Inside Hinterland: Sam Summers on Festival Challenges and the 90-Degree Guarantee

In this episode of The What Podcast, the hosts sit down with Sam Summers, the founder of Iowa's Hinterland Festival, for a deep dive into the art (and chaos) of modern festival production. From booking Fall Out Boy in college to launching Hinterland in 2015, Sam walks us through his journey from DIY club shows to managing a 20,000-attendee outdoor event that has weathered literal floods and the fury of the internet.Sam doesn't shy away from discussing Hinterland’s tough 2023, where a perfect storm of record-breaking heat, overcrowding, and poor water logistics led to fan frustration. In response, Sam did the unthinkable: he listened. After combing through every Reddit post and angry comment, he launched the "90-Degree Guarantee": a bold refund policy if temperatures cross a certain threshold, and revamped the entire site design for 2024 to improve shade, water access, and flow. He credits part of this shift to inspiration from C3 Presents, the powerhouse behind festivals like Bonnaroo, and their commitment to behind-the-scenes best practices that Sam sought to emulate.Listen to the full interview with Sam Summers here, or watch it on YouTube. And don't forget to subscribe to The What Podcast wherever you get your podcasts!______CHAPTERS(00:00:00) Intro(00:05:22) Interview with Sam Summers(00:58:03) Outro______ 🎧 LISTEN LINKS Website: https://thewhatpodcast.com Spotify: https://thewhat.co/spotify Apple Podcasts: https://thewhat.co/applepodcasts YouTube Music: https://thewhat.co/youtubemusic Amazon Music: https://thewhat.co/amazonmusic 📱 SOCIAL LINKS Discord: https://discord.gg/zShHTeCYGn YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thewhatpodcast X: https://x.com/thewhat_podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewhatpodcast/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewhatpodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thewhatpodcast Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thewhat.co Threads: https://www.threads.net/@thewhatpodcast The What Podcast theme: "Aquarius" by *repeat repeat, used with permission. Other music provided by Midist and used with permission. We love to hear from you! Send us an email at [email protected] or call (423) 667-7877 and leave us a voicemail. We might just feature it on the show.