Jason Kennedy - Being the host of E! News & Entertainment Journalism

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What's going on, everyone? Kasey Adams here. Welcome back to the Rise of the Young podcast. Today we are at Universal Studios, and I have someone that I am very excited to have on the show today. We have the one and only Jason Kennedy. Thanks so much for coming on.

It's my pleasure, man. I like your shoes, by the way. I'm just noticing those. Thank you.

Thank you.

They're fancy, dude.

I got these for an interview that I did last week. One of my goals this year is, like, every interview I have, I want to improve my style. So we'll see where it goes in 2020.

Did Larry King give you those?

No. No, no.

Okay.

But, yeah. Jason, it's such a pleasure to have you on the show. I've been not only seeing you in the broadcasting world for quite some time, but you've been an inspiration to me. And I think for the people watching, we're here at the E. News headquarters, but you have a new show in the room. I know you just interviewed Tom Brady. That looked epic. But I want you to bring the people up to speed on what this new show is so that we can catch them all up on what you're working on.

Well, thank you for first off for having me, because you sent me a DM and then I went through your page and I'm like, I love it, man. Someone who's young, who knows what they want to do in the broadcasting space. You remind me of kind of me because I knew what I wanted to do when I was younger. So appreciate that. It's a pleasure, man. You do a great job. So first and foremost, thank you.

Thank you so much.

And as for in the room, yeah, I just wrapped up 15 years at E. News. And I wanted to stay here because I love it. I really love the family here.

And.

And it felt like the right season to move on to something new. And I was talking with my bosses, and they said, how about, you know, your own interview show? And that's something that I've always loved doing. But when you do E. News, there's usually premieres and junkets and stuff like that, and you get five, maybe 10 on a good day, 15 minutes with a celebrity. And I've always been craving that time. I always wanted 30 minutes an hour. What if we got two hours with someone, you know, where they can promote something that they love?

And.

And so we came up with this idea in the room where you do the interview in a room or a place that has significant value to the celebrity, and that's kind of the genesis of the show. And like you said, we led with Tom Brady.

Yep.

Thank God. It did really well.

That was great. You had a workout with him too?

I saw Tom gave me a workout, and he opened his new fitness and training facility in Boston called TB12. It's my first time meeting him, and I, you know, I don't really get too nervous anymore, but I was a bit nervous with Tom because, you know, like I said, it was my first time. So there's that initial five minutes where you're, like, meeting him, and he's, like, looking at you like this, and I'm like, don't break eye contact, man. Be strong. But after that, it was so cool just to get to know him and understand, like, his passion outside of football for people and their wellness. And then we just finished with Chip and Joanna Gaines down in Waco, Texas. Very cool putting that together. And then we just confirm our next three guests. So it's going, man. It's really gonna start picking up.

How often are the episodes gonna air?

So. So starting in February, we're gonna do Chip and join again, and then most likely, one other. And then we haven't really told anybody this, but in March, we're really gonna get things going. And then April, it's really gonna be taking off, so we're banking a bunch, and then it's just gonna be going, going, going.

Got it. Very cool. So I want to get some perspective in here. So you were at e. News for 15 years, correct? I was 4 years old when you started E. News.

Really?

Just for reference, I'm 19 now. Right. So I want to bring you're baby. I want to bring people back. How did you get involved with E. News 15 years ago.

So I was working at Diesel, the clothing store at the Beverly center here in Los Angeles. I'm thinking it's still around, last time I checked.

Beverly Center, Yeah.

And so I was there, and I graduated from the University of Miami. And since I was a kid, I always wanted to be a broadcaster since the fifth grade. And I moved out here, and I was working at the mall, and on my lunch break, I would just go on auditions. And I'll never forget it. My boss was like. At the time, he was like, yeah, you know, I know you want to be a broadcaster, but, you know, just kind of focus on this, make some side money. And I'm like, is it cool on my lunch break if I go and, you know, go to auditions or anything to kind of move my career forward? And he was pretty cool with it. And my manager called me and said, e News wants to bring you in. And it was 2005. You were all of barely four years old, which is crazy. And I went in and I read a teleprompter, and I felt like it worked. I felt good. You know, I'm pretty good gauge of if an audition goes well. Not so much. I'm not a really good auditioner because I feel like the whole thing is just weird. It's like, okay, go. And then you're like, have to be on. And that's not very natural for me. But I felt like the. I felt like the audition process went really well, and I just. I left, and I'm like, all right, I think I nailed it. Okay, good about it. Don't think it could go any better. And then nothing for six months. So I kept working at Diesel, started working in casting because I wanted to at least be in the industry. And I was a nervous auditioner. So I worked in casting, and I was actually putting people on camera, other actors and stuff like that. So that helped me to see, like, what's a casting associate or casting director looking for?

And.

And it would help me be less nervous in auditions. And then I got a call six months after the date of the E audition, and they said, we want to bring you in for a week. And my boss was cool enough to let me come in, and then a week turned into another week, and then heard nothing. Got fired from my job. From Diesel? Yeah. Yeah. So had no job, no casting job, no Diesel, no anything. And then finally, about a week after that, E was like, let's bring you on board consistently every week.

That is so cool.

It was pretty rad.

So what brought you to California, originally. Because you're from Florida, correct? South Florida, Yeah.

I'm from South Florida. Grew up there. Born and raised in a town called Lighthouse Point. And I just was chasing news trucks when I was a kid. I built a studio in my house. My neighbor and I, who was a little older than me, and I just had this passion for broadcasting. I was obsessed with the local news.

Where did that passion come from? I'm just really curious of, like, how does one know at a young age? Like, I want to follow the media. I want to be a broadcaster. Like, where did that drive come from? When?

Well, my friend Alex, it was his birthday and I probably was 10. And he's like, for my birthday, I want to go to Channel 7 in Miami, in South Florida, and they're going to give us a tour of the studio. So we got a tour of the studio. I was brought on the local news show just to talk about the Miami Hurricanes football team. They didn't have to bring me on. I think the sportscaster was like, hey, man, you want to do the local news with me today? The news. And we did that and something happened inside of me, man. And we went home and I put up a bed sheet, my mom's Hi8 video camera, and literally from that day forward, did a newscast every single day.

Wow.

And you were too young to remember this, but hi 8. The tapes were like this big. You guys are probably too young for it too. But they were expensive. My mom was like, let's not even hit record because these are expensive tapes. So we would just pretend and. And every day do a broadcast. And it just sparked an interest and it blew up into this massive, like, studio that we built. We had 15 TVs, I had a police scanner. So I would listen to what was happening in the area and take a taxi because I couldn't drive, really record it and do like a stand up. And I was just obsessed. So anytime I would see the local broadcasters in the area, they kind of took me under their wing and showed me the ropes. And. And now I like doing that with people that I feel like are interested in the business too. So I'll do it as much as I can, you know, for guys like you.

Yeah, I appreciate it for sure. All right, so bringing it back to more recently, right? You're starting younger. You have this whole room set up to. Now you just did the SAG Awards. SAG Awards. I saw you posted. You were. What was that post you put out yesterday? It was a. You walked out and it was Jennifer Aniston. Getting the award. Tell us about that. Because I see the media is going crazy on that right now.

Going viral. I've never posted anything that went viral in my life. So I'm coming out of the restroom, it's after the show, and I walk out, and I see Brad Pitt, and he's watching Jennifer Aniston get her SAG award. He had already won a few minutes before. So he's backstage, and I want. I haven't done an interview about this yet, but I want everybody to know this wasn't like this private moment where it was just me and Brad Pitt. This was backstage, the media, everywhere. Yeah. He saw all of us watching him, but I happened to grab my phone and other people grabbed their phone. So at the time. And so it wasn't like this moment where I'm like, putting the guy on blast or something like that. He knew. And he goes, wow, look. He's like, this is so incredible. And then he started watching Jen, and you could tell, like, there's still a friendship there supporting her. And it was a really special moment to capture. So I sent it over to our team, and it's got. At this point, I think it's got 5,500,000 views.

No way.

One of the highest rated videos we've ever had.

Wow.

I put it up on my page, and so many people are just behind it because people are behind him. They're supporting him. They love Jennifer Aniston, and he's just a cool guy. And she's one of my favorite people to interview. So it was a special moment, man.

Love it. I also. I remember seeing that one clip of it was you and Jennifer on the red carpet, and you had your wife with you. What did she say about counseling? Tell us about that. I thought that was a hilarious moment that I wanted to bring up, you.

Know, So I wanted to do something different that day because at the time, I had interviewed Jennifer a lot because she was promoting various projects. And I was thinking to myself, how can I make this interview different instead of just, you know, oh, you're excited to be here tonight. So my wife is this lifelong friends fan. Like, many people watch E. News, and I thought it'd be cool if I surprised my wife brought her and in the middle of the interview, just introduce my wife to Jen, her hero.

That's so cool.

And Lauren, my wife, was just totally blown away by the moment. And I think Jen really appreciated because I said, look, Jen, I had to go to counseling. This is a true story. We got married. We had to Have a counselor. And we were going to counseling just for marriage in general, because we want to make our marriage strong. You know, it's new for us. And I just told our counselor, I said, I don't understand how you can. Like, how do I navigate through my wife watching three to four Friends episodes every day? She doesn't pay attention to me when I come home, and. And she goes, look, this was Jen. Now, I told Jen the story, and Jen was like, yeah, like, I think it's good for the marriage. I think it's great. You sit down and kind of have some couples time together. And it really turned into this. This moment. And now every time I interview Jennifer Aniston, she's like, how's she doing? How's your marriage? She's like my new marriage counselor.

That is. That's amazing.

Turned into a moment. Yeah. And that encouraged me to kind of just keep thinking outside of the box. And it's not just, you know, who you're wearing. You excited to be here tonight. How can you create moments and, you know, be unique in your interviews?

That's amazing. So someone like that, like Jennifer Aniston, and you've had so many interviews with different celebrities. How. What is the energy of all these different celebrities, like, when it comes to you interviewing them? Like, what makes those people great, in your opinion?

What makes them great? I think they. They're just dedicated, and in what they want to do, they're really incredibly good at it. They've been doing it for a long time, and they put the time in. I mean, you look at someone like Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Tom Hanks, Chris Pratt, I mean, the list goes on and on. These are people that they don't have to really work anymore. They've gotten to the point where they could just cruise and they could take little projects here and there, but they're grinding still.

That's so sick.

Because they want. Like, they're so passionate about their work, and. And they love it, and it comes from within them, so they don't want to stop. So they're working on new shows and new movies and projects, and they have this innate desire to keep working hard. And I see that, and I'm like, I want to do that. I want to be there.

Yeah.

And I want to make time for family. I want to keep family my priority, but I still want to work as hard as I can, you know, with this gift that I've been given and, you know, continue to see where it goes.

That's amazing. How do you think having a family and being married has changed your career over the last five years?

Yeah, because I started thinking about before I was married. You start thinking about, all right, five years from now. Yeah, 10 years from now, what do I want to. What do I want to be doing? When you get married, I kind of. You dial back a little bit and you go, all right, what's this next year going to look like for us? So we're working on having a kid right now, and I'm honestly just thinking about the next year because you start getting ahead of yourself. I'm like, I don't know. What if we have a family? I'm like, we're gonna get a dog soon. So I just think you have to start thinking about the next few months and then don't go past a year because it's not feasible because it's a new life. Someone else's schedule is now intertwined with your schedule.

Yeah.

And that's what's helped me. You know, the people that, you know, that I look up to that are married, you know, that I get advice from, they gave me that same advice to. So kind of just focusing in on right now and how to make that work.

Okay, got it. So I wanted to ask you about that right now. You never know. 19 interview style, right? I know right before we started, you're like, questions, like, for me, I never come on and have questions during interviews. I let curiosity lead the conversation. But how would you describe your interview style when you're talking to these celebrities?

So you don't write any questions.

Zero.

So you came into this. But yesterday, did you kind of look at it?

Yeah, I call it the Instagram deep dive. You know, pull up the Wikipedia, read through it, jot down notes. But, like, I let the curiosity, like, I want to know more about the person when I'm with them than have everything articulated perfectly. Question in question, in question, because. And real quick, before I ask you something, but when I started doing interviews, I would always have, like, 10 questions written down, and it would always, like, bring it back to, like, this shallow conversation instead of focusing on the depth of the question. So after, like, the first 20 interviews, I just never had a question since.

And would you ever forget one of the 10 questions it would throw you?

Yes. And I would have to, you know, look at it, and then I have to think about it and thinking about the next one and not actually listening. And Larry King told me, he was like, you don't learn anything when you're talking. So I've Always just been an avid listener in interviews.

Right. Because you never know where the interview is going to go.

Exactly.

And it takes you out of the moment.

Yes.

That's the best advice from King.

Yes.

Like he's the one who knows how to do it better than anybody in this business.

Yes.

I used to be get all the questions, write them all down, have like a little pad of paper, go into a press junket and kind of ask the question and kind of look down. And then I got rid of that probably seven, eight years ago because I realized I didn't trust myself enough in the interview. I only was relying on the notepad and the notes and the questions in there and I wasn't, I was disassociated from the interview. So I really kind of fell into it the past few years to the point where I don't even take. I have questions that I. Over the week and leading up to it I kind of just jot down in my head, maybe on a pad of paper, but I don't take that in the interview.

Okay.

So I haven't been taking. And if you have to take, if you have to take a notepad in an interview, there's nothing wrong with that. It's not to say that style's bad or anything like that, but it helped me because I said, alright, I don't have anything to look at. I'm right here. I'm locked in right now. I'm thinking about not what I have to do an hour from now. I'm thinking about this moment right here and giving you the best interview. So if the person you're interviewing is in that zone then you need to bring that too. So I just didn't want to come in there with all these different thoughts and stuff, you know. Now I like to just have a little like. For Chip and Joy in the Gaines. I was given two hours with them recently, which is crazy. That's a long time. I've never done an interview for two hours. The coolest part, it felt like a 30 minute interview. We stopped and I'm like, holy cow. We went two hours.

Wow.

That's because it just flowed and I played off of what they said and you know, playing off of that last question or that last answer is the way to do it because you can keep going and building from that and you never know what spontaneous thing the person's gonna bring up. So I kind of put it in. This is my long answer but I try to put it in sections so I lead with maybe their project first. If that's what they want to talk about. And then I get into family, and then I get into what they're working on next. So I kind of have, like, in my head, I go, all right, let's go here, here, and here. And then wherever that decides to go in those little boxes, it goes.

Got it. Do you have a dream interview that you have not had yet? Because you've talked to so many amazing people and I'm sure you've checked off a lot of those people, but do you have moving into 2020, do you have any dream interview?

It was Tom Brady, man.

Oh, that's so cool.

He was like the big get for me because he doesn't do a lot of interviews. He admitted during the interview that he was nervous. He'd rather throw a football in front of 80,000 people. So it was Tom. So I'm kind of creating new dreams right now off the top of my head. I mean, I had never interviewed De Niro before, and I got him at the SAG Awards, which I didn't think he was gonna do the interview. And then he popped up. I'm like, holy cow, Robert De Niro's here. So I've interviewed Oprah before, but I guess the dream would be to interview her more because I learned a lot from her, and I think she's just a phenomenal woman and just encouraging and understands the interview process. So you feel like she's in there with you, but someone came to mind. Bob Iger.

Bob Iger.

Bob Iger. This guy's a boss. You know, he's running Disney. I saw him at the coat check in New York not too long ago at a restaurant. And I was just like, hello. And he goes, what's up? And then that was it. And I'm like, holy cow, that was crazy. And he seemed like I've seen him out and about, but I've never really met him officially. And I think he'd be someone cool to kind of sit down and pick their brains.

Very cool. Very cool. So it's funny. So we were. When I DM'd you the day I wanted to bring this up real quick. So I was at Nobu Malibu. Okay.

You're fancy.

Jacqueline, she brought me there the first time, and I just. I've gotten addicted to it. It's a great, great place. Alright, so I was at Nobu Malibu, and it was Harry Hudson and Kourtney Kardashian. We saw him there. I. I was in the restroom, I walk out, and Jaclyn knows Harry. And then I was like, yo, I just. I ran into Harry because I saw that he followed you, and I was following him. I want to talk about.

Is Harry following? Yes, I've been waiting. Harry.

Yeah, he follows.

Following him for years. He was only following a couple people. Okay, that's breaking news today.

Major breaking news.

I made it.

But speaking like Kourtney Kardashian. The Kardashians. I know that I saw that one picture of you, and it's like the whole family. How did that interview and that relationship come about?

It's great. I mean, I've been interviewing the Cards for, I don't know, 13 plus years. And in the beginning, I think I just probably was a little nervous because, I mean, they're huge here on the network. It's the highest rated show. But now, I mean, I've developed a friendship. I mean, Courtney is like my friend. I see her all the time. All the time. We're gonna get her on my show soon.

Very cool.

And now it's just easy because I feel completely calm and relaxed around them. So we can have real moments and real conversations on camera, like, what are you going through in your life? How do you feel about Faith? How do you feel about this, that and the other? Yeah, so now I feel like it's kind of slowed it down, and the moments are there. And maybe before, it was a little like, duh, duh, duh, duh. We have to talk about the show and all this stuff. So I think it's led to more genuine conversation and time and interviews.

Very cool.

It's pretty phenomenal what they put together. That Empire is no joke, but through it all, all of the daughters and everybody in the family, but specifically Courtney is. I think she's just a joy to be around. I think she's so real, and I'm really thankful for her friendship. And Harry's an extra special guy. He's very cool.

How do you think over the last 13 years, you said, interviewing them, what's changed from that conversation? Because obviously, they were relevant 13 years ago. They're still the most relevant family in the world. I'd say almost. What's changed throughout that 13 years interview style with them?

Well, I mean, for them specifically, they built their brand out and their style. So they've gone. It's gone from a TV show to, you know, we could be here all day listening to the things they're doing. So the interview style, I think I've gotten more time with them, you know, so for Courtney, having her come on my show down the road. I could call her up and say, all right, where do we want to go here with this interview? What do you. What's on your heart? What's on your mind? What do you want to talk about? You know, because it always can be like, how do you feel about this? And how do you feel about that? But I think when you develop those friendships and those relationships, I think relationships are so key in this industry. Like, you built everything based on relationships. So if you feel like you're gonna get, you know, if you're gonna be that interviewer where it's like, gotcha. Just to get that may go viral for a minute, you're gonna lose that relationship. So, you know, for a show like, in the room, a lot of those people I'm bringing on, I've booked myself, you know, and. And I. And if they didn't trust me, then the show wouldn't really work. You know, they're not gonna open up to you. So I. I've learned so much over the years about relationships and trust and friendships and being like, look, I'm on your side. Look, I'm gonna ask you the questions that need to be asked, but let's get there together. So I'm able to, I think, call them. Anybody that you could talk to before and just be like, hey, where do you want to go with this? What's happening in your world? And then you kind of take it from there.

Very cool. So with the new show in the room, I'm very fascinated with it. What are you excited about with it? Because I'm sure you have so many, obviously, episodes coming up, but with the transition from E. News host to now this new show, like, how are you thinking about it differently when it comes to the show, the style, the questions? What changed for you in that transition?

Well, I think you go from these press junkets, and we touched on this a little earlier, where it's a bit like, okay, they've been asked a million of the same questions.

Yep.

Over and over and over again. They're sitting in a room. Maybe they've gotten up from this chair, but they're going to move to this chair, you know, talk to a different person. Yeah, let's get out of that, you know, monotonous scenario. Let's get them in a place that means a lot to them, you know, and, you know, for Chris, I was literally just in a meeting discussing what we're going to do with him, and we've got some really fun things planned where I can surprise them with stuff we can make people's so just kind of getting it outside of that traditional interview style and having them there to talk about something that they are passionate about. So maybe it's first time executive producing a movie or it's a charity they're connected to or something that just happened to them recently. But getting them in a place where they want to do the talking and it's not them saying like, oh, you know, the things that they always say in interviews. So it's like new conversation, it's fresh and, and you get that extra time, you get more than 10 minutes. So that to me so far and the few that we've done and I know it's gonna take off when we've got a lot planned coming up. That to me is like keeping me going right now because I've just had a taste of it and I love doing it so much.

Very cool. So like the longer form style and I wanted to touch on like when I interviewed Larry King, he told me that like long form interviews are like, he said they're not as relevant as they used to be. And he's like, I want people to bring that back. And with the super fast paced, five, ten minute interviews that like, relevant in today's society with like short attention spans and all this different stuff. What's your thoughts on that in terms of like long form interviews with key people and like what makes those both valuable?

The reason I'm not a big fan of like three to four minute interviews and I've had to do a lot of those is just because they're kind of, they're a little disingenuous, you know, and it's just because they have to go from one outlet to another, but it's like you gotta get it in there. Hey, last question. You got a publicist wrapping you up. Like you can't really get anywhere. So it's like, what can I get in in three minutes? So you're thinking about the questions, you're thinking about the timing, you're thinking about not upsetting the publicist and not nothing about that is natural. And echoing what Larry said, time is everything with, you know, sitting down with someone to get their story. And then you can take the hour and you could like take the best.

Chop it up, chop it up to.

The best, like 20 minutes, maybe 30 minutes. And that's what that we've done with within the room.

Very cool.

And sometimes you get two hours like we are with Chip and Joe and some others down the road and you can do multiple specials on it. Which is cool. But I wanted to show you something really cool about Larry.

Let's hear it.

I'll never forget this. So this was May 31, 2017. Larry, I'm sure you as well, anybody in broadcasting. Larry's the best of the best. And he interviewed my wife. My wife was in an accident. It was a big news story. And that's how I met her, because I was covering the story, and Larry had her on the show, and it was really special moment because she had lost her arm. And Larry was like, would you ever take your arm off on camera? And she's never done that before. And Larry got her to do that. It was a really vulnerable thing. And after the interview, I had a private number call me. So I didn't answer. And I'm glad I didn't answer because I got this voicemail right here from my hero. Hey, Jason, it's Larry King.

I just wanted to let you know you.

Your wife was terrific today. Oh, hold on. I'll play it again because I got a call.

Sorry. No worries.

A.J. simmons, Larry King. I just wanted to let you know your wife was terrific today. You're a lucky guy. She's a great girl, Was a great guest.

Wow.

Huh?

That's insane.

Insane, right?

That's so great.

So I called him back. He answered, and he couldn't have been. He couldn't have been nicer.

Wow.

I wanted to. I want to go out to dinner with him soon.

He's a big dinner guy. Yeah.

I wanted to pick his brain.

Okay.

And we've since kind of been in touch here and there.

Okay.

But, man, what a gift.

That is amazing. That was 2017.

2017.

Wow. Would you consider him a mentor in your life? Yeah.

I mean, I want to know. I'm not talking to him as much as I would like to, just because he's a really busy guy, and I don't put that on him by any means. And I know he's still getting his health back on track and stuff, but. And from a distance, absolutely. A mentor.

Okay.

I have a lot of people that I look up to. I think there are some incredible broadcasters out there. I just love watching people do interviews.

Okay.

So I'm big into. I'm watching 60 Minutes right now. I just watched Anderson Cooper interview Joaquin Phoenix. Joaquin Phoenix is not an easy interview. He's always been someone who's just tough, and he would admit that he doesn't feel comfortable in that environment. And to see Anderson kind of incorporate Joaquin's family and see Joaquin kind of come to life and see a different side of Joaquin was incredible. And I posted about it and Anderson DM'd me. He's like, oh man, that's so sweet. I was like, what? I can't believe he even saw this.

Yeah.

And so it's cool to kind of encourage people that you look up to and then they reach out to you because you know, it makes your day very cool. So, yeah, I'm into just kind of those long form interviews and just seeing how people do it. Bryant Gumbel is also really good on esports, is a really dope show on hbo and he goes in depth.

Got it. So speaking of Instagram dm, that's obviously how we connected. It's funny. So people like to call me the king of the DM slide. Every single interview I've had, besides like a couple of the recent bigger ones have came from Instagram. DMs booking your show, man. Absolutely. So how are you using Instagram as a broadcaster? Or do you use it to get interviews? Is it just to build a brand or how has social media played a part in your career?

I interviewed Joanna Gaines and Chip. Like I've been saying a couple times throughout the interview, I DM Jo cause she followed me and I said, look, this is a show that's really close to my heart. It'd be an honor to have you on my show. Responded, I'm in. Okay. With Chrissy Metz. We haven't done her yet, but she's gonna come on the show. Same with Aisha Curry.

Wow.

Those were DMs.

Wow. You heard it here first, guys.

Jason Kennedy, DM. There comes a point where it's like if they don't respond, let them respond first. Yeah, respond. You don't want to be over persistent.

What makes a great dm?

I think just sharing your heart. I mean, sometimes it's not enough to be like, hey, would love to have you on my show. So for me, I like to explain, like, hey, over the years I've interviewed you a bunch of times and you've been someone that I really look up to. This is now a new project that means like so much to me and I would love for you to be a part of it and here's why and then get whatever those specifics are for you.

Very cool. So social media wise, like obviously when you started 15 years ago in broadcasting, social media wasn't even around. It wasn't what it is today.

I've like thousands of VHS tape, my parents, South Florida. And I wish some of the stuff I put on Instagram and stuff. Old school podcast when I was a kid. I wish YouTube was around because I feel like it would have gotten a lot of views. You know, it would have opened the doors when I was younger.

How have you been able to adapt with the different technology changes and stay obviously on social and build this brand? Like, what was that transition from you where it's like, ah, this is super important, obviously, like E. News, 14 million followers, his massive brand. When was your point where you knew social media is something that you need to take seriously, like, as an individual and as a personal brand?

My best friend Rich Wilkerson down in Miami, he was on Facebook and Twitter and I kind of made fun of Facebook and Twitter. I think I had Instagram, but I was private and I only had just like my friends following me. And I'm like, I'm just gonna. There's always a new thing. And I was kind of bagging on Instagram because it was always that we already had Facebook, we already had Twitter. Now what's this Instagram thing? And then I realized I could use it and reach out to people to get interviews on E. News. Build your brand and build your following. Most importantly, connecting. Yeah, it's all about a brand and that type of stuff. And those are the big words. But that doesn't really relate to your audience, in a sense, the fact that you can communicate with the people that support you all the time. Hey, just, you know, you don't know me, but I was watching your show in the airport, in a hotel room, or this story that you did spoke to me and then just respond, thank you for your support. It's almost like an email that the viewers have to you personally that you can respond to at any given point in the day. So it just develops that back and forth. Your viewers, like, we're here because of the people that watch our show and support us. And so brands are great and all that stuff, but I think keep it personal with the people that follow you, and I think they really respect that.

Very cool. I have three more questions, but three, we'll make them quick.

You could go four, bro.

40. We're on it. No, but someone, let's say, like myself, a lot of young people watching, let's say they have a podcast, they want to get into broadcasting. And with someone like yourself that's built this very successful career, you're working with so many different celebrities and with an amazing network, what is that next step? For example, you can answer it directly to me if I have a podcast And I'm looking to work with a different company or get a distribution deal, whatever it is, to take that next step in the broadcasting world. What do you tell someone young that's looking to take that next step?

Well, be careful because some of the podcast companies are gonna take 50% right out the gate, so they're gonna own you immediately. The first time I sat down to do a podcast and considered it a few years ago, it's like, yeah, we could do it. You can use this space. But we get 50%. So they own 50% of anything you do. So you gotta be very careful of that these days. You can spend under, I think maybe just a few hundred dollars, under a thousand for sure. And you can get some equipment, some microphones and you know, the cables and the little boxes.

Yeah, I had the USB blue yeti mic. It's like a hundred dollar microphone when I started.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. So you can do that and then you can bring it on site to interview people. You can have them come to your house, you can have them join in via Skype or whatever. So now we're at a time where you really can kind of run the ship yourself. Now I granted, if you really want to get it out there and some of those companies are like, we can blast it out to this, that and the other and get you some deals and stuff. Consider that. But I think 50%.

Yeah.

Is a pretty steep, you know, number. You know, so I would just say be very careful of, you know, the meetings that you're taking and just being smart. Think long term. In the beginning you'd be, yeah, you're like so hyped. Get your show out there. But think, you know, since you're not married five, ten years down the road. Yeah. What is that gonna look like when it does pop off? You know, so you're not, you're not really kind of generating as much, you know, income because you kind of sold your soul early on. So just be careful with that.

Got it.

But I love, I love it, man. This is freaking, this is amazing because I didn't have, I was doing this stuff, but I didn't have anywhere to put it and, and I had, you know, all this stuff in my garage and it wasn't going anywhere. It was great for practice and it helped me, you know, when I went to college and then job after that. But the fact that this, you're done with this and then it's just gonna be blasted out. Yeah. You know, in the next few days or A week is. Is really cool. It's advantage you now for being boring and where technology is at for sure.

So if you were to go back to being 18 years old with all the knowledge you've gained throughout your journey, what would you tell your younger self? A lesson or something to look out for along your broadcasting journey?

Stop worrying about stupid things that people probably don't even realize are happening, especially in interviews. Did I just say that? Oh, that sounded so stupid. Why are you looking like that? Why are your hands like that? Why are you this? Why are you that? Why? It's like cutting yourself down. I used to watch the show right after I went off set, immediately after. Not because I wanted to critique the show on how could we make the show better, but I was critiquing myself so much to the point where I was taking myself, I was cutting myself down. And I don't remember when it stopped, but I just stopped doing it because it wasn't helping me. And I think you got to be really careful with that. So constructive criticism is great. Take it to outside people that watch your show that you trust. And I'm not saying don't watch any of your stuff, but be careful when you're watching yourself and you want to get better, say the things that are encouraging. If you have to improve on it, make it encouraging.

All right.

I could definitely. Oh, I should ask this. That's cool. Let me kind of build on that for the next interviewer. How can I work? Maybe I'm doing weird things with my hands. How can I work on that better? But not like, why would I do that? Ah, that's crazy.

Yeah.

Just don't be so tough on yourself. And I think I was really tough on myself because I was perfectionist. I still am perfectionist. We all want to do, you know, put great work out there, but dial it back and, you know, we're all works in progress. And, you know, that's not as bad as you think it is. Trust me, you're gonna be a lot harder on yourself than other people.

Yep. So I want to talk about, just to wrap up the interview, the new show you have coming up, everything that's happening there in the room, moving into 2020. What should people expect from Jason Kennedy this year?

I think they're gonna expect interviews that they've never seen before on this network, because the timing we're getting with these people and the moments and the friendships and the relationships that E. News has given me over the years are getting me in the door with people that don't a lot of times do interviews and they don't offer stuff like this. So the names we're getting, the people, the conversations, I think, you know, we're going to talk about family, we're going to talk about faith, we're going to talk about projects and charities, and we're going to change people's day. We're going to encourage people. Like, we're going to do some stuff we've never had the time to do before. And that's something that I felt like I wasn't really doing before because the format was just different, you know, and it was a format that was around for a long time and it's still working. But I was ready for something different because I was kind of craving that for myself. And I think there's a void there and it hasn't really been done in this way before. And I'm excited to bring it to people. So far, so good. And I'm really thankful for the people that have watched, you know, the Tom Brady one. And we've got a ton, ton more that are gonna be coming people's way. So I'm excited about it, man.

Where is the best place where people watching can follow you, learn more about you, Stay tuned with the show and figure out when the next episode episode is. Where do people need to go to find.

I would just continue to. If you're not already following me at. On Instagram, at the Jason Kennedy and on Twitter Jason Kennedy 1. Because there was another Jason Kennedy out there. I feel you in Ohio. I'm not kidding.

We got the ones though. Casey Adams won. I got that.

But something about, like, the Jason Kennedy things are, like, cool. I'm like, no, I just couldn't get Jason Kennedy.

Okay.

So I had to throw a the in front of it.

We have a lot in time. My Twitter is the Casey Adams and my Instagram is Casey Adams1. Yeah. Who's this other Casey Adams?

Yeah, we got to talk to him about that.

So. Yeah.

Because I keep people up to date on when the next episode is going to be. Keep following Addy News. And I mean, I'm still popping up on TV a lot on E. News in the morning, Daily Pop, you know, just promoting the various things that we're doing. I'm heading down to the super bowl to cover it for E. News.

Wow.

And it should be exciting or so. So doing a lot of the, you know, we got a big award show coming up. We got the Oscars coming up. So I'm doing all that busy. Keep it on E. And then on my. My personal channels, for sure.

Love it. Well, Jason and everyone watching, I just want to say thank you so much for coming on the show. Such a pleasure, man.

I like the style. I feel like it just really flowed.

And thank you.

I'm not trying to critique you in the middle of your own.

Please do.

But you make the other person feel comfortable, and that's not easy to do, especially, you know, at 19 years old. So I feel like you're years ahead of the game. So it's cool and encouraging to see. I wish continued success, my dude.

Thank you, Jason. It means the world. Thanks so much for coming on Legacy of Monsters, an Apple original series. The world is on fire. I decided to do something about it on November 17th. Team this Place.

It's not ours.

Believe me, the most massive event of the year arrives. If you come with me, you'll know everything. I promise. My God.

Go. Go. Monarch.

Legacy of Monsters.

Streaming November 17th only on Apple TV. Plus.