WGTD's The Morning Show with Greg Berg

Nate Stamper, director of theater at Case High School in Racine, is the guest director of the Racine Theater Guild's production of "Stargirl," based on the Jerry Spinelli novel of the same name, which explores important issues of conformity/non-conformity for young people. Filling out the program today is an archival interview with sportswriter and author John Feinstein in which he t...

Jonathan Fanning, author of "Creativity Unleashed: 5 Habits of World-Class Innovators"

I speak with Dayvin Hallmon, founder and director of the Black String Triage Ensemble in Milwaukee. This group of string musicians - during the summer months - will go to the site of gun violence or other civil unrest and will play music to try and bring comfort and healing to those directly impacted.

We are rebroadcasting this 2009 interview in memory of Dr. Tom Noer, a longtime and beloved memory of the Carthage faculty (he taught history there for 4 years) who passed away on April 7th. In this interview, Professor Noer talks about G. Mennen Williams, a highly unconventional political figure whom Professor Noer greatly admired. We also hear from Professor Noer on how he went about researching...

From 2007 - Benjamin Woolley discusses his book "Savage Kingdom: The true story of Jamestown, 1607, and the Settlement of America." 2007 marked the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown.

From 2015- Patrick McGilligan talks about his book "Young Orson: The years of luck and genius on the path to Citizen Kane." 2015 was the year of the renowned filmmaker's 100th birthday. Welles born in Kenosha, and the city welcomed a number of experts to its Welles Centennial Celebration; McGilligan was one of them.

Part 1 - Sy Montgomery talks about her latest book, "Secrets of the Octopus" (published by National Geographic.) Part 2- (from the archives) World-renowned chef Eric Ripert talks about two of his books: "Avec Ripert" and "On the Line."

Kailyn Palormares is naturalist and education manager for Hawthorn Hollow. With her is a colleague of hers, Emily Leonard, who is the resident ecologist there. We explore together the important topics of invasive species and habitat restoration.

Sarah Ashworth, director of Wisconsin Public Radio, talks about the changes in WPR's operation that were announced yesterday - and the impact of those changes on the listeners of WGTD. WPR's two networks are being renamed and realigned. WGTD will become part of WPR News. The changes go into effect on May 20th. (More information about the changes is available at wpr.org/new.)

Award-winning artist and illustrator Ed Steckley talks about his wide-ranging career, which has includes work for Mad Magazine and Saturday Night Live. He recently won a Reuben Award for Best in Book Illustration. We also talk about some of the ways in which the industry has dramatically changed in recent years thank to new technologies.

From 2017 - Nancy Davies, a woman active in community theater in Southeastern Wisconsin, talks about her lifelong love of the circus and the experience of working with Ringling Brothers. The interview was recorded shortly after Ringling Bros. announced the shuttering of its "Greatest Show on Earth." (It remained dormant until last year when it was revived in a different format that does...

From 2010- Steven Solomon, author of "Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization." In his fascinating book, Solomon charts how the need to secure plentiful fresh water has helped shape the history of human civilization.

Best-selling author Keith O'Brien talks about his new book "Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose and the Last Glory Days of Baseball." The book chronicles Pete's blue collar roots, his improbable rise to greatness as one of baseball's greatest hitters, and the disastrous disintegration of his career due to his gambling addiction. (Pete Rose was banished from major l...

We learn all about the non-profit group Adventures in Lifelong Learning (A.L.L.) from president Shelly Underhill, past-president Karen Kempinen, and day trips co-chair Carole Kotese.

Just in time for the total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8th - we hear from David Baron, author of "American Eclipse: A Nation's Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World." The book focuses on the 1878 total solar eclipse that was visible in much of the United States. A trio of brilliant Americans (including a young Thomas Alva Edison and an extraordin...

From the archives: Marta McDowell, author of "Emily Dickinson's Gardening Life: The Plants and Places that Inspired the Iconic Poet." [Today's Morning Show broadcast was with gardening expert Nina Koziol. That interview was shared in the podcast back on March 28th.]

From 2018 - Richard Ratay, author of "Don't make me pull over: an informal history of the family road trip."

25 years ago this year, Bert and John Jacobs ... two college-age brothers .... designed and sold their first t-shirts. They eventually founded the company Life is Good. In honor of that anniversary, here is an interview where they talk about the Life is Good book that they co-wrote.

From 2005- Stanley Newman's Opus 100 Crosswords.

From 2020- Matt Richtel, author of "An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System- A Tale in Four Lives."

Sneak Preview: One of the most prominent gardening experts/writers/teachers in the Chicago-area, Nina Koziol, is coming to Kenosha on Thursday evening, April 4th- in a program sponsored by the Four Seasons Garden Club. The interview is being broadcast on April 2nd, but we're sharing the interview today in podcast format since the event is coming up so soon.

Dr. Art Cyr

This is a newly-recorded interview with Debbie Irving, looking back over the last ten years since the publication of her memoir "Waking Up White: and finding myself in the Story of Race."

From 2014 - Debbie Irving, author of "Waking up White: and finding myself in the Story of Race." The book is a remarkably honest memoir about Irving's realization (in adulthood) that she had harbored all kinds of racist attitudes that she never realized were there. The book also explores the reality of systemic racism. (Tomorrow, we'll have a newly-recorded interview with Irving...

We preview the next American Experience documentary film - "The Cancer Detectives" - with co-directors/co-producers Amanda Pollak and Gene Tempest. The film talks about the most important breakthrough in early cancer detection among woman: the pap smear, named for Dr. George Papanicolaou. The film charts the circuitous route by which this became a well-established practice- and the vario...