Frank Ski launches weekly YouTube podcast ‘Frankly Speaking’

“I was hesitant at first to do a podcast,” Ski told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in his studio at his spacious Atlanta home where he records the podcast. “You have to be committed to it. Most podcasts don’t work unless they’re consistent.”

It’s not as if Ski doesn’t enjoy spouting his opinions.

A couple of years ago, he began doing off-the-cuff 90-second rants on social media about different topics, ranging from pop culture to sports to whatever was bugging him. He began calling them “Frankly Speaking,” which he initially thought was “corny” until fans began parroting the phrase back to him in the supermarket. (His latest supports the idea of a four-day work week.)

Those twice-weekly short clips now air on multiple radio stations nationwide. He also realized “Frankly Speaking” would be a great name for a podcast.

“There are a lot of podcasts,” Ski said, “but there will always be room for authentic storytelling, thoughtful conversation and a perspective grounded in our culture and our community.”

While clips of Ski’s interviews are circulating on social media for promotional purposes, he said he isn’t trying to generate viral “gotcha” moments.

“I am trying to go beyond the headline, the public image,” he said.

Ski officially debuted his podcast earlier this month, taping in the lower level of his gated Atlanta home across from his wine cellar. He lives there with his wife Patrice Basanta-Henry, a maternal and fetal medicine doctor, and his two young children. (He also has three living adult sons and a fourth, who died of liver disease in 2024, from a previous marriage.)

Ski had no trouble reserving time with Bottoms, whom he has known since she was on the Atlanta City Council.

His 50-minute podcast with the candidate was not an interrogation by any stretch. Rather, it was a friendly interview, an effort to highlight her humanity, not what people see in political ads.

“I found Keisha Lance Bottoms to be extremely passionate about people, about really wanting to make life better for people,” Ski said. During the interview, she discussed her plans to expand Medicare and offer free pre-K for all eligible children if she becomes governor.

Ski has enjoyed recording his podcast at his home, noting that celebrities can come and go unobtrusively.

“They feel more comfortable coming to my home than in a studio in Colony Square, which is more public,” said Ski, referring to the space where V-103 is located.

He hired podcasting company Follow Up Media to edit and distribute his podcast after he tapes it. He acknowledged that it will take a lot of traction for his podcast to become financially successful.

Mike Roberts, who owns a radio station in Macon and was V-103’s morning co-host before Ski, said the biggest podcasters like Joe Rogan and Alex Cooper are “funny, compelling or controversial.” While he admires Ski’s ability to navigate a morning show and “comes across as a nice guy,” he isn’t sure if that is enough to draw a big podcast audience.

Still, Ski does have a sizable fanbase in Atlanta. Born in New York City and raised in Miami, he first came to Atlanta in 1998 as a morning host at V-103 where he quickly became No. 1 in the market.

He left in 2012 to pursue a radio syndication deal but instead ended up at a Washington D.C. R&B station WHUR-FM. He returned to work at V-103 a second time in 2016, left again four years later, then joined rival R&B station Kiss 104.1 from 2021 to 2024.

Credit: RODNEY HO/rho

Credit: RODNEY HO/rho

Ski is now back part-time with V-103 for a third run. He is on every Sunday afternoon from noon to 4 p.m. and has filled in a few times in the mornings while Big Tigger was off the air over the summer grappling with legal problems.

He also tapes a daily syndicated afternoon radio show for 16 smaller market radio stations in places like Columbus, Albany and Birmingham, Alabama.

Four nights a week, he also does DJ sets at local nightclubs “I’m not working full-time,” Ski said. “I gotta hustle!”

Ski is still open to hosting a regular morning show job again. “That’s up to God,” he said. “I love radio.”

Though radio has lost audience to podcasts and streaming music services, Ski said it’s not dead yet.

“Radio is viable for a whole lot of people who don’t like the robotics of online music services and the lack of personality,” he said. “People are feeling nostalgic. They want the experience of hearing a DJ. But it’s not like it used to be. There aren’t as many experienced people doing radio anymore.”