Audacy : Sets New Leadership Team at Pineapple Street Studios

PHILADELPHIA, PA - June 14, 2023 - Audacy today announced a new leadership team at Pineapple Street Studios, promoting veteran staffers Bari Finkel and Je-Anne Berry to Co-Heads of the highly acclaimed, award-winning podcast studio, reporting to Jenna Weiss-Berman, Audacy's Executive Vice President, Podcasts.

Pineapple Street Co-Founder Max Linsky has been named Senior Podcast Strategist for Audacy's podcast division. In this role, he will continue to executive produce projects, as well as collaborate on podcast strategy for the company overall, advise Finkel and Berry in their new roles and work closely with key partners.

Finkel joined Pineapple Street in July 2016 as the studio's first employee. She has served as Producer, Executive Producer, Host and most recently, Head of Operations. Named Adweek's 2021 Podcast Innovator of the Year, Finkel created and has overseen Pineapple's successful TV/film companion series business, working with partners including HBO, Netflix, Apple TV+ and Amazon Music to create buzzworthy film and television companion podcasts, including "HBO's Succession Podcast," as well as HBO's "The Last of Us Podcast" and "The Chernobyl Podcast," both of which hit #1 on Apple Podcasts; Apple TV+'s "The Foundation Podcast"; Netflix's "Behind The Scenes: Stranger Things" and "The Last Movie Ever Made"; and Amazon Music's "The Rings of Powers," the official companion to "The Lord of the Rings."

Berry joined Pineapple Street in September 2020 as Executive Producer of Pineapple's brands team. In this role, she has successfully expanded the studio's partnerships with Mailchimp, Nike, TED and Aventine. Berry has also overseen bringing new brand partners to Pineapple, including Tommy Hilfiger, The Fashion and Race Database, SAP, Zapier, and the Georgia Innocence Project, elevating them inside and outside their industries with titles including Zapier's "The 4%," Tommy Hilfiger and The Fashion and Race Database's "The Invisible Seam," and Aventine's "Humans vs. Machines with Gary Marcus," the fourth season of "The World as You'll Know It."

Linsky has executive produced several award-winning, critically acclaimed shows including "9/12," "Wind of Change," and "70 Over 70," which he also hosted.

"As everyone who has worked with Bari or Je-Anne knows, they are the perfect team for this job," said Linsky. "Bari has been here since day one, and Je-Anne joined once we were part of Audacy - the combination of those two vantage points, plus the shared vision for where podcasting is headed, makes me just so excited for this next era."

"I'm thrilled about what's to come for Pineapple," said Weiss-Berman. "Bari and Je-Anne have proven again and again over the years that they are creative, driven leaders and the studio will flourish under their direction. I can't wait to work with them in this new way."

"We are incredibly proud of Pineapple and thrilled to step into our new positions. Through our respective roles and the many different shows and partners we've worked with, we've had incredible experiences at Audacy, making phenomenal podcasts with the most passionate teams," said Berry and Finkel. "Being able to partner with each other to build on what Max and Jenna founded is a real honor and we can't wait for people to see and hear Pineapple's upcoming work."

Weiss-Berman was named Executive Vice President of Podcasts of Audacy in March 2023, reporting to J.D. Crowley, Audacy's Chief Digital Officer and President, Podcast and Streaming. In this role, she oversees Audacy's podcast network and studios, including Pineapple Street Studios and Cadence13, along with strategy and development of new podcast content and distribution partnerships. She also collaborates with programming leadership in sports and news in the growth and development of new original podcast content for podcast studio 2400Sports and across Audacy's 28 local newsrooms in top U.S. markets.

Founded by Linsky and Weiss-Berman in Brooklyn in 2016, Pineapple Street's inventive, critically acclaimed award-winning slate spans original podcasts, multi-episode narratives, investigative journalism series, branded series, and talk shows including "9/12," "70 Over 70," "The 11th," "Borderline Salty," "Wind of Change," "Welcome to Your Fantasy," "Missing Richard Simmons," "Back Issue," "The New York Times' Still Processing," "The Catch and Kill Podcast with Ronan Farrow" and "Will Be Wild." The studio has been nominated for two Peabody Awards, won multiple Webby and Ambie Awards and was the recipient of the ASME (American Society of Magazine Editors) Ellie award for "The 11th: Time Machine."

Download Berry and Finkel's photos here.

Visit AudacyInc.com and Pineapple.fm for more information.