--- title: "Conversation Is a Necessity: How Zach Randles-Friedman Built an Award-Winning Podcast Where Every Voice Is Heard" description: The Boston host of Everything and Anything...and a bit gay won Gold and Listener's Choice at the 2026 Signal Awards for a show that gives people the one thin... author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief) date: 2026-10-24T18:00:49.591Z updated: 2026-10-24T18:06:42.054Z canonical: https://www.richmanmagazine.com/article/zach-randles-friedman-conversation-is-a-necessity image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/zach-headshot-march2026.webp categories: Social Impact content_type: Spotlight region: United States, Boston publication: Sovereign Magazine schema_type: Article about: - type: Person name: Zach Randles-Friedman description: "Boston-based host of the podcast Everything and Anything...and a bit gay, produced by his company ZachRE, LLC. Winner of the Gold Award and the Listener's Choice Award in the Shows: LGBTQ+ category at the 2026 Signal Awards." url: https://everythingandanythingpodcast.com/ jobTitle: Host, Everything and Anything...and a bit gay worksFor: ZachRE, LLC --- How many voices have you heard today, and how many of them do you remember? By the end of 2026, around 11,500 new book titles are being published every day. More than 4.7 million podcasts are registered around the world, and 5.79 billion social media accounts are in use. Never since Gutenberg built his printing press have so many people shared so much of what they think. A social post, a blog or a vlog has become a daily habit for billions of people around the world, yet that communication is rarely a two-way street. Most of it is sent out and scrolled past. The real question is this: when was the last time you felt truly listened to? For a long time, a long conversation looked like a luxury, something for people with spare evenings and nowhere to be. It is a necessity. A real conversation is how a stranger becomes a person to you, how a hard experience finds words and how you work out what you believe. Without it, everything you take in stays on the surface. Zach Randles-Friedman's podcast is built on that idea. His show, Everything and Anything, won both the Gold Award and the Listener's Choice Award in the Shows: LGBTQ+ category at the [2026 Signal Awards](https://www.signalaward.com/winners/details/zachre-llc-everything-and-anythingand-a-bit-gay-podcast-712263/). The judges chose it, and so did the people who listen to it. ## Everything and Anything gives every guest the time to be heard Randles-Friedman describes the show as 'Long-form conversations with fascinating people: psychic mediums, cult survivors, celebrities, activists, and everyone in between, hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman, with a little bit of gay.' Produced by his company, ZachRE, LLC, it covers gay culture, relationships, friendships and personal stories. No single subject defines the show. A medium can follow an activist, and a celebrity can follow a survivor. Each guest is treated as someone worth an hour of your attention. He researches every guest before recording but writes no questions in advance. He wants each interview to be a flowing conversation rather than a list of questions and answers. The show began as a place for queer voices. 'I started this show to have the honest, curious, sometimes messy conversations queer people deserve to hear,' he said. Those conversations now reach anyone who presses play. ## Judges and listeners reached the same verdict The Signal Awards' Shows: LGBTQ+ category recognises programmes that celebrate, explore or engage with LGBTQ+ communities. Gold is awarded by the judging panel. Listener's Choice is decided by public vote. Winning both means the experts and the audience chose the same show. > "Winning Gold from the judges is incredible. Winning Listener's Choice too means our community showed up and voted for us, and that means everything." > — Zach Randles-Friedman ## He started with his own voice and his own savings Before there was an audience, one man did every job. 'I started the show by myself and did all the editing, hosting, booking guests, promotion, all alone. I had no money to pay for help,' Randles-Friedman said. What he did have went into making sure people could find the show. He put his savings into social media promotion, spending $20,000 a month for the first six months, by his own account, around $120,000 in total. It was a large personal bet on a show that had yet to prove itself. The next step was bringing in help. 'I hired an editor and quality of sound and video are so much better,' he said. After the hire, downloads slowly increased and the show grew. His own list of essentials is short: a good microphone, headphones, a good camera and a powerful computer. 'Computer needs to be powerful so you can edit video,' he said. He records on Riverside and publishes with Simplecast. ## Around 75 people a week ask to be heard on his show Today the requests come to him. Around 75 people email each week asking to be a guest, and each of those emails comes from someone who wants their story told in full. He reads every request, researches each person and chooses who to invite. Chosen guests receive an email with a booking link to schedule their conversation. ## Being human means reaching out to each other Randles-Friedman started with no audience and no help. Today judges and listeners have recognised the show he built, and new voices ask for a place at his microphone every week. 'When so much of the news about us is hard, I'm proud to make a space where we get to be funny, nosy, and fully ourselves,' he said. Behind every one of those 11,500 new books a day, every podcast and every post is a person hoping to be heard. Being human has always meant sharing ideas and making new connections, with empathy, humour, kindness and a pinch of salt. Conversation is how all of that happens. If it was ever a luxury, it is now a necessity. It is how you reach out to people you have never met, to total strangers, including yourself. **About Everything and Anything...and a bit gay** LGBTQ+ podcast hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman. Winner of the Gold Award and the Listener's Choice Award in the Shows: LGBTQ+ category at the 2026 Signal Awards. [Website](https://everythingandanythingpodcast.com/)