Burke Allen's Big Time Talker Podcast — by SpeakerMatch

This week Burke speaks with the organizers of the first River Road Festival at the Henderson Hall Plantation in the historical Williamstown, West Virginia. The fest is a huge outdoor concert with successful singers from around the mountain state. It promises to be a fun evening for music fans of all ages featuring American Idol Contestant Sydney Mack and up-and-coming Nashville singer and friend o...

This week the Big Time Talker celebrates Independence Day with an American hero, fire captain, and award-winning author Tracy Moore. Tracy is the author of "The Fire She Fights," a collection of true events from her and other women's experiences as firefighters put into a fictional narrative. She interviewed over 30 women to flesh out the story and  You can order her book on Amazon or by visiting...

This week the show comes live from the American Library Association's annual conference in Chicago. Burke hosted several podcasts on the convention floor, talking with award-winning authors. To kick this series off, Burke speaks with Norris Comer, who wrote the award-winning "Salmon in the Seine." The book chronicles his time on an Alaskan fishing boat right out of high school.  At 18 years old, N...

This week Burke speaks with Dominic Nolfi, a lifelong performer and Broadway vet from Jersey Boys and Motown the Musical. Dom has traveled the country as a singer and actor, who currently travels as part of the Doo Wop Project. "You take things less personally when you've been in the game for a long time." He also talks about having a family in the business, with his mother being a professional da...

This week Burke speaks with famous astronaut Eileen Collins. Eileen gained fame after becoming the first American woman to pilot a spacecraft. Today, she's promoting her book, Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars. Eileen talks about her time at NASA and how she was able to navigate her and her team through difficult times after the Columbia Tragedy. Having a difficult home life as a child, Eilee...

This week Burke speaks with classic television actor Darby Hinton with some classic TV trivia and a trip down nostalgia lane. Darby starred in Daniel Boone, Malibu Express, and has recently made his way to the Hallmark movie scene. This episode features tons of laughs while Darby talks about his life as a child actor.  Darby talks about growing up in Hollywood and the struggles that many child act...

This week Burke speaks with Kathy Garver, a celebrated actress who has been in dozens of roles both behind and in front of the camera. Over the last 60 years, Kathy has performed in cartoons, movies, and shows.  Recently, Kathy kicked off her career as an author with her stories receiving rave reviews on Amazon. After her time on the screen, Kathy pursued a career in voice acting and teaching othe...

This week Burke speaks with Ty DeMartino, longtime writer, director, and playwright, about the current state of the film industry and how events like artificial reality and the writer's strike may affect the future. Ty has written celebrated films like Tulsa and The Pledge and has been involved in the writing process in Hollywood for years. With being so involved in the film industry he gives his...

This week Burke speaks with Colonel Eric Buer, author of Ghosts of Baghdad. Ghosts of Baghdad releases on Independence Day and immerses you in a Cobra Helicopter during the Iraq War.  After years of experience and life-risking operations manning the stick of a Bell AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter, Eric decided to write to tell the stories of the brave men and women who have flown with him and who wer...

In this week's Big Time Talker Podcast, we tune in to an episode from 2008 with famous author, Homer Hickam. Homer recently returned to his home state of West Virginia where he teased the development of a tie-in film to the critically-praised October Sky. October Sky (1999) starred Jake Gyllenhaal and Laura Dern and was based on Homer's best-selling novel, Rocket Boys. This throwback episode takes...

This week Ashley Belote returns to the Big Time Talker podcast. Ashley specializes in writing and illustrating children's books with successful launches for her stories Listen Up, Louella, The Me Tree, and Frankenslime. As somebody who continues to learn about the art industry, Ashley discusses how artificial intelligence will affect the way art is created? What's the use of you could paint the Mo...

This week Burke speaks with former NASA astronaut, Charlie Camarda. Charlie has a wealth of knowledge about the space travel industry and talks about his time in NASA experiencing tragedies and making sure his voice was heard. Charlie first flew into space on Space Shuttle mission STS-114, since then he has worked to solve problems and educate engineers for future travel. He currently runs a nonpr...

This week Burke is rejoined by Dr. Andrew Wilner, an author and Locum Tenens physicians. Andrew's career features him travelling across the country as a locum tenens physician, being placed sporadically around the nation offering his services. Dr. Wilner is the author of The Locum Life: A Physician's Guide to Locum Tenens - which offers insight to his career as a travelling physician. Wilner offer...

This week Burke speaks with first-time writer Jeff Barnes about his critically acclaimed historical fiction novel, Mingo, based on the West Virginia Mine Wars from the early 20th century. Mingo is a historical fiction piece that follows two brothers during the West Virginia Mine Wars from 1912-1913. Jeff, being a fan of history used the war as a setting for his story. Jeff also talks about his pro...

Larry Harris was the VP of Marketing at the legendary 1970’s record label Casablanca, headed by his cousin Neil Bogart. Casablanca launched the careers of KISS, The Village People, Donna Summer, and many others and is the subject of the new movie “Spinning Gold”. Larry wrote about Casablanca in his book “And Party Every Day”, and Big Time Talker host Burke Allen talked with him just after the book...

This week Burke speaks with Marco Salinas, director of the Financial Recovery Center of San Antonio, President of 360 Consulting, and best-selling author is an expert on all things finances, and seeks to help people with poor credit scores. Marco co-wrote the Amazon Best Seller, The Small Business Banker: Your Blueprint for Building Business Credit and Taking Your Company Over the Tipping Point wh...

This week the Big Time Talker shifts gears while Burke and his cousin, Larry Barrett, talk about the history of their  family. Burke was raised by two parents confined to wheelchairs in the Southern West Virginia Coalfields, together they reminisce on days long gone. Being confined to a wheelchair, Larry explains how Pat learned about the world around her and managed a social life. Pat faced many...

This week the Big Time Talker shifts gears while Burke and his cousin, Larry Barrett, talk about the history of their  family. Burke was raised by two parents confined to wheelchairs in the Southern West Virginia Coalfields, together they reminisce on days long gone. Being confined to a wheelchair, Larry explains how Pat learned about the world around her and managed a social life. Pat faced many...

This week the Big Time Talker shifts gears while Burke and his cousin, Larry Barrett, talk about the history of the Allen family. Burke was raised by two parents confined to wheelchairs in the Southern West Virginia Coalfields, together they reminisce on days long gone. For the first part of this series, Burke and Larry talk about Burke's mother, who lost the ability to use her legs after a battle...

This week, Burke speaks with Lynn Fairweather, an abuse survivor who have worked in domestic violence response and prevention for over two decades. Lynn recently released her book, Stop Signs: Recognizing, Avoiding, and Escaping Abusive Relationships, a passion project that serves to alert readers about relationship red flags and the best way to avoid abusive relationships. She also discusses how...

This week, Burke was a guest on Nick Scott's Podcast "The Nick Scott Effect" which features guests and experts from different topics and subject matters. Burke opens up about how he got into radio while learning about Nick's experiences as well. Nick has been podcasting consistently since the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic and, similarly to the Big Time Talker, speaks with authors and speciali...

Long-time rock and roll artist, John Townsend, talks about the ever-evolving world of the music industry. The Alabama-raised singer discusses how his experience working as a young musician during the segregation era informed his life and the way he writes. John is the writer of the classic "Smoke From A Distant Fire" and shares throughout this episode the story behind his career and how he came to...

Child abuse, neglect, military training, and bombings in Iraq - there's nothing that Annamarie Altomare hasn't been through. This week Burke speaks with Annamarie about her story, a lifetime of trauma escaped with her time in the military. Annamarie's newest book, Getting Real with God: How to Find Peace with a Painful Past, provides hope by giving those who have also struggled throughout their li...

This week Burke speaks with Jan Davis, a retired astronaut who served in NASA following the tragedy of the challenger explosion. Jan Davis has served as a NASA executive, scientist, astronaut, and engineer in her storied history of space and aviation and is part of the Alabama Aviation Hall of Fame. The Big Time Talker is sponsored by Speakermatch.com.

This week Burke speaks with Ricki Lee McKenna, a long-time food expert and certified nutritionist about dietary challenges and life changes made for New Year's Resolutions. In her book, YES YOU CAN EAT WELL AND EAT RIGHT and FIND the JOY of Cooking, McKenna talks about what she's learned in her time studying nutrition and she shares new recipes. Ricki also has a weekly show every Thursday where sh...