Life on Podcast | About Us

ABOUT THE HOSTS:

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Born and raised in Trenton, NJ, Stone was a product of both public and boarding school experiences as his mother was determined to broaden his horizons and exposure beyond the inner-city during his formative years.

Upon attending Morehouse College in Atlanta, Stone embarked on a music career that spans over 25 years during which he's done everything from recording artist (First Priority/Atlantic), to Billboard charting songwriter, to music publisher (Sony/ATV), producer manager (So So Def Recordings), and artist manager.

Currently, Stone is co-owner of Atlanta’s premiere recording studio, Icon Studios which has served some of the industry’s biggest names such as Akon, Justin Bieber, Ludacris, Gladys Knight, Queen Latifah, Oprah Winfrey’s “Greenleaf”, Lifetime, and many others.

Stone invests a significant amount of time and energy speaking at various

seminars, events and conferences both as an industry executive and an

empowerment speaker. He is also the creator of: The Lock-In (a 24hr flash

music business intensive), Next Exec Music Business Program (a high-school after school music business program), and this, L.I.F.E. on Podcast (Listening & Inspiring Friends in Entertainment. Available on all major podcast platforms).

Jony Van hails from the First Coast. Raised in Jacksonville, FL growing up a 3 sport athlete and a classically trained musician, Jony has always had the makings of a "Jack of Many Trades."

With dreams of becoming a professional baseball player and a music executive, an impasse was always inevitable. Life made the decision for him when an injury made pro sports all but impossible, leaving a lot of time to study, write, and produce. Jony launched his first production company. Wanting to expand beyond just being a producer, he stepped into the worlds of tv/film post production and live show production where he quickly found himself engineering live events for major artists including Estelle, and Earth Wind & Fire.

During his time at the University of Central Florida, Jony excelled through the Digital Media and Communications programs eventually becoming Chief Engineer of the department's recording studios and working on hundreds of University projects. The need for an internship and a misunderstood joke would change Jony's plans and future. After telling a professor "I've done almost everything in entertainment, the only thing left is radio" and Professor Jeff Worth taking this statement seriously, Jony applied for a video production internship with CBS Radio Orlando eventually beating out over 100 applicants for a single position and going on to record, produce, and interview many A list artists. 3 Months into his internship, Jony got "the call." The station needed a new over night jock, and with no on air experience, but a bit of charisma and an urban edge that was desired, Jony took over overnights and weekends at WOMX (Mix 105.1). 6 months later, he joined the morning show at WOCL(Sunny 1059, Mix's sister station) During his time in the Orlando market, Jony stepped in as Associate Producer for Nick Cannon while Nick was broadcasting his morning show from Orlando during taping of his various tv shows. Jony also technical produced numerous syndicated shows including “Spyder Harrison,” “The Steve Harvey Morning Show,” and “The Ricky Smiley Morning Show.” In 2012 CBS radio launched a new live and local 24/7 Sports Station in Atlanta, Ga where Jony was brought in as Producer for the Midday Show through 2 iterations (The Jerome & Jamie Show and The Rick & Jamie Show) on Sports Radio 92.9 the Game. After helping take the midday show from brand new and 22nd in the market to the number 1 Sports show in Atlanta, Jony moved on to produce “The Ryan Cameron Morning Show” on V103. Jony left V103 for an opportunity with iheart radio, and after a short stint and the launch of iheart’s new hip hop station, Jony returned to talk radio, this time with Atlanta's premier news station News 955 WSB working on syndicated talk shows including Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Jony's opportunity to step back in front of the mic came a few years later when WSB's sister station KISS 104.1 reached out with an offer to host a show as well as technical produce for the new After Drive show “The Michael Baisden Show.” As with all great opportunities, Jony jumped at it and you can still catch him on KISS 104.1 FM playing Atlanta's R&B.