SiriusXM, which acquired Team Coco in May 2022, now wants to streamline all of its audio programming across entertainment and talk — regardless of distribution method. That means podcasts airing on SiriusXM’s satellite radio channels. Team Coco already has its own 24/7 SiriusXM channel, which it launched last November. I spoke to Sachs about what radio can offer podcast creators, including former late-night talk show host Conan O’Brien. 

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

What’s your perspective on taking over the entertainment, comedy, and programming division at SiriusXM? What are your thoughts about the direction of the programming for the rest of the year?

So I came over from Team Coco when we were acquired in May of last year. So it’s almost been a year and a half. For the first 10 months or so, it was very much “let’s keep Team Coco separate and let them operate in their own isolated bubble,” which I think made a lot of sense. SiriusXM was smart to not say, “Let’s integrate everybody immediately.” I think they wanted to maintain some continuity. And also not to have people run out the door after the acquisition — and it was successful in that sense. 

And then in March of this year, so like six months ago, my role did change. The company went through a full reorganization, really. People from the Team Coco team went and joined the video team at SiriusXM, or our people joined their legal team. It made sense at that point. We had gotten enough time to familiarize ourselves with the organization and the different departments and different personalities and the way the functions work internally. 

Since I took over this role in March, there was definitely a learning curve. The role includes podcast programming, which includes Stitcher, Earwolf, 99% Invisible, all those brands — as well as Team Coco. For that stuff, the learning curve was short. Obviously, a lot of those businesses are close to Team Coco. But also, previously, I was the CEO of Midroll Media, which we sold to E.W. Scripps, and Midroll Media ultimately became a part of Stitcher. 

So, in a lot of ways, when I took this job, it was like reuniting with that past — it was very circular. It involved reuniting with a lot of my old colleagues and a lot of the talent I used to work with. I’m on a panel tomorrow morning [at Podcast Movement] with June Diane Raphael of How Did This Get Made. And it’s like, I worked at the show 10 years ago when it was a part of Earwolf. It’s much bigger than it was when I was running it. But it’s familiar and easy to wrap my head around. 

Radio is another component to the job. And that’s where the learning curve was — it’s really a business model I didn’t know. I got a little bit of an introduction because about six months after the acquisition, we launched Team Coco Radio. So that’s Conan O’Brien’s channel. That was my first introduction to how starting a channel works, how the monetization works, how the costs are allocated, and what some of the roles are like behind a radio channel. I have a really good, pretty senior team that has helped educate me on the radio side of the business. 

Can we talk about that transition a little more? We’re seeing kind of the reverse of what happened when public radio started embracing podcasts. What’s the dynamic like now, and what do you envision moving forward? 

That’s a big part of my mandate, actually, and that’s why SiriusXM is putting podcasts and talk radio on demand — it’s because there’s a big opportunity to reach a whole new audience. First of all, it’s a pretty disparate audience. There’s not a ton of overlap between the [general US] podcast audience and the SiriusXM radio audience today. It’s a real opportunity to reach incremental audiences if you can find the right content.

SiriusXM is like a bunch of little channels that have brands. And so, for us, we’re looking at this on a case-by-case basis at this point. We launched Kelly Ripa’s podcast, Let’s Talk Off Camera. And so that’s a really good fit — the sensibility fit for radio and Andy Cohen’s radio channel. And so, for us, we thought, let’s take advantage of that. Of course, we had to make sure Andy Cohen agrees since he oversees [Radio Andy]. 

Team Coco is a good case study because we’ve been taking the existing podcasts and putting it on the radio the day that the podcast goes live. So it was like serving two different audiences at the same time with essentially the same content. 

I think an important thing we’re figuring out when we do a new deal with talent is ”what does a holistic partnership look like?” It’s not gonna look like just signing you to a podcast or signing you to a [radio program]. It might be more like, here’s the podcast component of the partnership, here’s the radio component. Maybe it’s just that we’re rebroadcasting podcasts to radio, but more likely, we’ll figure out something exclusive. Like a bonus episode, or something live, that really lends itself to radio — that we can add to the deal in the package. 

For creators, what can adding a radio component to their podcast achieve? 

Incremental audience. More direct interaction with fans because the podcast is not live, kind of by definition, right? So the opportunity to do something live and talk to your fans and community directly is something that appeals to a lot of creators — and has the potential for more revenue. 

I’ve noticed many comedians embracing podcasts since the pandemic — and especially during the Hollywood strike — either as guests or doing their own show. For someone like Conan O’Brien, who’s already a big name and very, very proficient with interviewing guests, what’s the appeal of a podcast? What does a podcast offer someone like him versus an emerging star? 

So, with Conan, and I can speak for him because I’ve heard him say it so many times. I mean, he did spend 20 years perfecting his skills as an interviewer. But one of his big frustrations with [the late-night show] is that he would have someone on that he loves, and he would get like six minutes, and it would get interrupted by a band. The interview would be very superficial and usually be driven by someone coming on to promote something. And he had to fill two or three slots every night. So he wasn’t always getting the number one guests he wanted to get. The podcast allows him to be very choosy about who he talks to and to talk to people in a longform way, which allows him to get deeper with people and not feel rushed to get right to the point. He can flex that interview muscle he’s been building over so many years. 

And it’s almost a cliché at this point — but the direct relationship between podcasters and listeners is really strong and really deep. He walks down the street now, and I’ve been there with him, and people will call out catchphrases from the podcast. The TV show was important to people, too — I’m not saying that it wasn’t. But the direct connection that listeners get to podcast hosts is very powerful. During the pandemic, we got so many messages from people saying that Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend was a respite during the dark times. I don’t think that’s unique to that show. How many times have podcasts provided an escape for people when they were stuck at home or feeling dark? I think that pretty much applies across the board. 

You can catch the remainder of my interview with Sachs in Thursday’s Insider edition of Hot Pod.