Wgtd's The Morning Show With Greg Berg

We continue our ongoing memorial tribute to Kenosha's own Michael Schumacher, a nationally-published author many times over, who passed away on December 29th at the age of 75. This interview from ten years ago concerns the book "Torn in Two: The Sinking of the Daniel J. Morrell and One Man's Survival on the Open Sea."

Part One- Hal Eisner, author of "My Accidental Career: My 58-year Adventure as a Broadcast New Reporter." Part Two- (from 2019). Mitchel Zuckoff, co-author of "Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11." Zuckoff was a journalist in Boston who ended up covering the events of September 11, 2001 as they unfolded. (This September will mark the 25th anniversary of 9-11, and in the coming months we will occasionally share archival interviews related in one way or another to 9-11.).

Our guest is Hope Otto, Director of Health and Human Services for Racine County. We talk with her about what a challenging time this is for the entire human services sector. Specific topics include- disruptions in federal aid ..... homelessness in Racine ..... and about the Jonathan Delagrave Youth Development and Care Center.

Part One- We speak with Adam Smith, a free-lance production assistant for TV and radio commercials based in Milwaukee. He is also a screenwriter, and he is organizing a public table read series called "Voices Off Paper" that will feature the work of local screenwriters. Part Two- A portion of a conversation with the late Bob Newhart, talking about his memoir "I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This: And Other Things That Strike Me As Funny."

We speak with Dr. Alyssa Dweck, an OB/GYN, about Urinary Tract Infections in women and what one can do to reduce the likelihood of contracting a UTI.

Dr. Ashely Alker draws upon her experience and expertise as an ER doctor in penning her informative and entertaining book "99 Ways to Die - and How to Avoid Them."

From 2007 - Dr. Atul Gawande talks about his book "Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance."

Darlene Rivest, a well-known violinist in Southeastern Wisconsin, previews Violin Intensive, a five-day event at DeKoven Center that is drawing adult violinists from across the country and even from a couple of other countries. We also talk about Darlene's own wide-ranging career as a violinist.

For Holocaust Remembrance Day (which was January 27) - Mikhal Dekel, author of "Tehran Children: A Holocaust Refugee Odyssey." (from 2019)

From 2008- Frederick Kaufman, author of "A Short History of the American Stomach".

In our ongoing memorial tribute to Kenosha's own Michael Schumacher, a nationally-published author many times over, we are replaying a 2020 conversation about Schumacher's long friendship with Allen Ginsberg. (Schumacher passed away on December 29th at the age of 75. He was a guest on the Morning Show more than a dozen times over the course of three decades.).

One of our favorite interviews from 2025- Samuel Ashworth discusses "The Death and Life of August Sweeney: a Novel." The main character is a young forensic pathologist who is doing an autopsy in the hopes of understanding more about both the death and the life of a controversial chef named August Sweeney.

Part One- We speak with Mike DeRubis, who is with the non-partisan group Voters First Wisconsin, which is working to eliminate gerrymandering, reduce the influence of Big Money in politics, and to reform the way that certain elections are done in our state. Part Two- from 2018- historian Jon Meacham talks about his book "The Soul of America: The Battle for our Better Angels." The book examines those periods in our country's history when we have been as bitterly divided as we are today- and how our nation was able to come together again.

One of our favorite interviews from 2025: Juliette Fay talks about her novel "The Harvey Girls," which was based on a fascinating slice of Americana. Fred Harvey created what is widely regarded as the first hospitality chain in the United States- a network of restaurants and hotels primarily in the West. The women who worked at his establishments were known as Harvey Girls - and these were actually well-paying and respectable jobs at a time when employment options for women were severely limited. In a followup conversation, we speak with Andrew DeBoer, father-in-law of local music teacher Jessica DeBoer, about his extensive collection of Fred Harvey memorabilia.

Part 1 - We preview the Service Above Self Expo coming up this Saturday, January 31st at Fountain Hall in Sturtevant. The event is sponsored by the Racine Founders Rotary Club. My guests are Dan Widmar, who is its current president, and Laura Sumner Coon, a member of the club and the primary coordinator of the event. They are expecting at least thirty different local non-profits to participate, sharing with the public what volunteer opportunities they have to offer. Part 2- from the archives- Mark O. Hubbard, author of "Ara: The Life and Legacy of a Notre Dame Legend- the authorized Biography of Coach Ara Parseghian."

One of our favorite interviews from 2025: Elizabeth Minnich, author of "The Evil of Banality: On the Life and Death Importance of Thinking." In this book, Minnich explores the nature of evil - and particularly the phenomenon of what she calls "extensive evil" in which many people are involved in the perpetuating of evil without consciously doing so or without fully grasping the role that they are playing. It underscores the importance of living mindfully.

From 2003 - Richard Tofel, author of "A Legend in the Making: The New York Yankees in 1939."

We are paying memorial tribute to Kenosha-based author Michael Schumacher, who was a guest on The Morning Show a dozen times over the course of three decades. (He passed away on December 29th at the age of 75.). This interview concerns his book "The Contest: The 1968 Election and the War for America's Soul." (This interview occurred in 2018.). We plan on sharing more archival interviews with Michael Schumacher over upcoming Saturdays.

In his first visit to the Morning Show since November, Dr. Art Cyr offers his thoughts on several different current events and issues- especially the recent U.S. activity in Venezuela.

We speak with writer Monte Burke about his new book "Men of Troy: The Epic Afternoons, Wild Nights, and Enduring Legacy of Pete Carroll's USC Trojans." After a rough experience as a head coach for two NFL teams, Carroll achieved great success (including two national championships) with USC .... and then achieved comparable success with his return to the NFL as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. The book examines the ways in which Carroll earned a reputation as a 'player's coach.'