Doug Cummings: Escaping the O-Zone

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 at KCMO; graduating from the Public Affairs Reporting Program at University of Illinois/Springfield; doing legislative reporting for WTMX in Chicago, then street reporting at WMAQ and WGN; talking to victims of fires, crime, shootings, family murders and how they wanted control back; being the director of security at a church; the Highland Park shooting, which was “absolute devastation”; security consulting; why he got back into the media and why he liked reporting; approaching victims after a tragedy; reporters' PTSD and why they should get help if they report on serious stories; why he left the media to go into security, the risks of owning a gun, and more.

Listen to the first interview I did with Doug 10 years ago here.

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 and clicking on it (for Mac). 

http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG191.mp3

Watch the Radiogirl livestreams and videos at the Radiogirl FB page and on YouTube (also live-streaming on Radiogirl Twitter, Metrolingua Twitter, and my own Fakebook page).

If you like what I'm doing, Buy Me a Coffee...thanks!

Vicki Quade: Late Nite Catechism, Bob Collins, theater, writing, and more

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 your dream; her business and what is success, how nuns helped, and more. 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 and clicking on it (for Mac). 

http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG187.mp3

Watch the Radiogirl livestreams and videos at the Radiogirl FB page and on YouTube (also live-streaming on Radiogirl Twitter, Metrolingua Twitter, and my own Fakebook page).

If you like what I'm doing, Buy Me a Coffee...thanks!

Scott Childers: designed for radio

Scott Childers has been working in radio for over 25 years. He is the afternoon drive host and is the program director at Star 96.7 and talks about why he got into the business; why he didn't become an architect; working at WJTW 93.5 in Joliet; becoming one of the first traffic reporters for Metro Traffic; why doing traffic for both radio and TV is fun and how they're different; how he became a jock at 103-5 The Blaze; what it's like to be the boss and be on the air at the same time; why he wanted to be a PD and what he likes about it; why he likes being on the air; what made his mentor Tim Dukes so great (who's worked at WLUP The Loop, Next Media, Tribune, Q101); his excellent website about WLS Radio and his book Chicago's WLS Radio, 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/RG138.mp3

James VanOsdol: music radio and more

James VanOsdol worked at alternative Q101/WKQX for several years and wrote We Appreciate Your Enthusiasm: The Oral History of Q101. He talks about the meaning of the title; why he used Kickstarter; what it was like to meet Rush; his brief gigs at WXRT and WZZN/The Zone; getting fired; his previous podcast about comic books; sci-fi; and his current podcast at Steve Dahl's network.

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/RG117.mp3

Paul Lisnek: TV, radio, and much more

Paul Lisnek hosts "Politics Tonight" on CLTV, but he does a lot more: he was the only "white guy" at WVON Radio, where he hosted a show and where he fills in for Cliff Kelley; loves theater and hosts "Broadway in Chicago Backstage" on Comcast; hosts the "Comcast Newsmakers" TV show; got a PhD in Communications at the same time as a J.D. (law degree) at the University of Illinois Champaign/Urbana; created the Paul Lisnek Chair in Law & Communications and donated money to U of I, including The Paul Lisnek Cafe, two faculty conference rooms, and the Paul Lisnek Trial Advocacy Awards at the law school; was a jury consultant for his company Decision Analysis and worked on many well-known cases; wrote several books, and a lot 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/RG116.mp3

Doug Cummings: from crime reporter to crime author

Doug Cummings was a TV and radio reporter in Kansas City and in Chicago at WMAQ and WGN Radio after he was a deputy sheriff near Kansas City. He talks about his career, his passion for crime stories, criminals he encountered, crime stories he covered, seeing dead bodies, how he comes up with story ideas and plots, his writing process and how he stays motivated to write, why he left radio and law enforcement, his new book, 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/RG114.mp3

Steve Bertrand: radio rarity

Steve Bertrand has only worked at WGN Radio his entire career (from the mid-1980s), starting as an intern and currently as a news anchor. For a couple of years, he hosted the Meet the Writers podcast for Barnes & Noble, and interviewed all kinds of authors such as Stephen King, Dan Brown, Nora Roberts, Dennis Leary, and Amy Tan; he talks about what Chris Farley was like at Marquette University (they both went there); his experience with the Chicago Bears show and the 1985 Bears; fun times at WGN (he's worked with Roy Leonard, Kathy and Judy, Garry Meier, John Williams, Spike O'Dell, and Jonathan Brandmeier); how news has changed, 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/RG113.mp3

Anupy Singla: from TV News to Indian Cooking Star

Anupy Singla was a reporter for Bloomberg News, WGN-TV, and CLTV, and has now launched a successful business around Indian food, including her popular cookbooks Vegan Indian Cooking and The Indian Slow Cooker, products at Williams-Sonoma, classes, and a lot more! She is going to be a huge national star (i.e., will probably do national TV), so it was nice of her to do this podcast before she hits the big time :)

Download this episode by right-clicking (on a PC) or holding down the CTRL key and clicking (on a Mac) on the link below.
http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG84.mp3

Jim Moran: Radio Guy and Future Libertyville Mayor?

Jim Moran has done talk, traffic, and news for various radio stations, including WLS and WBBM in Chicago, and talks about the difficulties and joys of the biz, including working with Jay Marvin, Steve Scott, Cisco Cotto, Chip Egan, and Lenny Palmer. He wrote a book about Libertyville and is currently a Village Board Trustee there...but will he eventually be its Mayor?

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/RG58.mp3