My Worst Interview Ever
38 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 7 years ago - ★★★★ - 4 ratingsHost Tim Sinclair talks with some of the world's all-time greatest interviewers about their all-time worst interviews. They laugh a lot and learn a little. All in about 15 minutes.
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Episodes
MWIE 037: Glenn the Geek (Has a Chip)
April 25, 2017 08:30 - 16 minutes - 11.5 MBIf you run in podcasting circles long enough, it's easy to discover people in the industry who virtually everyone respects. A few have developed a gigantic following. Some have perfectly cornered their niche. Others have simply been podcasting since the very beginning. For me, several names always seem to come up: John Lee Dumas, Jeff Brown, Daniel J Lewis, and...Glenn the Geek. For those of us still trying to learn where we fit into the podcasting universe, Glenn is a role model. Not only...
MWIE 036: Jen Briney (Holds A Grudge)
April 17, 2017 08:30 - 16 minutes - 11.1 MBSome people notice things. Other people do things. Some people talk. Other people act. Some people complain. Other people create. Our guest today is other people. After noticing discrepancies between what's true in Washington and what's reported about Washington--and a severe lack of transparency within Congress--Jen Briney decided to do something about it. She created the Congressional Dish podcast, which ultimately became hugely successful, and it's truly making a difference. Not only wi...
MWIE 035: Buck Ballard (Gets Sick)
April 12, 2017 08:30 - 15 minutes - 10.6 MBIt seems like nearly every podcaster has a "day job." A job that pays the bills and provides the knowledge and/or expertise a host needs for his show. Over the course of this podcast, one of my favorite parts has been learning my guests' wide variety of "day jobs." Accountants, consultants, developers, radio hosts. Today, I talk with Buck Ballard who--in real life--is a truck driver. And he managed to turn his knowledge of the road into a successful podcast with his son. His story is fasci...
MWIE 034: Philip Keller (Hangs Up)
April 10, 2017 08:30 - 17 minutes - 12.1 MBAs much as I don't want to admit it, I can be an "excuses guy." Miss an appointment with a client? Blame it on not enough sleep or a congested calendar. Bad night playing volleyball? Perhaps I ate too much or didn't stretch. It often feels like the last thing I want to do is admit that I'm the issue rather than my circumstances. Today's guest on My Worst Interview Ever apparently doesn't struggle with that same issue. He's blind...and yet most people would never know it. In fact, for years...
MWIE 033: David Hooper (Loses His Guest)
March 24, 2017 08:30 - 17 minutes - 12 MBJust like Los Angeles is filled with actors masquerading as waiters, Nashville is packed to the rafters with musicians waiting tables as well. The competition for available gigs is extremely steep and the odds for making a living are extremely long. Several decades ago, Nashville-born David Hooper realized that his skill set made him less of a candidate for playing music and more of a candidate for marketing it. So, that's what he chose to do. And he did so extremely successfully. Today, h...
MWIE 032: Kenn Blanchard (Gets Political)
March 22, 2017 08:30 - 13 minutes - 9.45 MBThey say there are two things you should never talk about at work: politics and religion. (Unless you work at FoxNews or CNN, I suppose.) There are just certain topics that divide people, start fights, and ultimately cause more problems than they solve. But don't tell that to Kenn Blanchard. Kenn adds race to the political and spiritual mix, and then talks about all three issues all the time. And, remarkably, he does it with great clarity and success. His background is something movies are ma...
MWIE 031: Gary Leland (Offends the BBC)
March 20, 2017 08:30 - 16 minutes - 11.2 MBSince starting RINGR, I learned of a phrase called "first to market." Entrepreneurs and investors particularly like it because the concept is seen as a major advantage in the business world. It stands to reason that--if you can be the first company to present X product to market--then you'll have a better chance of getting and retaining a majority of the consumers who have been looking for X. Even if others come along later and try to copy what you're doing. I'm not sure I've ever heard a ...
MWIE 030: Matt Macbeth (Gets Tricked)
March 17, 2017 08:30 - 11 minutes - 7.64 MBI first met Matt at an investor meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio. A mutual friend introduced us, knowing that we had each spent significant amounts of time in the audio space. Matt on the technical side. Me on the creative side. Also, Matt was carrying a large rubber ducky which made it nearly impossible to not strike up a conversation. Anyway, as it turns out, Matt is a really cool (and smart) dude...and he and his rubber ducky stand on the edge of an interactive children's toy gold mine. Matt...
MWIE 029: Ana Marie Cox (Tears Up)
March 15, 2017 08:30 - 16 minutes - 11 MBAna Marie Cox is a political columnist and culture critic and is the Senior Political Correspondent for MTV News. She writes about politics and policy, and hosts the “Talk” interviews featured in The New York Times magazine. She lives in Minneapolis, MN and—despite frequently tweeting about cats—has more than 1.3 million followers on Twitter. SHOW NOTES: 0:36 - How did Ana get so many freaking followers on Twitter? She says it's because she "cheated." We say it's because she's awesome. ...
MWIE 028: Allan Tepper (Gets Ousted)
March 13, 2017 08:30 - 15 minutes - 10.9 MBThere are things in life we wish we could do. And then there are things in life we're willing to do. For example, I really wish I could speak Spanish. However, after taking two years of Spanish in high school, going on four extended trips to Peru, and owning a timeshare in Mexico, it's apparently not going to happen. If those things aren't going to motivate me to learn a new language, I'm not sure anything will. At this point, I'm simply not willing to put the time in to turn my wish into ...
MWIE 027: Joshua Liston (Sees Too Much)
March 10, 2017 09:30 - 16 minutes - 11.4 MBSince the day that I met her, the voice on my wife's phone has been that of a burly Australian man, rather than Siri. I don't know that he has a name, but I've always been kind of jealous of him...speaking all sultry-like to Noel as she drives. Anyway, Joshua C. Liston has a super-cool Australian accent that makes me jealous too. But Joshua also has an unbelievable worst interview that you just have to hear to believe. Truly, it's fantastic. Joshua C. Liston calls himself a Terminator fa...
MWIE 026: Anthony Witt (Can't Understand)
March 08, 2017 09:30 - 15 minutes - 10.7 MBI never really started to feel like I was old until recently. I'm rapidly approaching 40, which is the age I remember my parents being when I thought they were old. College students call me "sir" now. And my joints hurt for days after playing volleyball. Our guest today didn't help matters when he told me that--as a kid--he used to listen to me on the radio. One one hand, that's awesome. On the other hand, seriously?! How ancient must I be to have grown adults now telling me stuff like tha...
MWIE 025: Vasavi Kumar (Was Insulted)
March 06, 2017 09:30 - 14 minutes - 9.77 MBWhen I lived in Chicago, I became friends with a guy named Manny who operated a halfway house of sorts for men who had just been released from prison. Manny was from South America, and he frequently would say to people, "I went to Yale." However, in the Spanish language, the letter J is often pronounced like a Y. So, what Manny was really saying was, "I went to jail." Which he did. Our guest today, Vasavi Kumar, doesn't need a linguistic trick in order to tell people she's an Ivy Leaguer. ...
MWIE 024: Heather Ann Havenwood (Pulls Teeth)
March 03, 2017 09:30 - 16 minutes - 11.3 MB"People are like teabags. You find out what's really inside them when you put them in hot water." I have no idea who first said that, but it's one of my all-time favorite sayings. When life is going well, it's easy to appear calm, cool and collected. However, when things begin to fall apart, that task is infinitely more difficult. In a nutshell: how we handle the bad stuff in our past directly impacts the quality of our future. Heather Ann Havenwood is the kind of person who makes lemon...
MWIE 023: Daniel J Lewis (Goes Long)
March 01, 2017 09:30 - 14 minutes - 10.3 MBBack in 2014, at the very first Podcast Movement, I met Daniel J Lewis. I was new to the podcast world, new to my business, and standing alone at the RINGR booth trying to meet as many people as possible. Daniel asked a ton of technical questions about RINGR that I didn't really know the answers to. Partly because I'm not a technical guy. Partly because we didn't have an actual product at the time...just an idea for one. It wasn't until after our initial conversation that I learned just ho...
MWIE 022: Holly Worton (Is Distracted)
February 27, 2017 09:30 - 14 minutes - 9.89 MBFrom the time I was in high school, I have loved creative job titles. In fact, while I was drawing floor plans for home builders in our area (at 17 years old), I called myself a Custom Residential Designer. (Apparently, calling yourself an architect without the degree or license is illegal!) But, I digress. Apple uses "Genius." Quicken Loans has a "VP of Misc. Stuff." Matrix Group calls its CEO the "Chief Troublemaker." Our guest today, Holly Worton, has a pretty cool title too...and a fun...
MWIE 021: Rob Greenlee (Gets Stood Up)
February 24, 2017 09:30 - 13 minutes - 9.4 MBAs a kid, before I ever dreamed of being in broadcasting, I love listening to my grandpa tell stories of his days in radio. He worked overnights in Detroit for a time and, every morning before signing off at 5 or 6am, he would play my grandma a love song. It sounded super romantic. However, knowing how much my grandma enjoyed sleep, I'd be surprised if she was ever awake to hear the dedications. But, regardless, the stories were fantastic. Though not nearly old enough to be my grandfather ...
MWIE 020: Dave Jackson (Finds a Copycat)
February 22, 2017 09:30 - 13 minutes - 9.51 MBThe say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Which in some cases is absolutely true. Unfortunately, imitation can also be plagiarism, copyright or patent infringement, or just plain old laziness. It's two sides of the same coin, I suppose. Having been in the space since the beginning, Dave Jackson knows a lot of podcasts. He knows a lot of podcasters. And he knows--pretty much instantly--when a podcasting legend is being blatantly ripped off by someone else. That realization during...
MWIE 019: Dave Kirby (Feels Awkward)
February 20, 2017 09:30 - 14 minutes - 10.1 MBI spent 17 years working in, primarily, Christian radio. I had a lot of fun and probably pushed the envelope more than most do on these types of stations, though we admittedly had to operate in a much smaller "box" than most. From topics to language to attitudes, my shows lived in a uber-conservative landscape. Dave Kirby and I met while working at one of these stations during a fundraiser to help feed and educate needy kids in Africa. So, when I asked Dave to be on the podcast, I (foolish...
MWIE 018: Dan Franks (Is Offended)
February 17, 2017 09:30 - 15 minutes - 11 MBFrom the time I was in junior high, I had a "side hustle," though that term hadn't been invented yet. First it was a paper route. Then a job at a shoe store. Then I turned my love for architecture into a drafting business. My high school actually paid me to skip study hall to go draw floor plans of the various buildings in our district. In college, I picked up radio...and then voiceover and production gigs...and, most recently, public address jobs at sporting events. It's actually a pretty...
MWIE 017: Emily Prokop (Is Confused)
February 15, 2017 09:30 - 14 minutes - 10.1 MBEvery single morning, my grandpa would get up and begin cutting up grapefruit for he and my grandma. She would make oatmeal on the stove, and he would meticulously pick out the seeds and delicately slice each and every triangle-shaped piece. Once the food was ready, they would sit down, eat, and grandpa would pull out the morning paper and do the crossword puzzle. While I enjoyed the breakfast, I was fascinated by the puzzles. Only being in elementary school at the time, I couldn't help mu...
MWIE 016: Chris Krimitsos (Kills Time)
February 13, 2017 09:30 - 14 minutes - 10.2 MBThere are certain people you meet in this life who always seem to be doing something. Not talking about it. Not planning for it. Actually doing it. In the podcasting space, Chris Krimitsos is one of those people. From leading an industry conference to producing a ground-breaking documentary about the space, Chris is neck-deep in the podcasting world. And he makes it seem like business as usual. But the story of how he got there? It's anything but usual. Chris Krimitsos is the Chief Creat...
MWIE 015: Joe Saul-Sehy (Plays Dumb)
February 10, 2017 09:30 - 15 minutes - 10.5 MBIn late 1988, my dad began looking for a new job. It wasn't the he didn't like his job as a high school teacher and counselor, but since he also was involved with the music at our church and as a marriage and family counselor at a private practice, he was stretched thin. I was in 5th grade at the time, but I remember him saying that he was searching for a job that combined all the things he loved about his current jobs (music and counseling and teaching), but in one job. That's why, in the...
MWIE 014: Doug Hannah (Takes on Slater)
February 08, 2017 09:30 - 13 minutes - 9.24 MBShortly after my family moved to Illinois, I remember my dad mentioning that "the new guy on the radio" had started going to our church. His name was Doug Hannah. In Jr. High at the time (early 90's), I had no interest in radio as a career yet...but I could still tell that this guy was going places. And a few years later, he did. To Chicago. And then Houston. And then Nashville. A decade later--and in radio myself--Doug called and offered me a job, giving us the chance to work together at ...
MWIE 013: Todd Uterstaedt (In Auto-Update Hell)
February 06, 2017 09:30 - 14 minutes - 10.1 MBSome people find it extremely hard to focus. I know this because 1) it's fairly common knowledge and 2) I'm one of them. (Hey look, a duck!) Todd Uterstaedt, however, is not one of those people. As you'll hear, Todd is laser-focused on a very specific audience, and he does it both well and unapologetically. Todd doesn't talk to startup founders. He doesn't talk to CEOs. He only sits down with current CEOs who founded the company and had to make the transition from creating a company to mai...
MWIE 012: Chris Brogan (Ruins an Interview)
February 02, 2017 16:23 - 14 minutes - 10.3 MBBefore "My Worst Interview Ever" began, I put a list of people together who were "dream guests." Essentially, they were leaders in the industry who I didn't expect to get on the show, but I sure hoped to. Each had to fulfill all of the following requirements: A thought leader in the business, entrepreneurship, podcast and/or broadcast spaces Having done (or been a guest on) a ton of interviews Have a great/painful "worst interview" story to share Lead a passionate tribe of people who ...
MWIE 011: Elsie Escobar (Is Very Bendy)
February 01, 2017 09:30 - 15 minutes - 10.5 MBMany years ago (though not too many, 'cuz she is super young), Elsie Escobar and her family emigrated to the United States from El Salvador. As you might imagine, it changed her life. Not only was she in a new country with a new language and new customs...but she was presented with new opportunities that simply didn't exist in her home country. To say Elsie has made the most of those opportunities would be a massive understatement. She turned her love for yoga into a podcast and that podca...
MWIE 010: Cliff Ravenscraft (Didn't Like His Guest)
January 30, 2017 09:30 - 16 minutes - 11.3 MBIn early 2015, mere months after starting RINGR, I moved to Cincinnati, Ohio for six months to join a business accelerator called OCEAN. Being somewhat new to the podcast industry, I had heard Cliff Ravenscraft's name...but I didn't fully grasp how influential he was, nor did I realize that he lived about 10 miles from Cincinnati. However, I quickly learned about both and proceeded to send Cliff a completely unsolicited and unabashedly selfish email. Long story short, the guy known as "The...
MWIE 009: Lisa Williams (Lays on the Floor)
January 27, 2017 09:30 - 15 minutes - 10.6 MBSeveral years ago I emceed a fundraising event that was being headlined by a well-known, well-respected public speaker. Since we were both seated at the head table, I had the chance to chat with him for a bit during dinner. To say I was surprised (and disappointed) by his demeanor would be a gross understatement. From stage, this man was articulate, passionate, and a pillar of kindness and grace and selflessness. In person, um...not so much. As best I could tell, this man played a role whe...
MWIE 008: Todd Cochrane (Loses His Mic)
January 25, 2017 09:30 - 14 minutes - 10.1 MBThere is no shortage of inspiring quotes about dealing with setbacks in life: "Make lemonade out of lemons." "It's not how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get back up again." "Losers quit when they fail. Winners fail until they succeed." "When a door is closed, a window is opened." And I could list hundreds more... But far more powerful than any quote is the story of someone who has actually proven these proverbs to be true. Someone who has squeezed every la...
MWIE 007: Dr. Colin Gray (Is Doubly Bad)
January 23, 2017 09:30 - 15 minutes - 10.9 MBWhen you spend as many years on the radio as I have, you're bound to have embarrassing moments. The funny thing is--right now--I honestly can't think of any. Not a single one. I can, however, think of plenty for my long-time co-host, Pam...and let's be honest, telling other people's stories is way more fun anyway. I'll narrow it down to two: Pam once called the NCAA Tournament, the NAACP Tournament. (She's black, but still...those are two entirely different organizations.) While collect...
MWIE 006: Jeff Brown (Wastes His Time)
January 20, 2017 09:30 - 13 minutes - 9.5 MBI once had a boss tell me, "You haven't really worked in radio until you've been fired at least once." That made me a little nervous for two reasons: 1) I had never been fired before and 2) He had the power to fire me. Apparently, I left the company before he could get around to it. The odd thing was, my boss was right. Broadcasting, as an industry, is notorious for its employment carousel...and it wasn't too many years before I found myself asked (nicely) to step off the spinning wheel of...
MWIE 005: Shawn Smith (Gives Stuff Away)
January 18, 2017 09:30 - 15 minutes - 10.5 MBGrowing up, I considered my best friend's dad to be the nicest adult I knew. Gary was strict, to be sure, but he was always kind, polite, and generous. Plus, he and his wife always kept the house stocked with Dr Pepper and salami. Two staples for teenage boys. Looking back, Gary always seemed to genuinely care about whoever it was he was talking to. He looked you in the eye, smiled, and didn't let anything distract him from the conversation. I also noticed that--despite being a rather infl...
MWIE 004: Brant Hansen (Laughs at Whistlers)
January 16, 2017 09:30 - 13 minutes - 9.56 MBWhen they were younger, my boys used to ask me "why" a lot. Why do we have to go to the store? Why are clouds white? Why can't I stick my sandwich in the DVD player? Stuff like that. If you're a parent, I'm quite sure you can relate. And while some of my kids' questions had perfectly logical and easily explainable answers...many of them did not. For example, I was never really sure how to respond to "why is our car blue" or "why is the cat's tail so fluffy" or "why does the bathroom at Tar...
MWIE 001: John Lee Dumas (Loves KISS)
January 13, 2017 20:58 - 14 minutes - 9.81 MBMost of us like to pretend that "the worst" doesn't happen to "the best." The Kardashians never get pimples. Lebron James never misses a layup. Seinfeld never tells a joke that falls flat. Right? Despite knowing that our assumptions are largely incorrect, our brains are reluctant to let us fully comprehend the truth: celebrities are humans too. And if ever there was a celebrity in the podcasting and entrepreneurship worlds, it's John Lee Dumas. On the debut episode of "My Worst Interview Ever...
MWIE 003: Rob Walch (Almost Gets Arrested)
January 13, 2017 09:30 - 13 minutes - 9.53 MBThe best conversations in life always seem to be the ones where you learn something new about the person you're talking to. Whether it's the cashier at the grocery story store, a colleague at work, or even your spouse...getting to a level you've never gotten to before is good. Special even. Today, while talking with Rob Walch from Libsyn on My Worst Interview Ever, we got to that level. It was unexpected (for both of us, I think), but it was good. After discussing his "worst interview ever", ...
MWIE 002: Paul Kemp (Podcasts w/ Monkeys)
January 11, 2017 09:30 - 12 minutes - 17.8 MBLike Richard Gere in "Pretty Woman" or Tom Cruise in "Jerry McGuire", certain people have lives made for movies. You look at the places they're going and the things they're doing and think, "Man, that can't even be real, right?!" Paul Kemp is that guy. Imagine a young man living in London, working for the Queen's stock broker. He's wearing pinstripe suits, living downtown, making bundles of money (for himself and Her Majesty), and living the dream. Now imagine that same young man willingly...
MWIE 000: Tim Sinclair (Starts a Podcast)
January 05, 2017 01:52 - 6 minutes - 4.17 MBAll of us have had an "interview gone wrong." Probably more than one. Connection issues. The wrong bio information. A guest who wouldn't stop talking. The "yes/no" guy. Prima donnas. Terrible content. Weird distractions. Heck, I once interviewed a guy for my radio show who was running on a treadmill! At RINGR, our goal is to make your recorded interviews sound better and connect easier...but we fully realize that there are plenty of elements out of our (and your) control which can totally der...