Wgtd's The Morning Show With Greg Berg

In this interview, we hear from both Clive Cussler (one of the most successful novelists in recent decades) and his son Dirk Cussler talking about collaborating on a thrilled titled "Arctic Drift."

From 2016 - J. Ryan Stradel talks about his bestselling debut novel "Kitchens of the Great Midwest."

This interview was actually most recently broadcast a week ago, on November 22nd. Cody Keenan served for a time as head speech writer for former president Barack Obama. In this interview, he discusses his remarkable book "Grace: President Obama and Ten Days in the Battle for America."

Because we associate our 16th president with Thanksgiving (he was the president who signed the bill that made Thanksgiving Day a federal holiday) we are sharing three Lincoln-related interviews to celebrate .... including part of an interview with historian Ronald C. White talking about his acclaimed biography "A. Lincoln." These three interview excerpts were aired on Lincoln's birthday (February 9th) several years ago.

This is an extended version of the tribute to Norm McPhee that aired on Wednesday, November 27th. Norm McPhee served the Racine Theater Guild as its managing and artistic director from 1969 to 2001. He passed away in early November at the age of 88. This extended edition of the tribute features unabridged interviews with Jo Nissen, George Mangold, Mona Lewis, Michael Clickner, and current RTG director Doug Instenes. There are also stories about Norm from Dawn Van Ness, Sherry Babicky, Kara Ernst-Schalk, Jill Jensen and Rachae Renee that are read. In a special bonus, we hear from Norm himself in a 2005 interview in which he talks about another beloved figure in RTG history, Hilda Greenquist. This interview was done shortly after her death at the age of 95.

From 2010- Best-selling author Michael Schumacher talks about his book "Will Eisner: A Dreamer's Life in Comics."

Dr. Thomas Carr joins us - Associate Professor of Biology at Carthage College and director of their Paleontology program. Joining him: Brett Jackson, a senior biology major, and Andrew Goebel, a recent Carthage graduate. All three of them recently attended the most recent meeting of the Society of Invertebrate Paleontology.

From 2010- Annie Murphy Paul, author of 'The Cult of Personality: How personality tests are leading us to mis-educate our children, mismanage our companies, and misunderstand ourselves."

From 2020- Bruce Boyce, author of "Cold Comfort: One man's struggle to stop the illegal marketing of powerful opioid drugs and save lives."

In observance of Epilepsy Awareness Month, we speak with Victor and Libby Boyce - whose son Cameron was a gifted child actor who was part of a couple of Disney programs. Cameron contended with epilepsy the last four years of his life before dying from epilepsy-related complications at the age of 20. His parents created the Cameron Boyce Foundation in his memory.

We talk with Robert Creamer, who has worked on a wide variety of political campaigns over the last half century, about his new book "Nuts and Bolts: The Formula for Progressive Electoral Success." We spend a few minutes looking back on former president Donald Trump's victory over Vice President Kamala Harris and some of the reasons for it.

Brad Ricca, author of "True Raiders: The Untold Story of the 1909 Expedition to find the legendary Ark of the Covenant."

Dr. Art Cyr joins us for his monthly visit to the program. He offers his thoughts on what he believes are some mistakes made by the Kamala Harris campaign - the significance of NATO in its 75th anniversary year - and talks about the new leader of the conservative party in Britain, the first black person to hold that position.

In memory of Lois Van Dahm, who passed away earlier this month: This is a conversation that Lois and her husband Tom wanted to have with me about how they were taken in by somebody who - over the phone - pretended to be their grandson, begging for emergency financial assistance. They thought that by sharing their story, it might serve as a helpful cautionary tale for others. It struck me as an extraordinarily generous thing for them to do. (Part two of today's program featured an excerpt from a 2001 interview with the late Norm McPhee, longtime director of the Racine Theater Guild. That interview was shared in its entirety on the podcast this past Saturday, November 16th.)

From 2006 - David M. Oshinsky, author of "Polio: An American Story"

Norm McPhee, managing and artistic director of the Racine Theater Guild from 1969 to 2001, passed away on November 3rd at the age of 88. In his memory, we are replaying this Morning Show conversation recorded in the spring of 2001, right around the time of his retirement. Later this month, we will be airing a tribute to Norm McPhee in which a number of people who collaborated with him at the guild will share reminiscences about him.

Acclaimed sportswriter John Feinstein talks about his most recent book, "The Ancient Eight: College Football's Ivy League and the Game They Play Today." Also, from the archives, Don Snyer talks about his memoir "Walking with Jack: A Father's Journey to Become His Son's Caddie."

Kailyn Palomares's November visit to the Morning Show features Marty Johnson from the Wisconsin DNR. He is senior wildlife biologist at Richard Bong State Recreational Area in Kansasville. We talk about hunting in Wisconsin - the ways in which hunting is regulated - how hunting is an important means for managing wildlife populations - and other related topics.

Simon Parkin, author of "The Forbidden Garden- The Botanists of Besieged Leningrad and their Impossible Choice." This is an amazing story from World War Two concerning the Plant Institute in Leningrad and how the staff there valiantly safeguarded the archive of seeds from being plundered during the Siege of Leningrad. We follow up with Curzio Caravati, founder of KUFI Farm. (KUFI stands for Kenosha Urban Farming Institute.)

For Veteran's Day- I am sharing an interview that I recorded back in December 2003 with Craig Birkholz, a corporal in the U.S. Army who at the time was stationed in Iraq as a member of the military police ... and his mother, Gay Birkholz. Corporal Birkholz survived his deployment in the Middle East, but tragically, he was killed in the line of duty as a police officer in Fond du Lac in 2011. This interview is being shared on the podcast with the kind and generous permission of his mother.