Three parties crashed, and counting: The creation and production of VADA Live
VADA had been sharing videos with its dealers for years. In 2024, it wanted to give those conversations a regular home—one dealers could count on.
VADA Live, the association’s podcast. Recorded at VADA’s headquarters, remotely with guests across the industry, and on the convention floor, then edited into shorter clips for social media.
Two seasons and more than 75 episodes, featuring voices from Virginia dealerships, the national automotive industry and the General Assembly.
Brian Finkelmeyer has crashed the party three times now.
The Cox Automotive analyst was VADA Live’s very first guest in late 2024, appearing in an episode called “Party Crashers.” He returned for “Party Crashers II” at the end of season one, then again this fall for “Party Crashers III: Defying the Headwinds in 2026.”
When a guest keeps coming back, the conversation is working.
From videos to a show
For years, the Virginia Automobile Dealers Association (VADA) shared videos with its members whenever there was something worth discussing. In 2024, VADA decided to turn those conversations into a podcast, creating a regular place for voices from across the industry to meet.
We helped turn the idea into a show. Our team hosts episodes featuring dealers, industry experts and policymakers, bringing the people closest to the issues into conversations about what they mean for the business.
The result is more than a collection of videos. It’s an ongoing channel for sharing information with VADA’s members, connecting with industry partners and bringing Virginia’s automotive retail perspective to a national audience.
Pull up a chair
Most guests join us remotely. With Riverside, we can bring people into the conversation from wherever they are, making it easy to connect Virginia’s dealers with voices from across the industry.
VADA’s headquarters studio gives the team a polished, reliable setup for recording VADA Live and sharing its expertise beyond its own membership. Don has also used it to join other industry podcasts, including Jim Fitzpatrick’s CBT News, Sam D’Arc’s Car Dealership Guy and ASOTU, bringing VADA into national conversations about automotive retail.
And sometimes, a conversation is better face to face.
Downstairs at VADA’s headquarters, a living room offers a more relaxed setting for sit-down interviews. It’s where VADA President and CEO Don Hall settled in, with the Christmas tree lit behind him, to talk about the franchise system, fixed operations and what 2026 might bring. It’s also where Anne Gambardella and Mimi Perka walked dealers through the legislation that made it past crossover at the General Assembly.
When convention season rolls around, we take the show on the road. Ahead of each convention, we sit down with speakers to preview the ideas and conversations they’re bringing to the stage. At the events themselves, we set up on the floor for walk-and-talks, sit-down interviews and keynote recaps, giving attendees and those following along from home a closer look at what’s happening.
And there’s room to take that idea further. We’re exploring what a VADA Live road series could look like, bringing the conversation directly to dealerships across Virginia. The idea is to hear from the dealers themselves, explore the challenges and new ideas taking shape in their businesses, and spotlight the people who make local dealerships such an important part of their communities.
Different settings, different ways of telling the story, one shared purpose: helping VADA get the right information, perspectives and ideas to the people who can put them to work.
Who’s been on
VADA Live has welcomed voices from across the automotive industry and beyond. Among its guests are Virginia Speaker of the House Don Scott and Dr. Gerald Lackey, former Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Industry analysts Steve Greenfield, Kevin Tynan and Erin Kerrigan have offered their perspectives on where the business is headed, while dealers like Tim Pohanka, Carter Myers, Emily Marlow Beck, Liza Borches and Dave Perno have brought their own experiences to the conversation. The show has also tapped into the expertise of people who work closely with dealerships, including Joe St. John, Chris Craig and NADA instructors.
The topics are just as varied. VADA Live has explored the opportunities and challenges of AI with guests including Diana Lee, John Coles and Napoleon Rumteen, and dug into FTC-related issues with Lisa Olivieri and Lauren Bailey. Conversations with industry partners like ComplyAuto, Digital Air Strike and Brown & Brown have added another perspective, connecting dealers with companies and specialists working on issues that affect their businesses every day.
The episode titles are just as direct. “Cheap Cars Aren’t Coming Back.” “Compliance is a competitive advantage.” “We live on a 30-day cycle.” “Don’t AI Everything.” Behind each title is a conversation about the pressures facing dealers, the decisions shaping the industry and the opportunities worth paying attention to.
With two seasons and more than 75 episodes, VADA Live has built a deep bench of conversations—and a growing record of what matters to the people who keep automotive retail moving.
A minute at a time
Not every dealer has an hour to spare. That’s why the work doesn’t stop when an episode is finished. Each conversation is edited into shorter clips for LinkedIn and Facebook, pulling out the moments worth sharing with people who may not have time to watch the full episode.
A longer conversation becomes several smaller opportunities to reach people, whether they’re catching up between meetings or scrolling through their feeds. It’s a simple idea: the value of a conversation shouldn’t be limited to the people who have time to watch the whole thing.
Those shorter clips help VADA extend the life of each episode and put its message in front of dealers and industry leaders well beyond Virginia.
Is a podcast right for you?
We love video. But choosing a format isn’t about what looks good on camera. It’s about what you need to communicate, whom you need to reach and how often you have something worth saying.
A podcast is a commitment. It needs a steady supply of relevant conversations, guests who bring something to the table and an audience with a reason to keep coming back. VADA has all three: a General Assembly that keeps dealers busy, an industry that can shift in a matter of months—or minutes—and a long list of people worth hearing from.
That doesn’t mean a podcast is the right fit for every organization. Sometimes a short video, an event recap, a quarterly report or a well-timed newsletter will do a better job. The right answer depends on the message, the audience and the resources available to make it happen.
That’s where we come in. Kelley + Co. helps organizations figure out what they need to say, who needs to hear it and which formats will get the job done. Sometimes that’s a podcast. Sometimes it’s something else entirely. And sometimes it’s a mix of several approaches working together.
For VADA, it was a show. Two seasons and more than 75 episodes later, the party’s still going.