Spectrum

By WOUB Public MediaNews

Spectrum episodes

November 15, 2017 Pres. Trump Favors Russia’s Putin While Trashing the USA Intelligence Team
While traveling on Air Force One this week in Asia, President Trump lamented the fact that Russia’s Vladimir Putin is insulted by United States accusations that Russia meddled in the 2016 Presidential election.

Trump contended that Putin’s bruised feelings would prevent him from making “deals” with the US concerning Syria and North Korea. The President also referred to former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former C.I.A. Director John O. Brennan as “political hacks” and that the investigation into Russian meddling is an “artificial Democratic hit job.”

The next day, Pres. Trump adjusted his comments to say that he was not supporting the views of Putin but was instead just acknowledging his beliefs.

This latest “dust-up” again brings to focus the tenuous relationship between the U.S. and Russia and the strange relationship between the country’s two leaders.

To put this ongoing relationship into focus, Spectrum podcast talked with international expert and specialist in Russia/Soviet and East European history Dr. Steven Miner. He is also a professor at Ohio University.

Miner says that Putin is a far better political tactician than Trump but that, overall, he has not proven to be a good strategist.

Miner describes the tenuous nature of the Russian economy and its suffering from U.S. sanctions.

He also notes that Russia has dedicated part of its military strategy to cyber warfare and cyber interference with other nations’ electoral processes…especially the U.S. and others in Western Europe. Putin feels that effort has been successful. This tactic costs little money but causes major upheaval – as evidenced by the current U.S. Congressional and legal inquiries.

Miner also suggests that we watch for Russia to acquire more adjacent territory while the U.S. is preoccupied with N. Korea and our internal investigations into Russian meddling.

Miner is an award winning author and is putting the finishing touches on his latest book called “The Furies Unleashed: The Soviet People at War, 1941-1945.”
44 min
November 08, 2017 Science TV is Exploding on North Carolina Public Television Due to Frank Graff
North Carolina Science Now is a statewide public television series that also is multimedia. It explains scientific discoveries, research, and principles using ordinary language that is understandable. Not only are the stories long-form news features on UNC-TV but they truly are multimedia.

Frank Graff, a veteran of more than two decades of local television news in at least seven different cities, in 2012 turned his sole focus to explaining science in a factual but interesting and entertaining way. He acts as reporter and producer.

In addition to the television piece, http://science.unctv.org/content/ provides a blog about the stories, additional reference materials, and sometimes animations. Graff also has teamed with an experienced educational professional and, together, they also produce model curricula that can be used by teachers to teach a 15 minute unit on the subject contained in each story.

North Carolina is a very diverse state scientifically with mountains in the west and the Atlantic Ocean on its east coast. Nestled between the coast and the mountains are the University of North Carolina, Duke and many other major research universities. There also is the famous Research Triangle with cutting-edge scientific discoveries.

Graff combs the research of scholars, individuals, government and the private sector to find fascinating stories that will resonate with the average viewer of public television.

“We try to provide a variety of stories from different geographical regions across this large state,” Graff says.

In addition to North Carolina Science Now, Graff and his associates have developed a second 30 minute show called Sci Tech Now North Carolina. It combines shorter stories together with science reporting from other public broadcasting outlets from around the country.

There is an increasing appetite of people to learn about and understand scientific discoveries that are in our midst, according to Graff. People want to know what is being discovered and how things work.

Graff spends full-time researching and finding topics that he thinks will be interesting to the average viewer and then travels on location to do key interviews and to film anything visual about the discovery.

The public feedback about the shows and the topics has been overwhelmingly positive, Graff notes.

He plans to continue the shows and perhaps even expand the current offerings.
42 min
November 01, 2017 White House Minimizes While Congress Ducks Latest Trump-Russia Legal Action
After two 12 count indictments were issued against former Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates, a guilty plea of a Trump Campaign security advisor was unveiled on Monday. Washington DC was buzzing with strategizing, gossiping, and worrying.

George Papadopolous, part of the Trump Security Group, admitted to communicating with Russians who promised Hillary Clinton’s emails after he initially lied about it to the FBI. It also was verified by court papers that Papadopolous had been involved in “proactive cooperation” with the FBI since July 2017. This put Russian involvement into the middle of the Trump campaign as the President continued to tweet that there was “no collusion.”

Special Counsel Robert Mueller had struck his first visible blow. Speculation now runs rampant as to what will come next and what political and legal positions should be taken in anticipation of Mueller’s next step.

Philip Elliott, Washington correspondent for TIME, described to Spectrum the current positions of the White House and also described congressional response.

The White House is characterizing the alleged crimes of Manafort and Gates as all occurring prior to being associated with the Trump campaign and therefore, not related. The President, it is reported, even felt relief after the first indictments were made public.

However, that relief was short-lived and after hearing of the Papadopolous plea he became so angry and volatile that staffers were avoiding him – even in hallways, according to Elliott.

President Trump, in tweets Tuesday, echoed the Monday statements of White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders demeaning Papadopolous as a young, low-level volunteer and a proven liar.

Elliott says that despite the White House public bravado that staffers are quite concerned about their potential legal liabilities and are “leaking” information like never before.

While the White House engages the public on the Mueller actions, Congress is trying to duck public comment as much as possible, Elliott says. Democrats are calling for protections of Mueller’s position and Republicans are saying that they are not going to be distracted by the latest legal actions. Instead, House Speaker Paul Ryan claims he will be singularly focused on tax reform.

Elliott notes that members of Congress from both parties are still playing the waiting-game to determine how much trouble the President and his campaign will ultimately be in as a result of Mueller’s investigations. He also notes the dual Congressional investigations are still ongoing.

He says the next big issue to watch will be the Russian involvement in Social Media.
40 min
October 25, 2017 Career Tips and Advice for all Stages and All Ages – Provided by a Career Coach
Each stage of a career-early, mid-career, and retirement bring unique problems and issues that are addressed specifically by career consultant Beverly Jones.

Jones is an attorney, an executive coach, an author, a blogger and a podcaster. She works with people at all stages of their careers to help them traverse the ever-changing landscapes of the workplace.

Beverly is the author of the book Think Like an Entrepreneur Act Like a CEO – 50 Indispensable Tips to Help you Stay Afloat, Bounce Back and Get Ahead at Work and she hosts the podcast Jazzed About Work, available through Apple Podcasts, Google Play and on the NPR Podcast Directory.

Often she advises millennials just entering the workplace about when it’s time to move from one job to the next and how not to sacrifice a private life for a career. She also gives tips on networking – what it is and what it should never be.

For those in the mid-career doldrums, she suggests that they find a new challenge either in private life or on-the-job…something new to learn and master. She suggests that development of new skills will not only make life more rewarding but it often can boost a career at the same time.

She also spends a significant amount of her professional time advising new retirees. Often they are looking for new challenges or new careers and Beverly guides them through various exercises to allow them the freedom to try new things and to challenge themselves even at an advanced age.

She is a strong proponent of that there should be “fun” in every day of life and new challenges often produce that element of fun.
33 min
October 18, 2017 There Need To Be More Women in STEM Careers, Says Experienced Expert
JJ DiGeronimo is President of Tech Savvy Women. She is a speaker, an award-winning author and an executive strategist. And, she is a strong proponent of women actively pursuing careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

DiGeronimo charted her own course in Silicon Valley after determining that a career in STEM was her ambition. However, she has left the tech world as an employee and now she owns her own company leading other women through the employment maze of STEM.

She notes that women and men approach careers differently and have different career expectations.

They even approach resumes differently, according to DiGeronimo. Men tend to be more direct and metric based whereas women tend to generalize, she says.

Recently, DiGeronimo released a new book “Accelerate Your Impact,” which is directed towards women in the workplace. The book has earned the Next Generation Indie Book Award.

Her latest book meshes with her 2011 book “The Working Woman’s GPS.” In addition to authoring books, DiGeronimo is a featured columnist for Smart Business Magazine and is often quoted in Forbes, The Wall St. Journal and on Fox Business.
38 min
October 11, 2017 The “Gig Economy” Grows in the USA Says Visiting Italian Journalist
Lidia Catalano is a multimedia journalist from Turin, Italy visiting this country to examine the growth of alternative work arrangements. Her primary observation is that this segment of our economy is growing beyond expectations.

Alternative work arrangements take many forms such as hiring temporary, on-call and independent contract workers. It also includes freelancers and some short-term contract workers. This economy is known as the “Gig Economy” – after the term for a short-term performance – a “gig.”

This economy is booming in the United States, according to Catalano. One reason is that employers do not normally have to pay benefits to “gig” workers. Instead, the compensation is usually paid hourly or by a set amount for a job or a period of time.

For employers this is a cost savings because they don’t pay benefits and for the worker, it gives him or her extra freedom and mobility, according to Catalano.

Catalano is on a 90 day tour of the United States studying work economies. Long-term she is a journalist for the Turin daily newspaper La Stampa. Her normal beat is education, migration, gender equality, labor markets and employment.

Catalano was recently presented with the Igor Man prize of excellence in journalism for a report she did about the Marcinelle, Belgium mine disaster of 1956.
39 min
October 04, 2017 Devastation is Horrible But it Can Foster Resilience, says Expert
The devastation in Puerto Rico, as a result of two major hurricanes – Irma and Maria, is beyond most of our comprehension. Half of the population, or 3.4 million people, lack drinking water and 95 percent are without electricity – after two weeks. Additionally, 80 percent have no phone service so outreach to friends and relatives is nearly impossible.

Natural disasters drain resources from Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and other Caribbean islands suffering from major infrastructure and structural damage, according to Roger-Mark DeSouza.

He is the director of population, environmental security, and resilience for the Wilson Center in Washington DC. He currently heads the Global Sustainability and Resilience Program, Environmental Change and Security Program, and Maternal Health Initiative.

But, not only are the islands threatened but mainland coastal areas of the United States also are facing elevated environmental threats, according to DeSouza.

DeSouza spoke with WOUB’s Spectrum podcast about the multiple factors facing areas of both the mainland and U.S. islands as a result of the recent hurricanes. He claims what we have experienced is not just an island issue or a Caribbean problem but instead natural climate change disasters face all coastal areas of the United States – areas that have expanding populations and deteriorating infrastructures.

Although DeSouza believes our country’s infrastructure is in terrible disrepair, he thinks that the increase in natural disasters forces us to have national resilience and gives us an opportunity to repair and replace with better and stronger systems.

Resilience is a main focus of DeSouza and he says that truly to be resilient a people must plan on ways to prevent devastation, engage communities and work together.

Prior to joining the Wilson Center in 2013, DeSouza was vice president of research and director of the climate program at Population Action International. From 2007 to 2010, DeSouza was the director of foundation and corporate relations at the Sierra Club.

For a decade earlier, he directed the Population, Health, and Environment Program at the Population Reference Bureau.
31 min
September 27, 2017 Voice Actor Nancy Cartwright In New Role As Filmmaker
After being the voice of Bart Simpson in Fox’s animated series, The Simpson’s, for 29 years, voice-over actor Nancy Cartwright wanted to do something different artistically.

So, she fired up the “artistic muse” inside her and she co-wrote and produced an independent feature film based upon a portion of her life. It has just been released.

“In Search of Fellini” is about “75 to 80 percent” based upon a real adventure Nancy had in her early 20’s when she toured Italy alone in search of the world famous director Federico Fellini. She did this after being obsessed by the Fellini film “La Strada.”

She left her voice-over work behind and toured Italy searching for the great director. While there she received a marriage proposal plus encountered a life threatening situation among other major incidents. The adventure was life-changing.

The description of the film says: “A shy small-town Ohio girl who loves movies but dislikes reality, discovers the delightfully bizarre films of Federico Fellini, and sets off on a strange, beautiful journey across Italy to find him.”

Earlier in her career, Cartwright had helped create an award-winning one-woman show about this topic but the idea for creating “more” sat on her shelf until she became determined to make it into a feature length film.

Cartwright says that the movie is part of an overall artistic explosion in her life. She says that she has started really exercising her artistic talents in many ways including writing and creating sculpture – among other art forms.

Cartwright talks with Spectrum’s Tom Hodson about the movie, her artistic renaissance, and the stability that being part of television’s longest running show has brought to her life and her career.
40 min
September 20, 2017 TV Journalist Judy Woodruff Has Experienced Many Changes Over Four Decades
Judy Woodruff, award-winning broadcast journalist, has spent over four decades covering Washington for PBS, CNN, and NBC. She currently is the anchor of the PBS NewsHour airing across the country on PBS stations each week-night.

She has seen monumental changes in journalism and how news is delivered over her career. One change is the role of women.

In 2013, Woodruff and her colleague Gwen Ifill were the first two women to anchor a major newscast together. Ifill died in 2016 leaving Woodruff alone at the anchor desk and leaving a hole in Woodruff’s life.

Woodruff explains that the PBS NewsHour, which is gaining audience numbers, is committed to thorough and accurate reporting in all of its stories underscored by a sense of fairness and balance.

She says, too often today, that people only want to hear news from their own political perspective – conservatives watch FOX News and liberals watch MSNBC. Instead, PBS tries to be neutral and attract all audiences interested in deep reporting.

Instead of having screaming pundits and yelling arguments among panel members, the NewsHour features veteran commentators David Brooks from the New York Times and political operative Mark Shields.

Brooks and Shields express different views but do so in a civil and respectful manner, according to Woodruff.

She also cites the explosion of social media as changing the news business. Instead of just preparing a story to be broadcast in the news segment, reporters now need to write the story for the website and add links to appropriate background documents. They also need to pepper social media with links to their work and real time updates.

As a result of technological changes, news consumers get more news today than any time in history, Woodruff says.
38 min
September 13, 2017 Legislation to Protect the “Dreamers” & DACA Could Become a Political Football
Recently, President Donald Trump rescinded an Executive Order called DACA issued by former President Barack Obama protecting undocumented immigrants who came to this country illegally as children.

The impact of Pres. Trump’s action could leave 800,000 people – the “Dreamers” as they are called – subject to deportation.

Instead of making the rescission immediate, however, Pres. Trump gave Congress six months to pass some form of legislation to protect the Dreamers status in this country. This may be a difficult task given the fractious nature of Congress and its displayed inability to pass major legislation.

To obtain protected status under the Obama order, Dreamers had to provide all of their vital information to the federal government, pass background checks, have no criminal record and be either employed, in the military, or attending some form of school, according to Dr. Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute in Washington DC, a policy and research think tank.

As a result, these people are better educated and have better jobs that the average American citizen. They also have lower crime rates, Selee says.

Since Congress now must decide whether to extend protections to this group, Selee says that various ideological groups may splinter on this issue making agreement on any type of legislation difficult.

Most Americans, however, favor protecting this group.

Therefore, Selee believes that Congress will tie the Dreamer Act to another piece of controversial legislation to appease various factions in Congress. For example, he says, Congress may attach some funding for Pres. Trump’s border wall or a boost in border patrols in exchange for protecting the Dreamers.

In short, Selee feels that Congress will pass some form of Dreamer protection but it will be tied to legislation that give more conservative factions something they want – such as wall funding.

If Congress does not pass any protective legislation, Pres. Trump has “Tweeted” that he will “revisit” this issue – leaving the status of Dreamers uncertain.
37 min

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Spectrum features conversations with an eclectic group of fascinating people, some are famous and some are not, but they all have captivating stories.