- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been provided by Holy Name.

Seton Hall University.

Showing the world what great minds can do since 1856.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Working for a more a healthier, more equitable New Jersey.

EJI, Excellence in Medicine Awards.

A New Jersey health foundation program.

New Jersey’s Clean Energy program.

Lighting the way to a clean energy future.

The Fidelco Group.

Newark Board of Education.

NJ Best, New Jersey’s five-two-nine college savings plan.

And by Community FoodBank of New Jersey.

Promotional support provided by The New Jersey Business & Industry Association.

And by New Jersey Globe.

- This is One-On-One.

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

- The way we change Presidents in this country is by voting.

- A quartet is already a jawn, it’s just The New Jawn.

- January 6th was not some sort of violent, crazy outlier.

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

- I mean what other country sends comedians over to embedded military to make them feel better.

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

_ It’s not all about memorizing and getting information, it’s what you do with that information.

- (slowly) Start talking right now.

- That's a good question, high five.

(upbeat music) - Welcome, everyone, Steve Adubato here, continuing to look at 30 years of broadcasting.

We wanna consider it 30 years of excellent programming.

Has every program been great?

No, but we're gonna show you the best that we have.

Right now we're about to show you some sports figures that we've talked over the years.

A struggling athlete growing up in high school and college in Newark, New Jersey, Alright, I got cut from the varsity baseball team at Essex Catholic High School back in the day in the '70s, but these are great athletes.

These are accomplished athletes.

And we wanna understand what exactly makes them tick, and why they love the game they play.

30 years of sports figures.

(bright upbeat music) Joetta you are a motivator.

You have lived it.

You've walked the walk.

You've run the run, if you will.

The "gotta-do" keynote message that you delivered in so many conferences, including with the Business and Industry Association of New Jersey, "gotta do," gotta do what?

- Well, you know what, thank you very much.

I was honored to be part of that conference.

And the "gotta do" is what is inside of you.

So for me, I've gotta make sure that I'm making a difference in people's lives via health, motivation, wealth, and finance.

So that gotta do is that thing that bugs you in the deep mires of your soul.

So it varies for different people, but the one thing that doesn't vary is that you gotta put in the work.

- Do we have a responsibility to find a way to just make a difference in someone else's life other than our own and our own pocketbook of our family?

- Steve, not only do we have a responsibility, I dare say we have an obligation.

It may be semantics, but I don't think- - To much is given.

- Oh yeah, absolutely.

To much is given, much is expected and required.

I think we, if you look at where, why we sit here today, we're the beneficiaries of someone else's generosity.

I think you'll agree with that.

- [Steve] Absolutely.

- So we have an obligation to perpetuate that, to continue to do that for the next generation.

And I think it should be across the board.

- Do you care about who hates you?

Who is jealous of you?

Because you, guys in Philly, in your old neighborhood, our neighborhoods are not that much different.

When you made it, I'm sure a lot of people were happy 'cause they were, they were cheering for you.

Did you care who was jealous?

- I did at first, you know, because I wanted to please everybody.

But there's another chapter in there in the book called "Bucket of Crabs."

- Yeah.

"Buck," Yeah, tell me about that.

- And that's what that's all about.

- Chapter 17, "Bucket of Crabs."

- Yeah.

The bucket of crabs are, there's gonna be those people, as you take try to take that top crab out, all the other crabs are trying to pull it back in.

And the more crabs that get into that pile, the more complacent they get.

But if you're in the top, and you're trying to get out, there's gonna be those that are complacent on the bottom and are gonna be trying to pull you down.

Well, that's just a metaphor for life.

When you're out there- - How do you deal with the crabs?

- How do you deal with the crabs?

You have to have enough confidence in yourself that you can get by them, and get through them.

Because it, when I talk to kids, that's peer pressure.

Because they don't want you to break out.

They don't want you to get outta the box.

They don't want you to be successful because- - Why not?

- Your success validates their failure.

- [Steve] The public television family is honored to have back with us the Val Skinner, LPGA tour professional, golf analyst and founder of The Val Skinner Foundation.

How you doing?

- I'm good.

I came to see if your golf game's any better.

- Oh, you're gonna hit me right away.

I thought you'd wait at least a minute for that.

- You know, you played in the very first event we hosted to support the foundation?

- I did.

Hey, by the way, talk about the LIFE event.

Make sure everybody understands why it's so important.

- LIFE is LPGA Pros in the Fight to Eradicate breast cancer.

I founded it in 2000.

We're on our 18th.

Can't believe it.

A lot of money raised at this point, where from the event itself, we're at about 11 million.

But beyond that, we've raised money for a couple of additional events that we do, and different things that we've gotten into over the years.

But it's the best women golfers in the world gathered here, coming right off the ShopRite Classic.

And it's been really successful.

- There's a broadcaster over on Fox, who I believe she was the one who said, "Shut up and dribble.

Athletes should play the game and not be engaged in social justice, racial justice issues."

Colin Kaepernick and the rest.

Go ahead.

- I mean, for me, I grew up in a generation where I'm just off the cusp of being involved in the early, the normal civil rights movement.

You know, I'm 61 and in 1965 and '68 and on through when it was really heated and heavy, I'm five, six, eight years old, and I'm growing up in a family, like I said, of youngest of eight.

And I mean, my older siblings knew all about the civil rights movement.

So I was taught in that.

And we were always taught, use your platform.

And I think now as the years have gone through, we see how important athletes are in our country.

And if we look back through the civil rights movement with Jackie Robinson or Muhammad Ali, or Jim Brown, or Bill Russell, all the the other athletes that have come forward and you can throw up Bill Walton, or other white colleague friends that have come with them through these movements.

If athletes don't stand up, I don't know where we're at in this country?

- Kids in Newark, you're committed to them.

That's what this Teach Our Children Foundation is all about.

We're plugging the golf tournament on June 14th.

Why the kids in Newark?

- Well, you know, I think that there's, there's a lot of potential there, and there's a tremendous amount of opportunity, that if these, these kids are given the right introduction early in life, that they can do things.

And it's an area that has traditionally in the last few decades been depressed and has been, hasn't been given the opportunities.

And so this is just a way that myself and Rick got together and wanted to- - [Steve] Rick Cerone - And Rick Cerone, got together, and wanted to do something to give a little bit back.

- I do think right now dance is having a moment and we're trying to kind of, my main focus is to make it more accessible to a younger generation.

- [Steve] Define that.

- Meaning, it's great that ballet is such a old art form, and we have a very older audience who comes and they're subscribers.

- [Steve] They appreciate the ballet.

- Yes.

But I think it's our job to kind of educate the younger generation, and get them into the ballet.

So, you know, I'm always trying to do things.

I just curated these shows in California this past summer, and I called it "Ballet Now."

And it was, you know, "What do I think ballet means today?"

So I had a hip hop dancer, I had Michelle Dorrance, this amazing tap dancer.

I had Bill Irwin come, and I just wanted to show the mix of what I think it means to be a ballerina.

- How important is it to protect our kids?

Not just my kids, all of our kids in sports.

- Listen, we do know this much.

Based on training earlier, because colleges are getting, coming to a lower earlier grade, Eighth grade kids are getting verbal commitments, ninth grade.

So it's very young.

These bodies can't handle it, of trying to throw harder.

You and I as dads, we don't wanna play into that 'cause we wanna protect our kid, but we also know that these scholarships are getting used up earlier.

So now we're trying to get our kid to throw harder sooner.

And it's a, it's a, it's a vicious cycle.

So that's one, they're throwing harder, and the training is better too soon, too early, too fast, I don't like it.

And then abuse, you know.

We have to, we have to curtail that crazy coach who has your son pitch on a Saturday, six innings, and then you come back on Sunday and throws three or four.

- Don't be afraid to be great.

- I love that when you said that night, "Don't be afraid to be great."

Where does that come from?

- Man, you know, I think just from growing up with my parents, and actually my first coach in the NFL, Earl Legett, my first defensive line coach.

And I think those are just lessons I learned from just growing up, and the family to being in the business that I'm in from just the people I've been around as to how to be successful.

- Are we sometimes afraid to be great?

- I think so.

I think even in sports, for me, the hardest thing for me is not my opponent.

The hardest thing for me is to convince myself that I'm good enough to go out here and play the way that I know I can play.

I think mentally you almost hold yourself back because you're almost afraid of how well you could do instead of just letting yourself go.

And that's one thing I've had to learn and I've struggled with is self-confidence.

- While competing is critically important to you, I'm confused as to how important winning is.

(Missy chuckles) Put that into context.

- I will.

So for me, winning isn't important at all.

What's important to me is being the best that I know I can be.

And if that's winning, then that's great, and if it's not, how can I be better than my best?

I can't.

I mean, none of us can- - How'd you get so, sorry for interrupting.

How did you get so mentally healthy?

(Missy laughs) And what do your parents have to do with that?

- Well, I'm glad it comes off like that.

(Missy laughs) - [Steve] No, seriously.

- My parents have been an incredible support.

And for me, I think what helps me the most is keeping things in perspective, which comes a lot from my parents.

And it comes a lot from my faith, which they're so cute.

Look at how cute they are.

(Missy laughs) - [Steve] But your faith as well.

- Yeah.

My faith is - Talk about that.

- is a huge aspect, and I was so grateful that I had, honestly a full chapter in the book to be able to talk about it and share it with people.

And hopefully people that know me and who've been able to watch me already know that my faith is incredibly important to me.

But when I get out there and race, I know that no matter what, I am a loved and cherished daughter of Christ.

And at the end of the day, that's truly all that matters in this world.

(upbeat music) - To watch more One-on-One with Steve Adubato, find us online and follow us on social media.

- We shift gears from sports figures to figures in the media.

My colleagues, our colleagues.

You know, as someone who's been in the media for 30 years plus, I'm fascinated by our colleagues.

I'm fascinated by not just who they are, but why they've gone into the media, what drives them to do what they do.

So you're about to listen to, watch 30 years of the best, most compelling and interesting journalist media figures that we've talked to.

Really interesting people.

(bright upbeat music) Welcome to the PBS family.

- Thank you so much.

- Is this not the greatest broadcast network around?

- It is a total really, truly an honor.

I mean, all of us grew up with PBS, especially, I mean, beginning.

This is the most brilliant marketing strategy ever.

Get them while they're young.

"Sesame Street," "Mr.

Rogers."

Right?

- [Steve] But you gotta keep them with compelling programming.

- Yes, you do.

And so that's what you do.

That's what I'm trying to do.

And it's really, actually, it's like the honor of a lifetime to be able to be part of this.

- How smart was William F. Buckley?

- Buckley, I think Buckley was incredibly- - [Steve] Like scary smart.

- He was smart, but the thing that he was best at was his locution.

He would use multi-syllabic words over and over and over again.

That forced everybody to sit and watch his show before you could watch, with multiple screens with a dictionary in your lap and at thesaurus, so you could try to figure out what he was saying.

I mean, that was, that was the signature riff about Buckley is his choice and words, and his mastery of the English language, both with the pen and with his tongue.

- The greatest, most powerful, most enjoyable thing about being a part of talk radio is?

- Oh, is that so many people depend upon you for information and insight.

And you actually, instead of talking to yourself in a mirror like I did for years, and no one's paying attention to you, people actually listen and they consider you a part of their extended family.

Talk radio is the most personal of mediums.

It's theater of the mind.

You paint pictures, so it stimulates their imagination as opposed to TV oftentimes where they're virtually brain dead.

- The federal issue, the congressional piece of this, those in Congress who, come on Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Let's not play the big bird game.

Let's not play the game of rhetoric.

Let's have a real discussion about it.

Put it in context for us, Neal.

- The really, the better way to think about public television, this is the most successful public-private partnership ever.

This is an example where for every dollar we get, we raise five to six times as much from the private sector.

And when a certain president heard this, he said, "That's great," and that president was Ronald Reagan.

So when Ronald Reagan said, "That's exactly what government should do."

Now, that said, the amount of money is so small.

It's a less than $1.35 per taxpayer per year.

If we got rid of this, you would never even notice it in your tax structure.

It's less than a subway ride.

And for that, imagine that we take a multiple five or six times a year, so much good comes outta that for so many people.

Of all things to focus on, this have virtually no impact on the deficit.

So I think there are a lot of other issues.

This is really a political game to play.

And the big losers will be the American people.

- You are in fact the only African American woman who is anchoring a nighttime news program in prime time.

You're the only one, which in and of itself speaks volumes.

We're doing a series called "Confronting Racism."

Not a one-off, but an ongoing series.

What responsibility do you feel you have?

- For me growing up, you know, everyone who told me what the world was was a white man.

You know, all the news anchors, we were a Dan Rather family.

So it was Dan Rather, it was Ted Koppel, It was Tim Russert, you know, it was Sam Donaldson.

Like everyone who was explaining the world to me other than my own mother, and my teachers, were white men.

And so the idea that you could have the responsibility of being a black woman who can tell people the world, explain politics, explain what's happening, that is huge.

And it is a huge responsibility.

And I'm very much aware of it.

I've called it a beautiful burden because, you know, I accept the responsibility because I wanna make sure that, you know, the young girls of color that are watching me, feel as much ownership over what I'm doing as I felt with Gwen.

- Frank as a great producer will say, if I'm doing some commentary on the show, "All right, here are the three topics Joe wants "to talk about: A, B, and C." - [Joe] We never did.

- Those are none of the things we ever talk about.

And what you thinking when that's going on?

By the way, that's it.

And it's live, it's happening.

- We're never there.

- And then, by the way, and then a text comes from Frank, "Sorry, Joe went another way.

- And then Steve, when he preps for the topics.

You're so great because I know you're prepared, being the professional that you are and I'm everywhere, but where we should be.

- Well, I wouldn't mind if I hadn't just written out all sorts of notes.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- 'Cause he wants them.

- Yeah, exactly.

- Oh, I insist on them.

- [Steve] Do you enjoy that part of Joe's professionalism?

- I do actually.

- Allison, what do you say to those who argue that CNN and other networks whose ratings were better when Trump was president are in part obsessed with Trump because talking about Trump is quote, "better for ratings?"

- I don't think talking about Trump is better for ratings, to be honest.

I don't think that our viewers, you know, there's been all sorts of research done.

Our viewers are pretty plugged in.

Our viewers are pretty smart.

Our viewers are not believers in the big lie.

Our viewers are rooted in reality.

They don't love talking about Donald Trump.

So I don't think that that's really helpful for ratings.

We just follow the news where it goes.

And I have never once had a conversation ever with any of my bosses who say like, "Yeah, we gotta get back "to covering Trump because that was good for ratings."

Nobody has ever used that calculation here.

- How much do you love your career and your life?

- Well, remember the thing for us, you too.

You made a hobby a career.

99% of the American public is not able to make a hobby a career.

I would be following sports anyway.

So the fact that I've been able to do it for 30 something years as a living is a major...

It's a gift from God.

And so God gave me this memory.

It's almost like God put me on this earth.

In the mid sixties, I'm an only child.

It's almost like sports is my friend.

It's like my sibling.

So I had this, and He gave me a memory.

So you put that with a passion and I'm six years old and he created a talk show host, make a long story short.

- You talk about Iraq.

Having a presidential campaign go on and covering a campaign in the middle of a war, an ongoing war, is it harder to report during the war?

- I don't think so.

I think that what happens is it's a delicate balance to make sure that you cover a good amount of what's going on over there in that country.

And also at the same time, other issues that interest the people here in this nation.

We've got over 130,000 soldiers invested in Iraq.

We've got people that are being taken hostage daily, being beheaded as you've probably seen on the news today, unfortunately.

Those things are important, but when you're steering a ship, you have a left and a right rudder.

You've got to make sure that there's some balance in there as to what people are getting.

You can't go off in one direction too much without forgetting and neglecting what's going on in the country at the same time.

Working class people who vote, who are conservatives, right, who vote for Donald Trump, there's one thing they actually hate a lot more than they hate the Democratic party, and it's the GOP.

So the old pre-Trump GOP, like, working class Republicans hate that.

The Nikki Haley version of the GOP is dead.

They hate, hate, hate the pre-Trump version.

- Because?

- Because they see it as favoring corporations and favoring free trade and favoring China and foreign wars and foreign interventions over them.

They hate all of that.

- Where does your confidence come from?

- Ha.

I guess I don't know, a lot within.

A lot-- - Yes, you know.

- I do.

I had great support.

I think from my great support family and also the difficulties that I encountered in life and building strength to overcome them.

But I have a lot of passion.

I just love what I do.

I have a great time.

I love communicating, I love doing it.

I love the research part and then I love kind of sharing that.

- We're obsessed with the role of media, different mediums, television, radio, digital, internet, all kinds of stuff.

Where do you see the role of "talk radio" in helping to preserve and protect our very fragile democracy?

- Steve, democracy is in danger.

So your point is, is very accurate.

And the role that radio plays, I think why I am successful at it, is that I'm unique, and to the degree of, I believe that we have one set of facts.

That's important.

These days, if you are on the left, you can get talk radio or television news that focus solely on the left.

If you are on the right, you can get radio stations or television news that focuses solely on the right.

And that is, in my opinion, divisive for our country.

Talk radio is important, Steve, because the immediacy of talk radio, whether folks realize it or not, you get in your car, you're going somewhere, what's the first thing you do?

You turn on the radio.

You probably turn on talk radio.

And it's very, very important because of the immediacy, we reach people in ways, frankly, that television does not, - I'm gonna jump out at you in the democratic field that you say, "Hey, he or she-" - Here's my ticket.

- Go ahead.

- Perfect ticket.

And it's not a perfect ticket.

This is a ticket that will can win.

Joe Biden at the top, Kamala Harris as vice president.

- From out in California, Senator Harris.

- So you got Joey, blue collar, roll up your sleeves, white man who can get in the ring and battle Trump verbally.

They're about the same age, but Joey's got a little bit more street credibility.

Trump hasn't even waged any battles at all.

Matter of fact, president Bone Spurs, as I may call him from time to time, refuses to fight for this country.

Joey, Joey has a, a different background.

He's got a son that, you know, that just passed away.

- [Steve] Yeah, horrible.

- That has, that will have a America's heart, and Kamala Harris, you have the California, the race, you know, the black woman thing, even though, you know, she's of course half Indian, but I think that's even appealing.

And I see Joe Biden coming in...

This is my dream.

He wins the presidency, then he says, "You know what, I'm tired."

(Karen laughs) - [Steve] And then what?

- And taps out, she becomes president.

Yeah, that's my, yeah, that's my dream.

- And then you go to the cabinet?

- No!

(Steve laughs) I want no parts.

- Your gig's too good.

- I want no parts.

- Your gig's too good.

- This entire journey has been so pointy in a lot of ways, because, you know, I stepped in in March when we went remote, and spent nights, months on the phone with viewers on Facebook with, you know, our audience as they were sobbing, crying because maybe they had family members in a nursing home, in jail, they couldn't go visit them.

They didn't know what was happening.

"How do I get information?"

"Where do I get a test?"

"What do I do?"

"I'm siphoning gas from my tractor "so that I can put it in my car to drive to work "because I can't get through to unemployment."

And in that moment, I realized, you know, I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.

- I never came out.

I never said, "Attention, I have an announcement to make.

"I am a gay man."

I never did that.

I just never included it in the show.

I was the host of the show, and I didn't want to really, I didn't want that to be the headline, because I knew it would be distracting at the time.

In this day and age, it's kind of stupid not to, because I do a show just like you about reality and being honest.

And so if I wanted to talk about my life at home, I had to talk about being a gay guy.

And so I never really came out.

I was just, just, the closet door was always open, and, you know, I just kind of poked my head out once in a while.

- Reaction?

- The reaction was, "Boring".

(Steve laughs) I tell you.

And it's a good thing.

You know what?

- Nothing?

- The opposite would've been people picketing and saying, "Don't let my kids listen to this gay guy."

The reality was everyone was like, "Oh, he's gay.

Okay, what else?"

I never wanted this to be the "Elvis Duran is Gay Show."

- That's my headline,.

- Right.

- Because it's not.

- You feel fortunate?

- Oh my gosh, I feel blessed.

I feel blessed all the time.

And I'm just, there are times that, I mean, literally, when I'm walking into the office to go to work right across the street there, I pinch myself.

I'm thinking, "I can't believe I'm living this life."

Or "I'm living this dream."

I used to sit on my carpet in my den watching Walter Cronkite say, "And that's the way it is."

dreaming that I would work on network television.

- [Steve] As a kid.

- As a kid.

And watching Barbara Walters and thinking, "One day I wanna work on her show."

- [Steve] And you're here.

- And I did.

I mean, please, can you imagine?

- [Steve] No - Blessed.

(bright upbeat music) - [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Celebrating 30 years in public broadcasting.

Funding has been provided by Holy Name.

Seton Hall University.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

EJI, Excellence in Medicine Awards.

A New Jersey health foundation program.

New Jersey’s Clean Energy program.

The Fidelco Group.

Newark Board of Education.

NJ Best, New Jersey’s five-two-nine college savings plan.

And by Community FoodBank of New Jersey.

Promotional support provided by The New Jersey Business & Industry Association.

And by New Jersey Globe.