WGTD's The Morning Show with Greg Berg

*Intermittently through the month of September, we are airing newly recorded and archival interviews to commemorate the 25th anniversary of 9/11.*. Today is a newly -recorded conversation with attorney Kenneth Feinberg, author of "What is Life Worth?" Feinberg was appointed to the official position of Special Master to administer the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund. His memoir, which has just been re-released in a new edition, chronicles the experience that he calls the greatest challenge of his long law career.

Jennifer Clemens, a member of the political science faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, talks about an important event coming up next Wednesday at Parkside ... called "An Imperfect Union," which examines what it means when a country seeks to create a constitution for itself.

Doug Instenes from the Racine Theater Guild talks about the RTG's. current production - a wild comedy called "The Play That Goes Wrong" which runs through September 27th.

BONUS: In honor of actor Walter Koenig's 90th birthday .... and the recent 60th anniversary of the network premiere of Star Trek: the Original Series, we replay my 2020 interview with Koenig in which he talks about his memoir "Beaming Up and Getting Off: Life Before and Beyond Star Trek."

*Intermittently through the month of September, we are airing newly recorded and archival interviews to commemorate the 25th anniversary of 9/11.*. Today we listen back to an interview with best-selling author William Langewiesche, author of "America Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center." Langewiesche's book (which began as a series of articles for Atlantic Monthly, chronicles the story of how the immense mountain of debris was removed ..... a project that was utterly unprecedented in its scope and complexity, requiring incredible cooperation, ingenuity, improvisation and persistence to be completed. Langewiesche was granted largely unfettered access to Ground Zero in order to tell this compelling story.

*Intermittently through the month of September, we are airing newly recorded as well as archival interviews to commemorate the 25th anniversary of 9/11.* This conversation from the fall of 2001 is with the late Dr. Jack Keating, who was chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside from 1998-2008. Dr. Keating's professional background was in the field of Psychology, and the primary focus of his own research efforts had been on the topic of people's behaviors in the midst of disaster- including high rise fires. In fact, Dr. Keating was actually in New York City and at the World Trade Center at the time of the car bombing there in 1993.

*Intermittently through the month of September, we are airing newly recorded as well as archival interviews to commemorate the 25th anniversary of 9/11.* This interview, from late 2001, is with Jan Sjogren, an officer with the Salvation Army- talking about what it was like to be on site with the Salvation Army in the wake of 9-11.

From 2005- Tom Downey, author of "The Last Men Out: Life of the Edge at Rescue 2 Firehouse." Brooklyn Rescue 2 has been long renowned as one of the finest fire-fighting units in the country. It was very hard hit by the events of 9-11.

Best-selling author Jeffrey Robinson discusses his new book "Ash and Honor: The Untold 368 Minutes of 9/11."

From 2025- in honor of the 60th anniversary of the premiere of Star Trek: the Original Series ...... Adam Nimoy discusses his book "The Most Human: Reconciling with my Father, Leonard Nimoy."

In memory of a marvelous guitarist named Jack Grassel, we replay an interview from 2019 with Jack and his wife Jill Jensen - who were a highly-regarded entertainment duo known affectionately as Jack and Jill. Jack passed away in late August.

We get a preview of the Patio Pops Concert coming up this Sunday, September 13th at 2:00 that will feature the school's Wind Orchestra and Concert Band in a program of all-American music to celebrate our country's 250th anniversary.

Tatiana Bush, flute instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, talks about Parkside's Flute Day coming up this Saturday, September 12th.

Today is the first visit to the Morning Show of Dr. Veronique Tran, the president of Gateway Technical College. She assumed the presidency of GTC on July 1st. This interview aired on the first day of class for this fall semester.

*Intermittently through the month of September, we are airing newly recorded as well as archival interviews to commemorate the 25th anniversary of 9/11." Today- Jim Dwyer, a Pulitizer Prize-winning writer and longtime reporter for the New York Times, talks about the book "102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers." He co-authored the book with Kevin Flynn, which was published in 2005. Dwyer passed away in 2020.

From 2004 - Richard Thieme, author of "Islands in the Clickstream: Reflections on Life in a Virtual World."

From 2020 - Matt Richtel, author of "An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System."

From the archives (2003) - Todd Gitlin talks about his book "Letters to a Young Activist."

We speak with Camille Busette, a representative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, about their new initiative titled "One Nation - Overcharged," which is meant to raise awareness about the plight of Americans who have difficulty coping with the high cost of health care.

*Intermittently through the month of September, we are airing newly recorded as well as archival interviews to commemorate the 25th anniversry of 9/11.*. Today- Gwendolyn Bounds, former Wall Street Journal reporter, talks about her memoir- "Little Chapel on the River." She was one of the thousands of people living in Manhattan at the time of 9/11 who suddenly found themselves homeless. Bounds ultimately resettled in a small community in the Hudson River Valley .... where she lives to this very day. She says in the book that this was an instance of "not just figuring out where to live... but how to live."

One week after the start of classes and a new school year, we speak with Dr. John Swallow, the President of Carthage College.

*Intermittently through the month of September, we are airing newly recorded as well as archival interviews to commemorate the 25th anniversary of 9/11*. Part One- Dave Dunbar, co-author of "Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand Up to the Facts." The book, which actually grew out of an article in Popular Mechanics, methodically examines the many conspiracy theories that sprang up in the wake of 9/11. Part Two- A 2005 conversation with the late Dr. Jack Keating, who was chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside from 1998 to 2008. His academic field was Psychology, and the primary focus of his research was on how people behave during disasters and other kinds of crisis- and what sort of trauma do they experience and carry with them in the aftermath.

From 2011 - Ethan Trex, author of "Mental Floss-The Book: Only the Greatest Lists in the History of Listory."

We speak with Dr. Lynn Akey, Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, at the outset of a new school year.

From 2016- Dr. Joseph Burgo, author of "The Narcissist You Know: Defending Yourself Against Extreme Narcissists in an All-About-Me Age." [The Morning Show airs every weekday morning between 8 and 9 o'clock on WGTD FM 91.1. We are an affiliate of Wisconsin Public Radio and National Public Radio, broadcasting from the Kenosha campus of Gateway Technical College."

From 2005- Fred Watson, author of "Star Gazer: The Life and Times of the Telescope." [The Morning Show airs every weekday morning between 8 and 9 o'clock on WGTD FM 91.1. We are an affiliate of Wisconsin Public Radio and National Public Radio, broadcasting from the Kenosha campus of Gateway Technical College.]

Part One- We speak with best-selling author and motivational speaker Chris Tuff about his latest book, "Save Your Asks." He will be one of the keynote speakers for the upcoming Inspire 2026 Leadership Conference on October 16th that is sponsored by KABA .... the Kenosha Area Business Alliance. The deadline for early bird registration for this exciting event is this Monday, August 31st. More information about the event is available at kaba.org. Part Two- from the archives- "How to Raise Self-Disciplined Children."

My guests are Kristi Helmkamp, assistant director of the Kenosha Public Library System, and DJ Hanson, who is KPL's Marketing and Communcations Manager. We focus most of our conversation on the library's summer reading program, which culminates in a celebratory party in Library Park (outside of the Simmons Library) tomorrow (Friday) afternoon.

We speak with Luke Mickelson, founder of the national charity Sleep In Heavenly Peace (which has a Racine-Kenosha chapter, as well as several hundred other chapters across the country), will be one of the keynote speakers for the upcoming Inspire 2026 conference on October 16th at Journey Church in Kenosha. Part two features a brief interview from 2002 with former journalist Chris Matthews.

We speak with Robb Woulfe, executive director of the Racine Art Museum, about recent renovation at RAM Downtown, changes in admission fees and hours of operation, expansion of their studio art program, and an exciting multi-arts festival opening on September 18th titled "In/Between" in which RAIM will be extending itself into some intriguing places in the community.

We speak with writer Joel Dinerstein about his new book "The Last Jews of Ellis Island: a Brooklyn Memoir." Dinerstein's parents were among the last European Jews to enter the United States through Ellis Island- and they had Joel when they were both in their mid to late forties. Consequently, Joel was at the very end of that generation of children of so-called Ellie Island Jews. In his engrossing memoir, he not only chronicles what life was like in his particular family, but also the dramatic changes he saw in the Flatbush neighborhood where he grew up.

From 2005- John Grogan, author of "Marley and Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog"

From 2018 - Laurence Bergreen, author of "Casanova: The World of a Seductive Genius."

Tiffany D. Jackson talks about her novel for young readers titled "Ghost in the Night." From the archives- we hear from Tim Federle, author of "Better Nate than Ever" - and John Feinstein, author of "The Walk On" - both of these books also intended for young readers.

Part One: Jim Zondlak, a board member with the Kenosha Sportfishing and Conservation Association, talks about the group's Pike River Clean-Up on Saturday, September 19th. This is the group's 19th annual clean-up event - a massive event that involves hundreds of volunteers. Part Two: from the archives- David Coggins, author of "The Believer: A Year in the Fly Fishing Life."

We begin the program with Gary Gronke, who is chairman of the board of Kemper Center, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a plethora of events coming up this Saturday, August 22nd. We fill out the hour by replaying a portion of a conversation from 2022 with three women (Barb Axelson, Susan McMinn and Anna McGuire) who were students at Tremper Hall, the girls' school that operated for a century on the grounds of what is now Kemper Center. The occasion of that conversation was the 150th anniversary of the founding of Kemper Hall.

We speak with James M. Scott, author of "Empire of Ashes: Truman, Hirohito, and the Descent into Total War." The book examines the very end of World War Two and what sort of discussion and debate behind closed doors led to the decision for the U.S. to drop the atomic bomb to bring the war to a close - when and where the bombs would be dropped - and why such a move was deemed to be necessary.

This 2023 interview is probably requested for resharing more than any other .... David Brooks, talking about his book "How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen." Brooks was a columnist for the New York Times for many years before leaving to join the staff at The Atlantic earlier this year. He is also a well-known commentator.

From 2011- Erin Morgenstern discusses her fascinating and engrossing novel titled "The Night Circus."

From 2002 ...... Best-selling author Mark Bowden talks about his book "Finders Keepers: The Story of a Man who Found One Million Dollars."

Dr. Katie Taylor's newly published book is titled "Gridiron Invasion: The Hidden History of Women's Football." This is a surprisingly long and complex history that actually stretches back to the 1890s. Following that is a 2005 interview with sportswriter Mike Lupica talking about his novel for young readers titled "Too Far" that explores the serious issue of hazing among young athletes.

For Kailyn Palomares's August visit to the Morning Show, we meet Kara DeLanty, who is Area Supervisor of Primates for the Milwaukee County Zoo. She works with a staff of ten zookeepers to care for 40 different animals representing 10 different primate species. We talk about how these animals are cared for, fed, and stimulated.

In honor of the 101st birthday of identical twins Norris and Ross McWhirter, the co-founders of the Guiness Book of World Records, we are resharing a 2008 interview with Tom Olmsted, author of "Getting into Guiness: One Man's Longest, Fastest, Highest Journey Inside the World's Most Famous Record Book." The book not only chronicles the history of the book, but also tells the story of the many people who have risked life and limb in order to secure their place in its pages. (Olmsted himself has managed to achieve two world records himself.).

This is an expanded version of the interview with saxophonist and composer Kirk Whalum that was heard on today's Morning Show. Whalum once again is the headline artist for the Harbor Park Jazz Rhythm and Blues Festival that is coming up this Saturday, August 15th. More information is available at mahonefoundation.org.

In honor of the Kenosha Kingfish once again making the playoffs in the Northwoods League, we're replaying this 2014 conversation with Jim Collins, author of "The Last Best League: One Summer, One Season, One Dream." Collins follows the exploits of the Chatham A's, one of the best teams in the Cape Cod League. The book is one of the best books ever written about minor league baseball. (The book was originally written back in 2004. The occasion of this interview was the re-release of the book in a 10th anniversary updated version.)

From 2019 - Jill Tietjen and Barbara Bridges, co-authors of "Hollywood Her Story: An Illustrated History of Women and the Movies." The book primarily examines the surprisingly significant presence of women directors and producers in the early years of the movie industry.

In memory of writer and advice columnist Margo Howard, who died earlier this summer, we are replaying a conversation from 2014 where we talked about her memoir "Eat, Drink, and Remarry: Confessions of a Serial Wife." Howard was a 3-time divorcee who, in her words, "finally got it right with husband #3." Howard's mother was Ann Landers. Howard was responsible for creating the Dear Prudence advice column.

This is the interview with Ellen Schutt, one of the Republicans squaring off in the August 11th Republican primary for Wisconsin State Senate District 11. (Interviews with the other two candidates are available in separate postings.).

This is the interview with Sandy Wiedmeyer, one of the Republicans facing off in the August 11th Republican primary for the Wisconsin State Senate District 11. (Interviews with the other two candidates are available in separate postings.).

This is the interview with Nick Polce, one of the Republicans squaring off in the August 11th Republican primary for the Wisconsin State Senate District 11. (Interviews with the other two Republicans are available in separate postings.)