Episode 54 - Steve Pigott - P2

RYAN: Now talk about the freelance market as it was back then for you. You just talked about how you had, you know, lots of work and too much to do, but what types of jobs are these? You know, retainer station imaging type clients, or are these one-off big massive pieces of production projects, or how is it? What kind of work is this we're talking about?

STEVE: So out the gate, for security reasons, I signed a handful of retainer deals, which was basically I produce X amount of content for this station per month for a certain fee. And I probably had 2 or 3 of those that I would work on, which took majority of my time. And then new projects would come in, like for example, I don't know if you remember the Live 8 concerts.

RYAN: Yeah.

STEVE: That happened a few years ago. And that was really a radio first in the UK. They broadcast the concert on every single commercial station in the UK. So every station came together as one on that one day and broadcasted the same output. And I was chosen to produce the imaging for that, which was a huge, huge win for me. So just projects like that that would come in, and then on top of the retainers, that's where, you know, the work came from.

RYAN: Let's talk about a job like that, the Live 8 concert. Now, first of all, you're talking radio, right? Commercial radio stations?

STEVE: Sure.

RYAN: You know, how do you get that job? Who's the one that said, you know, this is our guy? And I'm, you know, how does that come about?

STEVE: So it all goes back to what I was saying while I was at KISS, working at KISS in London. being in London, you're exposed to everyone that's at the top of the game in the radio industry. Everyone that has made a name for themselves ends up in London. I mean, it's a small country, everyone ends up in the same place.

RYAN: Mm-hmm.

STEVE: So you're in this network full of like the top producers, top presenters, top programmers in the country, and you get to know these people. I mean, It's same in the US. The industry is very, very small. Everybody knows everyone. And because of that, the opportunities come about, you know, these programmers get talking. And Andy Roberts was obviously, he was my boss at KISS, and he was involved in programming the Live Aid concert. And he offered me the work to do the imaging for it.

RYAN: Wow. And obviously you've done, you know, more and larger scale things since then, but at the time, Was that the biggest thing you ever undertook, or what kind of scale was that on as far as jobs you had done?

STEVE: Scale-wise, it felt really good. I mean, it was, you know, it was for a good cause. It was a huge, huge big deal, and it was like national exposure. So I mean, it's a great thing to put on your resume, great thing for the portfolio. So yeah, I mean, I really enjoyed doing that.

RYAN: And you don't need to get specific. I don't ask people to get specific dollar amount or pound amount, you know, dollar amounts. But as far as the money goes, was it a great, a great financial deal for you, or was it more about the exposure and maybe it didn't actually pay as much as one might think?

STEVE: It definitely didn't pay as much as one might think. I mean, it was, it was a decent amount of money and, you know, it paid the bills for a couple of months. But, you know, with it, with it being for a good cause and everything, you have to lower your rates.

RYAN: Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. So, Pure Tonic then becomes something totally different. As you said, the work came flowing in, more than you can handle. Tell me the transition. What, what kind of work did you guys start doing, and how did the staff come about, or your facilities, or all that kind of stuff?

STEVE: Okay, so, first of all, I, I hired a guy called George Taylor who, I— he was at a, a medium market station in the UK And George was really what I consider to be a solid producer at the time. And by that, I mean that, you know, he was technically great, but he was getting claustrophobic in the limitations of that station.

RYAN: Mm-hmm.

STEVE: So, you know, he heard of me, he looked up to me when I was at KISS. He was interested, he used to send me demos just to get my feedback and things. And I really got to know his work, so I hired him. from that station and really worked and coached with him. And now I consider him to be one of the best producers around.

RYAN: Is he with Real World?

STEVE: He is with Real World now. He is the CHR format director for Production Vault. Yeah, so yeah, he was the first hire. And you know, the, the first person you employ is, is really challenging emotionally because like all of a sudden you're responsible for this person, you're responsible for their well-being, you're responsible for their, their financial life basically. So, I mean, yeah, that was a huge stressful time, but George really brought a dimension to the company that we needed at the time. He was someone that I could rely on, someone that would perform and bring the quality that we needed.

RYAN: Get more into what Pure Tonic was actually doing then. I mean, you were a radio imaging guy or a station sound guy, but you guys did many different types of projects over the years, and then especially, music, right? You ended up getting into the, you know, more, original custom music.

STEVE: So yeah, initially, because it was, it started out as, as like an avenue for my freelance projects, it was a handful of, of ad hoc custom imaging projects, coming in from here and there. We, we gained recognition over the years, more and more people started coming to us. we still Kept the retainers. So, KISS in London had a retainer with us, so we would produce the imaging for them, on a monthly basis. and then we started getting interest from the jingle side of things. so we hired a musician to come in and write the music. so it was all done gradually, really. It was really organic in the way it evolved.

RYAN: What had you done previous that would make people think you're the guy to go to for music?

STEVE: Nothing, basically. It was just, it was literally the next logical step. We were an imaging company, there was a need for custom music. People would look to us and go, well, you're imaging people, surely you do jingles. Well, you know, there's not a huge amount of difference between imaging and jingles, it's just the originality of the music that we need.

RYAN: Mm-hmm.

STEVE: So we brought in a musician to do that. And then over time we developed a music library called Radiobeds that was essentially a free service that radio stations would use and pay us royalties on it.

RYAN: Right, right, is it PRS, is that right?

STEVE: Correct, yes.

RYAN: So you gained some American clients and you started to expand over into the States in some way, shape, or form at some point?

STEVE: So the American business really came from the collaboration and relationship with Real World. PureTonic's relationship with Reelworld really started as a simple email. I knew the guys on a client level when I was at KISS, we bought our jingles from them, and after I left KISS, I really wanted to get my work out to a much bigger audience and began to think about a potential syndication service. And Reelworld were the first people I discussed the idea with, and 2 years later, after a lot of collaboration and trips to Seattle, Production Vault was born.

RYAN: And that, that's just pretty crazy that you said it like that. It's just such a massive— it's such a massive thing. so how much of a hand did you have in that throughout its entire lifespan?

STEVE: so I mean, it was a huge collaboration. it started as a, CHR service. so the CHR service was born. I was creating all the content for it myself, and George. And then slowly we began to roll out all the additional formats, because once we saw how popular the CHR one was and the potential, it was a no-brainer to release the whole family.

RYAN: Yeah, and let me step back just a second, 'cause you just— and Production Vault was born, you know, 'cause it's just— so what year are we talking about at that point when Production Vault is conceived?

STEVE: So the initial discussion began in January of 2006, and it was finally released in October 2006. So the period between February and October was building all the launch content.

RYAN: And at this point, you are your own company providing content for, or you're providing a service which is then under the umbrella of Real World, repped, is it repped by Premiere at this point?

STEVE: It is, yes.

RYAN: I'm sorry, like—

STEVE: Well, no, no, no. I mean, when we started developing the service, We, the, the idea was to, to sell it via Real World, and then we really, we really drilled down on what's the best solution from a business perspective, and, the idea of repping it through Premier on a barter basis seemed, seemed like the better option.

RYAN: you said October of '06 when CHR is finally launched. From then until, you know, how long was it until you really you realized, wow, this is going to be huge, stations are signing up, we're expanding formats. How long did it take you to realize the success that you would have?

STEVE: I think we knew it was gonna be successful as soon as we released it in October, just for the way it was panning out, the way the content was sounding, the way that the engine was working. I mean, the website that we developed was really unique for its time. I mean, it would track your downloads, it would tell you the history of what you did. It was really innovative for the time. So we knew kind of out the gate that it was gonna be popular, but we didn't really know to what, you know, how huge it was going to be. so I think 6, probably 6 months after the launch, we really started thinking about rolling out the other formats.

RYAN: Oh, 6 months. Wow. at the time there were some services out there, especially in the CHR field, but, you know, was the competition— I guess what I'm trying to ask is, were you even worried about the products that were currently available because there weren't— it's not like today. There certainly weren't as many as today.

STEVE: I think, you know, as I was a subscriber of Chase Cuts when I was at KISS, seeing that product, it was like, wow, this— these have huge potentials, these, these kind of products. I mean, the fact that they're market exclusive— if one station has Chase Cuts, the other station is locked out. So there really is a need for like another another service for the same caliber as those ones that was existing. So it didn't really worry me about what was out there because I knew the content was solid, I knew they'd perform.

RYAN: And so now let's go through, you know, as we get closer to you actually taking over as CEO at Real World, how many different people did you bring in to work on these products? Was it, was it a fast escalation in talent or was it slow? And how did, how did that sort of side of the business go?

STEVE: It really grew as each service grew. So as, as we released each service, we would add a couple of guys and a couple more guys, and it was really evolving over time.

RYAN: Mm-hmm. So again, eventually you are brought on as the CEO and then co-owner of Real World. What was the— you know, I guess before that you owned Pure Tonic, which provided services via Real World. So, but, but in reality, was it a major change for you? Well, moving, but besides that, was it a major change in your duties?

STEVE: yes, yes and no. I mean, it was essentially, you know, it was, it was like Pure Tonic but on a, on a bigger stick, on a bigger scale. the, the responsibilities were similar, the projects were similar. you know, it was just a, a a different market. I really had to learn the American market. I really had to learn about the barter model. I already knew the staff from the relationships that I had before with Production Vault, so that was kind of an easy transition. So yeah, it was pretty, you know, it's pretty straightforward. I mean, the big thing was integrating both the US and the UK teams together and pool the resources together. which really proved to be, to be pretty, pretty good.

RYAN: yes. Okay. So you say pretty good. Did you still leave, people back in the UK sort of, you know, did, did, I guess, was there any major moves other than you, or did everyone kind of stay where they were and the team stayed the same and, and you just managed, you know, new people now?

STEVE: yeah. So everyone stayed the same. The UK team stayed in the UK. The US team remained here. I just basically Restructured a little bit to, to make both sides of the pond work in synergy.

RYAN: That's cool. So you moved to Seattle, correct?

STEVE: Mm-hmm.

RYAN: what, what do you think of Seattle? You've been there a few years now.

STEVE: it's funny. I mean, when I, first visited Seattle, it was a dreary, rainy week in, in January back in 2006. And I remember turning around to my wife and saying, why would anyone choose to live here? And now, 6 years on, I'm living here and, you know, I absolutely love it. I wouldn't change it for the world.

RYAN: I mean, obviously, you know, you were the CEO, head guy at Real World. You know, I guess my 2 main questions in your overall tenure there, do you have any or really just singular events that stand out as being just huge wins or even the other side, not huge losses per se, but, you know, very big learning lessons? from being at the helm of such a sizable radio creative company?

STEVE: I think the 2 things that stand out, the first one is integrating the 2 teams. I mean, both sides, PureTonic and Real World, the talent that is in those 2 companies, the production level is huge. It's unrivaled in the industry. So combining those together, getting the systems in place so they're all working like a nice oiled engine, That was really rewarding. And then I think something else that stands out was releasing Mornings that we released in Miami. And we basically took over the morning show bootcamp there for 3 days, did a huge launch campaign with video trailers, and we hosted a bunch of parties there.

RYAN: Yeah, yeah, that was definitely lots of chatter about that product. I don't, I don't know, you know, you're not there anymore, but it— I'm assuming it's pretty successful. It went very well.

STEVE: I'm assuming. I mean, when I left Real World, it was kind of in its infancy, so, you know. Yeah, I'm hoping it is.

RYAN: Well, cool, man. So, so now you're in your post-Real World days and you're, you know, what are you doing? Just, just hitting the beach or the harbor? I've only been to Seattle once. I don't really know what you do in Seattle, but you just living it up, or are you starting some massive new projects? What's going on with you now?

STEVE: so basically the weather isn't good enough to hit the beach.

RYAN: Well, not right now. Yeah, you're right.

STEVE: yeah, so, you know, July of last year I really decided to take a break from radio completely. I mean, as I've mentioned before, the industry has been my life from 16 years old. never had a chance to stop, take a breather ever since I started. You know, I've worked on average 11 to 12 hours a day. and working that much and the stress of running a business is, is really an unhealthy lifestyle. So these past 6 months have really been about family and taking time out to think about what's next. And in June of last year, my wife gave birth to our first child. So I was really adamant that I was gonna spend quality time with them and, you know, really spend time on what matters the most. And also, my mom is really sick in hospital in the UK, meaning, you know, I have to go back to the UK a lot as well. And during this time as well, I've been, you know, any additional time I've had has been spent on business projects outside of radio.

RYAN: Anything you can tell us about?

STEVE: Yeah, nothing. I don't know if it'll interest you. You know, I dabble in property here and there, probably from a misspent childhood playing Monopoly. I also have a huge interest in web development and technology as well. You know, I've been experienced on— I've been really experiencing what life has to offer outside the radio bubble.

RYAN: Always good to have your hands in multiple things. And you mentioned how, you know, technologically at least, ProdVault was very ahead when it got launched on the website. So did you have your hands pretty deep into that side of it as well then, I assume?

STEVE: Yes. Yeah, I mean, myself and Real World, we tackled the web engine together and developed that.

RYAN: Looking for more radio and/or creative jobs, or are you going to stay on the outside of the business for a while?

STEVE: you know what, radio will always be a passion of mine and something that's really dear to my heart. So I am thinking about what the next endeavor will be, and I'll probably start something in the summer. what that is, I don't know yet, but I'm sure the opportunity will present itself.

RYAN: Well, that'll be— obviously everybody will be interested to see what it is you do. Let me, let me pick your technological slash audiophile brain for a bit, even though I can't remember if we said this before the podcast or during, but you became more of an 85/15, you know, business versus creative in your world. But you still know your way around a Pro Tools rig, I assume?

STEVE: Oh yeah, thankfully.

RYAN: Do you keep a home studio there? Do you keep some sort of a setup at the house?

STEVE: Yes, I do. Yeah, I've got a home studio here with a Pro Tools rig, cool speakers, some microphone, you know, everything that— all the essentials.

RYAN: And are you a Mac guy or a PC guy, or—

STEVE: I am 100% Mac.

RYAN: I assumed that would be your answer. Well, tell me some other fun tools you've stumbled into in the last however long, couple few years, something that stands out, maybe some software you love or Some outboard audio gear, something you really like?

STEVE: You know what, I've tried a lot of things over the years and I'll always come back to Pro Tools and Waves. They're my go-to things. I can use Logic, Logic's cool, but Pro Tools is what I've learned, what I love. When I started my career, I used what was Cool Edit at the time, which is now Adobe. And I actually loved that back in the day, and I was actually a featured user on their website.

RYAN: But, oh, is that right? Because I was, I was a Cool Edit guy for as long as it existed.

STEVE: Oh, really?

RYAN: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

STEVE: So I started using Pro Tools when I was at KISS and kind of never looked back. And then, as I mentioned, yeah, hardware-wise, I'm all Mac. outboard gear, you know, never use outboard gear anymore. I have literally an Apogee Duet that controls all my audio.

RYAN: Oh, you are using the Duet? I've had a few people tell me they love their Duet and that's all you need.

STEVE: Awesome. Uh-huh, yep.

RYAN: That's cool. Well, Steve, man, I've taken up a lot of your time. Let me ask you basically one final question. You know, I'm gonna ask you 2 final questions, but the last one's a lighthearted one. But for now, give me one key piece of advice, someone in your position who have been through all the levels of the radio creative side, you know, one key piece of advice that people should follow to be successful.

STEVE: I'll give you 2 pieces of advice, one piece of life advice and the other imaging advice. Life advice, never trust anyone with a limp handshake. That goes in anything.

RYAN: I have thought about that many times, my friend. That's very good.

STEVE: And then imaging-wise, you know, I would just say always find your own style. Never emulate or replicate. Take inspiration, but, you know, always find your own style and always make sure it's something that you love. I mean, don't let things like, you know, financial gain or anything like that take over of what you love.

RYAN: That's great. That's great advice. Now, my final, final question: UK or the US? Now that you've lived here a while, you don't need to pick one if you don't want to, but my question is, which one's better?

STEVE: I can answer that question. I prefer the US.

RYAN: Is that true? Do you really?

STEVE: It is, yes. I mean, I've always wanted to live and work here.

RYAN: Well, that's great. Now, okay, well, actually, I'm a little surprised. I mean, because I've never been to the UK yet. I want to go. And, you know, people have a lot of pride there, but that's cool. So as far as the US, then you live in Seattle or that area. Have you gotten to venture about the United States, you know, quite a bit? And do you have a favorite area of the States?

STEVE: You know what, prior to me living here, I traveled extensively in the US, and I've probably visited like 35 out of the 50 states. So, you know, I have a, I have a lot of friends here as well. I lived in in the south of England at the time of the first Iraq War, and there was a lot of, US military out in, in the area where I lived because a lot of Air Force bases. So I got to know and be friends with a lot of Americans, and, and when they all eventually moved back, they were positioned all over the US. And, you know, visiting them over the years, I, I went places that normally tourists wouldn't go, like middle of Alabama or, you know, Louisiana. but yeah, I mean, I've traveled a lot of the US. I love LA. LA's a beautiful place. New York's cool to go visit.

RYAN: wouldn't live there though.

STEVE: No, I mean, New York's very similar to London. it's good to experience when you're young and good to work there, but it's not a place that I'd bring up a family in.

RYAN: Yeah, I gotcha.

STEVE: but Seattle's very, very family orientated. It's very laid back. it's a nice lifestyle. The weather is very similar to the UK, but in fact, it has defined seasons, whereas the UK doesn't.

RYAN: That's funny though, when you mentioned how it was kind of rainy and dreary, and I'm like, from what I understand, the UK is a lot like that.

STEVE: Yeah, it is. And actually, Seattle isn't half as bad as people make out it is weather-wise.

RYAN: Yeah, that's true. I have heard that as well. A great part of the country though. Well, that's really cool, man. It's really cool to hear. We're glad to have you in America, and you're welcome down in Texas anytime you want. And I'm sure you've been here before, but you're welcome back. Thanks for doing the podcast, man. I very much appreciate it, Steve.

STEVE: Great. Thanks, Ryan. The Producers.

RYAN: Thanks again to Steve. Great to chat with those who come from outside the United States whenever possible. Of course, it's always fun to chat with ex-CEOs of major media companies in not just the United States, but the world. Hence Real World. Anyway, well, I'm excited to see and hear what he does next in his professional career. But just again, thanks to Steve. coming up, in case you didn't hear at the beginning of part 1, John Carter, voice talent. He'll be interviewed soon. next, I believe the very next episode will be Anthony Mendez, another very talented voiceover artist. Really nice guy, just a down-to-earth guy and just kills it out there. He does. Doing great work. So we'll hear both of those interviews on the way. Otherwise, thanks so much for checking out the podcast. I will say, if you'd like to reach out to me, ryanontheradio.com has everything you should need. You can connect with me on Google, all the different, you know, Facebook, AIM, does that still exist? No, no thanks. But Google, I'm definitely plugged in there. Ryan Drean. Ryan Drean. No spaces, no dashes, all that. Okay, otherwise, thanks. We'll talk to you next time. Bye.

ANNC: This is The Producers. Have a question, comment, or concern? Email Ryan at ryanontheradio.com. The Producers. Thanks for listening.