Cam Pritchard with Station

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It’s time for Chattanooga Business Radio now. Here are your Business RadioX host.

Stone Payton: Welcome to another exciting and informative edition of Chattanooga Business Radio. Stone Payton here with you this morning. You guys are in for a real treat. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with Station, Mr. Cam Pritchard. How are you, man?

Cam Pritchard: I’m doing great,Stone. How are you?

Stone Payton: I am doing good. And it’s a delight to have you on the program. I got a ton of questions, Cam. We probably won’t get to them all, but I think a good place to start might be if you could paint a bit of a picture. Uh, share with me in our listeners mission, Purpose. What are you and your team really out there trying to do for folks, man?

Cam Pritchard: Yeah. Great question. I think, uh, what we really care about and why we exist is, uh, there’s a there’s a there’s millions of people out there now sharing their voice on this channel called podcasting. And it’s really hard for them to capture a lot of the value that they’re creating. Are they entertaining a large amount of America? In fact, 58% of America is tuning into podcasts, but it’s really, really hard to capture that value and create a sustainable income out of it. And podcasters make 70% less than TikTok and Instagrammers and all these other sort of modern day media influencers. And so what we care about is connecting them to their audience, but allowing them to capture a lot of the value that they’ve created for the world.

Stone Payton: Well, as you might imagine, I have a particularly a particular affinity for this platform for for this medium. What is your backstory? How did you get involved in this line of work?

Cam Pritchard: So it’s a little random. I grew up in New Zealand, probably here in some sort of accent here. Most people think it’s Australian. So I have to clarify, uh, but I, I started out, uh, building different companies in New Zealand, and when I was, I don’t know, I must have been 21. I started a YouTube monetization platform helping people that were teaching online in the very early days of, uh, of the internet, uh, helping them capture more revenue from, you know, the people that they were teaching. And I’ve always been drawn to media as I think it’s just how we understand the world. And fast forward many years, I was working at a bigger technology company in, uh, in San Francisco and just fascinated about how big companies were engaging and, uh, captivating an audience. And I started a podcast. And as I was, uh, As I was creating episodes and doing this podcast, I realized that, you know, wait, there’s podcasts. Don’t know who their audience is. Like, you literally go out there, you create an episode, you put it out into the world, and you don’t really know if people like it. You don’t get any feedback. You either just see your numbers go up. You see that? Oh, there might be in some sort of state, uh, around this age, and there’s no sort of form of email lists or anything like that. You can’t go and reconnect with them. So, you know, these, these people that are out there creating this content, they’re literally growing their business in the dark.

Speaker4: Yeah.

Stone Payton: Amen. Well, now that you’ve been at it a while and helping folks in this way, what are you finding the most rewarding? What’s the most fun about it for you?

Cam Pritchard: It’s a really gnarly problem, uh, that we’re trying to solve because the nature of podcasting is that your, your sort of entertaining or educating an audience that’s typically on the go. So most people listen to podcasts when they’re cleaning their house, they’re driving their car, they are running, and so they don’t have their thumbs on the screen. So it’s really hard to get them to act on anything. And a lot of people are really, really drawn to the to the podcast. They’re listening to them, to the hosts. They build this really intimate relationship. The host is literally in their ear for a long, long period of time. And so I, you know, to to to not be able to get people to interact around you more intimately is is very difficult. And so we’ve, we’ve run a number of experiments, um, as to how we can better, uh, you know, connect an audience to a show and how we can create a much more enriching media experience. And I think that’s what, uh, that’s what really makes us excited, is like, okay, we’ve got this audio format, but how do we make it a little bit more interactive? A little bit more engaging? And how do we make everyone win?

Stone Payton: Okay, so let’s dive into the work a little. Bit. And you can use Business RadioX or Chattanooga Business Radio as a use case if you want. Or maybe you can walk us through some sort of use case. Use case. But I’d love to to. Hear a little bit about particularly early on what does the engagement cycle, if that’s the right phrase, look like. So I guess we start having I guess we start by just having a conversation, huh?

Cam Pritchard: We start by having a conversation. I think one thing that’s worth calling out is that every most of the the revenue from the podcast industry comes through listeners. So the more listeners, you have more frequent listeners, the more advertising dollars you can get. And sure, there’s like Patreon and other platforms that you can go and sort of get a subscription Therefrom. And so at the crux of the whole problem is like, how do you keep an audience engaged in this attention economy where people are switching different shows, they’re watching television, they’re on TikTok, they’re on Instagram, you know, they’re all over the show. How do you how do you add more value to them and keep them, you know, keep them engaged. And so what we really focus on doing is so anyone that is using station has, can, can build a station page, and this page is what you link to in your show notes. Or you call out on, on air and you basically say, hey, look, um, if you want to know more, if you want to ask any questions on the show or if you, uh, today we’re giving away some free merch, um, or, you know, there’s we’re going to start a conversation about one of these topics because, you know, we’ve only got, you know, 20 minutes to talk about this, but we could go on and on.

Cam Pritchard: And so it creates a place for everyone listening to go a little bit deeper and get a lot of value for being being an engaged listener. And so the fans come away with a lot more. The fans can get, um, you know, freebies, they can discuss, you know, topics they’re highly passionate about. They can ask questions, they can contribute, uh, for future episodes. They can attend different events that the the show can run, and then they can get special content for just being loyal listeners. And then on the podcast side, we’ll now they’ve actually built this, this really engaged, um, email list and, and user base that they can directly connect with. And station is built these, these sophisticated AI tools that actually coach them and tell them, you know, like how they can better engage their audience, how can they improve, what sort of questions could they be asking? Are they are they touching on the right content. And so it gets really, really interesting as we go.

Stone Payton: Okay. Um, let’s talk about me a minute. It’s my show. No, I’m thinking Chattanooga Business Radio. Right? Uh, we are doing some programing virtually now, and I’m handling most of the hosting responsibilities. Will eventually have a physical studio there with not only Chattanooga Business Radio, but also some, some client shows. So, uh, if I were if Chattanooga Business Radio were the Chattanooga Business radio show were a client of yours, and it’s sounding more and more like we might be, uh, even before we had this interview, if I were on station, there’s some things I could have done before we had this conversation to to get some engagement, because we could have had them submit some questions they would like to ask, that kind of thing.

Cam Pritchard: Exactly. And you and and what’s unique about what you’re doing is actually you’ve got this, um, this really, uh, captivated, uh, audience that has, has a shared interest in common. So you could think about it as a little tribe or a community. Um, but that’s really unique. And I think the more and more we go, we just see that, you know, what’s what’s great about this channel is you can bring all these people together. And so you’ve got listeners listening to you in isolation. So with station now, they can get to know each other. You can run different events. Um, you know, you you can connect people as well. There’s, um, there’s probably a ton of businesses that might want to offer some value to your listeners, um, that are struggling to get to them. Maybe they’re doing some some form of audio advertising, but you can put special deals on your station page as well, so they can now get a lot of value just through being, uh, listeners of your show. So.

Stone Payton: Yeah, it sounds like we could do such a better job with the benefit of what you’re describing in leveraging the stuff that we that we do. Well, you know, we have our superpower, we do have engaging content, and we are able to to give people the opportunity to, to share their story and promote their work. But I got to believe we’re not leveraged. I mean, we’re a content factory, right? We’re not leveraging the, the the listenership as you just mentioned. So all right. So is the business model. Is it something that we subscribe to to have our own little sandbox there at station? Is is it like a subscription model.

Cam Pritchard: Yeah that’s exactly right. So it’s just done based on volume. So you know we have a have a very low monthly cost to, you know, get going. And then and then as you, as you get bigger and we build a, you know, a more engaged community around you and add more value than we you go to the next tier, so to speak.

Stone Payton: So I mean, you shared a very, for me, sobering stat that folks on this platform are earning as much as 70% less than creators on other platforms. Can you say more about that and maybe even a little more detail about how we’re trying to close that gap.

Cam Pritchard: Yeah. So it comes down to and it’s weird to say this, but the the listener doesn’t have their thumb on the screen. And with other media platforms they do. And so we have this huge challenge where we need to get, you know, the listener to, to click to, to engage so we can get to know them and we can add more value to them. And, you know, even I was just thinking as you were speaking, you know, you’ve got this like awesome audience, but you know what? Like do they know when you’re doing like a special interview that might be really, you know, personalized and valuable to them? Or do they only know when they tune in at a certain time and they hear about it? Um, or certain events. And so with the station, that’s how you can get people into an email list and you can notify them, hey, this is coming up and, and whatnot. And so it turns it more into, um, into something that’s a little bit more connected for, for both parties.

Stone Payton: So I got to know, man, what brought you to Chattanooga? You were in the thick of things. You were in the belly of the beast out there in San Francisco. What got you out here?

Cam Pritchard: Yeah, it’s a great question. So I probably shouldn’t go any, any, any further without talking about the team. So we’ve got this. We’ve got this crazy good team. So we got um, so in San Francisco, San Francisco is amazing for serendipity meeting people. And I was in a founder group and I got introduced to a sort of a friend of a friend, Abhishek Thori, who’s a full stack software engineer. He’s actually in India. So he’s been working, you know, long, long distance with us, but he’s really the technical mastermind behind the platform, and he’s been building a lot of our AI that helps podcasts engage with their audience. And then I also ran into a guy called Austin Walker. Um, and he actually is he’s an experience. He’s he’s created three, uh, you know, successful startup companies. He’s also an investor. But he previously built and sold a global tech company, are solving monetization for gaming and esports brands. So think Twitch. And so we had our stint in San Francisco where we we got what we needed, which was to find these incredible people. And the next step in the business was, well, we needed to raise money and we needed to go heads down and solve the problem for the market.

Cam Pritchard: So, you know, maybe contrary to a lot of people’s belief, San Francisco can be kind of distracting. There’s a lot going on. There’s all these VC meetups. There’s, uh, you know, there’s founders everywhere that want, you know, help and whatnot, and you want to help them, but really, you just need to roll up your sleeves and create a great company and solve, solve problems in the market. And we we actually got, uh, connected to the Brickyard VC folks in Chattanooga. And we did a trip over and we just we just loved it. They, you know, it’s heads down, no distractions. Beautiful city. And, you know, it’s full but focused. And that’s just what we need in our next, our next phase. And and maybe we could build this, you know, this company here, we might need satellite offices in New York and LA, maybe San Francisco. Um, but what a great place. And sort of the, the center where, where you can just sort of knuckle down and focus.

Stone Payton: So how does the whole sales and marketing thing work for a firm, a service like yours? How do you get the new the new business?

Cam Pritchard: Yeah. So there’s a couple of ways you can, um, you can literally reach out to to any, any podcast or media company that way and just go one by one like, this is an interesting show. Maybe you’re thinking, okay, well, let’s find shows in the entertainment space. Um, you know, we’ve already done some really successful shows in this sort of sports space. So we did Travis and Jason Kelsey’s New Heights podcast, which was one of the, top ones in the world. And so, you know, we have a lot of credibility. Solving this for for sports and entertainment. Uh, so that’s that that really helps us. And we get obviously some inbound from that. But, uh, really it’s it’s finding people in the industry that are, that are super connected, whether these are, uh, podcast publishers, distributors, uh, or just, you know, going out and saying, hey, you know, we’ve, we’ve done this for a show similar to yours. Uh, we would love to, you know, take you through and show you how we can solve some of these problems that we’re seeing in the industry.

Stone Payton: Yeah, well, I mean, you obviously got my attention. So we’re going to have conversations off air, and I’m going to I’m going to dive in and and learn more about your work as well, because I see immediate application for a couple of individual shows that I’m directly connected to. But, you know, just in terms of the Business RadioX network serving our clients and our clients clients more effectively. Uh, I got to believe there’s something here. So, uh. Yeah, whatever you’re doing, keep doing it on the sales and marketing thing because it’s working. Uh, thanks, Don. Uh, I got a question. I don’t know when or where or how you’d find the time, because you gotta have a lot of irons in the fire and a lot, a lot going on. But, uh, interest pursuits, hobbies, passions outside the scope of your your work. A lot of my listeners know that I like to hunt, fish and travel. Anything you kind of nerd out about that doesn’t have anything to do with this just to get away and recharge.

Cam Pritchard: Well, I do love surfing, but I’m probably in the wrong place for it. Uh, but I think right now it’s, uh, you know, a surf trip here, and there might be the way that I disconnect. Um, but also just getting out in nature, doing doing some running, some hiking. Um, Chattanooga has incredible nature around. And I have, you know, guiltily not got into it. I’ve been to Heads Down, so I can’t wait to you know, to explore around this area that, you know, this, this part of the world is, is, is truly beautiful.

Stone Payton: Oh, man. Do not put it off much longer, because you are in a most beautiful place for hiking and enjoying nature. Chattanooga is just such a marvelous town. I shared with you that my youngest and her husband are in Chattanooga, so I get up there quite a bit. And of course we’re looking to establish a studio there. Love, Chattanooga. So you’re in the right place for all of that. All right, before we wrap, I’d love to leave our listeners, if we could, with a couple of actionable pieces of counsel. You know, I call them pro tips. And look, guys, the number one pro tip is reach out to cam and have a conversation with him or someone on their on their team, but, uh, to hold them till then. Cam let’s leave them with a couple tips.

Cam Pritchard: Yeah. I think my, my couple of tips are very sort of topical to what we’re doing. And the first one is, you know, just get out there and share. Share your voice. I think now, you know, we’ve got, you know, incredible platforms. It’s easy. It’s so easy to create incredible content. Now, um, you know what? There’s there’s 400,000 audiobooks on audible. Uh, there’s 180 million podcast episodes because it’s so easy to create these. And, uh, and for the first time in history, it’s it’s pretty amazing. You can go and share some amazing insights and build and build a community, build credibility around what you’re doing. And in a business sense, um, you know, there’s, uh, tools like podcasts, there’s, uh, you know, even even some social media. Just writing a little bit is, is awesome because, you know, people want to learn and you have a unique perspective. And the second one is, I mean, at the end of the day, you want to find out how you can capture some value out of it. And so, yeah, see, see really think through that, that funnel, you know, like, I’m, I’m, I’m creating a lot of value. But, you know, I want to capture some value so I can create more value. I can I can build better things, I can offer more value. I can end and I can be, uh, you know, well off out of it as well. So, yeah, I would just encourage that. I think it’s, uh, it’s really healthy and exciting. And we’re seeing a big movement in the world around this.

Stone Payton: All right. What’s the best way for our listeners to connect and continue to tap into your work, man website? Whatever, LinkedIn, whatever is appropriate?

Cam Pritchard: Yeah. I think, uh, just, uh, hit me on LinkedIn. So, uh, I think it’s under my first name. Campbell. Uh, like Campbell soup. Pritchard. Uh, so find me there and, uh, and throw me an email at cam at station page. Um, we we love, uh, we love connecting with people around here. And we’re we’re here to help in any way that we can.

Stone Payton: Well, cam, it has been an absolute delight having you on the program today. Thank you for your insight, your perspective, your enthusiasm, and thank you for what you’re doing for the business community at large and those of us that have chosen to express our work in this medium. Man, you are doing really important work and we sure appreciate you.

Cam Pritchard: Stunned. Massive. Appreciate appreciation for all you do and and and who you are serving out there as well. And, and, uh, you know, helping people understand all these new spaces and, and get insights. It’s really cool. And so it’s been an absolute pleasure and I hope we get to do it again.

Stone Payton: My pleasure man. All right. Until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Cam Pritchard with station and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we’ll see you next time on Chattanooga Business Radio.