Showing posts with label Podcasts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Podcasts. Show all posts

Life after the ‘Broadview 6’: Oak Park Village Trustee Brian Straw and his lawyer, Chris Parente

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The collapse of the indictment of six people who in the fall of 2025 were protesting the Trump administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz” immigration crackdown created problem after problem for the feds—and in particular for the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago.

As you’re about to hear, that case might’ve gone quite differently if not for a fateful connection between two dads who met on the fields of Oak Park Youth Baseball: One of the defendants, Oak Park Village Trustee Brian Straw, and the man who would become his lawyer, Chris Parente.

In a Wednesday Journal / Chicago Public Square podcast, recorded at Oak Park’s historic 19th Century Club, Straw and Parente explain how it went down, what it means for the nation … and what a movie about the case should look like.

Hear them in conversation June 25, 2026—after an introduction from Journal founder Dan Haley.

Listen here, or hear this and other Square podcasts on Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, Amazon’s Alexa-powered speakers or Apple Podcasts.

If you prefer watching to just listening, here’s video of the session (link corrected), produced by John Roberts and Edward Pitts of Absolute Streaming.

And you can read all about the discussion here.


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Photos, left to right: Meyerson, Straw, Parente.
Photographer: Todd Bannor.

To Tell the Truth: The Future of Local Media (The Podcast)

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Have you thanked a journalist lately?

Coming off one of the most challenging years ever for local U.S. reporters, the historic 19th Century Club in Oak Park gathered a panel of journalists—and a gerontologist—to assess the present and future of local news, with your Chicago Public Square publisher as a moderator.
And now, in a Square podcast, hear how it went, May 9, 2026—with Monica Eng of Axios Chicago; Manny Ramos of Block Club Chicago; Max Reinsdorf, general manager of the Newswell Chicago newspapers; and gerontologist Dr. Lydia Manning.


If you prefer to watch your podcasts, here’s video of the session, produced by John Roberts and Edward Pitts of Absolute Streaming.
■ Enjoying these podcasts? Reader support makes them possible.
■ And consider subscribing—free—to the daily Square email newsletter.
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Photos, left to right: Meyerson, Manning, Eng, Ramos, Reinsdorf.
Photographer: Todd Bannor.
Raw audio: John Roberts and Edward Pitts, Absolute Streaming.

How tech-savvy author Cory Doctorow got scammed

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The American Dialect Society’s 2023 word of the year? Enshittification. And our guest on this edition of Chicago Public Square Podcasts, Cory Doctorow, is the guy who coined it.

Hear him define it—and his harrowing explanation of how he, one of the world’s most tech-savvy authors and journalists, got scammed out of $8,000 before he could figure out what was going on. Also: The one “ironclad” rule you should follow to avoid a similar fate.

And then, in this—our first conversation since this podcast from 2019—you’ll learn, among many other things, why he thinks Amazon embodies enshittification and why so many major publishers refused to consider one of his books.

Listen here, or on Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, Amazon’s Alexa-powered speakers or Apple Podcasts.

Or if you prefer to read your podcasts, check out the transcript below.

And if you’re a completist, here’s the original, mostly unedited, behind-the-scenes raw audio and video from the recording of this podcast via Zoom on YouTube.

■ Enjoying these podcasts? Help keep them coming by joining The Legion of Chicago Public Squarians.
■ And consider subscribing—free—to the daily Chicago Public Square email newsletter.

Now, here’s a roughly edited transcript of the interview, recorded March 7, 2024:

Read more »

Axios Chicago’s Monica Eng and Justin Kaufmann: ‘This is a talk show in an email format’

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She’s worked for Chicago’s biggest newspapers and he’s worked for Chicago’s most successful radio stations. And now … they do email.

Joining Charlie Meyerson for this edition of the Chicago Public Square / Rivet360 podcast, Chicago Media Talks: Axios Chicago newsletter authors Justin Kaufmann and Monica Eng.


Or if you prefer to read your podcasts, check out the transcript below.

And if you’re a completist, check out the behind-the-scenes raw audio and video from the recording of this podcast via Zoom on YouTube—including deleted segments like Eng and Kaufmann’s answers (at 34:50) to the question, “How did Charlie most annoy you?”

■ Enjoying these podcasts? Help keep them coming by joining The Legion of Chicago Public Squarians.
■ And consider subscribing—free—to the daily Chicago Public Square email newsletter.

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Food critic Louisa Chu’s vivid pandemic moment: ‘Crying so much’

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The most enduring memory of a restaurant reviewer through the pandemic: “Crying so much … over so many meals with gratitude and relief.”

Joining this edition of the Chicago Public Square / Rivet360 podcast, Chicago Media Talks: Chef, journalist, adventurer and Chicago Tribune critic Louisa Chu—who takes us from her time as a 4-year-old worker at her family’s Chicago restaurant through her stint as a judge on Food Network’s Iron Chef America to what she’s working on next.

■ Enjoying these podcasts? Help keep them coming by joining The Legion of Chicago Public Squarians.
■ And consider subscribing—free—to the daily Chicago Public Square email newsletter.

Stephanie Skora and A.D. Quig: Reshaping Chicago’s news and political scene

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Joining this edition of the Chicago Public Square / Rivet360 podcast, Chicago Media Talks: A couple of media figures whose work is increasingly shaping Chicago’s news and political landscape.

Meet A.D. Quig, a rising Chicago Tribune reporter who sees local government facing “a time of big change”; and Girl, I Guess Progressive Voter Guide author Stephanie Skora—someone unafraid to call a candidate, in her words, “a slimy fuckface—because there’s no reason not to.”

■ Enjoying these podcasts? Help keep them coming by joining The Legion of Chicago Public Squarians.
■ And consider subscribing—free—to the daily Chicago Public Square email newsletter.

(Photos, counter-clockwise from right: Quig, Skora, hosts Charlie Meyerson and Sheila Solomon.)

Pulitzer winners Hopkins and Reyes: Teamwork ‘wasn’t always easy’

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Their groundbreaking alliance netted them and their news organizations a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting. But that doesn’t mean they always worked together seamlessly.

In this edition of the Chicago Public Square / Rivet360 podcast, Chicago Media Talks, meet Madison Hopkins and Cecilia Reyes, praised by Pulitzer judges for “a piercing examination of the city’s long history of failed building- and fire-safety code enforcement, which let scofflaw landlords commit serious violations that resulted in dozens of unnecessary deaths.” (Recorded June 13, 2022.)

■ Enjoying these podcasts? Keep them coming by joining The Legion of Chicago Public Squarians.
■ And consider subscribing—free—to the daily Chicago Public Square email newsletter.

(Photos, counter-clockwise from right: Reyes, Hopkins, hosts Charlie Meyerson and Sheila Solomon.)

Meet the Sun-Times’ new executive editor, Jennifer Kho

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She’s the first woman—and the first woman of color—ever to serve as Chicago Sun-Times executive editor. She’s facing challenges like none before her, as the paper comes under the control of an organization primarily in the radio business.

In another edition of the Chicago Public Square / Rivet360 podcast, Chicago Media Talks, meet Jennifer Kho, who joins the Sun-Times at a critical point in the evolution of the news business. (Recorded July 11, 2022.)

■ Enjoying these podcasts? Keep them coming by joining The Legion of Chicago Public Squarians.
■ And consider subscribing—free—to the daily Chicago Public Square email newsletter.

(Photos, counterclockwise from right: Kho, with hosts Sheila Solomon and Charlie Meyerson.)

WTTW’s new stars navigate changing news landscape

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Odds are good you didn’t know their names a decade ago, when one of them was just breaking into Chicago radio news and another was barely removed from an internship at Chicago’s public TV station. And now they’re two of the city’s most influential journalists.

In another edition of the Chicago Public Square / Rivet360 podcast, Chicago Media Talks, WTTW News’ multiple award-winning reporters and Chicago Tonight co-anchors, Brandis Friedman and Paris Schutz, talk about their careers, the challenges facing local news and recent turbulent times at Channel 11.



Listen in your favorite podcast player, via Spotify, YouTube and Pandora, on Amazon’s Alexa-powered speakers or on Apple Podcasts (say “Hey, Siri! Play Chicago Public Square Podcasts”).

■ Enjoying these podcasts? Keep them coming by joining The Legion of Chicago Public Squarians.
■ And consider subscribing—free—to the daily Chicago Public Square email newsletter.

Read more »

Block Club Chicago’s origin story

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When a billionaire yanked the plug on a pioneering Chicago digital news site, putting a large team of local reporters out of work, some of them banded together to start another digital news site—for themselves, and for the people of the city.

Block Club Chicago editor-in-chief Shamus Toomey joins hosts Sheila Solomon and Charlie Meyerson for another edition of the Chicago Public Square / Rivet360 podcast, Chicago Media Talks.



Listen in your favorite podcast player, via Spotify, YouTube and Pandora, on Amazon’s Alexa-powered speakers or on iTunes (say “Hey, Siri! Play Chicago Public Square Podcasts”).

■ Enjoying these podcasts? Keep them coming by joining The Legion of Chicago Public Squarians.
■ And consider subscribing—free—to the daily Chicago Public Square email newsletter.

Music journalist Jim DeRogatis: ‘Every system in this city failed … to protect these young black girls’

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You could trace the evolution of the news business through Jim DeRogatis’ career arc over the last 35 years—as he’s moved from print to broadcast to online and podcasting, and from employer-supported to audience-funded journalism. And along the way, he broke one of the biggest stories in music history.

He joins hosts Sheila Solomon and Charlie Meyerson for the Chicago Public Square / Rivet360 podcast, Chicago Media Talks—to discuss his life, how he broke the R. Kelly scandal, and the state of the media in the 21st century.

Also, he recounts the times he was dissed by a couple of famous Billys.


Listen here, or in your favorite podcast player, via Spotify, YouTube and Pandora, on Amazon’s Alexa-powered speakers or on iTunes (say “Hey, Siri! Play Chicago Public Square Podcasts”).

■ Enjoying these podcasts? Keep them coming by joining The Legion of Chicago Public Squarians.
■ And consider subscribing—free—to the daily Chicago Public Square email newsletter.

After a lifetime at the Chicago Tribune, Eric Zorn and Steve Johnson are leaving. What’s next?

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Columnist Eric Zorn started at the Tribune in 1980; cultural critic Steve Johnson started six years later. Now, they’re among the more than three dozen editorial staffers who’ve left—taking buyouts offered under the Trib’s new ownership.

They join hosts Sheila Solomon and Charlie Meyerson for another edition of the Chicago Public Square / Rivet360 podcast, Chicago Media Talks.



Listen here, or in your favorite podcast player, via Spotify, YouTube and Pandora, on Amazon’s Alexa-powered speakers or on iTunes (say “Hey, Siri! Play Chicago Public Square Podcasts”).

■ Enjoying these podcasts? Keep them coming by joining The Legion of Chicago Public Squarians.
■ And consider subscribing—free—to the daily Chicago Public Square email newsletter.

Pulitzer winner Jamie Kalven on the news business: ‘I see no reason to despair’

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Jamie Kalven—journalist, human rights activist and founder of one of Chicago’s newest Pulitzer Prize winners, the Invisible Institute—says he has “deep sympathy for those who wagered their lives and their careers on the stability of legacy media,” but he says “some of the new forms that are evolving … may actually ultimately produce a healthier diet for consumers of the news.”

He joins hosts Sheila Solomon and Charlie Meyerson for another edition of the Chicago Public Square / Rivet360 podcast, Chicago Media Talks, to discuss journalism’s brave new world and his work to help citizens hold public institutions—especially the police—accountable.


Listen here, or in your favorite podcast player, via Spotify, YouTube and Pandora, on Amazon’s Alexa-powered speakers or on iTunes (say “Hey, Siri! Play Chicago Public Square Podcasts”).
■ Enjoying these podcasts? Keep them coming by joining The Legion of Chicago Public Squarians.
■ And consider subscribing—free—to the daily Chicago Public Square email newsletter.

A ‘mouthy black lesbian feminist’ is one of Chicago’s most influential media leaders

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Karen Hawkins—self-described “mouthy black lesbian feminist over 40” and “recovering mainstream media reporter and editor”—is doing a terrible job of recovering: She’s now co-publisher of the Chicago Reader, the founder of Rebellious Magazine, and a leader of the upstart Chicago Independent Media Alliance. She joins hosts Sheila Solomon and Charlie Meyerson to survey the 21st-century media landscape for another edition of the Chicago Public Square / Rivet360 podcast, Chicago Media Talks.


Listen here, on your favorite podcast player, via Spotify, YouTube and Pandora, on Amazon’s Alexa-powered speakers or on iTunes (say “Hey, Siri! Play Chicago Public Square Podcasts”).
■ Enjoying these podcasts? Keep them coming by joining The Legion of Chicago Public Squarians.
■ And consider subscribing—free—to the daily Chicago Public Square email newsletter.

Did Mayor Lightfoot make things better for journalists of color?

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Pulliam Professor of Journalism at DePauw University and former Sun-Times editor and columnist Deborah Douglas joins host Charlie Meyerson and co-host Sheila Solomon to launch the new Chicago Media Talks podcast—a joint production of Chicago Public Square and Rivet360—with a discussion of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s decision to limit her anniversary interviews to journalists of color.


Listen here, on your favorite podcast player, via Spotify, YouTube and Pandora, on Amazon’s Alexa-powered speakers or on iTunes (say “Hey, Siri! Play Chicago Public Square Podcasts”).
■ Enjoying these podcasts? Keep them coming by joining The Legion of Chicago Public Squarians.
■ And consider subscribing—free—to the daily Chicago Public Square email newsletter.

Who was Stan Lee? Two biographers discuss his life and legacy.

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Marvel Comics icon Stan Lee so inspired a generation of readers and writers, a multiplicity of biographies was inevitable after his death in 2018.

On the occasion of the publication of Oak Park, Ill., native Abraham Riesman’s entry, True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee, the Chicago Public Square Podcast invited Riesman and A Marvelous Life: The Amazing Story of Stan Lee author Danny Fingeroth to join a conversation about Lee’s life and legacy.

Listen here, on your favorite podcast player, via Spotify, YouTube and Pandora, on Amazon’s Alexa-powered devices* or on iTunes (“Hey, Siri! Play Chicago Public Square Podcasts”).


Prefer video? See the whole unedited session as recorded via Zoom here.


Footnotes:
■ Contrary to a statement during the Zoom session (but edited out of the podcast), Meyerson interviewed Stan Lee just twice. You can hear those encounters here and here. But he also witnessed Lee’s first Chicago comics convention appearance, which you can read about here; and his final public Chicago appearance, which you can hear here.
■ Enjoying these podcasts? Keep them coming by joining The Legion of Chicago Public Squarians.
■ And consider subscribing—free—to the daily Chicago Public Square email newsletter.

*Even if you don’t have an Alexa speaker, you can turn iOS and Android phones into Alexa devices for free.

Barack Obama’s 1st biographer, David Mendell: Michelle didn’t care for the book

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He’s Barack Obama’s first biographer. But journalist David Mendell doesn’t expect his award-winning 2007 book, Obama: From Promise to Power, to land a spot in Obama’s presidential library.

Mendell and I were colleagues at the Chicago Tribune through much of the 2000s, but we barely exchanged hellos back then because he was so busy covering Obama’s rise to the U.S. Senate.

So I learned a lot—including just how hard Obama worked to conceal his smoking habit—as Mendell and I finally got to catch up on-stage at Dominican University in River Forest, in this installment of the Wednesday Journal Conversations / Chicago Public Square Podcast series, recorded Nov. 20, 2019.

Listen here, on your favorite podcast player, via Spotify, YouTube and Pandora, on Amazon’s Alexa-powered speakers* or on iTunes (say “Hey, Siri! Play Chicago Public Square Podcasts”).



Enjoying these? Keep them coming by joining The Legion of Chicago Public Squarians.

*Even if you don’t have an Alexa speaker, you can turn iOS and Android phones into Alexa devices for free—a low-impact way to experiment with the technology.

Science fiction, Radicalized: An interview with Cory Doctorow

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Wanna know what terrible technology is headed your way in the years ahead? Journalist and science fiction author Cory Doctorow says it’s not hard: Take a look at what The Powers That Be are foisting on prisoners and students.

Doctorow joined the Chicago Public Square Podcast for half an hour or so to talk about police brutality; controversial high-rise developments and “poor-doors”; the criminalization of copyright law; and his new book, Radicalized—a collection of four science fiction novellas that the jacket calls “Tales of Our Present Moment.”

Listen here, on your favorite podcast player, via Spotify, YouTube and Pandora, on Amazon’s Alexa-powered speakers* or on iTunes (say “Hey, Siri! Play Chicago Public Square Podcasts”).



Enjoying these podcasts? Keep them coming by joining The Legion of Chicago Public Squarians.

And if you’re a Doctorow fan, check out his Craphound website, where you can download many of his works (but not Radicalized) free; and Boing Boing, the news site he co-edits.

*Even if you don’t have an Alexa speaker, you can turn iOS and Android phones into Alexa devices for free—a low-impact way to experiment with the technology. (Photo: Charlie Meyerson.)

How Steve James overcame doubt—his and others’—to create America to Me

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Filmmaker Steve James’s work—including the Oscar-nominated Hoop Dreams and Abacus—has won him critical acclaim galore and goodwill in the town where he lives, Oak Park.

But when he set out to create his 10-part documentary series America to Me—about Oak Park, its historic commitment to integration and its high school’s challenges in living up to a reputation for inclusiveness—he had his doubts.

Hear all about that—and catch up with two of the students spotlighted by this celebrated Starz series—in a Chicago Public Square Podcast. Listen here, on your favorite podcast player, via Spotify, YouTube and Pandora, on Amazon’s Alexa-powered speakers* or on iTunes (say “Hey, Siri! Play Chicago Public Square Podcasts”).



If you enjoy this, check out other podcasts in the series. (Photo: Wednesday Journal / Alexa Rogals.)

And if you’re new to these parts, please sign up for the free daily Square news update here.

* Even if you don’t have an Alexa smart speaker, you can turn iOS and Android phones into Alexa devices for free—a low-impact way to experiment with the technology.

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