Karen Schaler: from war correspondent to screenwriter and novelist

02/03/23 • -1 min

Karen Schaler was a journalist and crime reporter who is best known for the Netflix hit "A Christmas Prince." She talks about how her journalism experience led to Hollywood success; how she got into the TV biz at a station in Billings, Montana, then worked at a number of stations: in Twin Falls, Idaho, in South Dakota, at KSTP-TV in Alexandria, Minnesota, and at KSL-TV, where she was the first female crime reporter in Salt Lake City, Utah. She also worked in Texas, Arizona, and California, and was a weekend anchor at NBC in Boston, Massachusetts, in addition to briefly reporting from the White House in Washington, D.C.

She talks about why she left TV news and why she writes about Christmas; crime in small towns; how her stories got on CNN; how she pitches stories; how she processed all the negative stories she covered; her first feature "Christmas Camp,"; working every Christmas when she was a news anchor and reporter; reporting in Afghanistan; how she became a writer for Fox News in New York; how she got her own travel show "Travel Therapy" based on her book; how she got published; her "Travel Now" show on ABC News and travel features on PIX11 in New York and Good Morning America Weekend, Live with Kelly, and Rachel Ray; writing her Audible Original "Once Upon a Christmas Carol" and how she went from writing screenplays to her audio drama, how the pandemic affected her work, and a lot more!

This is from a livestream that we did; watch the full interview here.

Click the link below to play, or download it by right-clicking (on a PC) or holding down the CTRL key and clicking on it (for Mac).

http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG190.mp3

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This is from a livestream that we did; watch the full interview here.

Click the link below to play, or download it by right-clicking (on a PC) or holding down the CTRL key and clicking on it (for Mac).

http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG190.mp3

Previous Episode

Kathy Hart: Hall of Famer on the most popular morning show in Chicago

For two decades, Kathy Hart was part of the most popular morning show in Chicago, on 101.9 WTMX The Mix. She talks about how she went from being an intern to getting on the air in Rockford at WKKN and WYFE, then driving the station van at WZOK and WROK; how she was different from the "pukers" and wanted to be authentic on the air; how her radio experience changed with the Internet and texts; advice, celebrities she met, and falling asleep in Milwaukee; having a show with Brian Pecht at G105 in Raleigh, North Carolina and their fun in Jamaica; being on the air in Arizona at KZZP/KVRY then co-hosting an afternoon show at KDKB, where she also did sports reporting and interviewed Charles Barkley when he was starting out with the Phoenix Suns; how doing the Morning Zoo in Columbus, Ohio was challenging; how she ended up with a morning partner on The Mix; staying authentic, her new site Gritology.com, her faith, forgiveness, healing, love, and more. This is from a livestream that we did; watch the full interview here.

Click the link below to play, or download it by right-clicking (on a PC) or holding down the CTRL key and clicking on it (for Mac).

http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG189.mp3

Next Episode

Doug Cummings: Escaping the O-Zone

Doug Cummings is a resident of Highland Park, where the shooting tragedy happened on July 4th at the Independence Day parade. He wrote the personal safety handbook, Escaping the O-Zone, to help people take steps to keep themselves safe and preventing becoming a victim. All proceeds go to the Highland Park Community Foundation.

He talks about his reporting career, which started in Kansas at WIBW; why starting at a small station is helpful for a media career and education; working in Kansas City at KCMO; graduating from the Public Affairs Reporting Program at University of Illinois/Springfield; doing legislative reporting for WTMX in Chicago, then street reporting at WMAQ and WGN; talking to victims of fires, crime, shootings, family murders and how they wanted control back; being the director of security at a church; the Highland Park shooting, which was “absolute devastation”; security consulting; why he got back into the media and why he liked reporting; approaching victims after a tragedy; reporters' PTSD and why they should get help if they report on serious stories; why he left the media to go into security, the risks of owning a gun, and more.

Listen to the first interview I did with Doug 10 years ago here.

This is from a livestream that we did; watch the full interview here.

Click the link below to play, or download it by right-clicking (on a PC) or holding down the CTRL key and clicking on it (for Mac).

http://radiogirl.us/audio/RG191.mp3