Meet Baird Media
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Meet My Business is back for a new season — and we're kicking it off with a special episode.
To open the season, we sit down with Baird Media, the father-and-son podcast production company celebrating five years in business. Co-founders Hendrik and Ethan Baird trace a journey that's far longer than five years: from making home movies on a borrowed MacBook, to running a chaotic and groundbreaking internet radio station, to becoming the production company known in South Africa's podcast scene simply as "the Bairds."
It's an unusually honest conversation about building a family business backwards — deciding, as equals, to start something from nothing rather than inheriting it. They talk about the failures that taught them the most, narrowing from "we'll do anything for anybody" to a focused production company, the audio drama they're proudest of, and why so many podcasts quit before they ever find their feet. Along the way: what it's actually like for a father and son to be 50/50 partners, and why honesty is the thing that's kept them from stagnating.
A fitting start to a new season of conversations with the people behind small businesses worth knowing.
To open the season, we sit down with Baird Media, the father-and-son podcast production company celebrating five years in business. Co-founders Hendrik and Ethan Baird trace a journey that's far longer than five years: from making home movies on a borrowed MacBook, to running a chaotic and groundbreaking internet radio station, to becoming the production company known in South Africa's podcast scene simply as "the Bairds."
It's an unusually honest conversation about building a family business backwards — deciding, as equals, to start something from nothing rather than inheriting it. They talk about the failures that taught them the most, narrowing from "we'll do anything for anybody" to a focused production company, the audio drama they're proudest of, and why so many podcasts quit before they ever find their feet. Along the way: what it's actually like for a father and son to be 50/50 partners, and why honesty is the thing that's kept them from stagnating.
A fitting start to a new season of conversations with the people behind small businesses worth knowing.
Chapters
- 00:00 Introduction – Five Years of Baird Media
- 00:42 A Decade and a Half Working Together
- 01:53 The GaySA Radio Years
- 02:54 From Student Radio to Running a Station
- 03:45 How Ethan Started Editing Podcasts
- 04:38 Covid, Reinvention, and a Shared Idea
- 05:07 Why Internet Radio Had No Future
- 06:43 Discovering Podcasting
- 07:04 The Original "Do Anything for Anybody" Model
- 08:08 Narrowing the Focus: Teaching and Producing
- 10:10 Running a Family Business
- 12:00 The Challenges of Working Together
- 13:47 Honesty, Pushback, and Healthy Debate
- 14:44 Going Back to University
- 15:44 Research That Actually Serves the Company
- 17:30 What We're Most Proud Of
- 18:24 Stripped and Audio Drama
- 19:19 What Baird Media Does Today
- 21:17 The Real Value: Beating Podfading
- 22:19 Where We See the Company in Five Years
- 24:31 Becoming the Go-To Production Name
- 25:52 Closing – Happy Birthday
