Media startup Contrarian Acquires Lou Carlozo’s “Bankadelic” podcast
Lou Carlozo, host of Bankadelic
“Bankadelic,” the financial services podcast hosted by Pulitzer Prize finalist and Qwoted editor-in-chief Lou Carlozo, has been acquired by Contrarian New Media, according to a statement Monday.
The podcast joins two new financial technology shows, “Dave and Dharm Demystify” from London and “The Fintagonist” in Austin, Texas. The shows are hosted by leading financial services entrepreneurs Dave Wallace and Dharmesh Mistry, and Robb Gaynor respectively.
““We’ve gone way beyond our expectations in just a few months,” Carlozo said in the release. “Contrarian’s faith in us poises us to have a much further reach and gives us some great resources to rise to the next level. For us, it’s a wow!”
Contacted by email, Carlozo said he reached out to David Brancaccio, host of “Marketplace Morning Report,” for advice on Bankadelic, since he’s been a fan of the show and the host for years. “David reminded me not to take my self seriously, but take the content seriously.” In some episodes, Carlozo has played bass live, launched into Bruce Springsteen imitations, featured his barking corgi and interviewed his teenage daughter about her savings plans.
Yet Bankadelic has also tackled racism in banking following the George Floyd shooting, and run a two-part series on women leaders and banking. COVID-19, he added, has touched nearly every episode.
Based in Austin, Contrarian is the brainchild of Gaynor, a co-founder of Malauzai, a digital banking platform service for community financial institutions. Malauzai was sold to Finastra in 2018.
Carlozo declined to discuss specifics of the Contrarian acquisition, though he noted it would provide financial and personnel resources for the show. He also hopes it will broaden Bankadedlic’s reach in Europe thanks to its ties to the London show.
Carlozo launched Bankadelic in March, four months after he left as managing editor of BAI (the Bank Administration Institute). There he hosted, co-created and engineered the BAI Banking Strategies podcast, which garnered 125,000 listens for the episodes he hosted.
Bankadelic is hosted on Soundcloud and available through Apple Podcasts. It has two sponsors, the William Mills Agency and Quontic Bank, a New York-based digital platform created by Patrick Sells, named Digital Banker of the Year 2020 by American Banker.