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Speaker: Welcome to Inside
Marketing With Market Surge.
Your front row seat to the
boldest ideas and smartest
strategies in the marketing game.
Your host is Reed Hansen, chief
Growth Officer at Market Surge.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hello
and welcome back to Inside
Marketing with Market Surge.
Today I am joined by an individual
you've almost certainly heard if
you've ridden the subway pass through
an airport or listened to a traffic
update in the New York metro area.
Bernie Wagon Blast has spent decades
behind the mic and inside the world
of transportation communications
from pioneering realtime traffic
reporting on radio to shaping how
millions of people receive travel
and transit information every day.
the founder of Transportation
Communications Newsletter, a trusted
industry resource, and one of the
most respected voices, literally
and figuratively in the field.
Today, we'll dive into her journey,
the future of transportation,
communication, and what it's like
to have your voice guide millions.
welcome to the show.
Bernie Wagenblast:
Thank you so much, Reed.
Glad to be here.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
My pleasure.
Well, so obviously you have been very
well known for your voice and, and we'll
we will get to that, but I'd be curious
about how you got to the point where you,
uh, your voice featured so prominently and
how you broke into the broadcasting and,
and transportation communication fields.
Bernie Wagenblast: Well, for
me it goes back to fifth grade.
That was when I decided that I
wanted to be on the radio one day.
There was just something magical
about listening to the radio and
hearing all these voices come out
of my little transistor radio and.
Radio.
You have to understand when I was
growing up in the 1960s and seventies,
for somebody who's younger, they
may not appreciate what radio was.
It was sort of your companion.
It was the internet.
Of the day, it was where you got your
sports scores, your news headlines,
your weather updates, time checks,
all these different things, and I just
thought it was so cool that this was
something that you could do for a living.
So I started practicing reading out loud
because I wanted to be a news person.
So that was very key to me that I'd
be able to read news and I would
practice reading newspapers out loud.
I ended up going to Den Hall University
because they had and have a great
radio station there, WSOU and radio
was one of those things that you
can't just learn in a classroom.
You really have to get the
practical experience doing it.
That college radio station
provided that for me.
It was a great opportunity to learn
hands-on and do interviews and all
sorts of very interesting things.
About a year after I graduated, I was
fortunate enough to be hired as one of
the original on-air traffic reporters
for this new company called Shadow
Traffic that had come to New York.
And for me that was kind of amazing,
uh, opportunity because here I was.
23 years old.
I was on the radio in the biggest
market in the country, New York,
and I was on in drive time, which is
when most people listen to the radio,
when they're going to and from work.
So it was just a wonderful opportunity
and I'm just so fortunate that all
these things fell into place for me.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Absolutely.
Well, so you, you know, you continued
in broadcasting and had a lot of
interesting stops um, but as we
talked about earlier, uh, now you've,
you've ended up becoming a very.
Memorable voice on New York
City Transit, uh, can, can you
talk about how that came to be?
And maybe, know, the, the story
behind it, I, I find, find it
interesting, the balance between the
fame that came out of it and maybe
the time you spent, um, recording.
So, yeah,
Bernie Wagenblast: Sure, sure.
Well, I didn't realize it at the time,
but when I was a traffic reporter, I
thought it was just a gig in radio,
but it turned out to be my introduction
to the world of transportation.
And after I left traffic reporting
for about five years, I ended
up working in the public sector.
And a good part of that time was
with the Port Authority of New
York and New Jersey for an agency
called Transcom, which coordinated.
Traffic and transit information among
all the different regional agencies in
New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
And one of those agencies, of course,
was the MTA, which runs among other
things, the New York City subway system.
So many years later, after I had
left that organization and was doing
other things, I got a call from one
of the folks at the MTA and he said.
We're putting together this new system
called Countdown clocks, and they're
going to be displays on the platforms at
the subway stations, and we'd like to use
your voice to tell riders how long it's
going to be before their train arrives.
So it sounded like an
interesting opportunity.
I said sure.
Went into a studio actually over
a couple of days, and we recorded
probably about a thousand.
Individual recordings usually
just a single word or a short
phrase, and then the computer
ends up putting that all together.
So when people are on the platform,
they hear a complete sentence.
But when I was in the studio, I was
recording things like uptown, downtown.
Numbers 2, 3, 4, um, Bronx Belt, all
sorts of different things like that.
And these days, if you happen to be riding
on the New York City subway and you're
in one of the numbered line stations,
you might hear me saying something
like, the next downtown one Train two
South Ferry is approaching the station.
Please stand away from the platform edge.
So that's a little bit of
how that all came about.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Fantastic.
Well, well, Bernie, how um.
you know, when you're doing voice
work, um, you know, obviously you,
you cultivated, you know, a strong
voice from a, a young age as you were
practicing reading the newspaper.
And, you know, a big part of working
in radio obviously is sounding
very clear and, and, uh, you know,
having a, a distinctive sound, but.
What, what do you do in terms of, um,
like what, where, what are you consciously
thinking about as you're doing voice work?
Are you, um, trying to per convey a, a
mood or, um, I, I actually don't know
what goes into that thought process.
Bernie Wagenblast: Well, for me,
whenever I'm doing, whether it was
a traffic report or recording things
for the subways and other things that
I've recorded, for the most part,
I've always tried to have a smile.
In my voice, and that may sound
a little strange, but it's
something that you can pick up.
You may not even be able to put your
finger on it, but to me, a lot of what
I was doing, whether it was a traffic
report and people are aggravated
about being stuck in traffic, they're
running late for work or getting
the kids to school or whatever it
might be, and the same thing when I'm
talking in the in the subways people.
Not necessarily New Yorkers, although
they may also be running late, but
I, I'm also thinking of visitors from
out of town and the New York City
subway system can be very complicated
if you've never ridden it before.
Even if you have ridden it before,
it can be fairly complicated
if you're taking a new route.
And I wanted to.
Have that come across that this was
a friendly voice that was guiding
them in whatever form it might be.
So that's what I always
try to keep in mind.
How can I make that voice sound
just a little more friendly
to the person who's listening?
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Have
you ever had anybody recognize
you by voice in public?
Bernie Wagenblast: Not by voice alone.
I had some instances though in the past
couple of years where my photo or videos
of me were out and about and people
would recognize me because of that.
So I might be standing on
a subway platform or in a
train and someone would say.
Excuse me, are you the
voice of the subway?
And I would say yes.
And they would often want to take a
selfie with me or something like that.
So that was kind of
cool when that happens.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah, very much.
Now, you know, beyond your voice work,
you know, you've, you have done a lot of
work in, in transportation and you've,
uh, embarked on a newsletter and podcasts.
What inspired you to be so broad and, and
tell me a little bit about those journeys.
Um, know, the, the, you know, how did
those start and how, how are they going?
Bernie Wagenblast: For me, I
remember when I was in college
studying about the days of radio and
television first getting started.
In the case of radio.
The 1920s and thirties for television,
the 1950s, sort of a golden age
for both of those, and I thought,
wow, it really would've been very
interesting to have been involved in
the ground floor of these new media
and who to have been involved with it.
But I figured.
There's not gonna be any new
media created in my lifetime.
Well, surprise, surprise, the 1990s
come along and suddenly there's this
thing called the internet that is now
gaining popularity among the public.
You know, back in the day it
was a OL and dial up and things
like that, and I just thought.
Here's an opportunity for me to be
involved with a new medium on the
ground floor and to sort of just
put my own little stamp on it.
So it began in 19, probably 1996.
I started with one of the, the
organizations I was working for
Transcom of doing a weekly update
about construction that was taking
place that weekend and transit.
Uh.
Uh, reroutes and things of that sort.
So that was the beginning.
In 1998, I started my transportation
communications newsletter.
I always like to say that my newsletter
has been around longer than Google,
so I created that just a few months
before Google had its launch.
Google was a little more
successful than my newsletter.
Yeah, but that was this opportunity
to, like I say, be on the ground floor
of a new medium and, and do something.
Flash forward to 2014, and podcasting
was picking up in popularity.
In the beginning days of podcasting.
You almost had to be a programmer
to know how to do a podcast and
to get it out there, but it was
becoming more user friendly.
So in 2014.
I started two different podcasts.
One I called Transportation Radio,
and the other I called Cranford Radio.
Cranford Radio was sort of just a public
service for my hometown of Cranford.
New Jersey Transportation Radio,
though was building on the
experience and expertise I had in the
transportation world where I would do
interviews with a variety of people.
And from that, people heard the podcast.
And then hired me to do podcasts on
their behalf about transportation.
So today I do two monthly podcasts,
one for Aashto, which is the American
Association of State Highway and
Transportation Officials, and the
other is for ITE, the Institute
of Transportation Engineer.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
Very interesting.
And, um, if you don't
mind, um, how, how do you.
Find content for all, all
the media that you generate.
Uh, obviously you're a reporter,
but, um, you know, I, I know that, I
mean, it, it takes a lot of content
to, uh, keep things going and,
and might not be a one person job.
Is, is, uh, you know, tell me
about how, how you get, get enough
content to put out so much content.
Bernie Wagenblast: Sure.
Well, for the newsletters I would
consider myself a journalist, but
maybe a better, more exact description
would be an editor or an aggregator.
What I'm doing is I'm searching out
content and I'm really creating links.
Two stories that I think each one of
the different newsletters that I do
that audience would find of interest.
So I do about six different transportation
related newsletters and each has
a somewhat different audience.
So I will go through several times a
day searching out news stories and.
Going to sites that I know have a
fair amount of transportation content,
and when I find a story, I will plug
it in to the appropriate newsletter.
So that's what I do
there for the podcasts.
It's somewhat different.
For my cranford Radio
podcast, it's basically me.
I.
C, call it Cranford version
of NPRs All Things Considered.
It could be an interview with just
about anyone having some connection with
Cranford for the transportation podcasts.
The clients are the ones that pick
the topics and the guests, so they
will tell me who's going to be on.
They will come up with some
questions for the podcast, but
then it's my job to actually.
Ask the questions, produce the
podcast, and then return a finished
podcast back to the client.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: So, you know,
that's, I think that's really useful.
I, um, a
Bernie Wagenblast: I.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: in my
audience are small, medium sized
business owners, various types, um, but.
Uh, you know, a, a big part of being an
entrepreneur is, is branding yourself
as a, you know, a business leader
or a thought leader in your space in
order to be the person they select.
Um, you know, and, and I think
you are a great example of,
of someone who has really.
you know, has, has a really strong
brand associated with their name
and, um, you know, so you've done,
you've done a great job at that.
Bernie Wagenblast: Thank you.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: so just
to pivot slightly, uh, I, I, know,
would be interested to hear more
so you publicly have shared your
gender transition, um, uh, and that.
journey later in your career at
a time when your voice and name
were already widely recognized.
So how did you approach reintroducing
yourself to the world and, uh, you
know, what, how did that affect
maybe your personal branding
and, and, uh, those ations?
Bernie Wagenblast: Well, the
first part was I reached out to my
clients before I transitioned and
told them that this was happening.
I wanted them to hear it from me.
And not read about it on social
media or in a newspaper or on a site.
So that was the first part, and
I wasn't really sure what kind
of a reaction I was going to get.
It wasn't asking permission, but
it was informing them and being
available to answer any questions.
And for the most part,
their response was, okay.
That's great.
That was it.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Bernie Wagenblast: very supportive.
All of my, my major clients were very
supportive with what I had told them
was, was coming up for the podcasts.
It was a little bit different when I first
transitioned, which was January of 2023.
I continued to use what I call my
guy voice on the podcast, but for
one of my clients, I went to one
of their meetings and they wanted
me to do some in-person interviews.
And I realized actually it took me
till that morning of the interview to
realize this, 'cause I wasn't thinking
in this way that it wasn't really going
to work for me to use the guy voice.
And have this appearance on camera.
So I, I talked to my, the chief
person at my client and said, I'm
gonna switch to a different voice.
Is that okay with you?
And she said, sure, no problem at all.
So with that, I transitioned my
voice on both podcasts to this more
feminine version of my voice, which
I should note is a work in progress.
It is something that's.
Pretty difficult to do for a person
who was assigned male at birth to and
who has gone through a male puberty
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.
Bernie Wagenblast: develop a more
feminine sounding voice because
once your voice gets deep trying to.
Make it sound more feminine, takes
a lot of different things that you
have to do and use muscles that you
may not have ever been aware of.
And it's been a process.
So if I listen to a recording of
myself from a year ago, it's going to
sound different than the voice you're
hearing right now and hopefully a year
from now it might sound even better.
So it's very much a process of, of.
Using that.
But again, everyone has been very
supportive Now for the MTA with the
subways, and I also do the voice on
the air train at Newark Airport, the
monorail that connects to the terminals
and the rail station, and also Petco,
which is a transit system which runs
between Philadelphia and South Jersey.
Because all of the earlier recordings
were with that guy voice, I still will
use that guy voice when they need new
recordings because it wouldn't sound
very good to have a mix of voice.
So I do something that's unusual for
most trans people who have transitioned
and that is wanting to have access.
To both voices, so I will use my guy voice
when I need it, and when it's no longer
needed, I revert back to this voice.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge:
That's interesting.
You, you know, you're, you're very brave
and I think laudable to be so, so public,
uh, with this, and I'm sure this is,
you know, a, a deeply personal
process and, you know, thanks
for, thanks for being open with
Bernie Wagenblast: Thank you.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: you know, I,
I think it's, know, educational and,
and you know, as I think about, you say,
going through male puberty and, and.
You know, having, having, you know, making
that change even, even later in life, that
that must some real diligence and effort.
Bernie Wagenblast: It is, it's not.
At all easy, uh, to do and I had to
experiment quite a bit to try to figure
out how to do that, and especially how
to do it on the fly so I can switch
between different voices when I have to.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Mm-hmm.
Bernie Wagenblast: But it's something
when I posted my coming out letter.
On social media right before
I, I transitioned and I had
a very definite start date.
I said January 1st, 2023 was
going to be the date that I would
start living my life as a woman.
And one of the things I said in that
coming out note was, I hope that I can be
an educator because of my communications
background and my notoriety, that that
might be an opportunity that I would have.
And I figured it would be
mainly within the circles.
I already moved in, uh, perhaps some
local media in New York because of being
a well-known voice in New York City.
Almost every New Yorker has heard
my voice at one time or another
that that would be the extent of it.
But the whole voice thing
seemed to have captured.
The imagination of the media and it became
not just a local New York story, but a
national, and even an international story.
So I was doing articles and interviews
and videos with the Associated Press.
Reuters.
Good Morning America.
CBS News.
It was amazing.
I did international interviews
in Japan, Brazil, Germany, the
Netherlands, so it extended far beyond
just the New York metropolitan area.
But again, New York is a world city.
The United Nations obviously is
there, and many people from around
the world have traveled to New York.
So New York is is a little bit of a
different animal than most other cities.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Now the way you describe it, it
sounds like this was a, uh, you know.
It required some work.
It was mostly a, a positive experience.
Correct me if I'm wrong,
Bernie Wagenblast: No, it was.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: is there
anything you would have done differently
in retrospect, you know, you're two
plus years removed from that transition.
Would, would any, anything have
helped make that smoother or, um,
Bernie Wagenblast: Not really.
I don't think I, I am very pleased
with how well my transition has
gone and the lack, I am very
privileged for a variety of reasons.
First of all, I'm privileged because I
had an opportunity to have my career and.
To accomplish so much in my career
and I credit a good part of that to,
you know, being a white, cisgender
male, or at least seen as that.
So that certainly played a role.
If I had transitioned when I was in
my twenties, I don't think I would've
had the career that I had had.
But I also think that I've
been privileged to have.
A tremendous amount of public
acceptance, and there are many trans
people that do not experience that.
And I can't put my finger on exactly
why that is in my case, but it is
something that I certainly acknowledge
and I don't downplay that I've had.
This privilege of having
so many people support me.
Um, you know, it's, it's wonderful when
I see my story being shared on social
media to see comments from people
that I will never meet and don't know
and be supportive in their comments.
Of course, there are negative
comments there, but overwhelmingly
they have been positive comments.
And again, part of that is.
Where I live in the New York metropolitan
area, that this is a part of the country
that has generally been very supportive
in recent years of the trans community.
So that makes a big difference.
If I were in other parts of the
country or other parts of the
world, it may not have gone as well.
So a lot of this is circumstances.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Well, well,
I'm glad for that and, you know, you're
a delightful person and, you know, been
so generous with, with insights with me.
You know, I, I, I.
know, I think a likable
person is, is also a big, big
Bernie Wagenblast: Thank you.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: you know,
a, just a really friendly person.
So I, um, I, I, I can't
help but think that helps.
So, but
Bernie Wagenblast: Yeah, I, you know, I.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: I.
Bernie Wagenblast: You know, even
before I transitioned, I, I like to
come across as a friendly person.
I wanted to have that
kind of a personality.
I think part of that was,
again, being on radio.
I remember when I was just starting
out, you would run across all sorts of
people who were in the media, who had
much more experience and much better
jobs than when you're starting out.
And the people that I admired
the most were those who treated
everyone well and didn't.
Have a diva complex, and that could
be male or female, that they treated
people well, and that was something I
wanted to emulate and hopefully I have.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Well, well, well, let me say that you
have, because, um, here I am with a
podcast I've started this year, and, you
know, just from a cold email, Bernie,
you've been, um, so nice to hop on this
podcast and, and share, you know, all,
all these great experiences and insights.
Um, so thank you.
Bernie Wagenblast: Oh, you're welcome.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Hopefully that's
an example I can carry forward as well.
Um, well, so just to zoom out a
little bit on, uh, the, the topic
of personal branding and, and,
uh, and, and the media channels.
We, we use, you've been doing this work
for decades, you know, you've, you've
focused on the transportation industry.
Um.
Uh, what changes have you seen, uh,
over these decades that are, you know,
major that maybe we wouldn't have,
have, uh, thought about from slightly
outside of, of the loop that you're in?
And what do you think are future
changes that may be affected by
cultural changes or AI or, um, you
know, current trends that, that you see?
Bernie Wagenblast: Well, without
a doubt, transportation, like
many other industries has been
drastically affected by technology.
Obviously a big one was just
the whole creation of the
internet and what that has meant.
You know, again, like I say, back
in the day when I was a traffic
reporter, the first time round it was.
The radio was how you got
your traffic information.
There was no Google Maps or Waze
or any of those types of devices.
And now people, especially if they're
traveling to areas that are unfamiliar,
they're using that technology to guide
them, to tell them where to go, and
the need for traffic information on the
radio is not as great as it once was.
So that would be a perfect example.
Ai, I am still interested to
see where that's going to take
us and how that's going to be.
Obviously, I guess that you could
consider this under the, the big
umbrella of AI autonomous vehicles
and what that's going to mean.
I never thought that.
We would have vehicles driving themselves
at such an early point in the process.
Not that the technology is perfect,
it still has a long way to go,
but to see videos of robo taxis in
cities, taking people from point A
to point B with no one in the front
seat still is a pinch me moment that
I can't believe this is happening.
I had had.
Oh, probably 15, 20 years ago on
a closed course in Florida, a, an
example of an autonomous vehicle.
And it was very simple, but it was amazing
then, and it's even more amazing now.
That was a closed course.
There was no other traffic, you
know, there was, there was somebody
behind the wheel in case anything
went wrong, but it was still.
Amazing to see.
So I think we will get, hopefully that
technology, one of my biggest hopes for
technology is that it improves safety.
That when you have human beings
behind the wheel, which can suffer
from a lot of distraction, medical
issues, a variety of different things.
They're going to make
mistakes, and sometimes those
mistakes can lead to crashes.
I am hopeful that the
technology will improve safety.
I don't think it's ever going to be
perfect, but in the same way that we
now get on a airliner and have every
expectation that it's going to deliver
us to where we're going without any
problems, that the same will be true.
When we get behind the wheel, if
there is an even is a wheel in our
cars to go someplace and we're not
going to have to worry about those
other drivers who are out on the road.
And even if it's not fully autonomous,
the ability for the technology to.
Protect us to some degree.
It's already there.
Things like automatic braking and warning
systems and those types of things.
So I think those are already there.
Um, I'm very interested in
transit, so I hope that transit
continues to play a big role.
You know, it's interesting, we've,
we talked for years about cutting
traffic and then COVID came along
and now all of a sudden we had
no traffic, but there were other.
Effects of that, you know, how
is that affecting downtowns?
We're still seeing the restaurant industry
and downtowns recovering from that.
So what you wish for isn't always what
you wanna have happen in the long run.
So different things of that sort,
how that's all going to play out.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Yeah.
Well, great insights.
I, I share your hopefulness.
Uh, I think that the technologies around
AI do present a lot of opportunity
if, uh, if, if they're applied.
Well, you know, I, I wouldn't
want it to, uh, you know, become a
intellectual drain on, you know, and
keep us tied to our chairs even more.
Bernie Wagenblast: Mm-hmm.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: um, I,
I think that we're, we're about to
see some even bigger changes and,
and think they'll be good, but,
Bernie Wagenblast: I certainly hope so.
It's like anything, uh, you know, when
the internet first came along, we all had
high hopes for what it could do, and it's
lived up to some of those hopes, but it's
also shown a dark side in many respects.
So you've got two signs of a
coin that the good and the bad
that you have to deal with.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Absolutely.
Well, Bernie, this was a
really great conversation.
I appreciate your openness and willingness
to share your personal journey and
insights about transit and, and the, the
media channels that, that we can leverage.
Um.
You know, and, and I will include in the
show notes, links where people can, can
reach you if they'd like to learn more
or, uh, or potentially work with you.
And, but I, I look forward to continuing
our, our friendship in the, in the
future and just have appreciated
getting to know you.
Bernie Wagenblast: Oh,
thank you so much, Rita.
It was a pleasure to be on the podcast.
I wish you all the best with
it, and I'm looking forward to
continuing the friendship as well.
Reed Hansen, MarketSurge: Thank you.
Speaker 3: Want to stay ahead of what's
actually working in marketing right now.
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