Celebrating the Power of Possibility.
I'm Laurie Streier, and I believe anything is possible.
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Welcome to Anything is Possible. I'm Hallerin Hilton Hill, and these are great stories about
great people whose lives prove that anything is possible. You cannot
reject the greatness that I am casting upon you.
I need you not to. My guest is Lori Stryer. Thank you for being here.
Thank you. I'm convinced you had a cancellation and you needed to fill me in.
No, no, no, no. Thank you. I have long been an
admirer of yours, of course a friend,
and we were just sitting here prior to starting. We have
known each other for 34 years. It's crazy.
Isn't it? Yeah, I came with the intention of just coming for one year.
I was thinking about that earlier this morning as I was getting ready to come here, and I thought,
oh my gosh, I came here for one year and I'm going on my
35th year. Amazing. Yeah, it is. It is. It's amazing,
and I'm lucky. I love it here. So I made some good decisions
along the way, obviously. I'm going to start in an odd
place, maybe not an odd place, but this will be a little different.
You can trust me with this story. Oh, I do, and I do.
34 years ago when I met you, you were an anchor
and reporter. Channel 6. I was
a news reporter at WIVK in radio.
I remember. And our lives were just
churning up. We were just beginning. I know. You are now
the CEO of River Media. What a possibility, right?
Yeah, what a possibility. Did you imagine? Never. You don't even have to
finish your sentence. Really? Never did I imagine. No. No. When I
started out, my goal was to wind up in a larger city,
anchor the news, and have a family,
and live there. Never, ever did I imagine where I'd be today.
Well, here comes the first. I hope this does not make you feel
uncomfortable, but I'm going to say this. It's hard to make me feel uncomfortable.
I'm really proud of you. Thank you. That does make me uncomfortable.
Thank you. That means a lot coming from you. Thank you.
Because I've watched you evolve.
And it's just been beautiful to watch.
Thank you. It's been quite an evolution. Some of it by default,
and some of it intentional. And I'm very blessed.
I kid a lot, but I'm very blessed to be where I am today,
and lucky to be healthy and be here with you. So thank you.
Let's start with this. When did you fall in love with
storytelling? I have spent a lot of my life trying to
understand story. I'm writing a
musical. I'm writing a screenplay. And I love
story and storytelling. I do too. When did you fall in love with storytelling?
I had not expected that question,
but I think I have an answer. When I was at
University of Georgia, I went into broadcast
news, took a class in television production, and I had
to do my first story. And I'll never forget it. It was about
a vet who had
a monkey, a macaque, and I had to tell the story
how this gentleman brought this monkey home with him after he'd served his time.
And I remember calling it, the macaque is back. And
I had a minute thirty to tell that story because they were preparing you for news.
You know, in news they say, go cover that fire or go cover this
meeting, and they often give you a minute thirty to a minute forty-five.
But even back then, Hallerin, I wanted longer
time. You know, I had more of the story. I did not like the idea of being
limited. So I think it goes all the way back to college, that first assignment
to tell a story. And when I told that story, I turned it in at three
minutes and twenty seconds. They kicked it back. And then
I came back in at three. So it goes all the way back to college.
It's crazy. And then I just realized how much I loved to read as a kid growing
up. What did you read? I loved, I read everything that my father read
so that I was kind of sucking up to my dad. So if he would read
something, I can't recall how many books or what I read back then, but I loved
to read. And now, and then I just fell in love with television.
And I loved reporting. I loved reporting more than I loved
anchoring. I loved being out in the field. And I do to this day.
Is it the people and the stories? It's everything.
It's the people, it's the stories, it's the time frame.
Back in news, you had a deadline. You had to be back.
I'm a little bit of an adrenaline junkie. And so I loved,
yes, I loved the challenge of getting it back in time.
Editing it, writing it. Back in our day,
I'm going to pull you in with me. But back in our day, you went out,
you covered it, then you came back, you helped edit it.
It was so different than it is now, I'd imagine.
Yeah, I loved that aspect of it. The people, the adventure,
the challenge of the time frame. I just didn't like
being limited with time. That makes sense. I had a lot more
to say, Helen.
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Thousands of hours of programming for
the likes of HGTV and TLC, and we'll go
through all of that. But every one of those programs has a
reveal. You have characters, they're doing something, and then
it all goes wrong. Sometimes. And then it gets right. Yeah, true.
There's a reveal. There is character setting, crisis
resolution. Those are the four pieces. So if we were to look at the arc
of your life story, right?
I think I'm still revealing.
Still revealing. I think I'm still revealing.
Was there a crisis or turning point in your life
that deepened you? That changed you?
I think there were several. I mean, there were some
professionally, some personally. I remember
when I was at Channel 6, my father
was sick, and I'd gone down to Florida to be with him.
And then as it turned out, things took a turn, and my father
was going to pass away. How old was he?
My father was 78. And so I remember
the newsroom back in the day, different management
then said, you need to come back and anchor. You know, we don't have anyone to fill in for
you on these nights. And I grew up a lot then, quite
frankly, because then it didn't matter.
And they figured it out, and they found somebody, but that was a turning
point in my life. That's big. And then I realized... I grew up in the
adrenaline world of this business. And I
burned myself by overwork,
by saying yes too much, by not having good boundaries.
It burned me in a way. Somebody once said to me,
Halloran, that the most empowering word in the English language
is the word no. And so it took me a long time to get there.
So I think I started on that date. What other
crises? I think that was one of the biggest ones. It put it
into perspective. Life and what's important.
Another crisis was probably when I was at River,
River Media that we have today, there
was a slowdown, a stop down. You know, networks were
merging. There wasn't a lot of work, and we had to downsize.
And that was very, very difficult. To this day,
I pray to never go back there, but it was one of the hardest times of my life,
quite frankly. So let's look at your career then. You
finish school, you start anchoring and reporting,
and then you go to work for HGTV.
My understanding is you were doing commercials and interstitials
and that kind of stuff. Talk about that transition. When I was
I left Channel 6, went on to host a morning radio
show called TK and Lori in the Morning, 97.5.
And that just wasn't enough.
I wasn't happy. I just wasn't happy. And I thought, you know, I love
film. I love storytelling, as you said. And so I
went to film school in Rockport, Maine. And then I came
out and I was a script supervisor over at HGTV.
I determined quickly that film is not my thing, especially for
commercials. It's just too slow. I need
a little bit faster resolution. So I
was just very fortunate to one day get a phone call from
River Media that said we're looking for someone
to help us create and produce a show that later became
called Trading Spaces. And that's how I joined River Media.
It was in 1999. So I've had a bit of a path.
That was a run right there. Yeah, it's tough. Tough show to do.
Tell me about doing that show. Tell me about the stuff. It was hard.
You know, nobody really sees the behind the scenes and knows how. You see the final product
on TV. But back in the day, you know, Trading Spaces
and for those folks that don't remember it, you had two homes,
two sets of homeowners, and then you swapped houses or rooms
in each other's house. And you decorated your neighbor's house and your neighbor decorated
your house or a room in your house.
And it was hard. You know, back then, one producer
who was me, two camera operators that would follow me and follow us around,
it was just a difficult show to do because you did a lot of running
between the houses. It was hard. But I loved it because
I was no longer at that minute and thirty second time frame.
I was given a full hour. And so I loved it back then.
I loved being in the field. Did you see yourself growing into being
an executive? Never. How did that happen? I have no idea.
I have no idea. I think basically,
so an executive, meaning where I am today, is CEO of River.
I make jokes and I say it was by default.
There were three of us, three partners at River Media and one retired
and then of course Dee Haslam went on to... Great Dee Haslam.
Yeah, Dee, she went on to, she now owns the Browns and the
Bucks and of course all of her philanthropic
things that she does. She's an amazing person and continues to be my partner
at River. So I have a CEO title. I don't feel
like I'm a CEO, to be really honest with you. I really don't feel like I'm a CEO.
I'm not an office kind of person. I've had nine offices
that have been allocated to me over the years at River and I haven't sat in one
of them. They're like, oh, we'll put Lori here, we'll put Lori here. And I mostly
love sitting in an edit bay or I love being in the field.
I more consider myself crew than a CEO.
Because I grew up in the field. I'm a field producer.
You're a podcaster too. Well,
I'm setting one up. I was very fortunate to be home
one day. My husband had a stroke and thank
goodness I was not in the field. I wasn't on a shoot. And
he was diagnosed after the stroke with MCI, mild cognitive
impairment, vascular disease. And
it's been, and again these are one of those moments that really
helped shape me. And I learned a lot and again it put everything into perspective.
So I've gotten very close with folks
here in town. Also, well actually East Tennessee, many folks who
are diagnosed with
memory loss. And it means a lot to me and so I'm setting
up a podcast to hopefully help people
whether they're caregivers or people that have
a diagnosis. And so I'm setting it up at River and we're going to launch
it later this month. But I think Alzheimer's
dementia, I think it strikes so many people and so many families
are affected by it. When Bob got his diagnosis
I thought, okay I'm going to need a therapist. And I went around and I looked for a therapist
who could help me through this. And I quickly learned that
nobody could really help me other than people that understood
where I was. Either that had a diagnosis or they were the caregivers
of somebody. So I joined an amazing support group.
And then one day Bob, my husband, said to me
we ought to start a podcast and try to help other folks. And
talk about the latest trials, medicines,
etc. And just hear from people with a diagnosis.
And I said to him, you know anything about a podcast? He said
absolutely not. He said that's why I'm looking to you. So
hey Halloran, I'm in the early learning stages. But it's
very important to me. It's very, very important.
What are you learning personally? Because this is what love looks like
in street clothes, right? When the person that you
love is going through something like this, this pushes
all of the glitz and glamour and CEO and
none of that is important. It's just all. You know Halloran, I make
that clear with the folks that I work with at River. And I say
I mean I know it's cliche but family first. I
truly believe that. And I try to make it at River
where we have
I try to make it at River where we have an open door. Not an open door policy but
we really don't have hours like 9 to 5 or 8 to 6
or whatever. It's just come in, do your job and do it well. Be great at what
you do. But I honestly don't know how folks
raise kids. I mean have
a job. Take care of themselves physically and emotionally.
So I think that's very important.
And that's what I've really learned over the years. I was so driven for a long time.
Success and reaching the next level or
the bigger city or having the highest ratings or the biggest show.
And it's just everything gets put into perspective.
So yeah, family first. I think the future of humanity is being more
human. This is in my opinion. Yes. That's where
it is. Talk about being a female executive. What's it
like navigating this business
because this business is rapidly changing
and the content space
and the content business is changing so
dramatically as people's viewing habits
change. Always. The platforms they use. Yes. Who's
buying distributing content. Budgets.
Budgets. And what's it
been like to be a female executive navigating all
of that? What about a female executive who never had any intention of being CEO?
Couldn't read a P&L statement. All of that.
I mean, you know, I've had to learn quite a bit. I also
somebody once said and I loved this expression, to surround yourself with people
smarter than you, than yourself. That's very easy for me
to do, Helen. I'm not meaning to be so self-deprecating. But I do
have common sense and I knew to put people into positions
who were smarter than me, that knew what they were doing. So that's helped me
navigate it. I mean, River has an amazing CFO in EIC, Executive in
Charge, and VP of Current, VP of Operations.
So just so you know, it's on
them. I'm kidding. But really, I mean, that was the first best thing
I did was to find great people. We're lucky.
River has tremendous partners in HGTV,
A&E, Food Network, all of the networks where
as a woman I don't feel any effects of that, to be honest
with you. I'm treated fairly and very well. So
it hasn't been a struggle being a woman in my industry.
That's awesome. It's been great. Yeah, that has not been an issue.
Are you tough? Am I tough? I'm thick-skinned.
I had to be. You know? In this business, I'm a
creative. And so you turn in a show that you think is great,
Network looks at it, and they're like, yeah, no, try again. So
when that happens to you, I've been doing this now at River Media for 25 years,
it makes you tough. You better be tough.
Thick-skinned. Thick-skinned.
Here's what I've learned about thick-skinned. It has
its attributes and flaws
in this regard. I've had to develop an incredibly
tough
mind, but it desensitized me.
Really? Yeah. That's interesting. Like, like.
Give me an example. I don't mean to put you in the chair, but I'm so curious.
I'm surprised when people are nice.
Oh, yeah. And one day I was just thinking about those
like, wait a minute, I'm
desensitized to a certain degree. Yeah, interesting.
Right? Yeah. And it has affected what I expect from people.
I don't expect people to be great toward me.
What I expect is I will figure out how to navigate
the tough stuff. Yeah.
And I don't know if you having had to develop
a thick skin, if your skin has gotten too thick.
I hope it hasn't. You know, I'm tough.
I mean, I'm tough in that I have to be
to a degree with what we deal with at work.
And I'm never surprised when people are nice to me or kind.
I'm so grateful, if that makes sense. You know, I'm just so grateful
because I guess we're blessed.
In this area where we live, in Knoxville, in East Tennessee,
people are kind. Before you go, I would love for you to imagine
somebody looking and they're thinking about the possibility of their life.
We've kind of taken a journey here. Yeah.
What have you learned about pivots and possibilities?
Because you have to pivot a lot. You've had to change throughout your life. All the time.
I think you have to pivot toward happiness. I hope that doesn't sound
too schmaltzy, if that makes sense. I think you have to pivot toward
family, toward friends, you know, and to what
makes you happy. I mean, that's just, I think that's what I've learned
the most. And it's hard. I told somebody the other day,
and I think I even mentioned it to you, Halloran, somebody said to me, boy, isn't it great to own your own
company and to run your own company. There are days, Halloran, where I would really
just rather get a paycheck and go home because I also
feel very responsible for all the folks I work with.
So, it's tough. That's the tough part of it.
But then the best part of it is when you succeed and you see
folks, one of the folks,
one of my colleagues just recently bought or
got her daughter writing lessons. You know, they never
thought that they could afford writing lessons. I have another colleague who paid off
her house. And it's that, when I see that,
it makes everything worth it. It does. You know, just seeing that
I'm able to provide jobs for people and
I'd like to think happiness. I'd like to think stability.
What a great life you have produced and are producing.
Thank you for being our guest today. Thank you. I couldn't have done it without folks like you
and all the folks around me. And that's the truth. Really.