Walking Dead, Season 4 Midseason Finale

Matt talks with Randy Chieco and Marq Romero about the Walking Dead's season 4 explosive midseason finale.

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Don Opatrny

Matt talks to Don Opatrny about family business and the psychology behind it all.  Anyone who heard Episode 4 with my mom, Mary Amoroso, knows that she was adopted.  Don happens to be one of my "found" uncles (in-law), after my mom was reunited with her biological family. Don is an experienced family business consultant as well as a licensed marriage and family therapist.  

Read more about Don Opatrny >>

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Thanksgiving Memories with Melany McQueeny, Mary Amoroso, and James McQueeny

In-studio Thansgiving memories with Matthew McQueeny, Melany McQueeny, James McQueeny (Dad), and Mary Amoroso (Mom).

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Dom Santoli, #ForNico

Matt talks to Dom Santoli, former Bergen Catholic High School classmate, about the inspiring story of his son, Nico.  Nico was diagnosed in 2012 with unilateral retinoblastoma, a rare childhood cancer of the eyes.  Dom emotionally recounts the trying last year, as the family fought back against the cancer and created the #ForNico campaign, which brought awareness to the disease, and created success on social media, in fundraising, and in celebrity endorsements.

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Ed Valentine, Big Blue View

Ed Valentine of Big Blue View (BigBlueView.com) joins the podcast to talk New York Giants, their season to date, the upcoming matchup with the Dallas Cowboys, and how he was able to turn running an online platform about the team into his day job.

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Mike Francesa Alex Rodriguez Interview Provides Showcase for Shure SM7B Microphone

A surprise happened yesterday - November 20th - for sports radio enthusiasts, particularly in the New York Metropolitan area.  All the sudden, Alex Rodriguez - the great, and undoubtedly tainted, baseball immortal - showed up in studio on the "Mike's On" Mike Francesa WFAN radio show.  Francesa is also simulcast around the country on the YES Network television channel.

This was radio tension at its finest.  You can listen to it here.  People can criticize Mike for not taking Alex Rodriguez to task in a more forceful manner; however, Rodriguez came to his show - no one else's - and Mike did ask him the hard questions, and Rodriguez emphatically denied each charge, including when asked if he has used performance enhancing drugs in the past few years (Rodriguez previously came clean about not playing clean in the early 2000s).  This was 40 minutes of must-listen and must-watch content.  I think I listened to or watched the interview in parts or in whole three times.  Sure, Francesa may have given a softer landing, but that is why Alex went there.  However you think about it, though, this was unprecedented radio.  I love podcasts, and this longform discussion had many of the best aspects of a podcast (including ultimately living afterwards on-demand), but this showed the power of live radio in-the-moment.

You can see parts of the interview here in Part 1 and here in Part 2.

With so many ears and eyes on this interview, this was a great showcase of one of the best and most cost-efficient broadcast microphones in the game, the Shure SM7B Vocal Dynamic Microphone, Cardioid. I know that only a podcaster or radio person would be thinking of this, but it bears mention.  These are the mics I utilize in my equipment setup.  What a great moment and unintended product placement.


(image from NY Daily News story)

John Holl

John Holl joins the podcast to talk craft beer, food, and media! A journalist since 1996, John has worked as a reporter for the New York Times, the Newark Star-Ledger and the Indianapolis Star. In 2007 he dedicated his efforts to the full-time pursuit of covering the ever-growing American craft beer scene.  Currently, John is the editor of All About Beer Magazine, and host of The Beer Briefing on iHeart Radio. He is a regular contributor to Beverage World Magazine, Craftbeer.com and TAPS. He is also the author of several books, including The American Craft Beer Cookbook (Storey Publishing, August 2013), Massachusetts Breweries (Stackpole Books 2012), and Indiana Breweries (Stackpole Books 2011).

John's Books:

The American Craft Beer Cookbook (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1612120903/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1612120903&linkCode=as2&tag=mcqu0a-20)

Massachusetts Breweries (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0811710521/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0811710521&linkCode=as2&tag=mcqu0a-20)

Indiana Breweries (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0811706613/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0811706613&linkCode=as2&tag=mcqu0a-20)

See more about John at JohnHoll.com.

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