Spectrum

WOUB’s first podcast, Spectrum, celebrates its tenth-year anniversary with the launch of a new season. Spectrum started in June 2016 and has already produced 272 episodes that are archived at Apple Podcasts, the NPR Podcast Directory and at https://woub.org/tag/spectrum/. To launch its new season, host Tom Hodson has a conversation with Dr. Geoffrey Dabelko, a professor in the Environmental Studies Program at the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Services at Ohio University. Dabelko also serves as the Sustainability Hub Coordinator at Ohio University. He is an internationally known expert on climate change, climate change policies, and environmental security. They discuss Trump gutting of governmental regulations and environmental oversight that directly impacts climate change. Dabelko also decries this administrations attack on science and fact-based data concerning climate change. On an international level, he expresses his concerns about the United States withdrawing from Paris Climate agreement…

Both Diddy and former President Donald Trump have had their properties searched by law enforcement authorities pursuant to search warrants. Diddy just recently had his properties searched by Homeland Security and in August 2022, Trump had his Mar-a-Lago home searched by the FBI. Both searches took place after judges reviewed sworn affidavits from law enforcement officers alleging that evidence of criminal activity was present at the locations. Judges then issued the warrants for gathering evidence of potential crimes. In Trump’s case, the warrant called for the seizure of the allegedly classified documents from Trump’s Florida residence. Trump’s search warrant was issued after numerous requests and a subpoena for the return of the documents were unsuccessful. Subpoenas and search warrants are often confusing to the average citizen. It is sometimes difficult to understand the difference. They also should not be construed, alone, as indicators of crimes. On this edition of Spectrum, host and retired judge Tom…

Retired judges Gayle Williams-Byers and Tom Hodson dissect Donald Trump’s legal issues into understandable terms for the public. In this episode, they examine two recent rulings by Judge Scott McAfee of Fulton County Georgia concerning the dismissal of six counts from the multicount, multiparty Trump indictment. They also explain Judge McAfee’s ruling allowing Prosecutor Fani Willis to remain on the case against the former President and his co-defendants. Judges Byers and Hodson use understandable language and examples to break down complex legal motions and rulings. Both think it is important for the public to understand what is going on in the courts and both think the mainstream media is not doing an adequate job of deciphering crucial terms and legal proceedings. “People don’t trust what they don’t understand,” said Judge Byers. So, these retired judges have committed themselves to raising the public’s level of understanding. Besides both being former jurists, Judge Byers was a former Assistant…

Psychiatrist and author Dr. Stephen A. Goldman tackles postwar life of Union Civil War soldiers and their commitment to social change. In his book, One More War to Fight: Union Veteran’ Battle for Equality through Reconstruction, Jim Crow and the Lost Cause, Dr. Goldman delves into how Union veterans’ obligation to their country did not end when they returned home. It had only just begun. Using primary sources and firsthand accounts, the book explores the role of military soldiers after returning to civilian life and the fight against racism. Dr. Goldman examines the contentious post-Civil War period and the role of former soldiers in effectuating social change. He examines the commitment of both white and African American veterans to completing the “unfinished” business” of the War as President Abraham Lincoln termed it. He looks at the contentious post-Civil War period from the perspective of former Union soldiers who survived the war to carry on the fight for equality in decades to come. Dr. Goldman, as a…

Ohio, like most states, has vast regions that have too few lawyers based upon population needs. In Ohio, 82 of the 88 counties do not have adequate representation. Only the top six urban counties meet the standard of one lawyer per 700 people, says Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy of the Supreme Court of Ohio That leaves 6.5 million people or 56 percent of Ohio’s population without access to attorneys to meet their basic legal needs such as issues related to health care, housing, food assistance, criminal defense and cases involving children, including custody, neglect, and abuse. For example, Vinton County, Ohio only has two lawyers for a county population of 12,000 people, according to Chief Justice Kennedy. To help solve this problem, Ohio is launching a pilot program to bring young lawyers to these underserved areas. There is a partnership between the Ohio Department of Higher Education, the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation and the Supreme Court of Ohio to ease the crisis. Third year law students and…

At the end of each year, the editors and staff of the MIT Technology Review select the top 10 new technologies that will breakthrough in the coming year. The list is prepared and published to give the average person a glimpse of what is on the horizon and what might be incorporated into our daily lives, according to Amy Nordrum, executive editor. Besides being executive editor, Nordrum also is a frequent guest on WNYC and NPR’s Science Friday with Ira Flatow. The Review staff spends months discussing and analyzing what might be hot for the next 12 months. In addition, the Review allows readers to vote on an 11th addition to the list. That selection will be revealed in April. To further educate the public, Nordrum added in December five things that were not put on the 2024 Breakthrough list but items that should be watched. In this podcast episode, Nordrum breaks down each of the selections and explains its importance in understandable terms. Some items she describes are: · A-I for everything · Apple Vision…

There are mutual obsessions between the news media who cover former President Donald Trump and Donald Trump and the news media. Both rely on the other and both benefit from the other. The news media makes money off covering Trump and Trump gets unending publicity from the news media, regardless of his activities or misstatements of facts. This unholy alliance is unhealthy for the true dissemination of news and for our democracy, according to Dr. Michael Bugeja, Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University. While networks like Fox, MSNBC and CNN are singularly focused on Trump’s every move, other news events no longer get covered, says Bugeja. Instead of news on national and international levels, we get a constant diet of analysis from all political viewpoints, he adds. Analysis and speculations on what might happen next have replaced hard news coverage of truly breaking events. We also are bereft of local news coverage in many parts of the country, leading to a true news…

While 60 percent of Americans have more trust in local news than national news, local media are disappearing at an alarming rate. We are losing an average of two newspapers per week and by 2025, we will have lost nearly one-third of our local newspapers nationwide, according to a 2022 study done by Northwestern University. Currently about 20 percent of the nation lives in a news desert with little to no access to local news. Will anything replace the dying newspaper population? Local and regional non-profit news organizations are springing up across the country as an alternative. There are various business models for these non-profits depending on the region they serve. Leadership for these new publications is coming from various directions. Some leaders have had long careers in journalism, and some are early in their journalism careers. Regardless of the experience level, many journalists are seeing the revival of hyperlocal news media to be critical to the survival of our democracy. Andy Alexander is a…

Philip Elliott, Washington correspondent for Time and author of Time’s newsletter, D.C. Brief, breaks down the status of national politics as we sit just less than a year away from the 2024 Presidential Election. Although former President Donald Trump is leading in the early polls for the GOP nomination, Elliott reminds us that the first Republican primary in Iowa is always unpredictable. He also says that GOP candidate Nikki Haley is doing well with traditional Republicans and has amassed noteworthy support and financial backing for the Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina primaries. Elliott also says that the 2024 is volatile with the two main candidates, Trump and President Joe Biden, both being unpopular with large segments of voters. If one adds potential Independent candidates like Liz Cheney and Robert Kennedy Jr. to the mix, the election picture becomes even more murky, he says. Elliott also talks about the political quagmire of issues such as funding for Israel, the unexpected support of…

Recently, the fifth National Climate Assessment was released by the US government. It is an interagency effort mandated by Congress to provide the scientific foundation for informed decision making about climate change for the next five years. “The report states that no part of the US is insulated from climate change impacts even if they differ geographically,” says Dr. Geoff Dabelko, professor at the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service at Ohio University and a senior advisor for the Environmental Change and Security Program at the Wilson Center in Washington, D. C. The Assessment says we are experiencing climate changes that are “unprecedented over thousands of years.” Although the Assessment focuses primarily on the US, it also examines climate change internationally. Dr. Dabelko was one of the authors of the International Chapter. “What happens with climate change overseas does not stay overseas,” Dabelko says. “Both impacts and international responses affect the US economically,…

Too often legal terms are used, without definitions, by the news media while covering cases involving former President Donald J. Trump. This leads to public misinformation, misunderstanding and confusion. Periodically, this season, WOUB’s Spectrum podcast will endeavor to translate these key terms and procedures into understandable language so that the average person can keep up with the legal proceedings. Retired judge and legal analyst Judge Gayle Williams-Byers along with retired judge and Spectrum host Tom Hodson will translate legalese into bite-sized digestible terms by using examples that everyone can understand. These episodes will explain what is happening in Trump’s cases from a judge’s perspective instead of from the viewpoint of the parties. If you listen, you will be able to follow the cases better and understand more. In this episode, Judge Byers and Hodson delve into “gag orders” – why they’re issued –how they’re structured-- what they really mean – and how they are enforced. They talk about…

David Collins, an eight-time Grammy award winner, has been producing groundbreaking films, documentaries, television and streaming projects for over 25 years. The common thread to his expansive body of work is that his projects give voice to marginalized populations and feature inclusive and omni culture content. He, with his partner Michael Williams, created Scout Productions in 1994 – just five years after David’s graduation from Ohio University. Scout Productions has gone on to produce Queer Eye for the Straight Guy for Bravo in 2003, Queer Eye for Netflix in 2018, Legendary for HBO Max in 2020 and his current effort in partnership with Amy Poehler called The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning for Peacock. Collins says his award-winning company is provides culturally transformative and emotionally gripping content across multiple platforms with humor and heart. He has two new series launching in May 2023. An investigative documentary, The Secrets of The Hillsong Church, premieres on May 19 on FX and the…

Two- and one-half years ago, the Goldsberry family was robbed of over $230,000 by international computer scammers who took control remotely of a family computer and emptied several bank accounts. This happened through 14 wire transfers to Thailand from December 16, 2020 to January 11, 2021. During this time, the family noticed strange transactions happening and notified the national fraud department of their bank plus the local bank authorities. To date, however, the Goldsberry family has yet to be reimbursed for their loss and they are frustrated. Retired Ohio judge Alan Goldsberry and his financial consultant son Stuart have unsuccessfully tried various means to get reimbursement. They contacted the local police, the local prosecutor and the FBI but have come up empty on a mechanism to get their money back. They have attempted multiple times to get cooperation from their bank but to no avail. They also have filed suit in federal court to get the bank to release its records. This was only partially…

This fall, the National Judicial College (NJC), located on the campus of the University of Nevada-Reno, will hold its second groundbreaking course to teach judges from across the nation how to develop and maintain anti-racist courtrooms. This four-day course will be held in Montgomery, Alabama. Last years, inaugural course took place in Memphis, Tennessee. “Participants will be challenged to examine their own beliefs, including unconscious beliefs, and consider anti-racist theory with practice as potential antidotes to bias,” says Judge Benes Aldana, president of the NJC. The course is designed to identify sources of personal and systemic bias in courtrooms and to create or facilitate effective interventions. Successful participants in the class are expected to lead “impactful initiatives to identify and mitigate sources of bias in the legal system, according to Judge Gayle Williams Byers, a Fellow at the NJC. The course curriculum includes history, experiential learning, cognitive science, and psychological…

“Masking” is a term used for when people with commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) get lenient treatment in our nation’s courts. This allows offenders to hide their traffic offenses and stay on our highways without retribution. Masking, although too often commonplace, is actually a violation of federal law and prohibited and states could get in trouble if their judges do not comply, according to retired Judge Gayle Williams-Byers. Too often, however, a person with a CDL may be cited for a traffic offense in his/her private vehicle. When the violator appears in court, they claim that they will lose their job if the offense is reported to a state Bureau of Motor Vehicles. As a result, says Judge Byers, prosecutors and judges too often reduce the original charge to a minor offense that is not reportable to the state, or which does not carry any points against the offender’s license. This masking process is prohibited yet in some places it is the norm. It is being opposed by the National Highway Safety…

Before traveling to the Midwest, New Yorker Fran Lebowitz talked with Spectrum’s guest host Emily Votaw and share her views on life, mortality, friends and smartphones. Lebowitz is a writer, humorist and intellectual. A child of the 1950’s, she shares her social criticism with wit, wisdom and a dose of sarcasm. In 1978, her first book of essays “Metropolitan Life” was published followed by another book of essays in 1981 called “Social Studies.” Since then, she has been a frequent talk show guest and public speaker due to her engaging banter and her sometimes skewed slant on the world and pop culture. Lebowitz spoke with Votaw recently before a speaking engagement in Marietta, Ohio.

Local television newsrooms are often chaotic with breaking news and even routine stories spreading news crews and reporters across a wide geographic area. All are gathering news for both digital distribution and broadcast purposes with multiple and constant deadlines. Someone must coordinate this mayhem and that person in the tri-state area of S.W. Ohio is Ramsay Fulbright, the Assignment Desk Manager for WCPO 9 News. He daily is sending reporters and photographers to stories across Cincinnati, SW Ohio, Indiana, and northern Kentucky. Once the news is gathered, Ramsay also leads a team of assignment editors who feed the news products to various producers of multiple local television news shows every day. Experience pays off for Ramsay. Over the years, his news judgment has been honed by his time as a news photographer. Prior to jumping to the assignment desk, Ramsay spent 11 years as either a photographer or the head photographer at stations in Arkansas, Tennessee, Arizona and at his home station of WCPO…

In the third of our Spectrum Podcast series on the inner workings of local television news, Janelle Bass gives us insight on being a managing editor at an urban television station in Cleveland. Bass not only manages the reporters at WEWS News 5, but she also heads an award-winning podcasting project at the station. It is part of local television’s entrée into all forms of digital media: print, social media, podcasting and video. She says every day on the job presents different situations and new challenges. There is no time to be bored or to rest. She compares her job to trying to organize chaos, especially on breaking-news days. Earlier in her career, Bass served as a wedding planner in North Carolina. She admits that many of the skills she honed coping with couples about to get married are the human relations skills she now uses managing the newsroom staff. As an African American woman in media management, Janelle also has encountered some special challenges over her career even though she has a…

This the second in a series of episodes of WOUB’s Spectrum podcast focusing on the importance of local television news in our news consumption. Allison Herman is a young news director. She only graduated from journalism school at Ohio University in 2010 yet she has climbed the ranks quickly in the news busines. Already in her brief career, she’s worked in Huntington-Charleston, West Virginia, Louisville, Indianapolis, and Raleigh-Durham until she landed at WTKR-News3 in Norfolk, Virginia in 2021. About seven months ago, she was promoted to news director. In just a short time, she has changed the news coverage from leaning more towards soft news to a more hard-news format. Allison endeavors to service a large sprawling geographic area taking in numerous cities along the Virginia coast. Her viewing area also includes the country’s largest naval base in Norfolk. The region is quite diverse, racially, and economically. It also includes urban and rural areas. To meet the news needs of such a large and diverse…

A study conducted by Gallup and the Knight Foundation has found that local television news is trusted by more people than national news outlets. The latest poll showed the gap between trust in local and national news has grown by three percentage points since Gallup/Knight’s findings on this measure in 2019. “In 2021, Americans were 17 points more likely to say they trust reporting by local news organizations “a great deal” or “quite a lot” than to trust reporting by national news organizations,” the report said. As a result, WOUB’s Spectrum podcast is doing a special series on the impacts of local news by talking with representatives of three television stations: WEWS TV in Cleveland, WCPO TV in Cincinnati and WKRT in Norfolk, Virginia. We are trying to learn how local news stations operate, how they determine their content, and how they meet the needs of their audiences. Our first guests are Joe Donatelli, digital director at WEWS and Mark Ackerman, Investigative Executive Producer at WEWS in Cleveland.…

Donald Wiggins is an attorney and an advocate for prison reform, expanding voting rights, and restorative justice. He is working to get prisoners the right to vote, not only in his home state of Ohio but across the nation. If prisoners can vote, they will have a voice in bettering the conditions of the correctional institutions in which they are incarcerated, according to Wiggins. He claims that most prisons are old and generally need major upgrades to correct what he calls deplorable conditions. He gives an example of an Ohio prison that has had brown and smelly water for prisoners to use because the system supplying water is antiquated. Wiggins also presses for changes in the criminal justice system which would restore inmates to some dignity and help them upon their release to prevent recidivism. Wiggins is currently in private law practice but continues his history of advocacy. Over his career, he has been associated with several political action groups.

Journalist, reporter, and morning news co-anchor Matt Barnes has found his career sweet spot in Columbus, Ohio. It also just happens to be his hometown. After graduating from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University and leaving his four years of work at WOUB Public Media, Barnes, in 2008, was convinced his life work would be in sports broadcasting. He headed to his first professional job in Augusta, Georgia at WRDW-TV where he covered local sports and the Master’s golf tournament. In 2010, Matt returned to WCMH4 in Columbus as a sports reporter and anchor, a position he relished for 6 years. Then an opportunity presented itself to change his broadcast focus. In 2016, Matt gave up the sports microphone and instead jumped to be the morning co-anchor of NBC4 Today. He has been there for the past six years. When asked about whether he wants to move to a bigger market, Barnes shared that he already has turned down some notable offers but for now, he loves broadcasting in Columbus, the city he…

Hidden in the archives of the Library of Congress were two memoirs of an American reporter, Herbert Corey who covered the World War I from its start in 1914 up through the Paris Peace Conference in 1919-1920. He was the American reporter who covered the war the longest, from a full three-years before participation by the United States. The memoirs were discovered by two authors, historians and journalists, John M. Hamilton, and Peter Finn. They decided to edit the memoirs, annotate them with notes and footnotes and put the memoirs in perspective for a 21st Century audience. Herbert Corey’s Great War: A memoir of WWI by the American Who Saw if All was released in June 2022 by the LSU Press. It contains first-hand accounts of Corey’s adventures covering both sides of the war from the German frontlines to the trenches of the allies. He covered the angst and travails of the foot-soldiers and the war lives of non-combatants. He viewed the war from nine European countries as he traveled for the Associated…

While surveys show that many people are regretting getting degrees in journalism and communication, Meryl Gottlieb, Senior Partner Manager, Business Development at Insider believes just the opposite. She says that the diversity of media and multiple and innovative ways to tell stories has never made journalism more diverse and open to creativity. Gottlieb, a 2016 graduate of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, is excited about new delivery systems for stories and completely new formats that are on the horizon for storytelling. Although the media landscape is changing so quickly, she finds that the rapidity of change to be both challenging and exhilarating. Gottlieb recently was the first speaker at Ohio University’s Scripps College of Communication in the Joe Berman Lecture Series on the Future of Media. She talked with nearly 300 students, faculty, and staff about the “power of the pivot.” She says that to survive and thrive in the media world, one must be able to change course quickly…

Beverly Jones is an executive coach, author, attorney, and host of WOUB’s popular podcast “Jazzed About Work.” Jones also is a long-time veteran of fighting for women’s rights since the 1960’s. She talks with WOUB’s Spectrum Podcast host Tom Hodson about today’s conditions facing women, especially since the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent anti-abortion ruling. She also discusses whether advocacy strategies employed by women and feminists in the 1960’s and 1970’s are still applicable today or whether technology and social media have changed the way advocacy must be conducted. They also chat about what comes next in the fight for women’s rights and the rights of various minority groups in this country. Jones spent the bulk of her professional career as an attorney in Washington, D.C. and since leaving her practice, she has concentrated on career counseling and executive coaching. She also is the author of two books: Find Your Happy at Work: 50 Ways to Get Unstuck, Move Past Boredom, and Discover Fulfillment and…

In this episode of the Spectrum Podcast, Walt Bogdanich, a three-time Pulitzer Prize winning reporter, emphasizes the importance of investigative reporting while explaining his new book: When McKinsey Comes to Town: The Hidden Influence of the World’s Most Powerful Consulting Firm. Bogdanich and his co-author Michael Forsythe have unveiled the secrets behind one of the world’s most powerful consulting firms, McKinsey and Company. They show how the firms tentacles ensnare and entangle almost all aspects of American life from our largest cities to our smallest town. For example, the firm has worked with companies to promote opioids while at the same time representing the Food and Drug Administration assigned to regulate the industry. McKinsey also represented cigarette manufacturers long after cigarettes were targeted as a major health hazard. Until Bogdanich and Forsythe started digging, the company had been cloaked in secrecy since its inception in 1926. No one knew the firm’s clients or their fees until…

Marlon Primes served more than 30 years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Ohio before recently joining the law firm of Brennan Manna Diamond handling complex civil litigation. Primes has risen to the heights of the legal profession while at the same time, giving back to his community. He stresses the importance of the rule of law in a democracy and orderly society. He notes that no one should be above the law. His sterling legal career reflects that dedication. He has been active in both work for the legal profession and community improvement work. Primes is the Past President of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association ("CMBA"). It is one of the largest associations of lawyers and judges in Ohio. He was the first African American attorney to serve as president of the CMBA and the first government attorney to do so. He also served as national Vice President of the National Bar Association, which is the nation’s oldest and largest association of African American lawyers and judges.…

The Rust Belt of the Midwest is transitioning to the Tech Belt of the heartland and that story is being told by author, CNBC contributor, and media entrepreneur Rebecca Fannin. Her latest book, “Silicon Heartland” paints the picture of “fly-over country” emerging from the depression of the collapsing Rust Belt industries to a new entrepreneurial spirit with high-tech companies. Fannin views this transition with a seasoned journalistic eye. Her career has spanned from New York to Silicon Valley to Asia. She has been a guest on the BBC, Fox News, and NPR. Her writing has ranged from three previous books to articles for the Harvard Business Review, Inc., Fast Company, and Forbes. She also has been a guest speaker at Harvard, Yale, Oxford, the Brookings Institution, and the Asia Society. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fannin explored her homeland, the Midwest. She tells the story of Midwestern rebirth that everyone else has ignored. Hear her talk about her journeys and the many interviews she had…

Chris Witherspoon has become a powerful entertainment journalist who has interviewed top-level celebrities throughout his career. He also appears as a regular on MSNBC, the TODAY show, the Wendy Williams Show, and NBC’s Nightly News giving his insights on entertainment news. But his latest project shows his entrepreneurial side. He has created PopViewers, a website and an app. According to its website, https://popviewers.com/, “PopViewers is the platform that helps you find what to watch next, invites you to react to the TV shows and movies you’ve watched, and encourages you to share the experience with fellow content-lovers.” Witherspoon’s intent is to give the common person a voice in content creation and the direction of entertainment media…just like the established critics. PopViewers democratizes public opinion about media content. He also wants to give a forum for diverse voices to be heard about media produced by major media companies and register those diverse opinions. You can see more about…

Philip Elliott, Washington Correspondent for TIME, says the mid-term elections have become a toss-up as to whether the Democrats will lose power in both the House and the Senate. He explains that across the nation surprise Democratic wins in special elections, the rise in President Joseph Biden’s popularity, and the abortion issue have turned the tides from a sure Republican victory in November to races that have become much closer. Elliott, the author of TIME’s newsletter “The D.C. Brief”, spent August traveling the country to feel the pulse of real voters in the heartland. Two issues stood out above all others, he says. The reversal of Roe v. Wade has put abortion front and center as the primary issue followed closely by people fearing for democracy and the stability of our country. Elliott notes that the abortion issue is expected to bring Republican, Independent, and Democratic voters to the polls to express anger over women’s reproductive rights being eroded. He also noted that other groups fear future…

A new limited podcast series has been released by WOUB Public Media. “Who Lies Beneath: The Asylum” tells the true-life stories of people who were buried in numbered graves at an abandoned mental health facility. Host and creator Cheri Russo describes to Spectrum host Tom Hodson how she and a team of experts identified those buried in certain graves and fleshed out their lives through the help of voice actors. It is her hope to bring dignity and respect to those who were abandoned by their families and reduced to numbers upon their deaths at what was once called a “Lunatic Asylum.” She talks about how women were often institutionalized and abandoned for problems like postpartum depression and other childbearing issues. Men, who were veterans, were often put in the asylum for what we now call post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD). Through the help of a library archivist, a medical historian, a counsellor and others, the lives and situations of these individuals have been reconstructed. It is the desire of…

A recent Washington Post-Ipsos poll conducted after the killing of 10 blacks in Buffalo in a racially motivated shooting spree indicates that 75 percent of Black Americans “are worried that they or someone they love will be attacked because of their race.” In addition, after the attack, “only 10 percent think the problem of racism will improve in their lifetime, while a 53 majority think it will get worse.” The Poll also found that a “70 percent majority of Black Americans think at least half of White Americans hold white supremacist beliefs” and 75 percent say, “white supremacists are a major threat to Black Americans.” Such is the state of race relations in America. Considering this rise in racism, racial violence, and escalating fear, WOUB’s Spectrum Podcast reached out to two Black women professionals to get their unique perspectives. We talked with Dr. Janice Collins, an author, scholar, teacher, and journalist. Dr. Collins is the author of “250 Years and Still A Slave.” She also is a multicultural…

The terms “comic storytelling” and “journalism” may sound a bit discordant to the average news consumer. Yet, “comic storytelling in journalism” is rapidly becoming a growing trend to get younger eyes on the news products of mainstream media. It is the marriage of drawn images and text to tell serious stories in a series of drawn panels similar to a comic strip. Hannah Good and Rachel Orr of the “Washington Post” are strong proponents and practitioners of this form of journalistic storytelling. Good is a journalist and a comic artist and Orr is art director and comics editor. Good curates Gender and Identity coverage and Orr leads the visual identity and social strategy for Gender and Identity. Currently, they help contributors tell their personal stories through graphic images and text in 10 panels. Good and Orr also are working with other groups at the “Washington Post” to expand this graphic form of storytelling to other topics. This form of storytelling brings younger eyes to news products. It attracts…

Veteran comedian Lewis Black is on the road with his “Off the Rails” tour. While traveling, he took some time to have a conversation with Spectrum’s guest host Emily Votaw of WOUB. They talked about his philosophy of comedy, the importance of education in our society and his work with the Kurt Vonnegut Library and Museum. Even though he is known for his outrageous ranting humor on stage, he also professed some cautious optimism that the human condition can improve. He will perform in Cincinnati at the Taft Theater on April 21 and in Akron at the Goodyear Theater on April 22.

Given the current controversy over the incident between Will Smith and Chris Rock at the Oscars, WOUB’s Spectrum Podcast wanted to get the perspectives on the issue from two notable black women. Recently, we met with journalist, scholar, and author Dr. Janice Collins and path-setting jurist Judge Gayle Williams Byers for their perspectives They examine the issue from multiple aspects including race. The two women have a wide-ranging conversation on topics from role modeling to the impact on the public perception of black men and violence. They share opinions that have been given to them from both black men and women about the incident including the impact this incident may have on black children. Dr. Collins and Judge Byers also note the disparaging treatment given to Smith by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and note how different it was from past white men like director Roman Polanski and movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Ken Burns has been a documentary filmmaker for 45 years and his latest series is a four-hour PBS special about Benjamin Franklin airing on PBS Stations April 4 and 5. He discusses, with guest host Emily Votaw, the complexities and brilliance of Franklin and the many different venues in which he excelled. Some call Franklin a genius of his age. Burns describes how he traverses the complexities and nuances of history for his films and how he ferrets out stories and facts previously untold. Burns also explains how he has given voices, in his films, to marginalized groups of people and tells historic stories often through the eyes and emotions of “ordinary people” and not just major historical figures.

Policymakers, leaders, and corporate heads need to look at the world through a “population lens,” according to Dr. Jennifer Sciubba, an international expert on political demography and demographic security. Sciubba is an author, associate professor at Rhodes College and a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. Her latest book, is “8 Billion and Counting: How Sex, Death, and Migration Shape the World.” In it, she differentiates between the 20th Century which was a century of population growth and the 21st Century which is a century of differential growth. She claims in the first two decades of this century we have a rising differential in populations with undeveloped countries with poorer populations growing much faster than aging developed countries. Sciubba states that 98 percent of the world’s population growth is now centered in underdeveloped countries causing an even greater disparity between the economic haves and have-nots of the world. She thinks leaders should view these growth…

Since the Supreme Court of the United States eliminated much of the 1960’s Voting Rights Act in 2013, many states have added restrictions to voting and some are considered draconian. This is especially true after the 2020 Presidential Election and former President Donald Trump and his followers spreading theories that he really won the election, according to Dr. Katherine Jellison, an award-winning history professor and author at Ohio University. Most changes impact women more than men, says Dr. Jellison. Although states like Georgia, Texas, and Florida have led the way in massive changes restricting a person’s opportunities to vote, other states have been eroding those rights as well. Dr. Jellison says “Voter ID” requirements may seem, at first blush, innocuous. However, they discriminate against women who have changed their names because of marriage and discriminate against the elderly and certain minority groups who might not have drivers’ licenses. Also, she asserts that limiting hours of voting and…

While other news media are fading in popularity, local television news programming is gaining popularity across the country. Newspaper staffs have been gutted and cable and network news have been staggering but local news is hiring more people and is becoming more popular than ever, according to Lesley Van Ness, Director of Talent Acquisition at Gray Television. Gray television currently owns 113 local television stations across the country including WOIO Television in Cleveland, OH. Ian Rubin, TV and Digital News Director at WOIO, says audiences are demanding more out of local television news than in the past. They want faster news that is multi-platformed and available on mobile devices in an instant. The assertions of Van Ness and Rubin are supported by the latest findings by the Pew Research Center. Local television stations in 2020 dedicated 6.2 hours of local news coverage in a day, according to Pew. This was an increase from 2019. Staffing for local television news operations also have increased while…

In just over a decade, America will face a shortage of up to 124,000 doctors and 200,000 nurses will need to be hired each year, according to the American Hospital Association. Overall, there will be a 3.2 million shortage of healthcare workers by 2026, according to a white paper presented by https://www.mercer.com/. Some of this is attributable to “COVID burnout” by healthcare workers but we also are facing a crisis of both our population getting older and healthcare workers quitting the profession, says Dr. Kenneth Johnson. Dr. Johnson is the Dean of the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine and chief medical officer at Ohio University. Dr. Johnson also serves as chair of the Ohio Council of Medical School Deans. Dr. Johnson says we have known about this looming crisis for years but as a country, we have failed to adequately address it. COVID also has exacerbated this situation. Some 30 percent of healthcare workers are considering leaving the profession and almost 60 percent have reported impacts to…

Author, career counselor, podcast host and executive coach Beverly Jones explains to WOUB’s Spectrum Podcast how we can chase away the “Winter Blues” and shake ourselves out of those “February Doldrums” at work. She gives us tips on how we can improve of emotional, spiritual, and physical wellbeing during these dull days of isolation from weather and the COVID pandemic. She outlines concrete steps for us to improve your purpose, your people skills, and your performance. Jones is a strong proponent of us “checking-in” with our state of wellbeing and making appropriate adjustments. Those adjustments may be becoming more physically active or learning something new to stimulate your brain. She also stresses that we need to create a list of positive people in our lives and start reaching out to them. Personal contact through emails, texts, letters, or digital chat is important to stay connected and to combat our sense of isolation. Jones’ most recent book is “Find Your Happy at Work: 50 Ways to get unstuck, move…

Dr. Janice Marie Collins is an author, journalist, documentarian, educator, and humanitarian. Her most recent book is Teaching Without Borders: Creating Equity, and Inclusion with Active Centralized Empowerment (ACE). She also authored, 250 Years and Still a Slave. Dr. Collins says that people, and especially students, can feel marginalized, trapped, and enslaved through lack of diversity, inclusion, and empowerment. She is a strong advocate for giving students power and opportunities in the classroom and providing students a fair chance to maximize their talents and potentials without demonizing them. In this episode, Dr. Collins gives numerous examples of how ACE works and succeeds. In addition to her education advocacy, she has won a journalism award for her student-based website: hearmyvoiceonline.com. It gives an outlet to many and varied student perspectives. Dr. Collins is currently president of World Changers Media International Foundation. (WCMIF). “WCMIF is a non-profit foundation that is in the…

Author, food journalist, content creator and social media celebrity Katie Quinn just finished her first personal book tour in the United States to promote her book “Cheese, Wine, and Bread: Discovering The Magic of Fermentation in England, Italy, and France.” She recently spent time in Manhattan and made some personal appearances in the Midwest before heading back to her current home in Italy. This was her first time to promote her book in person in America since it was published by Harper Collins/William Morrow in April of 2021. Her book, which was three years in the making, has garnered outstanding reviews from a wide variety of publications such as The Wall Street Journal and Real Simple Magazine. It is touted as one of the top cookbooks of 2021. The book is a combination of personal stories, observations, personality profiles, scientific facts, and recipes. It is a narrative cookbook with stunning photography and illustrations that leap off the pages. While visiting Ohio, Katie stopped by the WOUB…

Earl Johnson trained as a pastor at Yale’s Divinity School, worked for anthropologist Margaret Mead in African and observed firsthand violence in London and in Jerusalem. He then returned to a church in Columbia, Missouri but was restless. He then made major life decisions. He took a sabbatical from his church, came out as a gay man, and moved to New York City. While in New York, he was discovered by agents, and he became a world-renowned model for high-end men’s clothing designers in Europe and the United States. He toured the globe. However, he felt that he wanted to do more, so he gave up modeling and trained as a hospital chaplain. In the mid- 1990’s, he worked at New York’s Cabrini Medical Center and gave comfort to dying AIDS patients, their partners, and families. In 2001, he moved to Washington D.C. to become a hospital chaplain and on his second day of work, he was inundated with victims and families from the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. Johnson had so much experience comforting the hurt and…

Joe Nuxhall was a famous pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds. He also was a highly popular broadcaster for the club for over four decades. Radio fans loved him for his colorful stories about his career and the game he loved. He was the youngest pitcher ever to pitch in a major league game at age 15, toiled in the minors, and then became a stalwart part of the Reds’ pitching staff. Later, he remained batting practice pitcher while holding his place in the broadcast booth. All the time he was collecting stories of baseball, life, and broadcasting. Those stories have been compiled and shared in a new book, “Joe Nuxhall: The Old Lefthander & Me”, written by author, journalist, and long-time media critic John Kiesewetter. You don’t have to be a baseball fan to like the book, according to Kiesewetter. Many of the stories share conversations about life in general and being a sports broadcaster. Nuxhall was beloved by his teammates, his broadcast colleagues, and Reds’ fans. He also was beloved by his hometown Hamilton,…

Former President Donald Trump’s power over the GOP is not waning, instead it is growing stronger. Trump’s influence surges as Democrats and President Joseph Biden tries to find ways to push their agenda through a gridlocked Congress, according to Philip Elliott, Washington correspondent for TIME and author of TIME’s weekday newsletter “The D.C. Brief”. Elliott tries to unravel some of the current Congressional complexities and make them understandable. He also charts what we might expect before the end of the year as the government struggles with legislation to increase its debt ceiling. Elliott paints a rather dire picture for Democrats approaching the mid-term elections in 2022 and gives us insight on the Georgia gubernatorial Republican primary and the monumental general election upcoming. He describes the disconnect that often appears between average Americans, working to support families, and the machinations of politicians of both parties in Washington. Elliott predicts, however, that Democrats will be…

Judge Gayle Williams Byers, a black female judge in Northeastern Ohio, and Tom Hodson, Spectrum host and legal analyst, break down the impact of the Kyle Rittenhouse acquittals on the judicial system, on the black community and on the future of peaceful protest. While both respect the sanctity of the jury’s verdicts, they highlight advantages in the trial process that were given to Rittenhouse. They discuss the judge’s behavior and some of his rulings along with the inherent racism and white privilege that permeate our judicial process across the country. Judge Byers states that if Rittenhouse had been black that the verdicts would probably be much different, and he would have been convicted instead of released. She recounts the fear that these verdicts have caused black parents who worry about their children and their relationships with both police and militia-type people armed with high powered weapons. Hodson expresses concerns that the verdicts will weaponize people who are anti-peaceful protests and put…

While many of us have been mired in malaise about our careers during the COVID-19 pandemic, executive coach, career consultant and author Beverly Jones tells us how we can “Find our Happy at Work” in a new book that helps us get unstuck, move past boredom, and discover fulfillment. Jones, in short pithy chapters, lays out 50 ways to turn your tedium into active steps to take control of your emotions and actions and to make work much more enjoyable and less dreary. She says if you hate your job and want a change, that the starting point is with you and motivating yourself to transcend past bad habits and create good new ones. She is a strong proponent of self-care and mindfulness to help alter one’s attitudes in positive ways. In her book, Jones suggests concrete ways to improve your work habits to give you more joy and job satisfaction She also prompts people to not stay isolated and gives tips on how one can continue networking even during periods of physical seclusion. This is Jones’ second book. Her first…

Carolyn Bailey Lewis is a woman who has been determined to always push herself and to set new standards throughout her career. She has been a pioneer in her field, but it hasn’t been easy. While forging her path, as a black woman, Carolyn has had to fight battles against racism, bigotry, and prejudice as well as sexism. Coming from the small town of Bluefield, West Virginia where she attended segregated schools and lived in a segregated neighborhood, Carolyn became the only black woman in her class of journalism students at West Virginia University. Being able to adapt to a “white world” and function as the only person of color took great strength, will, and dexterity. In 1971, Carolyn became the first black woman to graduate from the Perley I Reed School of Journalism, now the Reed College of Media at West Virginia University. She continued her trailblazing in 1993 when she became the first African American woman named to manage a full-service public television station in the continental United States at…