Simcha Jacobovici | Lost Tomb of Jesus
June 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment
It was a great honor to feature Simcha Jacobovici on the show today! A journalist with many awards to his name, and great controversy, we get to the bottom of things in this special long interview… Simcha is an award-winning, controversial documentary film director and producer. His numerous awards include a Gold Medal from the International Documentary Festival of Nyon, a certificate of Special Merit from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles, a Genie Award, three U.S. Cable Ace Awards, two Gemini Awards, an Alfred I. Dupont-Columbia University Award, a British Broadcast Award, a Royal Television Society Award and the Edward R. Murrow Award. Jacobovici has also won the Emmy for “Outstanding Investigative Journalism” an unprecedented three times (1996, 1997 and 2007). http://www.simc
R.T. Jordan | Disney & Polly
May 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Raised in Peabody, Massachusetts, R.T. Jordan moved to Los Angeles when he was nineteen and is only now beginning to look back. Although he believes that he has always been a writer, he first began to earn a living in this manner as the staff writer in the feature film marketing department of The Walt Disney Studios. “It was the best of times. It was he worst of times,” Jordan says of his nearly two decades in that position. “Although the deadlines were a horror, the writing and rewriting gave me discipline, and the understanding that there are many ways to spin a story,” Jordan says. “In retrospect, I see that those years were better than a Master’s program in creative writing because - by pumping out prose twelve hours a day and on nearly 400 films - I honed what little skill I had and developed what I hope is a breezy style of writing.” During those years, while still writing for Disney, Jordan found time to complete his first book, BUT DARLING, I’M YOUR AUNTIE MAME!, a nonfiction history of the famous character created by author Patrick Dennis. He went on to write four novels and three novellas (summer beach reading books written under a pen name he says he’d rather not acknowledge) for Kensington Publishing Corp. He then switched to the cozy mystery genre. http://www.poll
Beth Feldman | Mommy Books
May 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Yvette Manessis Corporon and Beth Feldman are the creators of Role Mommy, www.rolemommy.c
Ken Bruen | Thriller Author
April 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Today we spoke with Thriller Novelist Ken Bruen from Ireland. The dialogue was fascinating… Tune in to hear the story about the fan with the baseball bat! More about Ken Bruen’s new novel Cross from his website:
Cross (kros/ noun, verb, & adjective) means an ancient instrument of torture, or, in a very bad humour, or, a punch thrown across an opponent’s punch. Jack Taylor brings death and pain to everyone he loves. His only hope of redemption - his surrogate son, Cody - is lying in hospital in a coma. At least he still has Ridge, his old friend from the Guards, though theirs is an unorthodox relationship. When she tells him that a boy has been crucified in Galway city, he agrees to help her search for the killer. Jack’s investigations take him to many of his old haunts where he encounters ghosts, dead and living. Everyone wants something from him, but Jack is not sure he has anything left to give. Maybe he should sell up, pocket his Euros and get the hell out of Galway like everyone else seems to be doing. Then the sister of the murdered boy is burned to death, and Jack decides he must hunt down the killer, if only to administer his own brand of rough justice.
Don Saliers | Music & the Church
April 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Don Saliers, father of Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls, spoke with us today about his book with his daughter, and about his long career in music and the church. Listen in to hear about a father and daughter’s relationship through music, politics and all the rest.More about Don from the Indigo Girls website:
“I found warmth, wisdom, and love to be present on every page of this book. Emily and her father, Don, have found a way to have a deeply meaningful conversation about their life experiences and share it with the reader. The result is this beautiful expression of music as many things–healer, gift, symbol of freedom and community, and agent of change.”—Mary Chapin Carpenter
“Don and Emily Saliers trace the songlines of two very different lives through this thought-provoking book. It is full of stories, quotations from songs old and new, and even their personal discussions as they explore the boundaries between their worlds. Their words plumb the depths of human and musical differences: the way song can divide as well, bring us together and its power to bring us ‘back to life’ from grief or pain or spiritual anguish. May we all be able to find songlines as rich as those uniting this intelligent, affectionate, and musical father and daughter.”—Alice Parker, author, Yes, We’ll Gather!, Creative Hymn Singing, and Melodious Accord
“In this sweetheart of a book, Don and Emily Saliers do far more than write convincingly about the healing power of music. They show us how it works by letting their own love of ‘deep song’ lead them across generational, aesthetic, and religious differences into a place of such holy listening to one another that even the angels lay down their tambourines.”—Barbara Brown Taylor, author, Bread of Angels, Home by Another Way, Gospel Medicine, The Preaching Life, God in Pain, and Speaking of Sin
“Emily and her dad have created a beautiful celebration of how music and spirit connect us all.”—Bonnie Raitt
Jessica Kizorek | Show Me the Book
March 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment
We spoke with Jessica Kizorek today, an expert in online video marketing, and well-known in the world as a non-profit storyteller.More on Jessica Kizorek from her website: www.showmethebook.com:
An industry speaker on the subject of video marketing and the Internet, Jessica Kizorek was recently featured on CNN’s series “Young People Who Rock,” for her passion in documenting the impact of humanitarian efforts around the globe. Her production company, Two Parrot Productions, has spotlighted NGOs in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
Jessica’s experience as a Producer/Director played into her new book, “Show Me: Marketing with Video on the Internet,” which has already received impressive reviews from marketing professionals. The book, was released on January 17th in both hardcover and paperback, draws from exclusive interviews with over 60 of the nation’s top advertising executives.She graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Colorado, and is a Gold Medal winner of the Vision Awards for Excellence in Video Production.To view Jessica’s CNN interview: www.TwoParrot.com/cnn
D. Edward Stanley Transcript
March 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Announcer: You’ve been listening to Sound Authors, where authors sound off. If you’d like more information about Sound authors and Dr. Kent’s guests, visit soundauthors.com. Now, back to Dr. Kent and friends.Dr.
Kent Gustavson: Welcome back to Sound Authors. D. Edward Stanley was only 16 when he started to work for the King, Elvis Presley. He has a movie called Protecting the King released in 2007. Welcome to the show.
D. Edward Stanley: Thank you for having me.
Kent Gustavson: Tell me a little bit about your film.
D. Edward Stanley: Protecting the King is about my life with Elvis Presley when I’m 16 years old. At 16, I dropped out of school in the 9th grade and went to work for Elvis as a personal aide, and later a bodyguard, and the film covers from 72 to 77 about my life as the youngest bodyguard in rock ‘n’ roll history, and how I tried to protect the King from everyone, but ultimately the King himself.
Kent Gustavson: Now, are you a big guy? How did you protect him at age 16?
D. Edward Stanley: Well, when you carry a 9mm and a second-degree black belt in karate, you feel like you can take on anybody. I’m kind of a big guy, I’m about 6′3″ and weigh about 280. Always been a big kind of tough, salty kid. I didn’t get along in school so well with people and Elvis saw that.I lived at Graceland for 12 years before I even went to work for Elvis. I moved in when I was four years old as a result of my mother marrying Elvis’s divorced father, Vernon Presley. So Vernon was my stepfather, Elvis became my stepbrother. I moved into Graceland at 4, I didn’t know what an Elvis was, a Hound Dog was, I just had a new house, a new big brother.Twelve years later, Elvis said, “Hey, go to work for me. Join the so-called Memphis Mafia.” I was a young salty tough kid, at least I thought I was. And, basically, protecting Elvis was against aggressive fans and people having too much fun and jumping on the stage.But from time to time situations would arise where somebody would take a shot at Elvis. Fortunately, he had bodyguards such as myself and other to protect him from those assailants. But, unfortunately, his self-destructive demise was a element of his own decisions and unfortunately we couldn’t stop that. So, basically, that’s what the film is about.
Kent Gustavson: Did it really crush you when he died?
D. Edward Stanley: Sure it did. I knew Elvis not as a rock icon, not as a rock star. I knew Elvis had picked up a four year old kid 17 years earlier and gave me a hug and welcomed me into his family as his brother. So, he was no King to me, he was no icon to me. He was a human being who got involved in a situation that got out of control. He had no accountability, lived in denial. On August 16, 1977 at 42 years old, his decisions ultimately cost him his life.
Kent Gustavson: Now, I know that Elvis had a number of very close relationships. One of them was with the Carter family. He often stopped by down Florida. Did he have a different personality behind closed doors? Was he–
D. Edward Stanley: Well, he was a lot different. Elvis once said that the entertainer’s one thing and the individual’s another. Elvis was a very shy individual. He had a hand-picked group of people around him called the Memphis Mafia, that was what the nickname was. He was very much inward, unless he was on stage, and then he was he completely opposite. That’s where Elvis came out and shone.But, in his life, he got burnt out. Elvis was on top of the world for a long time. In ‘68 he came back, ‘69 he started doing live concerts, ‘70 he started touring. And he just burnt out. There was not a whole lot left for him to do. And unfortunately he got involved in prescribed medications in ‘72, ‘73, and that went from use to abuse. And with no challenges and no accountability, it just caught up with him.We see it every day. It’s a train wreck with Britney Spears, look what happened to Heath Ledger. Elvis was no different. He got himself in a situation to where he was just burnt out. Money couldn’t buy it all. Fortune, fame, money, power, prestige wasn’t the end-all, be-all solution. And unfortunately, Elvis mad those decision that, again, cost him his life.
Kent Gustavson: What did he like the best? I know that he and Bill Clinton share that peanut butter and banana sandwich, but what was his greatest joy?
D. Edward Stanley: Well, his greatest joy was music. His greatest joy was singing. That’s what–his gift was to give, one, because he gave away more money than he made, and to sing. To make people happy. He had a god-given gift. He knew where it came from, and he shared that gift with the world.And here we are, thirty years later, the legacy continues as a result of the great entertainer and humanitarian he was. Elvis died a horrific death at a very early age, but it doesn’t take away the greatness that he left and the accomplishments that he achieved in the industry of music and entertainment business and as an American icon. There will never be another Elvis.
Kent Gustavson: Now, did you ever chat with him about music?
D. Edward Stanley: Oh, every day. I grew up with music. My house was full of instruments, and pianos, and guitars and music. Elvis was a gospel–he loved gospel music, he loved ballads. He wasn’t a big Beatles, and Stones, and Zeppelin, and Who fan like I was. That was my generation. He loved music and he loved gospel mostly, sat up all night singing. We used to set around and play music and sing at the piano all night long. That was his life, that was the mainstream of his whole existence.
Kent Gustavson: What did he say about the Beatles, and the Stones, and–
D. Edward Stanley: He didn’t like music that projected a negative ideology. He didn’t like tearing down the establishment. He didn’t like songs that lifted up drug addiction and things that were anti-establishment. In fact, he thought that was one of the biggest moral decays in our country was the influence of this type music in the 60’s that was steering our young people in the direction that he felt that was dangerous.There was some truths there. That generation survived, we barely made it, but lots of us didn’t. Elvis just felt that that kind of abuse of your talent was not necessary. The only communication Elvis had within the structure of his song was a love song and/or gospel. But he didn’t believe anything negative within the structure of music or using your platform to communicate your negative ideologies to what he felt, you know, an impressive America at the time.
Kent Gustavson: Did you ever talk to him about–I know that my own mother, she was born in–well, I’m not supposed to say–but she was a Baby Boomer and she grew up listening to jazz and things like that. Her father was a jazz musician, and he refused to have Elvis in the house. He said that Elvis was the one who was the heretic. What did Elvis think about that? There are a lot of people that said that he broke a lot of–
D. Edward Stanley: Well, yeah, he did. Well, Elvis moved on stage. He did things on stage that kind of freaked everybody out. It was mild compared to what happens today. But, at the time, when you have big band and jazz, and R & B down South, and all of a sudden this guy comes out and starts rattling the cage. It was just different. I don’t think it was his lyric as much as his movement. There’s a lot of difference in Hound Dog and some of the rap music we hear today about killing your parents and your students and your teachers and everything in between. Maybe it was his sexuality as a performer that rattled a lot of people because he was a mover and a shaker on stage.He did create something. He started a rebellion, the black hair slicked back, the clothes, the music, the style, the freedom. He started a fire, he just didn’t know it would burn as much as it has or get out of control, as some would say it has. He started something that we’ll never forget, that’s for certain.
Kent Gustavson: Tell me a little bit about the film itself. It came out last year, and it’s gotten some great reviews. On the New York Times site you got a four and a half rating out of five, how has it been received across the country?
D. Edward Stanley: Protecting the King is sex, drugs and rock and roll. It’s not high collars, sideburns and Graceland. Its a very behind the scenes look at life on the road with the biggest rock icon in the world. Unfortunately, during the last five years of his life, those were the last years that he lived. It takes you back behind those curtains and shows a man whose torn up, who has no challenge, who has no accountability, and a young boy whose trying to protect him.This guy that loves his big brother, but he’s on a self destruct that nobody can stop. Unfortunately, we see those dark days of Elvis and we see the medications intensify, the situations get worse. How it effects David Stanley, myself, my life, what’s going on during all this. It cumulates with me walking in his bathroom on the 16th of August and recreating that fateful day when I discovered his lifeless body on the bathroom floor. It’s a very hard look.I always tell people it’s not your mother’s Elvis. It’s not Blue Hawaii, its very dark. Its very real. Its the story that carries the film because nobody has ever seen anything like it. You go back to the image, the icon on the side of the Disney Tower when you see Mickey Mouse. Hey, there’s Mickey, and everybody has their opinion of Mickey Mouse. Well everybody has their same opinion of Elvis. You even brought it up with the peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Everybody has their cliche, everybody has their look, everybody has the “My Elvis” syndrome.Well, Protecting the King is David Stanley’s Elvis. Seventeen years this guy grew up and lived at Graceland, toured with Elvis and discovered his lifeless body seventeen years after he moved in. This is my Elvis. It’s a very hard look. It doesn’t degrade or put the King down, but it does remind us of the frailties of the human life. Even the King can make decisions that can cost him his life, and therein lies the message of the film. It’s not depressing, its very insightful; and quite entertaining; but very dark, and very survivability. How did David live through this, what did David learn from this?Obviously I’m alive today to tell about it. It’s a very powerful film. The reviews from some of the fans who are die-hard, dyed in the wool Elvis fans; they think Elvis is alive so they don’t like Protecting the King. They don’t like anything that has anything to do with the realities of Elvis Presley. But, mostly, the public has accepted it and world sales are strong and we’re happy with it. We’re happy with our first effort as a film and we believe that it’s continuing to do strong.
Kent Gustavson: My true interest, actually, in Elvis is I love his early, early years. When he was in the rockabilly phase and he was hanging out with Johnny Cash and he was touring and he was a little bit wild. I love those early years.
D. Edward Stanley: Oh yeah, crazy Elvis. Even his crazy compared to now is mellow. Back then it was crazy but now it’s like “Is that it?”
Kent Gustavson: : Normal, yeah. Did he talk about Bill Monroe? Did he talk about all the pioneers that came before him?
D. Edward Stanley: There were no pioneers before Elvis. Elvis started rock and roll. Bill Haley, maybe. Elvis talked about singers. Elvis loved gospel music. He’d sit around and talk about J.D. and the Stamps, and the Caiman. Of course Hank Williams and all those guys were out there, but Elvis, he did something different from all of those guys. He went in there and started wailing on “Blue Suede Shoes” and “That’s All Right Momma” and “Heartbreak Hotel”, this was new stuff.He was influenced by down in Memphis. Sat down on blues street, Bourbon street, just kind of hanging out, playing the guitar with the gang, so to say. The old R and B rhythm thing. He didn’t talk much about others. Mostly gospel. He didn’t talk about rock much. Elvis only rocked in the ’50s. He started mellowing out in the ’60s and ’70s, like you said, his triumphant moments of rock and roll were in the ’50s. He pretty much set the bar for it.
Kent Gustavson: What’s your story? In a tiny little nutshell, I know it’s a horrible thing to ask, what’s happened since then?
D. Edward Stanley: You mean since Elvis died?
Kent Gustavson: For you, yes.
D. Edward Stanley: Well I have owned my company, Impello Films, I’m a filmmaker. I’ve done documentaries for BBC and Discovery Channel and the History Channel. I’ve done stuff for BBC, I’ve written two, three books. One best seller. I’m a corporate trainer, success conditioning speaker, I speak all over the world. Most recently, in the last five years, I’ve started Impello Films. We’ve came out with our first film, this one. Currently working on our next two in the next three years. So I’ve stayed busy.
Kent Gustavson: Why did you wait this long to come out with Protecting the King?
D. Edward Stanley: It was one of those situations where to I was setting down and I was doing production for all these other TV networks or cable companies, I said “Someday, I was going to make this movie.” The time was right, I went out and funded it, made it and put it out and that’s just the way it came out.
Kent Gustavson: What are these next two movies coming up?
D. Edward Stanley: One of them is called “Restoring my Father’s Honor” about a World War II combat veteran that loses his family to a bizarre set of circumstances and the other one’s called “Dachau: A Concentration Camp Story” about a German officer whose wife turns out to be Jewish. Two very powerful movies. Protecting the King was my springboard, kicked me into first base in the “business”.The next two are much bigger films and Impello films is excited about it. D. Edward Stanley, my real name is David Stanley, most people call me David, that’s what I’m doing and that’s what I enjoy doing. I always like to hear the end results, good or bad.
Kent Gustavson: Well its been a real pleasure having you on the show. People can find out about the movie on the web at protectingtheking.com.
D. Edward Stanley: That’s true, correct. They can go on there and read about it and purchase it. Also Best Buy,hollywood.com, Blockbuster and other fine stores. It’s all over the place.
Kent Gustavson: You’re company is at Impellofilms.com. That’s I-M-P-E-L-L-O films.com.
D. Edward Stanley: That’s it.
Kent Gustavson: It’s been a real pleasure speaking with D. Edward Stanley. Thank you so much, have a great day.
D. Edward Stanley: Thank you so much, bye.
Kent Gustavson: My next guest is Mark Paulson, with his co-author Ashley Marriott. Their book is called “Dump your Trainer.” Come on back.
D. Edward Stanley | Elvis’ Bodyguard
March 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Today we spoke with D. Edward Stanley, who, as a small child, began working as a bodyguard to Elvis. He was Elvis’ stepbrother, and grew up in Graceland around the King. His perspectives on Elvis are fascinating, and he speaks with us about his film, and about his upcoming projects.More about D. Edward Stanley from his film company’s press release:
With the release of his controversial feature film "Protecting The King," Director D. Edward Stanley is reeling audiences in for a closer look with the launch of a new website and electronic storefront here. The site’s compelling graphics, evocative movie clip previews and a special purchase offer for the DVD Protecting The King promise to hook visitors with one mouse click. The website also features an exclusive interview with Stanley who talks candidly about writing and directing a story that chronicles the true events of his own life as the step-brother and youngest bodyguard to Elvis Presley. “A lot of people remember where they were the day they heard the shocking news of Elvis Presley’s death,” Stanley said. “So much has been said about the last five years of my step-brother’s life that I felt it would be a compelling story to tell by someone who witnessed first hand Elvis’ public and private life. I lived with Elvis for 17 years and was among a handful of people to find him dead on his bathroom floor August 16, 1977.”
Michael Palmer | Medical Thriller
February 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment
We had the great honor of speaking with New York Times bestselling author Michael Palmer M.D. His upcoming book will be released in about a week, and it should be a thrilling read! More information about Michael Palmer from his website: www.michaelpalmerbooks.com
BRIEF BIO: Michael Palmer, M.D., is the author of the forthcomingThe First Patient (2008), The Fifth Vial, The Society, Fatal, The Patient, Miracle Cure, Critical Judgment, Silent Treatment, Natural Causes, Extreme Measures, Flashback, Side Effects, and The Sisterhood. His books have been translated into thirty-five languages. He trained in internal medicine at Boston City and Massachusetts General Hospitals, spent twenty years as a full-time practitioner of internal and emergency medicine, and is now an associate director of the Massachusetts Medical Society’s physician health program.
Sally Franz | Holiday Grinches
December 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Our third guest is SALLY FRANZ, who has a guide to help us get through the holidays… She will speak with us about the Grinch of the family, about the ups and downs of the holidays, and much more.
Sally’s extended biography from her website www.babyboomertalkradio.com:
Sally Franz has appeared on NBC’s The Today Show with Al Roker twice and Willard Scott. She was interviewed on _The Lifetime Network , the _Maury Povitch Show , CNBC , and has shared the speaker’s stage with *Geraldo Rivera, Rosie O’Donnell, Brooke Shields, Storm Fields, Sally Ride, and Sue Grafton*. She’s produced and hosted over 150 Cable Interview TV shows for NewChannels , Group W and a radio series for Clear Channels .
Her writing has appeared in The Reader’s Digest, The New York Times Best Selling series, Chicken Soup for the Soul , and in numerous magazines, e-magazines, newspapers and anthologies here and abroad. Her ten books include testimonies from *Mark Victor Hansen, Jayne Meadows, Jonathan Winters, and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason*. Ms. Franz has received *four awards* for her humor writing and has been a motivational speaker to Fortune 100 companies for the last ten years including: SONY, Intel, Chevron and Texaco. She was recently named as one of the *2007 Top 100 Voices for The People’s Choice List* in the National Public Radio Talent Quest with her audio adaptation from Scrambled Leg, her upcoming new book.
Bob Goodrich Transcript
December 22, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Dr. Kent Gustavson: Welcome back to Sound Authors. Today is our Holiday Show. It’s December 21st. And my next guest is Bob Goodrich, winner of 14 Emmy Awards and his newest project is called Sports Cast Stars Training. Welcome to the show.
Bob Goodrich: Thank you very much for having me.
Dr. Gustavson: Who did you grow up listening to on television?
Goodrich: Wow, I grew up listening to Chris Shinkle and Jim McKay and, you know, some of the old-time great announcers, Curt Gowdy. You know, I remember listening to him when I was a kid on the radio all the time.
Dr. Gustavson: Who was your home team?
Goodrich: Well, I grew up in Dallas so I didn’t really have one until the Dallas Cowboys came into town. We didn’t have much pro sports back then.
Dr. Gustavson: And you produced Monday Night Football..
Goodrich: Yeah, yes I did.
Dr. Gustavson: … and that’s how the Emmy awards got… Are you an athlete yourself?
Goodrich: Yes, I played football through college and played basketball through high school and ran track in college and through high school and played baseball in the summertime. So, I’ve always been an active athlete.
Dr. Gustavson: Can you give us kind of a breakdown of what creating the show was like? You know, you worked with the sportscasters. You worked with..
Goodrich: Yes, yes. It…one of the things that I always tell people is that when you’re watching a sporting event, I decide what you see and the director decides how you see it. And then obviously you listen to the announcers for the description and replays and so forth.So, I decide where the replays go. I decide where, you know if we have to promote another show. I decide when a timeout comes, whether we’re going to do a commercial - all of those kinds of things.And then the director decides, as I said, how you see it. Whether he takes a tight camera of the participants or a wide camera or an in-zone camera, or whatever it might be.
Dr. Gustavson: Man, television sure has changed since then. When I was a little boy watching, you know, the tiny little television at my grandparents’ house-black and white and grainy-colored television at my folk’s house that didn’t do all of this fancy stuff with painting the first down line on the field.
Goodrich: Mm-hmm.
Dr. Gustavson: How has television shaped the way that we think about sports?
Goodrich: Well, I think, the biggest innovation was color. I think, that was far more important than HD. Although we’re all being told that we have to have HD in another year-and-a-half or so. But, color made it so much easier to tell the difference between teams when you were watching sports and to be able to tell the various nuances of the game-whatever the game was. So, I think, that’s been the biggest.And the next biggest is obviously our ability to do replays from every single angle and every single camera that we have.Then the third thing is the recent addition of the Sky Cam. I happen to be a huge proponent of Sky Cam because you can - you sort of feel like you’re a part of the play when you see the play from a Sky Cam.
Dr. Gustavson: And the sound makes a lot of difference too; now days they can mic the field.
Goodrich: Yes. Yes, I am totally with you on that because most shows in all honesty don’t pay that much attention to getting the sound. But, I think, the sound can really add to the experience for the viewer of watching whatever game it is.It doesn’t matter whether it’s, you know whether its golf and you just occasionally hit a - hear a sound of the ball being hit and the crowd applauding. But, it makes a huge difference in the perception that the viewer has about the sporting event that they’re watching. And it’s all positive.
Dr. Gustavson: Tell us a little bit about some of these folks that you’ve worked with. You wrote a little bit to us about Howard Cosell and O.J. Simpson. Tell us a little bit about them and about a couple of other characters that you worked with.
Goodrich: Well, Howard Cosell is…I think, anybody that has either heard of him or seen him or knows of him, you know, would probably admit that he was a kind of a character.Howard was probably the most intelligent person I ever worked with, was certainly the most unusual person I ever worked with and you just never knew what was going to happen. One day he would call and tell me I was the worse producer in the history of television and two days later he’d tell me what a great job I’m doing and… You just sort you know - you just sort of took it and said, “That’s Howard and that’s his moods.”He knew a lot more about the sports he was calling than I think, people gave him credit for. He brought a different perspective to it because he was not an athlete. And he brought intelligence to whatever game or boxing event or Wide World of Sports event that he was calling.And he did his homework. He had a photographic memory and could remember anything he read about a participant in a game or an event. He was… by the blind is, he was a lot of fun to work with. And you know there were some trying moments, but so what? You know, it was worth it because he really, really made a difference in our business.As for O.J., I worked tons of shows with O.J.–Wide World of Sports, Super Stars, any number of events and I was a friend of his. Back then we played golf together and tennis together and so forth and I never, ever, ever saw a mean side of O.J. He would get frustrated or kind of mad at himself because he made a mistake and hit a bad golf shot or something but when we were working together or around people and stuff he was as charismatic a person as you could ever want to be around. So, I have nothing but fond remembrances of working with O.J.
Dr. Gustavson: When you’re planning these shows, do you plan it and how much doest he forecaster-how much does the voice sort of improvise on its own?
Goodrich: Well it depends on the event but for the most part the event dictates what I do and what the sportscaster does. Hopefully we stay in sync with what we’re doing. That’s part of my job is to make sure that we stay in sync because if you have a blowout football game hypothetically you’re going to treat it differently than you would a tie game because there are so many additional stories you can tell and so many additional features that can be used in a blowout. In a tight game you don’t want to lose sight of what’s going on on the field. So, it’s more, I think, the event than anything else.
Dr. Gustavson: Let’s talk about the holidays a little bit. Where are you going to be for the holidays?
Goodrich: In Las Vegas for a bowl game and in Atlanta for a bowl game.
Dr. Gustavson: You’re still working hard after 35 years in the business?
Goodrich: Yes, because I love it. It’s so much fun to do and the people are so great. I enjoy sports. I’m not a sports junkie. I don’t sit everyday and read box scores everyday and stuff but I enjoy producing the sports and enjoy being there and working with the great people I work with and getting to enjoy the people that are participating in whatever the event is.
Dr. Gustavson: And speaking about that I’d love to talk a little bit here about…you also founded the Sportscast Stars Training?
Goodrich: Yes. What we’re trying to do is take people who have a great desire to be a sportscaster, that are coming out of college or changing professions or whatever. Or people that are working somewhere in the business now but are not at the highest level and they’d like to be at the highest level and believe they can be at the highest level. That’s why we call it Sportscast Stars Training because we’re going to show them how to become a star.I have worked with all the greatest sportscasters in the last 35 years but they’ve pretty much been in the business so I know what it takes and I know what you need to do to become a great sportscaster. So, that’s what we’re doing. We have a very limited size on the seminar. We can only accept sixty people and we’re hoping to get sixty people that have this great desire and that out of that we will help the industry by finding some really great talent that will move on and work in the industry and people will say ‘boy, that person - he or she - is terrific. Where’d he come from or where’d she come from? And we’ll be able to say we helped them with our seminar.
Dr. Gustavson: The industry sure has changed a lot also. I mean even from when I was a kid. It was so much more focused on the voice and now it’s so much more media personalities and all of that. Do you think it’s going a good way?
Goodrich: Yes, I think, it’s going a good way as long as it doesn’t go too far away from the calling of the game or event because that’s what in all reality - and we all know this - that’s what people are tuning into the event for or the telecast for. It’s for the event. So, I’m all for having some fun. I’ve all for interviewing people. I’m all for putting little features into the events, I’m all for any and all of that - sideline reporters - but as long as it doesn’t take away from people enjoying the game. I’ll go back to what I was talking about a while ago, the difference between a blowout and a tie game.
Dr. Gustavson: Tell me what your greatest accomplishment is.
Goodrich: Ohh, probably my five-year-old daughter. That would be my greatest accomplishment. In terms of my work it would probably be producing the first Super Bowl for ABC Sports back in 1985.
Dr. Gustavson: Those are both wonderful events. You’re the winner of 14 Emmy Awards and which one of those are you most proud of?
Goodrich: Probably the Indianapolis 500 because it is such a difficult event to do and requires so much teamwork by so many people and to put it all together and have it work and work so well and have a great race and then win an Emmy Award for it was very gratifying.
Dr. Gustavson: Well thank you so much for being on the show. Bob Goodrich’s new project is called Sportscast Stars Training. We can find out about that - where can we find out about it?
Goodrich: Our website is sportscaststarstraining.com, just like you said. And there it gives you all the contact information, email, 800 numbers and all that kind of stuff to call us about any questions and we’d love to talk to anybody that has any interest in it.
Dr. Gustavson: And thank you so much for Monday Night Football and Wide World of Sports and all the great work you’ve done for 35 years.
Goodrich: Thank you.
Dr. Gustavson: Happy Holidays.
Goodrich: Happy Holidays.
Dr. Gustavson: My next guest is John Paul Hutchins. Don’t miss it.
Bob Goodrich | Legendary Sports Producer
December 21, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Today we spoke with legendary sports producer Bob Goodrich, of Wide World of Sports, Monday Night Football, and much more. He speaks to us about O.J. Simpson and much more in our conversation. From PR sources:
What really went on behind the scenes in the early days of Monday Night Football? At Wide World of Sports? What were some of the more memorable moments in college football over the past 30 years? Bob Goodrich knows. During his almost 40 years working in sports television, veteran network producer and 14 time Emmy winner Bob Goodrich has worked on thousands of sports broadcasts, producing Monday Night Football, ABC Sports’ first broadcast of the Super Bowl, live coverage of the Indianapolis 500, the Summer and Winter Olympic Games and countless others. Hear what it was like to work with OJ Simpson, Keith Jackson, Jim McKayand, Frank Gifford–and of course Howard Cosell. Goodrich began working for ABC Sports in 1969 and nearly four decades later, he’s still a freelance television producer, director, and consultant for companies including ABC/ESPN. He’s also co-founder of Sportscast Stars Training, a training seminar for sports broadcasters.