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Colin Cowherd’s leap from loud-mouth radio host to outright media owner is what free-market media should look like: a talented broadcaster who turned his platform into a business instead of begging for corporate mercy. What started as The Volume in 2021 has become a full-fledged podcast operation under his control, and it’s a reminder that American grit still builds companies people actually want to use.
The numbers the network is putting up justify the swagger. The Volume now employs scores of people, runs a few dozen shows, and routinely chalks up millions of downloads and YouTube views each month—Forbes even estimates the business pulls in roughly sixty million dollars a year with healthy profits. That kind of performance proves you don’t need left-wing gatekeepers to monetize talent if you understand your audience and run a tight ship.
Cowherd didn’t stumble into success on venture cash; he personally funded the build-out and deliberately avoided outside investors so he could keep control. Sponsors have followed the product—the network launched with a FanDuel presenting sponsorship, later moved to DraftKings, and more recently shifted to Hard Rock Bet—demonstrating that advertisers still reward reach and authenticity. That’s conservative economics in action: own your equity, take the risk, reap the reward.
What should unsettle the coastal elites is how efficiently Cowherd turned that independence into profit without bowing to a corporate board or a woke content mandate. Forbes reports he’s kept most of the equity and runs The Volume with the kind of accountability bosses praise but employees rarely see. When creators are owners instead of rent-seekers, the content follows the audience—not the other way around.
More importantly for conservatives who care about diverse voices, The Volume has become a home for big personalities across the spectrum of sports and culture—names like Shannon Sharpe, Richard Sherman, and now Nick Wright have joined or partnered with the network. The recent landing of Wright’s podcast underscores that talent will always find places where creative control and fair economics exist, not in legacy outlets that pander to elites.
Cowherd didn’t quit mainstream media; he runs both sides of the street. He continues to host on Fox and radio while building The Volume, a balance that’s earned him significant personal compensation and the leverage to do things on his own terms—including a move of his flagship show to Chicago. That dual strategy is a blueprint for conservative media entrepreneurship: keep your marquee platform, then use it to finance independence.
This story should inspire every American who believes in work over whining. While the left insists that success must be redistributed and sanitized through boardrooms and credentialed editors, entrepreneurs like Cowherd prove you can build influence, jobs, and profit by serving an audience honestly. If conservatives want to win the cultural fight, we should celebrate and replicate this model—support creators who own their work, push back against censors, and keep the marketplace of ideas both open and profitable.
