Byline Confidential

Dana Kozlov

When she was a young television reporter starting out in Peoria, Dana Kozlov would have to leave the newsroom for her real paying job as a waitress. Since those early days, Dana has gone on to become a general assignment reporter at CBS 2 in Chicago, where she tells important stories in one of the country's biggest markets.

In this week's episode, Dana recalls her late-in-college decision to go into the news business, hustling to get her first job, the incident where two colleagues had to take down a potential assailant during a live shot, and watching a Parkinson's patient's brain surgery that her reporting helped make happen.

She also recalls the time Caterpillar, the major corporation, came down on her over a story during a labor dispute: “They threatened to pull advertising because they didn’t like my story. Think about that. That’s pathetic." A fun talk!

John Conroy

As Director of Investigations at DePaul University’s Legal Clinic, John Conroy is doing the sort of life-saving work he did as a reporter. John became a journalism legend for his dogged coverage of Jon Burge and the city’s police torture scandal, amongst other stories.

In this week’s episode, John recalls his early years covering Chinatown’s underbelly, the time a south side politician threatened to throw him down the stairs, what it was like to live in Belfast’s war zone (where he was held at gunpoint), interviewing Bob Hope as a college student and much much more! This week’s podcast is a personal favorite.

Rudy Vorkapic

Today, Rudy Vorkapic practices a biting brand of fact-based satire at the New Orleans Levee. But he started his career in traditional Chicago media.

Rudy is a gifted journalist with tremendous stories about absolutely everything, including: the maniacal Southtown editor who inspired a union campaign and talked too much (“I was Deep Throat”); collecting the “stiff list” while working at the legendary City News Bureau and “cheaping” out deaths; covering a tragic tornado in Plainfield and pulling himself off assignment to pursue another story; antagonizing crooked politicians like Dollar Bill Jefferson and much, much more!

Plus, he has great advice on how to cover a 107 year old’s birthday. An entertaining episode!

Abby Simons

Depending how you look at it, Star Tribune reporter Abby Simons might owe her career to the monks she befriended after a mass shooting at a monastery in Missouri.

From Storm Lake, Iowa to Minneapolis, Abby has made a mark everywhere she's gone as a journalist. In this episode, she recalls the time she was voluntarily Tasered as a Des Moines Register cops reporter, getting called the wrong name by Joe Biden while covering his brief presidential campaign, interviewing Barack Obama, slamming her father's sheriff's office in an editorial, several slayings and more. A true tale of a small town girl made good!

Stephanie Grace

New Orleans Advocate political columnist, Times-Picayune refugee, pirate: Meet Stephanie Grace, who has lived the best and worst of the news business over the years.

 

In this week's dispatch from Louisiana’s ongoing newspaper war, Stephanie shares fascinating stories about corrupt politicians, leaving a newspaper company that has lost its way, what it’s like to be hired by a man she’d once criticized and more!

Tyler Bridges

The Lens staff writer Tyler Bridges earned a D- for his first journalism paper in college.

Since then, he has been a member of two Pulitzer Prize-winning teams and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. He was also named “Best Miami Herald Casanova” once, and he explains why.

Tyler has worked in South America as a journalist, covered David Duke for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, received a death threat while reporting on gambling and interviewed an endless stream of interesting folks during his time in the news business – his calling. A fun conversation with a great journalist!

Stacy St. Clair

Yes, Stacy St. Clair is Sochi's DANGEROUS FACE WATER! woman.

She's also an accomplished journalist who has covered huge cases like Rod Blagojevich and Drew Peterson. She's compassionate, too, and still agonizes over her first encounter with a grieving family.

Listen as Stacy talks about covering the Olympics, why she likes writing about the losers more than the winners, competing with a friend from the Daily Herald as a young journalist, learning at Mizzou, eavesdropping on colleagues to learn the craft and more!

Oh, and did you know there's a Dangerous Face Water Truth Movement?

Chuck Laszewski

During his career in Twin Cities media, Chuck Laszewski was the man shouting questions. Now he fields them.

Chuck gave 25 years of his life to the Pioneer Press in Saint Paul, where he was a top reporter. Management suspended Chuck near the end of his run for attending a Bruce Springsteen concert they thought was overly political. He still thinks they blew it.

A great chat with a legendary newsman about bias allegations, not being a good journalist at the start but working hard to get better, why dealing with “downright ornery” cops is good for learning reporters, what it’s like to be at the center of a media circus now that he’s a flack, Rock and Roll radical Dean Reed, some of the great stories he’s covered and much more!

Alison Flowers

Alison Flowers chronicles life after prison for three wrongfully convicted men on WBEZ, Chicago's public radio station.

In this episode, we talk about what happens to innocent people once they're released, her time working as a television reporter in Georgia, KKK vandalism, the "Stocking Strangler," whether "if it bleeds it leads" is actually a thing, hair spray in the studio, la vie in France (where she once lived) and more!

Jon Tevlin

It's hard to believe that a man who quit his first journalism job to lead tourists around the country could go on to become a metro columnist at a major daily newspaper. But that's Star Tribune columnist Jon Tevlin.

From starting at small dailies in weird towns to getting a break from New York Times columnist David Carr, Jon has had a unique journey in the news business. He talks about his friend the murderer, overcoming obstacles to get hired at the Strib, what you learn at alt-weeklies and magazines that you can't pick up elsewhere and how he kicks people in the nuts who don't return his phone calls -- a lovely conversation.