The Cold Oatmeal Podcast

Stephen Kemp’s article in Newsweek .

In September of 2018, we talked with Matt Mencarini. At the time, he was reporting for the Lansing State Journal and wrapping up his remarkable coverage of the Larry Nassar sexual assault case. Shortly after we talked, Matt moved south and took a job with the Louisville Courier-Journal. This week, he was part of a reporting team that won a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Coverage. You’re welcome,...

The COVID crisis impact has been both health and economic and few sectors of our economy face a longer runway to reopening as we remember then our friends who run restaurants. Here at the Cold Oatmeal Podcast, we love eating out. A lot. Joining us today to talk about restaurants and the COVID realities they face is Justin Winslow, President and CEO of the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Associatio...

Curious about the new realities of news reporting in the COVID-19 era? We go to the source and talk to Chad Livengood, senior editor at Crain’s Detroit Business. Chad, like many of us, is banished to a spare bedroom. He’s unshaven, wearing flannel, and endeavoring to do his job with only a phone and a Zoom. Plus, quarantine hobbies and the Muppet Show. It’s the Cold Oatmeal Podcast!

The long national nightmare is over. The Cold Oatmeal Podcast is back! Last week’s regularly scheduled episode was declared “non-essential,” but Joe, wearing only a crocheted mask, marched in protest around the state Capitol building seven times singing “Dancing in the Dark” and bang… order reversed! We celebrate by talking to Matt’s sister, Allison Breininger. Allison and her husband, Sean, are n...

Up, up and away. Today, we take social distancing to new heights. Angela Madden is not only the Executive Director of the Michigan Association of Ambulance Services, she is also the pilot of her very own hot air balloon and our guest on this week’s Cold Oatmeal Podcast. How to drive a balloon? How do you compete in balloon competitions? What’s the craziest thing seen from up high? We find out. Plu...

Calling all political junkies. Smack dab between Super Tuesday and Michigan’s Primary Day, we go deep on the state of the race with two of the best political minds we know. It’s voting trends, turnout predictions, and the ever-shifting political landscape with Dr. Cory Smidt, political science professor at MSU, and Zach Gorchow, editor and publisher of Gongwer News Service. Cory’s run the numbers...

So, it all started with Joe’s harem of skunks, but I won’t ruin the ending. Sal Palombo is our guest on the podcast, aka Sal the Skunk Guy. Sal owns and operates Michigan Animal Control. If you have critter problem anywhere in Michigan (and here’s what we’ve learned… everyone does whether you know it or not), Sal has the solution and an amazing story to match (See: Giant lizard knocking on your fr...

It’s gut-check time. We’re taking it one episode at a time, and we’re just going to go out there and give it 110 percent. Graham Couch, sports columnist for the Lansing State Journal, is our guest. The dude is a physical freak; a true student of the game. Nothing comes easy in this league, but Graham brings his “A” game today because he’s just a natural born leader… and sports journalist. Plus, St...

Today, we take all controversies and opinions out of the podcast by asking the evergreen question: How would you grade Lansing’s food scene? What’s missing? What’s good? What’s changed? We go to the experts on Lansing food and talk to the people behind He Ate/She Ate, the monthly restaurant review column in the Lansing City Pulse. Mark Nixon and Gabrielle Lawrence are our quests, and they dish out...

Hey, hey, it’s prediction time! Helping us kick off 2020, Emily Lawler of MLive, Beth LeBlanc of the Detroit News, and Kyle Melinn of MIRS News join us. It’s simple. We put topics in a bowl, the reporters pull them out, and the predictions for the new year start to fly. Who wins Michigan? Does GOP keep the MI House? Biggest story for 2020? Royal watch, Detroit sports, and true love. We touch all t...

Fixing Michigan’s crumbling roads continues to be the white whale (wink, wink) of state politics.  Every pol pledges to fix them; no one actually does.  So, what’s the deal with our roads? Today, we talk to an expert… Joe’s dad.

When you think of Christmas in Michigan, you think of Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth. Today, we load up the sleigh to visit the Christmas capital of America, and Wayne Bronner, the second generation owner of the store, is our guest. Plus, the verdict on Laura’s hypnosis, and Joe’s holiday card hits a mailbox near you. Ho, ho, ho, from the Cold Oatmeal Podcast.

We’ve been talking about it for months, and today we do it. We hypnotize Laura Biehl… and a couple others. See, Laura is a picky eater, but she doesn’t want to be. As caring coworkers, we want to help. So we brought in hypnotist and magician Keith Kocher to help broaden Laura’s palate… just in time for Thanksgiving. It’s the Cold Oatmeal podcast.

When he died last month, words like “legend” and “icon” were used to describe Hugh McDiarmid, Sr. Hugh was a political reporter and columnist for the Detroit Free Press, and for most of us on this podcast, his career spanned a time before ours. So, we set out to do some learning and asked two of Hugh’s colleagues to talk about their friend. Long-time political reporters, John Lindstrom of Gongwer...

For a podcast based in Michigan’s capital city, we’ve made it 42 episodes without talking to a lobbyist. No longer. Trunks full of cash, porn collections, and life advice from Jean Doss, partner at Capitol Services. She’s been working in the advocacy business for almost 25 years. Buckle up and Happy Halloween from the Cold Oatmeal Podcast!

There aren’t many TV reporters in Michigan who can say their coverage of the State Capitol is seen by viewers in four different TV markets across the state. In fact, there’s just one… Mikenzie Frost. Mikenzie is still pretty new to Michigan’s Capitol press corps, but her reach is wide covering state government for WWMT TV 3 and the Sinclair Broadcast Group. Why’d she pick politics? Why does she ca...

Just the facts… the Lansing Facts. (Dad joke, Nikki?) Today, we talk our hometown with the creators of the wildly popular parody social media account, @LansingMIFacts. Frandor, Horrocks, QD, and Stobers… all of Lansing’s greatest hits. We talk about all of them, along with how the online community was started, how it’s managed, and what’s next. Plus, Nick’s trip to the Mile High City, and we answe...

Your long summer of silence is over. The Cold Oatmeal podcast is back. It’s season three, and we start it with Charlie. The Pulitzer Prize-winning, former New York Times, Detroit News and Fox 2 reporting, book writing, podcast hosting and fascinating Charlie LeDuff, that is. We traveled to Detroit to talk with Charlie in his natural habitat. He talked writing, reporting, his roads plan and latest...

How many “hits” must one have in order to compile a “Greatest Hits” album? Today, we push this existential question to its limits. Before our summer furlough, we listen back to our favorite moments with some of our favorite guests from season two. Joe even gets sappy. A clink of the mug to Brian Calley, Deb Hart, Bob Olson, Chris Johnson, Zach Gorchow, Jonathon Oosting, Cheyna Roth, Chris Harkins,...

You know those times when you have to get up super early, and you toss and turn afraid you’re going to sleep through your alarm? Now, imagine “super early” actually means 1:30 a.m., and you have to do it every day, and after you do it you have to go on LIVE TV for four hours. That’s the life of today’s podcast guest, Ann Marie LaFlamme. Ann Marie is a reporter and morning news anchor for WXYZ TV 7...

It’s the “Nikki Summit,” and on the agenda are social media strategies and tips, John Beilein, online pet peeves, broccoli, and news embargoes. Nikki Sunstrum is our guest, and she is the nationally-recognized, rock star Director of Social Media and Public Engagement for the University of Michigan. Our own Nikki geeks-out a bit on the topic, and we find out if Joe was a cool kid. It’s the Cold Oat...

It’s time to spin the wheel, draw a card, and hit the buzzer. Today, Matt Ottinger is our guest on the podcast. For 29 years, Matt hosted “QuizBusters” on PBS. He’s also a game show expert and a former contestant. We talk Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Alex Trebek, and Pat Sajak. Quizbusters, from creation to its final episode. And… get ready… we flex our trivia muscles, girls versus boys, in the fir...

We love stories about people who take a chance and start something cool. We especially love stories about people who take a chance, start something cool and become the very best in the country at doing it. That’s Linda Hundt’s story, creator of the Sweetie-licous bakery and winner of 19 National Pie Championships. Her pie crust is not the only thing started from scratch. Linda is our guest today....

If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a million times: running the Cold Oatmeal podcast is just like running the programing for Michigan’s biggest public radio station, and today we prove it! With us is Zoe Clark, program director for Michigan Radio. We talk about Zoe’s job, a little politics, podcasting, and she humors some of our best questions. Also, Zoe brought a surprise with her. It’s the Col...