PODCAST · arts
Friends & Neighbors
by Essential Industries
Join ”Mister Rogers & Me” filmmaker, Benjamin Wagner, as he explore how his friends and neighbors are cultivating depth and simplicity despite an often shallow and complex world.
Episodes
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Get The Funk Out
In this rebroadcast of "Better Humans" Author Janeane Bernstein's KUCI-FM radio show, "Get The Funk Out," we share our experiences with mental health, and discuss the imperative of supportive relationships and meaningful community, the path toward wellness – and what it all looks like in the real...
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A Simple, Radical Act
When the high school I graduated from asked me to speak with students and parents, I decided to go for broke. I addressed the artificiality of contemporary Western culture. And I bookended the speech with a radical piece of audience participation. What happened next may surprise you.
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Kelli Rae Powell (Encore)
As I fly to Des Moines to screen my new film this week, I revisit my interview with singer/songwriter, music therapist, trauma counselor, and "Friends & Neighbors" helper, Kelli Rae Powell, two years later.
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Friends & Neighbors Premiere Q&A
In this live episode recorded after the premiere of "Friends & Neighbors," Opera Delaware's Kerriann Otaño moderates Q&A with director Benjamin Wagner, plus "helpers" Alonna Berry, Logan Herring, Sarah McBride, Lauren Scott, and Matthew Tousignant. Together, the panel digs deeper into the root...
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Liane Su
She rehearsed with Pearl Jam, flew private with Korn, sparred with J Lo, and fled the out-of-control, nu-metal-fueled arson of Woodstock ‘99. We talk mic flags, mult boxes, and pd-150s; junkets, red carpets, and festivals; plus Chris, Kurt, and Tabitha. We dodge stereotypes in the studio with...
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Jim Fraenkel
One-time VP & EP of MTV News, and The All-Time King of V.O., Jim Fraenkel, takes us from the driver’s seat of his Picasso Pizza delivery days and his stint at the legendary Geffen Record (where he was nearly cast in Nirvana's “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video), to his nearly two-decade run at MTV...
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Merle Ginsberg
Music and Fashion Writer and Editor turned Rupaul co-star, Merle Ginsberg, talks about sharing a scene with Laurie Anderson, Twyla Tharp, and Eric Bogosian, catching The Clash, Television, and Glenn Branca at Danceteria, Mudd Club, and The Ritz, and parlaying Downtown Avant-garde Art into Midtown...
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Rhonda Markowitz
Legendary MTV News Senior Writer, Rhonda Markowitz, takes us on a wild, star-studded, forgotten New York ride from Bayside, Queens (alongside her childhood friend, a certain Loser’s mom, Bibbe Hanson) to her first concert (yup, The Beatles at Shea Stadium) to her stints at A&M and Polygram…
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Darin Byrne
This week, onetime MTV News intern-turned-senior producer Darin Byrne takes us into the studio with Beyonce, on-tour with WuTang Clan, on-stage with Biohazard, backstage with Matchbox 20, and on-set at 1515 Broadway. He talks about sharing an office with Sway, the impact of digital video on the...
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Linda Corradina
This week, an MTV News Legend behind iconic shows like The Week In Rock, The Big Picture and House of Style, prosocial coverage like Choose or Lose, and fundamentals like the news cube, on-air graphics, and one-sheet, former Senior Vice President of MTV News & Specials, Linda Corradina. From the...
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Corey Moss
Buckle up, Dear Listener, as Writer, Producer, Director, Showrunner, and one-time MTV News Senior Writer Corey Moss regales us with tales of interviewing rock icons Green Day, The Pixies, and Weezer. He takes us to Neverland Ranch sans Michael Jackson, onto the set of the Dukes of Hazzard with...
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Kim Stolz
Correspondent Kim Stolz takes us on her unexpected journey from studying foreign policy to becoming a contestant on America’s Top Model and, eventually, landing her gig at MTV News. She talks about spending a day on-camera with a very young Taylor Swift, making trouble with Kristin Stewart and...
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Matt Anderson
In the '90s and early aughts, Matt Anderson parlayed an MTV News internship into a role as Supervising Producer, and eventually, Executive Producer of Series & Development. This week, Matt talks about producing Week in Rock & House of Style, meeting Madonna and Whitney, shopping with Cindy and...
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SuChin Pak
As an MTV News Correspondent from 2001-2010, SuChin Pak interviewed everyone from Mariah Carey to Mary J. Blige, helmed daily news on TRL and ten to the hour, hosted Video Music and Movie Award Pre-Shows, and her docuseries, My Life (Translated). This week, SuChin shares her journey from a...
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Shari Scorca
Onetime Supervising Producer and West Coast Bureau Lead Shari Scorca remembers going on tour with 50 Cent; speeding through Yonkers with Jadakiss; and catching an impromptu, unplugged performance from Thom Yorke and David Crosby. She talks about covering the Michael Jackson trial with John Norris...
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Nina Justman
MTV News Assignment Editor, Nina Justman, recalls her early days at a fledgling MTV News; meeting her teenage dream, David Cassidy; escorting NSYNC to the Rockefeller Center tree lighting; partying with Elton John; dinner with George Michael; championing an underappreciated Dave Matthews; that…
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Doug Herzog
Before he launched The Daily Show, Chappelle’s Show and South Park, and before her oversaw MTV, VH1 and Comedy Central simultaneously, Doug Herzog was MTV’s first News Director. This week, the Broadcasting & Cable Hall Of Famer shares stories about almost turning down the offer from MTV...
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Michael Shore
Longtime MTV News Editorial Director Michael Shore shares stories about the days Kurt Cobain died and Courtney Love crashed Madonna’s VMA pre-show; Tabitha Soren’s Choose or Lose audition; office visits from Axl Rose and Jay-Zl; interviewing heroes Sun Ra, Fela Kuti, and Miles Davis; Live Aid,...
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Elon Johnson
These days, Elon Johnson leads development for Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta. But in 1999, Elon was one of a handful of MTV News Writers tasked with writing and producing daily news briefs and packages. This week, Elon breaks down day-to-day operations in the MTV Newsroom and recalls bumping…
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Rob Markman
As Senior Hip-Hop Editor, Rob Markman led some of the cultures' most vital conversations, from MTV News' weekly RapFix Live show, to the most debated list in all of music, Hottest MCs. This week, Rob traces his journey from Flatbush, Brooklyn, to a Queens mailroom, all the way to MTV's Times…
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Josh Horowitz
For over a decade, Josh Horowitz has been foisting the MTV mic flag into movie stars' faces, asking questions sacred and profane, substantive and sometimes just plain silly. On this week's star-studded episode, Josh regales us with his MTV News origin story, plus hilarious tales about hanging out...
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Christina Garibaldi
For nearly a decade in the early aughts, On-Air Correspondent Christina Garibaldi lived her teenage dream, hosting numerous Video Music and Movie Awards Pre-Shows and interviewing everyone from Britney and Selena to Backstreet and ‘NSYNC, and more. This week, Christina takes us behind the scenes...
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Ryan Kroft
Ryan Kroft recounts his remarkable rise from Intern to Senior Vice President of Specials & Events across MTV, VH1 & Logo in which he did it all, from Executive Producing dozens of Video Music and Movie Awards Pre-Shows, to live coverage of Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston’s deaths, to shows…
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Robert Mancini
For a hot minute there in the late 90s, Robert Mancini and I were the first two staffers into the MTV News offices every morning. Robert wrote years of daily news articles, on-air briefs, and VMA pre-shows and specials, and ultimately oversaw daily news across all media. Here, Mancini plays...
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Abbie Kearse
As a writer, reporter, and producer for "The Week in Rock" and a wide range of documentaries including "Gangsta Rap: An MTV News Special Report," Abbie Kearse sat down with some of rock and hip-hop’s biggest legends and tackled some of the most important social issues of the day. This week, Abbie...
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Michael Alex
Few MTV News staffers had a run like Michael Alex. From producing "The Week in Rock" and "Choose or Loose," to launching MTV News Dot Com, Michael did it all. Buckle up and ride shotgun with Michael and Paul McCartney, Kieth Richards, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Paul Simon, Sinéad O'Connor, Bootsy...
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John Norris
In his more than two-decade tenure, MTV News Correspondent John Norris interviewed everyone from Britney Spears and Janet Jackson to U.S. Senator John McCain and Vice President Al Gore. In this broad, deep, and thoughtful conversation with the self-described "retrophobe," we trace the arc of his...
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Luke Russert
My Nantucket neighbor whose father appears in Mister Rogers & Me, discusses his New York Times Best Seller, Look For Me There, and lessons learned when a few months of travel became a three-year, six-continent odyssey to discover the world, process grief, and find himself.
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Hannah Storm
As Founder of Headlines Network, Hannah Storm is at the forefront of creating connections and driving conversations toward improving journalists’ mental health. From her home north of London, Hannah discusses her early career at BBC, Reuters and Channel 4, her experience with journalism safety…
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LJ Malberg
Coach, Community Builder and CoMuse CEO, LJ Malberg goes deep on cultivating compassion, finding connection, getting uncomfortable, and letting go.
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Tracey Quillen Carney & Dr. Julius Mullen Sr.
Delaware First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney and Trauma Matters Delaware Chairperson Dr. Julius Mullen discuss their pioneering work in recognizing and responding to childhood trauma.
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John Faye
Singer/songwriter and alt-rock frontman John Faye’s “The Yin and the Yang of It All: Rock’n’Roll Memories from the Cusp,” takes us for a ride into the belly of a dream. In the new memoir, Faye beautifully renders his healing journey from an alienated and grief-stricken teen and major label…
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Elisa Peimer
In which I find out how my long-time music marketing and singer/songwriter friend, Elisa Peimer, made a mid-life pivot to become a psychotherapist – and how the 80s band Styx and Broadway musical, Annie, connects us.
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In The End
I was recording "In The End" in Muscle Shoals just a week after demo'ing it, when bandleader Will McFarlane, asked, “Should we go full Otis on this one?” Otis Redding recorded his posthumous hit, “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay,” in that very room on those very keyboards just months before…
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Paul Cheung
Prior to becoming CEO of Center for Public Integrity, Paul Cheung put in three decades at America's most prestigious journalism institutions including The Wall Street Journal, Miami Herald, Associated Press, and the Knight Foundation. This week, Paul travels back to his childhood in Hong Kong and...
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Finding The Secret Song
In this audio companion to my recently premiered documentary short, I trace my road trip from Memphis to Muscle Shoals writing and recording my tenth album, "Constellations," and reveal how a Texan waitress, Mexican tailor, and Tupelo pop icon's secrets helped inspire my path towards recovery.
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David Smydra
For more than a decade, David Smydra has been at the forefront of assuring that tech platforms deliver personalized, high quality news by leading “humans in the loop,” journalists who bridge the gaps between editorial quality, product and audience development, and algorithmic design. This week…
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Listening To 2022
It has been an outstanding and occasionally excruciating year. Through it all, I’ve found hope and healing in the shared wisdom of my friends and neighbors. This week, we listen back to some of those insights, inspirations and lessons learned from Senator Sarah McBride, Author Tim Madigan, Music...
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What Do You Remember?
I Remember Everything, the penultimate track on my new album, Constellations, began as another in a long list of "disaster songs" but evolved into something noticeably different, deeply instructive and profoundly transformative. This week, I explore how the song helped me understand the biology,...
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Patrick Riley
Cellist Patrick Riley has performed string arrangements on albums by Shawn Mendes, Imagine Dragons, and The Envy Corps, played live alongside The Eagles and Father John Misty, scored big-time Hollywood films – and graced every one of my albums since 2010’s “Forever Young.”
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This Is Not A Test
In the 90s, the CDC made the correlation between adverse childhood experiences like divorce, violence, substance abuse and mental illness and adult outcomes like anxiety, depression, addiction and many of the leading causes of death. It’s just that, well, no one told most of us.
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Helpers Wanted
When what I thought was anxiety and depression was diagnosed as PTSD last fall, I suddenly saw trauma and its impact all around. Since April, I've been quietly crisscrossing the country, examining the roots of my own trauma, and the trauma and chronic stress that affect us all. I’ve been seeking...
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Irving Washington
As outgoing CEO of the world’s largest membership organization of digital journalists, Online News Association, Irving Washington has led programming and fundraising initiatives for journalists, media professionals, and students worldwide. This week, in the fourth of a series of Media...
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Jeff Berner
Whether as a touring guitarist for the avant-garde rockers, Psychic TV, or producer for artists like Boy George, Lenny Kaye, and Pharoahe Monch, Jeff Berner makes a safe, creative space for those around him to make great art. This week, we trace Jeff’s life from first falling for “Sunshine of…
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Wherever You Go
The fourth single, final track and thesis statement of my new album, Constellations, began as an expression of darkness and sadness but with time and telling, transformed into something altogether different.
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Lily McKown & Hayden Chance
Philly singer/songwriter Lily McKown & Wilmington psyche rocker, Hayden Chance (a/k/a Chvnce) have both graduated to national stages but are close enough to rock 'n roll's rickety attics and ratty basements to remember the stale smell of beer and sharp shock of an ungrounded microphone. This…
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Tyler, Texas
From a chance meeting with Nashville waitress with a profoundly personal and deeply universal story to a lushly realized FAME Studios recording, then Brooklyn-mixed and mastered masterpiece, this is the story of one song's journey to your ears.
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Noreen Gillespie
In 2019, AP’s Noreen Gillespie was tasked with evolving domestic news operations amidst a rapidly changing ecosystem. Today, the AP’s approach to US news is wholly transformed, and Noreen’s applying what she learned to the rest of the planet.
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Chris Bullard
Sound Mind Live Executive Director Chris Bullard talks about growing up in L.A., sharing a mic with Kris Kristofferson, being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and his mission to end the stigma that surrounds mental health through the power of music.
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The Secret Song
We all have secrets, truths that gnaw at us, crush our spirit, and kill us from the inside out. The second single from my forthcoming album, Constellations, is that moment of realization and transformation made manifest. On this week's episode, I share the journey of writing and recording of "The...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Friends & Neighbors have?
Friends & Neighbors currently has 100 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Friends & Neighbors about?
Join ”Mister Rogers & Me” filmmaker, Benjamin Wagner, as he explore how his friends and neighbors are cultivating depth and simplicity despite an often shallow and complex world.
How often does Friends & Neighbors release new episodes?
Friends & Neighbors has 100 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Friends & Neighbors?
You can listen to Friends & Neighbors on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Friends & Neighbors?
Friends & Neighbors is created and hosted by Essential Industries.
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