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Dr. Vino and Allan Wolper
December 29, 2011
Dr. Vino is the pseudonym for Dr. Tyler Colman, a world renowned blogger who monitors the wine industry. Colman gained widespread attention after he disclosed that some wine critics accepted payments from European vineyards they were covering.
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Nancy Gruskin and Allan Wolper
December 22, 2011
Nancy Gruskin became the most influential lobbyist for bicycle safety in New York City after her husband, Stuart, was killed crossing 43rd Street by a food delivery man riding the wrong way on a bicycle. She has used the Stuart C. Gruskin Foundation, in memory of her husband, to get restaurants to sign a pedal pledge to obey traffic laws, like stopping at red lights and driving with traffic. Gruskin, a former music teacher, is a single mother raising her teenage twins in Westfield, New Jersey.
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Josh Rushing and Allan Wolper
December 13, 2011
Former United States Marine Captain Josh Rushing is a host and correspondent for the highly acclaimed Al Jazeera English documentary series Fault Lines. Al Jazeera English is owned by the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar and provides an international view of American news. Rushing recently gained attention for his coverage of the drug wars in Mexico and Occupy Wall Street type protests in Chile.
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Elsie McCabe Thompson and Allan Wolper
October 19, 2011
Elsie McCabe Thompson is president of the Museum for African Art that will open next year in a spectacular new building on New York's City's Museum Mile. McCabe-Thompson describes the 27 year campaign to find a home for the historic project. She was chief of staff for former New York Mayor David Dinkins and is the wife of Bill Thompson, who almost defeated Michael Bloomberg in New York's last mayoral election.
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Former New Jersey Governor James McGreevey and Allan Wolper
October 10, 2011
Former New Jersey Governor James Edward McGreevey resigned seven years ago after admitting he was a gay American and acknowledging he appointed his lover to a position in the administration. McGreevey is out of politics and hopes someday to become a priest in the Episcopal Church.
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Eleanor Perfetto and Allan Wolper
October 8, 2011
Dr. Eleanor Perfetto, senior director of research for Pfizer, Inc. spends nearly every day of her life tending to her husband, Ralph Wenzel, a former offensive lineman for The Pittsburgh Steelers, The San Diego Chargers, and The St. Louis Cardinals, who stays in an assisted-living facility suffering from a severe case of dementia -- a condition she says was the result of too many hits on the football field.
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Actor Tony Lo Bianco talks about his unbelievable career and growing up in Brooklyn
September 16, 2011
Tony Lo Bianco talks about growing up in Brooklyn and how that helped shaped his brilliant acting career. Tony gives us a taste of some of his favorite characters, including Fiorello LaGuardia, the former mayor of New York and Dino DeLaurentis.
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Masha Hamilton and Allan Wolper
June 15, 2011
Masha Hamilton, a former foreign correspondent for The Associated Press, Los Angeles Times and NBC Mutual Radio, has written four novels.
Her novel,The Camel Bookmobile,described how camels delivered library books to children in the most remote areas of Kenya. She also started a writing project for women in
Afghanistan.
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Alan Newton and Allan Wolper
May 18, 2011
Alan Newton spent 22 years in prison for a rape crime he did not commit. In 2006, he was freed after police found evidence that had been missing for almost two decades. A subsequent DNA test totally exonerated him. Newton then sued New York City. In October 2010, a jury awarded him $18.5 million for being victimized by a miscarriage of justice. But in a shocking decision, the trial judge overturned the jury verdict. Newton, now 49, the co-founder of a City University of New York program that helps former inmates transition back to society, has to start his fight all over again.
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Christine Dennison and Allan Wolper
April 19, 2011
Christine Dennison, is an explorer who leads expeditions to the most remote corners of civilization. She swims with sharks and piranhas in the Amazon rain forest and underwater caves of the Caribbean. She has logged over a hundred dives under the polar ice caps in the extremely harsh conditions of the High Arctic. A true adventurer she has been honored by winning admission as a fellow into the exclusive Explorers club. Christine Dennison is a founder and president of Mad Dog Expeditions.
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Jayne Anne Phillips and Allan Wolper
March 11, 2011
Jayne Anne Phillips is a writer who has won world wide recognition. The New York Times said she demonstrated a "keen love of language and a rare talent of illuminating the secret core of ordinary lives with clearsighted unsentimentality." Her 2009 novel, "Lark and Termite," was a finalist for The National Book Award. "Black Tickets", her collection of short stories, was lauded by literary giants like John Irving, Annie Dillard and Tim O'Brien. Raymond Carver said, "She is an original and this book of hers is a crooked beauty."
She is director of the Masters of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing at Rutgers-Newark. (Photo credit: Elena Seibert)
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David Carr and Allan Wolper
February 8, 2011
David Carr of The New York Times overcame drug and alcohol problems to become one of the most powerful media and culture writers in the country. He retraces his journalism trek to The Times from the Twin City Reader in Minneapolis and analyzes the incredible burdens that technology has placed on today's journalists.
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David Paterson and Allan Wolper
January 3, 2011
Former Governor David Paterson, the first African American to run New York State, says the media treated him as an "affirmative action" chief executive. In a one hour interview before he left office, Paterson said the print press was responsible for much of the distortion of his record. He said they underplayed and undervalued his accomplishments. (Photo by: Inga Korsgaard)
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Allan Wolper talks with Joanna Wolper about her new book
December 7, 2010
Joanna Wolper, an Emmy Award winning writer and documentary filmmaker, has uncovered the true identity of Santa Claus. She writes about her discovery in a children's book called "The Man Who Could Be Santa," based on a true family adventure. Her book has a web site, at www.TheManWhoCouldBeSanta.com featuring the real children in the story.
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Frank Lucas and Allan Wolper
November 17, 2010
Frank Lucas was a Harlem drug king -- smuggling massive shipments of pure heroin to the United States from Southeast Asia on military transports. His life was given the full Hollywood treatment in the movie, American Gangster, with Denzel Washington playing the role of the one time drug king. Now 80 years old, Lucas counsels teenagers to remain in school and stay drug free -- a formula he didn't follow and forced him to spend much of his adult life in prison.
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Sean O'Brien and Allan Wolper
October 13, 2010
Sean O'Brien is the chief of staff for Chicago Congressman Mike Quigley by day and a comic at night who satirizes his boss and other Washington, D.C.elected officials. O'Brien's collected some of his material as the intern coordinator for Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of Chicago and the former chief of staff for President Obama.
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Teri Thompson and Allan Wolper
August 5, 2010
Daily News sports editor Teri Thompson talks about the growing number of stories on sex, steroids and crime that have become so common on America's sports pages.
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Bruce McCall and Allan Wolper
July 8, 2010
Bruce McCall once drew a cover for New Yorker magazine in which a group of gorillas stood around the Empire State Building waiting to audition for King Kong. McCall, an artist and satirist, shares his zany vision of American culture.
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David DInkins and Allan Wolper
June 9, 2010
David Dinkins made political history in 1990 when he was sworn in as the first African American mayor in New York City. Dinkins, now a Columbia University professor, reflects on his historic journey and analyzes the mayors who preceded and followed him into office.
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Dr. David Livingston and Allan Wolper
April 27, 2010
Dr. David Livingston has operated on the most horrific trauma cases, including victims of gun shot wounds, car crashes and people under falling cranes in Louisville, New York City and Newark. He is the director of the New Jersey Trauma Center at the University Hospital at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in Newark.
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Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch and Allan Wolper
March 5, 2010
Former New York City Mayor Edward Koch talks about how historians will judge him, why he has steadfastly refused to answer questions about his sexual orientation, recounts his political battles with former Governor Mario Cuomo and his son, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, and critiques the men who succeeded him in City Hall.
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Joseph Klempner Teller and Allan Wolper
February 11, 2010
Joseph Klempner Teller is a mystery writer who learned about the seedy side of life as a former undercover agent for the the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (now the Drug Enforcement Agency) and later as a defense attorney fighting injustice in New York City criminal courtrooms.
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Conversations with Allan Wolper featuring Rachel Noerdlinger
January 4, 2010
Rachel Noerdlinger, the brains behind The Rev. Al Sharpton, believes that the media and New York City's real estate interests promoting the sales of Harlem condos and co-ops are refusing to admit how violent the area has become.
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Alicia C. Shepard and Allan Wolper
November 20, 2009
Alicia C. Shepard, the Ombudsman for National Public Radio, has an impossible job. She explains NPR to its audience and its audience to NPR. She also checks out the complaints fired at her network and sometimes joins the critical chorus on her NPR blog.
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Fred Kaplan and Allan Wolper
October 21, 2009
Fred Kaplan has spent a large part of his creative life in 1959, reliving a year he says changed everything in American life. Like the dawn of the birth control pill, the birth of the microchip, and the making of Motown. Kaplan is the war stories columnist for Slate and has lots to say about the new administration in the White House.
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Allan Wolper and Bill Thompson
August 27, 2009
Bill Thompson, the New York City Comptroller, is suddenly making a strong showing in the polls against Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the New York City mayoral election. Thompson talks of growing up in Bedford Stuyvesant and reacts to Newark Mayor Cory Booker's endorsement of Bloomberg.
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Allan Wolper talks with NYT's Andrew Rosenthal
July 24, 2009
Andrew Rosenthal, the editorial page editor of The New York Times, explains the process that produces the most read and debated section of the newspaper. He describes how he handles the furor that always follows a political endorsement and the diplomacy he uses to diffuse irate complaints from celebrities like Barbra Streisand.
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Matthew Bogdanos and Allan Wolper
June 17, 2009
Marine Reserve Colonel Matthew Bogdanos is on a mission to capture the thieves who looted thousands of priceless antiquities from the Iraq National Museum. Bogdanos says collectors pay millions of dollars for the stolen treasures, money often used by insurgents to buy weapons to fight American troops in Iraq.
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Layla Fanucci and Allan Wolper
May 20, 2009
For 25 years, Layla Fanucci, played a guitar, sang and taught music at the St. Helena Catholic School in California. But her life changed after she bought some paint at a Ben Franklin store. Now she gets up to $20,000 for her cityscapes of Paris and New York City. She made her New York debut at the Walter Wickiser gallery in Chelsea.
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Steve Baruch with Allan Wolper
April 23, 2009
Steve Baruch, a producer of Hairspray, Gypsy, Young Frankenstein, and The Producers, sent Allan Wolper a letter asking to invest in one of his plays. Allan made a counter offer: an interview at WBGO. And here it is.
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Annette Gordon-Reed and Allan Wolper
March 7, 2009
Annette Gordon-Reed is an authority on the intimate relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings, a slave on his Virginia plantation. The relationship produced seven children. Gordon-Reed also knows first hand about the later day struggles of black women in America.
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Hal Friedman and Allan Wolper
January 30, 2009
Hal Friedman, a New York advertising executive, tells why he went inside his son's head to a write a painful, yet uplifting tale called Against Medical Advice. It's a story about his son's struggle to overcome Tourette Syndrome, a disorder that mystifies much of the medial profession.
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Willie Kathryn Suggs and Allan Wolper
December 19, 2008
Willie Kathryn Suggs, often called the Queen of Harlem Real Estate, gives listeners an insiders view of Harlem's housing history--starting with the days that African Americans and Jews were forbidden by convenant to buy there to the present boom of foreign investment, eminent domain disputes, and class and racial discord.
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Allan Wolper chats with Joel Simon, executive director of The Committee To Protect Journalists
November 28, 2008
Joel Simon, executive director of The Committee To Protect Journalists, says Mexican editors and reporters are assassination targets because of their exposure of the massive drug dealings on American borders. Simon warns that violence against journalists is increasing around the world -- presenting a serious threat to democracies everywhere.
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Allan Wolper chats with former Brigadier General Janis Karpinski
September 23, 2008
Janis Karpinski, the former army general in charge of the notorious Abu Grahib prison in Iraq, speaks about the controversial tactics American soldiers used on their prisoners. Miss Karpinski, who many claim was scapegoated in the torture scandal, gives her version of what she says is a dark chapter in U.S. military history.
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Allan Wolper chats with Natalie Bauman
August 29, 2008
Natalie Bauman and her husband buy and sell rare books worth from one thousand to one million dollars. Ms. Bauman says the rare volumes contain untold stories of American literary history.
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Mickey Carroll and Allan Wolper
July 9, 2008
Maurice "Mickey" Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, and a former political writer for the New York Times, tells how polls are conducted, who the pollsters are, how they're trained and the impact they have on the presidential race.
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David Fisher and Allan Wolper
June 4, 2008
Author-Journalist David Fisher talks about the celebrities he has written about and worked with..an incredible list that includes William Shatner, Muhammad Ali, George Burns, Johnnie Cochran and Joan Rivers.
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Attorney Ron Kuby chats with Allan Wolper
May 16, 2008
Ron Kuby is a civil rights attorney who has spent his entire career representing the underdogs and underpriviledged in American society. Kuby explains how the media sometimes convicts criminal suspects in the court of public opinion.
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ESPN reporter Jeremy Schaap
April 8, 2008
Jeremy Schaap is a host and reporter for ESPN's Outside The Lines and E:60 and the author of Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics. Schaap retells the heroics of Owens and other American track and field stars and debunks the myths of the 1936 games.
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Blogging Expert Steve Rubel talks about life on the internet
March 7, 2008
Steve Rubel of Edelman Worldwide is an expert on cyber communications and marketing. He brings listeners up to speed on what's happening with blogs and how they're now a part of the political game.
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Lauren Thierry Watkins talks about her documentary that focuses on families dealing with autistic children
December 20, 2007
Lauren Thierry Watkins produced the documentary, "Autism Every Day", which caused a sensation at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and was shown on the Sundance Channel in 2008. She discusses what it's been like to raise Liam, her ten-year son who has autistim.
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Richie Roberts describes his life that is portrayed in American Gangster
November 16, 2007
Richie Roberts is the former prosecutor and detective who is portrayed by Russell Crowe in the movie, American Gangster. He explains how street level drug dealers used the hype around the movie to sell their product.
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Marcellus Bishop Allen talks about the Bloods and SOS
November 12, 2007
Marcellus "Bishop" Allen is the president of SOS and a leader of the Bloods. Allen played a key role in arranging a truce between the Bloods and the Crips.
He's a clerk-typist for the Board of Education and advises on gang activity in the New York/New Jersey metro area.
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Sandra Harmon
October 16, 2007
Sandra Harmon is the author of "Elvis and Me".
She discusses her new book "Mafia Son" and her involvement in a high-profile trial in New York City.
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