//podcastplus.net/feed/its-quite-a-living~0d97dbad Hearing the personal and the professional sides of my friends in high places: Chats with actors, authors, musicians and marketers, execs to songwriters, who can say “It’s QUITE a living”. Sun, 23 Aug 2026 07:50:44 +0000 https://media.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/content.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/Jarl_Mohn-IQAL.mp3 Season two kicks off with Jarl Mohn, my former boss at E! Entertainment Television and retired CEO of NPR. Jarl Mohn describes the evolution of his fascinating career in the media industry -- that stemmed from his experience in a group home as a child and a love of radio as his escape. Our focal points were social justice issues in LA County, the importance of the arts and emerging artists in LA, and Jarl Mohn's personal art collection, including a three and a quarter ton Michael Heizer rock. We get a pro tip on how to open up our minds and creativity by looking at art! Jarl also explains his belief in the unique value of public radio today, as well as the importance of good content across all media platforms in a world of subscription competition. We discuss the progress and challenges of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the media industry, the value of good content marketing and the power of good communication and relationship-building by executives.  To wrap it up, you'll learn the funny story behind t... Wed, 31 May 2023 11:45:43 +0000 https://media.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/content.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/Jarl_Mohn-IQAL.mp3 https://media.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/content.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/Ruth_McDaniels-Epi7-QuiteALiving.mp3 I met my new friend, Ruth McDaniels, at a virtual event. She had begun a campaign for a city council seat in Harlem and it an introduction to she and her local artist friend, Flash. It was just a year ago, only days after George Floyd was killed, and Ruth was asked to share with the group of all white women, her thoughts on this devastation.To say this was a tough Zoom event would be an understatement. To hear Ruth recall her reaction as she was mid-trauma, is to hear her honest truth. I realized why her campaign handle is “tRuth.” To hear her describe her path -- from “having a child as a child”, to her continuing education both on the street as a peace officer, and in the classroom, to hear her heart break a little in talking about those same streets -- is to hear the truth that we all must embrace.This is not a preachy podcast but she does thank the Lord. Ruth knows from gratitude. And grit. This is a bright, candid, compassionate, loud, sensitive and funny woman who cannot help but help, and who ... Tue, 25 May 2021 11:25:31 +0000 https://media.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/content.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/Ruth_McDaniels-Epi7-QuiteALiving.mp3 https://media.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/content.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/IQALepi6_Days-Lives_of_Gloria-Loring.mp3 In the fabulous '80s one of my best friends, Peggy Goff Bottger, and I each moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Thanks to that friendship I met, and often stayed at the home of, her sister - singer/actor/author Gloria Loring. Gloria was glamorous, inspiring, and a bonafide celebrity. They were heady times for me...meeting other soap stars (one of which she was dating, which you'll hear her talk about), going to a Halloween party at the home of her ex-husband Alan Thicke (I will never forget arriving in my Bette Midler costume and making divots in his backyard from my high heels....) and yes, even babysitting occasionally for her sons Brennan, and now star in his own right, Robin Thicke.But I learned a lot of life lessons from Gloria -- and Peggy -- exposed to her spiritual side, as I watched her marry her next love and teach us about yoga. I even got some cooking lessons along the way. Peggy and I had many adventures in the 80s/90s of Los Angeles -- from traveling together to standing up as her maid of h... Tue, 03 Nov 2020 18:33:24 +0000 https://media.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/content.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/IQALepi6_Days-Lives_of_Gloria-Loring.mp3 https://media.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/content.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/IQAL_Epi_5-Isiah.mp3 Interested in acting? Isiah Whitlock Jr. practically gives a mini Master Class when he talks about preparing for one of his more challenging roles.Fan of The Wire? You know Isiah as the corrupt Senator Clay Davis. In Epi 5 of It's Quite a Living hear where his famous phrasing of "sheeeeeeeee-it" originated (think Spike Lee!) and how it came to be in that HBO show AND in a bobblehead that you too can actually own!Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Clay Davis, in The WireHear how Spike Lee first met Isiah and cast him in The 25th Hour... (AND films like BlacKkKlansman AND the current Da Five Bloods and others And watch those films for his trademark saying!) Hear how I first met Isiah in the 80s why he scared the heck out of me...but ultimately taught me about trust.E.B./Isiah in NLN video and over the years...Are you a wine lover? Hear what Isiah would pair with latkes. Latkes? YES. Because he's may be an oenophile, but I'm the potato pancake queen, and that's what I serve at the Hanukah parties he's come to at my house ov... Tue, 04 Aug 2020 15:38:29 +0000 https://media.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/content.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/IQAL_Epi_5-Isiah.mp3 https://media.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/content.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/Ep4-Composer-Author-Marc_Blatte.mp3 When he was 10 years old, Marc Blatte's grandfather took him to see his first Broadway show, The Music Man. Some 50 years later Marc was a Grammy-nominated music man himself, and had convinced many people, in song, to upgrade from "Your Father's Oldsmobile" ...and to go "Goldfishin'" for Goldfish snacks.Marc is the Clio-winning composer of, literally, scores of some of the best known jinglesBobby, Brad, Marc, at work at LookJeanne Neary Look with session singer Lani Groves(with the creative and production direction of Jeanne Neary Look) and top 10 hits of the 80s and 90s...and beyond, often with writing partner Larry Gottlieb.Do you remember holding hands across America as an inspirational movement to raise money and awareness for homelessness and poverty? You were holding hands to Marc's song. Did you sing along with Kenny Rogers when he described the Pride of America...or lipsync to Marie Osmond's top country hit, Read My Lips, or dance to the Four Tops' When She Was My Girl?As the recipient of an ASCAP Awa... Tue, 14 Jul 2020 10:35:09 +0000 https://media.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/content.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/Ep4-Composer-Author-Marc_Blatte.mp3 https://media.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/content.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/Tokyo_Bound_to_Magnum_PI_The_Life_of_Amy_Hill_V4_.mp3 Amy Hill has been a mom for twenty years in real life, and even longer in her acting life: from Grandma Kim (All American Girl), Mama Tohru (Jackie Chan Adventures),  Ah-Mah Jasmine Lee (The Life and Times of Juniper Lee), Mah Mah (American Dad!) to even being ON the hit comedy, “Mom“. But she’s also … Continue reading The Life of Actress Amy Hill – Epi 3 → Tue, 09 Jun 2020 01:01:53 +0000 https://media.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/content.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/Tokyo_Bound_to_Magnum_PI_The_Life_of_Amy_Hill_V4_.mp3 https://media.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/content.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/deborah_burns-Moss-IQAL-Epi2.mp3 Deborah Burns and I basically reenacted that line from “Pretty Woman” when we met over hors d’oeuvres at an industry event: “What happens when (s)he rescues the princess? (S)he rescues him right back!”  We bonded over boredom and brie and traded business cards. The kind of exchange that means well, but ends up in the … Continue reading It’s Quite a Living, Deborah Burns → Tue, 19 May 2020 12:45:21 +0000 https://media.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/content.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/deborah_burns-Moss-IQAL-Epi2.mp3 https://media.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/content.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/IQAL_One_Klein_edit_Tues_730.mp3 Joe Jaffe might have been a chemist if he hadn’t fallen off a wall and broken his arm. The world, or at least the media world, is probably grateful to that wall. Hear how the strategist / keynoter / marketer / author turned happenstance into happy existence. The author of Built to Suck and four … Continue reading The Life of a Marketer-Turned-Author: Joseph Jaffe → Wed, 13 May 2020 19:35:13 +0000 https://media.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/content.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/IQAL_One_Klein_edit_Tues_730.mp3 https://media.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/content.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/Quite_A_Living_Trailer_Edit01.mp3 Personally and professionally, I’ve somehow crossed paths or become friends with an incredible array of people who have made it to the top of their game. Though some people may describe their jobs by saying, “eh, it’s a living…” THESE are the people who can say, “It’s QUITE a living!” I don’t take it for … Continue reading Getting Started with … “It’s QUITE a Living”! The Trailer → Wed, 01 Jan 2020 01:36:12 +0000 https://media.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/content.blubrry.com/itsquitealiving/Quite_A_Living_Trailer_Edit01.mp3