Pulled Quotes
“I am forced to know things about what could happen in the coming week, and the effects it will have on the economy and our daily lives, that no longer allow me to sleep.”
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, in reference to the Iran War
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“I’m a bit of a freak.”
Fortune editor Nick Lichtenberg, on using AI to help write stories
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“TCG and the people they put in charge were all directly responsible for the downfall.”
An employee at Schoolhouse, describing the implosion of the company
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“A couple of months ago, we announced the ability for parents to actually have a timer on short-form video feeds, to set it to zero. That’s industry-leading. That has not been done before.”
YouTube CEO Neil Mohan, on a revolutionary new technology for managing screen-time
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Quote/Unquote
A.J. Feliciano is the general manager of the new podcast studio Companion, which launched two weeks ago at South by Southwest. Feliciano is an experienced podcast executive who played a pivotal role in the commercial expansion of Rooster Teeth, an influential digital studio that predated YouTube and shut down two years ago after twenty years of operation.
Now, Feliciano has teamed up with Ford Bowers, the president of Companion, to launch a new podcast studio with a mission-oriented ethos and slate of 14 shows at launch, including its flagship series Soul Boom by Rainn Wilson, a spinoff of the best-selling book Wilson published in 2023.
This interview has been edited.
Mark Stenberg: There are podcast studios popping up everywhere. What is Companion and how is it different?
A.J. Feliciano: We have a central ethos that guides the content, which boils down to: We exist because we want to enhance the social discourse, to make content that enriches people’s lives.
Mark: What shows does Companion have on its roster?
A.J.: Companion has two divisions: a studio and a creative network. The studio has three shows: Soul Boom with Rainn Wilson, Pop Syllabus with Christiana Mbakwe Medina, and Showing Up with Andy Grammer, all of which we produce. Our network has eleven shows, which we help market, distribute, and monetize, but all of the shows are connected by their emphasis on social good.
Mark: You were an advocate of video podcasts long before the rest of the industry took note. How is that reflected in Companion?
