Who Knew Podcasting Could Lead to THIS? 20 Years of Gamertag Radio with Danny Peña

Today on episode number 970 of the school of Podcasting, he is back. One of my favorite guests because he always brings his A game. It is the one and only Danny Pena from Gamertag Radio.

And Gamertag radio just turned 20. I hadn't checked in with Danny in a while.

And what I'm gonna do is every time Danny talks about an opportunity that came his way, I'm going to play this noise. And I realize if you're just starting out, you're like, man, could this actually happen to me? And my answer is yeah.

But do not forget that Danny has been doing this and doing the work and we'll talk about that for 20 years. But there is a cool light at the end of the tunnel. If you know who your audience is.

You give them what they want, you be yourself and you take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way. The man is a walking. Because of my podcast story, I'll have links to all of Danny's interviews out@schoolofpodcasting.com 970Let's start the show.

Hit it, ladies. The School of Podcasting with Dave Jackson. Podcasting since 2005, I am your award winning hall of fame podcast coach Dave Jackson.

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And yes, that comes with unlimited coaching and a 30 day money back guarantee. So. Danny Pena is amazing. He's a was one of the first people to be inducted into the Podcasters hall of Fame.

I'm always amazed anytime I'm lucky enough to be in the room with Danny. His community is right behind him and he's a great guy. And it's been a while since I talked to him and man, a lot has happened since the last time.

And so listen to the opportunities and how Danny took advantage of them. Here's my talk with Danny Pena. So, Danny, thanks for coming on the show.

No, thank you. It's been a while.

Well, the one thing before we get into like the career stuff, the other thing that happened is you got married and had a little baby.

Yes. Yeah.

And the one thing I always want to ask because, I mean, it's a joke, but it's not a joke that, like one of the arch nemesis of podcasters are babies because, you know, we love them, but they're selfish. It's all about them and feed me and wipe me and things like that.

So how do you go from having your schedule and then you throw, you know, a spouse and a baby into it? How do you handle that?

Well, my wife and I, we're. We're both content creators, you know, and we actually have a business together. So we'll. I'll talk about that.

Yeah.

But yeah, we, we either will find somebody like, you know, that could come over here and take care of Baby for. For a bit. And she's also. The past couple months, she was going to daycare, so that's been helpful too.

So we schedule based on that or based on, on where. You know, we'll, we'll take turns. Like if she has an important meeting, I'll take over.

But sometimes, and this happens, we have meetings that we both have to attend. So I've done stuff where. Or same with her. Well, we'll have Baby with us during the meeting.

Separate cameras and separate rooms and everything, you know, but our baby's been good. She's just curious.

Like, she loves to touch the mic and play with my gaming chair and, oh, my God, what's up with these cameras and lights and just want to like, touch everything, you know, so she's very curious. I used to be like that when I was a kid, too. Always experimenting with stuff, you know, especially with my dad's stuff back then and my mom's.

Excellent. So you're in Miami. What inspired you to move to New York?

I just need a change. I'm originally from New York, born and raised there. I just needed to get out.

Originally I was, I was planning to move to Europe because I, I almost had got a job over there in Europe and in Sweden.

And at that time, the company I was talking to, they straight up told me, like, you know, you have to stop doing podcasts because it's a conflict, conflict of interest and all this stuff. So I almost, I almost stopped.

And I'm thankful that it didn't went through because super last minute I went to New York thinking I was going to be there for like a month. And then they hit me up during the pandemic, actually when it started that they cut the position off and I never, never got that job.

So, you know, I felt I was stuck in New York. I'm like, man, the original plan was to move. I wasn't planning to stay here. So stay there for a couple months. And then I met My wife.

And then we, we decided to move to Los Angeles. So that's how everything happened. Like I wasn't even planning on moving or here over here at all.

It was just something that just came up out of nowhere because of opportunities that we both, that both came up.

I was going to say what inspired because that's a move to go from one coast to the other.

So is it just a case where, you know, there's always the joke of, you know, move to where the food is then if you're trying to be in the entertainment business, you might as well. It's either going to be New York or la. One of the two.

Yeah.

You know.

Yeah. Actually she, she got a job first because we, we both got an opportunity to work at G4.

It doesn't exist anymore but she was there for the marketing, marketing side. And then a couple months later, almost a year, I was still doing podcasting and stuff on the side.

And then I got an opportunity to be the editorial for, for games. So I was the one where I'm very connected with all the companies.

So if a show needs to get access to a game or have a game that's going to air on tv, I was the one that will connect them with the companies and stuff. So I always will bring people to the studio, give them like a tour, showing them the things that we do.

I also got Danny Trejo, Lance Reddick passed away a couple months after that.

But we have one on, on the show on x play at G4 also I had like a lot of other people from the gaming industry that will just come and do interviews too exclusive for us, you know.

And it was because I'm thankful that throughout the whole all these years I've been connecting with people not only in the gaming side but just entertainment side. And in general that helped me to get those opportunities for, for my previous job, you know, so.

But I'm still, still doing my thing with Gamertag still going around. Actually we released an episode to celebrate our 20 years.

I had the CEO of Microsoft Gaming and his name is Phil Spencer and that is like all over the news because there was a lot of stuff that he talked about on a show that he never talked about. You know, plans is coming up in the future. Business change has been happening with the company. You know them working on games now.

Now they're doing multi platform. We're not just releasing a one console but now they're releasing a multiple consoles.

And he briefly talked about like oh yeah, our game's going to be on the new Nintendo Switch to this coming out later this year. Like, he talked about that on our show, and we had him three times.

Actually, we had him for 2014 when he became the head of Xbox 2020, weeks before the pandemic started. That was for our 1000 episode and again for. For our 20th anniversary episode. So. And it's been great. It's been getting a lot of.

A lot of media buzz, not only from, like, the gaming side, but also entertainment side, too.

Well, and he's not the only, I think, and correct me if I'm wrong, didn't you have, like, the head of Nintendo at one point? And that guy never does interviews and.

Oh, yeah, Reggie. P.S. so he was the president, Former president of Nintendo of America. He's also originally from New York. Born and raised in New York, from the Bronx.

Nice.

I had him on a show. It took me like 10 years to get him on a show. Because when he was on Nintendo, they were always declined.

You know, they're very picky when it comes to that stuff. So he retired and he was like, hey, I would love to be on your show. And we had a conversation.

That conversation was so, so good that he invited me to be part of a keynote with him. So we did, like, a fireside chat.

Yeah.

And there was like a full room. It was like a big event here in Los Angeles. And that happened two days after our wedding, Our wedding of my wife and I.

So I told her while we were working on the wedding, I was like, this came up. This is once in a lifetime opportunity. Are you okay with this? And she's like, you know what? We're not.

We were like, look, we're not doing no honeymoon because we bought a house, actually.

Good for you.

So we were working, buying the house, working on the wedding, and. And she's like, hey, you know what? We'll be here. Just. Let's just do it. And we did it, you know, so.

Well, that's why you marry that woman. That's it.

Yeah. She knows what's up. She knows what's up.

Well, when you're going after. You said you worked on that guy for 10 years. And I'm sure you approach a lot of people. What's. What's your typical approach?

Like, because some people just get so nervous, they wouldn't even think about asking somebody. So when you're going after a big fish, what's your strategy?

There's a couple of things. One, you know, I seen. I see him in a lot of events, so I talk to them. I Want them to get to know me.

But let's say if it's someone that we never met, I think it's all about the pitch. I think if you present them a reason, like why should I be on your show?

Why you should be the one that you're going to interview me, get their attention, like me, I. I tell them briefly my story.

I also have a deck that talks about, like, all the stuff that I've been on, things that I've done, media that talked about me. You know, like, recently I was on Team Vogue last year, the end of last year. You know, I told him, hey, I've been also on Telemundo, Univision.

You know, I stuff. I've done stuff with multiple actors because I think when you start pitching that they were like, okay, there's a reason why the media work of him.

A lot of these actors, a lot of these game developers, studios work with Danny. Let me give him. Let me give him a chance. And that's how it comes up, you know, so see, that's.

That's the beautiful thing, because I always say podcasts leads to relationships. The relationships lead to opportunities.

And when you take advantage and, you know, squeeze everything you can out of that opportunity, it leads to more relationships because your show grows, which then leads to more opportunities. It just. It's this spinning wheel. And if I remember, you got to interview Keanu Reeves, if I remember right. I remember seeing that on Facebook.

Yeah, yeah, I interviewed Keanu Reeves also recently for. For this TV show called Fallout that is also from a video game that's on Amazon Prime Video. Highly recommend for guys to watch it.

You don't even have to know anything about the game. I interviewed the cast, the director, the writers, the actors that also was nominated recently to the Academy Awards that they have.

Yeah, I interviewed them. I also interview Tim Miller that worked on this new show that just came out on Prime Video a couple months ago called Secret Level.

So Amazon Studios invited my wife and I to sit down with the writer, I mean, the producer and also the director of the show. And we sat down and just talked about gaming, talked about the show because we also get screenings in advance.

So, like, I got to see this, like, for the first time.

I think it was, like during the summer, they show me one episode, and it was the one that Arnold Schwarzenegger is in, it know, one of the main characters and stuff like that. So, yeah, it's been. It's been great.

Now the other thing I thought about, because you have had so many opportunities, remember, for A while you're working with the Discovery Channel and all these other things. How do you mentally handle it when. Because you have opportunities and like, you said G4, and you're like, yeah, except that doesn't exist anymore.

So when these things come and go, how do you mentally handle the fact that, like, oh, I don't know what's going to happen next? Or do you always. Do you just know, like, for me, from the outside, I'm like, well, you're Danny Pena.

Like, you know, come on, you're gonna land on your feet. You're gonna be okay. Is that in your head or are you just going, I got a wife and a kid now. This is freaking me out?

Yeah.

You know, it's funny, when we heard that G4 was gonna shut down because, you know, I remember I was watching football and I was like, oh, let me take a little nap. Because, you know, it's half time, you know, taking a nap. And it got leaked online that was gonna get shut down. I woke up, I'm like, oh, okay.

Like, I wasn't really nervous. But then when my dad found out about it, he was nervous more than me. He was like, hitting me up like, oh, my God, Danny just bought a house.

Like, oh, yeah. But here's the thing. I think that when opportunity comes and goes, I'm always proud of my past, previous jobs or opportunities.

And I add that as part of my resume, part of my portfolio. I don't see it as like, there's no grudge or anything like that, or me getting mad.

Take the opportunity and show to the world, like, hey, who, who else could say I had a show on Discovery Channel? I had. I worked at G4, I've done this and that. You know, add that to your portfolio. That that's how you build your resume. Show that to people.

They've done it, you know, so I've never gotten discouraged or sad or, or, or nervous that I need to find work. Because here's the thing, I've been now working independently now for six, seven years. I haven't gotten a real, real job.

Like with G4, it was a contract work. So I was doing stuff with them over there, right? But I was also still doing my podcast.

I was still travel, still do, like, consulting work on the side and everything. So I was making double the money with that, you know, so been good.

Like, I've never gotten, like, nervous or stressed over that, over that type of thing.

So you pick up your new spouse and your baby. You head to the West Coast. What inspired you, you said there were opportunities out there.

So it sounds like you, you kind of had an idea what was going to happen when you got there.

Yeah, I think. Well, the G4 thing popped up once I was here.

A lot of companies were hitting me up from the gaming side where they want me to either host because I still do speak engagements for companies internally, or I'll do it at like different schools across the nation.

So like I went to Memphis last year and I spoke to 900 high school students and 900 middle school students telling them about, you know, about my life, you know, inspirational stories and stuff just to show people like, hey, look, it's. If I could, if I could do this, you could do this too. And this is how I did it.

Not, not the clickbait stuff, not controversial videos, not none of that stuff. It's more of like, I feel like just be yourself, but in a way where people are going to feel more comfortable to work with you.

You know, I show them that stuff, I show them the story and they're like, oh, wow. So. But when it comes to gaming companies, I spoken to really well known companies that I can't.

Some of them I can't really talk about about it publicly, but some I talked to this company called Respawn and they worked on Timefall, they're part of EA Games Studios. Also talked to Amazon Games, the whole company. And I also talked about like my story, you know, inspirational.

And a lot of the companies want to know like, hey Danny, how you got into the gaming industry. And I talk about that type of stuff too, you know, so.

But here's the thing, like, it's funny where people think as like, okay, I have a podcast and the only way I can make money is like through ads and all that stuff.

But here's the thing, I went through that stage with podcasts, but podcasts helped me to become a better speaker, helped me to get all these opportunities and it helped me to also share my story because of the show, because I, I can't think of any other show that has this long history being in the, in the game industry like this, you know, with different opportunities. Like I can't think of any other show. So I'm always been thankful about, about my show.

And I don't even look at numbers anymore is I stopped looking at it years ago. I don't like, I'll get ads, we'll get ads. And that's not, not my main income.

But to me, the podcast is like an opportunity to open the doors to connect with with companies and opportunities. That's how I see more of the podcast. More now in 2025.

So what do you. Because some people are like, wait, what? He doesn't look at his numbers. So how do you judge your success.

Honestly is the impact. Perfect example, we did the interview with Phil Spencer, like I said, the CEO of Microsoft Gaming. And look, the numbers are good.

Like I got in, I think, I think from YouTube side, I think it's like 40,000 for 40,000 views on X. Because I also have a video partnership with X I have there. I think it's like 60k, 60,000 or so podcast, maybe like 10, you know, so it's like a mix.

It depends. But the impact to me is seeing all the outlets talking about it.

So when I see us on Forbes, on nme, it's an entertainment website and all the usual gaming outlets talking about the show, I was like, look at this. This is the impact that I care about. People are talking about our show.

They have my name or they have the, the name of the, of the podcast there as a source or they'll use a clip of my. Oh, like of the video that I posted online or they all put the podcast there.

So that to me is more important than just like, hey, I have 100,000 listens or whatever.

Yeah.

Because here's the thing, numbers comes and goes and people forget right away. So how can I make an impact in the industry that I'm in that I know that I'm doing a pretty good job.

And when I see gaming companies hitting us up to give us access for games early or a big interview opportunity that's exclusive, or they fly us out across the country or even around the world. That's how I know that we're doing, doing a pretty good job because they see our work. You know, my co host got an opportunity to host an Xbox event.

Millions and millions of people saw that and it was for Xbox. And the first thing he said, my name is Paris Lilly, I'm from Gamertag Radio and I'm hosting the Xbox showcase game showcase.

And there's millions and millions of views on that one. That's the impact that I feel like, that I feel like a lot of people now even seen the bigger picture.

They're thinking so much of like the dino numbers and the ads, you know what I'm saying?

So interesting. Well, I know one of the things you talked about, the different opportunities that have come your way and your wife is content creator.

So one of the things you guys have done is you've actually Started your own company?

Yeah, yeah. Actually a year ago we started a company called DNR Media Consultant. So we work with companies that need help with branding, with.

Need help with marketing or pr, where that's something that I'm pretty good at.

Yeah.

If they need help to get the word out, also if they need help with getting influencers. And also we'll give them feedback on whatever product they have.

So if they have a game that hasn't been announced, we get to see that early, giving feedback and help them like, how can the branding and marketing help to get the, the word out about the product and stuff like that. So we've been doing it now for exactly a year because we announced it last year at an event called dice, the week of Valentine's Day of last year.

And it's funny because we, we launched a company and we had a goal, my wife and I, to see we could reach that goal within the year. We did that in six months actually.

Nice.

So it's been very successful, man. More than, more than the podcast actually, when it comes to like income.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, it's taking your experience that you cannot replace. You can't get that from a book, you know what I mean? You can get an insight, but you have that.

And I'm not as familiar with your wife's background, but like are all your customers from the gaming area or are you expanding out into. To just general PR kind of stuff?

Right now we, we working with a lot of gaming companies, but you also talk to companies that's not. Not in gaming at all. They want to maybe get into the gaming side, the gaming industry.

So my wife, she used to work at Xbox, part of the marketing team for. She's been doing this for like 10, over 10 years. And she also was part of a podcast called what's Good Games doesn't exist anymore.

They stopped doing it I think like a couple months ago. So we always network work together. You know, sometimes I'll go to their show to do stuff or they'll come to our show, vice versa. So.

But yeah, she's been doing it for a long time. She's really good. Like I remember we, when we were working at G4. Actually this was before I started working at G4.

She hosted like a time town hall type thing for Comcast. So like a lot of people from NBC Universal, Comcast was part of it also G4, you know, so.

And it was because, you know her skills, you know, when it comes to like content creation, podcasting, you know, she also competed in dancing for years, Spanish dancing, like salsa and all that stuff. And she's really good at, you know, presenting and dance, doing shows on stage and stuff like that.

So it, it helped her for what she's doing today because of all that stuff, you know, so it's been good. It's been really, really good. I'm very, I'm very proud of, like, the stuff that we have done so far for our company. It's been mind blowing.

The amount of opportunity that have been popping up throughout the year just with, with the new consulting company has been really, really good. Very, very positive.

Well, I was going to say, because when you were talking before you had your company, you were talking to all these different companies, and I'm going to assume that some of those were consulting gigs. Like, they want to pick the brain of Danny Pena. So now you're just kind of making that easier to do and you can help everybody.

So I don't want to get in your wallet. That's not what I'm going for. But I don't mind.

I don't. I'll briefly mention something, but I want.

To, I want to point out that you started off and it was ads, right? And you're like, you still kind of do those, but it's a small portion. So if, if you. What's in your portfolio?

Like, for me, just to give you an example, mine, primarily, my biggest chunk is my membership site. I'm selling my own stuff. And probably the same for you with your new company, but I also have affiliate marketing. I do editing for people.

And that always kind of looks. I always look at that pie chart and go, oh, that's. I didn't realize I do that much editing, but apparently I do.

And then there's, you know, Patreon, a couple other things I have. So what's, what's in your. Like, what makes up your pie?

So it's a lot of stuff. Yeah, it is the consulting company. But this way I'll. I'll break it all like this. The past couple years, I've been making way more than six figures.

Well, there you go. That doesn't suck. Again, I'm not trying to get in your wallet, but that doesn't suck.

Yeah. And the reason is it's a combination of consulting, video content, you know, on X and other places, and also the podcast.

So the pot, again, people need to see this. Like, the podcast is more of a vehicle for, for us to take us to places to get opportunities. It used to be the old school way.

I was like, oh, we Got to make money in the ads. You know, that was, like, my mentality. But throughout the years, you know, podcasting has been changing so many, so many times throughout the years.

Like, it was audio, then video, and this. Like, it's just been all over the place. And plus, I've been seeing the decline of companies putting in advertising for podcasting.

It's been declining, you know, so, yeah, I'm like, what is it that I could do that will help me and my wife also to make money that we don't have to depend on? On just ads.

Yeah.

And downloads, you know, And I think what we're doing now, like, that's just me making that amount of money. You know, I'm not even saying, like, both of us, but.

Right.

It's. It's been great. It's been great, you know, and the reason is, is, like I said earlier, the podcast helped us to help me to get the.

All those opportunities, you know, so. And plus the resume, you know, like, we were actually. Last year, I went.

Got invited to speak at the New York Stock Exchange last year and also recently this year. And that was fun. Like, I've never, never done that.

Done an interview inside of New York Stock Exchange, and that was really cool, you know, right next to CNBC and all that stuff, you know, so. And the reason is, like, you know, is it's all networking throughout the years.

People that I know, they're like, hey, I think this would be great for you to tell this story to. So and so. So I pitched that story, and they're like, all right, let's. We would love to have you on.

So we did that a couple weeks ago, you know, also being part of the Tribeca Games festival. This is also part of the film festival, Robert De Niro's festival. Film festival. I did that. I believe, like, two years ago I did that.

And I was also part of the jury for games that submitted to the festival, you know, and my name was, like, all over the press releases. They promoted that. You know, I got invited to go. I also presented an award at the end of the film festival and games festival.

And it was a lot of fun, man.

You know, and they found me, like, they actually was the one that did the research, saw my story, and contacted me, like, danny, we would love for you to be part of this. And I said, yeah, you know, so.

That was going to be my question, because I know some people have, like, almost like, speaker agents that go out and find them gigs. And so far, every story you've heard, they've contacted you. Do you have somebody out looking for gigs?

Me, myself and I. 100% me. 100% me. I think, you know, there's.

There's companies that hit me up all the time where, you know, inviting us to go to, like, red carpet premieres. Like, I went to the premiere of the Last of Us. HBO got like an agency to. To invite us and stuff. So. So that happens all the time.

And I think also companies, they just go online and just search for, like, maybe they put podcast or gamer Latino, like, I don't know what exactly do. And my name pops up, you know, so. Or they probably know somebody that.

Because here's the thing, a lot of people don't know this, but the industry, doesn't matter which industry it is, is very, very small. So, like, a PR agency works with us. Probably somebody from that agency will recommend their friends. Like, hey, you should work with these guys.

These guys are good. So that happens a lot too. It's all about word of mouth, too. It's not only just searching your name online. So.

So some of these people are going to reach out to you that aren't a good fit. Is there an art to saying no?

Oh, yeah, I. I do my research first. First of all, I don't say yes to every single thing.

Like, you know, a couple years back, I remember companies that want to be on and they want to promote, like, crypto or like e Cigs, and I'm like. And they were gonna pay me a lot of, like, pretty good money.

Yeah.

And I'm like, does it make sense to. To promote this to our audience? Like, I don't know. I.

I feel like I don't want to promote something that's going to look really, really bad, and then forever it's going to be my resume. So I'm super careful about that stuff. It's not, it's not all about the money. Like, I don't want to just say yes to everything because I.

I got the opportunity.

And I think a lot of the upcoming creators, podcasters, they're so excited for opportunities that they will say yes without even doing research, you know, not even thinking about the consequences if it's not a good thing.

You got integrity when you start, and the key is you got to keep it. And, you know, you've always been super tight with your community. Now when you moved, did you find that you're.

I mean, I was in Columbus, Ohio, with you. And I still remember because I opened the door and the guy that went in before me, which was after you was like, that's Gottfried.

Yeah, but, like, when you're in L. A, did you. Were you able to still find your tribe? I'm assuming.

Oh, yeah. It doesn't matter where. No matter where. Like, where we go, no matter what. Like, actually, a couple years back, Paris and P.

I also was supposed to go, but I couldn't because of work. At that time. We got invited to go to France to Paris and for a game, and the guys got to see the game. You know, we were. They were flying back from.

From France to United States, and there was a listener there in the flight. They were like, oh, my God, Paris. Pete, I'm a huge fan. Like that.

That happens a lot, actually, when we go to award shows or, like, events here in la, that happens all the time where people are like, hey, dad, love to take a picture with you. And, you know, can I talk to you? You know, I. I remember I was part of this program where, where I could do, like, mentoring.

And this is for, like, Latinos up becoming journalists, meeting creators or developers. So there was this kid that, you know, he wants to get into journalism, and we. We talk for, like, a good hour.

So I gave him so much, like, a lot of pretty good advice on what he should do to get his name out there and work and network with the right people.

I told him, look, go to this spot during this time, at this date, there's going to be people there, and I bet you you're going to connect with the right people and opportunity is going to come. And he's like, really? I go, just. Just do it.

And I think like a year or two later, I saw him and he's like, I just want to say thank you so much for the advice. Like, I'm working. I'm working for this outlet. Like, and now he works there full time.

And it was because he went out there and got to meet the right people and sent his resume, you know, because here's the thing, like, I feel like if you stayed home and just doing the same old, let me post my podcast, let me do my video, you're gonna miss some opportunities so much, man. You're gonna miss. And I think it is important to meet people face to face. Still to this day, there's nothing like meeting people face to face.

Nothing. Doesn't matter if you got million followers online. It's powerful seeing people face to face. Like, the energy is different. So many things could.

Could come up because of that. You get what I'm saying? Plus, you're not a bot. You're You're a real person.

Yeah, well, that's it. I always say if you can tell me the eye color of your audience, you're in the right spot.

You know, every year has been bigger and bigger and bigger for me.

You know, I remember the days when I was just broke when I started GTR, going to an event with just $20, you know, and because all the stuff that I've been doing, you know, I managed to buy a house in Los Angeles out of all places. I never, never in my life ever thought that was going to happen, you know, and it just been good, man.

You know, I always tell people this, like, imagine being broke with no money and you can't even buy an equipment. Can buy.

And you'll have to depend on, on recording stuff on a cassette player because I just didn't have money for like a digital recorder or whatever. And fast forward to now where I'm a homeowner. You know, I, I bought a car.

First time buying a car, brand new, you know, like, I've never done that in my life until later, you know, I always buy like used cars and there's nothing wrong with that, but.

Right.

It's just like I feel like it's time for me to celebrate those moments, man. You know, and now with my daughter, I want her to live a better life, you know, than, than the stuff that I went through. You know, I.

There was a time that I was very depressed, you know, in different ways, where, you know, seeing my parents getting divorced, I went through a very dark, dark time in, in 2018, 2019, you know, that I stopped doing a podcast for like a month or so, but I had my, my co host still, still doing the content, you know, but I feel like hanging out with the right people helped me to be in a better place in my life. Yeah.

And also it's been life changing meeting my wife too, you know, for both of us, because we were both going through some stuff at that time, you know, so. Life is good, man. Life is so good.

And if people don't see me going to the events, it's because I've just been like, so focused and so busy with stuff, you know, and I, I still want to go and, and support.

Right.

You know, events like PodFest and podcast movement and like, I want to do that. It's just been very, very complicated with all the stuff that's been popping up for me, you know, and I always.

Tell people if, if you have a choice of two conferences and one is in your niche and one Is a podcast one. Depending, maybe a new person, I might say go to the podcast one.

But if you're not, you know, exactly as we've seen here, when you make those connections at these events and you introduce yourself to people and people start to get to know you and you get to hang with your community. Again, nothing against podcast events, but you know, in the end I always say, how do you grow your audience?

Figure out who your audience is, go to where they are. And in your case, that's at a gamer, you know, event. So that would make much more sense there.

And speaking of that, for, for the new podcaster, I'll give you the open ended, I'll throw up a softball for you to the new person and they go, I don't know, how do I grow my audience? Do you have a standard audience for a standard answer for that?

Honestly, the best answer I could say is be yourself. You know, I actually talked about this on our last episode where, you know, because we were, you know, we had like multiple big interviews.

The past couple months it's been really big interviews, right? So like I had, you know, Microsoft, I had company that's working on a new Witcher game, Witcher 4.

I had the creators from Final Fantasy, big, big IP in gaming, you know, and a lot of the people, especially young people, they're like, oh, you should ask this question, you should ask this question.

And I notice that a lot of those questions or the stuff that they were requesting for us to have those type of conversations is always like clickbait or like leak information that's online and all stuff. But here's the thing, we never going to do that. We never ask those questions. We never do clickbait content.

I feel like if we're gonna do interviews, I want people to, to know that anything like that we're not gonna ask. But we want the, our guests to be comfortable because when they're comfortable, they'll be more open.

And so the reason why I'm bringing that up is for people not to depend so much on clickbait content or negative crap do you see on YouTube or, or, or podcasts? Because that those negativity always gets the most attention, right?

For us, we'll, we'll record a podcast, we post it online, and sometime it gets picked up right away. Sometimes we'll get picked up by the media like a month later.

Like for example, the Witcher, we did that, Witcher 4, we did interview in, in December and that was the time was like a lot of big announcements. So it got Lost during that time. Right. Fast forward January 2025 after we got back from like vacation, the holiday season.

It got picked up everywhere and I, I didn't even promote it that I just posted the, the stuff, you know. So what I'm saying is don't rely on the negativity and the clickbait content.

Try to, try to get the quick download numbers or, or views and just be yourself.

I think by you being yourself is going to open the doors for a lot of big opportunities because now people are going to be like, okay, this person is not like that. We could work with this person.

Well, how many times is that one guy the, that was the president of, of Xbox or what you said he was on? Three times, I think.

Three times. Three times. And, and let me tell you, I had conversation with his team since August of last year.

Yeah.

So we found out that it got approved in December. So like I said, Reggie used to be former president of, president of Nintendo of America. That took 10 years because I was trying to pitch it.

I was always getting declined. But he was the one after he retired, like, yeah, yeah, I'll do it, you know, so it took a while. It took a long, long time.

My thought is if you did a gotcha kind of interview, you know, get somebody to leak something or whatever, they're not coming back a second and third time. Oh no, they're like, screw, that guy burned me and he got me in trouble.

Never again. Never again. So think about that, guys like, is it worth it? Is it worth it getting. Oh yeah.

I get certain amount of downloads now because it's a hot topic, you know, or an area where you're trying to get the viewers or the listeners angry or whatever stuff you talk about just to get engagement. Like, is it worth it? I don't think so.

You know, me neither. Well, Danny Pena, my friend, as always, you got my. Lots of great information here that it's.

And I love when I see things that I believe are true come true. And I'm like, yep, see opportunities, networking lead to more opportunities which lead to more networks which lead to more opportunities.

And as long as you.

And you've always done this, man, as long as you do the work and you show up, do your job and over deliver, which is kind of like your middle name, you know, you're going to get more of those and the next thing you know you're living in a house in Los Angeles with a wife and kid and life is good. So I love it when the good guys win, man.

Yeah, thank you man, I remember, I remember seeing your post when, when I got an opportunity to be on the, the billboard Times Square.

Yeah.

And you said the same exact thing. A lot of people don't know about this and this is a quick, quick little story I forgot to mention. You know, I got the opportunity.

I surprised my mom by the way. I know we talked about that on, on your show, but the things that people don't know.

The government of in Dominican Republic contacted me because they wanted, the president wanted to meet me when they saw the, the video pictures of me on Times Square.

Times Square, Yeah.

Yeah. And they contacted me I think like a couple years after that. We were going back and forth for years.

But I also consulted with them on, and my wife too for, for the government to invest more money into game development in Dominican Republic because gaming is getting bigger and bigger. This, this guy that he's a pro player in Dominican Republic that made millions because he's really good at that.

But there's also people that are really good at making games in the American Republic.

So they contacted me to, to consult with them and they did this huge event with the government and investors in the American Republican and they showed my video because I couldn't attend. So they showed my video of me telling, I tell him like we have the power to change the industry.

There was one guy that worked on actually two guys that worked on Mortal Kombat in the 90s that changed the industry. And a lot of people don't know this. They're both Latinos. One of them is from Dominican Republic. We could do the same exact thing.

We could change this industry. Everybody has different, different cultures, different skills. Let's, let's change it, you know.

And it was really powerful seeing that, you know, like getting the opportunity from the government, the American Republic. So it was really cool seeing that. It was because of the billboard, you know, that's it.

Well, and, and growing up in New York, that had to be like cool to see your face and name up on a billboard, man.

That's bro. That was like an em. Emotional moment for me. Emotional moment. Yeah. Yeah.

Because I'm like 20 years ago I was across the street when that billboard happened. Yeah, I was across the street being part of a launch event that helped me to inspire. I got inspired to do gamer tag radio because of that event.

And then 20 years later I'm on my faces in, in the middle of Times Square where the VMAs used to have like their live shows that two billboards on that. Right. And then two other ones across in different places in Times Square. I'm like, this is mind blowing. Crazy, insane.

The man is a walking. Because of my podcast story. I love it.

So, hey, it's all good, man. And I'm glad I'm here. I'm glad I'm here, Dave, because I feel like you have a lot of people that listen to your show that.

That needs that support, that needs that push, and. And it's good to have real stories, not. Not the fake pitches, like, yeah, you know, none of that, but real stories that's going to inspire them to.

To make the industry even better. So I'm thankful, you know, to be here and share this to everyone, you know.

So thank you for your time, man. I deeply appreciate it.

Thank you.

Final thoughts right after this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So many things to learn there.

Number one, he chased a guest for 10 years, and it was his reputation that got him that interview. Because once the restrictions from being in Nintendo, the guy's like, oh, yeah, I'll come on your show.

So it's having that reputation of knowing what your audience wants, giving them what they want, and being professional, showing up when you're supposed to show up, do the job, and maybe even over deliver with what you're doing, and people will start talking about you. And one of the things Danny does is you heard him say, I do research. So he's doing an interview that's different than other people.

When he interviewed the guy from Nintendo who was from New York, they had this little New York bonding kind of moment. And that led to that guy feeling very comfortable. And that's when people let their guard down.

And all of a sudden you get an interview that's not a gotcha interview, but they're revealing things that then get picked up by different outlets. So you'll notice Danny doesn't check his stats anymore. And the nice thing about having a diversified portfolio, it's not just ads. It's ads.

And maybe speaking or affiliate or it's Patreon or crowdfunding or it's donations or it's whatever it is when you rely on strictly downloads, that's kind of a scary place to be because you don't have a whole lot of control over the price of that in some cases. It's kind of frustrating because I keep hearing more and more reports about how well advertising works.

And yet, you know, we have people like, sounds profitable and all sorts of great people trying to educate the market, but we still have people that buy ads that are uninformed. And they want to turn it into radio.

And that's how we end up with, you know, 10 minutes of ads because we're not charging enough because we have this really engaged audience. But I'm on a tangent, but gamertagradio.com if you're into games, check out Danny and the crew.

I asked him, I'm like, hey, you've had the same crew for like 20 years. You know, how do you handle that? And to make a long story short, he's like, you know what? You kind of. It's like family.

Sometimes you get along, sometimes you don't. But they're grown men. And now his wife is involved in, you know, you just kind of work through stuff. So I thought that was kind of funny.

It's like, you know, same thing I asked him. I'm like, ever get starstruck when you're interviewing these people? Now they're just like, people like me.

And because he's done his research, you know, he's ready to go, he's prepared, he gets the opportunity, he prepares, he over delivers that then gets him more listeners, which then leads to more opportunities. And then it's just lather, rinse, repeat. And some of these pay. And apparently Danny's getting paid well, which is good.

I do love it when the good guys win. Links to everything out@schoolofpodcasting.com 970 yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hey, I gotta say, first of all, York, I hope you're happy, buddy. That one's for you. He mentioned that, you know, sometimes they do interviews in kind of an NPR style.

And he's like, you know, I kind of don't mind them if you just let the conversation go. So that's for you, buddy.

And the other thing I want to say thanks to everybody who's been going to schoolofpodcasting.com survey25 got some really interesting, easy for me to say, some really interesting feedback on me using AI, because especially last week, I said, I put in all my kind of thoughts and notes and things I'd copied from that report about what makes good content from YouTube.

And I don't know if that was the one that inspired it, but they said, you know, Dave, sometimes we kind of like unorganized Dave a little more entertaining maybe, because we kind of don't know where you're going. I was like, that's an interesting thought. Be careful with that. And I thought about that. That was one that it didn't. It didn't make me sad or happy.

I was just like, huh, that's the power of a survey. Because I thought about it.

If you got to be careful with that AI ChatGPT stuff, because I have an episode, I'll put it out@schoolofpodcasting.com 970 where I talked about Davisms, where these are things I just come up with, you know, little bumper stickers like spend $100 on a microphone and 100 hours getting to know your audience. And I thought, you know, would ChatGPT have rewritten that some way?

So you have to be careful with these things because you don't want to erase your personality. What did Danny say? Be yourself. And sometimes when you use AI, you got to be careful because it's going to take you out of your podcast.

So be careful with that.

Speaking of your podcast, if you need help with it, whether it's getting it going, whether it's growing it, whether it's launching it or even monetizing it, I did write the book Profit from your podcast. I would be happy to help you. Go out to schoolofpodcasting.com start use the coupon code listener on either a monthly or yearly subscription.

And that comes with not seven, not 14, but 30 days you can kick the tires on. If you don't like it, I will give you your money back. And yes, that comes with unlimited coaching.

So if you want to do it Monday and then again on Wednesday, hey, if it's free, take it. And it's often free. You'd be surprised. Everybody's. I've, I've figured this out.

You know how you go out and eat pizza with people and even though you're hungry and there's one last piece of pizza, you don't want to be the guy that took the last piece of pizza.

I think everybody's worried they're going to take the last coaching schedule, you know, and there's meetings, there's, there's plenty of room here and so that's always kind of funny. Speaking of pizza, as you listen to this, I had a birthday yesterday and want to say thanks to everyone who had the nice birthday wishes.

I appreciated that. And if you ever hear me talk about it, of course, I went to Luigi's Pizza here in Akron, Ohio with my brother and a bunch of people.

It was a good old time and thanks to all the well wishers and yeah, it was a big one. Should I say this publicly? Well, here's the good news. Are we on a tangent? We are. We're officially on an end tangent.

This is Where Dave's just letting his brain riff, you know, I'm 60. That's even hard to say. 6, 0. I don't know how that happened. I really don't. But here's the thing. As long as I got a brain and a voice, I'm good to go.

You know what I mean? I can't. I can still play the guitar, things like that. Can't play basketball like I used to.

Found that out, you know, there are some things that, you know, can't sing like I used to. That's kind of depressing when I hear tapes of me singing and I go to see.

See things, sing things that I used to sing and go, yeah, I can't hit those notes anymore. But that's okay. My voice is getting deeper and eventually I'll sound like Darth Vader. So that'll be fun. But thanks to all the well wishers.

I appreciate that. And if you're, if you're in my boat, you know, I'm. Technically, I'm not a boomer. I just barely, like, I'm just a shade too young to be a boomer.

I don't know what that makes me. Makes me Dave. And don't think this is a young person's game. I got young inside.

I got youngins at the school of podcasting, but I got a lot of people that are, you know, 40s, 50s, you know, 60s. Got some 70s as well. By the way, podcasting is a game, not relying on your physical thing.

It's just you need a mouth, the ability to talk, and a brain to figure out what's my audience want. So if you need help with that, again, School of podcasting, use the coupon code listener until next week. Take care. God bless. Class is dismissed.

If you like what you hear, then go tell somebody. If you like what you hear, then go tell somebody.

Final thoughts. That's good. I'm gargling.