Go With Your Palate
Joe Wagner, 5th Generation Winemaker, presents the podcast "Go With Your Palate." A podcast about wine, entrepreneurship, and whatever the F else. So buckle up - this isn't your normal wine podcast.
Go With Your Palate
E102 Will Marcencia | Joe Wagner
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Everyone said local radio was dying. Will Marcencia decided it was worth fighting for.
The man behind Napa Valley’s KVYN The Vine, KVON MegaMix, and Wine Down Media finally steps out from behind the microphone to talk community, representation, entrepreneurship—and why local voices matter now more than ever.
Local radio. Local voices. One big Napa heart. 📻🍷
🎙️ Go With Your Palate: Will Marcencia | Local Radio, Big Heart & Keeping Napa Connected
This week, we’re keeping it local with one of Napa Valley’s own Local Legends—Will Marcencia, owner and operator of hometown radio stations KVYN The Vine & KVON MegaMix, and co-founder of Wine Down Media alongside his wife, Julissa. In a world becoming more digital by the day, Will has built his career around something refreshingly human: making sure local stories, local businesses, and local voices still have a place to be heard—in both English and Spanish.
We turn the microphone around on the guy who’s usually running the show and dive into Will’s journey through radio, entrepreneurship, and the community he calls home. He shares the story behind expanding Spanish-language radio in Napa Valley and recognizing just how important representation and accessible local information can be—especially when a community needs it most. It’s a powerful reminder that sometimes radio isn’t just entertainment; it’s a lifeline and a neighbor.
We also get a peek behind the curtain at what it takes to keep local media thriving in the age of streaming, social media, podcasts, and AI—and why Will continues betting on the power of community when so much of the world seems to be betting against it. From supporting local businesses and nonprofits to amplifying the people who make Napa Napa, his philosophy is pretty simple: community still matters.
And because this is Go With Your Palate, Will certainly didn’t show up empty-handed—literally. Let’s just say he brought a couple of very Napa-approved surprises to share, and somewhere along the way we also discovered that if this whole radio thing doesn’t work out, Will may have a suspiciously good future narrating true-crime podcasts. 🔪🎙️😂
It’s local entrepreneurship, representation, media, community, plenty of laughs, and a great conversation with someone who’s spent years giving everyone else a voice.
Now it’s Will’s turn.
Tune in, pour something local, and meet one of the people helping keep the heartbeat of Napa Valley on the air. 🍷📻❤️
I know this is your podcast, but I I brought with me I've always been uh I was taught as a kid to never
A guest that does not come empty-handed (Cheers!)
SPEAKER_04show up empty-handed. Okay. Um so on that note, I did bring um a bottle of the award-winning uh flor de caña rum. Yeah. Which is, have you heard of it? Of course, yeah, yeah. Oh, okay, good. Okay, cool. So we're off to a good start. Um I'm not a big rum drinker, um, so don't ask me anything else besides the fact that it's the national drink of Nicaragua, which is where uh I'm part Nicaraguan. Um I just, you know, growing up at it was always part of family parties and things like that. Specifically this rum or just rum in general. Well, rum in general, but I mean, specifically, I mean, if you want to like stay true to like Nicaraguans, like Nicaraguans will drink flor de caña or flor de caña, as when I was at Lawler's yesterday. Florida can. Yeah, they're like, I was like, they're I was like, do you can do you carry flor de caña? And I did my whole like um, you know, what do they call it? Coat switch. Um, and the guy's like, the Lawlers guy's like, I mean, we have Flor de Cana, and I'm like, okay, that works.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's funny. You didn't need to do the whole like, you know, the Eng Ye and the roll the R's and all that. Like, it wasn't necessary.
SPEAKER_03Oh, wait, you were you were over there at Lawler's?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's where I was I was surprised that Lawlers had it. Uh Lawler's got a good like liquor selection. They're wine selection. Not good, but their liquor selection is really good. Yeah, I I didn't expect to find again. I'm not a big rum guy, so I don't like really go. I I think that was the first time I've ever bought uh rum and Napa in the years that I've been here. And so I I was ready to like call show up and call like every liquor store to like make it a point to like show up with it. Yeah, but Lawler's, yeah, like my first phone call, the guy's like, yeah, well, yeah, you mean Florida Cana? I'm like, yeah, we have that. I'm like, oh, cool. You made my nice you made my search very easy. So cheers, cheers.
SPEAKER_02Those guys are cheers, cheers, cheers, yeah, cheers.
SPEAKER_05I mean, yeah, Florida Canyon is a it's a it's a well-known brand out there.
SPEAKER_03That's the spot that uh we love that liquor store. Well, my dad really is a big fan of it because uh he goes there all the time, has been going there because it's been around for forever, and uh he's so funny because he just rolls in, he's got like his big like rimmed uh Vietnam hat uh and his like cane, he'll just like stroll in there. And every time we go in there, is he uh is he a vet?
SPEAKER_04Yes. Oh, cool. Two tours in Vietnam.
SPEAKER_03Oh, that's awesome. And uh they're really like just you know that they support the troops, but like that you know, they've known my dad for a long time and they just kind of let him do his thing, and like he'll just always roll in there. First thing he'll do is kind of like just give this wave and he just heads straight to the back like he works there because they just know he's got this love for all the free glasses.
SPEAKER_04Oh, do they like growing?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so they put things out there like all the like because they get the flag that they get and yeah, well, I mean, you know, because the spirits are big for I mean a lot, you know, with wine we'll do it, we'll do it too, and stuff like that. But the branded glasses that they're yeah, the giveaway.
SPEAKER_02Oh that's cool.
SPEAKER_03I think that's it. So they'll do glasses like this or you know, shot glasses and stuff, and they'll and they'll do their little packages, and they always have like this excess like uh glassware and stuff, and he just loves it. Okay, cool. Because we have our own bar at home, and I've always noticed like growing up, I never really thought like it all clicked in. You just have like random one.
SPEAKER_05It was always like these random posing curvo and this and that. He's got like statues in his house. Yeah, like little like the little like ceramic statues of yeah, because they'll do all kinds of stuff.
SPEAKER_03He'll get the lights. Okay. He's gotten like the neon, he has neon lights from the liquor stores and stuff like that. He just makes relationships, you know. He's like the mayor of like La.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, exactly. Jefferson and Lincoln, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Of that intersection. It's that that place, so like for I go there for like holiday shopping for Christmas because it's just like I've heard that a lot of they do a really good sale, apparently. They got a good sale, they got great selection like of shit that you can't find anywhere for whatever reason. It's like kind of like oddly placed. It's not like a high traffic tourism area, right? But they've just always had great allocations of some of the highest tier products. Like, if you want to go in there and spend like three grand on a bottle of whiskey that you can't find anywhere, they've got it. Yeah. Or but they also got all the all the regular stuff. But like, I'm like, dude, how did you guys get like there were like a hundred bottles made, and they're just like, we sell a lot of their lower price stuff.
SPEAKER_04Like, that's that's it, that's the way you get in. I was so impressed, the fact that they have that. Because I mean, a like the Nicaraguan population in Napa must be minimal. I don't know what the stats on that are, you know. And so yeah, I just kind of like set it underneath my breath, not expecting him to just like point it out. And like they have several. Um, so like he was like, Oh, you want the like the cheap stuff, which is the white. Yeah, and I was like, I I always just drink, like, in terms of spirits, I always I only drink white. Okay, I don't know why. Um, I just like and people are like, oh, well, you know, like the good tequila is like the aged tequila, right? The reposado or the neo. And I'm just like, I don't care if it's more expensive, I just I don't like it. I it's sweeter, and so yeah, I like what I like. But I did bring you as a gift.
SPEAKER_05Um always told the better to like and stuff. Oh, geez, okay, yeah. I have never had this. 18 aged.
SPEAKER_04So this is 18 aged compared to uh this is a um for it. This doesn't even have a year. This is probably like right off the sugar cane, I'm assuming, yeah. Um but that is uh that is like the the age stuff, so you can take that home with you. Oh thank you. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05I so I actually do like aged rum. It it generally, I mean like I think that rum really carries the the the tones of oak really well. Uh it just like you know adds to the sweetness and mouthfeel of it and everything. So that's awesome, man. Thank you. I've I've never had this one. Oh, good, okay. Had Florida Florida the Kanya, but I've never had the uh the 18-year-old.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_05Cool.
SPEAKER_04There you go. It's aged, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. See, yeah, we don't we don't have anything aged 18 years on the wine side, but you know, hey, there's always room. Who knows?
SPEAKER_03Who knows what that future holds?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's just like that's like Porto. That was uh uh went to Portugal and so fortified wine
Porto! And a little cork hunting...
SPEAKER_05can last much longer because it's got higher alcohol, so you don't like oxidation and all that stuff is kind of paused or greatly slowed down. Um and we ended up buying uh well, we tried it at a restaurant, uh, which is what it was a really cool experience. Like the Portugal is a very, very fun place. Uh, but they had it was like a 225-year-old. Uh like it was aged in barrel for 225 years. And so I was like, we gotta try it. So we like tried a little glass, and then I went and bought they they were selling it in flasks that were like I'm talking like 200 mls. Like these little tiny like glass tubes. Kind of like the the little shooters that you have at liquor stores. Yeah, that's I mean, that's exactly what it looked like. It's okay, yeah. I was like, I gotta bring this back to like the winemaking team, and like everybody's gotta try this because I've never had any product that's that old. And like in Portugal, they got a ton of history and stuff. So like I brought it back and I was like, you guys all gotta guess the age, like nobody was even close. But yeah, it was wow. What was the closest like the it wasn't even a hundred? Wasn't even a hundred, no. Okay. I just think everybody's like, how do you even like do you just forget about that? I mean, Portugal's like never been put it in a cave and like yeah, never worry about it for a while. Yeah, I mean, since the Spanish Inquisition, like they weren't really uh like involved in any war, so their like inventories and all that shit and barrel never got damaged or potentially destroyed. Um and so yeah, some so one of these old port houses had like just a couple barrels of of old, old, old stuff. Cool. Whether they're being honest with it, I don't know.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's true, right? You could at that point you could just be like, oh, it's 175, uh, 225 for the gringo tourists here. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Like our records show, wait, pause that out. Yeah, right. Yeah, he looks like he can afford another 50 years. Yeah. What are you gonna ask somebody that was there when they made it? I don't think so. Right? That's very true. Yeah. How did you like Portugal? I actually really liked it. Um cool. The you know, I mean, seafood is great. Uh it's beautiful. It's like California in a way. Like um, you know, you got kind of like mountainous regions, a lot of hills, beautiful ocean. Um, but yeah, the food culture, it was like a chiller version of Spain, I guess. Okay, cool. Like it was and very like there's a lot of pride in in what they do in Portugal. And so we went there for quarks of all things, because you know, that that's where like almost all the corks come. Like, that's like a national tree. I didn't know that. Oh, I mean, like it's protected. So you can find them everywhere? They well, there's cork trees all over, but they actually have like like orchards for for cork trees.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_05And so it's a very big part of their economy because cork is used for more than just you know, bottled product, it's also used for flooring and soundproofing, like in here. I mean, it's like cork is dartboards. Yeah, I mean it's it's used for else.
SPEAKER_04Oh we need to play a game around of like products that are made with cork.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's so and and so like it was uh that was a really cool experience seeing like the whole process of of Cork, what they're using it for, how they like utilize all the byproduct as well, like very efficient. Um, and then when you're there in like Porto, where you get to taste, you know, their fortified wines or port, it was it was awesome. So very cool. Yeah, I'd I'd recommend it. Okay.
SPEAKER_04Well, I'm going in 2030. I know that my fa my wife's
An awesome World Cup tradition...
SPEAKER_04family has a tradition of going to every World Cup. And so we were just in Mexico. I was just gonna ask you, did Mexico City? Yeah, we did the opening game um, so Mexico versus South Africa. Oh my god, that must have been insane. It was so cool. Uh, we've done um last time we didn't go to Qatar because my wife was pregnant with my three-year-old, so I blame her, um, but my daughter. Um, and then we did Russia, and so yeah, like since I've been part of the part of their family, that's their thing. And so, like, the it's my father-in-law's thing, and he kind of brings the kids, and then he has to bring the in-laws too. So, like, by default, we get to go. Um, so yeah, uh, that's fun. And we're already talking about like um doing like a game in because I guess it's Spain, uh, Portugal, and Morocco. Yeah, and so we're doing like at least one game in each of those countries in 2030.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. That's so cool. So I've never been to a World Cup, but like the ones in Mexico City with this last run of World Cup games, like those look like that's where you want to be.
SPEAKER_04Yes. I mean, especially on game one. I mean, it was just, I mean, it's the the fan experience. Um, I they don't let you, I mean, no matter who no vehicles can like enter within a mile and a half of like the Estadio Azteca or the you know the stadium. Um but so you walk a mile and a half, but there were so there was like there was the government purposely put stages like every 300 feet. So there was like a mariachi stage, and then like you took another 300 feet, and then there was like the baile for corrico, then you did another 300 steps, like there was uh you know, like the dead, the day of the dead, the katrinas, like the the skulls. Yeah, the schools and stuff. They brought their culture to like. Oh, yeah. And so you were walking, and like it became a such a cool immersive experience, and like you literally like walk through like Mexican culture as you were going into the stadium where you were like, Oh, we would just walk for 40 minutes, like it didn't even feel like that. Oh, that's awesome. So they they did a really good job at at hosting, um, and yeah, it was really fun.
SPEAKER_03That's awesome. Well, should we uh introduce like our generous, amazing guest here today?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah. Well, welcome to Go With Your
Welcome local legend Will Marcencia!
SPEAKER_05Palette. Thank you for uh joining us. So we have uh I guess I'd say a local legend in uh radio.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, here, here. So we got a local legend and uh radio station we use radio stations that we both grew up with, uh so KVYN and KVON, which you now called Mega Mix, right? Yes, exactly. So okay, so and and you're running both of those. And uh so really excited to hear about the whole taking over, you know, building up and and you know, bringing kind of I I guess I mean not just a form of media, but kind of like something that's been in our culture for so long, like you know, keeping it as relevant as you have. So yeah, Will, welcome. Thank you for being here.
SPEAKER_04I'm I'm happy, excited to be here. Yes, thank you. Um so yeah, Windown Media. Um, my wife Jalissa and I started Windown Media in 2017, and under the um, you know, under Windown, we acquired the two Napa Valley radio stations, which at the time were KBON, as you mentioned, which was just news talk and local sports, and then the Vine, uh KBYN the Vine, which is uh news, uh has always been um music, entertainment, um, you know, news. Um, and we knew that they were both so important into Napa Valley life. I mean, through uh floods, which are predate us because we moved here in 2017. But I know that Napa had an issue with flooding. Um, and I know that there's a lot of people that are very proud of the great work that went in into like, you know, making the flood project happen, and now that's not that's no longer a problem. It's just something that lives in people's memory. Um, but I mean, yeah, the the the radio stations had been with um the Napa Valley through the good times and the bad times, the ups and the downs. And so uh we were just like super excited to um take them into move them into the newest uh you know form of audio consumption, but at the same time to keep a piece of Napa history and Napa culture, as you said, alive. Um and so yeah, so the Vine has uh, you know, um its format has kind of it's seen different formats over the years. Um, we call it like a variety blend. So I mean it plays everything. I mean, you'll catch Taylor Swift to like just an up-and-coming artist. Uh, we even do I my favorite thing about the Vine is the local love at noon. So we play three local artists at the 12 o'clock hour, uh, at the beginning of the 12 o'clock hour um every day, uh, Monday through Friday. And KBON, um, you know, it was it was when we acquired it news talk in local sports, and uh the uh big wildfires happened in 2017, and we were getting bombarded with calls of
Birth of MegaMix: Supporting our Latin community
SPEAKER_04from um you know a lot of people in the in of our Spanish speakers, and they were just like, hey, what's happening? We don't really know what's happening. I think Nixil notifications weren't in Spanish at the time, at the very beginning, and so like people really had um, you know, like the monolingual community had very little knowledge of what was happening. Um, and so that was the first thing that we noticed, and then uh, you know, then the public safety power shutoffs that PGE started like doing, um, and people were like, Hey, I paid my PGE bill. We're like, then call PGE. And like, you know, I mean, we love that our that people uh turn to us at first um and you know ask us, like, hey, what's happening? Or like, well, there's a public safety power shutoff, and they're like, What is that? We're like, well, you know, it's not because you didn't pay your bill, it's because you know there's high winds coming and this and that. I think that's got that got better, and then COVID happened, right? And then there was so much uh disinformation, misinformation, and that was really when we just said, you know what, we have to um flip the format of KVON um to a Spanish-speaking uh radio station, and so that's when uh Mega Mix was born.
SPEAKER_05So, like the the Vine KVYN, this is the Spanish form of that kind of structurally as well, exactly.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so news, uh information, music, and entertainment. Yeah, um, and obviously uh we did have a lot of there was a lot of concern because KBON had always been like just news essentially, and like for fires and emergencies, like you know, everybody was always just so used to turning uh tuning into KBON. But we we we made the commitment that whenever the next disaster does happen, because unfortunately, you know, there will be another one. Um we just don't know in what form, right? Um we will we will you know stop the music, we will stop the commercials if needed, and we will just go into like real-time, you know, factual information reporting um in both English and Spanish now. And now people will know because during the 2017 fires, we were doing like bilingual program. I mean, we were trying to figure it out. You know, there was bilingual programming on on both stations at some times, and now it's just like people know that if you want Spanish information, you go to KBON.
SPEAKER_05Um if you want English information, you go to the Vine. I I just can't believe that that wasn't already happening in a place like Napa, which we we do have a lot of uh of Spanish speakers, and that is their only language. About 40% of the population, right? Yes. And and so the fact that we didn't have any media, because it w it's not just radio, right, which you know is probably the the quickest and best access for your most up-to-date information. Um, but uh even newspapers. There's not a newspaper in Napa Valley that that is all in Spanish. Right. Uh to have uh that portion of our population that just didn't have access to that, especially during the fires, the earthquake going back in like, you know, whatever that was 15 years ago. Like, you know, so people were calling you, being like, hey, we we're trying to understand what's going on, like and they're speaking Spanish to you, and they're just looking for info, and that was like that's when it clicked.
SPEAKER_04I I remember I I I mean it it became like essentially like a phone bank. Um, our our radio stations uh during the 17 fires for like 18 days, and I remember picking up a call because someone transferred it to me because they're like, Oh, they're speaking Spanish, and they're like, My neighbors are leaving, their stuff is packed, and I don't know what's happening. Jeez, like day two. I mean, I get goosebumps, I get kind of like emotional about it because I was like, holy, you know, like there's a there's a gap and there's such a need for this. I mean, if the it's day two into this uh, you know, disaster, and they kind of knew, obviously, you know, I I'm not to say that they were, but they didn't really know where they were, uh what direction they were heading, the fires and things like that. Yeah. Yeah. Well, well, good for you, man.
SPEAKER_03I'm glad you were there to answer the call.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_03You know, I mean that the yeah, and then kind of seeing it.
SPEAKER_05Not just being there for the community, but also seeing the the I wouldn't even call it an opportunity. I'd say like the mist that we had in the community, which uh that's awesome.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, the the void essentially. Yeah. We filled it. Yeah. Yeah. Or we're trying to do our best in filling it.
SPEAKER_05And and do you do a mix of music as well on that?
SPEAKER_04Or do you try to stick with uh no we we and um yogoshira to banda? Banda, yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. Just like that. And just like that. Yeah, just like that. Like from one song to another. And there, and that's something that, you know, like the the uh broadcast uh radio industry like would kind of still frowns upon because they're like, well, you know, like we have there's uh you know, there's banda stations, there's you know, classic, like there's old uh music formats, like there's formats, right? But I mean we don't we see that like we just cross all genres uh from one song to another. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And I mean people love it. Uh I that that's how I prefer it too. So it's and you know, that you think of like, you know, where is the radio just always on, right? I mean, I used to have a lot more windshield time, so I always had the radio on. Um, but now you like go into a garage, right? Getting your smog checked, like or oil changed. You're you're gonna just somebody's got the radio on. Yeah. And it's just background, like, you know, for most people to understand, but like then you're like, you pay attention to you like, oh yeah, this is actually like there's thought that goes into this and just kind of it creates a vibe and adds information. I think it's that's awesome.
SPEAKER_04I just heard your crew bumping up some music, yeah, over um over there. That was yeah, it was fun. Yeah. Were they on Megamix? Um, I didn't I didn't know exactly, so I walked away before I found out before I went over and screamed at them in Spanish.
SPEAKER_03Well, I would love I'd love to jump into uh also some origin story about how you how you got to where you are today too. And like uh, but before we do, I kind of wanted to do these like little icebreaker rounds because I feel like it's gonna get interesting. Um so if Joe, if you I mean well, you you could start.
SPEAKER_05Okay, the first one is kind of offensive.
SPEAKER_02Oh no, we just find out it like puts it on the spot.
SPEAKER_03Uh
Surprise Ice Breaker Round?
SPEAKER_03all right, radio or podcast?
SPEAKER_04I mean, can a man have both is what I would you know, like say that. Um I I like this. Obviously, AM and FM It's my it's my passion, it's my day job. Podcast, everything has a a time and a place. Um, you know, we drive down, my wife and I drive down LA way more than we've than I ever expected, than I really ever want. Um big families require, you know, us to like, and then that's a thing, right? Like, I mean, the Latino guilt too. Like, I'll ask, like, I'll talk to my mom, and my mom will be like, Oh, we're doing a dinner for your you know, for your 92, 94 at this point, 94 year old grandma. And I'm like, Oh, but it's a dinner, like, you know, I live seven, and she's like, It's just seven hours. And I'm like, easy for you to say, because you're not the one driving. With with with all these kids. And now I have, yeah, and nothing changed. So when we first moved here, it was just like uh Jalissa and I. And our dog, and then okay, I get it. People are like, Oh, come on, you guys are young, you just jump in the car, you know, get a flight, you're here. And now it's like, then we had one daughter, and then they're like, 'Well, it's still just the three of you,' and our the rest of your family's here. And now, even with adding two kids, I have I just had twins uh in April, or my wife, well, my wife and I just had twins in April, and like nothing changed. I'm like, and now they're like, Well, it's still just five of you, like, you know, like, yeah, just get over here. Um, and so yeah, like for a long commute to kind of circle back, like to long commute, like, yeah, podcast. Uh, you know, there's definitely like some of my favorites um that I like, some that my wife really doesn't like. So then, like, if she's in the back with the kids, like I
Crime Junkies
SPEAKER_04put on my like my guilty pleasure podcast, which yeah, it's yeah, it's pretty bad. But what is it? Oh, yeah, what is it? Yeah, it's just like yeah, it's just like it's 2020, so it's always like nestled 40 miles north of San Francisco, lays Rutherford. You know, and it always starts like it always paints the same picture, like and you know, the perfect couple, money, good looks, good health, until one day. And then they showed like the 911 call, and it's like, hey, my wife, yeah, she's not breathing. I just got home from the gym, and like, and then you find out it's the husband, and it's like always the same thing. And but they're I'm just like, yeah, but I just you just get absorbed in them. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_03I mean, the crime docs, I've just been. I go through these like like phases, and right now, like we're we're in the phase, my fiance and I, and it's just like any crime doc or whatever we get like sucked into. Uh-huh. There's like this new one out on Netflix. I don't know if you want to get the exact name art, but it's it's uh it's like a toxic relationship. And it's about this like relationship between this US marshal and his girlfriend, and it is so wild. I don't want to like give spoiler alerts, but it basically like involves framing. Oh my god. Yeah, it's it's good. But dude, your voice though on that, I was like sucked in. Oh, yeah. See, and I just like have you ever thought about starting a podcast about crime?
SPEAKER_04No, thank you. Yeah, that's it. Like crime. I I don't even like being behind the mic. I honestly like this. And I uh yeah, I don't it still makes me feel uncomfortable. Like even though I see, you know, I I've never done a shift on the radio station or anything. Like I I yeah, I I'm happy in the being like art in the back over there producing and like trekking audio levels. I mean, I know the the amount of work that goes behind the scenes, and I prefer that um than like just being in front of the mic. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Well, I I like it. Uh okay, music-wise, first concert you ever attended.
SPEAKER_04Oh, um, actually, full circle. Uh, I I just went to go see No Doubt yet again. Um, so for No Doubt. Too bad Chad's not
No Doubt!
SPEAKER_04here.
SPEAKER_03Chad, dude. Chad, Chad's missy today. He's he's our partner in crime there on our tech side, our masterminds there. Yeah, he's just he just went to Vegas to see them. Oh, to see them at the sphere.
SPEAKER_04Well, I just saw them, I just saw them at the sphere, but the very first time uh that wasn't, yeah, was I think I was like um in seventh grade. It was the Tragic Kingdom album. It was at the um they changed the name of it now, like the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim was the name back then. I think it's the Honda Center now. But uh yeah, and my sister took me for like my however old you are when you're in seventh grade. Um, and I was I remember being so upset because this band named Weezer comes on first, and I was like, I was like, you know, this like if you want to discover it. Yeah, but I was so pissed because I was like, you told me this was a no doubt concert, and she's like, they're the opening band. Like I had no idea, like no concept of how like how yeah, the flow of a concert. She's like, they're the openers, and I was like, I want no doubt. I remember being so upset, and then finally no doubt came on. Um, but yeah, and like I said, yeah, just saw them at the sphere. Have you guys seen a show at the sphere? I haven't seen it. No, I've never been at the show at the sphere. It is like it's I've heard good things, yeah. It takes you to a different dimension, it like it immerses you into the concert. I mean, I I can only talk about no doubt. Um, yeah, craziest thing. I know that at one point, like they're taking you through like these orange orchards, and like you, you know, there's screens above you and everything, and there's like oranges falling, and then I was like telling my wife, like, whoa, this looks so real. And then like an orange hits her on the head, and I'm like, hold on, they are real. So they had like these little spongy oranges that had the no doubt logo. It is the coolest thing. I mean, I don't know if the other shows incorporate things like that. They were just dropping them from the screen. They were there was real, there were oranges on the screens, but then there was actual real oranges, like little spongy oranges falling. But I just remember, I think I even have the video where I'm like, oh, this is so cool. And I was in my normal state of mind, you know. I was like, this it looks so real, and then like one hits my wife on the head, and like I was like, oh, they are real.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's so cool. So you don't want to be a mushrooms there.
SPEAKER_02That's what I was gonna ask. I feel like they're giving you that event.
SPEAKER_05They bring it from just a visual to like, oh, dude, that didn't really what the hell?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, there's like, oh yeah, there's actual oranges falling. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Okay, well, I got one last one for you, okay? One Napa business everyone should know about.
SPEAKER_04Oh, well, you know, um I I like gifts, so in order to answer that, I'm going to uh dig in through here, and um I brought you something from there
Surprise unconventional Blind Tasting
SPEAKER_04that um exploded. Oh, that's even better. Look at that. You put in a flantness. Oh shoot. Okay.
SPEAKER_05Um, let's see. We're gonna pick from a bag.
SPEAKER_02That's okay. It's all right.
SPEAKER_05It's alright. I've eaten from a bag before. Okay.
SPEAKER_02I like it.
SPEAKER_05Oh, freaking this is I'm doing this blind.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Hey, Will, I trust you, okay?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you got some on your hand, too. Okay, this is wait, so this is hot sauce out of a bag?
SPEAKER_04Yes, but it's not supposed to it wasn't a container. What do you taste?
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_04Joe, you're you you like spice, right? I do like a spice. I should have warned you that it's extremely spicy. Oh no, I'm allergic to chilies.
SPEAKER_02Oh, oh, uh camera roll stop. We'll be back after these messages. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Okay. I'm gonna guess I'm gonna guess the pepper is habanero. Ding ding ding. I'm gonna guess you got some fruit in there. I think is it mango or papaya? You probably know better than me. Yeah, really?
SPEAKER_03I feel like there is a lot of things.
SPEAKER_05Like a little touch of a little touch of sweetness in there from fruit, not from like sugar.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, from fruit.
SPEAKER_04Like that's really good. That's really good. All I know is that it's fire roasted habanero sauce from Yak and Yeti. Have you guys been there? I've not been to Yak and Yeti. Yeah, it's on, it's speaking of Lawlers, it's just like like less than half a mile north of Lawler's. It's a Himalayan restaurant. What? Um I love Himalayan food. Oh it is amazing. Oh my god, I'm so glad we're gonna go. Yeah, it's on Jefferson before you hit uh Trout. So like or like further past the high school, even. A little further, yeah. Okay. Yak and Yeti. Yes. Like by the bike shop or some shit? Where there's like the McDonald's. Yeah, yeah. In that same shopping center as the McDonald's. Okay. Like on the north end. Next to like Mother's Tacos. Yeah, okay. Yeah, like literally it like shares a wall with Mother's Tacos.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Yeah, I'm gonna hit so I would not have guessed that that's a Himalayan uh hot sauce. Yeah. That's that's really good. Yeah. So what do you what do you get there, yak and yeti?
SPEAKER_04So I love the chicken 65. Okay. Um uh highest level of spice. And the garlic cilantro non. Okay. Yeah. What level is this? You know what? I I've never asked them. I just always ask them for like hot sauce. Yeah. And so um yeah, like yesterday I was I went to dinner there, and um I was just like, you know, I need to take uh Joe some. Um I had a uh a much larger canister that's now all over the bag.
SPEAKER_05But yeah, I think the bottle must have crushed it. But I'm gonna have I'm just gonna have to go. Yeah, exactly. So yak and yeti casualties. That's your one go-to. You gotta know this spot if you're a local in Napa. Absolutely. Yes. Oh, yeah. Here. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03I happen to have some napkins on. There you go. I'll take that for you.
SPEAKER_05Thank you. So I gotta ask, do they do they have uh a wine list? Yeah. I mean, even just like a handful of options. Yes. Okay, yeah. That spice is really good.
SPEAKER_03Okay, do you like that spice?
SPEAKER_05Okay, it's not like it's just even, it's like nice, long, it's not it's not bitey. Like that, that's good.
SPEAKER_03I didn't expect. I was almost like I was actually hoping that you would be suffering a little bit more. Sweaty. So I'm a little like you know, because you're a white boy in a few.
SPEAKER_05So we used to have like competitions, not even competitions. He couldn't keep up, but like I would- Oh shut up, dude! I I loved hot sauce. I would like I would just put hot sauce on cheese. Okay, yeah, and uh there it is.
SPEAKER_03Oh heck yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yak and Yeti. Love it with some substance.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, he would do he would do uh hot sauce on ice cream.
SPEAKER_05Oh, yeah. So you are okay, yeah. I love hot sauce. I lived in Mexico for a while. And uh
Joe's early days in Mexico...
SPEAKER_05what part? Uh Hermasillo, like northern Mexico. Okay, cool. In the Sonora Desert. Okay. Um they don't have the spice profiles like southern Mexico does. Like when you get down into the more tropical areas, that's where like you really get some good heat. Okay. Um but uh but they I mean it's it's more like there's a lot more roasting of peppers up there, but they have this thing called chiltepin. Okay. Um, and there are these like they're generally grown and harvested in the wild in the Sonoran desert. And they're these little round berries of peppers, and they let them dry in the in the desert on the on the actual um bush, and people go out there, collect them, and just sell them in like whatever uh like a leftover Nest Cafe you know jar. Okay. And then they sell these little grinders, and so you put one in, like Jesse's wood grinder, and it's got a little hole in the top, and you put one little chili pepper in and you grind it, and I'm not kidding, like a pinch of that shit in a soup makes it like it's great spice, but like you can overdo it real quick. And but I I just rarely ever see chiltepine in here in in uh chiltapine.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_05You can buy it on Amazon though. Okay. Just like you can find machaca on an Amazon. Like you, you know, shit I can't find in the Mexican markets here, find it on Amazon.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03I was telling you, he's he did the one chip too.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, oh yes, I I did that. My brother-in-law was like, oh, you love you know, you love spicy so much, and like I had the chip, and I'm like, all right. And then maybe like a minute later, I'm like, okay, I need some water. My eyes are watering, but I can still tolerate it, and um and yeah, I mean my eyes watered, but that's normal. Yeah, that's just a bodily reaction.
SPEAKER_05It wasn't my favorite, and but I will say the worst that I've ever done was the devil's toe. I never it's a lollipop. You can still buy them
The Devil's Toe Challenge (proceed with caution)
SPEAKER_05online. Okay. And I thought, like, oh, cool, like my kids were into doing these like competitions and stuff. They were the ones that like brought the you know, the uh the the one chip challenge in. And um, and so I'm looking at it, I didn't even look at like scobble units or anything like that. I'm just like looking at like just a lollipop, like I'll I'll you know, put in my mouth for a little bit and see how it goes. I didn't even last 30 seconds, and then it was hours, like two or three hours, like my like going like all of my insides were like on fire. And I was like, okay, that this was too far. Like that was the only time I was just like, this is too far. Okay. But uh yeah, so if you ever want to get your was it your brother or brother-in-law? Brother-in-law. Yeah, if you ever want to fuck with him, okay, get the devil's toe and be like, hey, yeah, you remember that one shit. Bready, I'm coming for you, bro.
SPEAKER_03You're donezo, buddy.
SPEAKER_05That is a threat. One lick? It I bet you one lick is is more than enough to burn your pants off, man. It was I've never experienced anything that hot in my life. Wow. Okay. Yeah. Devil's still. I don't know.
SPEAKER_03Maybe devil's still. Special delivery.
SPEAKER_05Well, that was a great question, though, because that the I even I learned something new. Uh, and I, you know, that that's one of the beauties of Napa right now is is you are seeing so much diversity in cuisine. And I yeah, I keep bringing this up because we have a brand that kind of coincides with it. We call it Westhoff Pioneers. There you go. They're calling it Toe of Satan now. Oh, it's not. That doesn't look like a toe art.
SPEAKER_04It looks like a fingernail. Can you surv can you survive five minutes? Oh. Uh 900 times hotter than a jalapeno.
SPEAKER_05It was it's horrible. I think that was it. It might the one I had looked different, but okay so we have we have uh a brand we call Westhoff Pioneers, and it's kind of a story of like my family's immigration uh to America and how they kind of made their way and uh trying to honor kind of those those you know um those people that had like the wherewithal and the drive to come to the US like a foreign country and try, you know, their best to make make it here, and then along with it, they brought their culture. Right. And we're seeing the same thing right now in the Hispanic community, um, predominantly Mexican. Um and and so you know, I but I think that like you're I think when I was younger, you could tell there was still like a little bit of that racial racial angst. I I feel like that's really starting to subside, like they've been absorbed and part of you know, an appreciated part of American culture, especially when you come into like, you know, like California, Arizona, like any any states that um kind of border more of of like the the southern border. Um but you know, uh along with that, what we see is uh all these other generations or all these other cultures that have been coming in for you know recently all the way through to a hundred couple hundred years ago, and what they bring, and finally seeing Napa actually like have these options. Um it's like it's great. So a Himalayan food. Yeah. I mean, hell, even like Mexican food, when we have somebody from the East Coast out here, like any of our distributors, will we do just like the most authentic Mexican food. That'll blow their minds. And they're just like like they can't believe it. And it's like they don't have any options in like New York, they're like, You're gonna get it.
SPEAKER_04Oh my god, Mexican food in New York is so bad. I used to go to New York for work all the time when I was in my corporate media career at Univision or Univision. Yeah. And I would always ask like my co-workers, and like they're like, Well, we can take you to a good Dominican or a good Puerto Rican restaurant, and I'm like, no, Mexican. They're like, oh, there's that, there's that one place, and um, they're like, they're that one place, and I would go and I'm like, oh my god, this is horrible. Like making quesadillas with Belveeta.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Craft cheese in the middle of like a tortilla. Yeah, horrible.
SPEAKER_03I remember when I was there like in this several years ago, but still, like, and I was asking for Mexican food, I'd get pointed towards Chipotle. Oh, yeah. I'd be like, no, dude, this is not Mexican food.
SPEAKER_05I mean, well, we also grew up with La Luna like down the street from us. So we had some we had like a pretty legit taqueria. Yes.
SPEAKER_03That was people always go cra get crazy over La Luna because they they do the thick, you know, T H I C C quesadillas.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I have always talked about them. Best quesadillas in the world by a long shot. I've never had a quesadilla there. I will try it. Just try it and throw some meat in it. You can do like carne sada, all pastor, but uh, I mean, I think I think it's carne asada or uh or carnitas, those are the best. But yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um so I love though. Thanks for the hot sauce. Yeah. I like the little tangent, the tangent and stuff like that. But my mouth is still watering from it. That's always a good hot sauce. I know. I kind of want more. Um but no, they hate it. Lick the bag. I know, lick the bag.
SPEAKER_05You kind of touched on part of you know your origins and and getting into you know media, but let's do go back to the origin story. Like, how did you get into in into this realm of media? Was there uh inspiration
Back to Will's origin story! From LA to Napa Valley...
SPEAKER_05when you were younger?
SPEAKER_04So, I mean, um, I mean, being in LA, right, and like just being um a product of your environment, and like a lot of my friends just naturally went into media, different sources. I had some that went into the news, uh up the news route, um, some went into acting, um, others uh so yeah, I mean, so you know, just being in LA, like you know, you always just saw media. Um, there was always like the um the big four that we used to always uh talk about in our corporate media, so like ABC, CBS, NBC, um, and Fox. Um like they were always having like at career fairs in my college. Um so I went to school. I did my uh I went to undergrad in LA as well to stay close to family, uh, because I was all that's always been important. And so I I stayed close by. And so yeah, there was always they were always, you know, they were always trying to like recruit people. And so just uh I I I kind of just went into that. I I I did try banking. I kind of try to go rogue for a second, and like I went into marketing on the banking side, and I'm like, there's just and then I I was like having my other friends that were like, oh yeah, we're just like hanging out with some clients on a yacht, you know, because they just gave us like you know 20 million dollars for their annual budget or their advertising budget, and like here I am like like thinking sitting in a cubicle and like I'm like trying to sell how do I make yeah, how do I make like 1.25 jumbo CDs, $100,000 or more, uh, you know, sexy or cool. And I was like, I'm out, I I need to get out of here. Um and so uh and it was also right at that uh at during the big recession. Uh so it was tough. Um, but I'm happy to say that yeah, I was like, I think the or at least that's what they claim that I was like the first hire after their hiring freeze uh got lifted at Univision. And so I worked my way um in from a sales assistant, so and just kind of worked my way up. Um and then when I left there,
Netflix & Job Fair?
SPEAKER_04I was working
It's a Univison, and he's not Telemundo'in you again...
SPEAKER_04on um like uh distribu I was working in distribution. So um there was a uh a pop-up uh uh a startup, sorry, a startup um called Netflix at the time. Um this is like 2011, and they needed content, they needed Spanish language content, and Univision um didn't really have a team in place at the time uh to uh you know like to make those deals. And so they they they kind of morphed a a team and then they grabbed other people and they just I I mean we grew into like this really big team, and like a lot of the times I I remember just kind of being part of the team and we were like, what are we doing? And we're like we don't know, but because like you know, like we're essentially selling the future and selling the future of streaming, um, which I mean we were talking about this in 2011, but I mean they say that streaming didn't really take off the biggest, even though we probably have been early adopters of like Netflix and stuff until COVID. That's when like the biggest shift in uh in consumption um per like media reports is like that's when like they saw their biggest numbers jump. Okay. Um people were home and you know, like uh internet speeds were more reliable. Um, people needed better internet speeds because they were working from home and things like that. So really it yeah, like we were like working on these deals um like way before, and people in our own company were like, What do you guys do again? We're like, Well, we don't really kind of know, but I mean like we're bringing in a lot of unforecasted money.
SPEAKER_05And so that was really fun. And so Univision was like a contracted, like your team was contracted by Netflix.
SPEAKER_04Like we were providing content for them. For Netflix, yeah. But that was one of the things that like Univision's like uh a typical soap opera or a telenovela is like 200 episodes, right? And they were like, um, at least they at least they end, because like isn't like general hospital still going on for like 40 years later or whatever, right? And so like at least they end. Um, and um, and the funny thing with telenovelas is like I'll go visit my mom in LA and like she'll be watching that same one, and I'm like, I'll like kind of glance and I'm like, hey, wasn't that guy dead? She's like, well, he was dead, but then like, you know, he wasn't really dead. Like, then they found out like 25 episodes later that he was still alive when they were burying him, but we didn't know that. It's not like all these characters just kind of come back uh to life and things like that. Yeah, but but Netflix was like, oh well, we only need like X amount of episodes, like, and so they learned or our team learned like that like you can like get rid of like so much in the middle, and the storyline doesn't really change much. Oh my god to like you know, like to like fulfill the the essentially the request that and you know, and that's just the name, but you know, obviously like um Sony was another client, Amazon, like yeah, just all these people that wanted Spanish language content. So like I was part of the team that was right at the forefront of that, um, which was really cool.
SPEAKER_05Okay, that is really cool. Yeah, and so Univision was like, I didn't I didn't realize that. So Univision was really kind of the hub to go to on where these other companies would get content.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I mean, essentially it's I mean the biggest uh players in the industry or um in terms of Spanish language are Telemundo and Univision, right? And the people still to this day, like even friends, like that's that's offensive because they're like, oh, when you were at Telemundo, I was like, it's one out of two. I'm like, come on, there's two big Spanish players. And like you get it wrong. Like, yeah, like do you miss your days at Telemundo? And I'm like, bro, come on. Oh, oh, oh, and then they see my face and they're like, I mean, they're like, yeah, they're like, it's the other one, Univision, Univision, yeah. But I learned a lot. I met my wife there. Um, and so uh we were talking to our mentor, and he told us, you know, he uh like small entrepreneurs.
Grandma inspiration and listening to the call...
SPEAKER_04Entrepreneurship had always kind of been part of my my grandmother who I admire to this day. And, you know, she kind of came to this country with nothing and built something for herself. And so always very entrepreneurial. So I've always wanted to do that. I mean, I've been, you know, like um hustling, uh like making lemonade and just kind of trying to find a dollar since I was a kid. Um and so yeah, we found this opportunity of the two Napa Valley radio stations and uh Jalissa and I, yeah, we were just like, all right, we're quitting our corporate jobs, um, we're following our dream. Like we filled up our U-Haul with our dreams and our junk, um, came up with Honey, our dog. Coming from New York? Uh LA. LA by this point. Okay, okay. Yeah. I I spent a lot of time in New York, but I was always based out of LA, out of the LA office. And had you been to Napa Valley prior to? Um, so speaking of La Luna, um, my I mean crazy small world. Um, my sister-in-law went to college at Loyola, which is also where I went, uh, Loyola Marymount. Um, but I like to remind them that they're a lot older than me. So they we weren't in school at the same time. Yeah. But um, my sister-in-law Liz and Christina DeLuna, um, uh, who owns the DeLuna Market, um, they went to school at LMU together. Okay. So I remember Christina uh DeLuna in year one of Bottle Rock was like, Hey, do you guys want to come up to um to my hometown? Uh they're doing this festival. It's on Groupon for like two for one. Yeah, like, yeah, like it was like, you know, like it was like $99 for four days. We're like, what? That's like crazy, like something crazy, right? And so we ended up coming up. Um, that was my first time up here, but my wife grew up uh coming up um with her sister and Christina, coming to um God, I they talk about that all the time. Winter Wineland, I think they do in Sonoma County. Okay. Um, like during like MLK weekend, like sometime in January, they do like a winter wineland, and Christina DeLuna is like really big on that. And so, yeah, so I mean like Christina DeLuna is kind of part of my wife's family. And then when we came up here, um, they kind of returned the favor, and the De Luna's kind of like adopted my wife and I because we had we knew literally no one else. Uh, we had no friends or family here, and they became our family. They kind of adopted us into their family. Um, and so yeah, we were like we were there at all the I think some of the like extended family were like, who the hell are these guys? Like, why are they all all of a sudden showing up at Easter and you know cinco de mayo parties? Um, but yeah, so um very it's a big family, like being like, you know, he's like the cousin of you know, whatever. Yeah, yeah, so and so. Oh sure, whatever, yeah. You met him before no one about it. Exactly, yeah. So that was a kind of our tie-in back to to Napa. I mean, that was um that's when I had only been to Bottle Rock. So I came to up to several Bottle Rocks before I moved up here. And um, I mean, you you could have asked me like the year before we made the final decision to like move up here, like, oh, you know, like do you want to move to Napa one day? And I and I'm like, it's cool, it's beautiful, but it's so small. Like, I'm such a like there's no homeless people, it doesn't smell like pee enough. I'm like, there's no graffiti, there's not enough graffiti. I'm like, I don't know, I'm an LA guy, man.
SPEAKER_02And if you're looking for that, I mean San Francisco's really killing it. They're crushing it. Yeah, they're crushing it.
SPEAKER_05I mean, we're gonna get a smaller version of it too, right here in Vallejo.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we're we're getting we're getting the overflow.
SPEAKER_04So yeah, um, and but I I mean uh I I loved it. I've loved it. I I love it. Um, you know, it's uh yeah, eight years in already and counting. Um my daughter's a very proud uh you know, Napa girl now that she's three, and my daughters were my my most recent twin daughters are born up here, and so yeah, I mean I've been part of like six different nonprofit boards over the eight years. My wife's been part of several. Um, so we're definitely like deep roots into the Napa Valley community.
SPEAKER_05Absolutely. And and I mean I'd love to hear a little bit about the you know, the entrepreneurial spirit that you guys, I mean, you know, when did the opportunity arise that these two stations were available? Was it an offer that came from you or was it something that you were already you had already heard about and you were you were weighing out that option with your corporate jobs that you and your wife had? Like, what was that whole scenario like? Is this really the end?
SPEAKER_04Unbelievable. Find out next week.