Spectrum

By WOUB Public MediaNews

Spectrum episodes

September 06, 2017 Teen Raises Big Money for Cancer Research Through Her Invention
In 2015, Jordan Phillips mother, Nicole, fought a bout with breast cancer. The diagnosis and treatments were totally unexpected and caught the family off-guard.
Jordan, then 12 years old, was sad and frustrated and wanted to do something to help her mother and others like her. So, Jordan, on her own, created a cozy for coffee mugs. She sewed them herself and has sold them in various ways for donations to cancer research.
She has called them “Cozys for the Cure” and to date, she had raised over $100,000 in donations for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization.
While delivering a speech about her project in New York City, along with her mother, Jordan piqued the interest of a manufacture and distributer.
As a result, her Cozys for the Cure are now being sold in over 1,600 Walmart Stores across the nation with a portion of the sales proceeds being donated for cancer research.
Jordan explains that one day she saw cardboard coffee cup cozys with illustrations drawn on them. That gave her the idea to make cozys out of cloth. Since she has sewn since she was five, she turned to her sewing machine and created the cloth coffee mug cozys.
She then went into full-out production in her home and started selling her cozys online and through Facebook to raise donations.
She even solicited some of her friends from her former home in N. Dakota to help out. A group of nine young girls, calling themselves “Jojo’s Cozy Tribe,” helped aid production along with two talented “sewing ladies.”
Just recently, the 14 year old has become an official business “Cozys for the Cure, LLC.” This will enable her to not only provide additional donation money to fight cancer but also, at a very young age, learn how a real business works.
Jordan told Spectrum that she wants to become a female entrepreneur and she wants to fight cancer until it is cured. Both are noble goals.
Jordan’s mother, Nicole, also has been dedicating her life to the spreading of kindness.
She is a much sought after public speaker and author of the book “Kindness is Contagious.” She also will be launching a new podcast about kindness in late October. Produced by WOUB Public Media, it will be distributed initially through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and NPR One.
34 min
August 30, 2017 Non-Traditional College Students Often Face Hunger & Massive Debt for Degree
When you think of college students you might think of affluent young people reveling in the joys of care-free campus life…But, that doesn’t describe all college students – especially many non-traditional students.

They often are juggling families, jobs, mounting debt and hunger. Yes, hunger. Many go to regional campuses or community colleges. They are enduring current hardships for the promise of a better life with a degree.

Bob Long was a long-time voice on WMUB radio at Miami University in Southwestern Ohio. He spent almost 30 years working with students and gaining broadcasting and journalism awards.

Late in his career and since his retirement, Long started working with students at one of Miami University’s regional campuses. This is a campus inhabited by working students and those with limited resources in an impoverished area of the state.

“I was amazed at the conditions in which I found some of these students,” Long says. “Many of them had gone days without eating so that they could pay for school, books, and to support their families.”

Most of them are in debt for their education and the student debt is mounting each day. In addition, they need to spend money on books and transportation to and from the campus.

“All of this, too often, totals up to poverty. These students are financially strapped and they are NOT the spoiled college students we normally think of…far from it…” Long describes. “They need some help.”

Long, a long-time advocate for food pantries for the poor, wants to attack the hunger issues facing many non-traditional students at satellite campuses. He is starting college and university based food pantries for qualifying college students and he is trying to launch a national campaign to meet the needs of these low-income students.

He also is using his voice to argue for the lowering of student debt or the forgiveness of debt payments for qualifying students.

Long wants to give everyone a chance to get an education but he says it is not possible for many who already live on the economic fringes.
35 min
August 23, 2017 Foster Children Are A Special Group of Children To Be Adopted
Children who have been in foster care are a special group of children to be adopted. Currently more than 110,000 children are waiting in this category for adoptive parents.
However, more than 20,000 will leave foster care without ever being adopted increasing their risks for anti-social behaviors as adults.
These figures are the result of a recent national survey conducted by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, a national nonprofit public charity. One of its main purposes is to find adoptive parents for these foster care children.
Rita Soronen, the President and CEO of the foundation talked with SPECTRUM about this issue. She says that 80 percent of Americans who consider adoption now consider adopting a foster child. This is a significant increase over the past five years.
Foster children are often children taken away from birth parents by court orders for their safety. Instead, they are put in foster homes for their care. The study shows that four out of five children in foster care are there through no fault or actions of their own.
“These children are just like any other child. They’ve simply had a rough start in life,” Soronen says. “But they are available for adoption and they deserve to find a permanent family and a safe home.”
The Foundation works to find adoptive families that meet each child’s individual needs especially for children with special needs or siblings that need to stay together, according to Soronen.
The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption was started by the founder of Wendy’s restaurants in 2001. It has multiple initiatives and grant programs that promote adoption.
In 2015, the Foundation spent more than $17 million in grants and awareness initiatives for adoption related activities in the United States and Canada.
34 min
August 16, 2017 Newest African Country S. Sudan, in Chaos, Loses Journalist to USA
This is a personal story…the story of journalist Colin Lasu…a son of South Sudan, Africa’s newest country.
Because of the chaos since its independence in 2011 and a Civil War beginning in 2013, over 1 million refugees have fled to neighboring Uganda and Ethiopia and over 200,000 have fled to other countries.
Lasu, a journalist in his home country, came back to America and received asylum here. He proved to the U.S. government that he would probably be killed if he had to return to South Sudan so the U.S. has allowed him to stay indefinitely.
Meanwhile, this seasoned journalist has obtained his master’s degree and now is studying for his doctoral degree.
He talks with SPECTRUM about his life in his home country and the chaos that ensued after independence. He also talks about his projects to train average S. Sudanese residents to become fearless radio reporters.
At one time, Lasu created a certificate program with the University of Juba and created the Sudan Radio Service. For two years, he helped non-journalists become reporters, mouthpieces of local news from their particular region.
They were taught by Lasu to talk with just “ordinary” people to get stories and reactions and not just public or governmental officials. The radio stations became quite populist.
The radio stations were very popular and Lasu trained a great number of people. However, the stations were deemed too independent by the government and a threat. Lasu became at odds with his home country’s government and he escaped to America.
Now, Lasu is studying conflict transformation, peaceful coexistence, media coverage, good governance and empowerment of disadvantaged groups.
37 min
August 09, 2017 Virtual Reality News is Here and More is Coming says VR Expert
USA Today, in partnership with YouTube, delivers a weekly virtual reality newscast called VRtually There, produced by VR veteran Robert Padavick.
It is the first native VR series, says Padavick and it produces three feature stories a week. Although VR is in its infancy, Padavick claims that watching something in VR is like having a movie theater on your face. The experience is totally immersive and like no other.
Consumers can experience stories…not just hear them or see them.
He thinks that VR is the news delivery vehicle of the future and it is now in its experimental and developmental stages. But, he thinks it will become mainstream soon.
Even though the visuals are the base of VR, Padavick claims that sound is equally important and spatial audio is complicated to capture and deliver. It also is in its developmental stage.
In creating VR new products that must be captured, produced, monetized and delivered to consumers, Padavick says he feels like a “pioneer.”
He also claims that “writing” is still the foundation of storytelling and that great writing is equally important in VR stories.
Padavick is not a newcomer to the news business. Before landing with USA Today’s VR team, Padavick had experience with both CNN and NBC.
He is a firm believer that the public will demand more and more experiential news and feature stories.
38 min
August 02, 2017 NPR Serves the General Public and Millennials Says Reporter & Former Producer
Laurel Wamsley, a young but veteran reporter and producer at National Public Radio (NPR), says she loves working there because she feels the NPR is truly serving the public. She also knows that NPR has made a concerted effort to attract a younger millennial audience and to broaden its base.

Wamsley is in her second stint at the radio giant. She has served as both a “producer” and a “reporter.”

She shares with us that there are two kinds of producers at NPR…show producers who work on a particular program like Morning Edition or All Things Considered and there are desk producers who work on particular topics such as politics, national desk, international, science and education.

A producer finds guests, books the guests, arranges for studio time or field logistics and edits interviews to fit the time slot needed. She said often 20 minute interviews need to be reduced to six minutes or less. That editing responsibility falls on the producer and not the reporter.

Currently, Wamsley is writing “breaking news” for NPR and for their digital product “Two-Way.” She rarely knows what she will cover on any given day and usually produces two to three different stories every work day. She says she likes the variety and it is a challenge to learn to report on and write the stories quickly.

Sometimes a story, such as one such did on Amelia Earhart will get her an additional interview with one of the hosts of All Things Considered or Morning Edition.

Wamsley also has been involved with the explosive popularity of NPR’s podcasts. She previously produced NPR’s wildly popular Politics Podcast.

She says that NPR’s podcasts plus the emphasis NPR has on its NPR Music products definitely attracts a younger audience. She notes that young people who are attracted to NPR Music may not be equally attracted to NPR News but there is more and more crossover.

Wamsley is a native of Athens, Ohio, the home of Ohio University, but she graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. To date, she has worked in Washington D.C.; Austin, Texas, and Chicago.

One of her passions is “urban life” and she calls herself an “urbanist.” She studies urban sustainability and urban self-sufficiency.
37 min
July 26, 2017 Love It or Hate It: The Trump Presidency is Like No Other, Says USA Today Journo
Never before have we had a President that spoke his mind almost daily to the American people. Like it or hate it, President Trump, through his use of social media, broadcasts across the globe his likes, dislikes, and policy thoughts. He is unedited.

While President Obama was closed, guarded and cautious, Pres. Trump says what he thinks or feels regardless of the consequences. Some argue, this makes him the most accessible and transparent President ever, while others claim his behavior reflects a dangerous, almost-cavalier approach to Presidential communications.

The contrast between Trump and Obama is significant for those assigned to cover the White House like Gregory Korte of USA Today. This veteran, award-winning journalist covered both administrations and he tells Spectrum of the differences between the two approaches.

Korte not only covers the White House but he accompanied President Trump on his nine-day trip through the Middle-East and parts of Europe and his most recent trip to the G-20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany.

When on foreign trips, Obama attempted to connect with the people and speak about ideals of democracy, Korte says. Trump, however, prefers bilateral meetings with foreign leaders, in secret and on the fringes of the regular meetings. He likes to meet one-on-one with foreign leaders and exercise the “Art of the Deal,” according to Korte.

It is too early to determine what the nature of Trump’s foreign policy exactly is but Korte says the primary objective is to defeat ISIS and to exercise military strength around the globe.

Korte also notes major differences in the way Trump treats cabinet members such as Rex Tillerson compared to the way Obama would work with cabinet members. Many believe Tillerson is about to resign this early in the President’s term because he is being undermined by the President and his public disclosures.

Korte says, in covering the White House, he tries to stay away from the “palace intrigue” of who has power and who is about to be fired. Instead, he tries to dig out the daily news nuggets from the chaff of distractions. He admits that some days that job is particularly difficult.

Besides covering the White House, Korte has acted as a visiting professional -- teaching at the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University—his alma mater.
0 min
July 21, 2017 Graham Nash: How To Be Socially Conscious in 2017
Graham Nash is a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee who created pioneering British pop-rock outfit The Hollies with childhood friend Allan Clarke in his late teens and was a featured initial in Crosby, Stills, and Nash. He continues to be socially and politically active well into his older years.

Last year he released his first solo project in 14 years, “This Path Tonight,” crafted with the assistance of longtime collaborator Shane Fontayne. Nash refers to himself as a writer, and his ability to master expression with the written (and sung) word is showcased on the lean, 10-song release. Earlier this year Nash announced that he would be going on tour in support of the album this summer, giving fans across the U.S. a chance to take part in his spirited and career-spanning live shows.

Spectrum’s Emily Votaw spoke with Nash about his feelings on the 2016 Presidential election, what he feels all artists should be doing as a result of it, and what it means to be a hippie in 2017.
7 min
July 19, 2017 Cyber Attacks are Part of Putin’s Overall Arsenal says Russia Expert
What Russia may lack in modern traditional military assets, it more than compensates through its ability to wage tactical cyberattacks and ultimately the potential for cyberwarfare.

That’s the opinion of Dr. Steven Miner, professor and Director of the Contemporary History Institute at Ohio University.

Russia’s military hardware is deteriorating and the Russian economy is not strong under its leader Vladimir Putin. So, Russia is opting for committing cyber terrorism to advance its positions in the world.

These attacks, which can be done cheaply, have become pervasive by Russia throughout Europe, the countries bordering Russia and even in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, Dr. Miner says. They are not new.

One of the Russian objectives is to “make trouble” and to discredit the authenticity of democratic electoral systems…leading people to think that elections, for example, are “rigged.”

He feels that the cyber interference in the American election was sparked more by a hatred of Sec. of State Hillary Clinton by Putin than any love for Donald Trump.

Dr. Miner gives a brief explanation of the rise to power of Putin and Putin’s “cynical” philosophy relating to governments and power. Putin’s world view was formed during his early days with Russian Intelligence, the KGB.

Dr. Miner also explains how the current hostile feelings between American and Russia are different than those that existed in the Cold War.

“We are not in Cold War – Part 2,” Dr. Miner says. The relationships between the countries are now far more complex than in earlier Cold War days.

Dr. Miner is one of the world’s foremost authorities on Russian/Soviet and East European history. He just completed writing a book that is awaiting publication by Simon and Schuster, titled – The Furies Unleashed: The Soviet People at War, 1941-1945.
38 min
July 12, 2017 Coal Mining Jobs Will Not Return Despite Pres. Trump’s Claims: Expert Says
President Donald Trump states that his actions through Executive Orders will bring coal mining jobs back to America. Jonathan Norris, researcher and engineer, says that is not likely to happen.

Mining jobs have been on a steady decline since the 1980’s, according to Norris. The main reason is that natural gas has become a much cheaper way to run power plants to produce electricity.

So, even if the President eases carbon emission standards, it will not bring back mining. Coal is a more expensive way to produce electricity. So mines will not come back unless the economy allows them too, Norris says.

Norris’ research interests include energy policy, innovation systems, and the transition of small Appalachian communities from being coal bases to being economically diverse.

A native of the coal fields of Ohio, Norris describes the boom or bust history of extractive industries in his home region.

He says that when coal jobs disappeared that many small communities had no other economic base. The poverty that follows hones a type of fatalistic thinking among residents. Crime increases and drug and alcohol addiction skyrockets.

Southern Ohio, Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia have the highest rates of opioid addiction in the country, Norris says.

Some efforts are being made to retrain former miners for other jobs but many of those programs rely on federal money from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). However, the ARC has been “zeroed out” in the Trump proposed budget to Congress.

If retraining programs and economic diversity programs cannot be funded then hope dims further for the mining communities out of work.
36 min

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