Meet Mat Zucker | Executive Producer and Host

My spouse and I started as weekenders in the rural Hudson Valley, living during the workweek in New York City. We quickly discovered how much we loved living in the more rural countryside—the farms, the food, the space, the scenery, the people—but also found the transition challenging. Choosing the right town, making friends, setting up a larger home than we were used to, exposure to the elements were all topics I had to get a grip on, and, frankly, there was little support. So I decided to share both my excitement about what I was learning and also encourage others to do the same. As a writer, my original intent was to publish a blog series. I paused since for format, I have always loved audio—my first career experience was in radio advertising in the 1990s along with early podcasting in the 2000s. The tools for podcasting such as Anchor (now owned by Spotify) had also become so accessible that I chose to launch the endeavor as an episodic show instead of as a conventional journal on a blog. The name “Cidiot” was suggested by my friend Victor who knew the term from Montauk (a beach town out in eastern Long Island) which referred to the foolish behavior of those from the city. I chose the word to break through the clutter and to turn what was normally an insult into a humble badge of honor.

I’ve always loved to write and create, feeling the satisfaction of putting something into the world. I also liked business and the puzzle of it, so it was natural that my first job was a copywriter in marketing, creating advertising for radio, TV, print and the early commercial internet. I rose up through the ranks to become the head of creative at some big agencies in New York and later shifted into management consulting where I still do marketing and think creatively and strategically but not necessarily the same outputs I had earlier. There’s a chronic itch to make things that I’ve never stopped scratching, so I’ve always had a side gig where I’m producing something. For awhile, there was a video series of career wisdom, then an advice column in a local newspaper. The last four years, I’ve been building Cidiot as a podcast and as a business to help people from the city get acclimated into living in the country. I’m happy as I plan, record and edit each show, and I’m insanely satisfied every time I hit publish and it starts to stream to people’s ears.

I love this question. For here in the Hudson Valley where I live, I’m working with a designer to develop some gorgeous graphic itineraries for weekenders to come visit. I hope my best friend from Baltimore does come up and visit. We’ll probably organize each day around something interesting, something silly, and somewhere great to eat. For example, I’ve been meaning to go to the Storm King Art Center, a 500-acre outdoor museum of stunning sculpture just off the Thruway. There’s a Walkway Over The Hudson in Poughkeepsie. We’d then head to the city of Kingston for lunch, which is a super cool historic city full of architecture, books, hipsters, and good taco places. Late in the day, I’d take him to one of my favorite farms where we’d visit the pigs, chickens and baby goats and settle down on a picnic table with a beer or two and take in the view of the Catskills. I’d introduce him to the people who I’ve met, especially the business owners or farmers through the podcast which he would get a kick out of. Come to think of it, I bet we’d turn the itinerary into a piece of content and record us both along the way, cracking jokes, daring each other to do things, and find new surprises around every bend. Yep, every day would be something like that.

A new media venture like Cidiot relies on the support of the creative community of people, personalities, businesses, farms and organizations to give it fuel (and material to talk about!). Special thanks to early sponsors like Bangallworks, collaborators such as Space Studios, and cooperative media partners like The Daily Catch and Mountain-Hiking.com. At the very beginning was my friend Victor with naming, Ryan Carl for brand design, and, of course, my husband Brian for absolutely everything else.