Wgtd's The Morning Show With Greg Berg

Part One- We speak with Mike DeRubis, who is with the non-partisan group Voters First Wisconsin, which is working to eliminate gerrymandering, reduce the influence of Big Money in politics, and to reform the way that certain elections are done in our state. Part Two- from 2018- historian Jon Meacham talks about his book "The Soul of America: The Battle for our Better Angels." The book examines those periods in our country's history when we have been as bitterly divided as we are today- and how our nation was able to come together again.

One of our favorite interviews from 2025: Juliette Fay talks about her novel "The Harvey Girls," which was based on a fascinating slice of Americana. Fred Harvey created what is widely regarded as the first hospitality chain in the United States- a network of restaurants and hotels primarily in the West. The women who worked at his establishments were known as Harvey Girls - and these were actually well-paying and respectable jobs at a time when employment options for women were severely limited. In a followup conversation, we speak with Andrew DeBoer, father-in-law of local music teacher Jessica DeBoer, about his extensive collection of Fred Harvey memorabilia.

Part 1 - We preview the Service Above Self Expo coming up this Saturday, January 31st at Fountain Hall in Sturtevant. The event is sponsored by the Racine Founders Rotary Club. My guests are Dan Widmar, who is its current president, and Laura Sumner Coon, a member of the club and the primary coordinator of the event. They are expecting at least thirty different local non-profits to participate, sharing with the public what volunteer opportunities they have to offer. Part 2- from the archives- Mark O. Hubbard, author of "Ara: The Life and Legacy of a Notre Dame Legend- the authorized Biography of Coach Ara Parseghian."

One of our favorite interviews from 2025: Elizabeth Minnich, author of "The Evil of Banality: On the Life and Death Importance of Thinking." In this book, Minnich explores the nature of evil - and particularly the phenomenon of what she calls "extensive evil" in which many people are involved in the perpetuating of evil without consciously doing so or without fully grasping the role that they are playing. It underscores the importance of living mindfully.

From 2003 - Richard Tofel, author of "A Legend in the Making: The New York Yankees in 1939."

We are paying memorial tribute to Kenosha-based author Michael Schumacher, who was a guest on The Morning Show a dozen times over the course of three decades. (He passed away on December 29th at the age of 75.). This interview concerns his book "The Contest: The 1968 Election and the War for America's Soul." (This interview occurred in 2018.). We plan on sharing more archival interviews with Michael Schumacher over upcoming Saturdays.

In his first visit to the Morning Show since November, Dr. Art Cyr offers his thoughts on several different current events and issues- especially the recent U.S. activity in Venezuela.

We speak with writer Monte Burke about his new book "Men of Troy: The Epic Afternoons, Wild Nights, and Enduring Legacy of Pete Carroll's USC Trojans." After a rough experience as a head coach for two NFL teams, Carroll achieved great success (including two national championships) with USC .... and then achieved comparable success with his return to the NFL as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. The book examines the ways in which Carroll earned a reputation as a 'player's coach.'

The Morning Show interview from 2025 that probably generated more comment than any other was this conversation with David Eliot, author of "Artificially Intelligent: The Very Human Story of A.I."

Today's program began with David Anderson, music director of the Lake Geneva Symphony Orchestra, talking about the ensemble's gala coming up on February 14th. After that is an archival conversation with Larry Tye, author of "Jazz Men," which examines the careers and influence of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong.

Today is Martin Luther King Day. One of the issues that most concerned Dr. King - especially in the last several years of his life - was access to housing regardless of race. The book at hand examines the practice of "Redlining," a means used to exclude certain types of people from various neighborhoods. Josh Silver's book is titled "Ending Redlining through a Community-Centered Reform of the Community Reinvestment Act." The book underscores how it is not enough to pass laws with the best of intentions; those laws must be properly and carefully implemented. GB

From 2016- We talk with Marc Cushman about his book "Lost in Space: The Authorized Biography of a Classic Sci-Fi Series."

In memory of Kenosha's own Michael Schumacher, who passed away on December 29, 2026 at the age of 75, we are going to be devoting the next few Saturday episodes of the podcast to archival interviews featuring Schumacher. This interview is the first interview that I did with Schumacher. The year was 1999 and the book in question was "Francis Ford Coppola: A Filmmaker's Life." One of the greatest film directors in cinematic history, Coppola directed The Godfather, The Godfather Part Two, Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders, Peggy Sue Got Married, and The Rainmaker .... co-wrote the screenplay for Patton .... and produced American Graffiti, The Secret Garden, and The Black Stallion. I hope you enjoy this. GB

We pay tribute to Kenosha's own Michael Schumacher - a nationally-published authors many times over who passed away on December 29th at the age of 75 - by hearing from an array of his friends who knew him and loved him.

From 2014 - We remember Kenosha's own Michael Shumacher, a nationally published author who passed away on December 29th, by replaying this conversation that occurred during the 2014 Kenosha Festival of Cartooning. Schumacher was joined in our studios by his friend Denis Kitchen, one of the leading figures in the underground comic book movement - with whom Michael collaborated on a highly regarded biography of cartoonist Al Capp. (Tomorrow's Morning Show will feature a gathering of some of Michael Schumacher's friends reflecting on what he was like and what it meant to have him as a friend.)

Part One: Beth Bush talks about the next production at the Racine Theater Guild, opening this Friday: "Ripcord," which tells the story of two badly mismatched roommates in a senior living facility who grow to have a grudging understanding of and affection for each other. Part Two: One of our favorite interviews from 2025- Gordon Korman talks about his book "Snoop - a novella intended for young readers that ends up being an intriguing commentary on our addiction to screens.

We talk with Dr. Mary Lenard, a member of the English faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, and Anna Stadick, director of the UW-Parkside library, about the upcoming mini-course titled "Four Evenings with Jane Austen" in honor of the legendary writer's 250th birthday. The course is cost-free, except for securing copies of the three novels that will be studied. There are no exams or papers; it's simply an opportunity to read some great literature and discuss it with a Jane Austen expert.

One of our favorite interviews from 2025: James Rebanks talks about his memoir "The Place of Tides" in which he recounts his experience of moving to a small, remote island off the coast of Norway.

One of our favorite interviews from 2025..... Mary Roach, author of "Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy." Her book explores some of the intriguing ways in which human beings have developed ways to alter the human body with things like dentures, prosthetic limbs, mechanical hearts, hair transplants, and much more.

From 2003 - Daniel Glick talks about his memoir "Morkey Dancing: A Father, Two Kids, and a Journey to the Ends of the Earth."