The Grill Room
Finally, a media podcast about what’s actually happening in the media—not the oversanitized, legal-and-standards-approved version you read online. Join Dylan Byers, Puck’s veteran media reporter, and Julia Alexander, a longtime media analyst, as they sit down with TV personalities, moguls, pundits, and industry executives for raw, honest, sometimes salacious conversations about the business of media and its biggest egos. New episodes publish every Tuesday and Friday.
LATEST EPISODES
Jan 20 • 46 min 48 sec
Ben & Justin on Semafor’s $330M Valuation
Semafor co-founders Justin Smith and Ben Smith join Dylan to discuss their recent $30 million financing at a staggering $330 million post-money valuation—and to address some industry player-hating. They justify the math behind the valuation, break down the economics of a media company with a significant events business (while rejecting the idea that Semafor is […]
Jan 16 • 57 min 30 sec
CBS News on the Rocks
Dylan and Julia dig into the mess surrounding a potential corporate sponsorship of CBS News’ “Whiskey Fridays” with Tony Dokoupil, after an Evening News set featuring a Jack Daniel’s logo leaked online. The controversy also sparked a bigger debate about whether corporate sponsorships lack journalistic integrity—or actually offer a viable lifeline to a news industry […]
Jan 13 • 49 min 24 sec
The Gospel According to VandeHei
Jim VandeHei, the co-founder and C.E.O. of Axios, is back with hot takes on the industry’s biggest challenges: the media’s trust deficit, the imperative to serve hyper-targeted audiences, and how A.I. is writing journalism’s next chapter. Jim predicts a potential golden age for quality reporting—provided publishers actually embrace A.I.—and delivers a characteristically blunt assessment of […]
Jan 9 • 71 min 8 sec
The Dokoupil Debacle & Semafor’s $330M Question
Julia and Dylan survey a volatile week in media: Tony Dokoupil’s rocky debut at CBS Evening News and the broader questions it raises about Bari Weiss’s leadership, Semafor’s eyebrow-raising $330 million valuation, the flood of A.I.-generated content overtaking Instagram and X, and plenty more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: […]
