The Black Effect Podcast Network is celebrating three years of creating and housing podcasts specifically for Black listeners. The network’s founder, Charlamange Tha God, set out to combat the practice of Black creators signing transactional deals and establishing long term legacy partnerships to build generational wealth. His vision to amplify, elevate, and empower emerging and established talent, coupled with a historic partnership with iHeartRadio, has led to over 2.3 million listeners tuning in monthly and Nearly 800 million total network downloads.
Since the network’s launch, they have housed some of the culture’s most significant programs, including The Breakfast Club. This award-winning morning show recently joined BET’s 2023 programming lineup and NAACP Image Award nominees. Checking in With Michelle Williams, Reasonably Shady, Black Tech, Green Money and 85 South Show, whose first-ever comedy special reached #1 on Netflix. Since 2021, The Black Effect Podcast Network has partnered with several new shows, including That Moment, hosted by “Shark Tank” star Daymond John, and popular wellness show The Professional Homegirl Podcast, bringing the total to 33 across the entire slate.
Outside of creating and housing exceptional content, Black Effect is rooted in service and creating opportunities for the Black community. In partnership with Nissan for the “Thrill of Possibility Summit,” Black Effect brought together 50 HBCU students in STEAM disciplines for a weekend of networking with Nissan employees, Black Effect podcast talent and culturally relevant Black voices. The Summit included panels on professional development and inspirational insights from career professionals in various industries. Black Effect is positioning itself as a podcast powerhouse network and a vessel to create meaningful change and impact for Black creators.
Black Effect founder Charlamange Tha God, also known as Lenard McKelvey, and President Dollie S. Bishop sat for an interview to discuss the network’s third anniversary, The 2023 Black Effect Podcast Festival at Pullman Yards in Atlanta, Georgia. and much more. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Stephanie Tharpe: What impetus made The Black Effect Network a reality?
Charlamange Tha God: I was tracking podcast-based growth and looking at what other people were doing regarding networks. I saw what Bill Simmons was doing with the Ringer and realized there wasn’t a place like that serving Black people and the Black audience. Many of the podcasts we partnered with already existed, but they may not have been connecting the dots regarding revenue. They were definitely getting the numbers on YouTube, but they weren’t where they needed to be revenue wise. I felt like if I could get a machine like iHeart behind a company that can get all of these Black podcasts together under one umbrella, we could have tremendous success. And we have.
Stephanie Tharpe: As the network president, what is your strategy when assembling talent?
Dollie S. Bishop: It’s pretty simple. We look for talent who are real creators who have a voice and authentically want to be in podcasting. We don’t just go look for talent because they may have a name or some attachment to another world. All of our talents have voices, and they have something to say. It’s looking for what we do not have and what we do have and figuring out how to make space within our network.
Stephanie Tharpe: How has Black Effect consistently produced fresh and engaging content?
Dollie S. Bishop: I don’t want to say it’s easy, and I don’t want to say it’s difficult, but we put out content that people are interested in. For example,the 85 South Show, people love the voices of the three hosts. Some of the podcasts we put out are from talent who we feel their voices absolutely need to be heard but aren’t well known. We always look at where we can be of service in helping with the voices that we amplify and put out to the world.
Charlamange Tha God: We partner with authentic voices who actually have things to say and have their own unique stories. They don’t have to lean on those silly hot-button topics like gender and diaspora wars. People who do that don’t have anything else to talk about.
Stephanie Tharpe: How were you able to leverage your connections and experience to create The Black Effect Network?
Charlamange Tha God: Because I’m a radio guy, and that’s always been the foundation of my existence. I’ve been doing radio for twenty-five years. Podcasting is just the evolution of radio and took the best element of radio, which was the talent, and magnified it times a hundred. Radio kind of lost its grip on personality because of this metric system called the PPM meter. Back in the day, that PPM meter said people wanted to hear less talking and more music. Because of that almost ten-year run with music being the focus, it allowed podcasting to come up.
I’ve been doing a podcast with Andrew Shultz for ten years, and before Black Effect, I was a part-owner of the Loud Speaker Network. So, I’ve been paying attention to what’s happening in the podcast space and the podcasting business. I’ve already been in this space, and many people who do podcasting now will tell you that they started podcasting because of the format we created at the Breakfast Club. We were putting out our interviews in long-form video. So, for me, getting into podcasting was a natural extension.
Stephanie Tharpe: What has contributed to the resurgence of so many new Black Media platforms like Black Effect?
Dollie S. Bishop: I think it’s just the evolution, not regeneration. It’s just evolved into what it is and what we know now from print publications. It’s also about access. People can easily create a podcast. You don’t need a Black Effect or another big network to do that. You can speak into a microphone now, easily upload it, and have everyone in the world access your content. This is where we are with Black Media.
Charlamange Tha God: I don’t believe Black Media ever went anywhere. What I do think happened is that a lot of Black media people thought white ice was colder. So many Black people tried assimilating to be a part of these bigger conglomerates and it worked. A lot of Black personalities went to these bigger conglomerates and had success, but there really was no place for them to go other than those spaces. The best and worst thing that has happened to Black media is everybody can create their own platform. Number one, everybody doesn’t need their own platform. Number two, the beauty of everybody being able to have a platform is this resurgence of the Black voice and why Black voices are essential. Black radio and Black television were always important. Now, we’re looking at a rebirth of those two things with new mediums like podcasting and YouTube channels.
Stephanie Tharpe: The Black Effect Podcast Festival was a huge success. How did it make you feel when you learned it was sold out?
Charlamange Tha God: It was fantastic, especially being that we had to bounce back initially because we attempted to do it in New York. It was one of those things that showed me podcasting is really here to stay and isn’t some fad. To be able to put a live event together with merchandise from all of the podcasts at Black Effect and have it sold out was incredible. Having food trucks, people enjoying themselves, and them already talking about next year. Man, that was a defining moment not just for Black Effect but for podcasting, period.
Dollie S. Bishop: That event was the first of its kind. Everyone knows there are podcast summits and conventions. But we did an all-podcast festival! There was nothing that had only live podcasts with no musical elements or attractions, and the turnout was terrific. People were interested in what our podcasts had to say, from children to grandmothers. I was surprised that a lot of people were there not just to be entertained but to learn. Everyone who attended was locked in for an eight-hour day of podcasting. People genuinely didn’t want to leave. It was phenomenal.
Stephanie Tharpe: What was your journey to becoming President of Black Effect?
Dollie S. Bishop: I come from a TV and film background. My beginnings in entertainment started at Def Jam as an intern. I aspired to be in A&R and landed a role in LA Reid’s office. From there, I met a lot of good people who took me into the television space, and that was through Nick Cannon. I worked with his incredible company for years, producing. I met Charlamagne during my time and stint at MTV. We became really close friends, like family. He decided he wanted to do a podcast network. I had no idea what that was at the time. But I was like, sure, I’m here, and that’s what transitioned me into podcasting. That’s how I got here.
Stephanie Tharpe: What advice would you give to other Black women who want to be in your position?
Dollie S. Bishop: Be authentic to yourself and be who you are. If you desire to be in this position or any position I’m in, if it’s meant for you, your journey will take you there. Just as long as you are authentic, you will flow into that space. That’s the best advice I can give because that’s how I got here.
Stephanie Tharpe: What advice would you give to people taking unconventional routes to achieve success?
Charlamange Tha God: I never had a plan B. I didn’t go to college. I was just a young kid trying to figure it out. Working a bunch of odd jobs led me to radio. Actually, pursuing a rap career led me to radio. I was sitting in a recording studio, and I met a radio personality by the name of Willie Will. I just asked him how he got into radio, and he told me he went to the radio station and got an internship. I said, I can just go down there and get an internship; that’s it? And he said, Yeah! This is 1998 in Charleston, South Carolina. So, things were a lot different then, but I went down there, and I got the internship. Being around that type of environment, in that world of radio, I just realized this is what I want to do.
And like anything else I get involved in, I started really studying the game, so I started paying attention to all the radio personalities that were moving and shaking things at that time. I remember telling myself, yo, if I’m going to be in this, I want to be like Tom Joyner, Doug Banks, Angie Martinez, and Wendy Williams. So, after getting fired four times from radio, the next gig I got was The Breakfast Club. I’ve never been afraid to pivot. I’m not one of these humans who’s just stuck in their ways. That’s how you end up stagnating and how you don’t grow. From being in this position, I’ve seen many people doing things I wanted to do, sparking new ideas. And I’m in a privileged position; praise be to God that I can help people around me bring many of these ideas to life.
A lot of the stuff that I do are natural extensions of what I’m already doing. My mom’s an English teacher. I’ve always loved reading and writing, so I wrote two best-selling New York Times books. Now I have a book Imprint. I love listening to audio-scripted content. Kevin Hart and I were so successful in the audio world that we decided to come together and create our own audio-scripted company with Audible. I love podcasting and wanted to start a podcasting company, and I asked Dollie if she would be interested and we started Black Effect. At every step of the way, I have people that can help me execute all of these different ideas. I’m not doing anything that’s totally out of my wheelhouse. I’m doing things that are an extension of what I’m already having success at.
Stephanie Tharpe: Any plans for international content?
Dollie S. Bishop: We have a huge fan base on the continent of Africa, especially South Africa, for shows like 85 South Show and The Breakfast Club. I’m going to say absolutely. We will definitely expand outside of the states.
Charlamange Tha God: there was one podcast we were supposed to launch internationally with Black Effect, but it didn’t happen. It was with a guy out of South Africa. I would still love to expand. There’s a lot of podcasts on the continent that I love.
Stephanie Tharpe: What will your legacy be?
Dollie S. Bishop: That’s a great question. I don’t have an answer to that. My legacy and story will write itself. If I have to say something, it would be that I did well, and I did well by people. At this moment I don’t have anything more. My story will write itself, and I can tell you about fifty or sixty years because I have a while to go.
Charlamange Tha God: I want my legacy to be a legacy of service. I want to go down as one of the biggest public servants that ever walked the face of this third rock from the sun. One of my idols in this entertainment space is the late great Clarence Avant. I want to be spoken of in that way. I want people from all walks of life to talk about how I served them in some capacity. That’s what I feel like we’re all here to do. I’m a big fan of Dr. Wayne W. Dyer; he always said, “A person’s true purpose in life is service to others.” I want to be of service to my family, and I want to be of service to our people, period.
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