In our engaging conversation with David Brunner, affectionately known as DB (https://dbtv.tv/), we explore his illustrious career journey that spans across Emmy Award-winning TV and radio reporting, directing news for major markets, talent management, and consulting for top-tier networks. DB’s professional expertise also includes owning a premier media and talent agency for three decades. Listen in as we discuss his venture into launching DBTV, a network he started in February 2021, and has since grown from 15 to over 100 shows, reaching over 300 million homes. He attributes his accomplishments to the relationships and trust he has fostered over the years.
We're not just talking about the glitz and glamour of the media industry. In this riveting chat, we also shed light on DB’s personal battles, including overcoming a stage four cancer diagnosis (3 times) and how that impacted his life and career. Our conversation underscores the importance of perseverance, the courage to take risks, and the relentless pursuit of dreams. We believe that his personal story serves as an inspiring testament to the power of determination in the face of adversity.
Further, we discuss the future plans for DBTV and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. DB's unique insights into the changing landscape of the news industry, and the need for more positive, family-oriented TV programming are incredibly enlightening. We wrap up the conversation by exploring DBTV's diverse range of shows and encourage our listeners to check out DBTV on Roku, Amazon Fire Stick, and the network's website. This episode is a goldmine of insights for anyone looking to make their mark in the media industry, so tune in and get inspired by DB's incredible journey.
About Gurus and Game Changers:
The Gurus and Game Changers Podcast focuses on individuals with unique insights and solutions based on their life experiences.
Listen and you will find:
Inspirational journeys abound when you listen to some of our guests as they describe their personal transformation with unconventional wisdom with real-life stories. Their
empowering narratives and life-changing experiences showcase triumph over adversity, resilience and perseverance.
At Gurus and Game Changers we thrive on authentic storytelling and non-traditional paths to success described with empowering voices. These motivational insights
laden with turning points, lessons learned and a testament to inner growth will lead to your own journey to self-discovery.
These inspirational role models or 'Wild Ducks' as they've been described always come with a positive mindset in describing transformative experiences and evolving perspectives.
#InspirationalStories
#PersonalGrowth
#LifeLessons
#SuccessStories
#MotivationalJourney
#OvercomingAdversity
#EmpoweringNarratives
#SelfDiscovery
#TriumphOverChallenges
#Resilience
#TransformationTuesday
#Empowerment
#Authenticity
#PositiveMindset
#InnerStrength
#GrowthMindset
#InspirationalQuotes
#MotivationMonday
#LifeChangingExperiences
#WisdomWednesday
PLEASE NOTE: **The views expressed by participants, including hosts and guests, are their own and not necessarily endorsed by the podcast. Reference to any specific individual, product, or entity is not an endorsement. The podcast does not provide professional advice, and listeners are urged to consult a physician before making any significant lifestyle or health changes.**
In our engaging conversation with David Brunner, affectionately known as DB (https://dbtv.tv/), we explore his illustrious career journey that spans across Emmy Award-winning TV and radio reporting, directing news for major markets, talent management, and consulting for top-tier networks. DB’s professional expertise also includes owning a premier media and talent agency for three decades. Listen in as we discuss his venture into launching DBTV, a network he started in February 2021, and has since grown from 15 to over 100 shows, reaching over 300 million homes. He attributes his accomplishments to the relationships and trust he has fostered over the years.
We're not just talking about the glitz and glamour of the media industry. In this riveting chat, we also shed light on DB’s personal battles, including overcoming a stage four cancer diagnosis (3 times) and how that impacted his life and career. Our conversation underscores the importance of perseverance, the courage to take risks, and the relentless pursuit of dreams. We believe that his personal story serves as an inspiring testament to the power of determination in the face of adversity.
Further, we discuss the future plans for DBTV and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. DB's unique insights into the changing landscape of the news industry, and the need for more positive, family-oriented TV programming are incredibly enlightening. We wrap up the conversation by exploring DBTV's diverse range of shows and encourage our listeners to check out DBTV on Roku, Amazon Fire Stick, and the network's website. This episode is a goldmine of insights for anyone looking to make their mark in the media industry, so tune in and get inspired by DB's incredible journey.
About Gurus and Game Changers:
The Gurus and Game Changers Podcast focuses on individuals with unique insights and solutions based on their life experiences.
Listen and you will find:
Inspirational journeys abound when you listen to some of our guests as they describe their personal transformation with unconventional wisdom with real-life stories. Their
empowering narratives and life-changing experiences showcase triumph over adversity, resilience and perseverance.
At Gurus and Game Changers we thrive on authentic storytelling and non-traditional paths to success described with empowering voices. These motivational insights
laden with turning points, lessons learned and a testament to inner growth will lead to your own journey to self-discovery.
These inspirational role models or 'Wild Ducks' as they've been described always come with a positive mindset in describing transformative experiences and evolving perspectives.
#InspirationalStories
#PersonalGrowth
#LifeLessons
#SuccessStories
#MotivationalJourney
#OvercomingAdversity
#EmpoweringNarratives
#SelfDiscovery
#TriumphOverChallenges
#Resilience
#TransformationTuesday
#Empowerment
#Authenticity
#PositiveMindset
#InnerStrength
#GrowthMindset
#InspirationalQuotes
#MotivationMonday
#LifeChangingExperiences
#WisdomWednesday
PLEASE NOTE: **The views expressed by participants, including hosts and guests, are their own and not necessarily endorsed by the podcast. Reference to any specific individual, product, or entity is not an endorsement. The podcast does not provide professional advice, and listeners are urged to consult a physician before making any significant lifestyle or health changes.**
00.01 - Mark
Stacey.
00:03 - Stacey (Host)
Mr. Lubragge, 1B2Gs. I like that. I'm going to keep saying that one.
00:06 - Mark (Host)
I love it. This guy he and I have a lot in common. You know a guy, I know a guy, I know a lot of guys. You know this guy. He and I have a lot in common. We both have talent agencies.
00:18 - Stacey (Host)
True.
00:19 - Mark (Host)
We both worked as talent managers for major networks. True, but he did something that honestly never occurred to me.
00:25 - Stacey (Host)
You don't have a network. I don't own my own network, damn it.
00:28 - Mark (Host)
He started his own network. This guy, david Brunner, known as DB. To his friends and family he took, I guess, lemons and made lemonade. Yeah.
00:39 - Stacey (Host)
COVID-.
00:39 - Mark (Host)
Lemon-shellum jeopardized his business Mm-hmm, and he said you know what? I'm going to start a network to get my talent working.
00:46 - Stacey (Host)
I wish I had thought of that. This is one of those people that. And then when you talk to him he's just like and then I started with this many shows, and then I had a hundred shows before I knew it, and then I decided to start a network and it doesn't ever seem to be any kind of hardship involved with it. I was trying to find out from him like.
01:02 - Mark (Host)
Yeah, he's got great stories. How did these things just suddenly happen? And it's all hard work that he just takes as matter of course, I guess.
01:09 - Stacey (Host)
And another one that we've talked to that talks about how someone told him he couldn't do it and he was like it's a common thing that you yes, not can't, but he would never say that he doesn't hurt, Don't tell me.
01:19 - Mark (Host)
Don't tell me I can't do it. He made a good point later on. It was some. Oftentimes that message is coming from the people that you love and respect the most. And the other one's telling you you can't do it. So it requires that much more courage to say you know what? Yes, I can. Mom.
01:34 - Stacey (Host)
Right, or dad, yeah, or everyone else in your life, brother or something. You want to talk about something, mark? Is it something? No, I think I'm okay. I just got it off my chest. Mom, oh boy, okay, mark, mom, I'm not really listening, so this is a really interesting one.
01:46 - Mark (Host)
He's got his own network. You're going to hear all about it, all of his shows.
01:49 - Stacey (Host)
Don't give him all the details. We're going to be teasing. We're going to tease something. It's good stuff, you're going to enjoy it. I want to hear.
01:55 - Mark (Host)
And then there's personal issues. Yeah, there's always a personal side.
01:59 - Stacey (Host)
It's like a tiny bit of dirt on newscasters. Tiny bit of dirt. Yeah, just a light bit that might be interesting to hear. He's very reserved in what he was able to say True, I was trying to get more out of him.
02:09 - Mark (Host)
And then there's a big announcement coming, which you'll hear about Huge. All right, Enjoy this one, Mr David Brunner DB.
02:15 - Stacey (Host)
DBTVtv. Hi, I'm Stacy.
02:21 - Mark (Host)
And I am Mark, and this is the Guru's Game Changers Podcast. Welcome Gurus, welcome Game Changers. I have to tell you we have tried for months to get this gentleman in that couch and it kept not working up.
02:35
We wanted to bring him to you because he's a great person, he's done great things and it finally happened. Today's guest is David Brunner DB to his friends and family. And DB has played a whole lot of roles and a whole lot of positions in the broadcasting world. Throughout his career he's been an Emmy Award winning TV reporter, radio reporter, he was a news director for major markets, he was a talent manager and a consultant for major networks and on top of all of that, for 30 years he owned a premier media and talent agency. So when the star or the star athlete would say, get my agent on the phone, his is the phone that would ring and I'm sure that's a lot of fun.
03:12 - Stacey (Host)
It might ring right now, yeah, it might ring.
03:14 - Mark (Host)
And even with all that success and this is what really blows me away even with all that success a few years ago he did something even bolder he started a network. Now, if you want to dance with giants, try to start a network, try to create shows that people will go and watch, and he did it. Started in February 2021 with 15 shows and fast forward what two, two and a half years. He's over 100 shows. Db TV.
03:41
And the network available in over 300 million homes. So we're going to get into everything. We're going to go hear about your path, your challenges, surprises, setbacks, lots of personal stories, lots of great stories. But I can't tell you I am thrilled that we were finally able to make this happen.
03:56 - DB (Host)
Well, I'm delighted to be here, thank you. Thank you for asking me.
03:59 - Mark (Host)
Oh, yeah, for sure, so look, you've had incredible success. Like I've only been talking to you, I think we've only been talking- for a couple months, and even in those couple months, I think when I first talked to you, you had 80 shows and now you're at 100 and some Like how do you, what do you attribute that success to? What do you attribute that arc? It's an incredible growth arc.
04:19 - DB (Host)
I think I'm lucky because of what I did. You know, 30 years as a talent agent. You develop relationships, you develop trust, and so when I was looking for programs, people were willing to work with me. No offense, but any other type of job it would have been difficult to kind of get people to come on, you know.
04:40
But I mean, I started in the. I started the whole process in COVID started in February of 2020. And everything shut down. I had under 50 clients and no place to go. As you know, radio wasn't hiring, tv wasn't hiring, there was no sports and my sports guys weren't working. So I have under 50 clients nowhere to go. What are we going to do? I figured it would probably take a year for people to start working again. I'm like, well, I can't go a year without, you know, getting these people seen. We have to stay. You know how do we stay relevant?
05:21 - Mark (Host)
What are we?
05:22 - DB (Host)
going to do. So the two things that I thought was first was let's just continue to produce content. At that time, if we remember, all people were doing was just putting stuff out on the internet Hope, I would say put stuff out there, even if it's old, maybe somebody will see you, remember you, and say hey, you know, I remember that, let me call this guy when we're hiring again. Or I also thought it would keep people busy. I said you know, keep your skills up. And eight, nine months from now, when people start asking you, when general managers, news directors, say what'd you been doing the last nine months, you'll actually say this is what I've been doing, as opposed to a lot of people who do say nothing, you know. So I started. So I said let's keep, let's do content and let me think of another way that we can get people. I mean I can't send to places because there's no opening. What are we going to do?
06:13
So I came up with the idea I'm going to do a TV show. It was called zoomed in, with DB and A, and what it was. It was a really hokey. It was done. You know, zoom wise, and I would talk to all my clients for 15, 20 minutes. Talk about how COVID had affected them, both in the workplace and, you know, personally, personally, professionally, and it was just a regular show, I mean, you know, not even like this. Just you know, zoom yeah zoom 15 minutes.
06:41 - Stacey (Host)
A lot of people just use zoom.
06:43 - DB (Host)
And we put it out and it ran in a couple cable stations and for some reason it really hit.
06:49
you know people, I guess like the idea of finding out from people who work in TV and radio what they were doing during COVID. And then around July or August I actually got a call from the people at Roku and they said, hey, we saw your show and we'd like to know if you'd like to run it on Roku. And at that time I thought that the shelf life was kind of over. People were starting to get hired again. We were kind of talking, not negatively, but we were talking about, well, when we get to work again, when people are going to start hiring again, and that had started. So I thought maybe the shelf life of the show had was over.
07:24
But I had the guy from Roku on the phone and I said, listen, I'm kind of thinking about this idea. I said but you know, I've got clients who I want to, who have TV shows and who have ideas for shows and want to do show and have content. I'd kind of like to have a network. Where the guy said that's a great idea and I said, well, how much would it cost me? And he said We'll give you a network for free. So it's like you got to be kidding me. Then I just remember at one time we're like oh, we're at 27 shows, oh we're 34 shows, oh we're at 40 shows. It just kept growing.
07:57 - Stacey (Host)
I just have to stop you because, as you're talking, I love to get in the brain of people like DB and you're making it seem like things just happened. So, suddenly we went from this many shows to that many shows. We went from that to that we had an East Coast, west Coast sales rep. You know you put the time in and the effort in to make that happen.
08:18 - DB (Host)
I know, but that's kind of how it happened.
08:20 - Stacey (Host)
You just kind of wake up one day and say, oh my.
08:21 - Mark (Host)
God you got 60 shows.
08:23 - DB (Host)
That's not true. Really.
08:25 - Mark (Host)
There's a whole lot of work in there. You totally, totally work on that.
08:29 - DB (Host)
But I mean, you also kind of look back and you don't realize how quickly things happen.
08:32 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah, but so do you call people. Do you say I need to you know, like, what is the effort behind? Well, I, mean.
08:38 - DB (Host)
First of all, I wanted to make sure that my clients who have been loyal and good to me, if they had an opportunity to be on a network that you know, they effort.
08:47 - Stacey (Host)
Do you call them? Got them on.
08:49 - DB (Host)
And then there was a time when I'm like, oh, it would be nice to have some more shows. I would go online and look at other cable places, other places that I think I went online at. I forget now, but I was always looking at shows and calling and getting hold of the producers or what other hosts and saying, hey, by the way, we haven't had. At that time we were just on Roku.
09:09 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah, yeah.
09:12 - DB (Host)
So all I could say to them was look, you know, we're just on Roku. Then I think within a year, we were on Roku, we were on Amazon Fire.
09:19 - Stacey (Host)
So the Amazon called you I forget, I forget what happened.
09:24 - DB (Host)
But I think we actually said, hey, could we go on Amazon?
09:27 - Stacey (Host)
And we had to. We were on Amazon.
09:29 - DB (Host)
Again, looking back, it's probably just a worm.
09:32 - Stacey (Host)
Maybe it did just happen, maybe, maybe, but then we were on Amazon.
09:38 - DB (Host)
We're on all smart TVs.
09:40 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah.
09:41 - DB (Host)
And then and also then, of course we're also on DBTVTV Right.
09:45 - Stacey (Host)
But when you went and looked, for shows and I'm sorry, I have questions about it, but when you went and looked for shows and you're like trolling on cable, like what do you look for? Like what you know? Someone charismatic like Mark and I, or would you?
09:55 - DB (Host)
Yeah, yeah, it's funny because even my own wife would say to me well, how come you don't have, how come you don't show CSI, how come you don't show? Leave it To Eaver, Right. And I said because everybody is.
10:06 - Mark (Host)
Yeah.
10:08 - DB (Host)
When you go on TV and you look at the menu when you bring up. There's 200 other networks. 150 of them are showing the same Exactly. Csi Right.
10:17
I dream of Jeannie. So what was great about our network, and still is, is everything is first run Wow, you can't find our shows on any other network. So if you want to watch, Leave it To Beaver. I Dream of Jeannie. That's fine, but that's not what we're into. So I figured if it's a show that interests me, that's family oriented, it's going to be interesting to everybody else. And you know we started with a lot of our strength. In the beginning were cooking shows and also travel shows. You know that was our prime time. We had, and we still do, five hours in the afternoon of cooking shows and then in the evening we have three hours of travel shows. We have a show from Italy, Sicily, best of California, undercover jetsetter and you can't get those anywhere else.
11:02
And the other thing we say DBTV something for everyone, because we also have kids shows, we also have sports, we also have game shows, we have history shows, I mean you know that all. Any important thing to us is you know there isn't too many networks that you can sit and watch with your kids and not have to worry about sending your kids out, it's true. We're not into politics. We're not into people screaming yes.
11:26 - Mark (Host)
Let me give. Let me give it a little more context here. You have you said cooking and food, new shows, entertainment talk shows, interview shows, travel, health and wellness, movies, comedy, sports, game shows. I love that invention game show Like what the heck is that? What that? I love that show shows about cars, shows about gadgets. Valor TV and veteran shows, veteran impact shows and even a show that I love the titles, called Rarity of Nature, where it's people. It's a show about people who follow their dreams.
11:51 - DB (Host)
I love that Rarity of Nature, and that's just a handful right there are well over 100.
11:56 - Mark (Host)
There truly is something I said that to Stacy. There's truly something for everyone and it's just a testament. Like how do you I know at one point you and I were talking about you wanted to launch a pickleball show.
12:06 - DB (Host)
I don't even know where that stands.
12:07 - Mark (Host)
That might have been one of the 20 that you launched in between. But where did that come from? Not specifically that, but where did these ideas come from, like how you trained and powerful enough to create your인.
12:16 - DB (Host)
You're looking for shows that are popular. You're always. You're happy for the people that are watching our regular viewers, which are always saying, okay, how can I get somebody else? And I just thought that, okay, now it's time for us to do some more sports.
12:26 - Mark (Host)
What's hot right now?
12:27 - DB (Host)
Everybody's talking about pickleball, I mean.
12:29 - Mark (Host)
I don't know much about it.
12:31 - DB (Host)
I just know that everybody's talking about it, Everybody's playing it. So I thought okay. I also. I find out since then that there are some networks that actually do have some pickleball tournaments. I didn't know that, but I still think there's so much interest out there that there's gotta be a league somewhere or whatever, that would watch pickleball on a regular basis.
12:49 - Stacey (Host)
Can I really let back right now? Can I do my thing, Do your thing Like I love? I really love to find out, like how you were made like as a kid to now. So like I think the question I really like to ask is what would young DB be saying right now if he saw you? Like, where was young DB? How was he molded? You know, I guess he was Dave then or David and now.
13:14 - DB (Host)
Your DB. So how was young Dave?
13:16 - Stacey (Host)
You know, did you have a big family Like what you know? Who were your mentors? Who were your gurus? Was it your parents? Was it your family? Yeah, I was adopted.
13:24 - DB (Host)
Okay, so I don't know who my real parents are but, I didn't care because I was brought into a home that was loving. I had two older brothers and I was just. I love TV.
13:36 - Stacey (Host)
I mean, when everybody else was outside playing and doing things, I was in front of them. Yay, I love TV too.
13:41 - DB (Host)
I was watching TV, watching news and trying to, you know, breathe it all in. And you know, even though I love my parents very much, when I was a young age, I realized when I was in sixth, seventh grade I wanted to get into TV news. I really want to be a news guy.
13:57
Yeah, and my mom was like no, you better not. We can't afford for you to go to college. You know, the people who work in TV are special people. They all know certain people. They're all from big cities. They all know famous people. So don't get your hopes up about being in TV news.
14:16 - Stacey (Host)
So what did you say to that?
14:19 - DB (Host)
And I'm like well, okay, I mean sometimes you know it's a shame because a lot of times the friction that you get or the not bad advice, but the Like, the pushback, the pushback you get. Unfortunately you're from the people who know you.
14:34 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah.
14:34 - DB (Host)
So it's very hard to say. So what you do is you just say, okay, well, I'll show them.
14:38 - Stacey (Host)
And it's exactly what a lot of people on the podcast say the same thing. I'll show them.
14:41 - DB (Host)
I'll show them and you know I ended up following my dream of becoming a TV reporter, and you know so I can honestly tell people. Here's the thing when I was young, I was told by my parents can't afford college, don't worry about being a TV reporter. I went out and I became a TV reporter.
15:01 - Stacey (Host)
Did you go to college?
15:02 - DB (Host)
Did you, yeah, yeah, I mean, my parents didn't know that there was a Scholarships.
15:07 - Stacey (Host)
Scholarships, yeah.
15:10 - DB (Host)
And then, when I started my talent agency, everybody was complaining about their agent. Well, my agent takes a week to call me back. My agent's pushing me with six other people for the same job. And I would say, well, why do you tolerate that? Well, cause, all agents are like that. So I decided why I'm going to be different. I'm going to be an agent who actually calls people back the same day. I'm not going to push people for the same job, right?
15:40 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah.
15:40 - DB (Host)
And again, everybody push back. You can't do that. It's never been done, it's not going to work.
15:46 - Stacey (Host)
And that gives you the fire right, yeah, why?
15:48 - DB (Host)
Well, because nobody else does it that way. So I remember in 93, I decided to start the agency. It was a Labor Day weekend in 93. And I said to my wife I'm going to do things differently. I'm going to actually be an agency that calls people back the same day. We're not going to pitch multiple people for the same job, we're going to do short contracts, that type of thing. And I said to my wife if I get 10 people who believe in me by the end of the year, I think I might be on to something. And I had 40 clients by the first month.
16:20 - Mark (Host)
Of course you did and I thought OK, people do want this.
16:25 - DB (Host)
It can be done, and I started my 31st year in September as a talent agent in a business that doesn't have a lot of talent agents who realize that.
16:37
I can count on my one finger and have some digits left as far as the people who started at the same time I did, a lot of people would start to find out how difficult it was, or go back to being a news director or whatever they were. So when people asked me did you know you were going to be a talent agent for 30 years? I really didn't. I kind of started thought, well, let's see where it takes me. Maybe I'll become a news director again or maybe I'll go back on the air again. You never know what life's going to take you. But again, if somebody would have said to me you're going to be a talent agent for 30 years, I would have said I don't know about that.
17:12 - Mark (Host)
So it's funny you say that about you being an agent that calls back immediately Because we were talking. I always knew if I texted you my phone was ringing. I love that You're like that guy which also speaks to that mindset, that work ethic to get shit done. If I could say that.
17:29 - Stacey (Host)
He also calls you, even if he doesn't. So I said to you, I told you I'm like you're the only person I've talked to that could potentially be a client that calls me and says I do want to be a client, but I can't be a client now and you keep in touch and you're like let's keep talking.
17:41 - Mark (Host)
It's so unique that doesn't happen. It doesn't happen. So where does that come from? Where does that relationship building on that work ethic when does that come from? I mean, that's the way you treat people the way that you should want to be treated.
17:55 - DB (Host)
What's something I tell all the time is, we're in a business of communication, but not a lot of it goes on.
18:02 - Mark (Host)
You would think that a business where we're paid to speak and write and do well.
18:07 - DB (Host)
there would be better communication going on and I just decided that if I was going to do things right and differently, that being aggressive was going to be and just treat people with respect was going to be the way it was going to be. I mean, I don't know how else you could do it. I do know there's agents and other people in this business out there who don't return calls or take a week to return calls or don't treat people very well. That's on them. I just couldn't see doing business like that.
18:37 - Mark (Host)
So, going back to what you were saying, tapping back into the past, did you have somebody that sort of said let me take you under my wing, somebody who was your guru.
18:46 - DB (Host)
Well, I wish I did, I wish I could say that, because being an agent is kind of a very you're kind of out for each other.
18:56 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah, competitive.
18:57 - DB (Host)
I thought to myself, jesus, it would be nice to kind of pick somebody's brain, but I also knew that I would be in competition with them. I also knew that I was going to be doing things different than what they would tell me. So it was really a lot of I wish I had a guru in the agency business that I could tell you about. But I didn't, because I didn't want the competition, I didn't want them to know what I was thinking, what I was doing. Maybe if I had failed or things were slow coming out of the gate, I would have thought, ok, I'm going to need some guidance here, but things kind of hit it.
19:27 - Stacey (Host)
He didn't need a right away. Yeah.
19:28 - DB (Host)
So I'm like, okay, I really don't need somebody. Yeah but I do think it's great to have a guru, it's good to have somewhere you can call and ask. I just did.
19:36 - Stacey (Host)
I just did what the competition? I just didn't have a question, though, because I mean it just seems like success just kind of finds you and you, like you've been so Successful for so many years. I'm gonna ask you to do a little bit of my homework for me. I have to speak to the entrepreneurial school, the Horn School of Business at University Delaware. That's awesome about failure as an entrepreneur. Right, and failure is a daily thing as far as.
19:56
I'm concerned in entrepreneurship. What would you say, like if I, if I came to you and I said, okay, db, talk to the University of Delaware Entrepreneurial school?
20:04 - Mark (Host)
love it about failure.
20:06 - Stacey (Host)
What would be something that you'd talk about?
20:07 - DB (Host)
first of all, I would be honest.
20:09 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah.
20:10 - DB (Host)
I would just be honest about my experience. You know there's so many quotes out there from people who talk about and they're great quotes about, you know, failure and and and all that. But I mean you have to be willing to take chances. And you know I always tell people I go geez. You know, if you want to get into TV, get into TV. If you fail, okay, but at least you did it. You know, live the rest of your life saying geez, I wonder if I would have been a success in TV radio. Whatever you want to be, you know. So it it really takes you used the word earlier balls to come.
20:44 - Mark (Host)
Okay, I'm gonna do this. Did you say balls? I didn't.
20:49 - DB (Host)
You know it's okay to have you know it's okay to have a failure.
20:52 - Stacey (Host)
Have you had one? Like when's the time? You were like in the trenches like, oh my god, I don't know if I can go, oh yeah.
20:56 - DB (Host)
There's times when I would say, when I would say, geez, I don't know if I'm, if I'm gonna continue to do this.
21:02 - Stacey (Host)
You know, I mean I how did you pick yourself up again?
21:05 - DB (Host)
I mean, you've got bills to pay.
21:07 - Mark (Host)
I mean I mean I mean that's enough of a yeah.
21:11 - DB (Host)
I think you know the fact that you've got a family. That's expecting motivation you that you got to take care of you got animals to feed you've got the children. You know, I always just said, hey, I'm not gonna be, I'm gonna be a failure, I'm gonna stop now. And the other thing is I always kept saying all the good that I've done up to this point is Now nothing. You know, it's like if, all of a sudden, I decided to stop the TV network after two years.
21:38
Right, all that great, all that energy, all that time that I put it away from my family. Now talk to me.
21:43 - Mark (Host)
What was it for right was?
21:44 - DB (Host)
it for. So that kind of keeps you going too. It's like, okay, I don't want to give up what I've already put in. Yeah you know, so that I think that's the thing that I think of most right the fact that, geez, I don't want to waste all this time effort that I put into this.
21:58
Yeah and all the people that you've talked to who are counting on you. You know you have people. You have, you know, Hundred shows. They're expecting you to do well. You're expecting them to do what you tell them is gonna happen in the future, you know. So. You want to make sure that you don't let those people down right and your family as well.
22:16 - Stacey (Host)
So that's what keeps you going, that's what keeps you motivated. So I would tell people that.
22:18 - DB (Host)
You know, I think a lot. I think a lot of people are afraid to fail right. But it's like if you talk to really, really successful people, all of them have failed at one point or another and there's nothing wrong with that. You don't know unless you try. You know, as I said, I was told that I'm never gonna be in, you know, tv news. I was told that my agency wasn't gonna work. I was told that at my age, trying to get a TV network going, are you crazy in these times during COVID, are you nuts? You know, but Well.
22:49 - Stacey (Host)
I'm here and I'm talking about are you nuts, like I think most of us are. Like I think entrepreneurs like, on one level or another, like we're kind of nuts, right, we're fearless, like we jump into these things and we're like, hey, let's just try it.
23:00 - DB (Host)
Yeah, I think there might be sort of like a gene and I told you, the hardest thing is sometimes that that brush back that you get is from people who you love, people who's your family, people you respect and you know, you know and you want to say to them I'm gonna keep going and they don't like that. But you know, here's the thing people really don't know what your business is. I mean, I have a lot of friends who told me I was gonna fail, but they had no idea what the television business was like. They had no idea what an agency, talent agency was like. They had no idea where to start as far as with a TV network. So a lot of times you have people who just say, oh, it's not gonna work, but they don't know why do people say that? Yeah, but because I think that's the way to. You know, people love to knock people down and then watch people get rise again and then knock people down. That's just, that's the way it is.
23:48 - Mark (Host)
We all love a comeback story, so we create the comeback story. But I would just be honest with them.
23:53 - DB (Host)
I would tell them about Great things that have happened with you and, and you know, with the studio things you've done. But also I would be honest with them and let them know that it's okay to to fall flat on your face or to have Bumps in the road.
24:05 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah, I think all of us felt that way around, covid.
24:07 - Mark (Host)
So let's talk about some of those bumps from a perfect, from a personal standpoint, because it doesn't look like you had a whole lot of bumps Professionally, like luck, and it just happened exponential growth. I'm sure there were plenty zillions great, but I'm personally and I know you're okay talking about this personally you've hit it several bumps. Tell us about that, because that was along the way. Yeah, multiple times.
24:27 - DB (Host)
I'm trying to think of the first year I want to say 2010 I found out that I was stage four cancer stage for I didn't really already and Right away, you know. I mean, I was only 50 years old when that one that happened.
24:42 - Stacey (Host)
Where did it start? It was it was a prostate cancer.
24:44 - DB (Host)
Oh my gosh and so right away you start thinking oh my god, 50 years old, and then I've already at that point had so many years into the. I'm gonna lose the agency, I'm gonna lose my family. I mean, that's you know, it's kind of what you think about and and I, I put it. I didn't put it off, but they said you got stage 4 cancer, you better start do something wrong. But I didn't want to do the prostate surgery.
25:05
I said okay, you know that they now have other things. I guess they have like those steel Balls I guess they call them or radiation balls that they put in, and also there's Kind of radiation therapy and all that and I was hoping that that was an option for me. But everywhere I went they kept saying, no, you're too far along, you've got stage 4.
25:22 - Mark (Host)
Hmm.
25:23 - DB (Host)
Yeah. So I was like, okay, fine. So I thought it would be the end of the world, but it wasn't. I mean it was, it was just a bump in the road, you know how is it a bump in the road?
25:31 - Mark (Host)
Yeah, how did you get? That's what I want that middle part.
25:34 - Stacey (Host)
I want, like the, I thought it was the end of world. I didn't want to lose the agency, right. I didn't want to lose my family. I wanted to yeah.
25:41 - DB (Host)
I. I loved what I was doing and I just said I'm gonna get through it, I'm just gonna it's, I'm gonna bump in the road.
25:46 - Stacey (Host)
I mean you just kind of do that one foot at it, like one step at a time, just got through it, I mean you know I wasn't gonna let that stop me.
25:52 - DB (Host)
Yeah and then, I think six years later, I developed this Racial my face. It was. It really looked like my face was on fire. Oh, my gosh and for about a year and a half I went everywhere looking for I went to the first day told me that I was allergic to that stuff that they put on dogs, so that they flee and tick please and ticks okay, which I thought. Well, that's kind of strange. Yeah and then they also told me, that was my, my bedding.
26:19
You know, that it was. I was a little like down or whatever, but the thing it was just from here up it wasn't.
26:26 - Mark (Host)
If it would have been, then all right.
26:28 - DB (Host)
So I spent a year and a half being misdiagnosed and then, finally, about the fourth or fifth time I was, I was having dinner with my wife and we, veronica. We were across the street from the hospital and I started Making faces. My wife was going.
26:42 - Stacey (Host)
I couldn't swallow, oh no.
26:45 - DB (Host)
So she took me over to the hospital across the street and again I had been sent home so many times. They just said, oh, it's this, it's that. So there was a An R they a doctor there who said look, I'm keeping you here and we're gonna find out what's what's wrong with you. So after a week of testing, they told me that I had cancer, which which we really didn't was it like a lymphoma. Yeah, it was a. It was a rare.
27:10
The limfoma rash cell lymphoma and they said again your stage four. And and I remember just like it was yesterday it was a Friday that they Diagnosed that I had mantle cell. And I remember the doctor saying to me he goes, you know we're gonna have to start Monday, you have to come in Monday. He goes, take care of your business. So when I heard take care of your business, I thought it just meant Okay you know business? Yeah, you know yeah, go back to my office and you know how do you things up.
27:42
And then, and so I said to him with something along and he goes no, that means you make sure you've got a will.
27:47 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah, are you kidding me?
27:48 - DB (Host)
Yeah, he goes well he's. You have a very rare.
27:51 - Mark (Host)
Oh my god form of cancer.
27:52 - DB (Host)
He's there. Yes, you have a 2% chance of survival.
27:56 - Mark (Host)
Hey guys, thanks for listening. If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review, give us a follow, subscribe, all those things. All those things. We love it because we read each and every comment and it helped shape the show, so we would appreciate it please, and back to the show.
28:12 - DB (Host)
He goes well he's. You have a very rare.
28:14 - Mark (Host)
Oh my god form of cancer.
28:15 - DB (Host)
He's there. Yes, you have a 2% chance of survival. So it's like, well, okay, I'll take those odds you know, so again, what was I concerned about Losing my agency, which I had more years in the agency? I still had hundreds of clients. I loved what I was doing and my family. I was still relatively young, I was still in my 50s.
28:36 - Stacey (Host)
This is 2016, yeah, right there, yeah.
28:40 - DB (Host)
So it's like okay, well, thank you again. It's a bump in the road. So the thing that I'm most proud of is I was in and out. I had to go in. The way it is you kind of go in for four or five days, they give you the chemo. You kind of go home for six or seven days, but during those six and seven days you have a lot of things. You still go back to the hospital. You have to get platelets, you have to get checked, you have to get all this. I didn't miss a single day of work.
29:07 - Mark (Host)
I was very proud of that.
29:08 - Stacey (Host)
I mean I should my laptop with me.
29:11 - DB (Host)
I had my phone with me.
29:12 - Stacey (Host)
Did anyone tell you to just calm down? And because everyone when I just was sick was like okay, you need to go lay down, you need to calm down, you need to not not push yourself.
29:20 - DB (Host)
The doctor said to me don't tell anybody, but you're going through and I said I can't because to first of all, I've been honest with my clients and my friends Since day one why, do I want to hide something like this? And the second thing is, I think that if there is a day when I'm not feeling up to it, Right. I think I owe it to my clients to understand why I didn't get back to them.
29:41
Right maybe I'm having a bad day or two, that I may not be able to get back to you that day. So I said it's only fair that I tell, and also everybody warned me. Well, you're gonna have people who are gonna expect you to be there every day for them and they may drop you as a Agent. And I thought, well, okay, if that's the way. And the other thing I'm most proud of is nobody you know, nobody dropped me everybody stayed with me, they were loyal, which was fantastic. I'll always remember that.
30:06
That's wonderful and I had people calling me and calling my wife. My wife is going crazy because she would take calls every day for people, one because they didn't want to bother me. But I was, I was still doing business. You know, yeah, so yeah, but you know, so again, it was just a bump in the road eight, nine months, but I still continued to work. And then, four or five years later, they said to me again. I had it said. They said that your cancer is back which one, but it was the prostate cancer.
30:32
I because if it would have been the mantle cell it would have been really bad. Because one of the problems with mantle cell is is that If when you get it, then you get it again, it's, it's, it's, it's fatal. So I'm thinking, oh my god, it can't, it can't be the, it can't be the prostate, because I already had that taken out. But it turned out that I had prostate cancer when I was 50. So I was in my 60s at this point, or just getting to 60. They said we have to go down, we have to kind of do some maintenance for you so that you don't have that problem Down the road, right? So again, you know three times three times Wow okay, that's enough.
31:05
You know three times.
31:06 - Stacey (Host)
And you beat it, yeah, three times. And you're an admission like to remission yeah. Even though there's only 2% chance.
31:13 - Mark (Host)
Yeah, wow, did that change your outlook on life? People that go through that? Oh yeah, I think you talked to anybody.
31:20 - DB (Host)
They'll tell you that you're grateful for every day. You're grateful for the little things. You don't worry about the small things. You really tend to appreciate things an awful lot, and you look at things differently too and you say, well, hey, I can't believe that Two years ago that thing was so important.
31:39 - Mark (Host)
Right right.
31:40 - DB (Host)
I can't believe that I didn't talk to that person, or I did that because, looking back, oh, my god, that's so stupid, because you're really I mean, you're playing with house money now. Yeah, that's basically how I look at you, you're playing with house money, so you got to really appreciate things.
31:55 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah.
31:56 - Mark (Host)
I was reading some of what you sent to us, or what we found on you it was. You had said that it's important to choose a specialized in a field that you are completely devoted to, and you protect it as if it were your own.
32:09 - DB (Host)
Yeah.
32:10 - Mark (Host)
So how did you come to that mindset of that's what success is?
32:14 - DB (Host)
Well, somebody already had the great line which is, if you find something that you really like, you never work a day in your life and I think that's a great quote and it is true. But I kind of wanted something about that. I mean you really have to protect everything you've done, I mean all the work that you've done to that point. You have to protect it. People have to know that you're very adamant about your work and your work ethic and you're proud of your work and all that. So I think that quote kind of encompasses what my mindset is, which is I'm very serious about my work, I put a lot of time into it, don't take anything away from it and you love it and you're passionate about it, which is so cool.
32:52 - Stacey (Host)
So what's next for DBTV? What's the next steps? I know you have a plan. You definitely have a plan.
32:59 - DB (Host)
We're talking to somebody now about doing a big, big expansion. I wish I could announce it today, but we can't.
33:05 - Stacey (Host)
Come on DB.
33:08 - Mark (Host)
Let's announce it.
33:09 - DB (Host)
Trust me when we announce it, which will be shortly. Everybody on social media will know it, but it's going to be nice to see, after two and a half years of building it, that it's going to be a place where more people can see it. That's fantastic, and all that, so maybe you'll have me back and I can talk about it yeah, anytime. I'm going from point B to point C.
33:31 - Mark (Host)
Be a whole different story, be even more successful in an already successful story. That's wild.
33:36 - DB (Host)
But that goes to about saying that you can't do things. I mean you're told you've got a 2% chance of survival.
33:43 - Mark (Host)
Right.
33:46 - DB (Host)
I mean, there's a lot of people who would just say, well, I don't like those eyes.
33:48 - Mark (Host)
I'm done.
33:49 - DB (Host)
I mean that's it. But with me it's like, ok, that's a challenge, ok, but I was very concerned. I mean I'll be honest, when I got home that day. I still remember being in my office and feeling so sorry for myself.
34:00 - Stacey (Host)
At the 2% thing. Yeah, I mean, I can imagine.
34:03 - DB (Host)
Oh my god, why me, why am?
34:04 - Stacey (Host)
I Then.
34:04 - DB (Host)
I realized wait a minute, there's a reason why it is me and I'm going to make the best of it, but you are concerned about losing your family. Right, you are concerned about that, you're concerned about losing your business, but I also said, hey, this is not going to happen to me. The other thing that was wild in our family was we were losing so many other friends and people in our family of cancer. So when you lose them and you're still alive, you think to yourself wow this is really why,
34:33 - Stacey (Host)
me.
34:35 - DB (Host)
How come I'm the lucky one that's surviving this? I mean the other people in the family and friends. We knew they put up the same great fight that I did. It's just that I was very lucky.
34:44 - Stacey (Host)
Was there anything you did like nutritionally or with your exercise, or was there some sort of like a secret?
34:49 - DB (Host)
The funny thing was I told everybody. I said I'm finally going to lose weight. I'm going to have cancer and the only great thing about it is I'm going to lose weight, and I must have been the only patient in the whole world to actually gain weight during my cancer treatment. I was hoping. I really. I'm like OK, I'm going to lose weight, this is great. Maybe this is a great way to do it. I know that sounds awful, but I really was. I'm going to lose weight. And I didn't lose weight, I lost hair.
35:14 - Mark (Host)
I like the way you talk about your business, because you talk about your business as if it's your child, right? I don't want to lose my business.
35:21 - DB (Host)
Yeah, that is true, I need to be here for my business.
35:23 - Mark (Host)
Every seventh was my family and my business and it was with equal weight and I get as a business owner as a business owner yourself. We get that because you feel such a dedication to something you created. It's your baby. So, going back to what Stacy said about you young you giving old you what would young?
35:43 - Stacey (Host)
you think?
35:43 - Mark (Host)
of current you? What would current you? Go back and tell DB of yesteryear to make your path better.
35:53 - DB (Host)
You can do it. Don't let people, especially people who you respect and love, tell you that you can't do it. Just really, I follow your dreams. I mean, I think the only great thing that came out of COVID was a lot of people said you know what? I don't want to be a salesman anymore, I want to write poetry. I don't want to work in a store anymore, I don't want to work in an office anymore, I want to be a photographer or whatever. And I think that was great because it gave people the chance to finally pursue what they really wanted to do. But you also have to make a living.
36:25
It's nice to be able to say well, I'm going to be a songwriter and I'm not going to work for three years, I'm just going to write songs. You also have to go out and buy groceries and things like that, but if there's anything that I am, it's an example of again being told you can't, you can't, you can't do this, you won't be able to do this, and just doing it because you want to.
36:46 - Stacey (Host)
You're like watch me?
36:47 - DB (Host)
I mean, my wife says to me all the time and friends say to me well, what would you do if you couldn't be a that's a good question If you couldn't be a I don't know. It would be some kind of communication, it would probably be radio or something like that, but I really never even thought about it. It's like that's what I want to be and that's what I want to do.
37:04 - Mark (Host)
I have a question. I'm fascinated by people's process, especially busy people, how they get stuff done and give and take. Do you have a process that you follow in the morning, like I get up at this time and I'm working?
37:14 - DB (Host)
Yeah, routine. Yeah, routine, thank you, I make sure that every night I sit down and I write what I have to do for the next day, any phone call, so I don't forget anything. Because I'm getting older and you're getting more things going on, you forget things. So I write things, bills that need to be paid, people I need to call. Then when I wake up the next morning, I call those people right away because I figure, ok, now they know that I've reached out to them.
37:37
They know I'm available the whole day. They may not want to call me back, but at least I've touched. I reached them first thing in the morning or in the morning, so they have the whole morning, afternoon, evening to get back to me. But I don't do what I always say every year. I'm going to do what real great people do, where they actually plan like their whole day, where they've got a planner and they say, OK, between 12 and 1,.
38:01 - Stacey (Host)
I'm doing this between 1 and 3.
38:03 - Mark (Host)
Kind of oh, is that OK? Good, she's awesome.
38:05 - Stacey (Host)
I wouldn't call myself one of the great people.
38:06 - Mark (Host)
You're one of the great people.
38:07 - Stacey (Host)
I just have to read it down or I'll forget.
38:09 - DB (Host)
But I've always bowed to those people because that's really the way to do it. I mean that's really being planned and organized.
38:16 - Stacey (Host)
DB, I should ask you. Since we're interviewing you, I want to ask you.
38:19 - DB (Host)
Maybe I'll ask you. I don't know.
38:20 - Mark (Host)
It's fair.
38:21 - Stacey (Host)
Who was your biggest and maybe you can't say this who's your biggest get? Who were you so excited to sign? People ask me that.
38:29 - DB (Host)
And I do give names of people who I was lucky to have. Ok, that's cool but there's two things that I tell people. First of all, it's great to have a big name or be able to say hey, I moved this person from a small market to Fox, or I moved a person from a small market to Philadelphia.
38:44
But as important is getting somebody their first job, that they've grown up, just like I did. They decided at a young age that they wanted to get into TV as a reporter and they go to school for four years and you get them their first job and they're a static and you watch them grow. You watch them go from a small market like 168 to go to 110, then to go to a 70 you're there, guru so you feel Great about those because you helped in the development of that person.
39:13
Mm-hmm. And also a lot of times you'll have a person call me like I use that, why I won't give the name, the person. But I had a person who was very famous reporter in Philadelphia. People called this find out.
39:24
I'll find out the name the greatest reporter, street reporter ever in the history of Philadelphia no, no, no name. But I Got her a job in the Midwest as an anchor and a smaller market in Philadelphia and everybody thought that this was terrible. Oh my god, you're taking the greatest reporter in Philadelphia history and Boy, you should be proud of yourself. But but people don't understand that this woman's Family lived in the Midwest, her family was getting older, she wanted to be closer to her family either in Chicago or Milwaukee and she wanted to anchor. So I did what my client asked me to do, which is get her an anchor job in the Midwest. So right away there, a lot of people would say, well, jeez, you go from market for whatever it is. That's not it. It's really doing what you're.
40:11 - Stacey (Host)
You there to support your client.
40:14 - Mark (Host)
Yeah, you know let me say a little insight, a little dog, a little behind the scenes on the news world. My, my business partner, joe Parker, came from the news world. We talked to a lot of people that are newscasters looking to change careers. You know, in my agency Not many are positive about their experience in the world of news. They say it's like a very dog eat dog world. What's your insight, having been in that world for so many years?
40:40 - DB (Host)
It's changed dramatically over the last four or five years, unfortunately. Yeah, I mean it always, but it never revolved this fast. Yeah, the problem is and I'm probably gonna get in trouble saying this but it's the truth.
40:55
The problem with radio many years ago was you had somebody who was working in Baltimore and they're Telling radio stations in Louisiana, new Mexico, california, these are the songs you're gonna play and it took away all the music, all the Personality in that that you have in every city. Every city has a personality of Paul saw heartbeat. So you have a guy in Baltimore who's never been in your town and he's telling you these are the songs that you play. Now what's been happening in television is the same thing. These huge corporates have taken over and bought up a lot of these television stations. So you have a Corporate in Texas who's telling the other 49 States this is the stories you're gonna do, this is how you do the stories, this is where you run the stories and when you go out, this is how you tell the story.
41:49
And a lot of people have you know it's taken every all the joy out of the other problem that what you have is you've got bean counters now and I hate this. I don't want to Disrespect anybody by calling them a bean counter, but you have people who look at salaries and they'll look and they'll say, oh, everybody in the news is making 35. Oh wait a minute. Bill's making $80,000 while everybody else in this newsroom is making 35,000. They don't know bill. They don't know that bill has a family. Bills have been there for 35 years bills a pillar in the community.
42:23
Everybody knows and loves bill. They look at bill is making $80,000 and they can bring in three other people to replace bill right. So if it's a local person making that decision, it's easy. We know that bill is worth that money. But for somebody who's not in that community, not in that state, not in the Looks, and says bills making too much money, yeah, so a lot of people feel that they've kind of taken it's taken the fun out of their work and it's a shame, and I've, and also you know I represent a lot of young Kids who are, you know, it's their first second job and they're excited when they get out of all that.
42:59
But the emphasis now is on hiring those younger kids and kind of forgetting about the older. Experience people and it's a shame because what experience comes, you have to pay more money. I tell the story about a. I represented a baseball player and and he called me. He was traded and he called me and said he wanted to find he wanted me to find an apartment for him, for his wife and his girlfriend, all in three different sections of Chicago, and he wanted it done by noon the next day.
43:33 - Mark (Host)
It was after that that.
43:34 - DB (Host)
I said I don't know if I really want to continue dealing with athletes.
43:38 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah.
43:39 - DB (Host)
And I had a. I had it when I first started. I was very lucky because that's a really great, big-name athletes and a lot of them Unfortunately got in trouble with you know, with drugs or things like that and you're dealing with that and it's a shame because it kind of takes you away from, as you know, as a, as a you know sure I want to get your work.
43:59 - Stacey (Host)
Why do you think that was the case? Like think that's just such some head.
44:03 - DB (Host)
Athletes have a lot of free time in their hands. Yeah, and unfortunately, they have a lot of money and you know they get a lot of things and are tempted by a lot of things that you and I aren't, don't have access to, and they just fall. Right on the way side. It's a shame.
44:18 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah, wow.
44:20 - Mark (Host)
We've been fortunate We've only dealt with former athletes retired.
44:25 - DB (Host)
Different.
44:25 - Mark (Host)
Yeah, they're grown up, they have families, they're you know, they're not in the game anymore.
44:29 - DB (Host)
They're just looking for additional work at your company. Yeah, at our agency, yeah.
44:33 - Mark (Host)
Do you want to ask him your favorite question? Okay, oh, I want to hear his answer. Yeah, I do, yeah.
44:40 - Stacey (Host)
So I always ask this question and I love this question because we've gotten the coolest answers. So what is one thing that you've never told anyone? Maybe, maybe, your wife, but you've never told anyone about you. But you can break on this podcast like they'll give you a. For instance, like we had an athlete who told us on the show that he fell in love with raising plants during the pandemic and he was talking to his plants. We had somebody else tell us that he had to audition for you know, the Philly fanatic, but didn't realize that he couldn't wear like a uniform and he had to just dance around by himself. So, like you know, then we had someone else who was a rapper rapper yeah.
45:20 - DB (Host)
That you've never really talked about there's a lot of people who think that the jobs I had were glamorous and you know, my wife and I were lucky because we got to go to a lot of. We'd go to New York a lot and to see shows and we would get tours of places and we saw a lot of things that a lot of Regular people were out of business would love to go and see. So everybody thinks that I had this great work and I have there's. There's things that I've done in my way, but Basically my life is pretty boring.
45:52 - Mark (Host)
I'm in my office, I do my work.
45:56 - DB (Host)
I like the time I try to watch, you know, tv or a movie with my wife, but I like I read a lot, like I would much rather sit. I try to read three books a week.
46:05
Unfortunately, a lot of them are Biographies, you know, sports biographies and things like that, or your writers and things like that I was, unfortunately but people think that it's a glamorous life, right, and I think the first 20 years it was because we tried to go to as many things as we could. Oh, this is great, we never be invited to the Rockefeller Center thing, this is great, it's amazing, go, and it was like. But as I got older I realized I don't want to travel as much, I don't want to do those things. So I think that people think that I've had this and I still do. I've got this glamorous life because, hey, you own a TV network and you do this and it is glamorous, it is nice. But there's a lot of downside where I'm just I'm just I'm reading. I'm sitting two hours trying to get to sleep and reading books. So I'm afraid I you know. So that's something that you didn't know.
46:54 - Stacey (Host)
So would you say, you're an introvert or an extrovert?
46:56 - DB (Host)
pretty work. You know, I just discussed this with my wife about a week ago when I first started in the bit, when I was a reporter and maybe my first 15, 20 years as an agent love going out, love to meet people, love to social and then the last 15 years it's like tired, I'd rather just stay inside Watch TV dinner at home, yeah, play with. You know we have a lot of animals in our house and appreciate them and Go and read.
47:24
There's very few Networks out there anymore that are really family oriented. I Mean they may have family shows right but, whole net yeah. I mean, the thing that I'm really most proud of is not only that, it's first run, everything on there, except for the movies and the cartoons, everything else's first run is that you can watch 24 hours a day and you don't have to worry about sending your kids out of the room.
47:48
No, it's not gonna hear anything that that is bad. I said we don't do politics, we don't have people screaming heads at each other, you know. So we don't do a lot of news. We do do an evening magazine type show, which I love because it's storytelling. Mm-hmm people being able to tell their stories human interest but we don't do any. You know hard news, or?
48:09
right or people gossiping or things like that. It's that, and I think more people should have access to networks like that. The biggest thing that I can tell people is really, I mean, you know I Hate to say the word negative, but I was just told so many times that Not that you couldn't do it, just that you wouldn't be successful doing it you know, as though you were wasting your time with these ideas. And you can, and I can, tell people that it's great to have ideas, it's great to dream, but you really can if you really put your mind to it, your heart to it. Really, I mean, you know, and the toughest thing, as we said, is the people who are telling you that you're not gonna succeed, or your loved ones are your parents or your family your friends yeah.
48:53
Relatives who are telling you what. You're wasting your money, you're wasting your time. But you know, if you really have your heart set on it, you really can do it.
48:59 - Stacey (Host)
I love that and you can do it at any age. I think it kind of does fuel fire sometimes when someone tells you not to do it. Wait, I have one other question. Do you have more questions?
49:07 - DB (Host)
because I have one other one that I think that's pretty good.
49:09 - Stacey (Host)
So if you could formulate your perfect show for DBTV and you could put the people that you want in it, and it can be the format that you want it to be. I mean, besides Mark and I, which of course, but like if you could formulate your perfect, perfect show. What would it be?
49:24 - DB (Host)
I'm an evening magazine Guy. I worked for evening PM magazine. If you remember that show in the 80s where People told stories, the type of stories that you wouldn't see on the regular news, and I think more than ever we need those feel-good stories yeah you know, we need positive stories.
49:42 - Stacey (Host)
They're missing.
49:43 - DB (Host)
Valor TV Health one or 24 seven. The shows that we have stories about people who are first responders nurses doctors, Beautiful you know and then their stories. They have lives just like all of us, so I would like to have a daily evening magazine type show where people tell their stories and also you can, so people could be inspired and again, well, we're talking about let people know that this is somebody who came from a Broken home or right or whatever, and they were told that they couldn't do things and they had to achieve in great things.
50:15
That's our favorite, like when someone's overcome and even in spite of an obstacle, succeeded and I think now more than ever. I mean what you see on the news is just it's a lot of negative stuff. Blood and guts and violence and all that is. It's so nice to you know, and? And newspapers now don't have the room. If there's still newspapers around, they don't have the time to do those feel-good stories.
50:34
You know, Sometimes it takes eight minutes to tell a story, as opposed to that the day show. Everything is timed out right minute. I have to tell your story. So what I love about the magazine shows and what we do. You want to take five minutes to tell the story. Seven minutes, no story. Take the time to do it.
50:50 - Stacey (Host)
That's what I love about this format too. Yeah, like we're able to just kind of. You know, I'm like, hey, we're gonna do 28 minutes in that set.
50:55 - Mark (Host)
Yeah, and it's as much time as you want or not, so take yourself it just continuing that thought. Take yourself out of you, you, the network owner. Now you're at home on the couch. Aside from the magazine shows, what shows of yours would you find yourself enjoying the most?
51:13 - DB (Host)
I mean, who doesn't like cooking shows? Yeah but the thing is, people ask me about that. They say, well, there's a lot of cooking shows on the air. Yes, but the host Makes it makes Gordon Ramsay awesome, right? So you know, there's a lot of cooking shows that are out there and I hate to say, there's a lot of people who are pretty boring.
51:30 - Mark (Host)
I'm sure they're great chefs and whatever.
51:32 - DB (Host)
You can't but boring. What makes our cooking shows great? Art, because the, you know the hosts are full of vitality, energy, you know, and entertaining, so it makes the show great. And also, who doesn't like go on trips? You know, travel, yeah that's you sit in your Sicily school, yeah and you go to Sicily and you walk and see what a An open-air Restaurant looks like in Sicily without getting on a plane right overnight.
51:57 - Stacey (Host)
You say honey.
52:01 - DB (Host)
I mean, you know, so you know you can see those shows. But basically you have to go to like the food network and you have to look and say, okay, that's food for now, but there's just enough. There's, you know, the four hours of five hours of the cooking shows in the afternoon and, as you said, there's a. You know you can watch travel shows. I see a game show, yeah, and then you see some talk shows.
52:21 - Stacey (Host)
I love that there's a board.
52:25 - DB (Host)
Like I said, there isn't too many Networks and stations out there that have the variety so you would watch DBTV if you had. And, yeah, every show that I yeah, every show that I have on the network is a show that I think you carry it.
52:38 - Stacey (Host)
You wouldn't.
52:38 - DB (Host)
yeah, that's something I would watch, yeah if I think it's, if I think it's Controversial, if I think it's yeah yeah, I don't want anything to do it, because I'm thinking to sit and watch it.
52:48 - Mark (Host)
Love it.
52:48 - Stacey (Host)
So is there anything we can do or audience can do to help you to Promote, or is anything that you need that we can help you get? Thank you, yeah, I mean you can.
52:56 - DB (Host)
You can watch DB TV on Roku check. You can watch it on Amazon fire Check if. Amazon fire stick. Yeah anybody who's bought a TV in the last three years. Everything's a smart.
53:07 - Stacey (Host)
TV.
53:08 - DB (Host)
It's a little be marked smart TV. What you do is you just go to the where it says Search and a big keyboard comes up and you just put a D be and then, on the right hand side, hopefully, db TV. The logo. And I'll ask you you would like this as a channel?
53:26 - Mark (Host)
Yeah, and you say yeah.
53:28 - DB (Host)
You pop it in and then also DB TV, dot TV is the website. What's great about the website is not only can you see the shows, but you can also see all the shows that we have. You can also see we have a schedule on there, you know. So yeah, so the more word of mouth we have, yeah, we get this out to quite a few people.
53:49 - Stacey (Host)
So, yeah, we try, I know so. It's getting more and more, yeah, and also, you know we love feedback.
53:55 - DB (Host)
We love people writing, writing us and calling us and saying, hey, we love that show, we love that person. Yeah you know you can't get that at most stations and networks. You know you don't know who to write to you, don't know what to talk to if you, if you like a show, you know yeah.
54:10 - Mark (Host)
That's funny. I said at one point, I think I was, to my wife Maybe he's the most accessible network owner. Oh, for sure probably on the planet, because it's easy. You don't know how to write to. You know how to talk to. He's reachable. He himself is reachable.
54:23 - Stacey (Host)
Anundated now.
54:25 - DB (Host)
One of the reasons why we're looking to make the next move up is so I can bring more people on.
54:29 - Mark (Host)
I got it.
54:30 - DB (Host)
I mean when I talk to people from the network or people who are inquiring about buying ads with us.
54:36
Yeah the thing that they just can't understand is they go, oh my god, you have how many shows now. So if you say you have at the time 80 or 102, like we have, they always say, oh my god, how can you Budget? And then I say, sit down, you're not gonna believe this. But we don't have a budget and they just can't believe it. You know because I have. I have a guy whose name is Jeff Kreiner, who worked at CBS news for, I think, 30 years. Everything that came out promo wise, 60 minutes Sunday morning CBS news of Dan, rather, he did, he's. He works on our team, whoa, he does, he does all our promos, top of the hour IDs, everything. So I've got him working for me. I have a guy named Phil Andrews, or anybody in Philadelphia knows who Phil is sure we can sports guy I chose he does, I he's like a continuity guy.
55:28 - Mark (Host)
He does.
55:29 - DB (Host)
He works on our website. He does a lot of editing of the shows, like Redhound right now. He produces a lot. He kind of keeps, you know, everything up and going and you know we want to bring more people on who are like that, who are talented, and hopefully this move that we're talking about, we're gonna be able to add More people on it's great, incredible and also, we'll be able to have a budget. So we're actually able to. You know, come here to us great studio like this and actually do shows from the, from studios.
55:54 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah, that would be amazing. You would love that. I love it.
55:57 - DB (Host)
I have to tell people that this is a wonderful. If you're doing anything about Doing TV show, doing a podcast, this is a wonderful, wonderful studio and thank you.
56:08 - Mark (Host)
Tv Thank you.
56:10 - DB (Host)
Everybody who works here is wonderful too, so it's a great place to and it's affordable, which I'm sure you're not gonna be no right, we are it really is a really great place. In fact, we hope to do some things here in the future.
56:24 - Stacey (Host)
That would be the dream and main line. We would love that.
56:32 - Mark (Host)
She's amazing.
56:33 - Stacey (Host)
Sometimes good things have to come to an end.
56:37 - Mark (Host)
Yeah, this is awesome.
56:39 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah, I really really Enjoy.
56:42 - Mark (Host)
It's been great.
56:43 - DB (Host)
Well, thank you, it's nice that I got to meet you in the last couple months.
56:47 - Mark (Host)
Oh right, we spent so much time talking on the phone. It's great to sit down talking in person.
56:51 - Stacey (Host)
I didn't need to stop that talking on the phone now.
56:53 - Mark (Host)
It's true, I'm gonna text him when he leaves. You're gonna call me lunch.
56:56 - DB (Host)
Thank you, but I had fun and thank you. Thank you so much for that. Let's talk about the network.
57:00 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah, yeah you gotta come back and let us know what that big secret is that you're thank you.
57:05 - DB (Host)
I will.
57:06 - Mark (Host)
Continue. Good luck, all right, my friends. Thank you so much for joining us. We will see you next time.
57:16 - Stacey (Host)
You're still here. You're still listening. Thanks for listening to the gurus and game changers podcast while you're here. If you enjoyed it, please take a minute to rate this episode and leave us a quick review. We want to know what you thought of the show and what you took from it and how it might have helped you. We read and appreciate every comment. Thanks, see you next week.