Jersey Made Podcast Traces New Jersey's Musical Legacy

A new entry in music podcasting arrived this week with a distinctly Garden State accent. Premiere Networks and Buzz Knight Media have launched “Jersey Made,” a podcast hosted by veteran radio and media executive Buzz Knight, distributed by iHeartPodcasts. The show debuted September 16, 2026, the day after the two companies announced it.

The premise is straightforward: one of the smallest states in the country has produced an outsized share of American music, and the Jersey Made podcast sets out to document how that happened. Weekly episodes bring together artists, producers, engineers, and cultural commentators to trace the arc from the crooners of the early 20th century through rock, punk, hip-hop, and global pop.

The first episodes start with two Brians

The opening episode features former NBC News anchor Brian Williams, who talks about his pride in being a lifelong New Jersey resident. According to the launch announcement, the conversation centers on what the state has meant to him personally and on his own roots there.

The second episode turns to musician, singer, and songwriter Brian Fallon, who reflects on the authenticity and character of New Jersey’s people. Fallon’s perspective carries some weight here; as a Jersey native who built his reputation on blue-collar storytelling, he fits the show’s thesis that the state’s music is inseparable from its identity.

Future installments plan to work through a roster of names most listeners will know: Frank Sinatra, Frankie Valli, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Whitney Houston, and SZA. The announcement frames the series as an attempt to connect the people, places, and moments that turned the Garden State into one of the most influential cultural forces in popular music.

A growing stable of music storytelling shows

Jersey Made joins an existing slate of Buzz Knight Media productions carried by iHeartPodcasts. The company already produces “Takin’ A Walk,” Knight’s own music history podcast built around inside stories from musicians and industry veterans, along with “Takin’ A Walk Nashville,” a Nashville-based music history show hosted by singer-songwriter and podcaster Sarah Harralson. Lynn Hoffman hosts two more shows in the lineup: “Music Saved Me,” about the transformative power of music in people’s lives, and “Comedy Saved Me,” about the healing side of comedy.

Knight is the founder and CEO of Buzz Knight Media Productions. His background is in radio programming and strategy; he previously served as executive vice president of strategy and innovation at Beasley Media Group and as senior vice president of programming at Greater Media, with stops at WZLX in Boston, WNEW-FM in New York City, WNOR in Norfolk, and WLVQ in Columbus. He has also written regularly for Radio Ink Magazine as an industry commentator.

“Every day, I get to wake up and pursue the fine art of storytelling,” Knight said in the announcement, adding that he was grateful to be starting the new chapter with Julie Talbott and her team at Premiere and iHeartPodcasts, and with executive producer Vinny Steves leading the Jersey Made team.

Talbott, the president of Premiere Networks, said New Jersey has produced some of the most influential artists and cultural movements in music history, and that Knight is well positioned to tell that story. Premiere Networks, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia, syndicates more than 100 radio programs to over 8,600 affiliates and reaches a quarter billion listeners monthly, with personalities that include Ryan Seacrest, Steve Harvey, Elvis Duran, and Mario Lopez.

When and where to listen

New episodes of the Jersey Made podcast are published on Wednesdays through the iHeartRadio app and wherever podcasts are available. Video episodes and highlights are also planned for iHeart, YouTube, and other social and digital platforms, giving the show a visual footprint alongside the audio feed. The launch arrives as the format keeps gaining ground: podcast ad spending rose 9% in August, according to Magellan’s latest tracking.

State-focused music documentaries are not new, but the podcast format suits the subject: conversational, episodic, and able to spend an hour on one era or one neighborhood at a time. For more details on the launch, see the full announcement on Sounds Profitable.