The Broadband Bunch
Welcome to the Broadband Bunch, a podcast about broadband and how it impacts all of us. Join us to learn about the state of the industry and the latest innovations and trends. Connect with the thought leaders, pioneers and policymakers helping to shape your future through broadband. The Broadband Bunch is sponsored by: ETI Software: www.etisoftware.com VETRO: www.vetrofibermap.com
Episodes
February 17, 2026 • 38 mins
In this episode of The Broadband Bunch, host Pete Pizzutillo sits down with BSP co-founders David Strauss and Jack Burton to explain the role of technical due diligence in the broadband and digital infrastructure market. The BSP team shares how their firm helps investors, operators, and lenders cut through the noise to evaluate network assets, data centers, and M&A opportunities with confidence.
Hear about the realities behind con...
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February 11, 2026 • 34 mins
In this episode of The Broadband Bunch, host Brad Hine sits down with Earnie Holtrey, Principal Consultant at Mytra Consulting and former Deputy Director of the Indiana Broadband Office, for a conversation about the evolution of state broadband initiatives and the road ahead for BEAD implementation. Earnie shares his journey from rural community development to leading statewide broadband programs, offering a behind-the-scenes look ...
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February 3, 2026 • 36 mins
In this episode of The Broadband Bunch, host Jeff Boozer sits down with Doug Dawson, President of CCG Consulting and author of the widely read industry blog POTs and PANs. Drawing from decades of experience advising ISPs across the country, Dawson shares practical insights inspired by his recent blog post, “ISP New Year’s Resolutions.” The conversation explores the recurring operational challenges that small and mid-sized broadband...
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January 28, 2026 • 28 mins
The Broadband Bunch closes out 2025 with its annual Year in Review episode, featuring the return of the Buy, Sell, or Hold game. Hosts Brad Hine and Pete Pizzutillo are joined by five industry leaders—Lori Adams (Nokia), Bob Knight (Harry Marketing), Matt Larsen (Vistabeam), Kim McKinley (TAK Broadband), and Jade Piros de Carvalho (Socket Fiber)—to weigh in on the biggest broadband topics that shaped the year.
From BEAD funding de...
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January 14, 2026 • 45 mins
In this episode of The Broadband Bunch, Pete Pizzutillo reports live from Calix ConneXions in Las Vegas with two conversations that connect the dots between building fiber and filling it with subscribers. First up is Strider Denison, EVP Cityside Fiber, who shares how the Orange County-based provider is scaling fast by targeting “fiber desert” pockets in dense markets—without chasing grants or picking overbuilt fights. Strider walk...
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January 6, 2026 • 37 mins
In this episode of The Broadband Bunch, host Pete Pizzutillo speaks with Dan Siemon, CEO of Preseem, about helping regional broadband providers compete more effectively through proactive network intelligence. Dan shares his path from building early ISP networks to leading Preseem, a solution designed to give operators clear visibility into network performance and customer experience.
The conversation explores how telemetry, latenc...
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December 9, 2025 • 41 mins
This episode of The Broadband Bunch features host Pete Pizzutillo in conversation with Kathy Kirchner, Senior Vice President of Service Assurance at Zayo. Kathy shares her journey from a Sprint call center to leading service assurance for one of North America’s largest fiber networks, with career stops spanning independent telcos, cable operators, Comcast, and startups. Her cross-functional experience in operations, engineering, cu...
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December 2, 2025 • 30 mins
In this episode of The Broadband Bunch, host Pete Pizzutillo sits down with Chris Sikora, Chief Revenue Officer, and Tony Thakur, Chief Technology Officer at GPC Fiber, to explore their 165-mile, 400G-capable fiber build across Kentucky and what it means for mission-critical connectivity in the region. The conversation traces Chris and Tony’s long careers in fiber, the evolution from Great Plains Communications to the GPC Fiber br...
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November 24, 2025 • 18 mins
In this episode of The Broadband Bunch, host Pete Pizzutillo sits down with Travis Rice, Senior Director of Sales and Marketing at Camvio, recorded at Calix ConneXions 2025. Travis shares his unexpected path from fintech to telecom, how he landed at Camvio, and the company’s mission to simplify operations for ISPs through its end-to-end OSS/BSS platform.
Pete and Travis dig into some of the biggest challenges and trends shaping to...
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November 18, 2025 • 18 mins
In this episode of The Broadband Bunch, sponsored by ETI Software and VETRO FiberMap, Pete Pizzutillo catches up with Chris McKenzie, VP of Network Operations at Rapid Fiber, while at Calix ConneXions 2025. Chris shares his unconventional journey from the music industry to corporate IT to rural broadband, and how that experience shaped Rapid Fiber’s fast-moving deployment strategy. In just two years, the team has grown from zero to...
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November 11, 2025 • 27 mins
This episode of The Broadband Bunch features a conversation between host Pete Pizzutillo and Scott Neuman, Corporate Vice President of Marketing at Calix, recorded at Calix Connections 2025 in Las Vegas.
Scott shares how Calix is redefining the broadband industry’s approach to AI, customer education, and ecosystem collaboration. He explains how Calix helps service providers move beyond AI “literacy” toward true AI fluency, enablin...
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November 4, 2025 • 20 mins
This episode of The Broadband Bunch was recorded live at Calix ConneXions 2025, where host Pete Pizzutillo sat down with Bob Carrick, Director of Global Strategy at Calix Cloud.
In this conversation, Bob walks through Calix’s cloud evolution—from its early managed Wi-Fi roots to today’s full-scale broadband platform that integrates Operations, Service, and Engagement Clouds. He shares how Calix’s latest innovations in AI and cloud...
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October 21, 2025 • 40 mins
In this episode of The Broadband Bunch, host Pete Pizzutillo sits down with Jeff Wabik of DC BLOX for a tour of how modern data centers are conceived, powered, cooled, and connected—especially across the underserved Southeast. Jeff traces his tinkerer roots (think Heathkit computers at age 12) through launching one of the earliest ISPs in the late ’80s, to helping build DC BLOX’s “bunker-plus-connectivity” model and its evolution f...
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September 30, 2025 • 44 mins
In this episode of The Broadband Bunch, host Pete Pizzutillo sits down with Felix Virto, Director of Operations at Blue Streak, and Stephen Rose, CEO of Render Networks, to explore how funding realities, digital transformation, and AI are reshaping large-scale fiber builds. Felix shares his 29-year journey from climbing poles in southwest Virginia to leading complex deployments—and why Blue Streak’s recent acquisition by a global p...
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September 23, 2025 • 44 mins
In this episode of The Broadband Bunch, host Pete Pizzutillo sits down with Lee Comer Jr., CEO of Go-Broadband, and Jeremiah Sloan of VETRO FiberMap to explore disaster recovery in the broadband industry. With extreme weather events increasingly impacting infrastructure, the conversation centers around real-world recovery efforts, the chaos of day-one response, and the emotional and operational challenges providers face when networ...
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September 16, 2025 • 38 mins
In this episode of The Broadband Bunch, host Brad Hine is joined by Jeff Boozer, VP of Broadband Strategy at ETI Software, and Don Eben, CEO of CORE Consults, for a conversation on what it really takes for broadband providers to succeed with artificial intelligence. While AI is being hailed as the future of telecom operations, the trio cuts through the buzz to explore the foundational elements that make AI effective—namely, high-qu...
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September 9, 2025 • 30 mins
In this episode of The Broadband Bunch, recorded at Mountain Connect 2025 in Denver, host Brad Hine sits down with Peter Cresse, President of Entropy, a leading technology advisory firm. Together, they explore how artificial intelligence is beginning to transform broadband networks—from predictive maintenance and latency reduction to the rise of AI agents that will reshape how providers manage and optimize their infrastructure.
Pe...
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September 4, 2025 • 30 mins
In this episode of The Broadband Bunch, recorded at Mountain Connect 2025 in Denver, host Brad Hine sits down with Robin Olds, Senior Business Development Manager at Cisco Systems. Together, they explore Cisco’s pivotal role in shaping the future of broadband—from reimagining network architecture with routed optical networking to advancing AI-driven connectivity and capacity management.
Robin shares insights into Cisco’s broadband...
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September 2, 2025 • 34 mins
In this episode of The Broadband Bunch, host Brad Hine sits down with Drew Beverage, Chief Operating Officer of 360 Broadband, from the floor at Mountain Connect in Denver. Drew shares the story of 360 Broadband’s evolution from a fixed wireless provider to a hybrid network operator bringing fiber to some of the most rural areas in Oklahoma and Texas. With 96 competitors in their expansive 12,000-square-mile footprint, Drew emphasi...
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August 26, 2025 • 54 mins
In this episode of The Broadband Bunch, host Pete Pizzutillo speaks with Tracy Doaks, President and CEO of MCNC. Tracy shares her journey from state CIO to leading MCNC, which operates the North Carolina Research and Education Network.
She discusses MCNC’s 5,000 miles of fiber, its role in telehealth, and how middle-mile networks empower last-mile providers to serve rural communities. The conversation covers broadband as infrastru...
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