Charlie Meyerson interviews
59 episodes - English - Latest episode: 11 months ago -Veteran radio news guy Charlie Meyerson talks to interesting people. (Some episodes consist of historic raw audio.) Contact: [email protected]
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Episodes
Crusading novelist and lawyer Andrew Vachss in 1996
December 01, 2016 17:07Vachss' autograph echoed his since-abandoned campaign to boycott Thailand in protest of its failure to fight child abuse. Author and lawyer Andrew Vachss talks about his use of "hard-boiled" fiction—like his then-latest, False Allegations, and his Batman novel, The Ultimate Evil—to expose the horror of child abuse around the world. Note: Vachss was briefly a Chicagoan, as he explains in this interview from the archives, aired Dec. 1, 1996.
The voices behind 'Rocky and Bullwinkle'—in 1983
November 18, 2016 21:19Nov. 19, 1959, brought the debut of one of the greatest cartoon shows of all time: “Rocky and His Friends.” Bill Scott, Bullwinkle, June Foray (Credit: beyondthemarquee.com). Click for audio. Later known as “The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show” and “The Bullwinkle Show,” it had everything a little kid could want: A protagonist who could fly (Rocket J. Squirrel), a sidekick who was funny (Bullwinkle J. Moose) and parental approval—because it was layered with cultural and political humor a lot of u...
June Foray and Bill Scott, the voices behind 'Rocky and Bullwinkle'—in 1983
November 18, 2016 21:19Nov. 19, 1959, brought the debut of one of the greatest cartoon shows of all time: Rocky and His Friends. Bill Scott, Bullwinkle, June Foray (Credit: beyondthemarquee.com). Click for audio. Later known as The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show and The Bullwinkle Show, it had everything a little kid could want: A protagonist who could fly (Rocket J. Squirrel), a sidekick who was funny (Bullwinkle J. Moose) and parental approval—because it was layered with cultural and political humor a lot of us woul...
'Westworld,' 'Jurassic Park' creator Michael Crichton's 1993 plea to science
October 14, 2016 14:39Michael Crichton—the science fiction writer who created Jurassic Park, “Westworld” (reborn this fall as a critically acclaimed HBO series) and other tales of tech gone awry—bristled at suggestions his work was “anti-science.” Michael Crichton in 2002 Photo: Jon Chase / Harvard News Office (Click for audio) On a 1993 return to Chicago, where he was born, he addressed that criticism. Before an audience at the Field Museum, he talked about the challenges of representing technology in fiction:...
This book about the toy biz will be a TV series. Here's the author in 1998.
September 26, 2016 13:30“I went in with this naive notion that what I was going to find … was sort of this fun-filled Santa’s workshop.” Toy Wars cover (Click or tap for audio) Author’s book inscription Reporter G. Wayne Miller’s inside story about the 1980s and ’90s battles between the toy companies Mattel and Hasbro, Toy Wars: The Epic Struggle Between G.I. Joe, Barbie, and the Companies That Make Them, is in the works as a drama series from Amazon, starring and co-written by Josh Gad (Frozen, Angry Birds, Broa...
Bobby Rush, congressman and Black Panther Party veteran, in 1994
September 25, 2016 14:39U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) (Click or tap to hear audio) Then flirting with a campaign for mayor of Chicago, here’s U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush in an interview with me, aired Sept. 25, 1994. On his role in 1968 as co-founder of the Black Panther Party’s Illinois chapter: “The focus of the civil rights movement became police oppression. … Some viewed the police department like an occupying army as it relates to the black community.” And on police behavior in 1994: “I would send a message to po...
Secrets of 'The Straight Dope' from 1996
September 22, 2016 13:45From 20 years ago, at the dawn of the online era: My interview with the reclusive Cecil Adams’ editor, confidant and mail clerk on the “Straight Dope” column, Ed Zotti—in which I first learned what the “H” stands for in “Jesus H. Christ.”
When Howard the Duck ran for president in 1976
September 15, 2016 12:00Marvel Comics character Howard the Duck‘s political career looks like Ronald Reagan’s in reverse: He ran for president first and then had a mediocre movie career. In August 1976, as a college radio DJ and news reporter, I got Howard’s co-creator, Steve Gerber, on the line to talk about the character’s origins and his campaign for the White House. We also discussed the comics business in general—including Gerber’s work on the then-young comic book The Defenders—and his sense of urgency t...
Publicists: Don't do this
September 15, 2016 01:07Campbell, Chung, Flores, Kyles, Meyerson (Photo: Matt Marton) The Publicity Club of Chicago today gathered a panel of journalists representing national media organizations. The goal: To help publicists understand how best to work with newsrooms. Once again, as it has a few times in recent years, the club took me up on my standing offer, "Will Moderate for Food." So I got to ask the questions of Bloomberg News Chicago bureau chief Elizabeth Campbell, Wall Street Journal Chicago bureau chi...