Claire Meyerhoff, Kate Martignetti, Scott Stein, Gene Takagi & Amy Sample Ward: 750th Show!
It’s Nonprofit Radio’s 750th show and 15th Anniversary Jubilee. To celebrate, co-host Claire Meyerhoff shares her “Ode to Nonprofit Radio.” We have our associate producer, Kate Martignetti; 3 live songs from Scott Stein, including our theme “Cheap Red Wine;” and, our contributors Gene Takagi (law), and Amy Sample Ward (technology), are also on board. It’s fun and music and celebration! And gratitude.
Listen to the podcast
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Get Nonprofit Radio insider alerts
We’re the #1 Podcast for Nonprofits, With 13,000+ Weekly Listeners
Board relations. Fundraising. Volunteer management. Prospect research. Legal compliance. Accounting. Finance. Investments. Donor relations. Public relations. Marketing. Technology. Social media.
Every nonprofit struggles with these issues. Big nonprofits hire experts. The other 95% listen to Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio. Trusted experts and leading thinkers join me each week to tackle the tough issues. If you have big dreams but a small budget, you have a home at Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio.
View Full Transcript
Welcome to Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio, big nonprofit ideas for the other 95%. I’m your aptly named host and the podon of your favorite hebdominal podcast. It’s July. It’s nonprofit radio. We’ve got the live music and that can only mean one thing. It’s our 750th show and 15th anniversary jubilee. Who was right. Here’s our associate producer, Kate, with what’s coming up for show number 750. Hey Tony, your co-host is Claire Meyerhoff. We’ve got much more live music from Scott Stein. Our contributors, Gene Takagi and Amy Sample Ward are here. Everyone is with us. Thank you very much, Kate. Claire Meyerhoff, how are you? So uh creative producer, nonprofit Radio, how are you doing? I’m, I’m doing just fine. I’m just in awe that once again, every year we come together, the same gang of six, and put on this fantastic show, and this one is number. Can it really be true? 750. True. That’s a huge number. $750. Like when you were a kid, if like someone was saving up to buy something that costs $750 that was, you know, a lot, a lot of money. If you went to the grocery store now and it came to $750 you’d be like, well, yeah, that kind of makes sense. So $750 really is a huge number and 15 years. Yeah, July of 2010. The show began as, as you counseled me, uh, because of the first two shows were the Tony Martignetti show. Uh, you counseled me that that was a mistake, that nobody’s gonna know what the hell that means. Uh, I was playing off, I was playing off one of my early influences, uh, I thought, well, that guy has a show named for him. So, but you, uh, you showed me the correct path, uh, you know, you gotta have nonprofit in there somewhere. And, uh, and I chose nonprofit radio and we’re gonna be talking a little about radio today, but, uh, yes, it was July 2010, it was 15 years ago. Well since I have because we, we knew each other before for a couple of years through the wonderful world of of plan giving, which we both are professionals and and we knew each other that way, and we had dinner in Cary, North Carolina at a steakhouse, and at that table you said to me, you know what, I want to do a radio show about nonprofits, and I was like, And this was before like podcasting was really commonplace or anything like that. And I was like, well, have you done a radio show before? No, no, no, but I, I know I’d be great at it. I’d love to do it. And I go, well, you know, there’s a lot to doing a radio show. Do you know about this? Do you know about that? Because my background for our audiences, I worked in, in, um, radio news for many, many, many years. I’ve worked at XM Satellite Radio, um, I’ve worked at, uh, I’ve worked for ABC Radio and WTOP in Washington DC, the all news station. And so I know a lot about production and putting things together and how radio really is something that you can kind of do it all by yourself, as opposed to television where you need all these other elements that come in like camera work and all that. So I said to Tony, I go, well, you know what, you know, I’ll I’ll help you with this. And you were like, oh, you know, that would be great. And we discussed the name and some other things and then I made for you. I thought what would be really helpful would be to make these kind of show sheets that when you’re pre-interviewing people, so maybe you can talk a little about that. What what’s I, I still use I still use your sheets for the show. Uh, Kate and I use them every single week. Yeah, so, you know, over the years I’ve adapted it, but it’s, uh, it’s based off of what you gave me for like show number 3 or something or whatever. So let, let’s, uh, let’s bring some other folks in. Sure. So I’d like to talk a little bit about, about our influences in radio because what Tony said to me, he said, I love, you know, Car Talk and I love these radio shows. They’re so important to me. So I’d like to talk a little bit about everyone else’s influence is in radio. My quick is I grew up. Around New York City, so we had a lot of radio. I listened to WNEW, you know, Scott Muni, Allison Steel the Night Bird on WNEW, and I just, I loved radio from, you know, when I was when I was a kid. So how about everybody else? Scott, what did you grow up with in the, in the Midwest? Yeah, I grew up in Akron, Ohio, and um the station that really was pivotal to me was WAPS 913, the Summit. Uh, which is a wonderful music station. They’re still around, still doing great stuff, uh, emphasis on independent music and local music and just stuff that wasn’t getting played anywhere else and really, um, it’s not a, not an overestimation to say that like it or an overstatement to say they it really helped shape my musical taste for years to come. Cool, very cool. Amy, yeah. What you got? Well, I did not grow up listening to the radio because my dad. love music and was always playing his own curated, you know, uh, playlist, um, record. Tim, Tim. That’s right, Tim, the one and only 10 sample, um. And so I associate radio with when I got a car and turned 16 and actually drove myself places and was like, What? You mean to tell me that there is music that is not blues? Oh, how interesting. Um. So I would listen to any radio station just for, you know, like that eyes opening, oh my gosh, there’s so much out there in the world experience. Um, yeah. That warms my heart as a as a radio girl that really, really warms my heart because the car, you know, the radio, the airwaves, traditional terrestrial radio is just the airwaves and they’re free. And basically, anyone could have a radio station and broadcast it and the FCC I grew up, you know, in, in the American classic situation for that like country roads, no other cars, windows down, just listening, you know. Love that so much. Gene, what do you have for us? So I’m like Amy and didn’t listen to a lot of music on the radio because I had mix tapes back then. And, um, that was my big thing. But if I was listening to the radio, it was often listening to like local sports teams and I grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia, so the Vancouver Canucks go Canucks, um, was a big thing for me and Seattle Supersonics back in the day, um, the NBA and bring back a, a Seattle NBA team. Wow, that’s, that’s, that’s really. That’s really amazing and you’re and you’re and you grew up in Canada, so everything had a C in front of it. Yeah, if there was a popular music station I listened to it was C Fun, which was now defunct, but um, yeah, that was the, the pop station back in the day. And did you listen to the games on and the sports on AM or FM? Oh, it was almost always on AM. I don’t think FM had sports back then. Right, right. That’s cool. Hey Kate, we know you’re younger than we are, but do you ever listen to the radio? Oh yeah, um, mostly, mostly in the car, but my mom loves the, um, like South Jersey classic rock stations. So that was constantly on wherever we went grocery shopping, to the beach, like that’s all I think we listened to. Do you remember the call call letters? what was what it was I don’t know. But I bet you do know every word to live on a prayer. 00, for sure. Scott started playing it, I could probably sing it. That’s Bon Jovi country. Right, South Jersey, Bon Jovi country and Bruce Springsteen, of course. Bruce Springsteen. So Tony, how about you? What are your, what are your earliest radio memories? Yeah, uh, rock and roll, 102.7 WNEW, uh, you mentioned Scott Muni and Alison Steele. Um, there were, there were others, um, Pat Saint John, classic, uh, classic rock DJ in New York City, um, Dennis Elsis, exactly right, yep, Dennis. He was what? Pete Pete, yeah, you, you, you were obviously listening as well. You remember them better than Pete had that twangy voice. Pete Forna. He wrote a radio in the television age, and I went into the city and because they had a signing at a bookstore. So he was there and, um, Dennis Elsus was there and I was going to Plattsburgh State at the time, and Dennis Els, Pete Foritel wrote in my book. And then Dennis Elsis wrote, Rock lives all over, even in Plattsburgh, he wrote. And do you know who I gave that book to for his collection? I gave it to Sam a few years ago when I visited his studio. I gave it to, uh, to Sam in New York. Our producer Sam Liebowitz. He has a really nice collection of like books about radio and music and and I thought that book would fit well in there. So I gifted that book to him and he cool. That’s very thoughtful, very thoughtful. And then later years, you know, you mentioned the the kind of influence on my On the, on the podcast, uh, Car Talk definitely on, on, uh, National Public Radio’s WNYC was station in that we got in, uh, New York and New Jersey, WNYC, the Car Talk guys, uh, you know, you can’t approach them, but they could, they certainly were an influence, you know, that I knew they had. Elements comedic elements that you could look forward to. Each show or or every couple of shows like Stump the Chumps and their credits, you know, the, the closing credits, their, their car driver was the, they had a, they had a, a, a Russian car driver, uh, pick up and drop off. So, you know, stuff like that, cornball, right, exactly, corn, but you could count on it every week, they were gonna credit pick up and drop off for being their chauffeur. Um, so things like that and then so elements of the, of the Car Talk show and then also another show on WNYC which was pure Talk, uh, Brian Lehrer. I don’t know if he’s still there, but uh he became nationally syndicated, I think. Yeah, Amy Amy and Scott, yes, you, you’ve, you’ve heard Brian Lehrer. He originates from WNYC. Um, he’s still there on WNYC. Awesome, awesome syndicated across the. Oh across which network? Public media. OK, yeah, well, Claire, I got the idea for the Tony Martignetti show from the Brian Lehrer Show, but Tony Martignetti is not quite widely, uh, and even in 2015, so even more so in 2015, what am I saying, in 2010, in 2010, 15 years ago, uh, not as widely known as Brian Lehrer, and so, you know, everybody knew him as a political junkie and He had a lot of political guests and uh that was mostly what he did as well as general news, but you have to reserve the Tony Martignetti show for just wherever you happen to be and the name of what chaos you are bringing to any scenario, you know. Just the Tony Martignetti Nonprofit radio is a podcast, you know. All right, thank you. Like when I go to, I could, I could, I could get everybody’s Tony Martignetti show. When I go to the nonprofit technology conference hosted by nonprofit podcast, but it’s put the word radio in it. You’d like that, you know, Tony Martignetti nonprofit radio, because why, Tony, it’s the sound of it. Well, radio was an influence for the show. And uh I, I have some nostalgia for radio and radio is a very personal medium, you know, like you’re saying, listening in the car, um, uh, it’s just, uh, radio, radio seems to be talking to me, you know, when I listen to radio, I feel like, I feel like the, the host, the DJ, they’re talking to me and that’s what I want, you know, I wanna be talking to. Our listeners, each of our listeners, and sort of channeling what interests them so that they’re a part of the conversation. As as as as as much as can be. So that was, those were my thoughts for around why. Well, and your instincts are correct because when I was in, you know, broadcast journalism school at American University and we were learning the basics, we learned that radio, uh, and television too is a one on one medium, like when you’re talking, when you. On the air, you’re just talking to one person. So you don’t say like you all out there in radio land, you just say you. So if you’re doing a news story about a traffic thing, you just say, you know, if you’re traveling on, you know, I-270, blah blah blah, you don’t say all you people out there on the road, thousands of people listening to me. It’s just you. And so, so it’s a very personal, personal medium. That those were the, those were the influences. I’m glad Brian Lehrer still has the Brian Lehrer show nationwide. Uh, he was, uh, when you, when you hear Brian, you’ll know he was, he was an early influence for this very show. And uh it’s time for uh. Live, live full live song number one. Scott Stein. You’re gonna play a song that, uh, that I asked you to play. Uh, you, the your album is uphill. We might get this on the video. There’s the album right there. It sits, it resides on my desk because I play it. Uh, the album is uphill, which sounds challenging, but you made the last song. It’s a good life. Yeah, it’s well it’s a I think it’s a challenging record. It was, it was reflective of a a fairly challenging time in my life and it was important to in the narrative of the record to be building towards something hopeful or something that that hints at something better to come. I know folks are gonna love the 3 songs you’re doing for us today, so let’s give an early shout and where can we buy your music? Oh, the best way to support me directly is actually at my band camp, uh, band camp sites that would be scottstein.bandcamp.com. You can order physical CDs or. Just downloads um that’s the the best way because there’s really no middleman other than the little bit that Bandcamp takes um um my music is also available in the iTunes store which is also if that’s your preferred method, that’s great, um, and it’s also on the streaming services Spotify, Apple Music, etc. etc. Everywhere fine music is is heard. Indeed. All right, thank you. Please, Scott. It’s a good life. All right. I got some inside information. Someone slipped me a copy of the master plan. I don’t understand. I’m always cynic skipping silver linings. the Oh The Busy As For very Did Oh Oh Oh, Scott, that’s just a beautiful song, beautiful song. Uh, don’t just stick to what you know, let it fly and watch it grow. I love that. I love that line, but the whole song, lovely, beautiful. Thank you. Thank you, Tony. Claire, it’s a good life. It is a good life, especially here on the 750th. Tony Martignetti nonprofit Radio broadcast. And you know, Tony had to learn what’s called audacity in order to produce his podcast. And I do, I have a podcast and I do it in garage band. And now with AI there’s a lot of tools. So Scott, I’d like to ask you, you know, you’re a musician and you’re in this world. How do you like, do you produce your own music and record it and how does that, how does that all go? Um, yes, in a way, uh, I always have a team around me of some sort. I, I play a number of instruments but not all of my instruments. Um, usually when I’m doing a recording, I mean, I, I don’t have my own studio, so I will go into somebody else’s studio and do the work. Um, I can do a little bit here at home, but most of it has to happen elsewhere, um, and I always have a producer. Excuse me, on the project. And in that case, their role is to be kind of the in charge of the project and to be an expert set of ears, you know, I always want somebody who can tell me, hey, that vocal line’s not working or hey, that’s really good do more of that, um, coming up with ideas for instruments, especially this last record where there’s a lot of. Um, a lot of textures, synthesizers, things that I don’t usually use, and I did that because I went to a specific, uh, producer, a friend of mine named Mark Marshall, because I knew he was somebody who could help me figure out what the sounds in my head were, um, and how to get them out and how to do it effectively and to bring his own experience and his own expertise into the room. You know, the role of a producer is so important and I work in the nonprofit space like Tony, and you know, we have conferences, right, and meetings and we do webinars and all that, and because my background is production, when I’m working on something, I bring that. Those skills, you know, to, to the event or the webinar or whatever. And a lot of times I’ll write, I’ll do like a rundown or a show sheet and the person will go like, wow, you know, I’ve never seen this. And I think the role of production is very like underrated in the. Nonprofit space, like when you put on an event or when you do something like how do you, how do you produce that and because there’s so many little pieces to it. And, and Amy, when it comes to the N10, I’m sure there’s a huge amount of production involved, involved in that. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Yeah, I mean, Tony will laugh like, like everything, there’s an N10 way that we do things versus maybe the standard way, but we don’t. We don’t have a staff person whose job title is the conference. We don’t have um a producer, you know, when you’re having a large in-person event, there’s um what they call a pre-con, which is meant to be like, you know, the incoming group, like somebody from, from N10 would go and represent us, and then there’s like the head of catering, the head of security, the head of AV that, you know, everybody sits there like behind a little Um, you know, name tent and kind of reports in before the doors open and, and all the work starts, um, and all 15 of us show up and they’re always like, So baffled and you know, they’re like looking for chairs and everybody’s like, no, it’s fine, I can stand, you know, they, and then when they like ask, OK, everybody go around, all 15 of us do an intro, you know, because everyone on the team produces the NTC and everybody has different pieces of it that they’re in charge of and You know, our like escalation is to the team. OK, if something’s not working, who who is available like on radio, right? Who’s available to meet in the staff office and solve this. Um, there’s not just one person who all that weight is on their shoulders and they have to decide everything, um, but really, you know, I think we say to the community, we’re, we’re always stronger together and we are always stronger together. So, so we do it as a team. Very collaborative. Yeah, totally. In your professional life, what kind of things do you present? Do you speak at, you know, conferences? Do you do webinars? Tell us a little bit about what, what you do, where the role of, of like producing it and putting it together and then presenting it come, come together. Yeah, that’s, um, I’m always dependent upon other organizations and other people to, to put it together. But yeah, I, I do a lot of webinars and, and speaking at conferences and, and things like that. And very, very, um, thankful for, for all of those people who can make it, uh, come together because I, I, I just talk and maybe show a few slides. So you do produce those slides perhaps you are putting together your slides with your with your key points. There, there you go, and I try to keep them heavily visual, which is really, really hard for a lawyer. Yeah, yeah, so, so on a, on a, what’s a typical topic you might speak on? What’s your specialty that everyone wants to hear Gene talk about? Well, I’ll say right now um it’s about nonprofit advocacy and you know during these challenging times um nonprofits do have a voice and they do have influence um and thanks to vehicles like Tony Martin. Nonprofit radio, uh, we get to to help encourage nonprofits to to learn what their uh sort of authority is because it’s usually a lot greater than they think it might be so that they can speak out um and hold, you know, hold the line uh when the line seems to be moving and pushing them back. That’s really interesting because these, these are kind of, you know, tumultuous tumultuous times. I was at the Carolina’s Plan Giving conference back in May and we had a whole panel about legal stuff and, and we had some really good speakers and the one thing that that I took away from it was that that there has become a um. Uh, you know, in our, in our society, there’s a lot of distrust now in, in, you know, government organizations, even nonprofits and things like that. There’s this sort of, you know, distrust that there used to be people trusted, you know, basically trusted the government and and trusted colleges and trusted nonprofits, but now there’s been like a, um, you know, an erosion, I think was the word that they used. And do you find that there’s kind of an erosion of of trust? These days, Jean? Yeah, I, I think in all areas there’s a little bit of erosion of trust and skepticism, uh, from the general public, but the nonprofit sector still, I believe, is leading as the most trusted area and that’s really something to hold on to, uh, as we can build bridges and then sort of take a stance in in what we’re doing so really, really just, um, counting on, on nonprofits if you will to to continue. To sort of advance human rights, civil rights, all of the things that nonprofit sectors of the nonprofit sectors traditionally done and so, um, I, I’m hopeful for, for better times and and more nonprofit voice out there. That’s a, that’s an excellent point and I think that nonprofits can use that in their messaging, um, you know, their public facing messaging about how, you know, trusted they are and they can show that in different ways by, you know, having a survey or or showing their, you know, um, their output like we did XYZ this year and and have photos of it and really show that that nonprofits are working and working for their, their mission and for their people and for their, for their donors. Yeah, and it’s not all of the regular things that people might be thinking of with ICE and with some civil liberties, but just things like AI and you know what happened with Open AI housed in a nonprofit? Is it going to be a for profit? It’s like there’s a lot of stuff out there where the nonprofit sector plays a critical role um and standing up for, for what the nonprofit sector is supposed to be, um, it is really important. But thanks for asking, Claire. So when you say AI is a nonprofit, I, I don’t even know. I mean, I use Chachi PT quite a bit it helps me, you know, figure things out and, and, you know, it’s like someone to talk to that’s a trusted person who does not have an ego. So I do use the Chat GPT for for work, but what do you mean AI is a nonprofit? Well, OpenAI, the creators of Chat GPT, it was started by Sam Altman and Elon Musk as a nonprofit organization and they housed much of the assets that still run Chat GPT, so. Um, the whole intellectual property owned by it, how Microsoft has come in with a lot of money, whether it was going to turn into a for-profit or it has turned into a for profit or is is shuttled, the assets were, were probably licensed back down into the for profit, although we don’t know all of the sort of the mechanics of it. Uh, but ultimately thanks to some nonprofit advocacy out there, uh, it’s going to be stay sort of this tied to this nonprofit organization and not just completely moved into a for-profit, and the nonprofit is supposed to maintain the ethics of the AI use, you know, whether it’s been successful or not, at least there is some regulation around how that AI can be used. So, uh, I’m thankful for that and the again the nonprofit advocacy. That kept that nonprofit in that game. And I think, you know, the, the, when my friends who don’t understand nonprofits that much and they go, well, aren’t nonprofits this or that? And I always say, well, you know, the number one thing about a nonprofit is it’s nonprofit. No one can make like a ton of, yes, you can pay your people big salaries or whatever, you can spend a lot of money on on things, but you don’t have shareholders and you can’t make a profit. So Gene, do you think that that’s an important element of AI staying as a nonprofit because it can be less. I don’t know, greedy. Yeah, I, I, I think that is part of the, the, the point is, is that it, it’s not just influenced by people who are self-interested in and, and, you know, self dealing to themselves and, and their buddies, um, but it also is like the attorney generals and the IRS saying hey you have to engage in primarily charitable activities it can’t be just purely commercial so let’s see whether you are actually engaging in charitable activities and. How how strict the regulators are and how much enforcement you can do when you’ve got limited resources, especially these days for the IRS, um, is, is another question, but, um, I’m again thankful that there is a nonprofit sector, uh, in the US. It’s not completely unique, but it it is something special that that the country needs to treasure and nonprofit radio right there as as we’re talking about, uh. Um, artificial intelligence is important to point out that it’s not all AI that is, uh, part of a nonprofit. We’re just talking about what Gene’s just talking about one company that the company, the, the nonprofit OpenAI, the one founded by Sam Altman. There are lots and lots of for-profit, uh, artificial intelligence, large language model, uh, uh. Entities, so is, you know, we’re we’re just talking about the, the open AI remaining nonprofit, which, which is very, which is promising so far, like as Gene is saying. Yeah, this is a great topic for our 750th Tony Martignetti nonprofit radio show. Tony, you’ve brought so many. Different experts onto your show. You’ve helped so many people over over 15 years. It’s just, it’s just truly truly amazing. It’s a labor of love, um, and now I get to do it each week, uh, with Kate. Um, so we’re talking about production, Kate. Well, what, uh, how do you feel, how do you feel about what we produce each week? Oh well, I always look forward to it because I get to come and meet with my uncle on Zoom and that’s always a lot of fun with my godfather, you know, I get to go bother him, um. It feels good to put something out each week, um, something that you’re obviously passionate about, and I’m starting to become passionate about it just by listening to it, to our show each week. Um, and it’s something that I can like now talk about with others and be like, hey, I’m doing this podcast with my uncle, and this is what we’re doing, and this is how we’re um helping people. No, I’m glad, I’m glad. Like you feel empowered and uh you’re spreading, spreading the word of the the value of nonprofits in our country. That’s awesome. I, I’m very glad to hear that. That’s awesome. What kind of skills have you picked up, Kate, since you’ve been doing this endeavor? Have you picked up any new skills? Well, on the more like production side, um, Tony has taught me how to use Audacity. Um, it’s not something that I personally use every day, but he was able to like teach me what he knows if I did ever want to produce something of my own, uh, vocally, so that’s pretty cool. Cause I had no clue how to do anything with like a mic. I didn’t know how to, I guess, edit my voice if I’m too loud or too soft, that kind of thing. Nice, it’s good. I’m glad, yeah, very glad. And uh in a couple of weeks, your family will be visiting and we’ll be doing the show side by side. From from my studio office every late August, yes, right. Scott, You’re gonna do another song for us. Um, I wanna remind folks you’re the best place to buy your music. It’s is it bandcamp.scottstein, did you say it’s the other way around. It’s stein.bandcamp.com. Thank you. OK, but you’re also of course on Apple, Spotify. Yes. Indeed this song intro song for us. It actually brings us back to an earlier conversation because I always tell people this is a song about what happens when like you begin by hearing your favorite song. Um, you maybe you hear it on the radio and then you hear it in a bar, and then as years pass, eventually you hear it at CVS. Yeah, so, uh, that’s, that’s what I’ll say and, and, you know, our, our, our coping mechanisms. This is, this is a newish song. Uh, it has not been recorded yet, so maybe at some point in the future it will be available commercially. And I assume my keyboard’s coming through. OK, yes. Yes, and your balance is, is very good. Yes. All right, here we go. The alarm goes off early in the morning and I roll on out of bed. Last night’s dream still running through my head. And and the day. I’m We live out on a quiet little street, on a quiet little block. Kind of Way you can leave the doors unlocked. And at the Hear the I Come I we didn’t have a kid. One Yeah First. When let’s turn I’m trying to long Yeah. Yeah. Oh No No, it’s almost And I And that’s Find Fantastic, Scott. Thank you. Driving too fast. Thank you. I’ll go a new direction, but I don’t know where, uh, I’ll find a new direction, but I don’t know where it goes. A lot of you, you see some brilliant lyrics. You do, you do some, you turn some very good phrases. Yes, outstanding. Thank you. Thank you. Scott, it was, uh, it was show number 158, uh, in 2013, September of 2013 when you first. Debuted Cheap Red wine, uh, as our as our theme song, so number 158 to 750, uh, I, I get inspiration from Cheap Red wine. I listen to it on my own time as well. Um, I just love it. I, I, I’m so glad that we got connected by the, your attorney friend and my attorney Joe Becker. Yeah, uh, and, and that the red wine is a part of nonprofit radio for so long. So thank you. Thank you. I’ll put a quick plug in. He’s going professionally now as JR Becker, author of a number of children’s books, which have done really well. So if, if you have kids, you’re looking for like thought provoking children’s, uh, excuse me, children’s books, like, yeah, his stuff is great. JR Becker, a humble you are throwing to somebody else. A lot of artists wouldn’t do that. Well, you got to have a network of people who support you, right? And, and it works when you better when you support in kind. I was very gracious. Thank you. Claire, Claire Meyerhoff, you joined your first show was show number 2. Single digits. Show number two was July 23rd of 2010, and we talked about 15. That’s amazing. We talked about storytelling and jargon. Yes, jargon jail. I developed jargon jail thanks to you. Yes, I still put folks in jargon jail. So that’s, uh, thank you very much. I love having you as a creative producer. Thank you. You’re welcome, Tony. Gene, you, you joined next, uh, you joined the show number 7, was your first show with us in August of 2010. So just a month later, uh, a month after we started show number 7, and that was the show when we had, uh, uh, um, Stephanie Strom was also on the show. She used to be, uh, she used to be the New York Times reporter, but Gene, you’ve been with us a long time. Thank you very much. It’s always been my pleasure and, and also to, to often be in jargon jail. No, well, I, I, you, you, you always skirt jargon jail cause you explain things. Amy, you joined, uh, you joined in, uh, show number 100. It was July of 2012. Yeah, the bar was high. It was like there’s live music. There’s all these other people like I guess this is the show every time. No, that was just because it was the 100th show. And, and, uh, that was my first time we announced that we had 1000 listeners. Now of course we have over 13,000 each week. But now Kate will get to experience what I got to experience in the early days of getting to sit next to each other at your microphones in the studio. Yeah, that’s right. That’s right. You can really cut Tony off on his jokes a lot faster than the Zoom does it, you know. Yeah, well, that’s not a good practice. We don’t want to do that. Uh, yes, we were both in New York City. You would, of course, we would come into Sam’s studio. We’d be side by side, and Kate joined. Kate joined in, uh, show number 645, which was June 2023. Uh, it started as something fun. I, I, I, uh, her family was visiting and I wanted to try it out because she has, she’s a trained professional and, uh, in voice and I just love the way it sounded so we’ve been with it since. That’s so sweet. Yeah, no, it’s a lot of fun. You came to me and you were like, well, I need to do my show. Do you wanna do the sponsors and kind of introduce people? And I was like, yeah, I’ll try. I was a little nervous. But then I ended up really enjoying it and you ended up enjoying it and now I’m here. Absolutely, yeah. So thanks to each of you, uh, it, it wouldn’t be. It wouldn’t be nonprofit radio without each of you, each of you, so thank you. And our listeners, I’m speaking to you, dear listener. Thank you. Thank you, thank you for your support, uh, um, talking right to you. Thank you for listening, thank you for being with us. It wouldn’t be nonprofit radio. Podcast, uh, you know, a podcast without listeners, uh, that’s called a diary. So we’re not a diary. We’re a podcast and I’m grateful that we have you as a listener with us. Thank you. But Tony, you need some gratitude also because In 15 years, I, uh, you know, I was not Claire or Jean, so, but came in at 100, so still somehow I’ve been here for 650 of these and you have changed. The show has evolved, you It’s hard to change. Humans are not good at change, and you have been open to change, to supporting the sector, to meeting people where they are, and I just want to give you some flowers. Thank you. Thanks very much, Amy. It, it, it’s, it’s, it’s a, it’s a, it’s an honor to do the show and to help our community. And so I’m, that’s why I’m grateful to each of you for helping us because we’re all contributing, we’re all helping the nonprofit community. We’re doing it through Tony Martignetti nonprofit Radio. Claire, you have a little ode to radio. I do, Tony, because I’ve just known you for so long and every year we talk about this anniversary show. Oh, what are we gonna do? And we’ve done skits, right? We’ve done like all kinds of crazy things, quizzes and skits over the years. So this year I thought I would just write you a little poem. So here is my ode, it’s on my. On my phone. Here is my ode to Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio. So many shows, thousands here. 13,000 people. 15th year. It’s a podcast to help nonprofit folks with shared expertise peppered with jokes, show after show, guest after guest, Tony features only the best. 15 years now, an epic feat. 750 shows, each one a treat. Because Tony strives for podcast perfection. All is moving in the right direction to host a podcast week after week takes commitment and time. It’s not for the meek. It’s for a guy like Tony who cares a great deal, cuts through the noise, keeps it real, hosting his show with zeal and zest, educating, pontificating, and all the rest. Well, this ode is now nearing its end, written by Claire, Tony’s longtime friend. So Tony, for you, I offer three cheers and for nonprofit radio, best wishes for the next 15 years. Thank you, Claire Zeal and zest. Thank you, Claire. That’s very sweet. I wrote, I wrote that last night while watching Boardwalk Empire, which I love. I sat there and came up with my little poem on my, on my iPhone, and you know, I was inspired all about this, you know, radio show because this happens to be the 40th anniversary of Live Aid, which was the huge contest, uh, concert at Wembley Stadium in in London to benefit, um, you know, the problems in Africa with, you know, starvation and the situation. And you know, Queen performed this massive 21 minute set that’s just epic that that people watch over and over again. And, you know, when when Freddie Mercury sings the Radio Gaga and and that and that song, it’s it’s really an ode to radio, which at the time. You know, radio was being threatened by this new MTV thing and and music videos and would radio die. And I can’t believe in 1983 that they wrote this song, especially these lyrics in it, you’ve had about radio, you’ve had your time, you’ve had your power, you’ve yet to have your finest hour. What did Queen mean by that? In 1982, the finest hour. But it possibly have been, I don’t know, looking into the future and being podcast. And all we hear is. There is Wow. Uh their, their own tribute to radio, absolutely right, yeah. I’m gonna cry. Someone still loves you. That’s all. Um, I’ve, I’ve heard that, uh, I’ve saw, I saw in a couple places that uh Lady Gaga is named for that song. Her, her love of that song, uh, is why she chose Lady Gaga. Um, so, oh, Claire, thank you again for the ode. Oh, I’m glad you like it, you know, I’m not much of a poet, and I know it, but I have written many a birthday, bridal shower, funeral. I’ve written lots of lots of poems for friends when they say I don’t know what I’m gonna say, I’ll say, well, you know, let’s write a little poem and I’ll I’ll come up with a little, just a little little poem like that little ode to my friend Tony. Who works so hard because people don’t realize the amount of work that goes into a podcast, to booking guests, to, you know, actually, you know, organizing the whole thing, writing it, you know, all the little things that go into it and for Tony, for you to do it week after week. 750 shows, 50 shows a year. And some people can manage like one podcast a month. They, you know, they do a podcast for a little while and it falls off. There was an article in the New York Times a few years ago that said like the average podcast, remember that, Tony, that the average podcast only lasted like so long and then it and then it fell off. Well, look, um, I, Michelle Obama’s podcast did not last. We had Bruce Springsteen and Barack Obama had a podcast together. They, yeah, and all, both of those podcasts, Michelle Obama was by herself, uh, Barack and Bruce had were co-hosts. Those two podcasts, uh, are, are survived by Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio. We started before them and we’re continuing and they’ve, uh, they’ve, they’ve tanked. You know, I, I’ve read about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and how they, they got this great deal with Spotify, right, to do all these podcasts. But they could never really get it done. They just did like a little bit and I read that, you know, they would go into meetings and, and have these highfalutin ideas about like, oh, let’s interview like Putin and Trump together. Like that wouldn’t that be a great podcast? Well, yeah, that would be a great podcast. But do you like know these people, can you, can you book these guests? And your podcast failed, you know, as far as I know, and then Spotify just said, you know, see you, because it’s the content. Like, if you can’t make the content, it doesn’t matter who you are. If you can’t create that content, if you can’t show up week after week and get your guests to show up, because that’s, that’s a hard thing is to book the guests and get the time and, and, uh, put it all together. Well, that’s why radio was such an important influence for me because the shows I mentioned and, and just every, every radio show has to, has to produce some daily like the Brian Lehrer Show, uh, it was daily and still is, and, uh, Car Talk was weekly, but you know, the, you know, again, those early influences and every other, every other show I used to listen to, uh, on WNEW, you know, the hosts had to show up for their 4 hour block, right, every day. And I guess, you know, that’s the, that’s the inspiration that’s why it’s Tony Martignetti nonprofit. Radio 750 shows. Wow. And that’s 15 years. So in, in 15 more years, we’ll have what, 1500 shows in 15 years. How old will we be? Uh, we will. I’ll be 78. Oh my God, we can do that. We can do that. I’ll, I’ll, I’m gonna keep working until I become a dinosaur and nobody will hire me anymore. But that’s, that has nothing to do with nonprofit radio. The podcast will continue even after I’m a dinosaur. All right, um, the time has come for me to say thank you. Thanks very much for every, for you being with us for the 7 50th. I look forward to these every single year for a month in advance. Uh, we’ve been counting down on the show. Kate knows, uh, 334 weeks ago I started counting down every single show. It’s 2 weeks away, so. Uh, we’re here. So thank you. Thanks to each of you, and again, thank you to our listeners. Thank you for listening to Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio. We, we wouldn’t be a podcast without you. We, we’d be a diary. Scott, this beautiful song that I licensed, so, so glad, as I said, that, uh, uh, now, uh, JR JR Burton, is it Becker JR Becker brought us together, uh, cheap red wine. Uh, I, I love adding it to the beginning and end of each and every show, please. Well, thank you so much. I’m happy to do it and congratulations. 750, my goodness. So thank you. All right, here we go. just keep on talking I. romantic advice from a I’m looking for I’m a. Now promise Liver diamonds. They won’t tight to the kind of clothing that I wear. I. I’m I Does promises the people can kiss our asses. No a Oh Oh. If you missed any part of this week’s show, I beseech you. Find it at Tony Martignetti.com. Our creative producer is Claire Meyerhoff. I’m your associate producer Kate Martignetti. The show’s social media is by Susan Chavez. Mark Silverman is our web guy, and this glorious live music is by Scott Stein. Yeah. Thank you for that affirmation, Scotty. Oh bye. Be with us next week for nonprofit radio, big nonprofit ideas for the other 95%. Go out and be cool. Always so much better lives, Scott. Oh, thank you.
