KFC Radio State Of The Union

What a weekend. What an event. Two shows, both 1,100 person sell outs. Lotta laughs, lotta memories. Boston was incredible.

And so now lets talk. Been a lot of dramatics on Twitter over the weekend, sort of intentionally by me, and now the people want to get some clarity on what will happen with KFC Radio. So here’s the deal:

KFC Radio – the name and the brand and weekly podcast – will live on. Its going to take on a different form with different people. Me, Feits, Asa Akira, and Super Producer BC are going to continue KFC Radio. Asa is now a full time employee. She’s one of the most intriguing people I’ve ever met. I’m fascinated by her. Shes a walking contradiction in some respects. She’s smart, funny, relatable, and then obviously has this other side of her where she has outrageous porn star stories. Shes one of a kind, I think finally having a female point of view is invaluable, and I have more chemistry with her than almost anyone. I say almost because the guy I undoubtedly have the most chemistry with is Feitelberg. Over the years there would be 2 man episodes I did with John and deep down in places I wouldnt want to admit I actually always thought those episodes were better than the ones we did with Dan. Just honesty and laughs off the charts. And after 5 long years, your boy Brendan Clancy is making the jump and joining Barstool full time. Which is pretty fucking awesome. Shout out to him for escaping the cubes. He’s gonna continue that roll as a producer co-host. He and I were able to build 2 pretty damn successful podcasts with only just me being an actual employee. He was able to contribute like 90 minutes of his time per week to podcasting. Now he’s gonna be doing 40 hours minimum. The possibilities are now endless. Potential limitless. The 4 of us are going to take Mailtime and KFC Radio basically roll it into one, and I’ll explain why…

From the jump once we shifted our focus to podcasts, theres been a lot of confusion between Mailtime and KFC Radio. If you’re an avid listener of both shows, its not that hard. I personally dont understand what all the fuss is. Mailtime is a more traditional podcast with long form interviews, discussions, and themes. KFC Radio is essentially a “call in” show that is guys being guys. Locker Room Talk, shout out to POTUS. But, if you’re a new listener, or more importantly, advertiser, apparently there is some confusion. What is Mailtime? How is it different? Are the other guys on that show as well? Why is there 2? Yada yada yada. These are the questions Dave and clients have been asking us for months. To be honest I sort of understand it. When B Clance and I started the podcasts, we did it from a content point of view. Not a sales point of view. We never once put any thought into how to maximize it monetarily before rolling them out. It was all from a content and brand point of view. Record and publish, ask questions later. The name “KFC Radio” was initially just something we chose when there was only one show, and I wanted to get my own name on something. Then it grew into 2 shows. Then the idea grew to try and create a podcast network. At that point, a very long term future of Barstool wasnt necessarily a sure thing, and so those were the first steps we took to perhaps starting something that we could maintain if Barstool ever disappeared for me.

And so as a result, I ended up in no man’s land. Half a network, half a show, and some major brand confusion. I also think that we were actually too ahead of the curve with starting the podcasts. The launch and publicity that Pardon My Take and The Dave Portnoy Show got were massive. Meanwhile Mailtime and KFC Radio were kind of grandfathered in. Our iTunes pages were too established long term and in the Comedy category, so there was just never any chance of that #1 ranking. So here’s the bottom line – the iTunes channel KFC Radio performs better than Mailtime, theres too much confusion in the marketplace, and so I am taking my two podcasts and rolling them into 1. So KFC Radio will be twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday). Tuesday’s show will feature elements of Mailtime (themes, interviews, and Cube Monkey life), Thursday’s show will continue to be voicemails. Its a chance to have a fresh start, under the new Barstool which is a podcast juggernaut, shout out to me. I’ve never had a full time producer or full time co hosts or the support of the company until now, and that all makes me very very excited.

I’ve seen some rumblings on twitter and Reddit and what not that this is somehow Dan and Pardon My Take’s “fault.” Like Dan wanted this to happen. Which is completely untrue. Although the jokes on twitter that PFT was Yoko Ono made me laugh. But no, this was a decision made by myself and the people above us that are much smarter when it comes to media strategy. Pardon My Take is BRILLIANT. Calling it a massive success is an understatement. It blows every other show we do out of the water. And so the fucking moon (alien spaceship) is the limit for them. I mean there could be a PMT TV show, movie, book, whatever. There will come a day when theres an official PMT tour of some sort just like KFC Radio live. And logically you just cant have a guy like Dan doing two major franchises like that. Theres not enough hours in a day, and ultimately its impossible to be torn in two different directions like that. I’ve always been more focused on my shows than the Rundown or anything else I’m asked to do at Barstool, thats just human nature. Its not fair to me, and its not fair to Hank and PFT, to expect Dan to be giving 100% to both brands. I’ve seen some people saying “why cant they just continue to show up for an hour a week?” Which is true. John and Dan could continue to just show up, fire off the cuff, and we could do voicemails for eternity. But KFC Radio with the three of us isnt growing anymore. Its a bare bones production and there are about 175,000 people that listen to it every week but thats not enough. We need growth, we need new audiences. We want to take over the world. Not just “show up for an hour per week.” I needed people who are going to be fully invested and thats what John, Asa and BC are. The way Hank and Dan and PFT are constantly brainstorming and working on Pardon My Take is what I’ve DREAMED of for my podcasts and now I’ve assembled a team thats going to do that. Dan made it explicitly clear he did NOT want to stop doing KFC Radio, but I told him I couldnt, in good conscience, hold back both his show and mine.

So thats what all the talk about the “end” was this weekend. Its the end of me, John and Dan doing a Friday show every week. Which is completely fine, folks. We had a good run. It was the first iteration of Barstool podcasts, and with the new company in NYC it makes sense to close the book on that era and try something new. Nobody is leaving Barstool. Nobody is dying. Yet. And most importantly we’re going to continue doing live shows. The current plan is that once a month, me John and Dan still get together and do voicemails on a couch. I want to call it the (Pod)Casting Couch. Once a month we’re in the office recording, every other month, we do it live. So maybe like 6 times a year we’re live from a comedy club in NYC or a major theater in Chicago, Boston, Philly, maybe San Fran. Because there is NO fucking chance I am stopping what I did this weekend. Maybe its the three of us, maybe its my new Dream Team, maybe its a one man show, maybe its a live show with guests, I dont know yet. But there will 100% continue to be live shows like The Wilbur this weekend because that scene was surreal and a dream come true. From an accounting cube to sweating on stage in front of 1,100 people and ultimately hearing them chanting your name was something I could never take for granted and just let end.

Pardon My Take will be better than ever. KFC Radio will be better than ever. It will be different. There will be a transition and some growing pains. I’m sure there will be diehards that complain that my new version isnt the same, and thats ok. I understand that and I appreciate that. But 2 things: 1) To be honest Dan was sort of phasing out unintentionally this past year anyway, and I still think KFC Radio was putting out classic episodes even as that happened, and 2) I think I really have a chance to put together a Howard Stern type of show with Asa Feits and BC. A Breakfast Club type of vibe. Good guests and great, honest discussion.

I’ll never forgot the 150+ episodes I did specifically with those 2 guys but I’m more excited for what lies ahead for me and this podcast than for whats behind me. Subscribe to the KFC Radio iTunes channel and in a couple weeks after Thanksgiving is when everyone in my team will officially be working at Barstool and we launch the new and improved KFC Radio. Thanks for all the support the past 5 years but the best way to show that appreciation is to continue to support for the next 5.