ofdoing something that you do outside
(05:05):
of what you do as a day job,it's time for five random questions,
I feel. Let's get you in thishot seat, Tom, and let's bring up
the random question generator.We'll see what comes up here. So
let's have a look then.Question number one. Okay, this is
a nice easy one. He says toopen up the episode. Question number
(05:26):
one, Tom. What are some thingsthat you should not say at a funeral?
Oh, some things you should notsay at a funeral. Okay. Okay. I think
number one would be, is therealso. Is there going to be food here?
Because I'm, I'm starving. Ithink that's at the funeral itself.
That's, that's probably notgreat. I'm happy to see they got
(05:48):
what they deserved. Wouldprobably be low on the list. Right.
And you know that, that guy.Thank God. Yeah. Things you should
not say at a funeral. That's.Yeah, I'm going to go with that.
Couldn't have happened to abetter person.
(06:08):
Well, I think that it's weirdbecause, like, you say you've got
the funeral and then obviouslyyou've got the service, I guess,
afterward. So I'm guessingthis is on about the funeral. Whether
that's the burial or thecremation. I was trying to think
of the word for the. Notburial, the cremation. I mean, have
you ever been to, like,without being too morbid, but have
you ever been to. If you knowwhere someone said something that
(06:29):
you've heard, you thought,ooh, shouldn't maybe not go there?
You know, it's funny. Like, Ithink any, anybody that's been to
a service of any kind. Thefunny thing to me is how people,
you know, nobody is a perfectangel. Or, you know, maybe there
are. I guess, you know, Iguess I am, Danny. But it's how people
(06:50):
kind of dance around, youknow, Bob was a complicated man,
and that's always like, youknow, it's Code for something like,
he was actually detestable.But this is not the time or place
to say that. And so it alwayscomes out as this code that everybody
can parse. Like, you know,Jill had no problem expressing herself,
(07:11):
as I'm sure many of you know.But there's always just that code.
But you're still saying thesame thing and everybody knows it.
It's like that passiveaggressive compliment, right. Like
you said, you know, thatthere's a story behind it and maybe
you'll grab that person later,you know, over the buffet or something.
But you know, their storythere. But it's. It's weird how,
(07:33):
like, I'm always a fan of,like, celebrating death, so I like
the last two funerals I'vebeen to, it's all been about celebrations.
Not, you know, beingencouraged not to be sad. You can
grieve, obviously, but maybein your own time or whatever. And
I feel like it'd be fun, forwant of a better word, when you're
talking about Funerals anddeath, etc. But it'd be fun to. To
(07:55):
have people just roast deadpeople. You know, you see these,
like, roasts on TV and like,obviously, Nikki Fraser did some
amazing roast. Was it Nikki Fraser?
Yeah. Nikki Fraser, Yeah,yeah, yeah.
Did some amazing roastrecently. It'd be interesting to
see Rosa, if you know that toyour point, you. You always try to
be respectful, right. And it'dbe interesting to flip that a little
(08:16):
bit.
I think the posthumous roastis a fantastic idea, but I think
that event would have to beinvite only. You know, I think there'd
be some generational issueswith that. And, you know, there's
a difference between friendsand family. So I think someone would
have to be very selectiveabout inviting people to that. Otherwise
it could, you know, it couldend in the wrong kind of tears for
(08:38):
somebody. But I love the idea.Maybe I'll. I'll stipulate that for.
For my own funeral. Yeah. It'stoo bad I won't be there.
Oh, and that's the thing,right? You want it to be fun and
silly and maybe cause a bitof. Not consternation, but just a,
you know, a differentenvironment. But you're not going
to know if that worked or not,Mario. It's like one of these things
that you'll just never know, I guess.
Yeah. And everybody hasunfinished business with the dead
(09:01):
and the funeral may not be theplace to kind of work that out. You
know, I think about when, youknow, my own father died about a
year and a half ago, and wedidn't actually have a funeral for
him. We just sort of. Okay,that's it. And there was not an unfinished
business ceremony. Therecertainly could have been, I think,
but I think just leave that be.
(09:23):
I hear you. Well, speaking ofleaving it be, and I enjoyed this
one as an icebreaker, if youlike, for your five questions.
Pretty tough icebreaker, Danny.
I have no control over whatpops up, mate. Like, completely new
for me.
Yeah. And now it's more about death.
Let's leave death and questionone behind and see what we have for
(09:44):
question two. Well, this islike a nice easy one then, to ease
into that from question two.And we're recording this on a Thursday,
so it's pretty timely as well.Tom, question number two. Are you
doing anything fun this weekend?
You know, I deeply love mywife and we have a great marriage,
great relationship. Know,we've been married. We've been married
(10:05):
13 years this year. And for avariety of reasons, she's been gone
like, 20 of the last 30 days.You know, her. She had a trip with
her two sons from a differentmarriage. She. Her father had passed
a little while ago, and so shehad to go and take care of some business
for that. So I just haven'tseen her in a long time. And we're
(10:28):
just going to have a fantasticdate. Like, we have not been out
to dinner, I think, in amonth, and we desperately both need
it. So we're heading to, youknow, a Boston hotspot, since I'm
here in Boston, and we'regonna have a nice date, and I'm really
looking forward to that.
And you'd mentioned,obviously, Tamsen's been your wife,
Tamsin. She's been very busy.And you've been speaking quite a
(10:51):
lot earlier this year,obviously, with the reports that
came out. You know, as Imentioned in the intro, there is
that like a regular. Well, notso regular, maybe semi regular, where
you're both kind of notpassing ships. But it's harder to
organize date nights and stuffbecause you're both so busy.
Oh, for sure. I mean, youknow, she speaks a lot of conferences.
(11:12):
I speak a lot of conferences.And there are conference seasons,
you know, and so there aredefinitely times when we're both
away from home, and thosetimes don't overlap very well. And
it can just be these, like,long stretches and complicated by
the fact that we have twogreyhounds and, you know, we live
in downtown Boston. There's noplace to really board them conveniently.
(11:33):
So, you know, taking care ofthe dogs is like, I think 90% of
my life is dog management, andthe other 10 is podcasting and sundry
other things. So it reallydoes become a logistical challenge
to have a date because thedogs really can't be left alone for.
For.
For too long. I mean, they're.They're anxious greyhounds, and who
(11:55):
knows what they're going toget on, get up to when we're not
here. And, and it's not thatthey'll tear up our shoes and clothes
and stuff, it's that they'llsit at the door and just cry. And,
you know, I don't. Nobodywants that.
And it's going to be fun foryour neighbors, I feel, having that.
We have like three littledogs, and two of them can be quite
loud, even though the little dogs.
(12:17):
Well, our immediate neighbor,you know, we live on the 26th floor
of a high rise in downtownBoston, and we're in a corner unit,
and the corner unit directlyacross the hall from us is the leasing
office. So that is the lastthing we want are like two whining,
barking dogs, or they don'treally bark, but right across on
the leasing office, you know,and it's. The leasing office just
(12:39):
moved there. And, you know, weused to, before the leasing office
was here, let the dogs run inthe halls just to kind of burn off
some, you know, because it'shard to let greyhounds run and you
can't really. They won't comeback. And we were joking that with
the leasing office up here,that they would. They'd be bringing
prospective tenants up to thisfloor, and. And all of a sudden they
(13:00):
would see that this floor isguarded by Cerberus or, you know,
some like, whirling vortex ofgiant dogs. And that would be a good,
A good reason not to, youknow, not to live here. But anyway,
it is a logistical challenge,but it's. That's what life is. So.
Yeah, no, I hear you. And whatwould be. So obviously you mentioned
it's hard to organize a date.You're in Boston. I've only been
(13:22):
in Boston once, but I lovedit. I was there many years ago, and
downtown Boston especially,like, amazing place to go. What would
be your ideal perfect datenight? That's easy to arrange but
makes for a really goodmemory. So for someone coming to
Boston, what would be a greatrecommendation for a day as well?
Yeah, I mean, there's, youknow, people don't often talk about
(13:44):
Boston for food, but I think,you know, a night in the, in the
north end of Boston would be alot of fun. You know, Pick any one
of dozens of great Italianrestaurants in the North End. It's
a very Italian neighborhood.And then they're all. They're all
sort of traditional in a waythat none of them serve dessert because
they want you to go to thedessert place across the street or
(14:05):
the dessert place next door,and you just sort of build a night
around that. And, you know,and of course, the, you know, the.
The. It's a very walkablecity. There's. There's a little brick
path called the Freedom Trailthat runs right outside our front
door because we're right nextto the old State House where the
Boston Massacre happened. It'sliterally next door to us, but not
as. Not so much massacringanymore, but, you know, it's just
(14:26):
a very walkable city. There'sso much history. And I think for,
you know, you and I both havemany friends from Europe. I think
it's the most European city in America.
No, that's a good description,actually. It's one of the things
I found when I went there. Andlike I said, it was years ago. I
think it was probably 2012,2013, something like that. And I
had a friend. I still have afriend. He's not dead. On the subject
(14:48):
of death. I still have a friend.
I had a friend. I still havehim, but I had him, too.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. He'sgonna not be my friend when he listens
to this. But, yeah, I wouldagree with that. It is a very, like,
cosmopolitan, cultural,European vibe city, which is pretty
cool to see, you know, inNorth America.
Yeah. And it's also gotpockets in neighborhoods. You know,
(15:09):
it's not a. It's not a sort ofhomogeneous city. It's a. It's a
city where people livedowntown. I think, to me, you know,
anytime you have a city wherepeople live downtown, as opposed
to, you know, commuting fromsuburbs and things like that, you
know, I think that's a healthycity. So we love it here. I mean,
you know, I actually, I did myundergraduate work at. At Tufts University,
(15:32):
which is in a suburb ofBoston. So, you know, that was my.
My formative years were here,and I've lived around the world,
around the country, but I'vebeen back here for 15 years and.
And no, no plans on leaving. Ilove this city. It's expensive, but,
you know, it's worth it.
And it's home. Right. It'slike you say, and it's got the. You
got the wife, you got the twokids, you got the two dogs. Is it
(15:54):
two kids? Or is it more. Youmentioned two.
My wife has two sons with herwith her ex and they live with him
in the North End. Actuallythey're you know, just half a mile
away from us and I have a son,I have a son in college right now.
So no, no kids actually at home.
Nice. Well, I've got like twoteens at home at the moment so I'm
very. Once again you're makingme super jealous. You got John weep,
(16:16):
you got no kids at home. It'stime. I have to end this episode
pretty soon, mate. I'm not,not enjoying this waiting push back
at me.
Well, you know, won't be long, won't.
Be long on that front on beingjealous. I'm not going to be jealous
of this anymore. Let's have alook at seeing what question number
three brings up. Okay. Andyeah, I'm curious about this. So
(16:38):
you travel a lot withprofessionally Tom, new wife travels.
But what is your favoriteholiday? And it can be a destination
or holiday that you had, youknow, prior.
You know, we have spent thelast three years and upcoming of
this summer of fourth spendinglots of time in Italy and we have
(16:59):
really, really enjoyed it.We've gone deep on Italy and my wife
has been, you know,duolingoing Italian pretty non stop
throughout the whole thing andshe's able to navigate things really,
really well. So this, thisJuly we're going to Torino and Milan.
My wife's been to Milan, I'venot been to Milan. But you know,
(17:21):
we've both been to Rome andNapoli and Florence and all throughout
Sicily. We spent a whole weekin Sicily and you know, in Palermo
and Taormina and, and I'vejust really enjoyed it. And you know,
the first time that we wentthere we did a Disney adventure vacation
and I highly recommend Disneyvacation planning. It's, it's not
(17:42):
full of Minis and Mickeys andgoofies, is just really high end
service. Right. And we went toSicily for a week and this is a couple
years ago and it was the weekin Europe that was like the hottest
week on record, you know,hotter than the sun. And we spent
the whole week in temperaturesthat were, you know, 113, 115. I
(18:06):
don't know how many of yourcentigrade that is, Danny, but it's
probably hot. Yeah, it'sreally, really hot. Right?
That's 40 plus, I think.
Yeah. And, and in the blindingsun and with outdoor activities with
two Disney Adventure tourguides and you know there were, there
were 20 of us, right. It was,it was A small group. And what kind
of blew me away about it wasnobody complained. Nobody, you know,
(18:33):
everybody could have. Theycould have complained. They could
have, you know, moaned andkvetched and everything else the
whole week, just about howdreadfully hot it was. But we all
just sort of accepted it. Wedrank lots of water and we had this
wonderful, like, traumabonding experience, you know, coupled
with how much we loved thepeople and the, and the food and
(18:54):
everything else, and it just,we just kind of fell in love with
it.
What is it about Italy inparticular? So obviously you mentioned
the last four years now, orthis will be the fourth year. Italy's
been the agenda, thedestination. What is about Italy
in particular? Is it the peakpeople? Is it the, the culture, like
the food, etc? What. What's itfor you?
Yeah, I think for me it's the.For me it's a lot of. It is the landscape
(19:18):
and the architecture. Youknow, the food is, is incredible.
You know, we certainly, youknow, especially throughout Sicily,
there's, you know, people takea real pride in. No matter what the,
the size, scope and budget ofthe restaurant is, people take a
real pride in food there andit shows in everything they do. But,
(19:38):
you know, I just love goingthrough, like, narrow cobblestone
streets and then you all of asudden enter a courtyard and there's
this magnificent church orthis magnificent fountain that, you
know, and there's. There's oneof those every couple of blocks.
You know what I mean? It'sjust. And that's true in so many
cities there, and it was justreally easy to navigate and the people
were really, really friendly.And I've traveled a lot throughout
(20:00):
Europe and, and I don't have,I don't have stereotypes about, about
people and cultures, but thereare cities that are not as friendly,
right? And, and they can bejust large cities and people are
busy and they don't have timeto talk to strangers and, and. But,
you know, between Tamson'sHalting Italian and better than Halting
and my slow, loud English,everyone was really, really friendly
(20:23):
to us. And I think, you know,it's a great, It's a great tourist
destination for, I think folksin North America.
It's interesting you mentionedabout not so much people, but cities
can be unfriendly. Like, I'mfrom Edinburgh, but I find Glasgow
a far friendlier city. Youknow, not even just for Scots people,
but anybody visiting Scotland,if you go, if you choose to go to,
(20:45):
say, Edinburgh or Glasgow,you'll probably find Glasgow needs
a more conversational one,open to Striking up a conversation.
I think the same in Toronto. Ilove Toronto as a city. Sorry, I
love Toronto's people and it'sa very multicultural city, but I
find it's very heads down,we're super busy, we have to be someplace,
you know, whereas you gosomewhere like a Montreal, very friendly,
(21:06):
very conversational, etc. It'sfunny how just different cities have
that appeal, or not appeal,but you know what I mean.
Yeah, it's very true. And Ithink you get that experience in
France, for example. I thinkif you are an American in Paris,
you're going to have adifficult time, but if you're an
American in Toulouse orsomewhere in the south, you're not.
(21:27):
And you know, some of it'sjust how, you know how fast paced
the culture is and, and howmuch time people have to give you
and, and Paris is just likeNew York. It's really big and full
of very busy people on theirway to doing something else that
just don't have a lot of timefor you. And that's not the case
in, in maybe some other citiesin France. So I don't, you know,
(21:47):
I don't typically tend tostereotype the French because I've
just had so many differentexperiences there. I do have a funny
Glasgow story. This was backin the, gosh, in the late 90s. I
used to do a lot of consultingwork in radio throughout the UK and
one of the things that I oftenconsulted on were OFCOM applications.
OFCOM is this entity that youbasically that regulates who gets
(22:10):
radio signals and who canstart new stations and things like
that. And often in a city anapplication opportunity would come
up that, the, that the city,that Ofcom would allow a new signal
in that city. And so you'dhave to do applications and you'd
have to show research and doand do your work. And so I did a
lot of that research andconsulting and I worked on an application
(22:31):
in Glasgow and I did, I didsome music testing there and I was
there with a colleague ofmine, his name was Hal. And you know,
Hal was up there playing musicoff of a, off of, you know, he had
a, he had a laptop because wehad this sort of electronic testing
thing like dials. People hadthat they were responding to these
various snippets of songs, youknow, how much they liked them or
(22:52):
didn't like them. It was in mylate 20s, I guess, and you know,
we'd played about 50 of thesesong clips and all of a sudden this
guy at the very back of theroom like full beard, thick cable
knit fisherman sweater, raiseshis hands and Hal goes, yeah, sir,
(23:14):
do you have a question? And hestands up and he goes, Hal, have
you no got better music inyour computer, man? I'll just never
forget that because that kindof, you know, threw off the rest
of the night a little bit, butjust killed me, Hal.
And I love the fact he's gothis big raggling on, you know, he's
(23:36):
probably coming from doingsome fisher fishing, you know, catching
some of the fish.
Undoubtedly undoubted. Yeah.Just straight off the boat.
It's funny you mentioned Ofcomthere as well because I feel if I
remember, it's been a whilesince I've not been in the UK for
20 years and so I forgetterms, etc. But isn't Ofcom just
simply the Office ofCommunications? That's what it stands
(23:56):
for.
Yeah, that's right, yeah.
I mean it's a very sort ofHarry Potter kind of 1984 vibe, you
know, where it's just like astraightforward name but it sounds
very official and veryserious. The Office of Communications.
It's a bizarre system. Youhave to, basically, when you put
in, this may be way off topic,but when you apply for a new station
(24:17):
through Ofcom, you have toshow that it's not going to materially
compete or materially damageother commercial radio stations in
that market. It's fine if itcompetes with the BBC, but it's not,
you know, like here inAmerica, the cities are very over
radio, there are too manysignals. You have, you know, three
or four country stations in amarket. This with we have Spotify,
(24:40):
we don't really need three orfour country stations, we need one
great one. But you know, inwith Ofcom, if there's an existing
station in your format, youcan't just start a signal and do
that and try and do it better.You have to show that, oh, we wouldn't
harm them at all. And it's avery complicated system. But you
know, it was a, I've, I've wona few and I've lost a few.
(25:01):
That's interesting. I neverknew that about Webcom. So they're
encouraging, like, I guessencouraging growth in, you know,
smaller radio stations becauseyou, you can't open up something
that's already there. So itkind of protects a little guy from
that side, I feel.
Yeah, and I, you know,honestly I, I agree with all that.
I mean, I, you know, we havenone of those protections here in
the United States and as aresult we have a very unhealthy commercial
(25:24):
broadcast radio, you know,that's in constant decline, that
has too many ads, too muchrepetition and replication in markets
and it could do with someregulation because I, you know. But
that's another show.
Well, yeah, it's funny, Iwear. I have another podcast that
I co host with my colleaguefrom Captivate where I work, called
(25:44):
in and Around Podcast. Andthen last night I recorded an episode
with James, our friend JamesGridland from POD News. And he's
obviously a big, huge radio.He's got the radio background as
well. I feel that you twotogether could have an amazing conversation
about the ends outs, the do's,the don'ts of radio and where it
could go.
Yeah, I just think, you know,a lot of the attitudes about radio
(26:05):
in America are, are influencedby American radio. And there's a
couple of really bigdifferences in American radio. American
radio is largely deregulatedcompared to other markets. Most markets,
especially in Europe, are veryprotected. And the other thing that
America does not have, which,you know, any European country does,
is a state broadcaster.America doesn't have a state broadcaster
(26:28):
and a state broadcaster. It'snot a sinister thing. It is, it's
a wonderful thing with, it'sa, you know, high budget, lots of
investment, people take pridein it, you know, and that's, that's
true across, you know, prettymuch all of Europe and there aren't
so many commercial radiostations, you know, they can all
sort of coexist in a marketand, and do very well and, and you
(26:50):
know, that the European radiomarket is much, much healthier. The
American radio marketunfortunately has shot itself in
the foot in a number of waysand you know, they're kind of burning
the furniture to keep warm.
So it's a shame to see. Iknow, like I mentioned, James, I'm
very much in radio background,but it's a shame to see. I know a
lot of the local stations hereare struggling because of, you know,
(27:10):
streaming services, you know,Spotify, Amazon Music, etc. And I
grew up as a, listening toradio. Like my granddad would have
it on and listen to it. We'dlisten to the sports results coming
through. And you don't getthat now, you know, you just check
your phone and say, okay,yeah, great team one. And that's
a shame to see that.
Yeah, I agree. I mean, youknow, I grew up with great radio
as a, as a companion. And youknow, one of the things that the,
(27:30):
that the radio business inAmerica did in response to things
like, you know, Pandora and,and then Spotify and some of the
other services was they, theytried to out Pandora, Pandora and
they, you know, they shuttheir personalities up and you know,
as a result of that they justbecame the same thing, except with
20 ads. And that's simply noncompetitive, especially for Internet
(27:54):
radio.
(29:00):
Yeah, I hear you. So there yougo, listeners. If you want to have
Tom, you know, really go on adeep dive, ask him about radio. And
I feel we could speak aboutthis for hours and hours, but we
don't have hours and hours,unfortunately, Tom, so we don't.
Let's have a look at questionnumber four. Okay, here we go. This
(29:23):
is like a bit more of aserious one maybe question number
four, Tom, what is yourbiggest regret?
Wow, my biggest regret? I, ohman, I try not to have too many of
those in life, I really don't.But I will say something that I think
probably a lot of people sharethat have had my experiences, both,
(29:49):
you know, men and women. I'mdivorced and you know, I have a,
Tamson is my, my second wife,my first wife is a, a brilliant molecular
biologist. She's a universityprofessor. And you know, I think
anytime you have a marriageend, you have to have regrets, right,
(30:10):
because you entered into itnot thinking it was going to end
and you ended it knowing ithad to end. And in between that was
all series of cascadingmissteps by one or both of you, likely
both of you. And I think Iwould regret, I don't, I don't know
that I really want to get toospecific about it, but I do think
(30:34):
second marriages arewonderful. I think you're much clearer
about what it is that you wantand don't want and you spend the
time getting to know thatperson a little bit more. And you
know, I, I don't believe I'vemade any of those mistakes with Tamson.
So, you know, knock on, knockon Felton Wood here. I hope I, I
(30:58):
don't have a second regret.
I, I hear you. I, I, I thinkthat's like you say, it's something
that, you know, anybody that'sbeen through it as well can understand.
I know my wife's mum, shedoesn't listen to the show, so she's
okay, I'm okay. But I knowit's Mum, she's been married three
times, she's on her thirdmarriage and there's a running joke
in the family about, you know,is this one going to last, is it
(31:20):
not going to last, etc. Butshe does say that each time she takes
something away from what, whatshe learned from marriage one or
marriage two, and what kind ofperson wasn't right, the, the dynamic,
etc. And this has been herlongest marriage, longest lasting.
So I feel like, you see there,there's definitely regrets of anything
(31:41):
that ends like that, but thelessons can help you, you know, to
the next stage of what thatlooks like.
Yeah. And I, you know, I don'tbelieve I would be to the extent
that I am a good husband, asgood a husband I am to Tamson without
the things that I, I reallylearned from that first marriage.
So, you know, I wish, I hopeit doesn't take multiple for everybody,
(32:02):
but sometimes it does.
Yeah. And you'd mentioned thatobviously there's kids from the first
marriages etc, as well. I knowa lot of times, maybe more with people
that date as opposed to beingmarried, but maybe married as well.
A lot of times there'srecommendations you should stay together
for the kids. Do you thinkthat's in general bad advice again?
(32:23):
You don't have to be toospecific, mate, but it's terrible.
It is absolutely terribleadvice. Yeah. I was such a better.
So my son, my son is now 20.He's a sophomore at Colorado Boulder.
And you know, when I, when,when we got divorced, he was fairly
(32:43):
young. I think he was maybefive, something like that. And, and
I was a much better father tohim after that. And I think what
he ended up getting as aresult of that was his mother's undivided
attention when, when he waswith her and my undivided attention
when he was with me. And youknow, was it, was it disruptive?
(33:04):
I'm sure it was disruptive,but I don't know. He's on a full
scholarship with straight A'sin college. He did okay. I'm incredibly
proud of him. And you know,would that have happened had we stayed
together? I, I don't doubtthat it would, but it would have
been a different and, andpotentially more difficult experience.
So I think staying togetherfor the kids is really outdated advice.
(33:27):
I think providing as thefewest disruptions and the most support
for your kids as possible,whatever that means. That's the advice.
No, like I said, I've got twoteens and if my wife and I ever did
divorce, I'd like to think wecould still be friends. And we do
amicably and we understandthat we're doing it because we don't
(33:48):
want the kids to be disrupted.Right. We don't want to see us fall
out of love with each other,hate each other, than get really
bad and what all that could bring.
Yeah, I mean, you hope that'strue. You know, I think it took my
ex wife and I many years tokind of get to that level of detente,
I think. But in no case did weever, you know, litigate this in
(34:09):
front of our son. So I thinkultimately it was good that we divorced.
And as you mentioned, it's,and this Sounds flippant, I 100%
apologize, but it all workedout for the best because now, you
know, you're happy, I'massuming. Hopefully your ex wife
is happy and obviously yourson is doing really, really well
in his life as well.
Yeah. No regrets about any of that.
(34:29):
That's always good to hear.Well, Tom, we've almost made it through
to the end, so without furtherado, question number five. Interesting.
So that kind of ties in withthe one we've just had, I guess.
But let's have a look anyway.Question number five. Would you rather
be rich and never find truelove or be poor and find true love?
(34:52):
I would say I would rather bepoor and find true love, but I mean,
I did not grow up in wealthand you know, I, I, I can make it
work, you know what I mean?But I do know how important it is
for me to have a partner. Andespecially because, you know, I don't
know about you, but I'm a realintrovert. I'm an incredibly introverted
(35:13):
person. Right. You know, youput me in a room at a party or something
like that and I will not talkto anybody if, unless they come and
talk to me first. And that'sone of the reasons why I, I worked
to get really good at publicspeaking. Because when I go to an
event and I give a keynote,people will come up to me and that's
helpful to me. So, but youknow, having that sort of one great
(35:35):
partner in your life, a lot ofpressure on them. But I would rather
have that than all the gold inthe world.
It's, it's like that the oldsaying, right? If you want to be
truly rich, be happy. Youknow, you can have all the gold in
the world, all the riches,like everything. But sometimes, I
mean, you look at somecelebrities and they look as if life
(35:57):
is amazing. They've gotmillions in the bank, they've got
yachts, private jets, youknow, celebrity hanging off like,
you know, beautiful lookingdates, men and women, when they go
to events, etc. But then yousee them after and they've got, they
just look unhappy and youknow, sometimes get into bad places
through whatever reasons it'syeah, I feel like the real happiness
(36:18):
comes deep inside like yousay, where it makes you be a better
person and be a reallycontent, happy, confident person
maybe.
Well here's my stipulationthough. I would rather be poor and
find my true love. One of mycriteria for my true love is that
she be incredibly wealthy.
And you know, if anythingtouch, touch wood, touch my felt
(36:41):
kind of gaming mat, desk woodhanging. This never happens. But
if anything ever did happenbetween you and, and Tamsin, maybe
there's a rich Italian widowwaiting in Sicily or you know, somewhere
like that that could, youknow, on, on one of the destinations
on one of the vacations way inthe future.
I think by that time Danny, Iwould be more inclined to just pull
(37:03):
a long con on, on that, onthat widow and just spend just enough
time with her to get sort of,you know, get her to trust me, get
access to her checking accountand then, and then I'm gone. It would
just be a long con if thatever happened. So don't, don't be
surprised.
Well I was going to say, Imean that's very specific there about
(37:25):
how you would do it. It soundslike you've been thinking about this
in the background, mate.
I've taken notes over theyears so. Look, you just have to
be prepared for anything,Danny. And you know, you never know
what life is going to throwyou and if circumstances ever change
in my life I have to beprepared for a life on the run.
It's like I watch this TV showin the UK I watch on YouTube now
(37:47):
it's like broadcast in the UKand it's got would I lie to you?
And one of the things that oneof the contestants like comedy shows,
questions, stuff like that,one of the guests was saying he'd
buried 1000 pound which isnothing in the grand scheme of things
but he'd buried that in casehe has to go on a life on the run.
And the whole story that camefrom that about it's a thousand pound
of what would you gonna do andwhere he would go etc. So yeah, it's.
(38:11):
I guess you would need a goodbacking behind you for life on the
run.
Yeah, exactly. I think, youknow, I should, I should be burying
things in cities all acrossthe world. Danny, I think that's
probably a good idea. Youknow, just have a go bag in every
city for, you know, when it happens.
Exactly. Well, speaking of theunexpected and speaking of planning
(38:31):
things out, we've got to theend of the five unexpected random
questions and it's as Is the,the only fair thing to do now I've
had you in the hot seat forthe last 40 minutes now, so it's
time for me to pass the batonover to you, Tom, and throw open
to your random question.
Yes, well, my question is notrandom, it's, it's thought about
(38:52):
it. And, and that is. Youknow, Danny, I've known you for a
number of years. You know, Ithink we first met at maybe like
a blog world or something likethat in a, in a very different life.
Right. And what's been thebiggest change in your life since
then and what prompted it?
Probably the biggest change ismoving to Canada, I guess back in
(39:15):
2006, so 20 years next yearand it was my wife. It's always a
girl, it's always a boy, youknow, that's why you move. But no,
I was very happy in the UK anddoing very different stuff. I wasn't
a media or anything. I waslike a typical corporate marketer
working for British Telecom.So it was like a very, very different
person then, I guess. Butyeah, I got to meet my wife online
(39:38):
on the Dashboard Confessionalofficial website forum. Music again.
So music is my background. Ifeel like yours as well, mate. Music
has so many histories and thequestion was, do I move to Canada?
Does she move to the uk? And Ifelt like she had a much more strong
family base than I did. Idon't really keep in touch with my
family with a big fallen out,which is another story for another
(40:01):
time, but a big falling out.So I don't really keep in touch with
them. So it made that decisioneasy. But then I had to sort of reinvent
myself because I was goingthrough visas and work permits and
stuff like that. Did a lot ofcrappy freelance gigs originally.
And Jacqueline, my wife wasamazing and her mum was amazing at
supporting us as well while wegot started. So that would probably
(40:23):
be the biggest change is beinga super corporate, super business,
career minded guy to being nowwhere I don't really give a crap
about, you know, financial,you know, success and blah, blah.
Be nice to have money, but Idon't give a crap about that and
living in Canada and havingtwo kids and raising kids, you know,
and then move into like a tinylittle village where we live now
(40:45):
as opposed to just outsideToronto where we used to live. So
probably a big change fromsuper corporate super business to
like life is life. And maybethat's a sign of getting older as
well, changing priorities, right?
I think so. I mean, I thinkthat's just a sign of, you know,
being increasingly comfortablein your own skin as much as anything
else.
(41:06):
Yeah, it's funny you mentionedyou're an introvert as well. A lot
of podcasters, a lot ofcreators are introverts. I'm very
introverted. I hatenetworking. I ha big events like
podcast movement. I'd ratherbe in the corner with someone I feel
really trusted and safe withand just chatting with them.
That's totally me. Andactually that's one reason why my
partner at sounds Profitable,Brian Barletta, and I are such a
(41:26):
good fit, because Brian reallyunderstands me, like thoroughly understands
me. And he knows that, youknow, after I give, he's energized
by people, you know, and if hewants, you know, if I want to meet
somebody, he will introduceus. Like, he will just dive right
in. And he also understandsthat when I'm done giving a keynote
(41:46):
or something, that regardlessof what it looked like on stage,
I'm exhausted. And heunderstands that this is not the
time to ask me to do anything.This is the time to like wheel me
into carbonite storage untilI'm ready to come out. So that partnership
has worked really well.
(42:07):
If I'm at an event where youare, I shall hunt you down. That
sounds awful. I shall look outfor you and keep me, maybe try to
keep you occupied for 5, 10minutes at least where you don't
have to worry about anybody else.
That would be lovely.
And I'm being selfish therebecause that would be great for me
too. Just to hang out with one person.
That would be lovely.
We shall look forward to it.So again, Tom, I really enjoyed getting
to know a little bit moreabout you away from the professional
(42:28):
side that we generally hearfrom you. For people that want to
know more about soundsprofitable, about what you do from
a speaking point of view,about your musical tastes, etc. Where's
the best place to eitherfollow you online or connect with
you, et cetera?
Yeah, I mean,soundsprofitable.com has a huge treasure
trove of resources aboutpodcasting and our LinkedIn page
(42:48):
does as well. I can be foundon Bluesky, and I think that's Tom
Webster Media, I think is myaccount, I believe, at bluesky. And
that is not typically a placewhere I talk about marketing and
business and things like that.That's generally where I share funny
photos or, you know, or musicrelated things. So I try not to cross
(43:11):
the streams on social mediaall that much because that gets,
that gets really tiresome.
I hear you and I'll be sureand obviously Like I say, Tom does
make me jealous because hedrops stuff on Bluesky about gigs
he's going to and people I'dlove to see live. So yeah, if you
want to upset me even further,follow Tom and just like share his
stuff with me anytime. Themusic stuff, fantastic. But I will
be I will be sure to leavethese links in the Show Notes as
(43:32):
always. So if you're listeningon your favorite podcast app or listen
online on the website, checkout the show notes for the episode.
All the links will be there totake you through to Tom. So again,
Tom, thank you so much forappearing on today's five Random
Questions.
Danny, it's been a pleasure.Thanks for having me.
Thanks for listening to fiveRandom Questions. If you enjoyed
this week's episode, I'd lovefor you to leave a review on the
(43:53):
app you're currently listeningon. And if you know someone else
that would enjoy the show, besure to send them the this way. It's
very much appreciated. Untilthe next time, keep asking those
questions.
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