- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been provided by PSE&G, committed to providing safe, reliable energy now and in the future.

RWJBarnabas Health.

Bank of America.

NJM Insurance Group.

Serving New Jersey'’s drivers, homeowners and business owners for more than 100 years.

The New Jersey Education Association.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, Clean Energy program.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

Here when you need us most, now and always.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

And by The Fidelco Group.

Promotional support provided by CIANJ, and Commerce Magazine.

And by AM970 The Answer.

- This is One-On-One.

- I'm an equal American just like you are.

- The jobs of tomorrow are not the jobs of yesterday.

- Look at this.

You get this?

- Life without dance is boring.

- I don't care how good you are or how good you think you are, there is always something to learn.

- Do you enjoy talking politics?

- No.

- People call me 'cause they feel nobody's paying attention.

- Our culture, I don't think has ever been tested in the way it's being tested right now.

- That's a good question, high five.

(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Steve Adubato welcome to another compelling program where we kick off with our good friend, Bob Mann Professor and Chair of the Communications and Media Studies Initiative at Caldwell University.

Bob.

Good to see you my friend.

- Great to see you again, Steve.

Last time we were teaching a course together.

It was great.

- Yeah, let's put that out there, Bob and I co-taught a doctoral program course for educational administrators about leadership and crisis communication.

Great initiative.

But today we're talking about podcasting.

There's a new initiative at Caldwell University that teaches podcasting.

Bob, talk about it.

- Yeah, Steve, we really thought that podcasting was something that we could bring to the outside community in addition to our undergraduates and we already had a radio broadcasting for us.

I had developed a podcasting course.

It generated so much interest among the undergrads.

We thought that people in the outside community could benefit as well.

So as a four course podcast certificate program and people can complete it in one year and they learn public speaking, radio broadcasting but of course focus heavily on podcasting - Bob, it's interesting.

You've been doing podcasts for, for a long time and actually just plug your podcasts right now.

It's called Hot Media with Bob Mann and people can find it on Spotify, Apple podcasts, right?

- That is correct, Steve.

Hot Media with Bob Mann.

We talk about the hottest controversies in mass media and also the hottest new content in mass media.

And I have a wide variety of guests.

I had a political science professor on the other day talking about politicians in trouble and how they manipulate the media.

And this week I'm interviewing a guy who's producing a totally online situation comedy.

So we run the full spectrum of media.

- But here's what's interesting.

And, and I've been on your show before.

You've been with us, we've taught together and you've been in the communication media business for more than a couple of years.

My question is this, what's the difference between podcasting and doing a broadcast, a radio show, a television show that looks like radio.

What's the difference between that and podcasting?

- So many people ask that question because they say, well isn't it just a radio show?

It kind of is.

And broadcasting is radio communication intended for the general public, AM and FM.

Whereas podcasting is a digital audio file of a radio style broadcast for a very specific targeted audience that people like Joe Rogan, they're getting millions of listeners but a lot of people maybe with a business or some specific interest, they are very narrow cast and people download it and listen to it whenever they want.

You're also your own employer as a podcaster but you don't have the infrastructure of a the radio station to back you up and publicize you.

So those are two of the key differences.

The main one being broadcast radio over the air AM and FM, podcasting over the internet for places like Spotify.

- But Bob, obviously media broadcasting is evolving every day.

It's evolved dramatically in the last five to ten years but the business part of podcasting it's always fascinated me.

We have our own podcast.

People can check them out.

But I'm not even saying making money, just basically paying for itself as opposed to doing it as a vanity project.

That concerns me.

How do you, to what degree do you help students understand the business of podcasting?

- Well the title is called Production, Performance and Purpose.

They have to decide what the purpose is of what they're doing.

And very often you can be operating something in tandem with something else you're doing and it doesn't have to make a profit on its own.

But a lot of these platforms for podcasting they want you to have up to 20,000 unique downloads before they'll even consider advertising.

And you can monetize it.

It's not that easy to monetize but it is something you can use for a lot of other purposes.

And just like, Think Tank is part of your entire media arsenal.

Hot Media is something I use at Caldwell University, as well as something I am building toward hopefully monetizing.

But it's a challenge.

There's over 2 million podcasts out there.

Yeah.

- Five years ago, how many do you think there were?

Meaning how much expansion has there been?

And to what degree has it exploded?

- It's exploded over the past five years.

That's why I actually used my sabbatical to learn everything about it.

I felt that I had to make a transition from broadcasting over to podcasting for my outside career.

And it really has gone up tremendously.

Supposedly overall, there are 48 million episodes out there.

A lot of these though are not active podcasts.

They're called pod faders.

They start, they find out it's too much work.

They drift away.

You have to, you have to know why you want to do it.

- You know, I'm curious about this, but, and again to disclose Bob and I have had conversations about media and what makes for a great interview what makes for great broadcasting?

There are a lot of folks who think this goes all the way back.

I'm going to date myself to Johnny Carson.

When people say, well, that looks really easy.

What he does is easy.

And I've often argued that people who are interviewers people who broadcast and engage people.

When it looks easy, that's when you know that person's really good.

And it's not that easy because I've seen without getting on a soapbox, really big name people convinced they could do a podcast.

They can do.

I've seen Housewives of God, of whatever place they're from.

I'm gonna do a podcast.

And they think it's all about them as opposed to something different.

What am I getting wrong here, Bob?

- You are a hundred percent spot on, Steve.

I once had a friend insult me so much, almost ended the friendship.

Oh, well, anybody can do a talk show.

Oh really?

It's not just a list of Q and A's.

It is not having a conversation, you know with someone else among a couple of people because it has to be a conversation that's important and interesting to other people.

And people just don't get that.

Some people go into it and you would think they're doing a job interview.

So where do you go to high school?

You know, what's your age?-- - They're going through their list.

- Yeah.

Then you're going through the list like they're interviewing them, instead of trying to find out what they're talking about.

Something that only that one person has the authority to deliver an answer on.

Some story that you've researched, you don't want to be over cooked but at the same, you know, keep your curiosity fresh.

But at the same time they go into it totally blind and it's, it's a disaster.

It's, it's actually a very hard job.

And everybody says, it's just talking.

- And by the way, everything Bob Mann just said goes for a really good podcast.

If it's just for you, because you're interested, why do it?

It's gotta be for others and for yourself and bring value.

That's Bob Mann.

Professor and Chair of Communication and Media Studies at Caldwell University.

They in fact, are one of the folk one of the higher ed partners that we have and I'm proud to have taught and continue to be teaching at Caldwell University.

Hey Bob, thanks for joining us, my friend.

- Thank you very much for the opportunity Steve.

- You got it.

I'm Steve Adubato.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- We're now joined by Christian Fuscarino, Executive Director, Garden State Equality, excuse me.

Christian, good to see you.

- Nice seeing you again.

Thank you for having me on.

- And we'll be back in the studio, I promise at some point, but Christian, let me ask you this.

The LGBTQ+ community, disproportionally affected, impacted by COVID as we tape in the middle of May?

- Yes, the LGBTQ community has been hit hard by COVID both from a mental health perspective and from a health disparities perspective.

Any community that has health disparities, had a harder year this past year than the general population.

And that's saying a lot because everybody had a very difficult year but for those who have a less likely chance to have a primary care physician, this was a very difficult year.

We know from studies that came out of California that LGBTQ people, non-white LGBTQ people, were twice as likely to test positive for COVID.

- By the way, as we put up your website, I did not give you a chance to describe what Garden State Equality is.

Tell everyone.

- Sure, Garden State Equality is New Jersey's largest LGBTQ organization.

We serve the community in all 21 counties.

We're in high schools, middle schools, hospital systems, workplaces, ensuring that there's lived equality because we've done a great job getting equality in the law but there's still so much to do so that people can experience that equality in their everyday lives.

- You know, the term social determinants of health is used a lot.

We have healthcare leaders, hospital executives, who talk about it a lot.

What does it mean to you and how does it relate to the constituency you're most concerned about?

- Well, for the LGBTQ community, there are a lot of specific health services that are needed.

And for a long time, people needed to travel into New York City or Philadelphia out of New Jersey, just to find those basic care and resources.

Thanks to the folks at RWJ Barnabas, there's been a lot of strides in the state to make sure that we offer these services within our state's borders, so that people don't need to travel outside.

And that's been wonderful.

So in Somerset, they opened up the first full service LGBTQ health clinic.

In Asbury Park we now have an FQHC that serves the LGBTQ community and those service providers are growing.

So that, that way, you know, regardless of what county you live in you can drive within 30 minutes and find some basic care and resources that are important to you.

- Talk about different ways that people are affected, Christian.

By the way, you mentioned RWJ Barnabas Health a significant supporter of public broadcasting to disclose that.

Christian, this is an interesting question on homelessness.

How does homelessness play into the LBGTQ community and COVID?

- 40% of homeless youth, identify as LGBTQ.

That's a- - Wait, wait.

40%?

- 40% of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ.

That's, you know, any given year.

It's the highest rate of use it's from the LGBTQ community.

Unfortunately this last year young people who are from homes that are not supportive and loving saw themselves homeless.

It's, it's devastating to see this happen.

And the problem is, is because for a lot of young people they go to school and school can be their safe place.

You know, LGBTQ youth space, unfortunately some of the highest rates of bullying in school but for those who are coming from homes that are not loving and supportive, school is that, is that way out.

And with COVID and everybody quarantine quarantining together we got to know each other a lot more this year.

And unfortunately, parents who decide that they won't love their child simply because of who their child loves.

They saw those youth they saw those youth out on the streets.

- Are we still there, Christian?

In the place you just described?

- Yeah, I think it's, it's easy here in New Jersey, right?

This is like a bubble where we have some of the best LGBTQ equality in the nation but these instances of inequality and hatred still exists in our state.

Unfortunately, we also had the unfortunate reminder with the Trump administration where just setback after setback for the LGBTQ community all the progress that we made under the Obama years a lot of that was pushed back.

And now fortunately, with a President Biden we're seeing some of those, those issues of equality put back into place.

We're moving forward.

And hopefully for transgender individuals who have never really experienced equality, even under the Obama years where we're making a lot of progress for, for that part of our community as well.

- You know, what's interesting with Pete Buttigieg heading up the department of, yeah as the Secretary of Transportation, if I'm not mistaken.

There's also a significant appointment in state government in New Jersey, as it relates to representation of the LGBTQ community, particularly at the Department of Environmental Protection.

Shawn is someone we know very well tell everyone who he is and why he matters so much.

- Yeah, we're, we're so fortunate to have Shawn LaTourette lead our DEP the first openly gay person in the entire nation to lead an Environmental Protection Agency.

It's a big deal, here in New Jersey a state with no LGBTQ representation and legislature.

It's more important than ever that we have representation.

And thankfully, Governor Murphy has ensured that his cabinet is representative of the diversity of New Jersey.

We know that Shawn joined commissioner Sue Fulton who leads the MVC as the second LGBTQ member of his cabinet.

- Before we let you go tell folks why that matters.

Why that matters, that people who represent different communities serve in prominent positions in government.

- In, in a lot of ways, LGBTQ people are invisible, right?

We know that from a data standpoint where we saw under the Trump administration not including LGBTQ people in their most recent census we were supposed to be included.

Now it's going to be another 10 years before that population is counted.

We know from LGBTQ inclusive curriculum in schools that when LGBTQ youth don't see themselves represented in the lessons that they learn there's higher rates of bullying.

But when you teach those lessons that way they young people can see themselves reflected in the people that they look up to.

- You know, before I let you go, Christian I normally don't do this, but I'm going to just share this to put things in perspective back in another lifetime before you even born, I think.

In 1985, in the state legislature, when I was there for a short period of time.

Together with a group of other legislators, we sponsored what was called then the Gay Rights bill, which was simply anti-discrimination.

You could not discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation for housing and employment.

It took seven years.

And those of us who were involved in that initiative were accused of pretty horrific things.

But seven years later, that bill became law.

The reason I mentioned it is while we still have serious problems and challenges we've made real progress.

- We have made tremendous progress and it's large, thanks to those who have paved the way.

So thank you for your advocacy there.

Unfortunately, we still ha- - It shouldn't have been so difficult, but go ahead.

- We still have nearly 30 States in the nation where LGBTQ people aren't protected and can't be fired simply because of who they love or how they identify.

And so that's why it's so important to pass the Equality Act.

We have a lot of national and global companies headquartered here in New Jersey and their employees here might be safe-guarded, and protected.

And yet in other States they're not.

- Yeah, we think we've made progress.

We still have such a long way to go.

Christian, thank you so much for joining us.

- Thanks for having me on.

Be well.

- You got it, I'm Steve Adubato.

Stay with us.

We'll be right back.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- We're pleased to be joined once again by Kevin O'Toole, chairman of the board of commissioners the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and also a former state Senator in New Jersey.

Good to see you, Kevin.

- Good seeing you Steve, how are we doing?

- We're doing great.

- Listen, beyond talking policy about transportation and other issues with the Port Authority, This focus of this segment is on a column you wrote for nj.com.

"It's Time to Deliver on the Promise of America", that talked about discrimination against Asian Americans that you know very well.

by the way, a background, tell folks about your mom and your dad and your background.

- Sure.

My mom was born in North Korea and she was forced to flee back in the fifties.

She lost a couple of brothers and the conflict that North Korean soldiers had done some terrible things, so they left.

She went over to the South Korean border after a couple of months of flight.

She worked for the South Korean government washing clothes and other manual labor things.

And she met my dad an American GI and they had a relationship.

He reenlisted, came back then South Korea and brought her over to the States in 1957.

- So as it relates to discrimination against the Asian American community, this matter is on a personal, as well as a policy and a societal level to you.

You've experienced it very directly.

More specifically in 2007 in a Senate race you said in this article the race card was played against you.

Talk about it.

- Yeah, it was one of those, you know, the opponent we were running against, he, among other things, he was making the comment that I didn't reflect the population because, whether it was Chinese or Korean, they weren't really sure what it was at the time, they had, I guess, contemplated actually, you know, in his words, the campaign managers, drawing attention on my face just a little more to give the full context.

They figured if they could just race bait it and show everybody that I was not really, you know an Irish or Italian or more Americanized perhaps I could move some of my footing in the race.

And that's happened before.

And listen, politics is, you know, it's a tough sport.

It's you know, and get punched in the face every once in a while, but that was, you know full-blown, no this was, in your face "he is not an American, he happens to be "Korean or Chinese or whatever it is."

And they thought that like, I would lose support because of that, which didn't happen, we ended up winning rather handedly.

- But Kevin, your voice matters a lot.

And this is why under this category of New Jersey leaders who matter we're having this discussion with you.

But it also matters because you've talked in this piece that you wrote for NJ.com about COVID and its impact exacerbating, if you will, accelerating and making worse, discrimination against Asian-Americans.

- So, over the COVID year from what I'm told, actually hate crimes have gone down 6%, but hate crimes against Asians have increased over 150, 160%.

Isn't that astonishing.

You know, places in the cities, you know New York city particularly, up 223%.

in New Jersey, it ranks like seventh or eighth in terms of hate crimes against Asians in the last year.

You go to Vancouver, it's up 717%.

And even though the Asian population in Vancouver is over 40%.

it's just astonishing that you see in the United States over 6,000 hate crimes against Asians in the last year.

And it doesn't seem like it's slowing down.

It's only getting worse.

- What do we need to do Kevin?

- Well, I mean, first of all, you need to speak out and having this conversation is very helpful.

I felt compelled to write something about it and you need other officials to start talking about this is a hate crime.

We gotta recognize it.

You have to have support groups for the folks who are going through this.

But typically, you know, growing up in a Korean household, Asian Americans who are just brought over here, they don't want to complain.

They don't want to go to the police.

They don't want to.

And this is largely an under-reported crime because Asians, my experience Steve, is that they will not go to the police and they kind of live with it.

Whether it's a harassment, whether it's an assault whether it's a break-in into a business.

They have kind of just tolerated.

But it seems this year now, I think with some of the education, Steve, You're seeing some of the Asian victims are now speaking out.

You're seeing some bystanders who are now trying to stop some of it.

I think that's part of the education.

Bystanders, if they're seeing, like in San Francisco, two grandmothers were knifed sitting waiting for a bus.

It's just astonishing, now bystanders tried to help them and stop.

But you're seeing some folks who are trying to be proactive about it.

Training in the workforce, training in our societies, training our schools, education, what we should do, what we shouldn't do.

And frankly, look, it got to the tipping point whether last year with Floyd and this year with the Asian hate.

Our society is just so filled with hate and it's frustration and I think COVID kind of brings us to a boiling point and it's got to escape somewhere, Steve.

It's either the easy target of the last year, been the Asian American community.

- The other thing, Kevin, the title of this, and I don't know whether you are the folks at NJ.com figured out the headline but "It's Time to Deliver on the Promise of America".

And it starts out, let's just listen to this, I'm not going to read the whole thing, just this section.

"When my children were born a generation ago, "I envisioned they would grow "up in a better world than I had.

"It is the universal hope of parents "that the societal failures of the past be corrected "before their children experience discrimination "and potentially hate-filled violence.

"Sadly my children have not inherited such a world."

This is personal.

- Yes.

- We moved into the house my parents live in now.

Literally three of the relatives, they put up for sale signs, literally right around our house.

And they said, "We're moving out."

And yeah, they did.

30 years later, they moved out.

Once we got to know them, you know we look different, you know, the kids were you know, crazy, whatever, half Asian, half Irish.

And there wasn't really much of a tolerance.

My daughter, fast forward when she was five, she came home very angry with their parents.

And she folds her arms and she goes, "I'm really mad at you, mom and dad."

She goes, "You never told me I was Chinese."

I said, "Well, you're not Chinese, Rye."

I said, "You're Korean.

"You're you're French.

"You're Polish.

"You're Irish."

She says, "Well, one of the classmates told me "and she called me a chink and says, I'm Chinese."

I said, "Well, you're not Chinese.

"So get over it."

But you saw some of that, you know, percolate.

This is a kindergarten.

So listen, the reality is-- - five years old, six years old Kevin.

- Five.

Listen, so, you have to grow a thick skin in some respects but you have to have this understanding that we need to speak out.

We need to have a tolerance.

We need to talk to the folks that there is a problem that if you recognize a hate problem, speak out about it.

Don't just go into your shell and just retreat and if you see it at a place of employment, report it.

If you see someone being victimized, physically, you have to intercede without hurting yourself.

And you got to do something about it.

We, as a nation, society, Steve, we can't tolerate racism anymore.

It's chewed us up as a society for the last 40 years.

- You know, in the couple of minutes that we have left also at the Port Authority there have been incidents involving their employees who happened to be Asian American, correct?

Yeah.

Listen on the premises.

They were leaving work or coming to work.

And a couple of the employees, Asian Americans, were assaulted.

And listen, we have, the police force has done a great job monitoring those folks.

We're doing a buddy system where we have to, and those people who are responsible, Steve, we are holding them to the highest order, whether we're prosecuting them to the fullest and holding them responsible.

It's something we're very vigilant about, very conscious about, like as in New York City.

There's been the surge of 223% increase in hate crimes against Asians in the last year.

Those numbers are astonishing.

- Let me ask you this.

I'm curious, you understand politics more than most.

You understand government and people, right.

You've had to interact and navigate all kinds of difficult situations.

People watching this right now, Kevin, who happen not to be Asian-American or let's just say that they come from other places and different experiences.

To what degree do you genuinely believe that people who are not experiencing something personally, directly, themselves, their family members their children, that they have the capacity to actually care deeply about others who are suffering?

As long as my life's good.

You hear where I'm coming from?

- Yeah, so I mean there's a segment of the population that will just be worried about their own business, but Steve I really think most people they're good.

I think most people in their heart-- - Really have this well of compassion and they want to have what's good for their fellow human beings.

But some of them just aren't aware because they haven't seen it.

Now you're seeing the press and media, social media is now playing this out.

I think some of the folks in our community just didn't realize how prolific and prominent and how damaging this hate, this beat down, this harassment against Asian Americans is now becoming.

Now people are talking about these support groups, there's counseling groups, there's people who are saying we're not going to tolerate.

There's websites, there's leaders of our community elected officials are standing up and saying this can't be done we can't condone this activity anymore.

So you're seeing some of those people take note of it and you're seeing the support groups that are out there which I think is really necessary.

But I think most people really care and they wouldn't tolerate it.

- To find that go on nj.com to find Kevin O'Toole's article, "It's Time to Deliver on The Promise of America".

Kevin O'Toole, who is a former State Senator.

The only Asian American to serve in the Senate, the only Asian American to be the Chairman or the Chairperson of the Port Authorities Board of Commissioners.

A New Jersey leader who matters.

Kevin, thank you so much.

- Thank you, Steve, appreciate the conversation.

- Thank you.

I'm Steve Adubato, thank you so much for joining us we'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by PSE&G.

RWJBarnabas Health.

Bank of America.

NJM Insurance Group.

The New Jersey Education Association.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, Clean Energy program.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

And by The Fidelco Group.

Promotional support provided by CIANJ, and Commerce Magazine.

And by AM970 The Answer.

- [Narrator] It'’s time to save, New Jersey.

New Jersey'’s clean energy program is your guide to rebates and incentives that can save hundreds, even thousands of dollars for businesses and residents throughout the state by making smarter energy choices.

Start today with an energy assessment.

We'’re lighting the way to a clean energy future.

Join in at njcleanenergy.com Or call 866 NJ SMART.