The IBJ Podcast

The headlines and headliners of 2021

In this week's episode, IBJ Editor Lesley Weidenbener steps in for host Mason King to lead a year-in-review discussion about 2021 and the people who made headlines in 2021.

IBJ Managing Editor Greg Weaver and reporters Dave Lindquist and Mickey Shuey talk about the reasons that IBJ named The Sports Corp.'s Ryan Vaughn its newsmakers of the year and why the new IU president, chair of Newfields, High Alpha partners, a SPAC specialist, an arts community power couple and the head of a local real estate investment trust all made the newsmakers list.

You can read more details about IBJ's newsmakers by clicking here and more about the year's top stories here.

 

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

 

Kids, COVID and Christmas ... what’s safe?

With the holidays upon us—and only a small percentage of kids vaccinated against COVID-19—host Mason King has been wondering what's safe when it comes to family gatherings, parties and public events

So he called Dr. James Wood, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Riley Children's Health, to talk about vaccinations for children, how latest strains of coronavirus are affecting younger kids and whether it's safe for grandkids to gather with their grandparents at the holidays. (Hint: You're safest if the kids are vaccinated and the adults are boosted.)

Plus, King asks Dr. Woods to share what he's done about vaccinations with his own young kids and how they're treating family outings.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

 

 

 

How has the Vogue been able to weather the pandemic?

Local tech executive Eric Tobias and two partners bought the entertainment business that stages events at the Vogue in Broad Ripple in early 2019. “When people ask me about this, I say, ‘Owning a music venue—best first year of my life … but maybe one of the most challenging second years,’” Tobias says.

The Vogue closed abruptly on March 12, 2020, just as that night’s band—Drive-By Truckers—was warming up on stage. The pandemic of course hit the live entertainment industry like a sledgehammer, and Tobias and his partners had to think outside the box—literally, outside the venue itself—to keep the business going.

In this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, longtime local music journalist (and newly minted IBJ reporter) Dave Lindquist catches up with Tobias to discuss how the group has been able to weather the pandemic. Tobias says he has seen convincing proof that some patrons aren't sold on attending live events. The ownership group is getting more involved in livestreaming concerts and promoting shows in other venues. Tobias also explains the Vogue’s policy on health checks for patrons, how the Vogue intersects with his high-tech daytime gig, and what he sees as a vital need in order for the local music scene to thrive going forward.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

 

Pete the Planner on new rules for retirement

Investment adviser Morningstar has issued new guidance that changes the conventional wisdom about how much you can expect to withdraw from your investment accounts in retirement.

The change in the so-called 4% rule has podcast host Mason King worried, and so he and Peter "Pete the Planner" Dunn dive into the details in search of clarity.

Pete also predicts what the omicron variant will mean for the market and why the debate about the debt ceiling might actually be more important.

You can read more from Pete at IBJ.com.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

 

Buy your gifts now (and other tips for the 2021 holiday shopping season)

Experts expect shoppers to drop a record amount of money this holiday season. The National Retail Federation forecasts sales for November and December to grow between 8.5% and 10.5% over the same months in 2020. In total dollars, that would be between $843.4 billion and $859 billion.

At the same time, the supply-chain issues that have plagued commerce since the start of the pandemic are expected to complicate gift buying and limit stock for some products.

The answer is to get your shopping done as soon as possible, because you might not get a second chance, says John Talbott, the director of the Center for Education and Research in Retailing at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. In the latest edition of the IBJ Podcast, Talbott explores other big questions with host Mason King. Does Indy’s status as a leading U.S. logistics hub give Hoosiers a leg up on gift availability? What role might inflation play in this year’s shopping season? Why are gift cards even more valuable than usual this year? How can we avoid cybercrime? And are there any blockbuster, must-have gifts for this season?

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

 

Part 2: Martha Hoover explains how the restaurant industry is broken

In the second part of a two-episode interview, Martha Hoover—founder of the Indianapolis-based Patachou Inc. restaurant company—explains how the pandemic pulled back the curtain on problems in the restaurant industry, especially how little workers are paid and how vulnerable most eateries really are.

Hoover—known for restaurants including Cafe Patachou, Public Greens and Napolese—tells host Mason King that because she came from outside the restaurant world, she charged appropriate prices from the start, with the goal of providing a living wage to workers. But she said the industry has historically put too much emphasis on quantity and price at the expense of quality, as well as the people making the food. 

She talks about what she thinks the public and the media get wrong about the industry and what might change things.

Click here to listen to Part 1 of the interview with Hoover.

 

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

 

 

 

Patachou‘s Martha Hoover on surviving the pandemic and prepping to expand (part 1 of 2)

Indianapolis restauranteur Martha Hoover launched her first Cafe Patachou at 49th and Pennsylvania in 1989 and has since expanded her company to 13 eateries spread across several distinct concepts.

Like other restaurants, though, Hoover had to close the doors at all of her Patachou Inc. locations when the pandemic hit, a time she calls "frightening."

But Hoover tells host Mason King — in the first of a two-part interview — that Patachou is now "very healthy," in part because she and her leadership team started making some tough decisions pre-pandemic to streamline and become more efficient.

Now, Patachou is looking to expand.

Tune in next week for part 2 of King's interview with Hoover, when she explains what she thinks the public — and especially the media — don't understand about the restaurant business.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

 

‘Old-school’ agent Matt McLaughlin hits $1 billion in career home sales for Tucker

Veteran real estate agent Matt McLaughlin reached more than $1 billion in career sales in September after some 22 years as an agent for F.C. Tucker. It's a milestone the firm's CEO, Jim Litten, called "one of the most challenging to attain in our industry."

And yet McLaughlin said it was not particularly a goal and he wasn't fully aware he was approaching it until the folks in his office mentioned it earlier this year.

Host Mason King sat down with McLaughlin to learn how he closed so many sales (he attributes some early success to the gray hair he had as a young man), what makes his approach different (he still dresses up for clients) and what he thinks about central Indiana's red-hot real estate market (it's not a bubble).

Plus, McClaughlin shares the advice he'd give a young broker.

 

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

 

Indiana‘s workforce leader talks unemployment, the labor market and the minimum wage

Indiana’s unemployment rate inched down to 4% in September, but what does that actually mean? How many people are in the Indiana workforce? And why are so many companies struggling to find workers?

Host Mason King talks with Fred Payne, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, about what the state is doing to help more Hoosiers find jobs and more companies find workers. 

Plus, King quizzes Payne about whether Indiana should join most of its neighbors in raising the minimum wage.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

Can you afford to quit your job and be part of the Great Resignation?

A record 4.3 million workers in the U.S. quit their jobs in August and more are expected to do so as part of what analysts are calling the "Great Resignation."

But can you afford to join them?

Host Mason King talks with Peter "Pete the Planner" Dunn about how to prepare financially to leave your job. Plus, Pete offers a prediction about the stock market as the year comes to a close.

Looking for another podcast to try? Check out IBJ's The Freedom Forum with Angela B. Freeman, an exploration of diversity and inclusion issues in the central Indiana business community.