Stefan Holt is from Chicago and started at NBC 5 Chicago in 2011. He talks about reporting, anchoring, and working in Florida and at WNBC in New York; why reporting is challenging; what he learned from his dad, Lester Holt, when he was growing up and visited CBS 2 Chicago/WBBM-TV; why he likes working in Chicago; how his bosses and his dad helped his growth and on-the-job training; the importance of journalism and local news; working at a national vs local level; the Today Show, radio news, advi...
Aug 16, 2025
Joe Donlon is an anchor at CBS News Chicago. He was on the air at WGN-TV and NewsNation in Chicago, and was at KGW-TV in Oregon for several years before coming to Chicago. He talks about why he loves Chicago and feels relaxed; how he's been living the dream; how he got to WGN-TV from Oregon; having fun at work; the journalism profession including: demo reels, challenges in the business, prepping for a newscast and speaking spontaneously, how to be effective on the air, working in national news v...
Jun 27, 2025
I interviewed Molly Jirasek at the Illinois News Broadcasters Association convention six years ago, when she was Assistant News Director at Heart of Illinois ABC in Peoria. Now she is News Director at ABC57-TV in South Bend, Indiana. Molly explains what she looks for in a journalism professional, and gives advice on topics that include: appearance, demo reels, reporting, applying for jobs, important skills for working in TV news, attitude, what to look for in a school to get experience, multimed...
Apr 27, 2025
Jerry Agar has been on the air since October, 1973. I interviewed him in 2010 when he was starting at Newstalk 1010 CFRB in Toronto. He went back to Canada after spending 25 years in the U.S. (he's originally from Canada), and is still at Newstalk 1010. He talks about a lot in this update: what he thinks of the radio industry and talk radio; why he switched from music radio to talk; his experience including WGN and WLS in Chicago, and smaller markets throughout the country; Kevin Metheny and his...
Dec 20, 2024
Ron Gleason worked in sports for many years before switching to news at WBBM Newsradio. He talks about Sports Phone, doing play-by-play, sportscasting, being the boss at WSCR The Score, Mike North and Dan Jiggetts, radio before and during the Internet, how radio can be effective and entertaining, being management vs on the air, starting his radio career in his home state of California, doing sports in Joliet at WJOL, the end of WMAQ news station in Chicago and WCBS in New York, revenue declines,...
Aug 30, 2024
I first interviewed Rafer Weigel 11 years ago when he was at WLS-TV in Chicago. When I did this livestream with him, he was at KUSI-TV in San Diego. Now he's Chief Communications Officer at VetComm , so but I want to post this anyway because Rafer talked a lot not just about his professional experience, but his personal struggles as well, which is pretty rare in the few-hundred interviews I've done so far. He also shares his opinions about the media biz and news broadcasting. Topics covered: act...
Aug 23, 2024
A musical discussion: Steve Leventhal, creator of InternetFM, and his son and cofounder Eric Leventhal, talk about their music and broadcasting experience, what is top-shelf radio, paying for songs, why vinyl is popular with some younger music fans, commercials, changing technology and music delivery, how they define oldies, the resurgence of psychedelic music, concerts, rock’s waning popularity, the role of the Internet for radio, the future of music radio, and more. The last time I interviewed...
Dec 13, 2023
John Siuntres (host and creator of the popular Word Balloon livestream and podcast and I often talk on the phone for at least an hour, so we decided to do a livestream conversation, and it ended up being much longer! Topics covered: how entertainment and the media have changed, the WGA and SAG/AFTRA strikes, creativity and syndication in TV and radio, innovation, digital access and viewpoints, media and cultural nostalgia, podcasting and the radio biz, Instagram and influencers, Gen X, nerd cult...
Sep 21, 2023
Ravi Baichwal is an anchor at ABC 7 Chicago and talks about his hockey documentary Summit 72 ; his hometown Toronto and Canadian culture; his radio career at CKNW in Vancouver before he went to CTV National News, then doing CTV and being on the air at CFRB radio in Toronto (where I previously interviewed Jerry Agar and John Moore ); filling in at WLS Radio; why he thinks radio is fun and important; doing TV vs radio; his accent; corruption; why fair pay is important; how he got into media; advic...
Jun 05, 2023
Justin Roman has done a lot during the 21st century: he hosts The MVP Game (sign up there to be a guest on the show) with Kenzie K (who was his fiancée when this was recorded); it's a super-fan Cubs game show (and a couple of Bears shows during the off season) on the Marquee Sports Network. He talks about his media and performing career, which includes the Vi3 boy band and their hit Eyes Closed so Tight before he started at B96 in 2004; producing music with the Jump Smokers and DJ Flipside (who ...
Apr 06, 2023
Doug Cummings is a resident of Highland Park, where the shooting tragedy happened on July 4th at the Independence Day parade. He wrote the personal safety handbook, Escaping the O-Zone , to help people take steps to keep themselves safe and preventing becoming a victim. All proceeds go to the Highland Park Community Foundation . He talks about his reporting career, which started in Kansas at WIBW; why starting at a small station is helpful for a media career and education; working in Kansas City...
Mar 10, 2023
Karen Schaler was a journalist and crime reporter who is best known for the Netflix hit "A Christmas Prince." She talks about how her journalism experience led to Hollywood success; how she got into the TV biz at a station in Billings, Montana, then worked at a number of stations: in Twin Falls, Idaho, in South Dakota, at KSTP-TV in Alexandria, Minnesota, and at KSL-TV, where she was the first female crime reporter in Salt Lake City, Utah. She also worked in Texas, Arizona, and California, and w...
Feb 03, 2023
For two decades, Kathy Hart was part of the most popular morning show in Chicago, on 101.9 WTMX The Mix. She talks about how she went from being an intern to getting on the air in Rockford at WKKN and WYFE, then driving the station van at WZOK and WROK; how she was different from the "pukers" and wanted to be authentic on the air; how her radio experience changed with the Internet and texts; advice, celebrities she met, and falling asleep in Milwaukee; having a show with Brian Pecht at G105 in R...
Jan 13, 2023
Hannah Brummer is on the air every morning with Eddie Volkman on Star 96.7. She talks about her radio career, which includes hosting afternoons on 103 WXLC, and working in promotions at US 99, 104.3 Jams, WLS, and Q101. She talks about how she got into radio, why she loves radio, what auditions are like, show prep, why she's so grateful, her podcast Monday Motivation with Hannah B , her home studio, her supportive family, what she learned from being an athlete, how to stay positive, and more. Th...
Dec 05, 2022
Vicki Quade is best known for her popular show, Late Nite Catechism, and she talks about how she came up with the idea for that show; her journalism career, which included the News-Tribune newspaper in La Salle and the Waukegan News-Sun; her books Close Encounters of a Chicago Kind and I Remember Bob Collins ; the decline of newspapers and how the Internet affected journalism and theater; why talking to people is important; why one-woman shows were more popular in the 90s; advice for pursuing yo...
Nov 13, 2022
John "Bulldog" Drummond has had a long career and is best known for being a world-class reporter covering breaking news, corruption, and, most notably, the Chicago Outfit. He grew up in Wisconsin and worked in Des Moines, Iowa before coming to Chicago to cover the Illinois legislature for WIND Radio. He worked at WREX-TV, then joined CBS-TV in the late 1960s. His career started in the late 1950s in Iowa at KBIZ and KXEL radio, and he worked at WHO. He remembers when the television medium, aka "T...
Nov 02, 2022
Brian Pecht has been a jock and programmer at music radio stations for several years, and he hosts the very popular The Catholic Word Podcast. He talks about why he enjoys doing traffic at WBBM Newsradio; his on-air work at WLS-FM; payola in the music radio business; office politics; being on the air and Program Director (the youngest in the country) in Detroit at WCZY Z95.5 (where radio legend Dick Purtan had a successful show); how the 1996 Telecommunications Act changed the radio business and...
Oct 25, 2022
The last time I interviewed Sam Panayotovich , he was just getting his career started in sports radio. Now Sam is on NESN and Fox Sports TV . He talks about his journey from Chicago to Las Vegas to Boston, his sociability, sports betting, working hard and paying your dues, comparisons between Boston and Chicago, advice, locker rooms, covering pro teams, and more. This is from a livestream that we did in the summer (when the White Sox weren't doing so well and the football season hadn't started y...
Sep 21, 2022
Charlie Meyerson is publisher of Chicago Public Square . He talks about how he's become successful in digital media, what he thinks of the news business, his belief in independent pursuits, his podcast, and more. If you want to know more about his radio and newspaper career, listen to the interview that we did ten years ago . This is from a livestream that we did; watch the full interview here. Click the link below to play, or download it by right-clicking (on a PC) or holding down the CTRL key ...
Aug 19, 2022
Adam Wade is from New Hampshire and has lived in New York for almost 25 years. He has won The Moth 20 times, and has appeared on Conan O'Brien's show, "Inside Amy Schumer," and Lena Dunham’s "Girls." He created the popular album The Human Comedy and was featured in The New Yorker . He teaches storytelling at the Magnet Theater and has popular content on Audible called You Ought to Know Adam Wade. He talks about all of those accomplishments, how making connections and being good to people are imp...
Jul 21, 2022
I first interviewed Neil five years ago , and his work situation has changed since then. He is no longer at the hotel (where I interviewed him early in the morning), and now teaches broadcasting and radio, in addition to doing traffic at WBBM Newsradio. This interview includes breaking news: Neil is going to be in the movie, Never Stop Talking, which will be released at the end of the year. He also talks about his partying parents, his wonderful wife, Chicago, and more. This is from a livestream...
Jun 28, 2022
Bart Shore was one of the early guests on this podcast 12 years ago, and he was my first livestreaming guest last week. He is still doing traffic in Chicago in the morning with Melissa Forman and hosts weekends at WLIT . Lately, he's also been on various music stations throughout the country. Click the link below to play, or download it by right-clicking (on a PC) or holding down the CTRL key and clicking on it (for Mac). http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG180.mp3 I interviewed Bart in 2010, so if you ...
Jun 07, 2022
Pat Cassidy spent more than 50 years on the air in news radio. Just before he retired from WBBM Newsradio , he talked about what he's learned over the years, why news is important, how he's maintained a good attitude, how he thinks news reporting and the media have changed, advice he has for broadcasters, and more. Click the link below to play, or download it by right-clicking (on a PC) or holding down the CTRL key and clicking on it (for Mac). http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG179.mp3 I interviewed P...
Feb 28, 2022
Lin Brehmer, who has a fantastic reputation for being a super-friendly, interesting, talented radio guy, is well-known in Chicago via his on-air work at WXRT, where he was previously Music Director. He talks about his baseball and music nerdiness; interviewing Mick Jagger, David Bowie, and The Replacements; creating the always-entertaining Lin's Bin; his professional writing and his mom; backstage adventures; meeting the Go-Go's, Aimee Mann, and Robert Randolph; why WXRT is different from other ...
Jan 12, 2022
I have known Jill Urchak for many years, but I did not know that she was married before (though now I know, not just because she told me, but because I searched online after we did the interview; I should have searched before). She is probably the only person on this podcast who has discussed personal topics on the record, such as marriage and work. Of course, she also discusses her radio career, which has included talk and traffic on WGN, WBBM, and other stations that she didn't name because sh...
Nov 03, 2021
