The CEO who killed Archie and brought the brand back to life
Corner Office from Marketplace
Marketplace
4.8 • 545 Ratings
🗓️ 25 July 2018
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Archie has always been a part of Jon Goldwater’s life. His father, John, co-created the iconic character and the rest of the Riverdale gang. But under the younger Goldwater’s tenure as co-CEO, the “Archie” of today looks pretty different from the “Archie” of yesteryear. From introducing the series’ first openly gay main character, to Archie’s infamous death, to the hit television show “Riverdale,” Goldwater has ushered the “Archie” brand through a tremendous overhaul. Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal talks to Goldwater about those decisions, the challenges of taking over the family business, and where “Archie” may be headed next.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey everybody, it's Kyle Rizal. |
| 0:07.6 | Thanks for listening to this episode of the Corner Office podcast, a brand new one for you this time, one that kind of hits hard on the nostalgia, truth be told. |
| 0:14.9 | But it's with a CEO that's not too tied to doing things the way they've always been done, even though his dad founded the |
| 0:21.2 | company. John Goldwater is the CEO of Archie Comics. Betty and Veronica and Jughead and the whole |
| 0:26.2 | gang. |
| 0:27.6 | We're expecting you. Won't you ever see? |
| 0:30.1 | Ready to go to work? |
| 0:32.5 | John Goldwater, uh, thanks for coming to the studio. |
| 0:35.2 | Pleasure. Thanks for having me. |
| 0:37.1 | Uh, you basically grew up with this company. |
| 0:40.7 | Yeah, I mean, many years ago, actually, 1941. |
| 0:44.9 | My father created Archie and Jughead and Betty and Veronica. |
| 0:49.8 | And yeah, I mean, it's been in my blood. |
| 0:53.6 | It's been part of my life. And I don't know this for 100% fact, but I'm sure I learned to read by reading an Archie Comic. So I can't tell you that 100%, but they were just there. You were probably not the only person who learned to read. |
| 1:07.4 | Oh, no. You know, it's funny. Like when I go to like Comic-Conn's or I meet people, whoever they may be, so many people tell me they learn to read through Archie Comics. |
| 1:17.8 | This is not, however, your father's Archie Comics, I think, is a kind way to say it. When you took over this company 10-ish years ago, plus nine? |
| 1:27.7 | Yeah, 2009. |
| 1:30.7 | What did you feel your mandate was? |
| 1:32.8 | Because, to be honest, Archie had languished. |
| 1:35.5 | Yeah, I mean, candidly, I was not really certain where Archie sat in sort of like the zeitgeist of comic book people or just in general in pop culture. |
| 1:47.2 | And it took me quite a while to really get a handle candidly of just how irrelevant Archie was. |
| 1:55.8 | I'll tell you a very quick story. |
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