Hey everybody, welcome to Poduty and the News for Saturday,
March 3rd, 2026. I've got Toni Will joining me from Women
in... Podcasts and EmpowHer. We got a great episode coming
up, 6 live stories about live podcasting.
Toni, I have one question for you. Do you know what time it is?
Yeah, it's 10:01 AM Eastern. Oh, it's time for
Poduty
and the News.
Poduty
and the News,
the only live news podcast about
podcasting from the state.
Poduty
and the News. Poduty and the News, the
only live news podcast about podcasting
Toni, welcome to the show. Hey, thanks, it's so good to be
here. Oh, so glad to have you. It's a Saturday morning, it's finally— I think
winter has broken here in Western Pennsylvania. We're gonna have like 70 degrees
and thunderstorms, so that's kind of like Western PA spring.
You know what, I'm in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and it's similar. There will not be
the 70s, but it will be warmer than
the winter we've had, so we'll take it. Well,
when I ask guests to be on the show, I always look for things that
are parallel, and you have some great experience. You have some great coaching
experience, you have TEDx experience, you're a podcast host, you're
producing events. I couldn't think of a better person to talk about 6 live
podcast stories with on a Saturday morning than you, Toni.
I'm excited to do this. This is gonna be fun, and I love what
you're putting together here. Plus, that theme song is pretty kick-ass, so
That's my jam. Well, tell us a little bit about the Women In
podcast and the EmpowHer coming up. You got coming up, you said next
week? Yes. So, Women In...
is a podcast I created nearly 2 years ago.
My day job is a general manager and governor of a men's
AA professional hockey team. And I have found
that one of my passions is lifting women up in male-dominated
industries because not surprising, hockey is actually
one of the most white and male-dominated sports, both
inside the sport, not just the athletes but the front office,
as well as the audience and the, the fans and the season
ticket holders. So I decided to create a space
to lift women up. I have men and women on the podcast,
and because men came from women, uh, men have
important women in their lives. And, uh, I,
I just felt like we want to talk about those people as well as the
story of the person I'm interviewing. So that's what we're doing, about
165 episodes in, and I'm just,
I can't, I don't have enough time on my calendar to do all the interviews
that are sent my way. So, it's a pretty
fun space to be in. That's incredible. And
is there a single point you'd like to send people to, to just get a
flavor for, to start, you know, experiencing the Women in Podcasting?
toniwill.com. If you click on Explore, every
episode is dropped there, but it is on every single podcast
platform you could think of that you've heard of or haven't heard of.
It's search women in dot dot dot. You got it.
Awesome. And the EmpowHer coming up next weekend, same
link, I can find it through toniwill.com? Yes, that is an actual
event I put on. It's a conference to lift women up professionally or
personally. And at the end of the conference, we go to a K-Wings,
Kalamazoo Wings, the team I general manage, a hockey game. And it's our annual
Green Ice game. That is what we're known for in Kalamazoo, Michigan
next Saturday. And that's at toniwill.com as well.
Awesome. Oh, like they actually do turn the ice green?
We do. We turn the ice green. We dye it green. We started that back
in 1982, and it started with green ice for St.
Patrick's Day. And over the years it's evolved, and we are the only
team actually in professional hockey to dye the ice rainbow. We do that every year
as well. That's incredible. Check it out. I'll put all those links in
the show notes. Check it out at news.poduty.com.
Toni, are you ready for our stories? I am. I'm
excited about this. So lay them on me. I try. I really tried to
find a live hockey podcast, but I couldn't find any. I did find some sports
podcasts that are doing live events, and this is very important to what we're talking
about. How do you connect your show with your community? How do you find
the people that are interested in what you're talking about? Many times you just
go to where they're at, and this is a great example. The Players Box
Podcast has taken over the Foundation Plaza stage at the Miami Open
and going live on day one at the Hard Rock Stadium.
Madison, Jessica, Desiree, and Jennifer are turning a major
WTA tournament into a live podcast activation.
And this is what I love about this. The grounds are free that day.
The fans are already there, and now you're giving them access to
personality, humor, and behind-the-scenes stories in real time.
This is athletes owning their voice, building audience, and creating an
experience beyond the match This is exactly where
podcasting live wins. And this is something
I talk about here at this theater space is get in front of your audience,
get in front of the people who are interested. And they're taking this experience
to a tournament. They love tennis. They're talking tennis with tennis fans.
It's free, open to the public. It's— they have nearly
11,000 YouTube subscribers and they started this last year. So this is already
year 2. They're coming back to do it again. Which means they must
have found some success and they were invited back to do their show again.
And this is kind of that model of
embedding yourself where your audience is. And I just love this
strategy for any podcast, no matter what you talk about.
Go find where your audience is, sit down with them, enjoy
conferences and events like this. And any kind of takeaways
that you had from the live event here at the Miami Open?
Yeah. So this is an area as a podcaster
that I have stepped into, and I find it to be
really important from brand building and building an audience. I just did a live
podcast in front of 400 people last week in St. Louis for the
National Sports Forum, and this is the second year I've done that. And again, as
I talked about my podcast, Women In, it's about lifting women up. So what
a great activation throughout this 4-day event
in St. Louis to lift women up have men come and
witness the podcast too. And so, the audience
is growing, the message is well received, and I'm doing it again at my conference
at Empowher. And that guest that I'm interviewing at that is my
husband. And so, to talk about being married to a
type A driven person, so my audience can really
relate to that as I'm trying to empower these women. So, it is, I
tell you, it's hands down one of a great idea and to
lean more into that as a podcaster, I think is smart.
And you referenced something very important that I've been talking about a lot,
and you're executing on this idea, which is part of the
entertainment now at conferences isn't just having a music
act between sessions or keynotes or a comedian come up on
stage. Many times part of the experience of a
conference now is a live podcast. They're even
replacing panels in many cases where instead of having a panel of 4
people answering questions from the audience. They're bringing
in podcasts as the entertainment. Is that something that, that you're looking
at now and you're actually doing, I think, now at the EmpowHer?
Yeah, I'm doing it now. And I did it even at, like,
summer league meetings. I do it at that because I created a women
in sports resource group within our league, within the ECHL. And we do summer
meetings and I bring the podcast there too. It is
a great way for the audience to engage and learn
something new without it being a conference setting because
people get tired after going session to session to session. So,
this is a great way. If you're a podcaster, figure out a way to pitch
yourself to these type of conferences or meetings or
events in a way that is people are still learning.
So, there's value, but it's not the same old
panel or keynote or things like that. Yeah, I love hearing
that you're doing that. That's incredible. It's such a great strategy. A great way to
really bring the community together around that central topic. You
know that they're already interested in what you talk about because they're there. Why
not entertain them with the, the thoughts and the leadership of
the industry that you're already immersed in? Share those ideas and
concepts in real time. Give them the value that they came
to get, and you can get that from a live podcast setting.
Couldn't agree more. Well, let's go to story
number 2. This one's one that we see a lot happening on
universities. Not only are conferences bringing in entertainment as
podcasts, but universities now are embracing podcasting
as entertainment. And Brittany Broski is taking her audience from the screen to
the stage at Syracuse University with A Royal Evening with
Brittany Broski. She built nearly 15 million
followers online, launched one of the top stream podcast debuts
in the country with The Broski Report, and now she's filling
auditoriums with students who want to see it live. The event is
free, it's first-come, first-served, and that tells you something
important. Universities are understanding that creators are culture.
When you bring that energy into a live room, you create a connection that
algorithms cannot replicate. That's the power of the
live podcasting style events, and this is free for all students.
The university is covering the cost. It's in the Goldstein
Auditorium. She was named one of Forbes 30 Under
30 as a content creator. And this is
another example of a university embracing
podcasting as entertainment, keeping kids entertained, keeping them
motivated, and showing them what's possible after they leave
their, you know, their 4 years of education. Yeah, I want to point out
something really cool about her show is the utilization
of her name. Broski, and with that
college audience, I think that's super smart.
And I've been guests on podcasts where they've used
their name, their last name, as a way to, I don't
know, double entendre or just be clever and draw
in an audience. And I should have done that with my name. I don't know
why I haven't, but maybe one day. But not
Toni, the Will part. But I like the use of her name and also the
free. Free to drive people in because the free
equals followers and then you can monetize.
Yeah, I was going to tell you, you have a great name, especially for a
website to have an 8-letter domain name. It's balanced. First name, last name
are both 4 letters. It's perfectly balanced. I wouldn't change too much about it.
Toni Will is the brand. I know. And it's weird
when you're your own brand, like your name is your brand. Anyway, that's a whole—
it's like a weird bipolar thing. But yeah, I mean, Broski Report.
I mean, come on. Brilliant. We call this
the— you said the double alliteration— we have the Padute Podcast, and then
theater always bothers me. The Padute Podcast Theater. I love to have the triple
P sound, but I just, I don't know what to put in there instead of
a theater. We'll have to think about that.
Well, let's think about it on our next story, where true crime takes
the stage. At the Departure Music Conference in Toronto, Alan
Cross is taking his podcast Uncharted: Crime and
Mayhem in the Music Industry, and performing it live at the Jane
Malley Theatre. This is a true crime music podcast
stepping into full stage presentation inside a major
industry conference. Presales are launching, tickets are moving,
and this proves something important. When you build a strong
narrative podcast, you are not limited to just downloads. You can put it
on the stage, sell seats, turn it into experience, This
is the evolution of podcasting. This is happening during a conference
from May 4th to 10th. It's like an industry event for music,
and his performance will be May 7th. And this is that
blend again of conferences with a podcast crossover. It's
an all-ages event. They're bringing in everybody. They're talking music and crime.
What better way to spend a week? I gotta tell you,
this, this one is brilliant. And I don't know the stats, but True
crime is a hobby for some people, like the listenership
in that area. And you're looking at a big true crime fan
right here. I mean, I have a— I was watching Dateline this morning.
Okay. The most recent episode. So this is a big market. And
the fact that they partnered it with music, I don't know how you get
any better. I'll be intrigued to see the outcome of that event. Really
cool. All these things that we talk about. There's probably
something similar happening near you. So when you see the independent
media creators doing an event in your hometown, go support them.
There's probably a music podcast doing something live at a bar or a venue.
There's probably true crime things happening in your area.
Go check it out. Go support your local area. Support the local
creators. Show them you're coming out. You want to get out. You want more of
these types of events. Absolutely. And then one of the things that I
get often asked about a lot in my professional life, actually in my
personal life too, or creating a podcast, like, how did you know how to do
these things? I'm like, well, I didn't. But I lean on my leadership
pillars that I created in pro hockey to
take me through other parts of my life. And so, leadership pillar number 1 is
go to the experts. So, by going to these shows, to your point,
you're going to another expert. And the leadership pillar number 2 is innovate.
Take that idea and make it your own. And I think that
it's so smart to to think about it that way. And also, you don't need
to know how, just start. Yeah, the
best time to innovate is when you don't fully know everything,
when you're just coming into a new idea, a new topic, a new
industry. Everybody who's in that industry is kind of set in their
ways already. They— it's established. There's a hierarchy. They understand how
things work. That's the order. But you have fresh eyes, you have fresh
perspective, you have experiences from outside that industry that you can
bring in and you may see it completely different. Those first
6 months to a year when you're really diving into
something new, that's when you can mold it, create it your own, and
make something new in that industry that never existed before.
But like Toni says, you have to show up, you have to
do the work, you have to be willing to make mistakes, you have to be
willing to learn and absorb like a sponge. But as you do that,
slowly start to make it your own. You know, Give it your ideas, give it
your perspective, give it your experiences, and make
something completely new in that industry, and you'll start to find an audience.
Absolutely. And you hit on leadership pillar number 3, and I didn't— you didn't even
know I had these things, but it's make mistakes. So you nailed it.
Is it in the book? We'll get the— I'll put the link in the book
when it comes out. They are— all this stuff is in my book.
Yeah. Well, I don't— if you're not announcing it yet, but once you do announce
it, we will have the link to purchase it in the, in the show notes.
Yeah, well, yeah, the book goes on sale Friday, so I can announce whatever you
need, right? Whenever you're ready. Well, then the link— the link— because
there are preorders available. Yeah, that's what goes on Friday. Rebellious Success,
Friday, March 13th. Oh, all right. We'll have that in the show
notes. Let's go to our next story. Keep it
rolling. I think on this one, this is 540
episodes from— this is one of those industries where you never thought
you'd hear a podcast from. And I love hearing new ideas and
new industries doing podcasting. And this is the Cleveland Moto
Podcast. They just dropped their episode number 540,
and that's the kind of longevity that tells you something important about podcasting.
This is a niche show built around motorcycle culture, road
trips, gear talk, and a tight community of riders who keep coming
back week after week. The numbers aren't massive, but the connection
is real, and that's exactly why niche podcasts survive.
When you serve a passionate community, the audience sticks with you for
years. And when you have that kind of loyalty, turning a podcast into
live events becomes a natural next step.
And this isn't performed necessarily in front of an audience at a
theater, but they're doing live streams every day. They're recording their show
and you can see it's a big cast that's there. There's 4 or 5
people in the room. There's a person on the live stream that pops in.
And they all have great nicknames. There was
Steve Sleepy, Johnny Mac, Speedy Pete, and they brought up a guy
named Robot. So that part I loved as much. And they're talking about
bikes and riding motorcycles through Mexico, travel stories. I
even heard a tip of where they bought a bike somewhere in
South America, they rode it up through Mexico, and then they sold the
bike for the same amount of money they purchased it for. And
it was a zero-cost trip. It was like, this is the
kind of thinking that's so outside the box that you would never think about.
How do I travel for free? Well, I learned to ride a motorcycle, I buy
it, and then I sell it for the same price I bought it. It's
brilliant. And this speaks to this niche
podcast, and it's not always about the number
of downloads or anything like that, because
clearly they're passionate about the topic they're talking about,
and there's a lot to be said about being passionate
about what you're putting out in the world because
540 episodes is tremendous. And then
you've got that synergy of, in that photo you showed, 5
gentlemen that are passionate about the same thing and collaborating
together. And then there's that business side of it, of being able to
travel and have that experience for free. What a cool experience to talk about.
Loyalty is just so important to that audience. There's a
whole business model for that too. Yeah, instead of selling
tickets or performing live, they're doing live streams and supported by
Patreon. So people can subscribe, they can get bonus content,
you know, for usually it's $5 to $10 a month depending on your level.
You might get access to special merchandise or exclusive
events, private live streams. So there are other benefits to live
streaming that isn't just in front of an audience at a theater or an
auditorium. You can do it live from your house. You can start to build
this concept of performing podcasts live from, from
literally anywhere in the world now. It's fascinating. It's really
cool. I just wrote down a note about Patreon because I started
one, but I hadn't really— I haven't invested time in it yet because,
uh, getting my book ready to launch. But that is a great way because
podcasts oftentimes for some start out as a
hobby., you know, and I'm looking at it that way, but
it's slowly changing into morphing into something more.
So another great example of a different way to look at this and do
this, podcasting. Podcasting for me, I grew up in
the '80s. I grew up skateboarding. I was a skateboarder for 20
years. I was into punk rock and hip-hop in that
time. Very counterculture activities always draw me in for some
reason. And podcasting is no different. It is the Wild
West. If you have an idea, you can create something, you
can make it your own, and you have full ownership over it, which is
something that I love about this industry, about having that power
to— this is what I created, this is what I put out in the world.
That's how I ended up sitting in this room. I'm sitting in a theater
space because you can do whatever you want, and that power
is You have to control it. You can't go crazy and do whatever you want.
But you're able— it's a very liberating feeling to
create something that you're passionate about, create something you believe
in, create something that you want to share with the world. And you have
full rights to it from start to finish. And that
punk rock tangent also— do you want to add on to that?
No, I would just say that— and maybe you have a podcast about
punk rock. But what you could do if you don't— this is what you got
me thinking. Because as my podcast is turning 2
years I have 2 more podcast ideas in the works up here in
my, what I call my bionic hamster brain, because as I've
learned so much and to have more than one podcast in a niche
area, it's fun to start over again when we were talking earlier about being
new to the space because now you can grow and continue to grow your
brand. Yeah, because for a second there, I was like, why am I talking about
punk rock? I couldn't remember. I had a point, it was to
get to story number 5. I was like, wait, why am I talking about this?
This makes no sense. But the transition is Green Day
frontman Billie Joe Armstrong recently joined the Men in Blazers podcast for
a live event in San Francisco. And it shows exactly where
podcasting is heading. Instead of traditional interviews on television
or radio, he's now sitting in front of a live audience talking
about soccer, music, East Bay culture, and the community spirit
behind teams like Oakland Roots. When podcasts move onto the
stage, the conversation becomes part interview, part
storytelling, and part shared experience with the live audience. That
energy is something you simply cannot recreate in a
studio. And obviously he was in, I believe, San Francisco for the Super Bowl,
did a Super Bowl show before the game
started with the band Green Day. But now he's sticking around.
He's doing these extra appearances, going on podcasts in front of audiences.
Now you hear and see a different side of Billie
Joe Armstrong, not just this musician who performs on stage,
these fast-paced, uptempo songs, but he also does other
things. He has other interests, and he loves talking about that and
sharing those stories with what could be a brand new
audience. Absolutely. And by the way, is he getting younger? Is he like
Benjamin Button? Because that picture of him, he looks like he's not aged a
bit. Yeah, it was like 35 all forever.
Yeah, but I love this idea of
celebrity, you know, in person again, drawing because of
what we were experiencing literally 6 years ago to this day,
this time of COVID and that pendulum now is
swinging back to gathering together. And then you add the layer
of celebrity, men in blazers, and I would be remiss
if I didn't call out the fact that they had a woman on that
stage as well. And I think that's really important when we're talking
about, you know, these type of
endeavors. Oh no, I'm going to my next slide, but I put the wrong slide
up. We'll fix this in
post. Yeah, so the Billie Joe Armstrong— I'm gonna cut all this
out. This is why I edit the show. I'm off track now. All because of
my one slide. This is what happens. So here's a good lesson for people doing
live shows. If you make a mistake during a live show,
if you don't acknowledge it, nobody knows. This is the secret of
live podcasting. If I didn't say anything and I just didn't put up the next
slide, you would have no idea that I screwed up and that it was just
part of the show. But now look at me, I derailed the whole show.
I have a show about a slide about fish. It's supposed to
be about wrestling. So here we
go. Let's riff it.
Yeah. Let's go to our last story here. Darby Allin found himself in a
bizarre live podcast moment when he was kicked out of an Uber
mid-interview while promoting an upcoming AEW event on
KFMA 102.1. The driver became frustrated that Allin
was speaking on a speakerphone during the ride pulled over and ordered
him out of the vehicle. Allen calmly finished the
interview from the side of the road, creating an unintentionally
memorable example of how live podcasting can
produce unexpected, unpredictable, viral
moments. And this is what I love about podcasting. What you just heard
me ramble through because I screwed up the last story,
now that's part of the show. It's part of what happened in the moment. And
that's what happened. He was en route to go somewhere, had to do an
interview, pulled the interview up on the phone, had a great connection, had
great sound, and the Uber driver flipped out on
him, threw him out of the car on the side of the highway.
That's just the unpredictability of live events, and that was something I really
loved seeing. I mean, come on, talk about
just being human, and it's just a real-life
experience. And kudos to this gentleman for doing a
live podcast while traveling. I don't know that I would
have it in me to even attempt that because I need to focus.
But there's so much about this that I love and that's courageous,
quite frankly. But the human side of this and then, yeah, that's going to
go viral. So, brilliant. And he was very
courteous. He was like, "Is it okay if I just finish?" He was asking
permission and the Uber driver just wasn't having it. The
gentleman handled it so well. Got out of the car. He's like, I guess I'm
going to do the interview from the side of the highway. There's tractor trailers,
there's cars zipping by at 80 miles an hour, and it was just chaos.
But he continued it and it was a great interview. It brought— it did
bring a lot of attention to the AEW and this wrestler in
particular. Yeah. And I would say that I haven't— I didn't listen to it, but
I will. I'm assuming there was a dash of
humor in that, a little levity in his situation. And that's always great
to bring to a podcast. I think even with heavy topics, sometimes to
just lighten it up is very relatable to the
audiences. Yeah, the world around him was crumbling. He kept it
positive. He kept it upbeat. He kept the show moving. And he
did the opposite of what I just did. So that was my segue into
this story. And you nailed
it. Toni, this goes by so fast. We can't believe we covered
6 stories already. One last thing I do before we say goodbye is
I turn the floor back over to you. Anything you'd like to plug, promote,
talk about, the floor is yours.
Wow, don't hand me the mic, I'll let it go. So yeah, my book,
Rebellious Success, is going on sale. Pre-order starts Friday, March 13th. The
book is about how the reader defines success in
their own way. There is no straight linear line
to how we can define success, and I tell stories about my life, the
not so pretty ones, and how I changed in order to
live the life that I want to live and help others do
the same. It's built off— the framework is built off my TEDx, which you can
see on YouTube, well over half a million views on
that. And my podcast, Women In, where I'm lifting women up.
EmpowHer Conference in Kalamazoo next weekend, Kalamazoo, Michigan.
There really is a Kalamazoo. So, if you haven't been there, please come.
Tickets are still on sale till March 11th. And the last thing I'll say,
and we didn't talk about this today, but one of the things I do is
I coach clients all over the world, thank you technology, to
help reduce or remove alcohol from their lives. I chose to remove alcohol 5 and
a half years ago, and it's allowed me, because I have all this time
back, to write a book, to launch businesses, to have my
podcast, and to do some really great things in the world and help people become
the best versions of themselves. So everything is at that 8-letter
website, toniwill.com. It's
perfectly balanced. It's, it's so good. Uh, I could see like
a logo in a box that's like perfectly, uh, squared
up. But toniwill.com. Toni, thank you so much for joining
us. Do you know what time it is? Yeah, it's 10:30
AM Eastern. What time is
it? Oh,
it's time for
Poduty and the News.
Poduty and the News, the only
live news podcast about podcasting from the
States. Poduty
and the News.
Poduty and
the News. The only live news podcast
about podcasting from the stage.