Meet The Podcasters: Richelle Markazene, Omaha Productions

Meet The Podcasters is a special 9-week series created in partnership with Point to Point Marketing. Our eighth feature is on the head of audio at Omaha Productions, Richelle Markazene. Follow along with the series, and revisit former conversations by checking out the entire category.  

Markazene joined Omaha Productions in November of 2021 following a second tour of work with ESPN as a coordinating producer with SportsNation, The Jump, and Jalen & Jacoby. During her time with Omaha Productions, she has leaned on her background in crafting content and working with top talent to help bolster and enhance the audio division of the media company founded by Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning.  

In this edition of out ‘Meet The Podcasters’ series, we explore Markazene’s role with Omaha Productions, how they continue to strengthen their audio brand utilizing partnerships and recruiting talent, plus how the podcast space continues to grow and reach new audience as each moment passes.  

Richelle Markazene spoke with Barrett Media from the Omaha Productions’ offices in Los Angeles.  

*Editor’s Note: Answers have been edited for clarity and length.* 

John Mamola: Your position is head of audio for Omaha Productions. What’s a typical day in the life of that role at a major media company like Omaha Productions? 

Richelle Markazene: One of the coolest things about my role is that there’s really no typical day so to speak. Every day is a little bit different which honestly makes it really fun. I’m assuming that that’s probably a theme for a lot of people you’re talking to in this industry. It’s definitely something I appreciate. 

There are certain things that I tend to do a little bit more. I spend a lot of time watching content. What we are creating here at Omaha Productions in audio and outside of audio. Then I keep up with what others are producing. I think it’s important to stay on top of what’s out there, and understand the industry trends as much as we can by keeping an eye on emerging talent, and talent who are already established.  

Then a big part of what I do is just connecting with people. That’s the team within Omaha, and partners outside of Omaha. Collaborating and sharing ideas I think is a huge part of anybody’s role, or should be a huge part of anyone’s role in content. That’s certainly been the case since I’ve taken this on. 

John Mamola: You’ve worked in the content space for a while between your 11 years with ESPN and the NFL Network. How has the skill set of your experience with those two media brands transferred to your current position with Omaha Productions? 

Richelle Markazene: I think that in many ways that good content is good content. I have a ton of experience with linear traditional broadcast, and so whether you’re producing that, or you’re producing for YouTube there’s definitely some crossover. 

I think working with teams, working with other people on your staff, other producers, that certainly translates to something that you’re going to do all the time. Then as an extension of that is working with your talent, managing talent, identifying talent. I think that’s something that I’ve worked on in different capacities over the years. It certainly translates.  

There are some things that I wasn’t used to. Coming over to a space where there are fewer limitations, or this is such a harsh word, but restrictions. When you’re producing for linear there’s a hard out, and you have to fit in breaks. You’re hitting a certain time and not having to do those things is somewhat freeing. 

While there are some differences and definitely a learning curve, I think you experience that with anything that you do. Even in the same field, there are so many things that I could carryover from what I had learned in previous roles.  

John Mamola: Omaha Productions has a lot of different tentacles to the company. You’re working in the audio wing, but they also produce content for television, live series, documentaries, and so much more. There are so many different varieties of things that Omaha Productions produces. 

How would you say you would describe the focus of the audio wing of Omaha productions as a department versus the ones that people see on their television screens with Peyton and Eli Manning hosting the content? 

Richelle Markazene: You mentioned Peyton Manning. One thing that I learned early on is Peyton sets the tone. It’s not just when you’re seeing him on camera. It is so much more the work that he puts in behind the scenes.

He’s deeply committed to the success of every Omaha project and initiative. I knew immediately that the audio team would be no exception. Honestly, he doesn’t just support from afar, he gets involved. 

He’s been instrumental in helping to identify talent and recruit talent when necessary. It may not be as well publicized as the ManningCast, but he does make appearances on our shows. He’s always willing to hop on Always College Football with Greg McElroy to talk about Tennessee, especially when Tennessee is going up against Alabama. 

When we were bringing Kenny Beecham and the Numbers On The Board guys over, we were brainstorming ideas for an announcement video. One of the ideas involved Peyton and he was game. We asked him to put on some audio gear and pretend that he was a new fill-in audio guy. Just as he always does, he killed the comedic lines and was there for a day of shooting to do that. 

For us internally every project is of equal importance and that is set from the top from Peyton. You can feel it across the board. 

John Mamola: You’ve mentioned recruiting talent a couple of times. Looking at the Omaha Productions audio roster, three of the five podcasts have heavy current and former ESPN influence between Scott Van Pelt, Mina Kimes and Greg McElroy.

When you’re going into that discussion about recruiting talent to the brand for podcasting, is it solely reliant on the partnership with ESPN or are you allowed to break the barrier of that? 

I understand with Numbers On The Board, that’s something a little different than ESPN. How much flexibility do you have when it comes to recruiting talent outside of the current partnership that Omaha Productions has with ESPN? 

Richelle Markazene: ESPN is such an amazing partner, and very important to us. It’s an honor to have them. They are our sales and distribution partner.

First and foremost, our main priorities are to be a good collaborator and a good partner. To work with Mike Foss, who oversees podcast efforts among other things. His team of Andrew Han and Justin Craig in audio, Jeremy Fitch in YouTube. We constantly work with them to understand what their content goals are, what their needs are, and then we see where we can fill those. 

We put a heavy priority on working with them to fill out our slate. That being said, we do have flexibility. We also see it as our jobs to always be exploring new talent, and seeing what new shows are out there.

Working with ESPN to make a final decision on what that becomes is a part of the slate. 

John Mamola: It’s no secret, the podcasting space continues to grow. It gets more saturated every single hour. 

With Peyton Manning, Omaha Productions and the partnerships you have with ESPN, a lot of the content that you produce based on the partnerships and the name value you own, I believe helps you cuts through the space. 

For a lot of podcasts, it’s hard to cut through because of the saturation. Do you ever see the podcast space getting to a point where it’s too saturated or do you see the challenges even with Omaha Productions finding difficulties cutting through the noise of everything else? 

Richelle Markazene: I don’t want to say that the space is saturated. It’s certainly crowded, but I do generally think that there’s a need and a desire for great content. Especially as people are consuming content, even traditional podcasts. 

I just recently came across a stat that said there are over 580 million podcast listeners globally. That’s a massive audience. The cool thing for me is the way it’s broken down. It expands across demographics. 

What I think is cool, younger people are listening to and watching podcasts. I think that number and knowing that the age range is growing, presents an incredible opportunity. 

I don’t mean to say that it doesn’t come with challenges. It is a crowded space and the competition is intense. 

While we see the huge opportunity, I think it’s also important to understand that competition is there and keep that in mind as we’re exploring and developing new ideas. We’re always looking for talent or shows that have already made an impact or have the potential to breakthrough quickly in this crowded space. I think you have to be a little more discerning through that process. One trend that is especially exciting, and I think helps, is the rise of video podcasts. 

More people are engaging with video versions of the shows, and I see that as a huge opportunity. It gives us a chance to offer a new visual experience to people who are only consuming audio podcasts. It also allows us to reach a viewer who may not want to listen to an audio podcast but would be happy to watch. 

Bottom line is it does create a challenge. It is a crowded space, but there are still so many opportunities. 

John Mamola: Looking at social media, marketing is how you get these podcasts out to the consumer. How important is it to your success that Omaha Productions is very involved in the social space from both a brand and talent standpoint? How do you coach your talent on what you’re looking for them to do while providing assets to market their podcasts to their audiences? 

Richelle Markazene: A lot of them already come with that knowledge. They’ve learned it themselves. Kevin Clark is an example. He is so great in the social space, and so great about understanding how to promote plus market things. He’s been active in the audio space for some time. 

With anything else, working with talent is just a constant conversation. It’s asking them how they want to do things, and then also saying what we think what would be great. Then we tap in our social team, led by Natalie Glikes. She’s always involved and willing to help whether it’s our audio group, audio team, or talent one on one. We are providing any of the elements that they want, and any of the elements that we think would help in promoting. 

I think it goes beyond just social though. 

Getting out there and being on other podcasts/programs really helps as well. I think that’s something for us that was built in as you mentioned. We have several talents who are heavy in the ESPN space. That always helps and we’re willing to help line up appearances and things like that. 

It’s always that conversation with talent and taking it case by case. No show or episode is even the same on how you want to promote it. 

Beyond that, I just want to say a note about ESPN and their role. They have been instrumental in helping to promote awareness and our shows. Whether it’s through bringing brands and advertisers to our talent that fit them and the shows. 

Also, we work closely with Megan Judge and her audio, marketing and events team. That’s been great for us especially the promotion across other podcasts. Something that we’re really excited about that we’ve been doing with her team is live events. It’s just a cool way to bring the podcast to life and allow fans to experience it up close and personal. 

Her team has been amazing helping us get out most recently with producing Numbers On The Board live in San Francisco during NBA All-Star weekend. We also had the opportunity to host a live edition of The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny in Los Angeles. The audience included local first responders which was awesome with all the proceeds from that event going to fire relief efforts. 

That was something that Mina personally proposed and it was very important to her. It was a tight turnaround, and we enlisted Megan and her team, and were able to make it happen. The energy in those rooms is always electric and amazing. 

I think sometimes we may feel a little removed from the fans or listeners because they’re watching or listening to the show on their own. When you see the audience in person, it really is a reminder of how engaging these shows can be, especially when experiencing them in that type of moment. 

John Mamola: Omaha Productions is Peyton Manning company. It’s heavy football content, and that’s not to say that Omaha Productions only does football on podcasts, but it does have a lien towards football content. 

For the company, is there an added emphasis to go beyond the world of football with the next considerations of shows that the company may add to its slate? 

Richelle Markazene: I think we’re already doing that on audio, and it has been a focus from the start. While our slate looks markedly different than it did in 2022 and when we launched, we’ve always spanned across sports. If you look at our slate right now, we have two NFL focused shows with amazing talent, Mina Kimes and Kevin Clark. We also have a college football show, but I guess that’s still falls in football. 

We have our NBA podcast, and it’s always been important to us to have an NBA show. Scott Van Pelt, which I see as a true multisport podcast. 

Football will always be important, and key to Omaha Productions. Honestly, football is key to a lot of media companies and production companies. We have always looked at our audio part of the company and our audio slate as one that we are not only free too, but also would like to stand outside of a football. 

John Mamola: Last question, and I’m asking this of everyone I’ve talked to in this Meet The Podcasters series. What is one thing that you know now about the podcast space specifically that you wish you knew when you first started with Omaha Productions? 

Richelle Markazene: We always look at our shows as a visual first approach, so I didn’t realize how multifaceted it would be. It’s so important to focus and understand that there are different types of audiences out there, and what an opportunity that is. 

It is very difficult to grow an audio only podcast, but then when you introduce video either on YouTube or Spotify or any of the platforms plus the social piece to it, there really is so much more to it, and the growth piece to it is not easy. There are so many different ways to do this, and so many different ways people consume content. I find that so exciting.

Just because we’re called podcasts doesn’t mean that it has to be audio only. While I knew that, I think as I’ve gone along, I’ve gained a better understanding of that. An understanding that you can take that approach where you want to serve all of the different audiences. 

To learn more about Point-To-Point Marketing’s Podcast and Broadcast Audience Development Marketing strategies, contact Tim Bronsil at tim@ptpmarketing.com or 513-702-5072.