NHT Blog

When many people think about media coverage, they picture celebrities, major corporations, bestselling authors, or social media influencers with millions of followers. As a result, countless business owners, professionals, authors, and community leaders assume they have nothing interesting enough to share with the media.

However, the actual truth is that newsworthiness and fame are not the same thing.

Last week I was interviewed on a podcast for an episode that will come out this summer.  As the conversation started to wind down, since the show is actually about the podcasting world, the host asked me if I might consider starting another (an additional) new podcast.

“No,” I answered him quickly.  “I have two podcasts right now that I still love and am passionate about and they’re both weekly, which means they take up a lot of time.  I don’t have the bandwidth to do a third.”

Today, we live in a world that’s heavily engaged in discerning what comes across on social media as genuine versus manufactured. We are constantly exposed to millions of marketing messages flooding through our TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and you guessed it, YouTube.  Whether it’s a business, podcast, or a creator platform promoting a product, audiences have become so equipped to spot when something comes across as performative. It makes it extremely important nowadays to make sure you resonate on a deeper level with your audience.

How do you do that?

As seen in the accompanying photo, last Thursday night I attended a members only event for the Florida chapter of the Recording Academy.  It took place in Miami, the same city that had hosted a similar event – albeit more Christmas-themed – five months earlier.

On this occasion in the United States every year, people (are supposed to) stop to honor those who lost their lives serving our country.  My guess is that when the “holiday” first started, there was probably an overwhelming emphasis on literally being in remembrance of those folks who we lost in combat.

As the years have gone on, sure, banks close and so does the post office, but people seem to otherwise think of it as, “the unofficial start of summer” and they go buy hot dogs and macaroni salad and/or plan a day at the beach.

Following up on the success of “Cover Girl” (approximately 318 thousand streams to-date on Spotify), Aubryanna’s new release, “Safe,” is poised to see a similar trajectory.

Out only ten days but already at over 9,500 streams, the single from the independent Pop and R&B singer-songwriter based between South Jersey and Philadelphia has a lot of the elements a track needs if it’s going to successfully withstand the pressure to follow up a song that has done as well as its predecessor.

The day after tomorrow will mark the release of Episode 639 of my “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast.  I have never missed a week once since launching the show on February 17, 2014.  Wednesday’s will also be the 1,070th episode hosted in my podcasting career.  (I have a second show that has been delivered on time, every Monday since February 1, 2019.)

Yes, consistency is key.  I’ve written about it before as have countless others.

I often think back to my interview way back on Episode 188 of my weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast when the guest was Charlie Midnight.  (The accompanying photo shows us recording that conversation.)  He is a multi-Grammy™, Emmy™, and Golden Globe™ award winning and nominated songwriter and producer and has worked with some of the biggest names in the business.

This coming Thursday (April 30) is International Jazz Day.  So, it’s fitting that the guest on the latest episode of my weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast is Chris Standring, one of the most prolific and successful artists on the contemporary urban jazz scene.

We have all heard it before: “You are a brand.” It is one of those phrases that gets tossed around so often it starts to feel meaningless, like something people say just because it sounds good. But the reality is, it is not just a trendy line—it is how people actually experience you in the real world.