From MSU Today on Impact Radio: MSU professor of American Studies and Popular Culture Gary Hoppenstand is an international expert on popular culture.

Hoppenstand says popular culture is, well, everything. “It’s like water to a fish,” he says. “A fish lives in water but isn’t always aware that it’s there and having an impact.” Pop culture is more commonly thought of as mass-produced and mass-consumed items like television, radio,movies, and books.

He talks about MSU’s prominence in popular culture studies and about his role as editor-in-chief of the MSU-based Journal of Popular Culture. And he describes his award-winning Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Popular Culture.

Hosted by Russ White.

Hear the Conversation 15:33 – 8.9 mb mp3

From MSU Today: The one and only Kermit the Frog visited MSU for Homecoming 2006 to be the celebration’s grand marshal. Kermit visited the studios of MSU radio, 89FM the Impact, before jumping in a convertible to enjoy the parade.

He talks about how it’s easy being green (and white) at MSU, how he prefers leap frog to football, and that he shares a belief in MSU’s land-grant mission.

Hosted by Russ White.

Hear the Show 5:33 Minutes 3.2 mb mp3

With baseball coming off of the all star break, we revisit our conversation with Spartan J. School grad Dale Petroskey, president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, NY.

It was July, 2005 when we first talked with Dale. The All Star Game was set for Comerica Park in Detroit and Dale discussed his Tiger Memories including the fabled the 68 Tigers, the Mayo Smith Society. He details how he cultivated his passion for Baseball and how MSU prepared him for an uncommon career.

Hosted by Bill Castanier and Scott Westerman.

Hear the Show 53 Minutes 28mb mp3

Serial entrepreneur Jay Brewer loves fast food and he’s taken his passion to the Internet. As the purveyor of Blogpire.com, he has created over a dozen consumer-product oriented blogs, generated incredible buzz, and some advertising revenue talking about a variety of niche topics from single-serve coffee machines to designer shirts to shaving stuff to global positioning satellite (GPS) gear.

Jay talks about how blogpire came to be, where he gets his content and how he is connecting cottage industry sellers with a world wide web audience.

Hosted by Bill Castanier, Jeff Smith and Scott Westerman

Hear the Show 21 Minutes 9mb mp3

From MSU Today: Carl Taylor is an expert on urban youth culture, a professor of sociology at MSU and principal investigator for the Michigan Gang Research Project.

His current work focuses on the idea of an emerging “Third City” in U.S. metro areas. The Third City is a metaphor for communities that have been forgotten by mainstream culture and developed their own norms related to violence, drugs, weapons and amoral behavior. He believes it is imperative to stay engaged in positive youth and community development in these distressed Third City communities. Ignoring the decay, he believes, is associated with a range of societal costs — from dysfunctional civic institutions to potential threats to homeland security.

Taylor has worked with the Guggenheim Foundation, the C. S. Mott Foundation, the FBI Academy, and the Children’s Defense Fund. Taylor served on the Michigan Juvenile Justice Committee for more than 10 years and advises various projects concerning youth throughout America. He’s also been involved in Laura Bush’s Helping America’s Youth Initiative.

Taylor earned his bachelor’s (1971) in multidiscipline social science, his master’s (1976) in criminal justice and his Ph.D. (1980) in administration of higher education, all from Michigan State University.

Hosted by Russ White.

Hear the Show 27 Minutes 15 mb mp3

If you are a book worm, Ray Walsh may have your dream job. As the owner of Curious Book Shop in East Lansing his store has literally thousands of books, magazines and other ephemera. And one of his passions is The Wizard of Oz. Ray discusses the enduring popularity of the tale and explores the life, and Michigan connections of the creator of Oz, L. Frank Baum.

Hosted by Bill Castanier, Jeff Smith and Scott Westerman

Hear the Show 31 Minutes 15mb mp3

In the beginning, radio programming sold radios. David Sarnoff’s National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) was an offshoot of his Radio Corporation of America (RCA). Sarnoff, like William S. Paley at CBS believed that content would sell the box. That’s the same fundamental principle in action right now in the world of satellite radio.

As Sirius and XM contend for the hearts and pocketbooks for today’s radio listeners, their efforts are supported by a retail infrastructure designed to entice customers to buy the devices that deliver the programming.

Stan Kozlowski, a 1974 Comm Arts grad at Michigan State University, guides the retail focus for Sirius. He develops and executes the marketing programs and builds relationships with the retailers who ride the front lines of the satellite radio revolution. His team of 20 retail-focused sales and marketing professionals and nearly 40 outsourced consultants and retail specialists deliver over 80% of all Sirius subscribers.

Hosted by Bill Castanier and Scott Westerman.

Hear the Show 29 Minutes 14mb mp3

Michael Olman (CAS BA ‘90) has a job that most of us only dream of. He spends much of each day on Wisteria Lane with the Desperate Housewives and is the first to know the twists and turns on 24. As a Supervising Sound Mixer, he creates the audio environments that give life to the pictures we see on some of the most popular television shows in the world. Michael shares his journey from the production studios at at the College of Communications Arts and Sciences at Michigan State University to the motion picture studios in Hollywood.

Hosted by Bill Castanier and Scott Westerman

Hear the Show 30 Minutes 15mb mp3

From MSU Today: On May 4, 2006, MSU presented “A Conversation With Legendary Motown Founder Berry Gordy.”

Terry Denbow, vice president of University Relations at MSU, provides a brilliant introduction to the special evening. Rodney Whitaker, associate professor of music, joined Gordy on the stage of Wharton Center’s Pasant Theatre in a wide-ranging discussion of the social, cultural and musical impacts of Motown. Michael Mazzeo, associate dean of the Eli Broad College of Business, was on hand to talk about the business aspects of Gordy’s achievements. Isaac Kalumbu, assistant professor of Ethnomusicology, presented questions from the audience.

The evening began with a special performance of Motown music by the MSU Professors of Jazz featuring vocalist Sunny Wilkinson and led by Whitaker.

On May 5, 2006 Gordy was the keynote speaker at MSU’s undergraduate convocation at the Breslin Center, where he received an honorary doctor of humanities degree.

Here’s the complete unedited conversation with Berry Gordy.

Hear the Show 63 Minutes 36mb mp3

From MSU Today: Legendary Motown founder Berry Gordy delivered the commencement address at MSU’s May 5, 2006 undergraduate convocation. MSU’s vice president for research and graduate studies Ian Gray and MSU president Lou Anna Simon present Mr. Gordy with his honorary doctorate of humanities, and then Gordy addresses the crowd. Here’s the complete audio of Gordy’s inspirational talk to MSU’s class of 2006.

Hear the Show 20 Minutes 12mb mp3

Gary Topolewski, Michigan State University alum and the advertising executive behind the Hockeytown slogan, is one of three industry veterans who recently opened the Evil Genius ad agency in the Detroit area. He joins us to talk about how to get your message across in an age where we Tivo skip commercials and are more fickle than ever about brand loyalty.

Kristen Case is an MSU Telecom Junior who cut through the clutter of 800 other applicants to earn an internship on the David Letterman show. She tells us how she did it and shares the trials and tribulations of surviving on a student stipend in the Big Apple.

Hosted by Bill Castanier, Jeff Smith and Scott Westerman.

Hear the Show 36 Minutes 18mb mp3

Former Newsweek rock critic and 70s child Karen Schoemer discusses her new book: Great Pretenders : My Strange Love Affair with ’50s Pop Music. It’s a book thats as much a coming of age story as it is a series of interviews with the likes of Fabian, Pat Boone, Frankie Laine, Patti Page, Tommy Sands and Connie Francis.

Karen also traces her own roots as a rock writer, her internship with Rolling Stone, her work for publications as diverse as Spin and the New York Times, and talks about how satellite radio is transforming her listening habits.

Hosted by Bill Castanier and Scott Westerman.

Hear the Show 28 Minutes 14mb mp3

For the past two years, Detroit News film critic Tom Long has nailed every major winner in the Oscar prediction game. He talks with us about the one that got away this year, along with the also-rans who he thinks might have deserved a closer look. We also rate Jon Stewart’s performance as host and discuss why the ratings… and the boxoffice didn’t deliver the eyeballs everyone had hoped.

Hosted by Scott Westerman.

LINK: Detroit News Academy Awards Coverage

Hear the Show 7 Minutes 4mb mp3

MSU Telecommunications Professor Robert Larose garnered support from Microsoft and the National Science Foundation to research the issues of Internet security pertaining to teenagers. He discusses the viruses, spyware and webscams that proliferate daily on the web and points out the downsides of social networking sites like myspace and xanga. He also reveals how the permanence of the web can come back to haunt kids as postings of photos and conversations are revealed later in life.

Hosted by Bill Castanier and Jeff Smith.

Hear the Show 26 Minutes 13mb mp3

Each year Lake Superior State University releases its “annual installment of Words and Phrases to be Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness”. We talk with John Shibley, the current Co-Complier about the 31st annual list which includes: Surreal, hunker down, person of interest, community of learners, up or down vote, breaking news, designer breed, FEMA, first-time caller, pass the savings on to you, 97% fat free, an accident that didn’t have to happen, junk science, git-r-done, dawg, talking points, holiday tree and ….. podcast. John tells how the list got started, thanks to the late public relations guru Bill Rabe, who was also known as an originator of the 60s Stamp Out the Beatles Society organization at the University of Detroit.

LSSU accepts nominations for the List of Banished Words throughout the year. To submit your nomination for the 2006 list, go to www.lssu.edu/banished

Hosted by Bill Castanier and Scott Westerman

Hear the Show 31 Minutes 15mb mp3

One of the most prolific Father Christmas collectors has a strong Spartan connection. Val Berryman is the curator of history for the MSU Museum. He has gathered over 3,000 items with a connection to Santa Claus. He talks about the enduring power of the Santa spirit, how a Muskegon native created the modern image of Santa Claus for Coca Cola, and his worldwide search for additions to his ecletic collection.

Hosted by Bill Castanier and Scott Westerman.

Link: The Golden Glow – A site for Christmas collectors

Hear the Show 36 Minutes 17mb mp3

What makes a good Santa Claus? It’s a question Chicago based actor and writer m.c. antil pondered more than two decades ago when he was asked to become Kris Kringle and have a phone conversation with a young family member. This season, his firm, santasayshello.com, will make hundreds of those special phone calls to children across the country. m.c. tells how his avocation became a passion, how he’s bringing the Christmas spirit to some of Hurricane Katrina’s youngest victims, proving once again that, yes Virginia, there really is a Santa Claus.

Hosted by Bill Castanier and Scott Westerman.

Hear the Show 35 Minutes 17mb mp3

On this weeks program, Hunter S. Thompson, Sandra Dee, Saturday Night Live, and South Park. Plus RAs and RMs and alcohol & marijuana on campus, then and now.

The Panel:
Bill Castanier – Public Relations Consultant, Author, Columnist and Activist.
Gary Reid – Distinguished Professor of Telecommunications at Michigan State University.
Jeff Smith – Senior Vice President, Katz Eagle Television – Detroit.
Susan Whitall – Columnist and Reporter – The Detroit News
Scott Westerman – Region Vice President, Mediacom Communications Corporation.

The Links:
Bedtime for Gonzo – The New York Times

Tom Wolf on Hunter S. – WSJ.com
Bill McWhirter on Hunter S. – State News
The Face of Poker – State News
SandraDeeFans.com
Saturday Night Live at IMDB

South Park at Comedy Central.com
Poynter.org