Jennifer Keiper: CBS gone

Jennifer Keiper was an anchor at CBS Radio until it shut down in the spring. I interviewed her 10 years ago at WLS and six years ago at WBBM Newsradio. She talks about working for local vs national radio, quality broadcasting and writing, advice, Burning Man, cars, journalism, and fun. She also talks about personal issues, such as her sister's suicide (she forgot to say in the interview that her 23-year-old nephew died of a drug overdose three months after his mother died by suicide), caring for other people, and her own experiences growing up. This is from a livestream that we did.

Click this link to play the interview - http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG211.mp3

Mark Maxwell: from sports to TV politics

Before working in news TV, Mark Maxwell worked at Comcast Sportsnet Chicago. Eventually he became Capitol Bureau Chief at WCIA-TV in Springfield, Illinois, and now covers Illinois and Missouri politics for KSDK-TV in St. Louis. He talks about how he works his beat, challenges of covering politics, his biggest controversy, his career in TV news, and at the end explains why he says he grew "up along Chicago’s South Shore in Hammond, Indiana." Mark seems to demonstrate a passion and knowledge of journalism, and has won numerous awards. 

This is from a livestream that we did.

Click this link to play the interview - http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG208.mp3

Steve Scott: now in San Francisco

I've interviewed Steve Scott twice: talking about WLS and when he was at WCBS. When WCBS ceased to exist, Steve got a job at KCBS, where he anchors news. He is also the PA announcer for the Golden State Warriors in his home state of California. He talks about WCBS pulling the plug, what San Francisco is like, crime stories, his alma mater town San Jose, news reporting, NBA announcing, and more.

This is from a livestream that we did.

Click this link to play the interview - http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG206.mp3

Listen to the previous interview from 2020 when he just got his college degree, and the first interview from 2012 when he talked about WLS, WCBS, and announcing for the Bulls and Knicks.

Craig Dellimore: class act

Craig Dellimore spent more than 40 years at WBBM Newsradio, and the last time I interviewed him was in 2018 at City Hall (you can listen to that interview here, direct audio link at http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG156.mp3). In this update after his retirement, he talks about his experience in Chicago as an anchor/reporter, managing editor, legislative correspondent, suburban reporter, and political editor. He also talks about how he got into journalism in his hometown, New York, through a program at Columbia University, where he went to j-school, before working at WNYC and WCBS in New York, then the Associated Press in Washington, D.C. He got "the call" and came to Chicago, where he still lives. He is one of the most decent, talented, kindest people in the news biz!

This is from a livestream that we did.

Click this link to play the interview - http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG204.mp3

Justin Kaufmann: Axios Chicago and radio

Listen at http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG203.mp3

I'd never met Justin Kaufmann before, but he quickly responded to my interview request and was very friendly and smart in this interview. He talks about a lot: why news stories are like radio shows; producing and being on the air at WBEZ; working with producers; working during the pandemic and broadcasting alone; radio challenges; building subscribers; user-generated content vs journalistic context; how comedy helped him for broadcasting; his show "Schadenfreude," which led to Hollywood; challenges of processing information and being timely; Chicago crime and audience response; getting on the air and advice; why producers should focus on supporting the host; communicating with listeners; dealing with pressure and setbacks; newsletters and online relationships; public radio vs commercial radio; WGN and format changes; social media stories; why daily content helps get more exposure; doing Reset on WBEZ and Extension 720 at WGN (reboot); dealing with setbacks; how he got into news; why Axios is great; the writing process; improv and preparation; journalistic discipline; and more. 

This is from a livestream that we did.

Click this link to play the interview - http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG203.mp3

Tom Shaer: Legendary Sportscaster

Tom Shaer is part of Chicago radio history. He was one of the first broadcasters hired at The Score, WSCR. He starts talking about Rich King and a Crain’s Chicago Business article 1982; why ego is important; being and having an agent: wins, lies, challenges, advice; how the biz has changed; treatment of Mark Giangreco; sports staff issues; working in news and sports; the importance of working in different media; writing and editing; going from sports to news; pre-Internet show prep; Larry Bird and access to athletes; going from TV to radio; working at NBC 5 TV, WBBM Newsradio, and The Score WSCR; doing sports talk in the early days; issues in sports media; why The Score did well; broadcasting and adjusting to Chicago; sportscasters reporting news; being square and the drama at The Score; Mike Ditka, Jack Brickhouse, and Harry Caray; why The Score is a good station with past mistakes; how he got into the media; and he talks about several people, including Ron Gleason, Mike North, Rick Gieser, Dan McNeil, Dan Jiggetts, Drew Hayes and Michael Damsky, Chet Coppock, Howard Cosell, Jerry Reinsdorf, Mitch Rosen, Ron Magers and Carol Marin, and more (let me know who else I should list).

This is from a livestream that we did.

Click this link to play the interview - http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG202.mp3

Stefan Holt - TV news anchor

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, advice, and his love of flying: he is an instrument-rated private pilot.

This is from a livestream that we did.

Click this link to play the interview - http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG201.mp3

Joe Donlon - Living the Dream at CBS Chicago

Listen at http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG200.mp3

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 vs local, why writing is important, how experience helps develop your skills, editing audio and video, advice for structuring a story, reporting and anchoring, changing technology and advice, interviewing and reporting, and working in cable news. He also talks about his Chicago Unscripted podcast, dealing with criticism, why ambition is important, and more. 

This is from a livestream that we did.

Click this link to play the interview - http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG200.mp3

Molly Jirasek - advice from a TV News Director

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, multimedia journalism, how she runs a newsroom, and more. 

This is from a livestream that we did.

Click this link to play the interview - http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG199.mp3

And click this link for the previous INBA interview.

Molly is hiring, btw. 

Ron Gleason: The Score, WBBM, Sports

Listen at http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG197.mp3

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, talented broadcasters, going from The Score to WBBM as an anchor then boss, his workflow, advice for getting a job, how sports helps news, how the radio biz has changed, and much more! This is probably the most extensive interview that Ron has ever done and is from a livestream that we did.

"I loved it and I just I knew radio was all I ever wanted to do."

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). 

Listen at http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG197.mp3

Watch the Radiogirl livestreams and videos on the Radiogirl FB page and on YouTube.

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

Rafer Weigel: getting personal

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: acting, his famous sportscaster dad Tim Weigel, sports broadcasting, breaking the Jussie Smollett story and losing his job, mistakes he's made, mental health, pressure and competition, advice for working in the biz, and much more. This is one of the longest podcasts I've done; it was first posted at the INBA website. 

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/RG196.mp3

Watch the Radiogirl livestreams and videos on the Radiogirl FB page and on YouTube.

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

Ravi Baichwal: from Canada to Chicago

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; advice for getting into TV news; challenges he faced; why TV news is still important; diversity; perseverance; what makes a good anchor; elements of a story; what is integrity; why he likes working in Chicago; why he loves radio, and much more!

This is from a livestream that we did; watch the full interview here. But there is also extra content that wasn't in the livestream about his radio career (done in a separate follow-up interview specially for the Radiogirl podcast).

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/RG193.mp3

Note: this is the video he didn’t want me to play during the interview: a van crashed into the ABC 7 studio while he was on the air (back in 2007, just one year after he started anchoring there). 

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!

Karen Schaler: from war correspondent to screenwriter and novelist

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 was a weekend anchor at NBC in Boston, Massachusetts, in addition to briefly reporting from the White House in Washington, D.C. 

She talks about why she left TV news and why she writes about Christmas; crime in small towns; how her stories got on CNN; how she pitches stories; how she processed all the negative stories she covered; her first feature "Christmas Camp,"; working every Christmas when she was a news anchor and reporter; reporting in Afghanistan; how she became a writer for Fox News in New York; how she got her own travel show "Travel Therapy" based on her book; how she got published; her "Travel Now" show on ABC News and travel features on PIX11 in New York and Good Morning America Weekend, Live with Kelly, and Rachel Ray; writing her Audible Original "Once Upon a Christmas Carol" and how she went from writing screenplays to her audio drama, how the pandemic affected her work, and a lot 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/RG190.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!

John Drummond: LEGENDARY reporter

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 "The Magic Lantern," was established, and he talks about a lot: why Chicago was exciting to cover, the Machine, the Chicago syndicate, organized crime, Mayor Daley and why he liked reporting during the Daley Era, getting into Sam Giancana's house, how he developed his sources, covering sports and meeting Vince Lombardi, and lots more. No other reporter has so many stories to tell. He was even in the opening scene of The Fugitive!

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/RG186.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!

Charlie Meyerson - from radio to digital domination

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 and clicking on it (for Mac).

http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG183.mp3

This podcast comes from the livestream that we did, and based on Charlie's advice that independent creators should ask for support, I've created a Buy Me a Coffee page. 

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).

Pat Cassidy: retired from WBBM Newsradio after more than 50 years in the biz

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 Pat in 2013, so if you want to know more details about his career and even an embarrassing mistake he made on the air, you can listen to that interview here. 

p.s. My novel, Wicker Park Wishes, is available as a cheap ebook at Amazon. Get the quality print version through Eckhartz Press, owned by longtime radio pro Rick Kaempfer (who I interviewed for this podcast in the early days). See the reviews at margaretlarkin.com

Gary Wordlaw: Black News Channel exec and incredible person

Gary Wordlaw is a very experienced TV pro, and is now the Vice President of News and Programming at the Black News Channel, which can be viewed throughout the country, including Chicago. He talks about how he got into TV; what the South and Chattanooga, Tennessee were like when he was growing up; working in TV in the 1960s as the first African American hired at the Chattanooga TV station (after Martin Luther King Jr. was killed); how his family, the community, and God helped him get through challenges; the NAACP and what the 1960s were like; what he thinks about how the news biz covers stories about African Americans; why he is glad and proud to be part of the Black News Channel and how he chose the broadcasters; why the channel is located in Tallahassee, Florida and what that city is like; what it’s like to work in different parts of the country (from Chattanooga to Bellingham, Washington, Baltimore, Maryland, Washington D.C., Syracuse, New York, Seattle, Washington, New Orleans and Baton Rouge in Louisiana, and Tallahassee a couple of times) and how moving around has affected him; what being a Southerner means and his family background; what “it” is; why he thinks TV covers certain stories; the importance of telling the deeper story of individuals; important stories for the African American community; why he went into management; what he thinks of social media; how to effectively fact check; how to stay objective in news; advice for working in news, 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/RG173.mp3

p.s. My novel, Wicker Park Wishes, will be published by Eckhartz Press, owned by longtime radio pro Rick Kaempfer (who I interviewed for this podcast in the early days). Pre-order here.

Jennifer Keiper: more reporting and anchoring

Jennifer Keiper now works at WBBM Newsradio in Chicago, where she is an anchor and reporter. She talks about working during the pandemic, how she came back to WBBM, working at WLS in Chicago (where I interviewed her before) and WKRS/XLC in Waukegan, being a traffic reporter in the Sears Tower, working at B96 with News Director Karen Hand, traveling around the country and the world as a Midwest Bureau Correspondent for Fox News Radio, dealing with being fired or laid off, the media business, how she developed her writing and broadcasting skills, why being objective is important, doing concise interviews and preparing for them, writing and rewriting news, how to work on deadline, how to get people to talk for a story, working in the suburbs and city, difference between reporting an anchoring, difference between reporting locally and traveling, what kind of experience is important, how journalism has changed, why reporters should focus outward, 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/RG171.mp3

Michele Fiore: having fun in TV

Michele Fiore is a reporter at Fox 32 Chicago and talks about why it's a great place to work; what a desk assistant does; how they choose stories to cover and what makes a good story; how journalism has changed; the difference between working in TV and radio; working in Decatur, Illinois; working in Chicago at Metro Networks, WMAQ radio, CLTV, and WBBM Newsradio; working in Milwaukee at WTMJ Radio and WTMJ TV, and CBS 58 TV as a reporter and at the news desk; her work at WAND TV in Springfield; how to get work in the media; why getting along with people and being a team player are important; how social media affects reporting; how TV stories are put together and why TV is fun; how they check sources; what Milwaukee is like; how to find people to interview for stories; how radio stories are different from TV stories; how to create a compelling story; how she likes doing both reporting and anchoring radio; advice for getting into broadcasting; what makes good writing, and more. See videos at Michele's YouTube page. 

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/RG170.mp3

Steve Scott: from successful news guy to new college grad

Steve Scott is an anchor at WCBS Radio in New York. He provides an update on what is going on with his life there (I interviewed him about his news radio broadcasting career in 2012), including what it's like during the coronavirus lockdown and challenges the city is facing; how they report the news through audio and writing; finding positive stories; what makes a good story, how they get big-name politicians on the air, reporting the news on WLS when 9-11 happened, advice for getting into journalism, how to know when to quit, why he considers himself lucky, and he also reveals his own incredible news: after 40 years, he has finally graduated from college! He wasn't able to go to his graduation in California (San Jose State) due to the virus shutting events down, but his diploma is on the way!

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/RG169.mp3