Phil Kadner

Some people think Daily Southtown columnist Phil Kadner is the state's best journalist.

This episode is a good chat with the 37-year veteran about his life in the news business, mostly covering the city's south suburbs. Phil shares touching stories about the homeless and south suburban charities and tells fascinating tales about:

Racial change in the city’s neighborhoods (Neo-Nazis in Marquette Park)

Deciding not to become a sportswriter at Northern Illinois University (“I found it more corrupt in many ways than anything I ever covered on any political beat, covering police, all sorts of things…”)

The tragic tale of a shooting involving a carney, the NIU basketball team and a player recruited into NIU who’d been stashed at a community college

A particularly memorable tale about Robbins drug dealers (“I tell these kids not to sell drugs and they tell me we’re making more than your police officers are making, go away”)

I really enjoyed this talk with Phil, who is a true classic newsman, so check it out!