Radiogirl

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

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

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.mp3And click this link for the previous INBA interview.Molly is hiring, btw. 

Listen at http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG197.mp3Ron 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.mp3Watch 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!

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 Steve was more than 10 years ago.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/RG195.mp3Watch 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!

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.mp3Note: 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!

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.mp3Watch 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!