10 Questions with ... Amy Brown

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

Amy Brown originally started a career in sales, but landed in radio after she met Bobby Bones at a restaurant. In 2006, she joined Bones as co-host of “The Bobby Bones Show” in Austin, Texas, where the program was broadcast weekday mornings on Top 40 KHFI (96.7 Kiss FM). Today, the Premiere Networks-syndicated program originates from WSIX/Nashville, and can be heard on 170 Country radio stations in the U.S. and Canada. In addition to the weekday program, Brown co-hosts “Country Top 30 with Bobby Bones,” a weekend Country countdown, and is also host of the weekly “Women of iHeartCountry” show.

In 2018, Brown launched the iHeartRadio podcast “4 Things with Amy Brown.” Co-produced by Brown and Premiere Networks as part of Bones’ Nashville Podcast Network, “4 Things with Amy Brown” is a weekly show focusing on four things listeners can do to promote an overall healthy well being and maintain an attitude of gratitude. The theme of the podcast is based on the 4 Things custom tote created by Brown and The Shop Forward Founder/CEO Meri Barnes for their Espwa brand, a clothing and accessories line that benefits organizations in Haiti. Brown and her husband adopted their two children from Haiti in 2017.

In October, Brown partnered with iHeart to launch the Amy Brown Podcast Network, featuring a slate of health and wellness podcasts. It launched with three shows: “Outweigh,” hosted by Brown and dietician Lisa Hayim, “You Need Therapy” with therapist Kathryn DeFatta and the Hayim-hosted “The Truthiest Life.”

1. First of all, congrats on your new podcast network. Tell us a little bit more about Kathryn and Lisa, about how the network came about, and why you wanted to invest more of your time into podcasting?

After doing my own [podcast] for a couple of years and having a variety of guests on mine, and then getting to know some of them on a deeper level, I thought, “Why don’t these girls have their own podcast?” Turns out they wanted to, and it was just an opportunity to partner with iHeart and help get behind some people that I drew so much inspiration and wisdom from, and I knew others would as well.

I loved having them as guests on my show. So for me, it just made sense if I was going to even think about having a network that I would launch with the two girls that I launched with, Lisa Hayim and Kathryn DeFatta. When I started talks with iHeart about it initially, I thought, “Okay, I haven't necessarily ever sought out talent myself,” so that was new to me, but I already knew that these girls needed their podcast.

Kathryn is a licensed therapist, and she is super passionate about getting therapy to everybody. But she knows that some people don’t have access to it, and she wants to kind of normalize it because for some, that still could be a scary or weird thing to do. By having her podcasts, she likes to put out content that her clients can benefit from, but also people that may not ever have even thought about therapy or have the means or the access to therapy. They can log on to her podcast and maybe pull up something that will relate to whatever they’re going through, and they can hopefully get some of the tools that they need to navigate it, because it’s very difficult to go through some stuff alone.

She covers a variety of topics, and will continue to do so. So, obviously, the longer her podcast runs, the more topics will be out there, and the more people can search it up to see if there’s something that resonates with them. And even if it doesn’t, I feel like after you listened to her podcast, you’re going to walk away a little wiser, a little more equipped and ready to face whatever your day may hold. You may not be listening to an episode that pertains directly to you, but it might pertain to you a year from now or a month from now. I just love that she presents it in such a way that is easy to consume and easy to take in. It’s not overwhelming. Sometimes when I listen to some therapy stuff, I’m like, “I don’t understand some of this jargon and I don’t get it,” but she wants to connect with people, so she keeps it simple, and I appreciate that.

And then for Lisa, she’s a registered dietician and is extremely passionate about people ditching diet culture. That’s originally how I met her, but she is so much deeper than that, and that’s what we touch on in “Outweigh” -- how a life without disordered eating outweighs everything. She’s very passionate about people falling in love with themselves and their bodies and not conforming to what society says you’re supposed to look like.

And then for her other podcast, “The Truthiest Life,” Lisa is a very empathetic person. She loves connecting with people and getting to the root of their story, and just really tapping into the deeper part of people instead of this surface-y thing that you get on Instagram and Facebook. Her podcast is going to be a great way to just share everyday people’s stories. They’re not necessarily always going to be people that you’ve heard of before or are super famous by any means. Some, maybe, but others just could be really deep stories that could be meaningful to someone listening, and interesting nonetheless.

2. Your podcast network is focused on health and wellness, and that’s certainly part of your brand, but why did you decide to go that route instead of something music related?

That’s more my lane. I think even [in] my role on “The Bobby Bones Show,” I’m not the most musical. I love music, but when it comes to that sort of thing, Bobby is very into that and music history, and [producer] Eddie [Garcia is] very into it, and I love learning from them, but I don't think that I am the avenue to give that to people. When I had the opportunity to start my own podcast and grow the content I wanted to produce and put out, that was definitely something that resonated with me more and I felt more comfortable with. I work in Country music and I love Country music, but I just don’t think that people come to me for that. So just staying true to myself, knowing your lane ... this felt more natural for me.

3. Obviously, things are really crazy right now with the pandemic and current state of the world. Did that give you the extra push of motivation to get this wellness content out right now, or made it harder to do so? And how has it shaped the direction of the podcasts?

If anything, we’ve learned how to work effectively in different places and over Zoom. “Outweigh” started as a series that lived within my podcast, and Lisa and I thought it was just a bonus series that maybe we’d do again in several months and have season two, and it would still live on my podcast and Lisa would fly into town for it. We felt like we needed to be in person. What 2020 has shown us is everyone had to learn how to connect virtually.

Lisa lives in New York and I live in Nashville, so when we started thinking about season two, before we ever thought about making it its own podcast, we were already trying to figure out how to connect with our guests virtually without us being in the same room together. We sort of had a plan, and then the podcast idea came along and … by that point we were all experts in Zoom. So I just got to meet with Kathryn and Lisa on Zoom. For me, connection is so important. I would ideally want to be in person with these girls, even at the launch, or just to make sure they felt like they have support. But I think that 2020 helped us just get comfortable doing so much virtually that we just decided we’re just going to push forward with this.

Obviously, too, the content is helping people work on the inside. So, yes, I think it was timely that we released these, at least for my listeners. Again, they were the type of people that I was wanting to bring on my podcast to inspire, and encourage and give people the tools that they need to navigate these crazy times. So, that answer is twofold. Yes, I felt like in 2020 I don’t think you can put out enough positive content about mind/body/spirit. And then also, I think there probably was part of my brain that would have originally thought we need to put this off until next year when things calm down just for logistics, but then everyone was such a team player and worked so well virtually that we were able to pull it off.

4. Since we’re on the topic, how have you been coping with everything during the pandemic? You have to be in the studio so early on top of juggling all of your different jobs, navigating your children’s schooling, etc. How has everything been for you through all of this?

A roller coaster. Just like everybody, we’ve had highs and we’ve had lows. We’ve had times where it seems totally overwhelming and daunting, and times where it's actually been a blessing in disguise. We’re just doing our best to juggle what’s thrown our way. A motto we’ve adopted is “day by day,” and “one step at a time.” Maybe not even the full day. It might literally just be one step at a time in the day, hour by hour, however you want to break it down that makes it more tolerable, because sometimes looking at all we’re having to deal with, especially if you are a working parent, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and stressed out and then not take care of yourself. One thing that I’ve learned is I have to take care of myself if I want to be worth anything to my family and my coworkers. So that’s what 2020 taught me, to make sure that I’m doing that, and to work on connecting with myself and connecting with others.

My husband and Bobby love the saying, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” At work, I have Bobby reminding me of that, and my husband reminding me of that at home. Have you ever heard that men are like waffles, their brains are like waffles, and women are more like spaghetti? I don’t do a very good job of compartmentalizing my work life and my home life. I’m surrounded with people that are good at keeping things in their compartment and not mushing it all together, and I feel like I’m more of a big bowl of spaghetti. It has taught me to try to compartmentalize a little bit more, but also appreciate that I don’t have to compartmentalize, that I can flow everything together. I appreciate that about myself.

I don’t want to not be true to who I am, but I’ve had to learn a little bit about how to manage that better because I’m doing all the things this year. I think we’re even in a place where my kids might get sent home [from school] again [because of the pandemic,] and it kind of might send me into a panic attack. But I know that we can get through it and I’ll just have to approach it one bite at a time.

5. Lets go back in time a little bit to your “4 Things” customizable tote, which your audience clearly loves. How did that idea transition from a product into a podcast?

We knew we had something with the 4 Things brand, and that people loved being able to customize it to fit their personality, or get it as a gift for somebody. When we started throwing around ideas for the podcast, “4 Things” was already associated with me because of the different products we had put out, and Espwa being the brand that it was under to support Haiti. There was just a connection there. Then [Premiere Networks EVP, Entertainment Programming] Jennifer Leimgruber, who’s one of our bosses, was, I think, the first one that presented the idea of, “You already have the ‘4 Things’ brand, what about the ‘4 Things’ podcast?” It’s almost like each episode is sort of like a customized tote.

It really gave us an opportunity to not pigeonhole me. Although I do have things that I think I concentrate mostly on, I really could go anywhere at times if we wanted to. What I love about it is the variety. It just seemed like a natural branding flow because the tote had been so popular, and we already had [it] … in place. It’s been fun.

6. It’s been six years since you co-founded “#PimpinJoy,” a movement that’s all about choosing and spreading joy, and listeners have supported it from the beginning. What do you think that says about your audience and how they connect with you, and do you think that also has to do with how much you open up and share your personal life?

A hundred percent. We’ve always approached [“The Bobby Bones Show”] from a place of being as relatable as possible, and that’s connecting with people, sharing the good times and the bad. People don’t know everything [about us,] and we don’t know everything about our listeners, or even sometimes our friends or coworkers. There’s boundaries for sure. But I think we try to share as much as possible just so that when someone’s riding in their car, if they need a laugh that day, they get the laugh. If they need a cry that day, they might get the cry. I guess we just try to show up as authentically as possible and hope that that connects with one listener at a time.

I feel like there’s some days listeners may not get that connection right away. Or if we have new listeners they may not connect with me right away, but they connect with Bobby. And then hopefully, one listen at a time, one day at a time, we start to just win them over where they feel like they’re listening to their friends when they get in the car every day or when they’ve got us in their ear buds when they’re on a run, or they’re dropping the kids off at school, whatever their listening pattern is.

One of the biggest compliments I can get from a listener is when they say, “I feel like we’ve been friends forever.” That’s super special to me because sometimes we feel as though we’re sitting in a room just talking into these microphones. We don’t know if anybody’s connecting to what we’re saying. Sometimes I’m like, “What are we even doing? Does it even make sense? Like, why did I even just say that?” And when I meet a listener who has a PimpinJoy hat on or shirt, I’m reminded this is why we do it. We’ve connected with them on a level to where they trust us enough to want to represent something that we’re all about. They want to engage in the things that we’re passionate about, and they want to spread that message of choosing and spreading joy.

One of the coolest things is if we’re in an airport somewhere and see someone in PimpinJoy. You know right away you have a connection, and not just from us on the show seeing them, but listener to listener. We’ve had emails and stories of listeners being in London and someone taking a photo in front of Buckingham palace in a PimpinJoy shirt, and another listener goes by and is like, “‘The Bobby Bones Show!’ We love it.” They’re Americans that are across the ocean and they’re bonding because they see a PimpinJoy shirt and they have that instant connection of, “Hey, you must listen to ‘The Bobby Bones Show’ too. Maybe we could be friends or we could connect.” For me, having something like that is a tangible way to see the connection. Other times we just have to hope that it’s there and we get that through callers and emails.

But I’m not going to lie, there are days where I just kind of feel [like,] “I don’t even know what we’re doing here. What did we just talk about?” But then somewhere, who knows where in their car, whatever we just talked about was something that someone needed to hear. So for me, I just have to keep that perspective, even on the days when I’m just kind of wondering if anyone’s listening and what we’re even doing. Just going in and talking about your own little stories all the time can feel kind of weird, and you wonder if anyone even cares. And then I remember, “Oh yeah, it’s not really about me. It’s about the big picture.” At the end of the day, I know we are connecting, and that’s something super special.

7. Do you ever feel like you want to hold back more, thinking, “Hmm, should I share this?” and then hesitate to share?

Yes. I always have to check what is my reasoning for telling this story, and also, will anybody be affected if I share this story? There are times where I contemplate something and then I will totally hold back, and I know that I made the right decision not to share it. Then there’s other times where I shared it and it’s come back to bite me because, mostly my husband, was like, “I thought we would have talked about that before you went on national radio.” I think that’s natural.

Again, as we try to be open books, we still have to have boundaries. It’s up to us. We are responsible for what comes out of our mouths, and words are important. They matter. Once you say it it’s out there, and I have not been perfect. But I do think that if we’re trying to share something, we hope that it’s positive. We hope that it’s funny. We hope that if it’s real emotion, that maybe it’s something that someone else needs to hear, and connect with, and know that they’re not alone. That’s the best thing. And it’s not always on us. Callers sometimes lead the way as well, which is cool.

8. What are some of the ways you think the radio industry as a whole has changed since 2006 when you started in it, and where do you think it’s heading?

It’s way more digital than it was then. I remember back in the day when the iHeartRadio app first came out and I did not understand it for the life of me. I thought, “What is an app?” And then now I get everything from the iHeartRadio app. I listen to all my podcasts on the app. I listen to “The Bobby Bones Show” if I need to, or the Country stations that we’re on .... I’m getting it from the app. We were not digital then.

We were [also] not very visual then. I think we went to work in our pajamas every day and it didn’t matter because nobody saw us. Now we video the show every day. We put it on YouTube and Facebook so people can stream the show visually, which is something that is extremely different.

We started in 2006. We were in one city and now we’re in, I don’t even know because I don’t like to count, but it’s a lot. That scares me sometimes because I like to pretend we’re just talking to that one person in the car that might need to hear whatever we’re going to do. That helps me not freak out because it’s grown a lot, which is amazing, but it’s very different than where I thought we would ever go.

And to answer where we may continue to go, I feel like the digital stuff may continue. The more visual things, interacting with people in that manner, the streaming ... I just kind of follow the lead on that. I don’t know that I’m a trailblazer on where radio is headed per se, but I know that I love what I do, and if there’s any other ways to reach more people and connect, then I’m all in.

9. Let’s talk about the “Women of iHeartCountry” program. What has that meant to you to be a part of something like that, especially because female artists getting air time is such a perennial problem in the format?

I love being a part of anything that’s going to elevate women. So that was a no brainer to join Bobby in that venture and host the show. Similar to the podcast network, right now it’s all female. I think we’ll probably stay that way, but who’s to say?

I love being around women that empower me, and hopefully I can be a place to help empower other women, so I’m proud to work for iHeart. Bobby and iHeart coming up with this and wanting to put it out there is amazing. I just feel honored that I get to … host it and showcase some of these girls.

One of the coolest things for me is when I see these girls post on Instagram a video of their song playing on the radio for the first time and it is from the “Women of iHeartCountry” show. I just get goose bumps because they’re recording it, and I hear me saying their name. I’ll just say, “And we’re going to debut the song now, here’s such and such,” and then they’re screaming, and they’re filming it and they’re so excited. One of the coolest parts of my job is debuting these girls and them getting to hear something they created on the radio for the first time. Being a part of their story is pretty cool. I feel lucky to be a part of that.

10. When you started working with Bobby back in Texas, and even during the early days in Nashville, his full focus was on radio. How has your role on the show changed over the years as he’s become an “American Idol” mentor, a book author, a touring comedian/musician, and now shooting National Geographic’s “Breaking Bobby Bones,” just basically a much busier guy?

My role has always been to support him in whatever way he needs me, so my role is the same. He’s always been a go-getter. I know that right now it may look like Bobby has all this stuff going on, but he's been grinding since 2006. There wasn’t the travel component probably, but I always have been dealing with a host that was very driven, motivated and had a lot of things in the fire. What I learned early on is I just need to mold to be whatever’s going to be most helpful to him at this time. We remain true on the air to who we need to be, but behind the scenes, it’s like, “Where do you need me to pivot? How do you need me to help? What does that look like for the whole team?” because he’s always been working hard. That part is not new. But I think that, if anything, we’ve just had to make sure we communicate and show up for each other. That’s the best thing we can do. I think that we’ve both done a good job of that over the years.