ATLANTA — Since 2010, radio personality Lenard “Charlamagne tha God” McKelvey has entertained audiences, interviewed celebrities and gone viral from making eyebrow-raising statements as a co-host on the morning show and podcast, “The Breakfast Club.”

Now, the South Carolina-born shock jock says he wants to turn his unapologetic persona into media enterprises to help other Black creatives amplify their voices.

The Black Effect Podcast Network, the audio storytelling company he created five years ago, is having its third annual Black Effect Podcast Festival at Pullman Yards on Saturday. The daylong event features panels, networking and live tapings of podcasts like “R&B Money,” “Naked Sports with Cari Champion” and “Funky Friday with Cam Newton.”

Charlamagne has also ventured into book publishing with his own imprint under Simon & Schuster, Black Privilege Publishing. He started Southland Studios to develop film and television projects, and SBH Productions, an audio production company co-founded with comedic actor Kevin Hart.

Along with Dollie Bishop, Black Effect Podcast Network’s president of production and creative development, Charlamagne recently sat with UATL for an interview. During the conversation they spoke about the podcast festival’s return to Atlanta, what attendees can expect this weekend, “The Breakfast Club’s” success and his evolution from radio to entrepreneurship.

Q: What made you want to start a podcast festival?

CTG: I thought about building out The Black Effect Network and where the space of podcasting was going. Comic books, movies and TV shows have festivals, so why wouldn’t podcasts (have one)? The podcast medium is very young, so it’s a natural evolution of what happens when you have something in entertainment that’s gaining some legs.

For the last several years, there have been so many podcasts that go on the road and sell a lot of tickets, so I’ve always felt like it was a natural thing to put together an entire festival with some of your favorite podcasts.

Q: Why did you decide to host the festival in Atlanta?

DB: I was a producer on “Wild ‘N Out” in 2015, and it was another side of Atlanta that I saw from bringing that show to a city and culturally-driven space where it’s nothing but Blackness and excellence.

Atlanta is a cultural hub with a rich history of Black creativity and entrepreneurship. Black Effect (Network) is all about amplifying Black voices, so it seems like the perfect place for us to host the festival. Why not go to the hub where there’s a lot of us?

CTG: I’ve been coming to Atlanta since I was a kid in the ’90s. My sister has lived here for 30 years, and I have so many great friends like Lil Duval, Clay Evans (rest in peace) and Killer Mike. Atlanta has always been like a next-door neighbor, especially growing up in South Carolina.

Q: Could you describe the layout of this year’s Black Effect Podcast Festival?

CTG: That’s a great question and something that I couldn’t answer a few years ago, because I’d never seen anything like it. We knew what the idea looked like in our minds, but I wasn’t sure what it would look like.

It’s a day that has family reunion energy for the people who have grown to love podcasting culture. They’re not just wanting to be entertained by it but wanting to learn the business and see what the other people in podcasts are doing. It’s a great day to come to network, rub shoulders with people like Dollie and figure out how to take your podcast to the next level.

Nissan has an activation called “Pitch Your Podcast,” so people can sell their podcast ideas. The podcast space is so young, so everyone is on the ground floor of this medium that’s continuing to grow. If you don’t know anything about podcasting, the festival is a great place to come and see what it’s all about.

DB: In addition to live recordings of podcasts onstage, there’ll also be panels discussing business, health and wellness and the future of podcasting, so the conversation expands outside of your favorite shows and voices. We also have a Black marketplace with Black vendors with all kinds of products, food trucks and interactive things for those attending.

Q: What does Black Effect Podcast Network consider when carrying new podcasts?

DB: We’re looking for an array of voices, uniqueness and authenticity. We believe and know that none of us are monoliths or have the same interests, so we’re looking for people who really believe in what they’re speaking about and what they want to share, teach or show the world.

It’s not always about numbers or a specific box we put talent in. We look for talent that’s beginning, starting out or never been in podcasts before, and some of our partnerships are with talent who are 300 episodes in. If it’s much different than what we already have on the network, we absolutely love that.

CTG: I agree.

Q: What influence has Atlanta had on the success of “The Breakfast Club?”

CTG: Atlanta is a top 10 market in radio and our culture. We broadcast here Monday through Friday, and that’s major. We were on Streetz 94.5, and then iHeart opened an Atlanta station and we were on that frequency.

Now, we’re on (The Beat) 96.1, where people can hear us in the morning, and that’s incredible because Louie Vee, who’s from South Carolina, is the programming director. We can become a habit. That’s why it’s important to do things like Black Effect Podcast Festival and touch the city of Atlanta as many times as we can throughout the year.

I’ve been doing radio for 26 years, been fired seven times, and this is the longest I’ve ever worked at a station and have been part of one show. That’s what God had preordained and showed me that every step I was taking was preparing me for what ultimately became “The Breakfast Club.”

On the show, DJ Envy and I are not afraid to grow and be ourselves, talk about being married, going to therapy or being fathers. We’re growing with our audience, and it’s becoming a thing where people feel comfortable listening to us, because they know we’re going through the same things that they’re going through.

Q: Why did you launch the production company Southland Stories?

CTG: We’ve always wanted to be in the film and television world. Kevin Hart and I launched our company, SBH Productions, with Audible putting out audio-scripted stories, because we want to turn them into documentaries and TV shows in the future.

One of the projects we put out, “Brokedown Prophets,” was written by S.A. Cosby, and “John Wick” film producer Basil Iwanyk listened to it and wanted to option it for a film. We had a conversation at the end of 2023, and I told him that all of the original stories that Hollywood has never seen are going to come from the South and Black folklore that exists.

A few months later, he wanted to explore those things I talked about, so we put together a film-production company with stories that are rooted in Georgia, the Carolinas, Mississippi and all of these places that folks don’t know about. The box office success of “Sinners” just paved the way for that and shows that we’re on the right path.

Q: What’s the inspiration behind Black Privilege Publishing?

CTG: When it came time for me to negotiate my deal to put out my third book, “Get Honest or Die Lying: Why Small Talk Sucks,” five years ago, I could’ve taken a huge check, but I’d rather have my own imprint to help other people get their stories out, put money in their pocket and create jobs.

Simon and Schuster agreed and understood the vision, because I’m able to help sell lots of books just by promoting them and talking about things that I’m reading. Now, we’re 16 titles in.

Q: What’s next?

DB: Charlamagne and I both have a vision for this company to expand into a production house, where it’s a one-stop shop for TV, film and audio. We’re only five years old, so there’s more to come.

CTG: “ILLuminati” may or may not be a true story, but that will be out in June via AWA Comics. I grew up reading comic books and got a tattoo of Wolverine (of “X-Men”) on my arm, so I get to be in my own space to create my own world in the comic realm and potentially leak some secrets. It’s available for preorder now.

You can’t be afraid to grow or evolve, because if you don’t, you’re only shortening your own longevity. I want Black Effect Network to be a multimedia, billion-dollar conglomerate, and podcasting is just the beginning stages of storytelling.

Great podcast talent should do movies, TV and reality shows. I just want to help the culture move forward.

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Black Effect Podcast Festival. 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday, April 26, Pullman Yards, 225 Rogers St. NE, Atlanta. blackeffect.com/podcastfestival.

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