The Rancho Cordova Podcast

In this week’s episode, we are doing something a little different.  

Once a month we are going to bring you an episode of this podcast that’s dedicated to all things sports in Rancho Cordova. We have invited Mike Marando to sit in as a guest host. 

Mike is one of the founders of the Rancho Cordova Sports Hall of Fame and is well-versed in the many athletes and sports figures that started their careers in Rancho Cordova, and there are many renowned ones. As Conrad Mayer, Chairman of the Rancho Cordova Sports Hall of Fame selection committee and an upcoming guest on this podcast recently said, "the history of Rancho Cordova is closely linked with some of the most talented athletes in the country. The time has arrived to look at this amazing sports legacy and allow it to inspire our entire community, especially our youth". 

So, we will hand over the studio to Mike once a month who will interview a sports personality that had their start here in our City.  

We are very excited about this first "sports episode" and for his first guest Mike interviews MLB legend Randy Lerch. If you are a sports fan, you are going to really enjoy this series of monthly interviews. 

We hope you enjoy this episode.  

Well Happy New Year everyone and I hope your new year's resolutions your commitments your intentions your wet January, whatever it may be, I hope that’s all still intact and dialed in and you’re having a great start to 2023 and had a great holiday season.  

Well welcome to season 2 of the Rancho Cordova Podcast brought to you by the California Capital Film Office, we brought you 14 episodes last year, and we kicked this podcast off on Sept 21st, 2022 with a great conversation with the long-serving City Manager, Cyrus Abhar who retired December 31st. and followed up with 13 additional conversations with leaders from across the City of Rancho Cordova. Leaders in all sectors, individuals who are shaping how we see our city today, and in the future, and if you haven’t checked out those episodes, I invite you to do so, and I welcome you to the first episode of our second season. 

We begin the season with a wide-ranging conversation with Documentary Filmmaker Bill George  

Bill’s new documentary Rancho Cordova: From Gold Rush to Space will be released in conjunction with the City of Rancho Cordova’s 20th Anniversary of Incorporation as a City later this year. 

Bill George has accomplished much in his 68 years. 

First, right out of college he entered an exciting career as a TV news producer working in serval large TV markets around the US and finally landing here in Sacramento at KCRA the NBC affiliate.  

After several years in Television News, Bill pivoted to a career in business during which time he was appointed to a State role by the then Governor of California, Pete Wilson. 

In his third act, Bill founded Nimbus Films which went on to produce several historical documentaries all of which aired on the Sacramento PBS station KVIE and he even found time to write and publish three historical non-fiction books.   

Bill and I had a truly interesting conversation. We covered Bill’s achievements as a journalist, TV news producer, and today as a successful documentary filmmaker. I really enjoyed speaking with Bill and I hope you enjoy this episode.  

On this week's show we are going to do something different. I’m sure many of you have heard that our great City Manager Cyrus Abhar is retiring at the end of the year. I was personally very saddened to hear the news but I was also very happy for Cyrus for the new ventures and adventures he will now explore. I was pleased to learn that Deputy City Manager Micah Runner will follow Cyrus as our New City Manager. 

In honor of Cyrus retiring we are going to replay the very first episode of this podcast when I was fortunate to spend 90 minutes with Cyrus as our first guest. On the show we talked about his early life in Iran, coming to America a dream he had since he was a young child, getting a great education and landing here in Rancho Cordova as our City manager all those years ago. This is one of my favorite interviews. I have a great time with Cyrus on the show and I will always be thankful he agreed to be our first guest and helped launch this podcast.  

This episode will the final show for this year and our first season. I think we brought you 13 great shows, I enjoyed speaking to every single guest. We will be back on Wednesday January 4th with the first Episode of Season two featuring documentarian and longtime Sacramento TV personality Bill George. We have some great shows lined up early next year, for example a conversation with Sacramento Sheriff James Cooper, Senator Elect Roger Niello and many more.  

I hope you enjoy the replay of Cyrus Abhar’s episode, and I speak everyone here at the California Capital Film Office and wish you a very happy holiday, and a happy new year and we will see you again on January 4th.  

Now please enjoy the replay of my conversation with Rancho Cordva City Manager, Cyrus Abhar.  

A conversation with a well known and long time resident of Rancho Cordova, a man of many talents, he is an artist, a photographer, graphic designer, and a fixture in Rancho Cordova, Rick Sloan.

As a small business owner you’re always looking for new ideas to market and grow your business, and joining the local Chamber of Commerce will help you do exactly that. A local Chamber of Commerce is an important part of any city, and here in Rancho Cordova, we are lucky to have one of the best Chambers in the Sacramento region.  

On today’s episode, I speak with Rancho Cordova Chamber of Commerce President and CEO, Diann Rogers. Diann has built one of the best and most dynamic Chambers in our region. Under her leadership, the Rancho Cordova Chamber is a vibrant, informative, active, fun, and most importantly helpful organization for any company large or small doing business in our city. During our conversation, we discuss what a Chamber of Commerce is, what it does, how it's formed, and in particular how under Diann’s leadership the Chamber has grown to employ of staff of six and has an annual budget of just over one million Dollars.  

I really enjoyed this conversation with my friend Diann and I hope you will too.  

On this week’s show, we have a very interesting and wide-ranging discussion with Cheryl Gleason.  Cheryl is the Art Director and curator of the Mills Stations Arts and Cultural Center known locally as the MACC.  

Cheryl has been with the MACC as its Director since it opened its doors in 2018 and during that time has built the MACC into one of the best and most respected Arts Centers in the Sacramento region.  On the show we talk about the many events Cheryl has curated, we talk about Art and artists, we discuss the many classes the MACC offers and we find out that Cheryl is also a very accomplished and successful artist in her own right.  

I really enjoyed our conversation. We spoke for almost two hours and we managed to only shave off 20 minutes as this was such an interesting conversation. So grab a coffee, or even a cup of  tea and crumpets, relax and take some time to learn about the arts in our city. 

I hope you enjoy the show as much as I enjoyed speaking with Cheryl   

On this week's episode we speak with Lt. Rich Merideth, and Deputy Jose De La Cruz. We discuss the Rancho Cordova Police Activity League (PAL). 

During our wide ranging conversation, we find out that Micah grew up in the world of politics as his father was a city council member in the city of Lancaster, CA and went on to become a State Senator and his mother worked in the California State Assembly so it's not surprising Micah has worked in local government since leaving college. 

Prior to the City of Stockton, Micah was the Economic Development Manager for the City of Rancho Cordova, and a Senior Project Manager for the City of Sacramento.

I really enjoyed speaking to Micah and I hope you enjoy our conversation. 

During our wide ranging conversation, we find out that Micah grew up in the world of politics as his father was a city council member in the city of Lancaster, CA and went on to become a State Senator and his mother worked in the California State Assembly so it's not surprising Micah has worked in local government since leaving college. 

Prior to the City of Stockton, Micah was the Economic Development Manager for the City of Rancho Cordova, and a Senior Project Manager for the City of Sacramento.

I really enjoyed speaking to Micah and I hope you enjoy our conversation.