We recently connected with Paul Leslie and have shared our conversation below.

Paul, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

People’s experiences and perspectives are fascinating. As Mark Twain remarked, “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.” Through the years I’ve observed tons of people who contributed greatly to our culture, in literature, the arts, media and beyond and many times some of the most interesting parts of the story are left out.

For almost twenty years, I’ve been recording people’s stories and viewpoints and making them as accessible as possible. I feel a great sense of purpose doing this because I’ve found that many times if I didn’t do it, nobody would. There have been people who created incredible work that affected many people’s hearts, but they told me the first person to record their voice was me. If we don’t get people’s stories down on record, there will come a time when it’s too late.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started interviewing people for a radio program I hosted that was broadcast on Jimmy Buffett’s Radio Margaritaville station. It was the first station to make the leap from online to satellite radio. My initial concept was to have a short interview with a musical artist as something to intrigue listeners while I played music. As I honed my interview skills, more people started saying they wished the interview was longer.

I continued broadcasting on a few FM and online stations, but moved away from being a radio DJ and focused almost entirely on interviews. It is the human story I’m interested in, and I make my video and audio interviews available on platforms like YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Audible and everywhere else. As I roll into the 20th year, I’m also trying to make the interviews available in written form.

What sets my interviews apart is that I try to include some of the minor details that may seem irrelevant, but actually end up being substantial. Someone said I reminded them of Paul Harvey from that standpoint, which made me smile. The interviews I do reveal the essence of the person I’m talking to. When we get it right, that’s always the case. Listeners say it feels like a genuine connection, because it is.

Over the last year or so I’ve started writing reviews of everything from books to movies and music, which I present in an audio/visual format. Next year I plan on writing more reviews than ever. Although it surprises me a lot, my reviews seem to get a great emotional response from my audience. The reviews are written using the “stream of consciousness.” I take pen to paper and only change one or two words.

I’m most proud that my interviews and reviews are done in my own style. The Frank Sinatra song “My Way,” comes to mind. That’s how I’ve done it.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

You have got to do whatever it takes to get the interview. There are so many occasions when I drove long distances, waited in standby for hours or tried in vain to find a connection to get in contact with a certain person. It’s true: if I believe in something, I won’t give up. I don’t complain about any of this, it all just adds to the story. You could always stay at home in comfort, but what stories would you have doing that?

It was in early 2011, I flew out to California to do an interview with Elliot Mintz, formerly a TV and radio personality who went on to be a media consultant for everyone from Bob Dylan to Paris Hilton. I couldn’t tell you why, but somehow I knew that getting his story down in my own unique way was a must. Here’s the problem though, I didn’t have a budget. There was a place that I could potentially crash, but that fell through. I didn’t care though. I slept in my rental car for a few days and explored California. Don’t feel sorry for me, in many ways it was an adventure.

In the earlier years of the show, I had so many times where I felt the need to record an interview with someone, and I would face obstacles. But, I always found a way to make it work.

I’ve never let any setbacks get to me. Back when I was on the radio, there were times the station would change directions and my show was without a home. I always looked at it like it was just a little roadblock, but I would find another way.

These days I’m pleased to say that I feel like I “made it through the rain,” to quote an old song lyric.

Have you ever had to pivot?

My early interviews were for radio play on a mostly music station. The people tuning in mostly wanted to hear music, so there was an emphasis on short and snappy chats with lots of interruptions to spin tunes. More people started telling me they liked a particular guest, but they wished I would have talked to them even more.

Elliot Mintz, the publicist I had interviewed back in 2011, advised me to put all of my interviews on YouTube. Even if it was audio-only, a picture of the person would suffice. This allowed more people to find me, and most of them had no idea this content was originally broadcast on the radio. It seemed like it was time to pivot away from radio.

My mission is to help people tell their stories and through that touch other people’s lives. So I had to think, “how can I touch the lives of more people in the age of new media?” I wanted to make the most of all these new channels people were talking about. I’d get an email from someone who would say, “I wish that this was available as podcast.” I resisted for a long time because I loved producing a format of music and talk together, along with commentary. It was what excited me, but that format dwindled.

People were looking for media, but nowadays the media has to find it’s audience wherever it is. – now days should be nowadays; it’s should be its.  You have to be where the people are. I loved the radio, but what if my ideal listener doesn’t tune into the radio? In October of 2017, I launched The Paul Leslie Hour in podcast form. It was a smart transition, because now people could subscribe for free and stream any of my interviews whenever they want.

There are more than 900 available episodes of The Paul Leslie Hour on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and just about everywhere people pick up their podcasts. There was a period of time when I was doing both: radio and podcast, but I eventually felt it was best to move forward with a format that people can access from pretty much any place on the planet. I’ve got almost 60 interviews from the early radio years that I’m currently remastering and making available on all of these contemporary platforms. There’s some real gold here.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thepaulleslie.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepaulleslie/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thepaulleslie
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulleslie/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/thepaulleslie
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/thepaulleslie

Image Credits
Photos courtesy of The Paul Leslie Hour