The man behind the microphone
Crowdfire Spotlight: Lifelong writer, published author, and the voice behind many an exclusive celebrity podcast interview, this is Bob Andelman’s story.
Bob Andelman is not your run of the mill podcaster. He’s the man behind the decades old production, Mr. Media, established in 1994 as a weekly newspaper column. Bob has gone on to write hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles, has authored and co-authored more than 16 books, and has a venerable archive of more than 1,300 interviews with erstwhile figures from pop culture over the years.
He’s dabbled in business, culture, and the arts and has collaborated with various business leaders to help pen down their own inspirational stories as a ghostwriter with full credits. Let’s delve a little deeper and interview the man who interviews everyone else.
The birth of Mr. Media
Born in North Brunswick, New Jersey, Bob has lived in the Tampa Bay area since 1982. He wrote and sold his first professional article when he was 13 years old, an event that prompted him to keep writing. He would write for anyone that he could and as his article writing got more involved over the years he moved on to writing books.
With the arrival of 1994 came the conception of Mr. Media. It took off as a weekly newspaper column that appeared in ten U.S. newspapers, with its own website to accompany it, a notable feat for that age. Bob led the production for 4 years, writing for the column before deciding to shelve it for several years. It wasn’t until 2007 that he would pick up the mantle of Mr Media once again, but in quite a different setting.
Hired to do audio work for the American version of a popular U.K. animated series, Creature Comforts, Bob found himself investing in digital audio equipment. The show, sadly, didn’t last very long but he got to keep the recording tools. The podcasting era was nascent but growing rapidly, giving him a new idea.
“I thought, maybe I could do something with this new format. I revived Mr. Media and started doing an interview with a celebrity every week.” Finding it entertaining, Bob interspersed his recordings with his regular work as a writer. For the first year, he conducted interviews once a week, but as time went on, he started taking more and more interviews whenever he could get them.
Vetting process
And the interviewees? They were always people who were in film or actors on TV, book authors, comic book creators, occasionally a politician or a business leader. So how’d Bob make the selection? There were tons of people to choose from each industry! “Sometimes people try to figure out ‘How do I get on that show?’ It really comes down to two things — Do I find your project interesting and do I think you’re going to be entertaining.”
Bob’s vetting process is easy and subjective. It’s all about whether Bob sees himself enjoying talking to the person. “My interviews tend to be on average thirty minutes to an hour — that’s a long time to talk to somebody if they’re not interesting!” Bob laughs. He keeps an eye out for people who have a sense of humour and people who are working on an interesting project.
He’d also watch the movie or TV show they starred in, or read the book they authored to determine their worthiness as a candidate. But there have been times when he’d start reading a book and immediately invite the person to the show. Only to rescind his invitation as he got further down the story and realized it’s not very good. It makes for an awkward conversation sometimes but he prefers to keep it that way.
“I feel terrible about it (cancelling) but I don’t want to have someone on who I can’t vouch for. I don’t want to lie to the people who watch or listen to the show, telling them I like something if I don’t really like it! So, it’s important to me that I have to really like it to share it and endorse it.”
One of Bob’s favourite interviews has to be with actress Raquel Welch, a woman he adored growing up as a teenager. He calls her the “Rihanna” or “Beyonce” of his time. “What a beautiful actress. When I got to interview her, I really enjoyed it. At the same time, I realized that this woman I had always adored was the same age as my mother. That was a little weird to get used to,” he laughs.
Laugh factor
The interviews Bob enjoys the most are with the people who make him laugh. “We’re used to them being celebrities but then when they set that aside, you realize they’re just people.” Usually, Bob’s interviewees participate straight from their homes or offices. But he prefers when they do it right from their dining room table, giving his audience a glimpse into the normal day to day lives of such celebrities.
He recalls his interview with actor Theodore Bikel fondly, known around the world for his movies with Humphrey Bogart and his work on Broadway including Fiddler on the Roof. “He was one of the most delightful guests I’ve had, and it was about a year before he passed. He was just absolutely charming.”
There have also been some authors that Bob has invited to his show more than once. “I have them come back because they’re always entertaining, they do interesting projects, and they’re always good to talk to.”
American Sports writer, Peter Golenbock, has been on his show 5 times so far, and so has detective fiction writer, Steven Gore. He’s also had A.J. Jacobs, writer for the American edition of Esquire magazine, and author of the NY Times bestselling book ‘It’s all relative’ appear several times over the last few years.
But there’s always a bad apple in everyone’s basket. Bob recalls one of his worst interviews with a TV actor, but won’t reveal the name. “He was not one of the top actors, but was a tertiary character. He came on to my show as if he was the star of the series.” Bob had informed the actor’s publicist that he wasn’t a regular viewer of the show, so he’d watched an episode the week prior to the show. But Bob missed the episode the night before the interview, and apparently, a lot of things changed with the character of the actor.
“He was so upset that I didn’t know every last detail of his character that he was rude, unpleasant and it was one of the worst interviews I’d done,” Bob shudders. “I couldn’t get over how bad an interview it was. It’s not something that happens often but it was one of the few times the guest was absolutely impossible.”
Ghosting
Though Mr. Media makes up a large part of his life, his regular work involves ghost writing and co-authoring books. “Most of the books come out of people hiring me to write their story. They have a good story or an interesting life experience so they’ll hire me to guide them through the process, do the interviews and then put it all together. They edit the book and get the final word.”
Though around 16 books he’s worked on have been published, there have been a handful of books that never made it to print. “Sometimes people get cold feet. They read something about their lives that, while it’s true, they don’t necessarily want the world to know about them. Sometimes, those books will fall through.” In the US, the book that people would associate with Bob most is Built from Scratch, an entrepreneurial success story about the founders of Home Depot.
One of his other notable works is The Profit Zone, translated in 19 languages around the world, where business is paramount — Germany, Japan, Brazil, London, France, Spain, and more. “One book tends to lead to the next one. They don’t know me but they’ll read the book and think of hiring someone and they’ll go ‘oh, I gotta get that guy!’ That’s how it keeps propelling itself.”
Change is good
For someone who’s seen the rise and fall of traditional media formats as well as the emergence of new media, Bob tries to pay attention to the changes and adapt as well as he can to survive. While he used to make his living writing newspaper and magazine articles, he’s had to pivot from there to survive.
When the newspaper business was starting to shrink and there was little money to be made as a writer there, Bob had to rethink his business approach and started looking to books. Averaging about a book a year for the last 20 years has proved sustainable but that’s only one part of it. Mr. Media is the other.
“It doesn’t make me a lot of money but it’s been a great tool for introducing me to people who’ve never seen a book or an article that I wrote,” says Bob honestly. “Hopefully, they were entertained, and it’ll lead to more work. I tend to do more interviews when I’m writing less and the podcast helps keep me sharp.” Bob preps well before each interview — writing an entire, tentative script as a supplement. “I write an introduction to say something unique and funny about each guest. I’ll also write out some questions ahead of time, just so if it gets slow, I have something to fall back on. Mostly, I just try to talk to people. It’s not an inquisition, just a conversation.”
The coming years seem uncertain but Bob has the upper hand since he’s so open to change. He would love to get Mr Media in front of a worldwide audience, and not just be limited to the U.S. “I’d also love to make some more money off of it,” he grins.
Love what you do
Regardless of the monetary returns, he doesn’t see himself stopping the show. “They say that if you love what you do, you’ll never have to work a day in your life. I truly believe in that and I tell my son, too!”
Bob loves talking to people, exchanging ideas, and just making conversation. “Whether it’s for a book, a podcast, magazine article or just catching up with friends, I really enjoy conversation. I hope I never have to retire, and I can continue doing this for as long as I’m upright.”
There have been too many memorable moments to count but some stand out more than others showcasing the joy he brings to every interaction.
Like the time he was just getting into video, he remembers one actor he interviewed who had his finger too close to his nose, on camera.
“Did I just do that on camera?”
“Yes, you did.”
“Can you edit that out?”
“I have to be honest, I don’t know how to edit video on the computer yet.”
“It’s okay. It serves me right, I should know better.”
Another one he vividly remembers is his interview with a Playmate for Playboy magazine. She did the interview from bed (fully clothed, mind you.) “Twenty minutes in, she asked if she could take off her boots to get more comfortable. I said, ‘It’s your bed, you can do whatever you want!’”
Without a doubt, Bob really enjoys all of his work. “It’s fun to see people relax and enjoy themselves. My wife says people just like to tell me stuff.” I agree.
“If I can’t have X-Ray vision, I can get people to tell me their stories. That’s my superpower.”
You can find Bob on his Website, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.
