Ep 22: Authors on Air with Tim Johnston

A Conversation with Mike Koplinka-Loehr

WVBR News Correspondent Jessica Bristol sits down with dedicated Tompkins County community leader and mental health advocate Mike Koplinka-Loehr to discuss the issue of men's mental health and the barriers that often prevent people from seeking support. Mike reflects on his time in public service and his creation of an ongoing survivor's support group for the male victims of childhood sexual abuse. Together, they examine the importance of making mental health services more supportive and accessible while highlighting a meaningful new public resource.   To register for the support group discussed: contact Mike Koplinka-Loehr at mak11@cornell.edu [mak11@cornell.edu] or 607-592-8437. Ground rules and self-care techniques will be sent to participants upon registration. The group will meet every Monday, 5:30-7PM, starting Mon., Jan. 26, 2026, through May 4th, EXCEPT the first Monday of each month: (2/2/26, 3/2/26, and 4/6/26.) So the list of Mondays is: 1. Jan. 26, 2026 2. Feb. 9, 2026 3. Feb. 16, 2026 4. Feb. 23, 2026 5. Mar. 9, 2026 6. Mar. 16, 2026 7. Mar. 23, 2026 8. Mar. 30, 2026 9. April 13, 2026 10. April 20, 2026 11. April 27, 2026 12. May 4, 2026, final session

Ep 25: Coolest American Stories with Mark Wish

WVBR News Director Jack Donnellan sat down for a second time with author, editor, and publisher Mark Wish. Mark and his wife founded an annual short story anthology, Coolest American Stories, which pushes its contributors to make their fiction as compelling as possible, reminding them that readers crave “unputdownable” storytelling. Mark also served as the Fiction Editor of California Quarterly, was the founding Fiction Editor of New York Stories and a Contributing Editor for Pushcart, and has long been known as the freelance editor who has revised the fiction of once-struggling writers, leading it to land numerous book deals as well as publication in dozens of venues including The Atlantic Monthly, The Kenyon Review, Tin House, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Hudson Review, and Best American Short Stories.    His first novel, Confessions of a Polish Used Car Salesman, compared favorably with Huckleberry Finn by the Los Angeles Times back in 1997, went to a second printing one month after publication. Watch Me Go, his third novel, was published by Putnam and praised by Rebecca Makkai, Daniel Woodrell, Ben Fountain, and Salman Rushdie. More than 125 of Mark's short stories have appeared in print venues such as Best American Short Stories, The Georgia Review, TriQuarterly, American Short Fiction, The Antioch Review, Crazyhorse, The Gettysburg Review, Fiction, The Southern Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, New England Review, Barrelhouse, The Yale Review, The Sun, Paris Transcontinental, and Fiction International, and have won distinctions such as the Tobias Wolff Award, the Kay Cattarulla Award, an Isherwood Fellowship, and a Pushcart Prize.    The interview aired live on Talk of the Town on WVBR 93.5 FM on Saturday, January 25, 2025 at 3:00 PM.   Catch the full Talk of the Town radio show on Saturdays at 3p on WVBR 93.5 FM or at wvbr.com.   Follow us on social media! @WVBRFMNews on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.   wvbr.com/afterhours

Ep 24: The Election and the Market

In this special episode, recorded ahead of the 2024 Presidential Election, WVBR’s News Department sits down with former CNBC Senior Producer Peter Schacknow to discuss how the economy might have an effect on the election.   Peter Schacknow served as Senior Producer at CNBC’s Breaking News Desk beginning in March 2006, producing breaking news stories for the daytime shows as well as serving as writer and copy editor for CNBC’s flagship morning show “Squawk Box.” He also wrote and voiced weekend features for CNBC Radio. Prior to that, Schacknow spent seven years as morning anchor and reporter at Bloomberg Radio, specializing in business news and financial market coverage.   While at Bloomberg, Schacknow was nominated as Best Business Anchor by the New York Air Awards, and won an award from the NYS Society of CPAs for his “Tax Smart Now” series. This marks Schacknow’s second stint at CNBC: he was an original employee of the network back in 1989, serving as producer and on-air reporter until 1999. His experience also includes time at the CBS, ABC, and UPI Radio Networks, as well as radio stations WOR (New York), WGSM and WLIR (Long Island), and WVBR-FM and WTKO (Ithaca, N.Y).   This interview aired live on Talk of the Town on WVBR 93.5 FM on Saturday, November 2, 2024 at 3:00 PM.   Catch the full Talk of the Town radio show on Saturdays at 3p on WVBR 93.5 FM or at wvbr.com.   Follow us on social media! @WVBRFMNews on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.   #wvbrfmnews

Ep 23: "Beyond Borders" Recounts Cornell's Global Impact

WVBR News Director Jack Donnellan sat down with Royal D. Colle and Heike Michelsen for an hour-long interview about Beyond Borders: Exploring the History of Cornell's Global Dimensions (Cornell University Press, 2024). Colle and Michelsen, alongside Elaine D. Engst and Corey Ryan Earle, edited the book, which "highlights and celebrates Cornell University's many historical achievements and international activities going back to its founding." Beyond Boarders is a collection of fifty-eight vignettes, penned by authors drawn from different personal backgrounds and academic disciplines. It is a unique and timely representation of the Cornell story. You can purchase it at your favorite local bookstore.   Royal D. Colle is Professor Emeritus of Communication at Cornell. He has worked around the world on projects with WHO, the World Bank, FAO, and the Ford Foundation.   Heike Michelsen was Director of Programming at Cornell's Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. She was a Senior Research Officer at the International Service for National Agricultural Research.   This interview aired live on Talk of the Town on WVBR 93.5 FM on Saturday, May 4, 2024 at 3:00 PM.   Catch the full Talk of the Town radio show on Saturdays at 3p on WVBR 93.5 FM or at wvbr.com.   Follow us on social media! @WVBRFMNews on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.   #wvbrfmnews

Ep 22: Authors on Air with Tim Johnston

WVBR News Director Jack Donnellan recently sat down with New York Times Bestselling Author Tim Johnston for the latest episode of our “Authors on Air” series. Tim is the author of the novels DISTANT SONS, DESCENT, THE CURRENT, the story collection IRISH GIRL, and the Young Adult novel NEVER SO GREEN. A New York Times, USA Today, and Indie national bestseller, Descent has been published internationally and optioned for film. Also optioned for film, The Current won the Midland Authors 2020 Adult Fiction Award. The stories of Irish Girl won an O. Henry Prize, the New Letters Award for Writers, and the Gival Press Short Story Award, while the collection itself won the 2009 Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction. Tim’s stories have appeared in New England Review, New Letters, The Iowa Review, The Missouri Review, Double Take, Best Life Magazine, and Narrative Magazine, among others. After earning degrees from the University of Iowa and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Tim made a living for twenty-five years as a carpenter. He is the recipient of the 2015 Iowa Author Award and currently lives in Iowa City, Iowa.   This interview aired live on Talk of the Town on WVBR 93.5 FM on Saturday, February 10, 2024 at 3:00 PM.   Catch the full Talk of the Town radio show on Saturdays at 3p on WVBR 93.5 FM or at wvbr.com.   Follow us on social media! @WVBRFMNews on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.   wvbr.com/afterhours