The Bobby Bones Show - Matt Shearer-News Reporter WBZ-AM Boston/Tik Tok star

Episode Date: December 15, 2023

Matt is a news reporter for the iHeart Media station in Boston and he produces content for the radio stations award winning Tik Tok account. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends.

Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. you get your podcast. What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Vodam. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo.

My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot. But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. It would not be...

Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 2023, Bachelor star Clayton Eckerd was accused of fathering twins. But the pregnancy appeared to be a hoax. You doctored this particular test twice, Ms. Owens, correct? I doctored the test ones.

It took an army of internet detectives to uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg Gillespie and Michael Mancini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trapped. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences.

Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, Chairman and CEO of IHeart Media, and I'm kicking off a brand new season of my podcast, Math and Magic, stories from the frontiers of marketing. Math and Magic takes you behind the scenes of the big. businesses and industries while sharing insights from the smartest minds in marketing. Coming up this seasonal math and magic, CEO of Liquid Death Mike Sessario. People think that creative ideas are like these light bulb moments that happen when you're in the shower. It's really like a stone sculpture.

You're constantly just chipping away and refining. Take two interactive CEO, Strauss Selnick, and our own chief business officer, Lisa Coffey. Listen to Math and Magic on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Taking a Walk. Yeah, I've always been excited by the idea of highlighting just the weirdness of reality. Because, like, it's so much more entertaining than stuff you can make up. Welcome to the Take In a Walk podcast with your host Buzz Night. On this episode, Buzz takes a walk in Act in Massachusetts,

with a guy that's making lots of noise in Massachusetts and beyond with his work on WBZAM's groundbreaking TikTok account. He and the station have won multiple awards for his work. Reporter Matt Shear is our guest on Taking a Walk with Buzz Night. Well, hello, you hot shot Matt Shear. Oh, thank you so much, Hot Shot Buzz Night. It is so great to be taken a walk with you here in lovely Acton. Describe this beautiful place we're at.

Yes, so Acton is my hometown, and this is the Arboretum, which is a big park with some of the... some paths in the woods. At parts, it looks like the public garden in Boston or Central Park in New York, but it's in this quiet little town of Acton. I was just saying to you before we started rolling, like I feel like it's a really underrated spot in town. It's usually pretty quiet. People come here to walk their dogs, but there's flowers and trees and hills and it smells delicious, and it's great. It's beautiful. Now, this is an in-person taking a walk episode. We do do very. virtual ones from time to time.

So let me just stress to those listening, because this has come up before people go, well, it sounds like you guys were huffing and puffing a little bit. I'm like, well, yeah, because we were walking, so we actually are walking. This is the healthiest podcast there is. I mean, you're not sitting down in one place. This feels great. It's a beautiful day, too, I got to say. Late October, it's like 60-something degrees.

The colors. Yeah, the colors. Being back in my hometown too makes me feel like a kid again. What was it like growing up in the mean streets of Acton? Well, that's the first time that's ever been said. Good morning. It was nice. You know, it's so funny, when you grow up in a small town like Acton, all you want to do is get the hell out of town, you know, especially being a kid who's like into music.

You want to go out in the city where all the bands play and all that kind of stuff. But then, like, you graduate and you start looking at it. around at houses and stuff and you're like well actin is actually a really great place with a nice school system and if i could raise a family here it'd be wonderful so i don't know i i'm really grateful for having grown up in actin i was lucky to have like a really good friend group who i still keep in touch with you know thank god i don't know what people did before group chats existed like did you actually like call your friends that's crazy so you know but we we text all the time and meet up in the city we all have our own kids now um

I would love to live in Acton again, but can't really afford it at the moment. It's gone way up in price, and for good reason. It's got one of the best school districts in the state, and it's relatively safe. And, you know, you've got places like this, the Arboretum. So for those listening in, I don't know, Phoenix or Czechoslovakia, for that matter, I don't know, Acton would be considered metro west of Boston, right? Yeah, it's about 20 miles west of the city. It's on the commuter rail so you can easily get into Boston pretty quickly.

It's one of those places where if you grow up here, you just tell people from the rest of the country that you're from Boston. But if you tell anyone from Boston that, and they find out you're from Acton, don't make fun of you. You'll never hear the end of it. And then if you're from West Acton or Wacton, it's even worse, right? And that's where I'm from Wacton. Wackton. Exactly. I think it's better than being from Sacton, though, South Act. That explains everything, Matt, by the way.

Doesn't it? Yeah. Unfortunately. Yeah. So tell everybody right now what you're doing at this point career-wise that is so exciting that we want to be able to talk about. Yeah. So I am a news reporter for a radio station, a legendary station in town, WBZ News Radio, 101-year-old station. And a couple years ago, my boss came to me and said, we want to get the station on TikTok.

And like my first reaction was, okay, we're a 102-year-old radio station trying to fit in on a platform full of children. Like, how are we going to look cool without being cringe, right? We're not going to be doing dance moves in the studio, I hope, and, you know, all these silly trends that TikTok loves to do. I want to have a little bit of, you know, I want to do what we do, which is tell compelling stories in 45 seconds or less. So that's what I started doing. It started taking off. and it's to the point now where we're winning all kinds of awards for our work there. I was nominated for a New England Emmy because of TikTok,

it's just crazy vertical videos shot on my Android phone could be eligible for an Emmy. Didn't win that, but that's okay because I just got back from New York City last week where we accepted a National Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Innovation because what's happening is there's a whole young audience that has never pressed the AM button on their cars radio, who are now suddenly aware of WBZ News Radio, and some of them are even asking Alexa to play it on their smart speaker or listening on the IHeart radio app. And we're actually seeing results in the numbers, too, in particularly that younger demographic who's active on TikTok.

And you can't, as you know, Buzz, it's really hard to say exactly where those listeners are coming from or how they found us. But it coincides with when we started doing the social media stuff. So it's cool because people across the biz, not just radio, but also journalism and social media, are kind of keeping an eye on what we're doing because it's working. I think it's so exciting. Congrats on all the awards. When did you first realize that this thing, you know, was blowing up? You can see it right in the numbers right there. When you open up TikTok, you can see how many times a video has been viewed. which is wild. Could you imagine in radio if you could actually see at any given moment how many people were listening? But, you know, I had my first video that hit over a million, and that was me going on.

I was looking at a map of Boston, and I realized that there's a little circle of about a half mile in the downtown area where there's 15 Dunkin' Donuts in that half mile radius. And so I went and I was like, I'm going to do a little food tour like you see sometimes on TikTok where they're like, come along with me. as I check out these cafes. And so I did that in every single spot was Dunkin' Donuts. And people started sharing that around. And one of my favorite things I saw on Twitter, somebody shared that and said, What gives this news station any right to be this funny? And so I kind of rolled with it.

But I couldn't do that joke or that video over and over again, you know, because that would get stale. We all follow those people on social media, right? who have like one joke and they just beat it to death. So I just got back to what I was doing, which is covering local news. The next one that really blew up for me was when one of three market baskets on the same street in Bill Rica, Massachusetts closed, and the entire town flipped out about it. And they were losing their minds because they had to drive five minutes down the road

to go to a different market basket. The same road. And for those listening not from Massachusetts, Market Basket is a local chain of grocery stores, beloved chain of grocery stores. And yeah, that one made national news. I started seeing celebrities following me on Twitter, which was crazy and Instagram as well. And then finally, there was another one that got really big where just next town over from here in Stowe, Massachusetts, they lost both of their Dunkin' Donuts within a matter of months.

And again, the town was losing their minds because now they had to drive to the next town over to Maynard to get their Dunkin' Donuts. And that one went international. Like, we were getting write-ups on that in, like, the Daily Mail over in the UK. And I was getting interviewed about it by media outlets across the country. Washington Post hit me up and Today Show. And I wasn't on the Today Show just on Today.com. It would have been cool.

But I post that link, and everyone thinks I was on the Today Show, which is good. Perception is reality. So I would say like those three were the ones that really kind of kick started the whole thing. And now it's to the point where I've had other videos that have gone over a million and gone, you know, done really well. But none received quite the media attention that those three did. So what do you think the key to something going viral is? I mean, do you have any formula that you can describe for that? That's a great question.

I mean, I try not to think in terms of formulas because I don't want my stories to come off as formulaic. I feel like when you do that, you lose a ton of authenticity. People have asked me, you know, how do you do this? Like, well, we're trying to do something like what you do at our radio station. I say, honestly, I try not to do what I do. Like, I try every video I want to be different. Like, I guess that's kind of the artist in me. And I think that, if anything, is really the secret.

The answer is like kind of you have to take an artistic approach and be willing to try something different. At the very least, that's how you grow a following. It's maybe a long way to get like a viral moment or a viral video. But it definitely helps grow a following because if you're scrolling through TikTok or Instagram and you see somebody who's doing something that's unique and different, but you actually like it and you want to see more of it, that's when you hit follow. If you see somebody who's just kind of doing the same thing as everyone else, like trend chasing, trying to, you know, be like, oh, everybody's using that meme. Let's come up with how that meme, you know, ties to our brand. You might get a bunch of likes on that, but you're not going to get somebody to actually follow you and engage with you in the future. So I think originality is key and authenticity. And, you know, I hope somebody finds a new formula, if you will, to go viral. I hope people continue to try and. innovate because that's that's that's that's exciting to me we'll be right back with more of the

taken a walk podcast welcome back to the taken a walk podcast well some would say in the the content creation world that frequency of posting is really important because you are to some degree throwing things against the wall to see what sticks do you agree with that yeah to some extent I don't necessarily agree with just putting stuff out there for the sake of putting stuff out there. You use the term content creation, which I understand is kind of the boilerplate term for what we're doing. My wife hates that term, by the way. I hate it, too. Why does she hate it?

I'm curious. Oh, well, she's a photographer. So for her, I think probably it's the throwing against the wall concept. Exactly. Yes, she's an artist. Totally. Like, for me, it sounds so boardroom, like an executive boardroom term where you're sitting with like a projector screen and there's like an Excel spreadsheet and it's like, how do we fill

this with content? You know, like, that's not, that's not art, man. Like, I don't know. I guess it's because my background is a musician. Like, you don't, you don't want art musicians just creating content, right? Just like putting out stuff to see what works. I mean, I think of a good example, especially, and this goes back to your previous question about, like, formulaicness, right? You know Weezer, the weird Weezer.

Everyone loves their first two albums. And then after that, sure, they've had some big hit singles because they're following a formula, but the albums haven't done all that great. And people are, if you talk to any Weezer fan, they're going to tell you the Blue Album or Pinkerton. And the reason is because it was when Rivers was so young and just literally pouring his whole, heart out onto the page to the point where he can't even listen to Pinkerton anymore because it's so deeply personal and embarrassing almost to him. It's like imagine the whole world had access to your diary from when you were like 16 years old. Like that's super embarrassing to him, but it's honest and it's genuine and it's why people love that album. And after that, he's even admitted he has

like spreadsheets where he keeps track of how he writes songs. And he thinks he has like a formula writing the perfect hit song. And it's worked a few times here and there, but it doesn't really, like, make people feel something the way that they did when he was younger. But you are posting every day, correct? Early on I was, but to be honest, I've pulled back a little bit.

It's really every other day now, just because every day was too much for me. It takes a lot to go out, record these stories, edit them, write them, post them, And I got two little kids at home, you know. I was losing sleep. I didn't want to cut down on my hours of work or hours with my kids. So what I was cutting down on was my sleep.

And I had a conversation with my boss. And they were like, you know, we love that you're posting every day, but we never asked you to. So if you want to cut back, like, by all means, do it. And I did. And it's been much better for my health. And I haven't really seen too much of a, you know, dip in the views. certainly I'm not growing as many followers as fast as I was early on and I think maybe that's the benefit to posting every day

but if you do that then people are eventually going to get sick of you and they're not going to engage with your stories as much so that's my philosophy have there been stories you posted that you really thought we're going to take off that didn't do as well oh yeah happens all the time usually the ones I put the most effort into it's the ones where I'm just kind of half-asset I I mean, I don't half-ass anything, really, but the ones where I just kind of get it done as quickly as possible and put it up there that seemed to get the most attention. I think maybe people, that's because people can tell when you're trying too hard on social media. I don't know.

But there have been somewhere I posted and, like, I knew it was going to take off because I knew that, like, people in Massachusetts could relate to that kind of nostalgia and, you know, people were going to be excited to hear from this person. It's just, I try to, I got to try. to not allow myself to get too attached to the idea of a video blowing up, because if I do, I'm just setting myself up for disappointment, you know? It's really good advice. Oh, 100%. So how, from start to finish, so when you think of something that you really want to take to the next level of a story, what's your process?

So it's kind of different every time, depending on what the story is. Like, for example, if it's a story where there's not any booking that I need to do, if it's just pure interviewing people on the street, I'll give you an example. A couple weeks ago, I did one about jaywalking in Massachusetts, because you go to some states where everybody actually waits at the crosswalk for the little signal, the little hand to go away, and the little person to come up, and that's when they cross the street. It's not like that in Massachusetts at all. You cross when you feel like it. And the cars, they better stop for you. And if they don't, they're going to get a lawsuit and you're going to get paid. That's the mentality around here.

People just walk out into the street. So I wanted to do something about that because I was reading that the fine for jaywalking in Massachusetts is only $1. That's why it's never enforced. That's why everybody just does it. So I went out and tried to get a ticket. I literally asked police officers, can you please write me a ticket for jaywalking? And they just said no. I don't think it was worth their time.

So for a story like that, there was no, there really didn't need to be any planning involved. I kind of just went out on the street and started jaywalking and interviewing people. And, but like, I also think it's really important to, you know, encounter characters. I want to, I want to meet people along the way who can bring something to the table that I never could or say something that I would never think of on my own. And that's what takes time. Like, you got to spend time out on the street actually interviewing people.

You see a lot of news reporters across the country, and you can tell when, like, their interviews are just the first two people they bumped into. Because the people don't really have anything interesting to say. Like, if it's a story about, like, a heat wave, they're like, oh, yeah, really hot, got to turn on the AC today. Like, was that really worth people's time watching? Right. You know, like, find the person who's sweating their ass off and complaining. You know, who knows? Like, find someone with something really interesting to say, so that can take time.

but then once I feel like, you know, I've talked to enough people and I have some great stuff to work with, I go sit down, I listen to everything, I pull out the clips that I like and the great moments that I like, and then start writing around it. And I do all my audio first. And I think that's because, you know, I'm an audio production guy. That's my background. That's how my brain works. And then I put the video on afterwards. and that you know it's definitely adds time to the process to be able to do it that way but I'm so picky about audio I'm much less picky about video

hence the Android green text for life by the way and but I think it's interesting how you know in the tools that you have available that for the video side of things the tolerance level

is you know at a point where you could shoot with your phone. Yeah. And no one suggests that that's an issue. I mean, you're for an audio first guy. That's why you do the way you do it. But the video world, everyone can shoot. Yeah.

I tell that to young people all the time. They're like, what do I need to kind of get started with this? I was like, you already have everything in your pocket right now. You know, I didn't have that when I was a young kid wanting to get into radio. I couldn't just reach into my pocket and record a podcast. You know, like, I needed to actually get equipment. You could just do it. And, like, especially for young people trying to start the stuff, like, just do it.

And sure, it's not going to be perfect at first, but you need to learn, you know? Like, and that's the perfect time in your career to learn. I still, my stuff's still not perfect. Like, I'm still looking for ways to improve. And with each video I make, I try a different little editing trick or something that I've never done before. and along the way I learn. So, I don't know, people need to let go of this idea that everything's got to be perfect. I think it's because they know that when they put something up on the internet, there's potential for millions of people to see it.

And so you don't want to screw it up. But mistakes are natural, man. Like, that's real. That's reality. So what would you tell somebody who was just entering school, thinking about a crossroads of a career? and, you know, as someone who has spent time still is in radio, how would you encourage them to find their path? Radio specifically, you're saying?

Yes. Yeah, I would say a lot of programmers now are looking for somebody. Well, first of all, they all want somebody who's also a content creator to use that term that I don't like, especially from the younger crowd. So I would say think of new ways to broadcast, like new and interesting, innovative ways to be both on the radio and online. You know, find ways to kind of integrate the two, incorporate what you're doing on social media on the air and vice versa, and just start playing around with it now. Like I said before, you know, you have everything you need. If you want to get into radio, like you can start a podcast.

You can start an online radio show. There are all kinds of places that will host you. You know, go to, you know, if you haven't picked a college yet, pick one with a college radio station and just do it. And you never know. So you might come up with something great. I think it's, but again, I go back to the innovation thing. I think it's really important for people to constantly be thinking of what's new,

what's next, because I think programmers, as you might agree, Buzz, are starting to notice that too. They're starting to notice if we want to survive as a medium, we need to innovate just to keep with the young people. Then again, there are programmers who are like, well, the young people are already gone, so let's not waste our time with them. And that's unfortunate. Look, if those programmers are not thinking that way, then they probably shouldn't be programmers. Yeah, I agree. I hate to be so harsh about it.

Yeah, that's true. So living in an area with such a... Which way? Should we go? Oh, we're at a crossroads. We haven't gone this way yet. Let's go this way. Okay, yeah.

Yeah. Living in a market so rich over the years with comedy, who are some of the comedians that have had an influence on the way you put stuff out there? Oh, that's interesting. Yeah. It's not even so much local comedians, but like some of the people I see on TV who aren't necessarily journalists but are doing stuff that I find hilarious. Like Nathan Fielder, I think, is absolutely brilliant the way he kind of like, Hey, how are you? The way he kind of mixes reality with this like just bizarreness. So I loved him growing up. I love Billy Eichner and what he does with Billy on the street. That's something that I could never do where he just goes up to people and yells at them. But just the fact that it's so original and it's such a kid, like he's taking real people in these real moments, putting real people in weird situations.

I love that. And so, yeah, I've always been excited by the idea of highlighting just the weirdness of reality. Because, like, it's so much more entertaining than stuff you can make up, you know? Like, if you show somebody, if you show somebody something that's so ridiculous and say, this is real. Like, this is a real place or a real person that's way more interesting than this is a sketch that I came up with. Not that there's anything wrong with sketch comedy. I think it's great. and there are some absolutely brilliant sketch comedians out there,

but I just don't think I'm that kind of funny, you know. So in closing, I saw that video that you mentioned earlier when you guys were in Times Square after you had won the Edward R. Murrow Award. And it just radiated of joy. Describe that feeling as you were creating that piece, and coming off of the happiness of getting that award. Oh, yeah, it was a blast. I mean, and it goes back to something I say all the time,

which is like, if I'm not having fun doing a story, then why should I expect anybody to have fun watching it or listening to it? And so, hey, let's go. And so I was just trying to have as much fun as possible. I was having fun. I was having a blast. They had just come out of an award show where not only did I get this big award, but all these big industry people were coming up to me and, you know, saying really nice,

kind things about my work. I mean, how can you not be in a great mindset after that to do a story? So, yeah, so it was late at night. I wasn't even planning on doing a story about that whole thing. But my boss suggested I do something to get the word out there to TikTok that we just won this big award for the TikTok. So I was like, all right, after the ceremony, let's go into Times Square and let's see if anybody wants to take a picture with us now that we're famous.

I love it. And obviously we're not famous. And obviously no one was going to know who the hell we were because we were in New York City. Although we did find one guy who recognized me in that full furry fur suit. Yeah. And the best part is, and I didn't even include this part, but he wasn't even from Massachusetts. He was from Seattle, but he was aware of what we were doing because he came across us on

social media and he followed us anyways. So it was a blast. I just love to go out and have fun. Like the world is like a playground and let's play. I love it. All right. So give a plug. How do people find the TikTok?

Yeah, sure. So it's... I sounded like Larry King there first. How do people find the TikTok? Well, you have to go to the app store. Search TikTok. No, it's WBZ News Radio is the handle across all platforms. But if you want me specifically on Instagram, I'm reporter Matt.

Matt is so great to take a walk with you. I'm so happy for your success. And hey, thank you. And I just want you to know, too, obviously, for those listening, Buzz and I worked in the same building for a little while, the very beginning of my career. And Buzz was one of the few, like, higher-ups in that building who was just so nice to me and encouraging and made me really feel like I could have a future in this business. And so this full-circle moment of us coming back together and talking here is really special.

Thank you, Buzz. Oh, my pleasure. Hopefully I didn't use the word contact creation. No. You did. That wasn't a term back then. This is going to date myself, like, content created. They were called influencers back then.

Oh, okay. Which is even worse. To be honest. Thanks, man. Of course. Thanks, Buzz. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends and follow us so you never miss an episode.

Taking a Walk is available on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, and we're for you get your podcasts. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I bowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves.

We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Wodom. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot. But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that.

There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 2023, Bachelor star Clayton Eckerd was accused of fathering twins. But the pregnancy appeared to be a hoax. You doctored this particular test twice, Ms. Ellen's, correct? I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing.

Greg, a lesbian. Michael Mancini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trapped. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, Chairman and CEO of IHeart Media, and I'm kicking off a brand new season of my podcast, Math and Magic, stories from the frontiers of marketing. Math and Magic takes you behind the scenes of the biggest businesses and in the United States and industries while sharing insights from the smartest minds in marketing. Coming up this seasonal math and magic, CEO of Liquid Death, Mike Cesario. People think that creative ideas are like these light bulb moments that happen when you're in the shower. It's really like a stone sculpture. You're constantly just chipping away and refining. Take-2 interactive CEO, Strauss Selnick, and our own chief business officer, Lisa Coffey.

Listen to Math and Magic on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.