Rafer Weigel: getting personal

08/23/24 • -1 min

I first interviewed Rafer Weigel 11 years ago when he was at WLS-TV in Chicago. When I did this livestream with him, he was at KUSI-TV in San Diego. Now he's Chief Communications Officer at VetComm, so but I want to post this anyway because Rafer talked a lot not just about his professional experience, but his personal struggles as well, which is pretty rare in the few-hundred interviews I've done so far. He also shares his opinions about the media biz and news broadcasting. Topics covered: acting, his famous sportscaster dad Tim Weigel, sports broadcasting, breaking the Jussie Smollett story and losing his job, mistakes he's made, mental health, pressure and competition, advice for working in the biz, and much more. This is one of the longest podcasts I've done; it was first posted at the INBA website.

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/RG196.mp3

Watch the Radiogirl livestreams and videos on the Radiogirl FB page and on YouTube.If you like what I'm doing, Buy Me a Coffee...thanks!

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/RG196.mp3

Watch the Radiogirl livestreams and videos on the Radiogirl FB page and on YouTube.If you like what I'm doing, Buy Me a Coffee...thanks!

Previous Episode

InternetFM after more than a decade: Steve Leventhal and Eric Leventhal

A musical discussion: Steve Leventhal, creator of InternetFM, and his son and cofounder Eric Leventhal, talk about their music and broadcasting experience, what is top-shelf radio, paying for songs, why vinyl is popular with some younger music fans, commercials, changing technology and music delivery, how they define oldies, the resurgence of psychedelic music, concerts, rock’s waning popularity, the role of the Internet for radio, the future of music radio, and more. The last time I interviewed Steve was more than 10 years ago.

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/RG195.mp3

Watch the Radiogirl livestreams and videos at the Radiogirl FB page and on YouTube (also live-streaming on Radiogirl Twitter, Metrolingua Twitter, and my own Fakebook page).If you like what I'm doing, Buy Me a Coffee...thanks!

Next Episode

Ron Gleason: The Score, WBBM, Sports

Ron Gleason worked in sports for many years before switching to news at WBBM Newsradio. He talks about Sports Phone, doing play-by-play, sportscasting, being the boss at WSCR The Score, Mike North and Dan Jiggetts, radio before and during the Internet, how radio can be effective and entertaining, being management vs on the air, starting his radio career in his home state of California, doing sports in Joliet at WJOL, the end of WMAQ news station in Chicago and WCBS in New York, revenue declines, talented broadcasters, going from The Score to WBBM as an anchor then boss, his workflow, advice for getting a job, how sports helps news, how the radio biz has changed, and much more! This is probably the most extensive interview that Ron has ever done and is from a livestream that we did.

"I loved it and I just I knew radio was all I ever wanted to do."

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/RG197.mp3

Watch the Radiogirl livestreams and videos on the Radiogirl FB page and on YouTube.If you like what I'm doing, Buy Me a Coffee...thanks!