On this very special episode of Inside the Media Minds, my co-host Madison Farabaugh and I celebrate a big milestone for the podcast – 100 episodes! In this conversation we recapped our most memorable moments from the last seven years including lessons learned and notable episodes and guests. We also enjoyed answering listener questions from members of the W2 Communications team!
How Did The Podcast Begin?
More than seven years ago, W2 Communications principal and co-founder Evan Weisel said, “What if we just start a podcast!” And the rest was history! Well… it took a lot of work and coordination of course, but after a few weeks of brainstorming, we came up with the concept to interview tech journalists to hear exactly what they are covering and how. Our first three episodes launched in the spring of 2018 with Megan Gates from Security Management, Nick Wakeman from Washington Technology and Aaron Gregg from The Washington Post. Check out our throwback video and blog introducing the podcast.
Seven Years of Exploring Technology Journalism
When we started the podcast in 2018, the industry was focused on topics related to cloud security, GDPR, privacy, blockchain and data breaches. Since then, we’ve witnessed everything from technology issues related to the COVID pandemic, remote/hybrid work, ransomware, election security, critical infrastructure concerns – and now how the industry is working and adapting to AI. In fact, as Madison and I mentioned during our recap, we’ve observed AI coming up in nearly every single podcast episode in the past two years!
The Future of Inside the Media Minds
We are so grateful to all of our listeners and excited to keep growing our podcast. With 100 episodes under our belts, we are looking forward to the next 100 episodes and hoping to expand to more journalists – from broadcast to print and business press. Tune into the episode or read the transcript to hear more about our dream guests and how we plan episodes around major topics and events.
Acknowledgements
We’d like to thank every person on the W2 Communications team who has ever been a part of producing this podcast, especially the team behind the scenes, Marissa Pixler, Jessica Foreman and Christy Pittman, who make sure each podcast episode sounds good and publishes on time!
Timestamps:
0:33 – Christine and Madison’s 100th Episode Recap
1:11 – Inside the Media Minds’Origin Story
3:32 – Podcast Evolution
6:00 – Favorite Parts of Hosting the Podcast
8:20 – Lessons Learned and Advice
11:03 – Future of the Podcast
13:27 – Most Memorable Episodes and Guests
20:11 – Listener Questions
Ready to listen to more from Inside the Media Minds? Find all of our past episodes here!
Transcript
Chritine Blake (CB): Welcome to Inside the Media Minds. This is your host, Christine Blake. This show features in-depth interviews with tech reporters who share everything from their biggest pet peeves to their favorite stories from our studio at W2 Communications. Let’s go Inside the Media Minds.
Hi everyone. This is Christine Blake, the co-host of Inside the Media Minds.
Madison Farabaugh (MF): And this is Madison Farabaugh, the other co-host.
CB: And we are excited we have a special episode today. This is our 100th episode recap of all of the Inside the Media Minds podcast so far. So we started this podcast in March of 2018, so it has been over seven years in the making and 100 episodes, 100 down, and we have so many great episodes to talk about. We have a lot to share about things we’ve learned. We have some listener questions, but let’s go ahead and kind of jump into our own personal recap of how the last 100 episodes have been.
MF: Yeah, absolutely. Christine, I mean, I have a question for you just you know, I joined this team about a year ago now, and it’s been very fun to be along for the ride, but I think it would be very fun for our listeners if you could give us a little background on how the podcast started, the origin story behind it, and why our team felt the need that a podcast was the right direction to go.
CB: Yeah, great question. So the podcast started, like I said, in 2018 so this was kind of the boom of podcasts. It’s when everyone was commuting to the office, and podcasts were really popping up everywhere, from pop culture to sports, literally, you name it, and there was a podcast on it. So Evan Weisel, one of the co-founders of W2 Communications, came to the team and said, “Hey, I think we should start a podcast.” And if you know Evan, that’s exactly how he said it. And we talked about what would make the most sense. And really, with our audience doing PR, marketing communications, we are in touch with the media every single day, we thought it would be really valuable to flip the script on journalists. Talk to them. Hear it right from the horse’s mouth. What are they covering? What are they interested in? So then we can gain that valuable information, build those relationships, and then pass that on to our clients and really anyone in the industry who needs that information. There’s so much happening in technology and cybersecurity and pubsec, so it felt like the right time to launch our podcast and really understand what the media was covering at the time.
MF: That makes perfect sense. And we’ve definitely heard it from reporters over the past few years of just, it’s an interesting experience for them when the script is flipped, when they’re the ones being interviewed, so that’s been a cool thing to be a part of, for some of them, who for some of them, it might have been the first time that they were getting interviewed by us about their role at their company. So that’s been really cool to see.
CB: And one thing with that, often, when we emailed the journalists, it wasn’t a pitch, we weren’t offering any stories, we just wanted to chat, and they were often very interested and open to doing that, so we often got a really positive response and reporters who were really willing to come on and share this information.
MF: Yeah, so over the past, gosh, seven years now, how have you seen our show evolve from where it started to where it’s going now?
CB: Yeah, gosh, so much has changed. I mean, we started seven years ago when we were all in person in the office every day, and we had a mini studio in our office. And the very first podcast was with Megan Gates, with Security Management. Great first guest. We loved having her on. Looking back, though, like the first podcast, I mean, we had a script, it felt a little more Q and A and a little less natural. Maybe the audio quality wasn’t as good either. So over the last few years, we’ve really worked hard to improve audio quality. Obviously, we went from doing in person interviews monthly to the COVID times where we did all remote interviews over zoom, and we’ve kind of stuck to that remote model since then because we find we can access so many more journalists, like we can have anyone from anywhere, you know, be on the podcast, no matter their location or time zone, and talk to us. So it’s been really beneficial doing them remote.
Let’s see other things that have changed. We used to talk so much more about cyber threats, nation-state actors, a lot of pubsec news. But really the last few years, every single episode has mentioned AI, agentic AI, how to protect against AI, how to use AI for the defense and offense. Literally everything like that. So we’ve seen technology itself as an industry change, cybersecurity change and shift, and now we’re really seeing that reflected in the way the media covers it as well.
And I think one last point on this is now we’re seeing now our team, we like to create kind of a thematic Ed Cal of sorts, for kind of the next six months or so. Like, what are some key topics we can really hone in on? Back when we first started, we kind of shot in the dark sometimes, “Oh, we’ll just have this person on and talk about whatever.” But now we really try to strategically talk about key themes coming up. You know, whether it’s predictions, whether it’s certain conferences like RSA or Black Hat, I think we’ve really focused on more of that strategic theme episode than we did before.
So I guess, Madison, I want to turn it around on you a bit. I know you joined last year as one of the co-hosts, and since you joined what has been one of your favorite parts about hosting the podcast?
MF: Yeah, I feel like the start of my answer will definitely be very cliche, but I truly mean it. I really value the one on one time that we get with these reporters. Because, you know, as PR professionals, we definitely we love getting reporter insights via email, via quick phone calls when we’re pitching, or maybe just to get a read on what their current topic areas are that they’re focusing on. But it has just been really cool to see the humans behind all of these stories that we’re reading or that we’re pitching for our clients and things like that. So I really value that.
I value getting to know these reporters as people, their interests, you know, beyond work and just understanding their personalities a lot better because I feel in all these conversations, you know, we work in different ways here at W2 each one of us. And so I think the same is applied to all of the reporters, journalists, writers that we’re interviewing. They all work in different ways, and they might have general advice for us as PR professionals, but I think each one it’s still a tailored approach. And you’ll hear that in our conversations with them, they have different feedback on maybe how they specifically want to be pitched, whether it’s like, you know, certain topics, or like, how to frame the subject line. There are general tools that we should be following, but sometimes you’ll have reporters who are like, “Oh, well, I want it this way.” And that might just be because that’s how they work best, them personally. Or, you know, if it’s around conferences like Black Hat, RSA, I know so many reporters, they work in a different way depending on how their publication schedules things.
So I’ve really enjoyed just hearing those insights directly from them and just building better relationships. It’s one thing to always be emailing these reporters and maybe perhaps calling them on the phone, but I think a lot of their personality shines through a lot more when we’re, yeah, when we have more time with them.
MF: Yeah, absolutely. So to flip it back to you, Christine, what would be, what would be the top things that you’ve learned over all these years hosting and any advice you would give, whether that’s to you know, anyone else thinking about starting a podcast like this, or running a podcast anything like that?
CB: Definitely. And then it’s so great to be able to offer that direct feedback to our audience, right clients, prospects, really, anyone that’s trying to get in touch with the media like that. You heard it from them. This is what they want. This is what they’re looking for.
CB: Yeah, no. Good question. I think the biggest thing, and again, down to the tactical hosting a podcast. Piece that I’ve learned is to be present in the conversation. I think some of the earlier episodes I’d be really focused on, like, “What’s the next question? What’s the next question?” So you’re not even listening sometimes to what the person is saying that you’re interviewing. So it’s so important to be present in the moment. Listen to what they’re saying, so you can respond accordingly, with a response and not just another question. I think that makes the podcast more conversational, more relatable. This topic area, tech journalism, is so niche, and we want to make it relatable and keep everyone engaged and keep the audience in mind. And I think the only way you can do that is to be present in the conversation you’re in and not be focused on the next question.
MF: I was thinking the same thing, yeah, when I think about what I’ve learned just in in the time that I’ve helped co-host, I think of the being conversational part. I know because we will typically plan out generally what we want to talk about on an episode. And I feel like when I first started it mentally, I was thinking, “Okay, I have to ask this a certain way, or I have to make sure that I touch on this point specifically.” But then, you know, being present in the moment, in the moment a reporter might bring up, like a new thread we want to pull on. And it could be a new story they’re working on, and then we go on a tangent. It could be a new piece of advice that they have for PR professionals. And then we go on that tangent. And so kind of letting loose the reins a little bit, and letting the conversation go where it pleases sometimes leads to the best conversations that we’ve had, I’d say.
CB: Yeah, I think so too, yeah.
MF: I think another thing I’ve learned too, it’s, it’s just been really cool. I if, if you had told my college self back in the day that I would one day be co-hosting a podcast, I would not have believed it because I just it was something that I didn’t think was on the horizon for me. And so just being a part of the process and learning, okay, this is, this is a tactical, strategic way to plan out an episode, to plan out an Ed Cal, to plan out which guests would be the most helpful for our listeners. I think just seeing that process behind the scenes has been really cool as well.
CB: Definitely.
MF: So, now that we’ve hit our 100th episode, Christine, where do you hope to see the podcast go moving forward?
CB: Gosh, I hope we continue to grow, get more listeners and get more guests on the show. I love to be able to appeal to more people, and I think my favorite episodes are the ones where we can speak to current events. Like, I know we have the Winter Olympics coming up. Like, can we have someone on to talk about what covering that looks like from a cybersecurity and tech perspective? I know it’s always big to talk about election security, talk about predictions, talk about back to school. And I just really like the themed episode so that it’s super relevant to people.
So I’d love to continue growing our audience, hitting those key themes so that it’s super relevant, and then also just continuing to improve the quality of everything we do. I know we just did a big audio upgrade. We’re always talking about how we can make the podcast better. So I just really hope to keep improving and growing every single episode, and I hope to do 100 more for real. So Madison, who are, I know we’ve had some awesome guests on, but who are some of your dream guests, or just type of guests you’d like to have on for the next 100 episodes?
MF: Yeah, I think for dream type of guests, I would really love to get some broadcast guests on our podcast. I think we’ve, we’ve definitely had a wide variety of who we’ve already had on between different types of reporters, different parts of the cyber or tech industry. We’ve had other podcast hosts on. I think broadcast is one area, it would be very cool to just hear more about their process, perhaps, what, what’s going on in the in the broadcasting world right now? Because that’s something very fast-paced. It, it does sometimes work in a different way than the rest of our reporting and journalism friends work. So it could just be cool to hear, hear some more behind the scenes stories.
CB: Yeah, agreed, yeah. I’d love to have more journalists talking about the business side of technology and cybersecurity. Some more of those business press reporters talking about financial aspects or IPOs. I know there’s a lot of M&A happening. What does that look like in the in the greater cybersecurity landscape? So I love to kind of uplevel some of our conversations to be focused on what that looks like, too. Cool. So I think the next thing we want to go through for the next segment is sharing some of our favorite top episodes, maybe not our favorites, but most notable, some that invoke good memories. So I could start.
One of my most memorable podcastst was back in 2019, and we had a podcast focused on the Jedi contract, which was really a hot topic back then. It was covered nonstop by all of the federal reporters. So for this roundtable, we had Ross Wilkers, Frank Konkel and Carten Cordell come on. They all covered this contract from a different angle. So it was really cool to hear each of these perspectives. This was also pre-COVID, so we did it in person in our office, and it was a really cool interactive conversation. And it really sparked the desire to do more roundtables and more podcasts, which I know Madison, you have a liking for as well.
MF: Yeah, definitely that was one of the first ones that came to mind for me was the election security roundtable that we had done. And this one was remote, of course, but we had three different guests, I believe, POLITICO, CyberScoop and InformationWeek. And I just, I love the roundtable atmosphere, because it’s the same topic, but we heard three very different perspectives on what was coming next in the election security cycle. Perhaps, perhaps one reporter might have been focusing on, okay, how, how are companies securing the voting, the voting machines and the atmospheres that people are going to in order to vote. Others, other reporters might have been focusing on the specific types of cyber attacks that would be targeting those machines.
So it was just really interesting to get all perspectives all at once, because an issue like election security is so broad and so fast that just having one person talking about it would be great, but it’s like there are so many perspectives on that. And it’s the same with, you know, any kind of, you know, teamwork project or any big initiative you’re working on, the more perspectives you have, the more layers you’re going to uncover. So I definitely, I liked the election security episode. That one was one of my favorites for sure.
CB: Yeah, that was a good one. I think another one I, like I said, I really like when we have specific questions with tangible answers that people will find valuable. So one that comes to mind, we had Alex Konrad from Forbes on, and he was in charge of some of those big lists at Forbes, like the Forbes Cloud 100. And a lot of times we hear from companies and vendors that they want to be on this list, what does it take to be on this list. So Madison and I were like, “Let’s go ask him!” So it was really a really valuable conversation to have Alex on and to hear directly from him what to do to get on this list and what the process looks like. I think that was a really valuable, tangible example.
Similarly, we’re coming up on predictions season when many vendors like to comment on, oh, what’s going to happen in 2026, what should we be doing. A lot of reporters like to cover this, and a lot of them don’t like to cover it. So we had Kevin Townsend from SecurityWeek on the podcast to talk about the approach he takes to predictions. Again, really good takeaways on what companies should be doing within their predictions to make them interesting for the media. So we were able to take that insight and really leverage it to get some great visibility for predictions this past year. Madison, do you have any others you want to highlight?
MF: Yeah, I was just thinking along that theme of kind of advice for what organizations can be doing. I guess to, I guess to get their stories or their research or other initiatives included in in some of these stories that reporters are writing. The one that I thought of more recently was our conversation with Maria Korolov from Foundry. That conversation was very heavily focused on AI, which was great, because I think there’s, there’s so many different views on AI, on whether it’s something we should be super cautious about, whether it’s something that we should really dive into. And I love Maria’s perspective, especially when it came to her advice for other journalists, because AI is going to be incorporated into most people’s jobs in some form or fashion. And so I loved how she was not pushing, you know, the fear narrative, but more of encouragement to learn these different tools, find out how you can be incorporating them, slowly but surely. And that is not something to avoid, because that is part of the future of where everything is going. So I thought that was really unique that we got advice for other journalists and but of course, we’ve also had plenty of others where we get that direct advice for PR professionals. How can we be doing our jobs better? How can we help our clients, you know, put together stories in a more compelling manner?
And so from that perspective, I think of our conversation with Bradley from 9to5 Mac, loved him because it was also not our typical, you know, cybersecurity-focused trade publication, but it was, it also had more of that consumer angle as well at 9to5 Mac. So I thought Bradley gave some great advice in terms of how PR agencies, or PR professionals in general, and how they can more strategically approach media. One thing that he brought up I thought was super helpful was perhaps, if your agency is targeting a specific publication, maybe have one person from your team own that publication, or a specific journalist at that publication, just so that they get used to seeing the same name. It’s a trustworthy name. They know when they get something from that company, it’s coming from the same person, and they can really, you know, it just builds that relationship over time where they don’t feel like they’re filtering through emails.
So I thought that was just a good takeaway. I know everyone’s different. Every reporter is different, but I thought that was a unique piece of advice that I haven’t always heard from reporters. Yeah. So really liked that one, and then he also had a fun hot take that magazines are coming back, which I guess it depends on your reading habits, but I personally think something nostalgic like that could be really cool.
CB: I love it. No, he had some really good takes and really good advice. I think there’s so much we can get from every single episode, but I think these are some of the, definitely some memorable ones. And then lastly, our last segment, we always do listener questions. So we said, “Why not do them for ourselves?” So we have a couple listener questions we can run through here before we wrap up. But I guess Madison, based on what you’ve heard from reporters on the podcast, what is some media relations advice would you that, what is some advice you’d give someone just starting out in PR?
MF: You know, we hear this a lot in the cybersecurity realm, of how all these stories are encouraging. You know, go back to the basics of cybersecurity, go back to the basics. Practice the foundational aspects of cybersecurity so that your company doesn’t fall to a very basic scam or anything like that. I think the same goes for a lot of the advice that we get from these reporters, and the fact that they’re giving it to us for our audience just shows it’s something we need to keep in mind and keep practicing, which is, you know, concise pitches for example, reporters are very busy. They don’t they don’t have time to read paragraph on paragraph on paragraph in your initial pitch. So think being concise, making sure that you are doing your research on who you’re pitching. You know, I think reporters, they can definitely tell if you’re sending a blast email, for example, or if, if it’s the same pitch that every single other journalist is getting. So we definitely, we want everyone we’re pitching to feel like they are valued, to feel like we are providing something unique to them and that will add value to their reporting, and that it’s not just you know, press send on a million emails at once. So I think that personal, tailored approach to pitching is definitely something we’ve heard a lot. So if anyone starting out in PR, it’s definitely a practice that you should you should get down early on for sure.
CB: Yeah, good one. And then what’s been some of your favorite personal stories or interests that you’ve heard, something that isn’t about their careers? So I can go first. We were just talking about this, and one of our favorite parts about the podcast is, towards the end, we always ask the reporter, what do you like to do outside of work? Sometimes it’s something you would expect, you know, read or watch TV or whatever, but we’ve heard some really interesting other hobbies and stories. I remember Brandon at The Register. He talked a lot about gardening, and he said he and his wife, they garden. They have this great agricultural space in their yard, and they love the self-sustainability of it. And I was like, wow, I would never have thought that. And it’s just really cool to hear what these people like to do in their free time outside of work because we all have different interests and hobbies. Almost every episode, a person has shared something pretty interesting and pretty notable. So Madison, what are some that you’ve enjoyed hearing about?
MF: Yeah, I think one of the most unique stories that I’ve heard on a podcast kind of still relates to the person’s job, but I remember Mikayla at DefenseScoop for, this was before she was at DefenseScoop, at a previous local publication, but she got to go in a helicopter ride for one of the stories she was reporting on, and I believe it had to do with some wild animal situation that was going on in the area, and she got to go up in a helicopter and see what was, see what was going on behind the scenes, and how they were tracking the situation. But, that was pretty cool, unique opportunity to get on the job like that.
CB: That is cool.
MF: You’ll have to go back to listen to the full episode if you want to hear the specifics, because it was pretty unique.
CB: That’s cool. I love that. And then the last listener question, were you able to build any new relationships based on the podcast? I’ll say 100% yes. Pretty much with every single person we’ve had on. I mean, we talked to them, we communicate with them for, you know, an afternoon on the podcast and ask them questions, ask advice, and we always follow up, you know, and keep that conversation going. And we, Madison and I, we take their advice to the fullest, and if we need to reach out to them, like we’ll keep that advice in mind. So I mean, ever since recording with Steve Zurier at SC Media, he and I always go back and forth. We always have conversations with the folks at CyberScoop, the nice folks at N2K and the CyberWire podcast, always talked to them too. So pretty much every single guest we’ve had on we’ve had a great relationship with following the podcast. Anyone come to mind for you?
MF: Across the board, I would say I would agree with everything you said. I think with you know, people like Brandon at The Register, or even some of the folks at POLITICO like you said, I think taking to heart what they say on the show, and not just letting it die there. Because there have been plenty of circumstances where we might talk with a reporter about, you know, what they’re working on right now, or some projects that they’re excited about in the future, and we’ve used those as a team to think of, okay, well, how can we craft something that would be helpful to this reporter? So whether that’s you know, us trying to build that relationship further, or just in general, be a good resource for them, because that’s what this is, at the end of the day, all about.
CB: Yeah.
MF: It’s not just you know, us pitching things to them, and it’s a one-way street, and hoping, you know, they write everything that we send over. But it’s also us being that helpful hand to these reporters and journalists as well. So it’s been a fun, fun experience to be a part of. But yeah, I’ve just been super grateful for most people I’ve gotten to meet.
CB: Yeah, well said. Well, thank you so much to everyone for listening to our 100 episode recap. We’ve gone through a great journey here at the podcast, and appreciate everyone listening and their support. Special recognition to the podcast team behind the scenes, not only is it myself and Madison, but Marissa does a fantastic job editing, Jess Foreman does a fantastic job on social media posts, and Christy Pittman amazing job scheduling the blogs and reviewing all that. So there’s a big effort behind the scenes, and we appreciate every single person for everything they do related to the podcast and especially to our listeners out there. Thank you so much for listening, and we are excited for 100 more episodes. Madison, any final words?
MF: Keep the guest recommendations coming because…
CB: Yes!
MF: We are fully ready and very excited for what’s coming down the line.
CB: Great. Thank you so much everyone, and stay tuned for our next episode.
MF: Thank you.
CB: Thank you for joining us on today’s episode of Inside the Media Minds. To learn more about our podcast and hear all of our episodes, please visit us at W2Comm.com slash podcast, and follow us on Twitter at Media Mind Show, and you can subscribe anywhere podcasts are found.