The IBJ Podcast with Mason King

Drag racer Antron Brown of Pittsboro has won three NHRA championships in his 14 years in the sport, but he may be about to take on his biggest challenge yet: racing team owner. Next year, Brown will become one of the few Black team owners ever in the 70-year-old NHRA— and one of the few Black majority team owners in any motorsports series. He will be the only Black owner in the modern era of Top F...

If you've ever been inside the historic Chatterbox Jazz Club on Massachusetts Avenue downtown, you have a pretty good idea why it didn't reopen at 50% or even 75% capacity. It's so tiny, the restrictions would have meant only about 20 patrons could be inside at any given time. And owner David Andrichik said that's a recipe for losing more money than being closed completely.  But now that Marion Co...

In the mood for some barbecue? Or maybe some poke? A peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Or maybe just a cold beer? It's all available at the AMP food hall at the 16 Tech Innovation District on the northwest edge of downtown. And Chef Craig Baker is the coordinator who has has helped make it all happen.  He crafted the overall feel of the 40,000-square-foot space in the HqO building at 1220 Waterway...

The Newfields board last month elected Darrianne Christian as its new chair, making her the first Black woman to lead the museum's board. Christian was already serving on the board in February when the Newfields president resigned following allegations of racial bias. Christian, who was then the board's only African American member, led the effort to develop the institution's new plan to embrace d...

Peter "Pete the Planner" Dunn says most people need a financial adviser at some point in their lives to make sense of their investments, insurance, retirement accounts and more. But as host Mason King has experienced, figuring out what type of adviser to hire and then which one to hire can be tough. So Dunn explains what to look for and how to choose. You can read more financial advice from Dunn a...

Chris Baggott is always looking for a better way to do things. He co-founded ExactTarget when he couldn't find a good way to communicate with customers. He co-founded Compendium Software to give companies a better way to rank high in internet search results. And he founded ClusterTruck to get prepared food to customers while it was still hot and fresh. In each case, Baggott has helped disrupt esta...

Republican. Sen. Todd Young of Indiana and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, introduced the Endless Frontier Act this spring with the goal of pumping more than $110 billion over five years into scientific and technological innovation. That includes a $10 billion effort to create tech hubs across the U.S., focusing on areas outside of the traditional tech centers like Silicon Valley...

As more Hoosiers become fully vaccinated, restaurants and bars are filling up again. But restaurant operators say finding workers to serve all those customers. has been a struggle. Are some people afraid to return to work at such public places? Are the increases in unemployment benefits to blame? Have former restaurant workers given up on the industry and found positions elsewhere? Host Mason King...

Sales of grills, patio furniture, fire pits and other outdoor goods skyrocketed last spring and summer as the pandemic forced people to stay at home. So a big question for this spring—as vaccinated people started venturing out again—was whether that trend would continue. Local garden and outdoor venture retailers say it has. In fact, they say sales of some products, like outdoor furniture, have be...

The U.S. economy is on the verge of potentially the greatest boom time of all time, according to Peter “Pete the Planner” Dunn. It will be fueled at least in part by the enhanced child tax credit, which is part of the American Rescue Plan stimulus package. In essence, the child tax credit that parents get every year will increase to $3,000 to $3,600 per child for 2021, depending on the age of each...

Indiana University didn't just hire former Hoosiers standout Mike Woodson to turn around the school's struggling basketball program; it also brought reinforcements. Thad Matta and Dane Fife are joining Woodson in the effort to bring glory back to IU. Mason King talks with IBJ reporter Anthony Schoettle about why IU Athletic Director Scott Dolson put together the team he did and how the strategy co...

Thousands of Hoosier adults are receiving COVID vaccines every day in Indiana. But none of the shots are available to kids younger than 16.  So what does that mean for family gatherings? For cookouts and other outdoor activities? And what about youth sports? Host Mason King poses those questions and many more to Dr. James Wood, a pediatrician at Riley Children’s Health and an expert in pediatric i...

By some measures—like the percentage of doses that have gone into arms—Indiana's vaccine rollout has been better than average. But because the state hasn't received as many doses as others, the percentage of Hoosiers who are fully vaccinated trails much of the country. IBJ health care reporter John Russell dives into the numbers with host Mason King, and they explore how soon herd immunity might s...

When the pandemic hit one year ago, Sun King almost immediately lost some 40% of its business, the result of restaurants and bars that shuttered and stopped buying beer in kegs. It would have been a catastrophe had canned beer sales not picked up fairly quickly, leaving Sun King and other breweries to scramble to shift work. An eventual can shortage caused more problems. But Sun King co-founder Cl...

The pandemic has been tough on restaurants almost across the board. And so it's no wonder that the Indianapolis City Market and its 22 vendors have had a particularly difficult past year. And with uncertainty about the return of downtown office workers, construction outside its front door and new competition at Bottleworks and 16 Tech, it's not clear when—or if— the situation will improve. But a n...

CBS and Turner Sports will pay the not-for-profit NCAA some $850 million this year for the right to broadcast, stream and otherwise present the Men's Basketball Tournament. That will equal about 70% of the organization's revenue for the year. IBJ columnist and investigative reporter Greg Andrews explains why the rights to March Madness is so valuable even as the media landscape changes quickly. An...

One year after the pandemic hit Indiana, three women talk about how it has affected their jobs and how that has affected their psyches.  Kelly Tingle, who kept her job in internal communications at Cummins Inc. but had to adjust to working at home; Lisette Woloszyk, who lost her job at the J.W. Marriott but has since found a new one; and Andrea Haydon, who has started her own design firm after bei...

After a long year crushed by the pandemic, restaurants—especially those located downtown—are reveling in a series of announcements that could help push their recoveries forward. First, the NCAA announced it would stage its entire March Madness men's basketball tournament in central Indiana. Then, the Indy-based organization said it would allow a limited number of fans to attend. And finally, the M...

When Salesforce announced that, even after the pandemic, it planned to let many employees work from home most of the time, a ripple of dread spread across downtown. After all, some 2,000 Salesforce employees worked downtown before COVID struck, patronizing restaurants and retailers. Other companies have indicated that they, too, plan to reevaluate how many people need to work in an office, and the...

More than 60 business and not-for-profit executives have signed a letter telling lawmakers to back off proposals that would restrict or usurp power from city government in Indianapolis. Leaders from Eli Lilly and Co., Elanco Animal Health, Roche Diagnostics, Anthem Inc., Salesforce and Cummins Inc. are among those who endorsed the message that city government should be allowed to make decisions af...

The city and several community organizations are launching clean-up efforts, street upgrades and art projects to beautify downtown and nearby areas in advance of the NCAA tournament in March. Similar beautification efforts have accompanied other big events, including the Super Bowl and past NCAA Final Fours, but this year is different. Downtown still shows signs of the violence that spilled over f...

Twenty-eight years ago, developer Turner Woodard bought the historic Stutz factory complex, which was built in 1911-1912 by Harry Stutz, who founded the Stutz Motorcar Co. The 400,000-square-foot factory at 10th Street and Capitol Avenue produced cars until 1935, when the Great Depression forced the company to close. Eli Lilly and Co. then used the site for manufacturing. When Woodard got his hand...

In this week's podcast, Peter "Pete the Planner" Dunn says parents aren't doing their adult kids any favors when they share details about their net worth or finances. In fact, doing so can cause far more problems than it solves. Dunn explores these problems with podcast host Mason King and gives some advice about what money issues are appropriate to talk about with your adult kids. Hint: Stay away...

After decades working in car sales, Cole Keesling knows what buyers want and how dealerships work. So he created a website an app called CarSnoop that helps connect buyers and sellers in a way that helps both. Keesling talks with host Mason King about how he developed the idea, what it took to go from concept to product and the marketing push CarSnoop has underway. Want to learn more? Read IBJ rep...

The NCAA made it official last week: Indianapolis will host the entire March Madness men's basketball tournament this spring. That's every team. Every game. With the goal of creating a coronavirus-free zone for players, team staffs, officials and a few hundred family members who will be allowed to attend each game. The logistics needed to pull this off are incredible. But Indianapolis officials te...