Wgtd's The Morning Show With Greg Berg

Today's podcast consists of the The Morning Show - in its entirety, exactly as it aired - from September 20, 1999 - which was the morning that we learned of the death of our longtime and beloved colleague Bill Guy,  who had worked for WGTD for 21 years and whose legacy included the creation of "The Morning Show."  I talk about the Art of the Interview with writer Michael Schumacher,  who was a frequent guest during Bill's tenure as M.S. host.  At the end, you'll also hear a tribute from the late Frank Falduto, who was WGTD's general manager at the time. 

Our guest, Robert Haggarty Jr., volunteers for an advocacy non-profit called Raise the Voices that seeks to raise awareness of key human rights issues.  Haggarty leads a group that is advocating on behalf of more than a million minority Muslims in China - the Uyghur -  who are being held in 're-education camps' that are clearly designed to stamp out the culture and language of the Uyghur.  

Today's Morning Show opened with a brief tribute to long-time WGTD News Director Bill Guy, who died twenty years ago today.   This tribute featured the the first five minutes of the Morning Show we aired back on September 20, 1999.   That interview, which featured Kenosha-based author Michael Schumacher,  can be heard in its entirety on tomorrow's podcast .... and an interview conducted by Bill Guy himself will be shared on Sunday's podcast.  Bill died at the age of 50 after a courageous battle with cancer. 

This is a conversation with Lisa Kornetsky, guest director of the Racine Theater Guild's production of Neil Simon's brilliant play "Lost in Yonkers."  The production opened this past Friday and runs the next two weekends.   

Part One of today's Morning Show featured an exciting young tenor named Nick Huff, a Carthage graduate from 2015, who is singing a recital at Kenosha's Creative Space Friday night.  He talks about his experience at both Carthage and Eastman, as well as the thrill of being part of two world premieres.   Part two is with Tommy Novak, a member of the music theater faculty at Carthage, talking about how the actors in a 2010 Carthage production of the comedy "Room Service" are reuniting at Carthage for a staged reading of the play this Saturday night.  

This is an illuminating and inspiring conversation about the importance of helping people who have recently been incarcerated to find employment and build new lives for themselves.  Our guests are Patricia Hansen, Racine DA ......  Jim Schatzman,  Executive Director of Racine-Kenosha Vocational Ministries .... and Karl McNeil, who was incarcerated for drug offenses back in the late 1990's but who has become an important contributor to his community since his release from prison.   

Peter Steiner, whose cartoons have appeared in New Yorker magazine over the last several decades, is also an accomplished novelist.  His latest novel, "The Good Cop," is set in Munich, Germany during the tumultuous years between the world wars that saw the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazism. 

This conversation from 2007 is with sportswriter Bill Plaschke, talking about his best-selling book "Tommy LaSorda: I live for this! - Baseball's Last True Believer." LaSorda is one of the most renowned managers in the history of major league baseball- and he was associated with the Brooklyn/L.A. Dodgers in various capacities for more than sixty years.   As of this moment, he is the oldest living member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.   

In an interview recorded back in 2008, acclaimed journalist Robert MacNeil talks about his memoir "Looking for my Country: Finding Myself in America."   MacNeil co-anchored the MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour on PBS for many years and covered many important news event over his long career, including the assassination of JFK.  (MacNeil was in Dallas that day.)   MacNeil (who was born and raised in Canada) also talks at one point about the relationship between Canada and the U.S.  

Rachel DeWoskin's fascinating novel "Repeat After Me" is based at least in part on the author's real-life experience of teaching English in the nation of China.   

We speak with Stu Maddox, the director and producer of a documentary called "Gen Silent," that explores some of the difficulties confronted by many elderly people who are in the gay community - especially those who need to go into long term care facilities and who might feel compelled to go back into the closet for fear of how they might be viewed and treated.  The film is going to be screened on Thursday, September 19th at 5:30 on the Racine campus of Gateway Technical College. 

Gwendolyn Bounds was living in New York City at the time of 9-11 .... and found herself displaced from her home.  Her memoir  "Little Chapel on the River" chronicles what it was like for her to try and make a new home for herself in a small community in upper state New York .... and the pub that was a center of her new community.

Our guest is Dr. James Ripley, director of instrumental activities and conductor of bands at Carthage College.  We talk with him about the upcoming patio concert on September 22nd as well as several exciting commissions that will be premiered later in the year in honor of the 150th anniversary of when women first began studying at Carthage.   

We are previewing the one-woman play "Intrusion," which explores the issue of sexual violence through the perspective of eight different characters.  The play is being performed at Carthage College Tuesday night, September 10th.  Part one is with Ellen Hauser, director of the Gender & Women's Studies program, which is sponsoring the performance.  Part two is with the actress who wrote and performs "Intrusion" - Qurrat Ann Kadwani.

This is a preview of the American Experience documentary "The Film" - an illuminating examination of the famous feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys, a bloody feud that captured headlines around the country.   The film traces the origins of the feud, which emerged at least in part by how the region of Appalachia was turned upside down by our country's rapid industrialization.  This interview is with the director and producer of the film, Randall MacLowry.   The film airs on PBS on Tuesday night- and then will be available at pbs.org. 

A look behind the scenes of "Belle City," a magazine devoted to the city of Racine.    We speak with editor and co-publisher Katie Matteson.  We also talk about some of her other experiences in publishing. 

Ryan Swanson's book is titled "The Strenuous Life: Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of the American Athlete."  The book explores how important athletic endeavor was to TR - and also chronicles all that he did as president to make athletics a more central element of American culture in that era.  

Benjamin Runkle's book is 'Generals in the Making: How Marshall, Eisenhower, Patton and their Peers Became the Commanders Who Won World War II."  The book focuses on the experiences of these generals (plus Douglas MacArthur and others) between the end of World War I and the start of World War II and examines the events and experiences that helped shape them into the important leaders they eventually became.  After that comes an excerpt from my 2013 conversation with Gene Edward Smith, author of "Eisenhower: In War and Peace."  

This interview from 2006 is with Bob Harris,  a 5-time Jeopardy champion (back in the days when that was the longest that a person could compete on the show.)   His book about the popular game show is titled "Prisoner of Trebekistan: A Decade in Jeopardy."   We're sharing this interview as Alex Trebek (battling pancreatic cancer) is beginning his 36th season as the host of Jeopardy.  

This interview with best-selling author Buzz Bissinger was recorded in 2015 at the time of the publication of the 25th anniversary edition of "Friday Night Lights: A Town,  a Dream, and a Team."  Bissinger's book chronicled a season of the high school football team in Odessa, Texas,  a community where football is followed with ferocious intensity.