March 6, 2025 • 30 mins
In celebration of International Women's Day, iHeartMedia profiles four remarkable women of iHeartMedia from various fields around the company: Angela Yee - award-winning media personality and host of iHeartMedia’s broadcast radio show “Way Up with Angela Yee,” Eileen Woodbury - Vice President of Marketing at iHeartMedia Los Angeles, Sarah Spain - Emmy and Peabody award-winning journalist and host of iHeart Women's Sports “Good Game" podcast and Jessica Marventano - Executive Vice Present of Government Affairs.
The interviews are conducted by iHeart 24/7 News anchors: Debra Mark from KFI AM 640 in Los Angeles, Nathalie Rodriguez and Erica Rodriguez from NewsRadio WIOD in Miami and Kathy Walker from KOA 850 AM in Denver.
The interviews are conducted by iHeart 24/7 News anchors: Debra Mark from KFI AM 640 in Los Angeles, Nathalie Rodriguez and Erica Rodriguez from NewsRadio WIOD in Miami and Kathy Walker from KOA 850 AM in Denver.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to iHeartRadio Communities International Women's Weekend Special. This weekend,
we're celebrating the incredible achievements, resilience and contributions of women
from iHeartRadio. Join us as we highlight inspiring stories, powerful voices,
and the trailblazers who make a difference.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
We're celebrating International Women's Day. I'm Natalie Rodriguez and Angela
Yee is, among many things, the host of the nationally
syndicated radio show Way Up with Angela, your own podcast,
lip Service, former co host of The Breakfast Club, entrepreneur,
dedicated philanthropist. Yes you are tiny, five to.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Three, Yes, I thought that was average, tiny.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Mighty and gorgeous by the way. Beautiful Caribbean Chinese, yes, yes,
and a New Yorker indeed, And as the saying goes, sassy,
classy and bad assy because my radio sister right here,
thank you so much for joining us. By the way,
taking time out from what seems to be a crazy schedule,
you're killing it in the R and B and hip
hop world, Rock Nation, Jay, Electronica, Juice Bars, what's going
(01:09):
on with that?
Speaker 4 (01:10):
All right?
Speaker 5 (01:10):
Well, now I actually have a coffee shop. Coffee uplifts
people literally about a month ago. We just opened up
at night. So we did get our liquor license, which
was a big deal for us to acquire.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Did Baby Angela grow up say and this is what
I'm gonna do? And you did, and you knocked it
out of the park.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
Ever since I was in kindergarten, I thought I would
be a writer, so that was always the goal.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
I used to read a lot.
Speaker 5 (01:31):
I work with the New York Public Library, and I
think that that skill of being able to read and
write has helped me in media because this is not
anything I ever anticipated that I would be doing. I
was always more of a behind the scenes person. I've
done marketing, and I was really big on like helping
come up with ideas and marketing plans, which is really
helpful no matter what to do for a living to
(01:52):
be able to write a marketing proposal.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
To get to the cash.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
And I used to write bios for artists too, But
I really grew up working in the hip hop business
in management. Than when I had the opportunity to be
on the radio, that was with Eminem and that was
for his station. I had already worked for him doing
marketing for his clothing line. I was like, I mean,
how could I turn down that type of opportunity, And
then it just went from there. Once I get my
(02:19):
foot in the door somewhere, I'm going to take it
all the way. So I got my foot in the door.
That audition was like months long of no way, yeah,
and coming to work every day like I worked there.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
So talent, brains and luck.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
Yeah, yeah, all those things have to line up because
when you get that luck, you have to be prepared
for it.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Do you feel like you have to pay more of
your dues than men do?
Speaker 4 (02:43):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (02:43):
Yeah, I think as a woman in a lot of
different industries, we had to pay I know you can
you know that, Natalie, we have to pay more of
our dues. It's a lot of being more prepared than
everybody else. Also knowing what battles you want to fight,
because if you fight every battle, you'll never.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Get any rest.
Speaker 5 (02:59):
That's why I having other streams of income has always
been important to me, and establishing myself outside of just
one thing and not being boxed in has also been
important because people need to see you as a multi
dimensional person and so one of the main things that
I think has made me feel more stable and confident
is investments. And I have my real estate license too,
(03:20):
and so I've been investing in real estate for over
ten years now, and that's something that has definitely made
me feel like, Okay, if ever you have to have
a decision to make where you don't want to do
something anymore, you can do it and have peace of mind.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
So working twice as hard as a man is a
thing for us women, except that it's kind of like
society demands us to do it in heals and spanks
and lashes at the same time.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
And if you have a kid, you got to also
be a mom. You know you're right. And then if you're.
Speaker 5 (03:48):
Married or you're in a relationship, you also got to
take care of the home. It is a lot of
things I think that get put on us and do
it all gracefully with a smile, without ever getting mad.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Again. We're talking with Angelie. She is a multi media
queen who's taking time out on this International Women's Day.
Ever been passed up because you're a woman.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
I'm sure. I'm pretty sure I have.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
I think not maybe necessarily passed up, but maybe underpaid
and undervalued because I'm a woman.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Contrary to that have you ever been promoted because you're
a woman.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
I doubt it said that, but I will say that
there are times that people are like looking for, you know,
a woman to do a certain thing. I even think
when you think about hip hop, when I see a
lot of these you know, sit down roundtable conversations, quite frequently,
there's no women involved. You know, sometimes on a podcast
they'd be like, oh, we need to find a woman
(04:42):
to fill that seat. But they don't look at us
as a person who's going to lead. They always look
at us as somebody that's going to be like a support.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Speaking of hip hop trailblazers like MC light, Little Kim,
Queen Latifa, who have been some key female figures that
have inspired you.
Speaker 5 (04:58):
Well, definitely, I would I say Angie Martinez, And it's
great because I have an opportunity to work with her now.
When she came over to iHeart, it was very exciting
for all of us. That's somebody that I've always admired
and watched from when I was young and listened to
on the radio. More recently, THEA Mitcham and she's our
program director and she's like she got a way bigger
(05:18):
title than that but just to have a black woman
in that position I had never That was the first
time I've ever even had a woman as a boss.
And I remember when she was coming, people were like, Oh,
what's it going to be like, are you guys going
to bump heads? Because I think traditionally people think that
women bump heads with each other, and it doesn't have
to be like that. It actually was very beneficial to
(05:39):
me to have somebody that was championing me.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
We're old enough to where we've seen a transition from
before social media to now have social media been a curse?
Is it a blessing? And what do you foresee in
the future, like in the next five to ten years
for the up and coming batch of.
Speaker 5 (05:54):
Female social media depending on I'll say this because we
grew up without it, and so I feel like now
it is more of a blessing for me because I
know how to control it, because I can do with
that it we have. And I remember I was one
of the early people on Twitter, and so when I
was on Twitter, people didn't know what it was.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
There's videos of like I got TI on there.
Speaker 5 (06:18):
Nicki Minaj. I helped her set up her Twitter account
because when I was there. No one was really on it,
and so I didn't have people to communicate with. Jalen
Rose he always says that I'm the person that got
him on Twitter.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Angela. If you're a woman, a young woman, what is
your message?
Speaker 5 (06:33):
My message would be to always be thinking ahead. It's
a game of chess, and so just think about if
I make this move, here's what can happen. I don't
believe that there's such a thing as necessarily bad moves.
It's just a series of things that happen. And how
do you recover from things? How do you know when
(06:53):
it's time to move on? You don't ever want to
feel stuck in a position.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Celebrating International Women's Day with Way Up with Angela Yee's
own Angela Ye here with me, Natalie Rodriguez. I feel
honored to be your radio and multimedia sister. I'm just
so impressed by by who you are and what you
bring to the table. And I can't wait to see
what's next for you because it could be anything.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Well, thank you. I'm looking forward to us doing something.
Speaker 6 (07:16):
Let's do it.
Speaker 7 (07:22):
Hello.
Speaker 6 (07:23):
I'm Deborah Mark. I'm a news anchor on KFI AM
six point forty Los Angeles, and we are going to
be speaking with Eileen Woodberry. She is the vice president
of Marketing for iHeartMedia LA and she oversees the marketing,
promotions and events for our music brands in the market
and has been with the company for close to thirty years.
(07:44):
Welcome and thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 8 (07:47):
Thank you.
Speaker 6 (07:47):
So, why did you choose media and radio for your career?
Speaker 8 (07:51):
You know, that's a funny question because I didn't think
I was choosing media and radio. I thought I was
choosing the music industry. I got into radio because to
me that made sense. As in college, I was such
a music fan, which most people are, and I'm like, well,
I get my music on the radio. I think I
want to work in radio. So I was driving around
one day and my local radio station ran an ad
(08:12):
we're looking for promotion people. So I just went, I'm
going to be in the music business. So that's kind
of how it started.
Speaker 6 (08:17):
That is so cool. Are you enjoying it?
Speaker 8 (08:19):
Well? I did, so, you figure. I went into the
music business in my mind, and then I learned about radio, so,
you know, I learned where it fit in the music business.
But then I learned that it was broadcasting. So yeah,
it was really interesting to me. I actually thought, and
I think a lot of people my age did at
the time, that DJs and personalities picked the music that
they were in charge of kind of the content on
(08:40):
the air. So when I got to the station realized
there's a machine behind them, yeah, actually pulling the content together.
I was like, that's what I want to do. I'm
kind of behind the scenes. That's what I want to do, right. Yeah,
it was great and here I am, you know, here
you are thirty years later.
Speaker 6 (08:55):
Yeah, that's amazing. So tell us about your recent experience
with the LA five and the importance of community, because
obviously that was such a big part. I mean, we
had this complete disaster last month.
Speaker 8 (09:07):
That's the beauty of local radio is our ability to
touch the community where their friend were, who they know,
we give them local information. It's really hard to get
local information, you know, with the way the news is
now national media and social media. So we approach it
that way. We know anytime there's a disaster or anything
like that, we know that we're the boots on the
ground in the community. So it was that way through
(09:27):
COVID too, you know what I mean, we did a
lot during COVID, but specifically for the fires. The thing
that was different is everybody was affected, but affected differently,
right Like, we all know a handful of people that
maybe lost everything, some people weren't affected at all, some
of us were affected a little. It was scary, it
was frightening, it was all those things. So as a cluster,
(09:47):
we got together and the thing that we really wanted
to make sure we were doing is partnering with an
organization that had real boots on the ground that could
really get whatever we were doing, volunteering, donations, cash, whatever
we could get in the hands of people right away.
And we found an organization to partner with our talent,
our promotions teams, our programmers just went nuts on the air.
(10:08):
We had over ten thousand volunteers come, We raised over
fifteen million dollars and all of that money is being
exercised now, vetted through a company. That's what they do.
The organization that we worked with, they're called the Dream Center.
They're awesome. They're vetting the inquiries right for the grants,
but we're the marketing and the voice boxing activators. So
that's what we did, and it was really great experience
(10:31):
for all of us.
Speaker 6 (10:31):
I actually went and volunteered at the Dream Center, and
I couldn't believe how many people were there and all
of the things that were donated. I mean, that was
just such an amazing experience. I mean, you guys killed it.
Speaker 8 (10:44):
Well, we organized it, but look at you and out
there and activated the audience. Listens to you. What we
did in the background is provide that and then we
turn it over to the talent, and you guys are
the ones that activated the people. The listeners all participate.
It was just crazy clients. Everybody was calling us, who
do we talk to? Who do we talk to? What
do we do with our money? And there are big
organizations and there's certainly we love working with the Red Cross,
(11:06):
but in this specific moment, we were like, these people
need something so immediate. Is there's somebody here locally that
can get the relief in the hands of the people immediately.
And I think that's why it was magic.
Speaker 6 (11:17):
I think it was. I think it was magic, And
I mean, thank you for your part in that.
Speaker 8 (11:21):
It is an honor.
Speaker 6 (11:22):
Can you highlight a campaign or an event that you
are particularly proud of and why, Okay, this is.
Speaker 8 (11:30):
Actually funny to talk about this because of what I
just went through today. I think it's the event I'm
working on right now. One of the greatest parts of
my thirty year plus career in radio is it's always new.
Everything's new every year. It's bigger every year, it's different.
I hate using jargon, but you pivot every couple of
months depending on what's going on. And we've done a
(11:51):
big pivot this year, and I'm working on any event
that's just massive for us, and it's the first time
we've done it, and there's a lot of firsts. And
that's what's excitedating to me about this job as thirty
years later, I'm doing a lot of first You're not bored.
I'm not bored. I'm learning so much I'm uncomfortable, but
I'm getting it done. We're getting it done. It takes
a village, and I'm just as I sit here today
(12:12):
after the day I just had, I can't wait to
announce this event. I wish I could tell more.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
We're not.
Speaker 6 (12:17):
I was going to say, can you tell us what
it is?
Speaker 8 (12:19):
But I get it. I respect that we're announcing it
in a couple of weeks, but I'm so excited and
we just got over some major hurdles and I am
pretty proud of that right now.
Speaker 6 (12:27):
So my next question was going to be what's the
biggest challenge you face? But it sounds like this is it?
Speaker 7 (12:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (12:32):
It is. You know, challenges are just changing environments, whether
it's economic environments or pandemics or just everything. When you
look at us, I'll go back to the pandemic again.
We're a marketing, promotions, and events department and all of
those things were shut down across the board, right, so
we really had to regroup and figure out how to
do virtual events and I had to become a COVID
(12:54):
compliance officer. So it's just a constant what are the
current conditions right now and what do we need to
do and how do we pivot and how do we
make this happen? And then encouraging my team through it.
I sometimes turn off that team's call and just like
go walk in the other room and just take deep breaths.
But when you're with your team, right, it's great, you guys,
how can we do it? What are we going to
do different today? Come on, what are your ideas? You
(13:15):
know that kind of thing.
Speaker 6 (13:16):
Well, how do you balance your personal life and your
professional life. Gosh, No, you just do it.
Speaker 8 (13:21):
You do what you want to do, and I want
to balance it. And that's something that I think I
do really well. And I look at everything through the
lens of faith, and I believe I'm in the position
that I'm in for a purpose. I feel like my
talents are really used here, and I feel like I'll
be here as long as God wants me here. And
(13:42):
I'm going to do a good job. And I want
to do a great job at work and I want
to have a great life at home. So you just
do it. I want to do it, So I do it.
You know what, I'm going to go have dinner with
my husband tonight. Yes, cut down, I'm going to go.
I have this thing where I want to walk fifteen
thousand steps a day. I just got to do it.
I schedule it on my calendar for twenty minute one.
I'll take a call, answer emails. You can do it.
(14:03):
So that's it. You decide to do it, and you
do it.
Speaker 6 (14:06):
Who are some women in the industry have inspired you?
Speaker 8 (14:09):
I would say early on, there was a woman. She
was the first woman general manager that I knew in
our company. I thought she was magical, She just had
a way about her and she took me under her wing.
And I was, you know, in my early twenties, and
she was like, I'm going to teach you everything. And
I'm like, who am I that this woman is going
to teach me everything? Her name is Nancy. Liked her.
I ended up going on and working with her for
(14:31):
twenty someone years and she since retired. But I learned
a heck of a lot from her poise, humor, smart,
all of those kinds of things, and just how to survive.
I don't want anybody to take this wrong, but not
focusing on the fact that you're a woman. It's just
I'm good at my job. I'm right doing it.
Speaker 6 (14:46):
But I love I love hearing that other women help
women because so often we hear the competitiveness and you know,
just sometimes the nastiness, and I know that happens with men,
but you know how it's always highlighted with women. And
it's so great that your mentor with somebody who is
a woman. And I get you don't want to focus
on that, but you know, in this day and age,
(15:07):
sometimes that's that just doesn't happen off.
Speaker 8 (15:09):
Yeah, some people, You're right, they have a different experience.
So I feel blessed for the experience that I've had
in my life. I've never felt and I know people
disagree with me, I've never felt held back because I
was a woman, or that I didn't make the same
as anybody else. I've never felt that. But I also
realized that's because there are pioneers that went before me
and paved the way, you know what I mean. And
it's so much more normal now, I guess. But she
(15:32):
really just taught me to be And it's like, it's
not you're not at any kind of disadvantage. You know
you're not. You're just be smart, do what you're doing,
raise your hand, go out there, be yourself, and you're
going to make it. And so she was amazing.
Speaker 6 (15:46):
One last question for you, what advice would you give
young women that are looking into getting into marketing and
the events field.
Speaker 8 (15:54):
I would say, and this is again true of my experience.
I know other people have different experience, but you have
to be willing to not start at the top. You're
probably not going to go in as a manager. You're
probably gonna maybe need to start at the bottom and
work your way up. Start at the bottom doesn't matter.
Let people see you, be the first one there, the
last one to leave, raise your hand, no matter what
(16:15):
they ask you to do. Let people notice you, and
then sooner or later you're rolling right along. But I
just I feel like all the generations are a little
bit different, and sometimes I think people come in and
they expect to just move up very quickly and to
take the world by storm in an instant. It's just yes,
if that's your personality, don't want to squash that, but
(16:36):
take a minute, try to be a little bit patient,
learn don't need everything all at once.
Speaker 6 (16:41):
I think it's great advice. Eileen Woodberry, thank you so
much for joining us. I appreciate it.
Speaker 9 (16:52):
Sarah span is a journalist, podcast for a TV personality, activist, speaker,
and author who has earned an Emmy and Peabody for
her sports j After more than a decade at ESPN,
she's now turned her focus to espnW, a sports network
dedicated to women's sports, and her iHeart daily podcast, Good
Game with Sarah Spain. And that brings us here today
celebrating International Women's Day. So first, Sarah, what inspired you
(17:16):
to pursue a career in sports media and of course radio?
Speaker 7 (17:19):
I grew up being an athlete, so that was the
biggest part of it. I actually wanted to be on
Saturday and Live and to you know, comedy and improv
and acting stuff. So I moved out to LA after college.
But there had always been this part of me that
was an athlete and playing sports, watching sports, particularly the
Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan as a big fan of
So when I moved out to LA to do the
(17:39):
comedy stuff, I ended up taking a hosting boot camp
in TV hosting and hosted a fake Chicago Bears TV show,
and all of a sudden, while practicing for that in class,
I realized, Hey, this is all the stuff I love.
Why haven't I ever considered this before? So decided to
give the sports media world a world. And I was
actually terrified of radio. I thought people would constantly call
(18:01):
in and just quiz me on you know, who had
the most home runs in nineteen seventy five or something
when I wasn't born yet, And instead it became a
huge part of my career. So I always think of
that as a lesson for me on not shutting any
doors or presuming that something isn't a fit before trying
it because it ended up being so great to be
a part of the radio world.
Speaker 10 (18:18):
You talked about being a little bit scared at first.
Speaker 9 (18:20):
So what is the biggest challenge you've faced and how
were you able to overcome it?
Speaker 7 (18:24):
Probably the fact that, unfortunately, even to this day, though
things have gotten a lot better over the several decades
that I'd been in the business, it still feels like
there are a lot of folks who think this is
not a space for women, particularly the sports world, and
so walking into spaces, and despite being a Division one
athlete and an IVY League graduate and a hard worker
and all the other qualifications that you would think would
(18:45):
at least give you the benefit of the doubt, a
lot of times people assumed that I shouldn't be there.
I didn't belong, I didn't know my stuff. I was
there for the wrong reasons. I wanted to hook up
with all the athletes. It wasn't about a job, you know,
all the stereotypes about women in sports space, and so
I would say the most challenging has been not only
having to prove myself at every turn in a way
(19:06):
that men in the business have not had to, but
sexual harassment, disrespect, judgment, just a whole lot of barriers
put in place artificially that are not there for men
in the sports world.
Speaker 10 (19:17):
So who are some of the women who inspired you?
Speaker 4 (19:19):
Jamal Hill is a big one.
Speaker 7 (19:20):
My former ESPN colleague who saw me hosting a live
event for espnW and said, why are you not on TV?
And I said, oh, you know, I haven't done enough
TV yet for them to really be comfortable putting me
up there, just at a little bit of local TV
in Chicago, and she said, well, next time I'm out,
I'm going to have you fill in hosting my show.
And it was a live hour show on ESPN, and
(19:43):
I didn't really believe her. In about two months later,
I got the call to fill in, and it really
opened up a lot of doors for me. But the
way she carried herself in the industry, wanting to lift
as she rose, wanting to take other women with her,
was a really great lesson.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
She's definitely up there.
Speaker 7 (19:58):
And then women like Megan Rapino fleets like that, who
again are just audacious and outspoken and don't have to
try to blend in or be small.
Speaker 10 (20:07):
You're talking about being a part of the ESPN W family.
Speaker 9 (20:10):
What's it like being able to put women on a
pedestal in the sports world by hosting the first ever
daily women's sports podcast, iHeart Zone, Good Game with Sarah Spain.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
It's incredible.
Speaker 7 (20:21):
I am so grateful to iHeart and Deep Blue for
the platform because it's something that I you know, in
my fourteen plus years on cameraon on national shows, I've
been trying to push for more inclusion of the women's sports.
They don't have to be siloed in their own space.
They can be a part of our larger conversations. But
in order to do that, people have to have the
information to care. You know, in the big sports world,
(20:44):
we often will talk about a women's season starting, or
maybe who won a championship, checking in once or twice.
But what we need to do is give it the
same respect and care that we do and have for
men's sports for decades and decades, which is what are
the stakes, story, stats and stars? So why should I care?
What does this game mean? Who are the people I
should be looking for, who's about to break a record?
(21:05):
And on Good Game with Sarah Spain, we have the
opportunity to.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
Be the daily voice. There is no other daily women's
sports show on radio, TV podcast.
Speaker 7 (21:14):
There's not even a website that regularly updates every single
day giving you everything you want to know about the
WNBA and WSLP, WHL, tennis, volleyball, all the different things,
and so getting to be that voice. We take so
much care in making sure we have our facts right.
We want to be fun, We want everyone to want
(21:35):
to start their day listening to us, and so being
given the opportunity to really be that show that everybody's
been asking for for a long long time, myself included,
been asking to be given the reins to it's pretty awesome.
Speaker 10 (21:48):
What's your proudest achievement?
Speaker 7 (21:49):
I think I grew up always really saying it was
really important to me to do something I was passionate about,
and to not be dragging into work every day saying
I wish it wasn't here. So I think my proudest
achievement isn't just all the accomplishments and opening doors for
women and uplifting other women and bringing them along with
me and all that great stuff that makes me feel good.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
It's a little bit more simple.
Speaker 7 (22:08):
It's just the idea of like, wow, I made this
thing that I love into my job.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
What a cool thing that is.
Speaker 9 (22:13):
What advice do you give to the young women who say,
you know what, I think, I want to pursue a
career in sports and journalism.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
I have a lot of advice for them. A couple things.
Speaker 7 (22:21):
Number One, it is a nights and weekends kind of job,
so you got to love it, and you've got to
be willing to put in the work because there are
so many people who want to be a part of
this space, and they're willing to wake up early and
leave late. So really be willing to give it the
time it calls for. I would say, have a thick skin. Unfortunately,
there are a lot of people who will try to
(22:42):
make you feel like you're not welcome or you don't belong.
Be ready to just work harder and to prove yourself
and to make it clear that they can't say no
because you're just that good.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
And then I would say, be authentically yourself.
Speaker 7 (22:54):
It's very easy to watch other people in the space
and say that's what I want to be like and
try to sort of copycat, but then you're just going
to be a copycat, be rated version of somebody else.
Be as authentically and truly yourself as you can, and
a lot of people will respond to that authenticity and
try to figure out what your strengths are because there
are so many people that want to be in the space.
Are you super funny? Are you great at the research side?
Are you really good with numbers? Are you a great
(23:16):
producer instead of on camera? Do you like long form writing?
Like there's so many different outlets in the media space
to contribute and finding out what makes you different and
separates you is really important to kind of rise to
the top.
Speaker 10 (23:28):
Anything else you want to add As we celebrate International Women's.
Speaker 7 (23:31):
Day, be louder, be bigger, be bolder. Don't let anyone
tell you to be small. There's absolutely no space for that.
Speaker 11 (23:43):
International Women's Weekend is a great time to talk with
powerful women in our broadcast industry. I'm Kathy Walker, Rocky Mountain,
Regional news director for iHeartMedia based in Denver. My guest
is iHeartMedia's executive vice president for Government Affairs, Jessica Marvin Tano,
based in DC. Jessica as a lawyer with a lot
(24:05):
of experience on Capitol Hill.
Speaker 12 (24:07):
I am the face of our company on Capitol Hill
in front of independent agencies as well as the executive branch.
And what I do is try to explain what our
company is, what we do, what our mission is, what
our products are, how we serve our local communities and
(24:29):
our customers, and try to help educate those policymakers who
are making decisions and writing laws and regulations that impact
our ability to serve our customers and to create and
innovate new products.
Speaker 11 (24:44):
And in the course of your career, what are some
of the significant challenges that you faced.
Speaker 12 (24:50):
Initially when we started in two thousand and four. When
I started at the company, we were largely focused on
core communications issues like what's before the FC see what's
before certain congressional committees. Now we are starting to focus
more on workforce.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Issues and business issues.
Speaker 12 (25:10):
Like tax policy, what does it deal with employee employer issues?
Things like that where I might not have the training
in terms of my legal background. But the great thing
is I have access to a whole swath of attorneys
that work with us and work for us, and they
help me navigate those new and evolving issue areas.
Speaker 11 (25:32):
Yeah, so much has changed just in the landscape of
doing business.
Speaker 10 (25:37):
So what do you see the future.
Speaker 11 (25:39):
Of broadcast, radio and digital media in the next five
to ten years.
Speaker 12 (25:44):
Well, I have to say, I think that the future
for audio itself is really bright. Podcasting has been a
fun new product that iHeart is right in the front
of for front of, and so working with policymakers to
see what are the rules of the road for podcasting
(26:06):
in a way that allows that medium to develop and
allow us to do as much as we can in
that space. I think that that's a lot of fun.
But free over the air radio is still one of
the bedrocks and communications. It is so important to be
able to have a medium there that is free, available
(26:27):
to everybody.
Speaker 11 (26:28):
And what would you say are the regulatory challenges as
it stands now?
Speaker 12 (26:33):
Well, you know, one of our biggest things that we're
working on at iHeartMedia, we're working in lockstep with the
rest of the industry, is to try to keep.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
AM radio in cars.
Speaker 12 (26:43):
As some ev manufacturers are rolling out new automobiles, some
of them are trying to take AM radio out of
the car, and that is really a public safety threat
because AM radio is the backbone of FEMA's National Public
(27:03):
Warning system for the nation.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
As you know, AM.
Speaker 12 (27:07):
Radio is so resilient it stays up when the Internet
goes down during wildfires, during hurricanes, tornadoes, natural disasters of
which there have been unfortunately far too many. Radio is
always on or it's one of the easiest to get
back up if it does go down. But if AM
(27:29):
radio is taken out of cars, that's going to be
really harmful to the public because they are not going
to be able to know how and where to get
important life saving information. We just had the hurricanes whipped
through North Carolina last fall, and people literally their lives
(27:50):
were saved because of AM radio in terms of we
had some of our fantastic an air talent staying in
the studio being a lifeline to people in terms of
letting them know what the police were saying, what public
safety was saying, trying to connect public safety to people
who were on roofs of houses of flooding or because
(28:14):
of what what else was going on in terms of
how to get to safety. If that platform goes away
because it's taken out of cars, it's not sustainable for
the industry to survive.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
And so that is our.
Speaker 12 (28:27):
Biggest challenge facing our industry right now is making sure
that AM radio stays in cars.
Speaker 11 (28:33):
Who are some of the women who've inspired you.
Speaker 12 (28:36):
I know this sounds a little cliche, but my mother
is probably the person who's inspired me the most because
she juggled family and career in a way that I
think was a success on both fronts. And she always
inspired me in terms of how to act and how
(28:59):
to present myself so that I could go to bed
at night without regret. And I think that that's really important.
I think for in the other professional capacity, women inspiring me.
I know Governor Nikki Haley, her work has always been
(29:19):
very inspiring for me and the women I work inside
that I work with inside iHeartMedia, whether it be Wendy
Goldberg or Julie Talbot or Julie Donahoe. I've just been
blessed with working with very impressive women who are joyful
at their work, are willing to collaborate and help, and
(29:43):
really don't care who much gets the credit.
Speaker 11 (29:46):
That's inspiring in and of itself. That's Jessica Marvin Tanno,
Executive vice President for Government Affairs for iHeartMedia, Thanks so
much for joining us, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 6 (29:58):
This International Women's Day.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Nashell has been a presentation of iHeartRadio
Welcome to iHeartRadio Communities International Women's Weekend Special. This weekend,
we're celebrating the incredible achievements, resilience and contributions of women
from iHeartRadio. Join us as we highlight inspiring stories, powerful voices,
and the trailblazers who make a difference.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
We're celebrating International Women's Day. I'm Natalie Rodriguez and Angela
Yee is, among many things, the host of the nationally
syndicated radio show Way Up with Angela, your own podcast,
lip Service, former co host of The Breakfast Club, entrepreneur,
dedicated philanthropist. Yes you are tiny, five to.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Three, Yes, I thought that was average, tiny.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Mighty and gorgeous by the way. Beautiful Caribbean Chinese, yes, yes,
and a New Yorker indeed, And as the saying goes, sassy,
classy and bad assy because my radio sister right here,
thank you so much for joining us. By the way,
taking time out from what seems to be a crazy schedule,
you're killing it in the R and B and hip
hop world, Rock Nation, Jay, Electronica, Juice Bars, what's going
(01:09):
on with that?
Speaker 4 (01:10):
All right?
Speaker 5 (01:10):
Well, now I actually have a coffee shop. Coffee uplifts
people literally about a month ago. We just opened up
at night. So we did get our liquor license, which
was a big deal for us to acquire.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Did Baby Angela grow up say and this is what
I'm gonna do? And you did, and you knocked it
out of the park.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
Ever since I was in kindergarten, I thought I would
be a writer, so that was always the goal.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
I used to read a lot.
Speaker 5 (01:31):
I work with the New York Public Library, and I
think that that skill of being able to read and
write has helped me in media because this is not
anything I ever anticipated that I would be doing. I
was always more of a behind the scenes person. I've
done marketing, and I was really big on like helping
come up with ideas and marketing plans, which is really
helpful no matter what to do for a living to
(01:52):
be able to write a marketing proposal.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
To get to the cash.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
And I used to write bios for artists too, But
I really grew up working in the hip hop business
in management. Than when I had the opportunity to be
on the radio, that was with Eminem and that was
for his station. I had already worked for him doing
marketing for his clothing line. I was like, I mean,
how could I turn down that type of opportunity, And
then it just went from there. Once I get my
(02:19):
foot in the door somewhere, I'm going to take it
all the way. So I got my foot in the door.
That audition was like months long of no way, yeah,
and coming to work every day like I worked there.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
So talent, brains and luck.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
Yeah, yeah, all those things have to line up because
when you get that luck, you have to be prepared
for it.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Do you feel like you have to pay more of
your dues than men do?
Speaker 4 (02:43):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (02:43):
Yeah, I think as a woman in a lot of
different industries, we had to pay I know you can
you know that, Natalie, we have to pay more of
our dues. It's a lot of being more prepared than
everybody else. Also knowing what battles you want to fight,
because if you fight every battle, you'll never.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Get any rest.
Speaker 5 (02:59):
That's why I having other streams of income has always
been important to me, and establishing myself outside of just
one thing and not being boxed in has also been
important because people need to see you as a multi
dimensional person and so one of the main things that
I think has made me feel more stable and confident
is investments. And I have my real estate license too,
(03:20):
and so I've been investing in real estate for over
ten years now, and that's something that has definitely made
me feel like, Okay, if ever you have to have
a decision to make where you don't want to do
something anymore, you can do it and have peace of mind.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
So working twice as hard as a man is a
thing for us women, except that it's kind of like
society demands us to do it in heals and spanks
and lashes at the same time.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
And if you have a kid, you got to also
be a mom. You know you're right. And then if you're.
Speaker 5 (03:48):
Married or you're in a relationship, you also got to
take care of the home. It is a lot of
things I think that get put on us and do
it all gracefully with a smile, without ever getting mad.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Again. We're talking with Angelie. She is a multi media
queen who's taking time out on this International Women's Day.
Ever been passed up because you're a woman.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
I'm sure. I'm pretty sure I have.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
I think not maybe necessarily passed up, but maybe underpaid
and undervalued because I'm a woman.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Contrary to that have you ever been promoted because you're
a woman.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
I doubt it said that, but I will say that
there are times that people are like looking for, you know,
a woman to do a certain thing. I even think
when you think about hip hop, when I see a
lot of these you know, sit down roundtable conversations, quite frequently,
there's no women involved. You know, sometimes on a podcast
they'd be like, oh, we need to find a woman
(04:42):
to fill that seat. But they don't look at us
as a person who's going to lead. They always look
at us as somebody that's going to be like a support.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Speaking of hip hop trailblazers like MC light, Little Kim,
Queen Latifa, who have been some key female figures that
have inspired you.
Speaker 5 (04:58):
Well, definitely, I would I say Angie Martinez, And it's
great because I have an opportunity to work with her now.
When she came over to iHeart, it was very exciting
for all of us. That's somebody that I've always admired
and watched from when I was young and listened to
on the radio. More recently, THEA Mitcham and she's our
program director and she's like she got a way bigger
(05:18):
title than that but just to have a black woman
in that position I had never That was the first
time I've ever even had a woman as a boss.
And I remember when she was coming, people were like, Oh,
what's it going to be like, are you guys going
to bump heads? Because I think traditionally people think that
women bump heads with each other, and it doesn't have
to be like that. It actually was very beneficial to
(05:39):
me to have somebody that was championing me.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
We're old enough to where we've seen a transition from
before social media to now have social media been a curse?
Is it a blessing? And what do you foresee in
the future, like in the next five to ten years
for the up and coming batch of.
Speaker 5 (05:54):
Female social media depending on I'll say this because we
grew up without it, and so I feel like now
it is more of a blessing for me because I
know how to control it, because I can do with
that it we have. And I remember I was one
of the early people on Twitter, and so when I
was on Twitter, people didn't know what it was.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
There's videos of like I got TI on there.
Speaker 5 (06:18):
Nicki Minaj. I helped her set up her Twitter account
because when I was there. No one was really on it,
and so I didn't have people to communicate with. Jalen
Rose he always says that I'm the person that got
him on Twitter.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Angela. If you're a woman, a young woman, what is
your message?
Speaker 5 (06:33):
My message would be to always be thinking ahead. It's
a game of chess, and so just think about if
I make this move, here's what can happen. I don't
believe that there's such a thing as necessarily bad moves.
It's just a series of things that happen. And how
do you recover from things? How do you know when
(06:53):
it's time to move on? You don't ever want to
feel stuck in a position.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Celebrating International Women's Day with Way Up with Angela Yee's
own Angela Ye here with me, Natalie Rodriguez. I feel
honored to be your radio and multimedia sister. I'm just
so impressed by by who you are and what you
bring to the table. And I can't wait to see
what's next for you because it could be anything.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Well, thank you. I'm looking forward to us doing something.
Speaker 6 (07:16):
Let's do it.
Speaker 7 (07:22):
Hello.
Speaker 6 (07:23):
I'm Deborah Mark. I'm a news anchor on KFI AM
six point forty Los Angeles, and we are going to
be speaking with Eileen Woodberry. She is the vice president
of Marketing for iHeartMedia LA and she oversees the marketing,
promotions and events for our music brands in the market
and has been with the company for close to thirty years.
(07:44):
Welcome and thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 8 (07:47):
Thank you.
Speaker 6 (07:47):
So, why did you choose media and radio for your career?
Speaker 8 (07:51):
You know, that's a funny question because I didn't think
I was choosing media and radio. I thought I was
choosing the music industry. I got into radio because to
me that made sense. As in college, I was such
a music fan, which most people are, and I'm like, well,
I get my music on the radio. I think I
want to work in radio. So I was driving around
one day and my local radio station ran an ad
(08:12):
we're looking for promotion people. So I just went, I'm
going to be in the music business. So that's kind
of how it started.
Speaker 6 (08:17):
That is so cool. Are you enjoying it?
Speaker 8 (08:19):
Well? I did, so, you figure. I went into the
music business in my mind, and then I learned about radio, so,
you know, I learned where it fit in the music business.
But then I learned that it was broadcasting. So yeah,
it was really interesting to me. I actually thought, and
I think a lot of people my age did at
the time, that DJs and personalities picked the music that
they were in charge of kind of the content on
(08:40):
the air. So when I got to the station realized
there's a machine behind them, yeah, actually pulling the content together.
I was like, that's what I want to do. I'm
kind of behind the scenes. That's what I want to do, right. Yeah,
it was great and here I am, you know, here
you are thirty years later.
Speaker 6 (08:55):
Yeah, that's amazing. So tell us about your recent experience
with the LA five and the importance of community, because
obviously that was such a big part. I mean, we
had this complete disaster last month.
Speaker 8 (09:07):
That's the beauty of local radio is our ability to
touch the community where their friend were, who they know,
we give them local information. It's really hard to get
local information, you know, with the way the news is
now national media and social media. So we approach it
that way. We know anytime there's a disaster or anything
like that, we know that we're the boots on the
ground in the community. So it was that way through
(09:27):
COVID too, you know what I mean, we did a
lot during COVID, but specifically for the fires. The thing
that was different is everybody was affected, but affected differently,
right Like, we all know a handful of people that
maybe lost everything, some people weren't affected at all, some
of us were affected a little. It was scary, it
was frightening, it was all those things. So as a cluster,
(09:47):
we got together and the thing that we really wanted
to make sure we were doing is partnering with an
organization that had real boots on the ground that could
really get whatever we were doing, volunteering, donations, cash, whatever
we could get in the hands of people right away.
And we found an organization to partner with our talent,
our promotions teams, our programmers just went nuts on the air.
(10:08):
We had over ten thousand volunteers come, We raised over
fifteen million dollars and all of that money is being
exercised now, vetted through a company. That's what they do.
The organization that we worked with, they're called the Dream Center.
They're awesome. They're vetting the inquiries right for the grants,
but we're the marketing and the voice boxing activators. So
that's what we did, and it was really great experience
(10:31):
for all of us.
Speaker 6 (10:31):
I actually went and volunteered at the Dream Center, and
I couldn't believe how many people were there and all
of the things that were donated. I mean, that was
just such an amazing experience. I mean, you guys killed it.
Speaker 8 (10:44):
Well, we organized it, but look at you and out
there and activated the audience. Listens to you. What we
did in the background is provide that and then we
turn it over to the talent, and you guys are
the ones that activated the people. The listeners all participate.
It was just crazy clients. Everybody was calling us, who
do we talk to? Who do we talk to? What
do we do with our money? And there are big
organizations and there's certainly we love working with the Red Cross,
(11:06):
but in this specific moment, we were like, these people
need something so immediate. Is there's somebody here locally that
can get the relief in the hands of the people immediately.
And I think that's why it was magic.
Speaker 6 (11:17):
I think it was. I think it was magic, And
I mean, thank you for your part in that.
Speaker 8 (11:21):
It is an honor.
Speaker 6 (11:22):
Can you highlight a campaign or an event that you
are particularly proud of and why, Okay, this is.
Speaker 8 (11:30):
Actually funny to talk about this because of what I
just went through today. I think it's the event I'm
working on right now. One of the greatest parts of
my thirty year plus career in radio is it's always new.
Everything's new every year. It's bigger every year, it's different.
I hate using jargon, but you pivot every couple of
months depending on what's going on. And we've done a
(11:51):
big pivot this year, and I'm working on any event
that's just massive for us, and it's the first time
we've done it, and there's a lot of firsts. And
that's what's excitedating to me about this job as thirty
years later, I'm doing a lot of first You're not bored.
I'm not bored. I'm learning so much I'm uncomfortable, but
I'm getting it done. We're getting it done. It takes
a village, and I'm just as I sit here today
(12:12):
after the day I just had, I can't wait to
announce this event. I wish I could tell more.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
We're not.
Speaker 6 (12:17):
I was going to say, can you tell us what
it is?
Speaker 8 (12:19):
But I get it. I respect that we're announcing it
in a couple of weeks, but I'm so excited and
we just got over some major hurdles and I am
pretty proud of that right now.
Speaker 6 (12:27):
So my next question was going to be what's the
biggest challenge you face? But it sounds like this is it?
Speaker 7 (12:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (12:32):
It is. You know, challenges are just changing environments, whether
it's economic environments or pandemics or just everything. When you
look at us, I'll go back to the pandemic again.
We're a marketing, promotions, and events department and all of
those things were shut down across the board, right, so
we really had to regroup and figure out how to
do virtual events and I had to become a COVID
(12:54):
compliance officer. So it's just a constant what are the
current conditions right now and what do we need to
do and how do we pivot and how do we
make this happen? And then encouraging my team through it.
I sometimes turn off that team's call and just like
go walk in the other room and just take deep breaths.
But when you're with your team, right, it's great, you guys,
how can we do it? What are we going to
do different today? Come on, what are your ideas? You
(13:15):
know that kind of thing.
Speaker 6 (13:16):
Well, how do you balance your personal life and your
professional life. Gosh, No, you just do it.
Speaker 8 (13:21):
You do what you want to do, and I want
to balance it. And that's something that I think I
do really well. And I look at everything through the
lens of faith, and I believe I'm in the position
that I'm in for a purpose. I feel like my
talents are really used here, and I feel like I'll
be here as long as God wants me here. And
(13:42):
I'm going to do a good job. And I want
to do a great job at work and I want
to have a great life at home. So you just
do it. I want to do it, So I do it.
You know what, I'm going to go have dinner with
my husband tonight. Yes, cut down, I'm going to go.
I have this thing where I want to walk fifteen
thousand steps a day. I just got to do it.
I schedule it on my calendar for twenty minute one.
I'll take a call, answer emails. You can do it.
(14:03):
So that's it. You decide to do it, and you
do it.
Speaker 6 (14:06):
Who are some women in the industry have inspired you?
Speaker 8 (14:09):
I would say early on, there was a woman. She
was the first woman general manager that I knew in
our company. I thought she was magical, She just had
a way about her and she took me under her wing.
And I was, you know, in my early twenties, and
she was like, I'm going to teach you everything. And
I'm like, who am I that this woman is going
to teach me everything? Her name is Nancy. Liked her.
I ended up going on and working with her for
(14:31):
twenty someone years and she since retired. But I learned
a heck of a lot from her poise, humor, smart,
all of those kinds of things, and just how to survive.
I don't want anybody to take this wrong, but not
focusing on the fact that you're a woman. It's just
I'm good at my job. I'm right doing it.
Speaker 6 (14:46):
But I love I love hearing that other women help
women because so often we hear the competitiveness and you know,
just sometimes the nastiness, and I know that happens with men,
but you know how it's always highlighted with women. And
it's so great that your mentor with somebody who is
a woman. And I get you don't want to focus
on that, but you know, in this day and age,
(15:07):
sometimes that's that just doesn't happen off.
Speaker 8 (15:09):
Yeah, some people, You're right, they have a different experience.
So I feel blessed for the experience that I've had
in my life. I've never felt and I know people
disagree with me, I've never felt held back because I
was a woman, or that I didn't make the same
as anybody else. I've never felt that. But I also
realized that's because there are pioneers that went before me
and paved the way, you know what I mean. And
it's so much more normal now, I guess. But she
(15:32):
really just taught me to be And it's like, it's
not you're not at any kind of disadvantage. You know
you're not. You're just be smart, do what you're doing,
raise your hand, go out there, be yourself, and you're
going to make it. And so she was amazing.
Speaker 6 (15:46):
One last question for you, what advice would you give
young women that are looking into getting into marketing and
the events field.
Speaker 8 (15:54):
I would say, and this is again true of my experience.
I know other people have different experience, but you have
to be willing to not start at the top. You're
probably not going to go in as a manager. You're
probably gonna maybe need to start at the bottom and
work your way up. Start at the bottom doesn't matter.
Let people see you, be the first one there, the
last one to leave, raise your hand, no matter what
(16:15):
they ask you to do. Let people notice you, and
then sooner or later you're rolling right along. But I
just I feel like all the generations are a little
bit different, and sometimes I think people come in and
they expect to just move up very quickly and to
take the world by storm in an instant. It's just yes,
if that's your personality, don't want to squash that, but
(16:36):
take a minute, try to be a little bit patient,
learn don't need everything all at once.
Speaker 6 (16:41):
I think it's great advice. Eileen Woodberry, thank you so
much for joining us. I appreciate it.
Speaker 9 (16:52):
Sarah span is a journalist, podcast for a TV personality, activist, speaker,
and author who has earned an Emmy and Peabody for
her sports j After more than a decade at ESPN,
she's now turned her focus to espnW, a sports network
dedicated to women's sports, and her iHeart daily podcast, Good
Game with Sarah Spain. And that brings us here today
celebrating International Women's Day. So first, Sarah, what inspired you
(17:16):
to pursue a career in sports media and of course radio?
Speaker 7 (17:19):
I grew up being an athlete, so that was the
biggest part of it. I actually wanted to be on
Saturday and Live and to you know, comedy and improv
and acting stuff. So I moved out to LA after college.
But there had always been this part of me that
was an athlete and playing sports, watching sports, particularly the
Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan as a big fan of
So when I moved out to LA to do the
(17:39):
comedy stuff, I ended up taking a hosting boot camp
in TV hosting and hosted a fake Chicago Bears TV show,
and all of a sudden, while practicing for that in class,
I realized, Hey, this is all the stuff I love.
Why haven't I ever considered this before? So decided to
give the sports media world a world. And I was
actually terrified of radio. I thought people would constantly call
(18:01):
in and just quiz me on you know, who had
the most home runs in nineteen seventy five or something
when I wasn't born yet, And instead it became a
huge part of my career. So I always think of
that as a lesson for me on not shutting any
doors or presuming that something isn't a fit before trying
it because it ended up being so great to be
a part of the radio world.
Speaker 10 (18:18):
You talked about being a little bit scared at first.
Speaker 9 (18:20):
So what is the biggest challenge you've faced and how
were you able to overcome it?
Speaker 7 (18:24):
Probably the fact that, unfortunately, even to this day, though
things have gotten a lot better over the several decades
that I'd been in the business, it still feels like
there are a lot of folks who think this is
not a space for women, particularly the sports world, and
so walking into spaces, and despite being a Division one
athlete and an IVY League graduate and a hard worker
and all the other qualifications that you would think would
(18:45):
at least give you the benefit of the doubt, a
lot of times people assumed that I shouldn't be there.
I didn't belong, I didn't know my stuff. I was
there for the wrong reasons. I wanted to hook up
with all the athletes. It wasn't about a job, you know,
all the stereotypes about women in sports space, and so
I would say the most challenging has been not only
having to prove myself at every turn in a way
(19:06):
that men in the business have not had to, but
sexual harassment, disrespect, judgment, just a whole lot of barriers
put in place artificially that are not there for men
in the sports world.
Speaker 10 (19:17):
So who are some of the women who inspired you?
Speaker 4 (19:19):
Jamal Hill is a big one.
Speaker 7 (19:20):
My former ESPN colleague who saw me hosting a live
event for espnW and said, why are you not on TV?
And I said, oh, you know, I haven't done enough
TV yet for them to really be comfortable putting me
up there, just at a little bit of local TV
in Chicago, and she said, well, next time I'm out,
I'm going to have you fill in hosting my show.
And it was a live hour show on ESPN, and
(19:43):
I didn't really believe her. In about two months later,
I got the call to fill in, and it really
opened up a lot of doors for me. But the
way she carried herself in the industry, wanting to lift
as she rose, wanting to take other women with her,
was a really great lesson.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
She's definitely up there.
Speaker 7 (19:58):
And then women like Megan Rapino fleets like that, who
again are just audacious and outspoken and don't have to
try to blend in or be small.
Speaker 10 (20:07):
You're talking about being a part of the ESPN W family.
Speaker 9 (20:10):
What's it like being able to put women on a
pedestal in the sports world by hosting the first ever
daily women's sports podcast, iHeart Zone, Good Game with Sarah Spain.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
It's incredible.
Speaker 7 (20:21):
I am so grateful to iHeart and Deep Blue for
the platform because it's something that I you know, in
my fourteen plus years on cameraon on national shows, I've
been trying to push for more inclusion of the women's sports.
They don't have to be siloed in their own space.
They can be a part of our larger conversations. But
in order to do that, people have to have the
information to care. You know, in the big sports world,
(20:44):
we often will talk about a women's season starting, or
maybe who won a championship, checking in once or twice.
But what we need to do is give it the
same respect and care that we do and have for
men's sports for decades and decades, which is what are
the stakes, story, stats and stars? So why should I care?
What does this game mean? Who are the people I
should be looking for, who's about to break a record?
(21:05):
And on Good Game with Sarah Spain, we have the
opportunity to.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
Be the daily voice. There is no other daily women's
sports show on radio, TV podcast.
Speaker 7 (21:14):
There's not even a website that regularly updates every single
day giving you everything you want to know about the
WNBA and WSLP, WHL, tennis, volleyball, all the different things,
and so getting to be that voice. We take so
much care in making sure we have our facts right.
We want to be fun, We want everyone to want
(21:35):
to start their day listening to us, and so being
given the opportunity to really be that show that everybody's
been asking for for a long long time, myself included,
been asking to be given the reins to it's pretty awesome.
Speaker 10 (21:48):
What's your proudest achievement?
Speaker 7 (21:49):
I think I grew up always really saying it was
really important to me to do something I was passionate about,
and to not be dragging into work every day saying
I wish it wasn't here. So I think my proudest
achievement isn't just all the accomplishments and opening doors for
women and uplifting other women and bringing them along with
me and all that great stuff that makes me feel good.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
It's a little bit more simple.
Speaker 7 (22:08):
It's just the idea of like, wow, I made this
thing that I love into my job.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
What a cool thing that is.
Speaker 9 (22:13):
What advice do you give to the young women who say,
you know what, I think, I want to pursue a
career in sports and journalism.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
I have a lot of advice for them. A couple things.
Speaker 7 (22:21):
Number One, it is a nights and weekends kind of job,
so you got to love it, and you've got to
be willing to put in the work because there are
so many people who want to be a part of
this space, and they're willing to wake up early and
leave late. So really be willing to give it the
time it calls for. I would say, have a thick skin. Unfortunately,
there are a lot of people who will try to
(22:42):
make you feel like you're not welcome or you don't belong.
Be ready to just work harder and to prove yourself
and to make it clear that they can't say no
because you're just that good.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
And then I would say, be authentically yourself.
Speaker 7 (22:54):
It's very easy to watch other people in the space
and say that's what I want to be like and
try to sort of copycat, but then you're just going
to be a copycat, be rated version of somebody else.
Be as authentically and truly yourself as you can, and
a lot of people will respond to that authenticity and
try to figure out what your strengths are because there
are so many people that want to be in the space.
Are you super funny? Are you great at the research side?
Are you really good with numbers? Are you a great
(23:16):
producer instead of on camera? Do you like long form writing?
Like there's so many different outlets in the media space
to contribute and finding out what makes you different and
separates you is really important to kind of rise to
the top.
Speaker 10 (23:28):
Anything else you want to add As we celebrate International Women's.
Speaker 7 (23:31):
Day, be louder, be bigger, be bolder. Don't let anyone
tell you to be small. There's absolutely no space for that.
Speaker 11 (23:43):
International Women's Weekend is a great time to talk with
powerful women in our broadcast industry. I'm Kathy Walker, Rocky Mountain,
Regional news director for iHeartMedia based in Denver. My guest
is iHeartMedia's executive vice president for Government Affairs, Jessica Marvin Tano,
based in DC. Jessica as a lawyer with a lot
(24:05):
of experience on Capitol Hill.
Speaker 12 (24:07):
I am the face of our company on Capitol Hill
in front of independent agencies as well as the executive branch.
And what I do is try to explain what our
company is, what we do, what our mission is, what
our products are, how we serve our local communities and
(24:29):
our customers, and try to help educate those policymakers who
are making decisions and writing laws and regulations that impact
our ability to serve our customers and to create and
innovate new products.
Speaker 11 (24:44):
And in the course of your career, what are some
of the significant challenges that you faced.
Speaker 12 (24:50):
Initially when we started in two thousand and four. When
I started at the company, we were largely focused on
core communications issues like what's before the FC see what's
before certain congressional committees. Now we are starting to focus
more on workforce.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Issues and business issues.
Speaker 12 (25:10):
Like tax policy, what does it deal with employee employer issues?
Things like that where I might not have the training
in terms of my legal background. But the great thing
is I have access to a whole swath of attorneys
that work with us and work for us, and they
help me navigate those new and evolving issue areas.
Speaker 11 (25:32):
Yeah, so much has changed just in the landscape of
doing business.
Speaker 10 (25:37):
So what do you see the future.
Speaker 11 (25:39):
Of broadcast, radio and digital media in the next five
to ten years.
Speaker 12 (25:44):
Well, I have to say, I think that the future
for audio itself is really bright. Podcasting has been a
fun new product that iHeart is right in the front
of for front of, and so working with policymakers to
see what are the rules of the road for podcasting
(26:06):
in a way that allows that medium to develop and
allow us to do as much as we can in
that space. I think that that's a lot of fun.
But free over the air radio is still one of
the bedrocks and communications. It is so important to be
able to have a medium there that is free, available
(26:27):
to everybody.
Speaker 11 (26:28):
And what would you say are the regulatory challenges as
it stands now?
Speaker 12 (26:33):
Well, you know, one of our biggest things that we're
working on at iHeartMedia, we're working in lockstep with the
rest of the industry, is to try to keep.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
AM radio in cars.
Speaker 12 (26:43):
As some ev manufacturers are rolling out new automobiles, some
of them are trying to take AM radio out of
the car, and that is really a public safety threat
because AM radio is the backbone of FEMA's National Public
(27:03):
Warning system for the nation.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
As you know, AM.
Speaker 12 (27:07):
Radio is so resilient it stays up when the Internet
goes down during wildfires, during hurricanes, tornadoes, natural disasters of
which there have been unfortunately far too many. Radio is
always on or it's one of the easiest to get
back up if it does go down. But if AM
(27:29):
radio is taken out of cars, that's going to be
really harmful to the public because they are not going
to be able to know how and where to get
important life saving information. We just had the hurricanes whipped
through North Carolina last fall, and people literally their lives
(27:50):
were saved because of AM radio in terms of we
had some of our fantastic an air talent staying in
the studio being a lifeline to people in terms of
letting them know what the police were saying, what public
safety was saying, trying to connect public safety to people
who were on roofs of houses of flooding or because
(28:14):
of what what else was going on in terms of
how to get to safety. If that platform goes away
because it's taken out of cars, it's not sustainable for
the industry to survive.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
And so that is our.
Speaker 12 (28:27):
Biggest challenge facing our industry right now is making sure
that AM radio stays in cars.
Speaker 11 (28:33):
Who are some of the women who've inspired you.
Speaker 12 (28:36):
I know this sounds a little cliche, but my mother
is probably the person who's inspired me the most because
she juggled family and career in a way that I
think was a success on both fronts. And she always
inspired me in terms of how to act and how
(28:59):
to present myself so that I could go to bed
at night without regret. And I think that that's really important.
I think for in the other professional capacity, women inspiring me.
I know Governor Nikki Haley, her work has always been
(29:19):
very inspiring for me and the women I work inside
that I work with inside iHeartMedia, whether it be Wendy
Goldberg or Julie Talbot or Julie Donahoe. I've just been
blessed with working with very impressive women who are joyful
at their work, are willing to collaborate and help, and
(29:43):
really don't care who much gets the credit.
Speaker 11 (29:46):
That's inspiring in and of itself. That's Jessica Marvin Tanno,
Executive vice President for Government Affairs for iHeartMedia, Thanks so
much for joining us, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 6 (29:58):
This International Women's Day.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Nashell has been a presentation of iHeartRadio
Host
Manny Munoz
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