The IBJ Podcast with Mason King

Latest Episodes:

How the sale of Christel DeHaan’s estate could expand her legacy Jan 17, 2022

Show notes

The 150-acre estate of the late Indianapolis philanthropist Christel DeHaan is on the market for $14 million, with the proceeds earmarked for an endowment that will help support and expand Christel House International, which operates schools in poor areas around the world.

Host Mason King talks with Mike Johnson, the Sothebys International agent who has listed the property, about what makes the house and grounds special, what kind of interest the estate has generated and whether it's likely to remain a single family residence.

In addition, Christel House CEO Bart Peterson, a former mayor of Indianapolis, and Mark Willis, chief investment officer at CD Enterprises and president of the Christel DeHaan Family Foundation, join the conversation to talk about DeHaan's wishes for the proceeds and how the money will help expand the not-for-profit organization's reach.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

What’s the ultimate value for Indy of hosting the college football championship? Jan 10, 2022

Show notes

The population of Indianapolis swelled by about 100,000 headed into Monday night’s College Football Playoff National Championship game. Fans from Georgia and Alabama filled hotel rooms, injected adrenalin into the local restaurant scene, rented cars, shelled out for keepsakes and, hopefully, told their friends back home how much they’re enjoying the city despite absolutely dreadful weather.
City tourism officials say their best estimate of the economic impact from hosting the championship is about $150 million. But how can they possibly produce an accurate prediction in such a complicated economic environment? Wasn’t the economic impact prediction for March Madness last year off by $50 million? In the first half of this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, Visit Indy’s Chris Gahl explains how precisely the estimates are calculated—when good data is available—and why the CFP figure should be more accurate.
Decades into Indianapolis’ sports tourism strategy, we essentially take it as an article of faith that hosting huge sporting events is worth all of the trouble and expense. But why? Beyond the dollars visitors drop in Indianapolis, what is the ultimate value of repeatedly playing host? In the second half of the podcast, Mark Rosentraub, a sports business expert at the University of Michigan, explains the less quantifiable benefits and why Indianapolis might always have to prove it’s worthy.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

The headlines and headliners of 2021 Jan 03, 2022

Show notes

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.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

Kids, COVID and Christmas ... what’s safe? Dec 20, 2021

Show notes

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? Dec 13, 2021

Show notes

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 Dec 06, 2021

Show notes

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) Nov 29, 2021

Show notes

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 Nov 22, 2021

Show notes

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) Nov 15, 2021

Show notes

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 Nov 08, 2021

Show notes

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.

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