Welcome to Cold Oatmeal, a production of Resch Strategies, concocted from the creative think tank that is 300 S. Washington Square, Suite 415. With topics ranging from the latest news headlines and future crisis communications case studies to what we had
We did it! We made it to 100 episodes! We know you all were counting. Today, we celebrate the century mark by talking to our third Chris in a row. (You don't get to 100 episodes without planning like that!) Chris Sell, Executive Director of Lansing 5:01, joins us to talk Lansing, its future, and its here and now. He has a ton going on and a lot to say. Then, we bring back our friends who helped us start it all, Zach Gorchow, Executive Editor and Publisher of Gongwer News Service, and Emily Guerrant, Vice President and Spokesperson for Michigan State University. Zach was our pilot guest, and Emily was with us for episode #1. It's the 100th Cold Oatmeal Podcast. We don't look a day over 93.
High on the list of yet unanswered questions is, “Can one make the Michigan state budget sexy?” Today, you can take it off the list because we have an answer. Chris Harkins, Michigan's State Budget Director, is our guest. Chris is a long-time friend and contributor to the podcast, but some may argue his “day job” of managing the state's spending is more important. It's debatable. State budget fun, and the FBI calls Nikki. It's the Cold Oatmeal Podcast!
3:30 a.m. has got to come early when the old iPhone alarm starts going, but that's how today's guest starts each day. For going on eight years, Dave Akerly has hosted the Morning Wake Up each weekday morning on Lansing's talk radio station, WILS 1320 AM. And that's only after more than 20 years at Lansing TV news and sports anchor desks. Conversations with Magic Johnson and Tom Izzo have now given way to interviews each morning with state and national political leaders and commentators, and Dave has stories about all of them. Set your alarms. It's the Cold Oatmeal Podcast.
The history of Downtown Lansing restaurants is a checkered one, and today, we take a stroll through the graveyard of 25 years of Washington Ave. eateries. Dusty Fancher of Midwest Strategies Group, Rob Macomber, Chief Deputy Clerk of Kent County, and Zach Gorchow of Gongwer News Service are our hungry historians. What's your favorite sandwich place? The boldest flop? The fastest flame out? Place to go for an incognito meeting? Most cursed location? It's time to talk turkey. Order up! It's the Cold Oatmeal podcast.
We here at the podcast like to think of ourselves as part of “the Biz.” Today, a well-lit look behind the curtain. Jonathon Terpstra's IMDB profile lists 74 lighting and gaffer credits, including blockbuster movies like Avengers: Endgame, Black Panther, The Suicide Squad, and TV series like the Walking Dead, Ms. Marvel, and Ravenswood, to name only… well, six. He also happens to be our own Nick DeLeeuw's brother-in-law in town for the holidays. What's life like lighting the biggest movie productions on the planet? Coming soon! It's the Cold Oatmeal podcast.
On Target Living“Eat. Rest. Move.” By: Chris Johnson
It's the official Christmas plant, and today we learn all about the poinsettia from a man who has grown them for more than 30 years. Roger McGaughey is now mostly retired, but his career as a horticulturist brought him from Ireland to West Michigan with a bajillion poinsettias along the way, and he knows his stuff. Then, we stay across the pond to celebrate Adele Day. Ho, ho, ho, it's the Christmas episode of the Cold Oatmeal Podcast!
It's been almost 30 years since I first met Ben Bodkin. High school classmates, college roommates, and now adult friends and professional colleagues, this episode was supposed to be a rip-roaring blast from our shared past. Instead, a story of miracles and gratitude broke out. Ben is a partner at the Lansing lobbying firm, Capitol Services. He's been my friend since high school biology class. He's our guest this week, and we cover a lot of ground. Happy Thanksgiving! It's the Cold Oatmeal podcast.
So, you may have heard Michigan is getting new congressional and legislative maps as part of the decennial redistricting process. Or, maybe you're like Joe and Carly and could not care less. Either way, Michigan has a new system for drawing these power maps, and whatever words you want to use to describe the old process, this new process has been… interesting (Laura has another word). Today, we talk to Ben Solis, reporter at Gongwer News Service. As part of a questionable, new-employee hazing process, our friend Zach Gorchow assigned poor Ben to follow every minute of this redistricting process and write about it. Now, Ben is quite an expert on it all. What's up with redistricting? How is it working? Who is doing it? Do they know what they're doing? Will it ever be over? Ben answers all these questions and more before Nick's attempted bromance moves the conversation to the Cleveland Browns. It's the Cold Oatmeal podcast.
Before the squirrels ever started running in the wheels that power this little podcast, a name was added to our target guest list: Kurt Berryman, long-time Lansing figure and now lobbyist for the Auto Dealers of Michigan. With agility and cunning, Kurt has evaded us these past many years, but no longer. As many know, Kurt is routinely named Michigan's most effective lobbyist in the MIRS News Capitol Insiders Survey. Today, his stature grows even larger, because at long last, Kurt Berryman is our guest. Call me Cold Oatmeal. Because this is the Cold Oatmeal Podcast.
Today, we come out of our summer podcast siesta for a special one-time-only, news-breaking episode. We have a new colleague joining the Resch Strategies/Cold Oatmeal team, and today you get to meet her… or him. I guess you'll just have to listen. It's some personal news on the Cold Oatmeal podcast.
It's the season finale, and we go out big! Tim Skubick, Michigan's Senior Capitol Correspondent and host of public television's “Off the Record,” is our last guest of season four. Tim has more than 50 years in covering Michigan's political beat.
Detroit Crime CommissionAndy ArenaLansing Cold Case Initiative
Never underestimate the power of a podcast because today we make dreams come true. Peter Ruddell has long dreamt – quite publicly really – of being on the Cold Oatmeal Podcast. Today, we make it happen. Aside from being a diehard COP fan, Peter is a partner and co-leader of the Government Relations and Regulatory Practice Group at the Honigman law firm. He's a sought-after hire around the Michigan Capitol with 25 years of Lansing experience and expertise. Today, the whole team is back in the studio for the first time in 422 days to continue our Four Questions series with Peter. It's the Cold Oatmeal Podcast.
Zach Gorchow is Executive Editor and Publisher of Gongwer News Service and a Cold Oatmeal Podcast Hall of Famer. Zach was the last guest to visit the studio before the 2020 lockdown. Now, as we emerge from behind our masks, Zach is back! We talk movies, takeout, travel, James Craig, and the Gov's fancy flight. Plus, Joe's fender bender. It's the Cold Oatmeal Podcast.
Murder of an Elvis Girl: Solving the Jenny Maxwell CaseThink Space
When the pop-up book is written about the story of Resch Strategies, Kevin McKinney will get his own chapter. Kevin was our first landlord. For some, that might be enough, but Kevin adds to that a 40-year career between the Michigan legislature and the Lansing lobby corps. He's led McKinney and Associates since 1991. Today, we bring back “Four Questions,” and we talk to a friend, colleague, and destination for solid advice. Oh, and Matt drags out the stupid t-shirt conversation for yet another episode. We have winners! It's the Cold Oatmeal Podcast.
April Baer: Michigan Radio's “Stateside”Cheyna Roth: The Gist with Mike Pesca
SkiingShanty Creek ResortSchuss Mt.Pure Michigan
We kicked off season four of the podcast with the idea of asking the same four big picture questions to interesting Lansing people. We could have asked Kathy Wilbur 400 questions. Kathy is the Senior Vice President of Government Relations at Michigan State University, but this is just the latest stop in an amazing career. We ask her four big questions (and a few little ones), and then top it off, of course, with house cleaning tips from Bobby O'Meara. It's the Cold Oatmeal Podcast.
Movie trailersBatman v. SupermanKelly CawthorneHappy the HoboQuarter PoundersBob Olson, voice talent
Running a restaurant in a pandemic.EnVieSal the Skunk Guy and the Battle Creek alligator sanctuary.
New season. New feature. New guest. We kick off season four of the Cold Oatmeal Podcast with Four Questions for long-time, recently retired Lansing lobbyist, Steve Young. We were lucky to catch Steve before his weekly trip to Sam's, and he didn't disappoint with his stories and perspectives from a successful career lobbying the Michigan State Capitol. Plus, a new season, a new intro. Joe plants a tree, and Matt gets his boat in the water. We know you've missed us. Cold Oatmeal is back!
Our summer vacation is coming to an anticlimactic close, so we're leaving it to Joe to bring us home with his pick. Bob Olson, championship golfer, renowned professional voice talent, and FOCO (Friend of Cold Oatmeal) is our encore guest.
Laura is about to have a baby boy, so she gets to pick this week's encore episode, and she's picked a good one (This episode is loaded!). We talked to Ahmad Bajjey, the award-winning meteorologist from Flint's NBC25, in February of 2019… back when all we had to complain about was the weather. Ahmad is awesome, and we learned so much! Also awesome is Joe's run-in with a skunk and his introduction to Sal the Skunk Guy, and Nick's fight with all of us over US History knowledge. This episode is so good, Laura has announced that if you all listen she will name her son either Ahmad, Sal or Publius.
Today, in our latest Throwback Thursday encore episode, we say good-bye and best wishes to Mikenzie Frost. Mikenzie is a tireless TV journalist covering Michigan politics who visited the podcast last fall. This week is her last in Michigan. She's heading off to a new gig at Fox Baltimore. Thanks for your work, Mikenzie. Good luck and be sure to pack your mug!
Nikki's turn, and Sal the Skunk Guy it is! We talked to Sal Palombo of Michigan Animal Control back in February. By far one of the most fun guests we've had on Cold Oatmeal, and it's a good pick too because a family of raccoons threw a midnight dance party on Matt's roof this last week. Better call Sal for the second Throwback Thursday episode of the summer.
We were so little! This is our first Throwback Thursday podcast of the summer, and it's Matt's pick. We go back to the very beginning: the pilot episode of Cold Oatmeal with Zach Gorchow of Gongwer News Service. Zach is the full-fledged Executive Editor and Publisher of Gongwer now, and we like to think this pilot episode sent him on his way. Even though it was our first, it's one of our best conversations with Zach. He's always so good. Thanks Zach.
Today, we drop anchor on season three of the Cold Oatmeal Podcast. We drift about recapping our favorite moments and guests of the passed 20 episodes. We're looking at you Jean Doss, Sal the Skunk Guy, Hypnotist Man, Chad Livengood, Laura Webber David and Charlie LeDuff. Then, Matt and his pandemic lie. It's the season finale of the Cold Oatmeal Podcast.
Cheyna Roth's first book, “Cold Cases”.Laura's intro streak continues.Three months of home workin'.
If you held five people hostage and made them participate in a podcast, what would it look like? THIS PHOTO! Wait, no. That's not how this is supposed to go. How do you run a statewide, daily radio program in a pandemic? Yeah, that's more like it. The Cold Oatmeal Podcast is back, and today we talk to a great friend and an even better talent, Laura Weber Davis. Laura is the Executive Producer of Stateside a radio program produced and aired each day on Michigan Public Radio. How DO you run a statewide, daily radio program in a pandemic? Which member of Michigan's Congressional delegation was she MOST excited to interview? And what's Laura's minor beef with Grand Master Flash? It's the Cold Oatmeal Podcast, and despite the pic, it's a good one.
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, Matt! The luck of the Cold Oatmeal Podcast is strong. In Matt's honor and because it was a really interesting conversation, we are re-upping “Reporting ‘True Evil.” It's an encore Cold Oatmeal.
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 Association. Plus, a blast from the past dials in from her new life working at the center of Michigan's tourism industry to talk Mackinac Island in the spring and offer advice to new college grads. Order up! It's the Cold Oatmeal Podcast!
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