Rafer Weigel: Gracious TV Sports Guy

Rafer Weigel does sports on WLS-TV in Chicago, and talks about writing his own scripts; why producers are necessary; how acting helped his TV work; his acting career, which included playing Jenny McCarthy's neighbor on her TV show, a Charmed episode with Melissa Milano, ads for Honda and Avis, ER, Party of Five, Free Enterprise with William Shatner and Eric McCormack, and a movie with Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen on Showtime; why he didn't like the acting lifestyle; writing for the Chicago Sun-Times and Los Angeles Times; what the acting biz is like; if his father, sportscaster Tim Weigel, helped him get into the media; being the "man about town" and covering the Kings for KUSI-TV in San Diego; doing news in Sacramento at KOVR-TV; doing sports at CNN Headline News with Robin Meade; what it's like to work at CNN; how he got the WLS-TV sports gig; what his dad taught him; his work with ESPN Radio; advice he has for people who want to do sports media, 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/RG106.mp3

Matt Bubala: Producing Fun

Matt Bubala, host of Good Parenting Radio, talks about producing John Williams' show at WGN Radio; running his own business, Black Dog Radio Productions (which also syndicates Steve Dale's show), and advice for starting a business; his experience in Los Angeles producing Peter Tilden's show at KABC/KMPC and meeting famous people in L.A.; what it was like to work with and hang out with Danny Bonaduce at WKQI in Detroit; getting hired by Mitch Rosen and fired by Larry Wert; how the neighborhood near WDFN "The Fan" in Detroit was, 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/RG105.mp3

Tara Servatius: No barriers

Tara Servatius has her own morning show on WTMA in Charleston, South Carolina, and had her own show at WRNN in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and at WBT in Charlotte, North Carolina. She talks about why she thinks she was fired from WBT, how she balances family and radio life, how consultant Valerie Geller helped her, what Charleston and Myrtle Beach are like, advice for working in the media, what it's like to be one of the few women in local talk radio, what the essence of the South is, how being a woman in radio has been a pleasant experience, the supportive men she's worked with in the biz, how she chooses topics, 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/RG104.mp3

Pugs Moran: from Chicago to Dallas

Pugs Moran (John Myron) got his radio start in Chicago, where he was executive producer for Wendy Snyder and Bill Leff's show on Q101, Kevin Matthews' producer on AM 1000 WMVP, and created a show with Kelly Mohr on WCKG. That's where he and Kelly got fired when Steve Dahl recorded their private conversations and played them on the air. Pugs says, "Beware of meeting Superman without his cape." He talks about the support he got when he was fired, including from Garry Meier; his career in Dallas, which included a popular show with Kelly on KLLI Live 105.3 (listen to their demo here) and a brief stint at KDBN The Bone (which flipped formats); what he thinks the Chicago School of Talk Radio is; interning at Shadow Traffic in Chicago with Kathy Voltmer; working at WLUP The Loop with Mitch Rosen (who was Eddie Schwartz's producer); how the Case of the Texas Seven made Kelly and him more successful; Texas food, steak, pizza, and more. This interview was recorded during his June 13th show on Deep Ellum On Air.

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/RG103.mp3

Corey Deitz: Long-Time Radio Guy

Corey Deitz has a popular morning show on 100.3 The Edge (KDJE) in Little Rock, Arkansas, and has worked for several years in radio all over the country, including WRVQ (Q94) in Richmond, Virginia, where his show was one of the first "zoo" formats in the country; WFYR in Chicago; WLTF in Cleveland with the "Corey, Jay and Desiree" show, and where he also worked for a "moronic" program director; and KLOU in St. Louis, where he had a "psycho" program director and did the morning show because John Records Landecker rejected that gig. He talks about how radio used to be fun, how deregulation and consolidation affected the radio business, why he got fired despite being successful, what makes a successful radio show, how 9/11 affected radio, why he and Jay Hamilton redid their show, how people responded to him in Little Rock, what he thinks about larger markets vs smaller markets, and more. He's also written several books, created jokes for Comfax and Dialogue joke service in Toledo, Ohio, and writes the About Radio 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/RG102.mp3

Jenniffer Weigel: Multimedia Ace

Jenniffer Weigel talks about her work at the Chicago Tribune, for which she writes a column and appears on WGN-TV; how she got into radio; what it was like to work with Jonathan Brandmeier and Steve Cochran; her father, sportscaster Tim Weigel; her grandfather John Weigel, who founded Weigel Broadcasting; if her family's media involvement helped her own career; the lack of women in radio, her books, theater work, 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/RG101.mp3

John Records Landecker: still having fun

John Records Landecker became famous at WLS-AM, and is now at WLS-FM. He names who he told off in the introduction of his book, Records Truly is My Middle Name, and talks about his blind dad, a German Jew who came to the US in the 1930s, drinking and drugs, his great upbringing at the University of Michigan/Ann Arbor, how Jay Leno allegedly stole his radio bit for the Tonight Show (which he called a "super coincidence"), how Jan Jeffries, VP of programming of Cumulus, brought him back to WLS-FM, Don Wade at WLS-AM and WIBG in Philadelphia, his experience at CFTR in Toronto and why he came back to the US, why his WLUP/The Loop gig didn't go so well, his success at WLS-AM, why he got a gun and numbered tattoo, 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/RG100.mp3

Gene Honda: fun sports voice guy

Gene Honda is the public address announcer for the Blackhawks, White Sox, DePaul, Big Ten basketball and hockey tournaments, the NCAA Final Four, the Chicago Marathon, and more. He also does voice and TV work for PBS and WTTW in Chicago, After School Matters, and worked in cable TV. He talks about his radio career at WPGU in Champagne-Urbana and WLAK in Chicago, and his brief movie career, which included "The Dilemma," (for which he ironically had to audition to be the Blackhawks public address announcer), and "Opportunity Knocks," in which he played a Japanese businessman who said words his mom wouldn't translate. He also talks about Blackhawks and White Sox players, his friend Ozzie Guillen, and his dad, who was a chief architect for Marina City, River City, and Prentice Women's Hospital. And there's even 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/RG99.mp3

John Gehron: Respected radio boss

John Gehron is the COO at Accuradio and has built a good reputation at the numerous radio stations he's worked at, including WLS, where he became well-known through Garry Meier and Steve Dahl's show; Oprah Radio on satellite; Clear Channel's WNUA; CBS in Philadelphia and WCBS in New York; WCCO in Minneapolis; and WRKO in Boston. He talks about the future of online radio, consolidation, personalities such as John Landecker, Norm N Knight, Dick Heatherton, Charlie Greer, Ron Lundy, and Dan Ingraham; the East Coast vs Midwest radio scene; voicetracking, ABC management, and payola; diaries vs the PPM rating system; and American Radio Systems, which owned radio stations that he and others sold to CBS.

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/RG98.mp3

Rick Gieser: sports radio and more

Rick Gieser has just been elected as a village trustee in Carol Stream, but also does a lot more: he's the producer of Sports Central on WGN radio, was the first morning show producer at WSCR/The Score with host Tom Shaer, does public relations for Zanies, where he has met a lot of comedians including Drew Carey and Jeff Garlin, and does PR for Monster Jam, Disney Stars on Ice, Woodfield Mall, and Ringling Bros Circus. He talks about his radio career, which started in an Amtrak train car at WDME in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, and included time at WNDE in Indianapolis and WFBQ with the Bob and Tom Show. He's done a lot and has plenty of photos to prove it at his Facebook page...friend him and find out! He also brought delicious doughnuts from Sweet Mornings Cafe, which I guess you could say supplied the "craft service" for this podcast :p

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/RG97.mp3

Rick O'Dell: Smooth Jazz online

Rick O'Dell, creator and host of Smooth Jazz Chicago.net, talks about how he got his broadcast name (his real name is Ralph Nozaki), how Japanese was his first language, the memo his elementary school sent out when his family moved to La Grange, his career at WNUA (where he worked for almost 20 years), WPGU, WAUR, and WCLR, what he thinks of terrestrial vs online radio, Mitsuwa, 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/RG96.mp3

Pat Cassidy: Nice News Guy, nice career

Pat Cassidy, who's the morning guy at WBBM Newsradio in Chicago, talks about his sweet career, which includes several years at WBBM, where they seemed to hold his job while he joined Erich Muller (Mancow)'s show at WLS; 25 years at WMAQ; and various gigs at WGLD, WBMX (where he was the only white guy), WNIS, and WEXI (where he was a music program director). He also talks about what he calls "the most embarrassing incident of all time" for the first time publicly, why he went to WLS, what Mort Downey was really like, the future of news radio, if an agent helps, 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/RG95.mp3

Update: I interviewed Pat right before he retired, at the end of 2021. You can listen to the interview at the link below. 

http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG179.mp3 

Christopher Michael: Radio Passion for 45 Years

Christopher Michael talks about why he created a pseudonym (for his real name Gil Peters); his long career in radio, which started in Kankakee and continued at WCLR, WKQX, WYEN, WZBN-WKZN, WMAQ, and WGN; what it was like to work with radio legend Paul Harvey; why he loves radio; how he dealt with numerous firings; advice he has for aspiring broadcasters; how he created his company, Sound Targeting, and his method for getting clients; what he thinks of the radio biz; the weird people and experiences he's had in radio, and more.

We also talk about the breaking news story that we both worked on (which earned us first place for Best Spot News in the 2010 Illinois Associated Press Broadcasters Association Journalism Excellence contest, and first place for Best Live Coverage of an Event in the 2010 Illinois Broadcasters Association Silver Dome Awards).

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/RG94.mp3

David Jennings: Longtime news guy

David Jennings has been doing radio news for many years including the Virtual News Center; WICC in Bridgeport, Connecticut; WTOP in Washington, DC; WDAS in Philadelphia; and WGN, WMAQ, and WLS in Chicago, where he worked with Steve Scott and also did a talk show with Carl Jeffers. He talks about his Brooklyn roots, getting his start in radio, what he thinks about the lack of black people in news, what a radio manager said about his voice, how many grades he skipped in school, popular New York radio talent, his notable news moments, 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/RG93.mp3

Steve Dale: Beyond Pets

Steve Dale is known all around the media for his advice and passion for pets, but he's had a lot of other experience in radio, including WCFL, WLS, WCLR, WGN, WYCA, and WLTD (now WCGO) with Fred Winston, Larry Lujack, John Landecker, Wally Phillips, Roy Leonard, Bob and Betty Sanders, Dean Richards, and even was part of a "secret project" to change WCFL's format and got fired in an elevator. Plus, he's been a restaurant critic for Crain's Chicago Business, a syndicated columnist for Tribune Media Services, followed Oprah and entertainment for People magazine and USA Today, and has written books and many other articles.

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/RG92.mp3

Sherman Kaplan: living well in radio

Sherman Kaplan talks about his long radio career, which
started in Ohio: as a music disc jockey at WAEF in Cincinnati, as "Mike Sherman the Night Creature" at WSAI in Cincinnati, then in Columbus, Charlotte, and WBBM Newsradio in Chicago, where he's been for over 40 years. He talks about job security, culture, travel, being a restaurant critic, his favorite restaurants, getting hired by Drew Hayes to do the Noon Business Hour on WBBM, 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/RG91.mp3

Mitch Rosen: Sports Radio Boss

Mitch Rosen is the program director of WSCR "The Score" in Chicago, and has worked in Chicago radio for several years, including at WGN and WLUP "The Loop" with Eddie Schwartz and Kevin Matthews, and as a program director at WMVP-AM 1000. He talks about what it takes to work in Chicago sports radio, why he thinks sports radio will remain popular, his experience with Ozzie Guillen and the White Sox, hosts at The Score, 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/RG90.mp3

Hector Soriano: Brandmeier Audio and Bike Guy

You can hear Hector Soriano on Jonathan Brandmeier's show on WGN Radio in Chicago, where he is also in charge of audio. He also worked with Brandmeier in Los Angeles at "Arrow", aka KCBS, and at "The Loop" WLUP in Chicago. He talks about how he started working for Brandmeier, why he likes Chicago more than LA, his bicycle repair gig, what he thinks of Spanish 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/RG89.mp3

Jimmy "Mac" McInerney: Busy Radio and Podcasting Guy

Jimmy "Mac" McInerney does the hugely popular Forcecast, for which he's interviewed several famous people connected to Star Wars, including George Lucas, Chris Rock, Bernie Mac, and Dave Filoni (director of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars"). He's also been working in radio for several years, including WCKG and WLUP "The Loop" for Jonathan Brandmeier's show in Los Angeles and Chicago. He currently does production at WERV "The River" (formerly WKKD, where weather guy Tom Skilling started out) and where Mitch Michaels is on the air. Two other podcasts he's involved in are Snyde Remarks Radio with his wife, Wendy Snyder, and Bondcast, which is about James Bond. Plus he's got production gigs on the side. He is a very busy guy!

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/RG88.mp3

John Carney: Doing Talk Radio Again

When I interviewed John Carney last year, he was at Fresh FM in St. Louis. Now he's at KTRS doing talk radio again. He talks about interviewing celebrities, the beer biz in St. Louis, why he left Fresh FM, why he likes talk radio so much, schools in St. Louis, working without a contract, and more. He's a great interviewer so his show is really good.

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/RG87.mp3