Erica Olson, TV Host

We caught up with Erica Olsen on the red carpet of the Alliance for Women in Media Southern California’s 57th Annual Genii Awards, which she co-hosted with Matt Iseman. Erica is an Emmy-nominated TV host and the host of CBS Music Minute.

WTM: This is a question we ask everyone, do you have a hero?

EO: I do. My grandmother, who just turned 100 years old this year. She’s been an amazing mentor in my life. She has taught me to be myself, to have grace and humility. To stand up for myself. Just to be the best version of myself that I can be, and I think that’s the best advice I could pay forward to any of my mentees.

WTM: How did Music Minute start?

EO: We actually had a client come to us saying, “We really want to do something in music.” We put our heads together, asking, what could television offer musicians? We thought  a short format piece would be the best way to go about it. So we go in, we interview a band. We get to know them, we have them perform one song. Then, Monday through Friday nights, during the late show with Stephen Colbert at 11:50PM, we showcase a little bit of that interview and music from the artist. 

WTM: And then it branched out into a podcast.

EO: It did. I don’t think we realized how successful Music Minute would be. The record labels really embraced us, the artists themselves, I think because we tapped into that pure stage in the artist’s career where they haven’t quite hit the top yet, and they’re trying to break through a lot of the clutter. And our goal is simply to tell their story. They had a lot of trust in us for that.

Based on that success, we thought a lot of this is hitting the cutting room floor. There’s so much more to tell about these artists. That’s when the podcast came into play. It’s living on play.it, which is a CBS property. We have a new Music Minute feature that comes out every Tuesday, and we’re just thrilled to pieces that it’s been so well-received.

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