Dawn Wotapka’s Media Movers: In conversation with Lou Carlozo

This week, we discuss to Lou Carlozo, the multitasker who is now editor and publisher of Talking Biz News. Lou, who life in Chicago, has an remarkable resume that consists of some of journalism’s leading brands. These times, he’s working to improve TBN’s attain, even though contributing The Wall Road Journal’s newly debuted Obtain Aspect, internet hosting a podcast and, when he can, freelance crafting.

We talked to Lou about doing work in typical print journalism, who’s making a mark in the electronic age and his want for a musical hit.

Dawn Wotapka: Explain to me how the role of remaining EIC of Conversing Biz News came about and your eyesight for the internet site.

Lou Carlozo: At initial I was not fascinated, to be straightforward. But Vested CEO Dan Simon stored soon after me for at minimum six months. He thought I should really give it a shot in aspect for the reason that of my strength amount and imaginative bent. Ultimately I gave in to his persuasive powers and attraction. Dan is one particular of the greatest CEOs I have ever worked for, a person you want to transfer mountains for.

And Chatting Biz Information is a person mighty huge mountain to shift. The basis is wonderful but it is ready to enter a growth phase. There’s unbelievable opportunity for new revenue streams, expanded written content, and shifting into new protection areas.

Dawn: Inform us about that.

Lou: I’d like to dive into organization and finance journalism by itself. Which is genuine to the origins of the internet site and the function I also do in finance, but also a very clear route for expanding our scope and get to. We also have a big agenda in terms of type: podcasts, columns and belief pieces really should all be section of the mix. Perhaps Internet 3. and TBN crypto are upcoming! (Laughs.)

In the meantime, we’ll maintain abreast of employment and moves, simply because that’s what our audience like. We’ve also uncovered that we have a sizable readership in media relations, and they ought to have love as perfectly.

Dawn: You also function on Invest in Aspect for The Wall Street Journal. What do you do there and how does it healthy into the over-all scope of what you do?

Lou: Purchase Facet is a one of a kind entity. I’ve been getting a limited crack from that and other tasks, together with my “Bankadelic” podcast, with the TBN ramp up. Primarily I go over what ever they assign me, but there’s been some work on economic items and ways people today can improve their funds. My piece on chasing yield by way of discounts accounts was the most read through in the course of Invest in Side’s first 7 days. I’d really like to do more of that kind of issue.

Dawn: About that podcaster’s hat: I enjoy that you aren’t a just one-trick pony, as they say! What is Bankadelic’s intention?

Lou: Appropriate now, it’s not just a single podcast but quite a few. Bankadelic is the major assets I launched and host that a single. It is a fiscal products and services present that concentrates largely on the economical know-how or fintech space. I want to spotlight the outstanding tech these specialized niche providers are creating, and the persons at the rear of it. From time to time we department into finance at huge I just interviewed Mark Hamrick at Bankrate about the inflationary spiral and what it means for the financial state.

In London, fintech rock stars Dave Wallace and Dharmesh Mistry host “Dave and Dharm Demystify,” and Dave has also just started a podcast primarily based on World-wide-web 3. and marketing. We also have two podcasts in growth outside the finance space.

Dawn: Let us go again in time. What was it like functioning at the Chicago Tribune as the print market modified radically?

 Lou: Wow. To start with, I have to say that not a working day goes by when I do not miss the Trib — at least what it was in the 2000s. The signals we have been in hassle arrived extended prior to the economic downturn. The house owners ended up really piggy about their double-digit earnings when all all-around us, the Online was gaining steam. We could’ve been leaders and as a substitute ceded ground to much more nimble business owners.

Not that we did ourselves any favors as reporters and editors. Things we acquire for granted today — like writing headlines with Search engine marketing price — prompted grumbling and anger among the the old guard. A large amount of writers refused to participate in alongside.

But the true catastrophe arrived when Sam Zell took above. A whole lot of us regarded Zell as a billionaire savior who could continue to keep the salad times alive. Then the Terrific Recession strike, and he ate us all for lunch. His leveraged buyout fell apart and in a person swoop, 53 of us bought laid off. It is even now a file amount as bloodbaths go.

Peter Ligouri took around and taken care of Tribune Tower not as a journalism shrine, but a wonderful real estate play. It is condos today, which disgusts me. Now Alden Money owns the Tribune and their head, Heath Freeman, has singlehandedly ruined some of the nation’s proudest papers. He’s a vulture capitalist who only cares about lopping off workers to fatten his wallet.

So in a feeling, much has changed but not the reality that newspaper entrepreneurs put gains much earlier mentioned men and women. That is webpage 1 information if yet another business  does it. But you will by no means see the Trib go over it since the fox guards the henhouse.

Dawn: I appreciate that you’ve worked for a wide range of on line publications together with Aol and GoBankingRates. Whilst many of the early players didn’t endure, quite a few startups are finding accomplishment on the world wide web. What do you imagine it will take to make it these days?

Lou: Ah, one thing constructive to cut off my ranting! (Laughs.) You have to be scrappy, intelligent and devoted to high quality, when also embracing unique enterprise models. In Chicago, the Solar-Situations has survived and will finally overtake the Tribune as the city’s finest paper due to the fact it went the non-gain route. It was a short while ago acquired by WBEZ-FM 91.5, a general public radio station with 1 hell of a news operation. The Texas Tribune is yet another case in point of a top rated-flight non-revenue outlet.

Axios has a incredibly intriguing way of staying very low to the ground workers-intelligent and gearing its information to active persons. They also weave in adverts with editorial, however separating church and condition but offering ads more space whilst condensing the information things. In Chicago, Monica Eng and Justin Kaufmann are setting a wonderful instance for the metro Axios functions everywhere you go. They make their day by day e-newsletter interesting, substantive and entertaining.

Dawn: If you were being setting up out in the business, what would you do in a different way?

Lou: I really don’t know: How about every thing? (Laughs.) Very seriously, I consider I’d have set additional consistent targets and outlined a vision for my job. I’m in my 50s and just discovering this right now — which is way also extended. As a cub, my only purpose was to get a entire-time employees occupation at a key each day paper and I cleared that hurdle in document time, less than four yrs starting from zero. Then I foundered. I took regardless of what my editors handed me.

Total, that harm me in so numerous methods. I figured no matter what I was meant to be passionate about would just strike me in the head one working day. All those uncommon periods it did, as when I started out a DVD column, I appreciated the hell out of it. But I under no circumstances gave any believed about wherever to go from there.

It is only in the previous handful of years I’ve improved class. It may perhaps explain why I’ve wound up listed here.

Dawn: Tunes is a significant portion of your lifestyle. Does that help you with your working day work or is it a artistic outlet?

Lou: It is both of those. When I was obtaining commenced as a stringer at the Philadelphia Inquirer, my mentor Arlene Morgan launched me to editors by expressing, “Lou has audio in his crafting voice.” It not only gave me assurance but also taught me that crafting and reporting desire far more than deft phrases and hard function. Bob Dylan the moment said a thing to the impact that he uncovered a lot more about songwriting by viewing artwork museums than nearly anything else. Music itself is like that for me.

Correct now I’m doing the job on two albums of first audio — I’m in the Beatlesque ability pop vein — and lately unveiled an album of tracks with lyrics by Shakespeare. It’s an immense pleasure and retains my crafting grounded in the regions of rhythm, harmony and hook. Journalism? New music? No make any difference the field, all I need now is a strike.

Dawn Wotapka is a former Wall Street Journal reporter who loves to examine and produce. She life in Atlanta with her spouse and two small children. She is a sluggish runner and an avid Peloton user. To post strategies for her Media Movers column, you can get in touch with her at [email protected]. Be confident to link with Dawn on LinkedIn.