Larry Akers is the new police superintendent in Springfield but he prefers being called “Chief.” Akers is a 39-year veteran and the first African-American to be named to the job. His perspective in law enforcement is both practical and humane. It was a pleasure to speak with him on Focus Springfield “Government Matters.”

I hand out some onions and orchids to dserving folks from last year. It's an award show in a matter of minutes and doesn't require dressing up!

On this week’s podcast I had the privilege of talking movies with my friend and former colleague Matt Conway. Matt and I worked at Reminder Publishing together and he was a great reporter who has since left journalism full time to work for the city of Greenfield, MA. Like me, Matt loves movies and has written reviews for a number of outlets, including The Reminder. We had a freewheeling conversation about some recent releases.

My rant this week is an announcement about a decision I made that ends almost 25 years of an activity that I loved to do. There is an end for all good things. I hope you will listen.

Thanks for listening to my first podcast of 2025 and in this episode I share an interview I did for Focus Springfield Television with state Senator Adam Gomez and state Rep. Carlos Gonzalez. Both men just were sworn into a new session of the Massachusetts Legislature and had a lot to say about the last session and what was accomplished as well as what they are seeking to accomplish in 2025.

Also on the broadcast today, I’ll share what stuff I’ve been watching in theaters and on streaming. 

This week on the podcast, I had a very interesting discussion with Christopher DiMauro  about the rebirth of an organization in Springfield honoring Italian culture. Chris, along with his wife Lisa, has become very well known in the region for a series of podcasts, which I detailed. We also spoke about podcasting, the status of media in the region as well as some of his future projects. To stay current with Chris and Lisa with their efforts, be sure to follow DiMauro Media at https://www.facebook.com/ArtintheGame.

Gary Hallgren is a very respected illustrator, painters and cartoonist and is my guest thos week.

In the days of the undergound comix in the ealry 1970s, Hallgren was part of the Air Pirates, a group of artists who decided to parody the characters owned by Walt Disney. 

They were sued by the Disney company and a judge found their work to fall outside of the protections of freedom of speech and was deemed as copyright infringement.

The judgement did not prevent these artists from going on with their careers, I’m happy to report.

In years following, he had a limited series of comic books from Marvel and did work for MAD and other humor magazines. He is the artist for the nationally syndicated comics strip “Hagar the Horrible.”

Gary’s artwork is being featured in an exhibit at the Art for the Soul Gallery at Tower Square in downtown Springfield. MA. “A Retrospective: 1971 – Presents: Gary Hallgren” features a wide range of his paintings and sculptures.

The exhibit is on display through Jan. 19.

Gary excels in taking elements of popular culture and looking at them through his own lens. For instance, there are refences to Blondie and Dagwood, Buck Rogers, Nancy and Sluggo, among others. There are metal sculptures made by found objects.  He mixes and matches different mediums in a work of art.

There will be a pop-up shop of crafters at the gallery on Dec. 15 and Gary will be in attendance. 

One of the most over-used words on the English language is “expert.” There appears to be millions of experts out there, especially about media trends. On today’s podcast, though, I have the pleasure of speaking with a genuine expert, Michael Harrison. Michael is the publisher of Talkers, once a magazine and now a website that covers the talk radio industry. It’s been called the bible of the industry and rightly so. Take a look for yourself at www.Talkers.com.  I’ve known Michael for years and have been privileged to have attending many of his annual conferences. I view him as not an authority about talk radio but in media as well.

Michael was an early advocate for podcasting. He saw how technology could change listening habits and that podcasting freed broadcasters from a schedule to develop a much larger audience.

There was a lot to cover and we didn't get to it all, but  and Michael and I will speak again in the future.

Also on the podcast, I talk about our local media and its status, which is discouraging at this point. 

I had the privilege of speaking with Carrie Salso of NEPM's "The Rundown" and political consultant Anthony Cignoli about the election results from micro to macro recently. I think, if you are a politic wonk (as I am) you will enjoy the discussion.

This week on the podcast, we have a two-fer. I’ve conducted interviews with both Congressman Richard Neal and his opponent in this election, Nadia Milleron. They were undertaken as part of my gig as the host of “Government Maters” on Focus Springfield.

 First up is Milleron, an independent who is both an attorney and a farmer from Sheffield, MA, who came into prominence questioning safety issues after she lost her daughter in a place crash. She said that if elected she would caucus with whichever party has the best idea about a bill.

Then will be Representative Neal, the former chair of the House Ways and Means Committee and a very prominent, though low key, longtime member of Congress. Neal recently  came under some criticism from a story posted on Politico (https://www.politico.com/news/2024/10/24/richard-neal-son-congress-lobbying-00181853)  about ethics issues regarding his lobbyist son. Neal addressed that issue and others in the conversation.

One of the things I love about Western Massachusetts is the fact it’s home to everyone. There are so many ethnic groups here adding a great deal of culture and diversity to our region.

I regularly have promoted small business and businesses owned by what is called minority owners. We frequently see stories about Black, Hispanic and women owned businesses but there is a new group of people who are adding businesses and jobs to our area and that’s Indian immigrants.

In this edition of the podcast, I spoke with two business owners Raj Sanghvi of Chicopee, who owns two businesses there, and Dinesh Patel who is the owner/ managing partner of the Springfield Marriot.

In my commentary I speak about the reasons people vote. Thanks for listening!

This week on the podcast, I spoke with a fellow Springfield guy, David Starzyk, who has had a very diverse and successful acting career. He has been on stage, in films and on television .

He has acted with people such as Valerie Bertinelli, Eva Longoria, Betty White, Don Johnson, Charlie Sheen, James Spader, Robert Urich, Eric Braedon, Mary McDonnell,  among others and has appeared on shows such as NCIS, Magnum PI, Veronica Mars, Hot in Cleveland, SWAT, Criminal Minds, Bones , Mad Men, and many many more.

He‘s the type of interview with whom I could spend hours talking.

My rant this week is about the removal of the 136-year-old granite bench from a downtown Springfield park. As you might guess, I'm not happy about it.