Radiogirl

John Siuntres is a radio broadcaster (currently at WBBM Newsradio) and is one of the pioneers of podcasting...he started way back in 2005, when there weren't many podcasts at all (now there are lots of them), with his popular Word Balloon podcast. He talks about how he got into radio, covering boxing on Chet Coppock's show on WLUP The Loop; being part of the early staff when WSCR The Score started; writing about boxing for Boxing Illustrated; working on Dan McNeil and Terry Boers' afternoon show on The Score; working at Sporting News Radio; his very successful Word Balloon podcast; doing production including imaging for WSHE 100.3, and commercials for WDRV The Drive and The Mix WTMX at Hubbard; interviewing the boxing greats, why he loved boxing, and the quirks of the boxing biz; what he thinks of the radio biz; what the early days of The Score were like; his parody songs (sampled in the interview); how radio was the original social media and how social media has affected radio; why he started his podcast and what makes a successful podcast; getting on TV as a commentator on the Prophets of Science Fiction show; how his podcast became successful and which famous people he's talked to among his almost 800 interviews, 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/RG157.mp3

Craig Dellimore has been the Political Editor, City Hall reporter, and host of At Issue on WBBM Newsradio for several years. He talks about getting started at WBBM around the time Harold Washington became Mayor, what City Hall was like when he started reporting in Chicago, what Harold Washington was like, diverse newsrooms, covering crime, racial issues, dealing with doubters, covering Springfield, issues in the suburbs, simplifying story lines, New York vs Chicago, working at WCBS in New York, the NYC Blackout and other stories he’s covered, why he came to Chicago, working at City Hall, politicians’ motivations, voting issues, maintaining professionalism, changes in culture, “the n word,” advice for being a good reporter and writer, doing TV on Chicago Tonight, 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/RG156.mp3

Rey Diaz has the dream job for a lot of guys (and some gals) working in sports radio as a content producer for 670 The Score’s (WSCR) morning and midday shows and as a studio producer for Bears Radio on WBBM. He talks about how he got into radio, WNTD, being Mexican, Polish, and Italian (he looks Puerto Rican); working for the Mancow show at Q101 and digitizing his carts (and deleting people from audio bits whom Mancow didn’t like); what Mancow was like, how much Mancow does during and after the show; working at WVON; getting robbed and beaten (and injured), interviewing for a job with a shut mouth; expressing himself on social media, working in sports media, how he went from WVON to WBBM, overcoming failure, how he started working for Bears radio, how he got to The Score, advice for getting into sports 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/RG155.mp3

Meteorologist Elliot Abrams has made a very good life out of being nerdy. He is one of the co-founders of AccuWeather Radio, and does weather on WBBM Newsradio in Chicago, WADK Radio in Rhode Island, four stations in College Park, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, in addition to doing lectures and lots of other things. He's a witty meteorologist who's also in the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia's Hall of Fame and the National Meteorologist Hall of Fame. He talks about how he got into weather and radio, being a geek, the early days of weather broadcasting, the US weather bureau, the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, doing weather on the Pennsylvania Public Television network, why meteorologist Wally Kinnan was an innovator, how weather broadcasting technology and media have changed, started forecasting at WARM Radio, Fahrenheit vs Celsius, having a sense of humor and creating puns, AccuWeather's patented Real Feel, how he creates a forecast, the difference between creating TV and radio broadcasts, how the meteorologist’s role and the industry have changed, how AccuWeather helps railroads, climate change, how he became VP of AccuWeather, being a township supervisor in his town, his blog, advice for getting into the weather business, the future of weather forecasts, how he stays current, how communication and media consumption used to be, the Farmer’s Almanac, Benjamin Franklin’s 300th birthday party, getting older, his lifestyle, social media, writing, 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/RG154.mp3

Duffy Atkins talks about her career as a meteorologist at CLTV (part of WGN-TV) in Chicago, working in sunny weather at an ABC station in Santa Barbara, why she loved working at KHQA-TV, which broadcast to the tri-states via Quincy in Illinois, Keokuk in Iowa, and Hannibal in Missouri; being a chief meteorologist in Reno Tahoe, how moving around is inevitable for TV, her twin sister, why she became a meteorologist, what classes are needed to be a meteorologist, changes in the media, why Tom Skilling is so great, communicating with viewers, pressure on TV women, how she works with the green screen, the importance of internships (she did hers at WLS-TV in Chicago and WESH-TV in Florida), how to stay motivated, funny on-air moments, how she prepares for forecasts, 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/RG146.mp3

Neil Fiorito does traffic on WBBM Newsradio and hosts "Neil’s News" for the Marriott in River North, and has done traffic at US99 WUSN, WIND Radio, for radio stations in Houston, Minnesota, St. Louis, and more. He started doing music radio at Triton College, and he talks about his varied career that includes working for his dad’s business, being on the air at Loyola’s WLUW Energy 88.7, Lite 103 in Rockton, WXLC in Waukegan, WRXQ and Star 96.7 in Crest Hill, and WCCQ 98.3. He also talks about why Dick Biondi is so wonderful, why he has a good personality for hotel work, why he likes acting, why he feels he’s living the dream, why he loves working at the hotel, what Mr. Marriott is like, why he likes doing radio, his theater experience, why he likes talking so much, his family, why he loves people, 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/RG153.mp3

Bill Cochran's voice is everywhere in Chicago, even on the west coast. After graduating from Northwestern, where he was on the air at WNUR, he was on the air and was the production director at WXRT for a decade, then joined Rick O'Dell at WNUA Smooth Jazz for over 20 years, went online with WLFM Smooth Jazz, then returned to WXRT to do more production. He talks about: why he left WXRT for his current production job at MeTV-FM, understanding what listeners want, his approach to talking about music in an entertaining way, telling stories when he performs with his band Great Moments in Vinyl, how he creates stories, how he chooses songs to perform, how he maintains a creative lifestyle in a non-creative world, his clog blog Every Clog Has Its Day, Oklahoma, 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/RG152.mp3 Get info about Great Moments in Vinyl's next show here. The personal story that he mentions in this interview starts on his blog with Chapter 1 here, continues with Chapter 2 here, then continues with the rest of the chapters here (it’s not a continuous string of posts, thus the separate links).

Josh Liss is living the sports radio dream: he’s spent his entire career in sports, and has been the sports director and morning sports anchor on WBBM since 1998. He talks about how he preps, how he writes effective stories, how the internet has changed his reporting, how he deals with superfans, how he got into radio, playing sports and dealing with obstacles, working at WVVX Radio and WSCR The Score in the early years, advice for getting into sports media, how sports reporting is different from broadcasting sports opinion, what athletes might think about media attention, specializing in sports, working at WMAQ, how he got his fantastic WBBM gig, mistakes, his videos, 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/RG151.mp3

Bob Kessler does news at WGN Radio, and he does a lot of other things, including writing and producing Green Sense Radio and the Greensense Minute on WBBM, and doing news with Rivet Radio. He talks about why he likes doing broadcast radio and why he loves radio; being a musician and how he got interested in music, writing and arranging music, recording piano and performing harmonica; how he became ordained as a lay Buddhist teacher, what obstacles he has overcome, how he got into radio, internships with WKTI, WYMS, and WXRT; working on Jan Coleman’s show and Steve and Johnnie’s show at WGN; doing news on WGN while being the writer and executive producer for Ramsey Lewis’ show with Karen Williams on WNUA; how tech has changed broadcasting; his future plans, living an atypical life, 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/RG150.mp3

A lot has happened since the last time I interviewed the stars of the B96 morning show: Julian Nieh left Chicago, and J Niice and Showbiz Shelly are the main hosts (with producer Gabe, who wasn't interviewed at this time). First, Showbiz Shelly talks briefly (because she had to leave, just like last time) about her celebrity-filled life, including spilling a drink on Miranda Rae Mayo, the daily smackdown, yoga, relaxing, going out in Chicago, cohosting on WCIU’s morning show and appearance on Fox Chicago, cohosting the B96 morning show, highlights of her radio career, and advice for working in the media. Then we find out a lot about J Niice, including his huge career as a child star on TV, including Sesame Street and the famous Honeycomb cereal commercial with Andre the Giant; his scary plane incident; his New York background; why he travels so much; being Jamaican and hanging out with the Jamaican community in Chicago and New York; being successful without the arrogance; how the B96 morning show is different after Julian left; what’s great about morning radio, even though it's super-early; interacting with the audience via social media; his hobbies such as soccer, scuba diving, volunteering at the Shedd Aquarium and Chill (a snowboarding charity for inner city kids), and snowboarding in his free time; his passion for late night television, especially Arsenio Hall; being on the TV shows Dish Nation and Empire; what he thinks of hip hop culture; what's great about Queens in New York; Jamaica; why he likes Chicago, 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/RG149.mp3