My First Radio Interview

Just a few hours after “From Russia with Beer” hit newsstands as the cover story for both the North Bay Bohemian and Pacific Sun, Bohemian news editor Tom Gogola contacted me for an amazing opportunity: a radio interview at KSRO, Sonoma County’s talk radio station.

Just before four in the afternoon I met Tom for the first time (I’ve been working with him for almost 18 months on various stories.) at the Bohemian office in Santa Rosa before we went to the station to appear on The Drive with Steve Jackson. Tom drove us, and during the ride, his Mexican hairless dog kept trying to crawl over the middle armrest and sit in my lap.

We arrived at the beginning of a station break, so Tom and I had a few minutes to sit in the studio and chat. The environment reminded me of the recording studio where I used to teach, Renaissance High School.

Steve Jackson started the interview by introducing Tom; Tom or another Bohemian editor comes on the show from time to time to talk about a cover story. The dog, sitting on Tom’s lap throughout the interview, got a shout out, too.

Despite being a little bit nervous earlier in the day, the 6-8 minutes I talked about my experience in Russia went by wonderfully. It felt no different than a friendly chat between Tom, Steve, and me.

Tom gave me a ride back to downtown Santa Rosa. He thanked me for the article and praised my writing. I really appreciated it. To finish off such a nice day, I did, what else, have a beer and wings at Russian River Brewing Company.

I hope thousands of people in Marin and Sonoma Counties have the chance to read my article over the next few days.