Beloved Chamber member gone too soon

Many may know that our community lost John Biethan at the end of August. John had been a member of the Carlsbad Chamber for well over a decade under a few different businesses. He was known for many things, but it was during the COVID lockdown when John clearly found where he wanted to spend all his time.

It brought him so much joy, he rocked it, and businesses now needed it – podcasting. He had been doing podcasts since the beginning of podcast time but quickly became more involved particularly for local businesses and his company grew exponentially. John received three awards in the last three years for his work at the Chamber. In 2020 he received the “Champion of the Year” award, the highest award given by the Chamber for his volunteer work driving several committees to excellent outcomes.

We are extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to work with John daily. If you had to pick someone to share an office with, he would win and get a gold star for stellar roommate. John managed all podcasts for the Chamber of Commerce and moved into our office. He was part of our team, and he is deeply missed.



Originally from Oregon, John from the age of 14 to 24 studied music then at 25 relocated to Orcas Island off the coast of Seattle and for seven years lived there studying metaphysics, world religion, and nutrition, while running a country inn “The Outlook Inn” which had been built in 1892. In 1985 he moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico where he first discovered podcasting in 2004 when it was first called “audio blogging.” He produced his first podcast the “OmniArt Salon” in 2005 which is still active today.

John finally moved and made Carlsbad the home of Imagine Podcasting. Being an Oregon boy where John spent much of his youth outdoors, he enjoyed hikes in the mountains, and long walks on the beach to clear his mind. We feel blessed to have had him in our lives and devastated that he lost his health battle in late August.

Thank you to all those who made it to our memorial on Sept. 22 at Tin Leaf. It was an honor for us to share our memories and honor his life which positively affected so many.