Wgtd's The Morning Show With Greg Berg

In honor of Dave McGrath's retirement from WGTD (his last day with the station was yesterday, the 15th) we are resharing this memorable Morning Show conversation in which he talks about his book "Gene Pitney: The Singer, The Songs, The Songwriters." Dave McGrath and his wife Guida worked with Gene Pitney for many years selling his memorabilia. In this very interesting book, Dave looks at the stories behind some of Pitney's greatest hits.

Today was the last day for Dave McGrath as WGTD's local anchor for Morning Edition ..... something he has been doing for more than 25 years! (Dave has opted for retirement.) With the help of his wife Guida Brown as well as assistance from WGTD general manager Dave Cole, we were able to round up some very special guests from Dave's long professional career in radio broadcasting to help give him a fitting send-off.

Kailyn Palomares joins us for her monthly visit to the program- and her guest is Laura Holder with Conservation Dogs Collective. Her dogs are trained to detect both invasive and endangered species - plants, animals, insects, even nests.

We preview this coming Saturday's HarborPark Jazz Rhythm and Blues Festival - a fundraiser for the Mary Lou and Arthur F. Mahone Foundation - with Tim Mahone ..... and with the musical headliner for this year's event, Grammy Award-winner Kirk Whalum. (He performs Saturday evening at 7:30.) The event occurs in Celebration Place adjacent to the Kenosha harbor.

Dr. Robyn Koslowitz, author of "Post Traumatic Parenting: Break the cycle and become the parent you always wanted to be." This book is intended as a guide for anyone who has experienced trauma in their own childhood and in how they were parented- and hopes to rise above that hurt and trauma to be the best parents they can be. - After that, from the archives (2014) is an interview with author Alan Rabinowitz in which he talks about his children's book "A Boy and his Jaguar." The book stems partly from his real-life experience as a stutterer.

On the eve of another school year, we speak with Dr. John Swallow, the president of Carthage College. He tells us about the record-breaking freshman class that is about to begin studies at Carthage - the creation of a School of Health - and the offering of a new Biotechnology major/minor.

From 2008 - Former Carthage College president Dr. F. Gregory Campbell remembers Alan Anderson, a 1950 Carthage graduate who went on to serve the college in a number of capacities .... including acting president .... over the course of 35 years. He is fondly remembered as one of the most beloved figures in the history of the college. This interview aired right before Homecoming that year - several weeks after Anderson's death on September 28, 2008. [NOTE - Tomorrow, Monday August 11th, we will air a newly recorded interview with the current president of Carthage, Dr. John Swallow.]

From 2007- Acclaimed actor Alan Alda talks about his memoir "Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself."

We speak with Dr. Samuel Jay Keyser, an emeritus member of the faculty at MIT and author of "Play it again, Sam: Repetition in the Arts." In this book, Professor Keyser explores how and why we experience pleasure and satisfaction when we encounter repetition in music, poetry, and visual arts. What exactly is going on in the brain? What is the nature of the pleasure we experience?

From 1999- more from Michael Schumacher, talking about his book "Francis Ford Coppola: a Filmmaker's Life." Earlier this year, Coppola became the 50th person to receive the Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute.

Earlier this year, Francis Ford Coppola became the 50th person to be granted the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award- and the star-studded ceremony where he was presented the award was recently telecast on Turner Classic Movies. In honor of that, we are resharing our 1999 interview with Kenosha author Michael Schumacher in which we talk about his book "Francis Ford Coppola: A Filmmaker's Life." Coppola is renowned for directing and/or producing such films as "The Godfather," "The Godfather II," "Apocalypse Now," "The Outsiders," "Peggy Sue Got Married," "American Graffiti," and "The Cotton Club."

We preview a fun event planned for this Friday at the Uptown Library in Kenosha to celebrate its 100th anniversary ..... a video game competition.

We speak with best-selling author J. Randy Taraborelli about his most recent book- "JFK- Public, Private, Secret." It is, in many ways, the culmination of several decades of research that he has done into the Kennedy family in the course of writing half a dozen books about the Kennedys. His previous book, crafted in a very similar fashion, is titled "Jackie- Public, Private, Secret." Taraborelli has also written best-selling biographies of Frank Sinatra, Princess Grace, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson, and - perhaps most famously- Diana Ross with the book "Call Her Miss Ross."

Today's program is the first visit to the Morning Show of Dr. Morgan Phillips, Interim President and CEO of Gateway Technical College. We talk about his long and varied professional career- his initial impressions of Gateway Technical College- and also touch on the profound hearing loss he experienced in his mid-forties and the amazing technological interventions that have made such a powerful difference for the better.

From 2008- Dr. Wilkie Wilson, co-author of "Buzzed: The Straight Facts about the Most Used and Abused Drugs from Alcohol to Ecstasy." The book has been released in at least two more editions since this one.

From 2003- Ron Fry, author of "101 Smart Questions to Ask on your Interview." The book was written to help people be more effective when interviewing for a new job. The book has been re-released in several new editions in the years since.

Our program opens with Amy Greil, executive director of the Kenosha Community Foundation, and Cheryl Hernandez, executive director of the Kenosha Literacy Council. We round out the program with a 2007 interview with Tom Miller, editor of "How I Learned English: 55 Accomplished Latinos Recall Lessons in Language and Life."

Part One- We welcome Robb Woulfe, executive director of the Racine Art Museum, for his first visit to the Morning Show. R.A.M. is one of the finest museums of its kind in the Midwest. Woulfe succeeded Bruce Pepitch as executive director in January of this year. Part Two- We preview this Sunday's Starving Artists Fair with coordinator Jayne Herring. The event occurs on the beautiful grounds of Racine's DeKoven Center between 9 am and 4 pm.

Tiffany D. Jackson talks about her latest book for young readers, "Blood in the Water."

Best-selling author Gordon Korman talks about his latest book for young readers ..... "Snoop" ..... which is an intriguing and entertaining exploration of the way in which young people get addicted to screens.