The Juice with Jeff

The Juice with Jeff #333

On this episode, Audrey Granger conducts/co-produces a fantastic and conversational interview with me thru Zoom. This is Audrey's debut/first time on the podcast and I want to thank James Alsup for recruiting Audrey to join our Juice with Jeff Family of Interviewers and Co-Producers.

After our introductions, Audrey asked me the following questions (almost all of them I've never been asked before):

1. Why did you choose to come to Drake?

2. What was the most important thing Drake's J-School taught you that you still use today?

3. Do you feel bad about not using the training other than your hobby with the podcast or do you feel that it wasn't meant to be?

4. Who has who was the most influential classmate or professor you had that influenced who you became as a person?

5. I shared with Audrey about the Basement Dwellers series of episodes we've done for the podcast over the last year. 

6. What goes into creating a great podcast, what defines how you do what you do? 

7. What is one question? You asked more people would ask you but they rarely do? 

8. What belief did you have during the 1990s when you were at Drake that you have completely changed your mind on today? 

9. How do you know it's time to evolve and let go of something that was part of your identity? 

10. What is the hardest truth you have learned about success and the measure of success?

11. What motivates you now that is different from what motivated you early in your career? 

12. What are you still chasing personally? 

13. We were both journalism students at Drake. Learning how to tell other people's stories. Did you ever imagine back then that one day you would be telling your own story? 

After Audrey finished asking her questions, I told her about all the changes that have been made in the Meredith Hall Basement. Then I asked her to share what she is doing these days.

This episode was recorded on Sunday morning March 1, 2026 and it runs 1 hour and 12 minutes long. Our opening and closing theme music is provided by Anastasia Chubarova courtesy of Pixabay. Funding for this podcast is provided by RandomKid, Lisa Krain, and Wendi Roush. Enjoy!

The Juice with Jeff #332

On this episode of the podcast, Micole and Josh Chapman, Mariah Klemp, and Jill Bassman conduct and co-produce their fantastic, superb, extremely unique, ultra-energetic, extremely special, and EPIC interview with me In Person for Episode #332 of the show!! This is Micole's 8th time (6th In Person), Josh's 3rd time, Jill's 9th time (7th In Person), and Mariah's debut/first time on the podcast and we recorded this episode at Jill's house (with my HEPA air purifier running at full blast). The interviews that Micole, Josh, Mariah, and Jill conduct with me are one of the biggest highlights of the year both for me personally and the podcast. This particular interview is not only their BEST INTERVIEW EVER for the show, but it's my ALL TIME FAVORITE episode and I firmly believe it's definitely the BEST EPISODE EVER we ever produced of the entire podcast series!!

After our introductions and welcoming Mariah to our Juice with Jeff Family of Interviewers and Co-Producers, we had a unique format combining Rapid Fire questions with actual conversational questions:

RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS:
Jill: Do you like to talk it out or think about it? 
Do you teach kindness or courage? 
Would you rather have gentle advice given or the direct truth? 
Routine or spontaneity?

Mariah:  Neighborhood walk or movie marathon? 
Handwritten letter or text message? 
Piano or guitar? 
Sneakers or dress shoes? 
Quiet reflection or group discussion? 

CONVERSATIONAL QUESTIONS:
Josh: What movie have you watched the most times? 
What genre do you love the most? 

Micole: What movie scene is really emotional for you?
What's your go-to comfort movie? 

For the following several questions: I answer the next several questions using my voice impersonations:
Mariah: What is your best impersonation? (as Fat Albert)
What is your most requested impersonation? (as Mister Rogers o.b.m.)
What character do you accidentally slip into sometimes? If you had to do and then one impersonation for a 24 hours straight, who would it be?

Josh: How old were you when you first watched Mister Rogers' Neighborhood?

Do you prefer Mister Rogers' change in sweaters or the shoe changes?

Micole, Josh, Jill, and Mariah present me with a really special picture frame with the Golden Cardigan Award with Jill giving a brief speech about it.

And we wrap up the podcast with a several minutes round of my voice impersonations and our Juice with Jeff cheer.

This episode was recorded on Friday morning February 27, 2026 and it runs 42 minutes long. Our opening and closing theme music is provided by Anastasia Chubarova courtesy of Pixabay. Funding for this podcast is provided by RandomKid, Lisa Krain, and Wendi Roush. Enjoy!

The Juice with Jeff #331

On this episode, Teeg Stouffer conducts/co-produces a fantastic and really conversational interview with me thru Zoom.

After our introductions, Teeg asked me the following questions:

1. What have you been up to since our last interview together? (Since January of last year)

2. Have you had any new additions to your CD/Music and Blu-Ray/DVD Collection over the last year that you are really excited about?

3. What are you looking forward to during the year ahead?

4. Did you go to any of your high school reunions? After I finish answering the question, I ask Teeg to reminisce on any high school reunions he went to.

5. What else is on your mind these days besides the podcast?

6. Tell us about any Jewish holidays coming up in the near future?

We wrap up this episode of the podcast with Teeg and I giving a sales pitch to recruit additional people to join our Juice with Jeff Family of Interviewers and Co-Producers.

This episode was recorded on Monday night February 23, 2026 and it runs 1 hour and 3 minutes long. Our opening and closing theme music is provided by Anastasia Chubarova courtesy of Pixabay. Funding for this podcast is provided by RandomKid, Lisa Krain, and Wendi Roush. Enjoy!

The Juice with Jeff #330

On this episode Rachel Graham conducts and co-produces a fantastic, superb, and conversational interview with me thru Zoom. This is Rachel's fourth time on the podcast.

Rachel asked me questions on and we had a two-way conversation on the following topics:

The video games and systems we had when we were growing up as kids and teenagers such as Atari and Nintendo. We each shares our favorite video games and how we'll both sometimes use Atari Flashback g systems preloaded with a variety of classic Atari games.

Puzzles, including how I really enjoy putting together the Classic Movies 1000 piece puzzle that Carrie England gave me for a holiday gift two months ago.
Classic and Vintage films/TV Shows

Some more memories from our Crossroads Park Elementary School and Indian Hills Jr High days

I learned tonight that Rachel and I have multiple things in common including how both of us as re extremely sensitive to certain loud sounds and how both of us enjoy collecting DVD's (and for me also a few Blu-Rays).

This episode was recorded on Wednesday night February 11, 2026 and it runs 1 hour and 12 minutes long. Our opening and closing theme music is provided by Anastasia Chubarova courtesy of Pixabay. Funding for this podcast is provided by RandomKid, Lisa Krain, and Wendi Roush. Enjoy!

The Juice with Jeff #329

On this episode of the podcast JD Snover and Emma Stroner conduct/co-produce a fantastic, superb, and really conversational interview with me In Person in a study room at the Urbandale Public Library. This is JD and Emma's  debut/first time on the show.

JD and Emma asked me several questions related to my years in the J-School at Drake and the time I spent in the Basement at Meredith Hall, things I did both for my Broadcast courses and anything I did for the Drake Broadcasting System, courses that were not related to the J-School that I enjoyed, and hobbies that I enjoy doing (where I talk more about music and my super impressive DVD and Blu-Ray Collection). JD and Emma also shared their thoughts on the years they were in the J-School as well as things they did with their J-School coursework and DBS.

This episode was recorded on Sunday February 8, 2026 and it runs a feature-length 1 hour and 38 minutes long. Our opening and closing theme music is provided by Anastasia Chubarova courtesy of Pixabay. Funding for this podcast is provided by RandomKid, Lisa Krain, and Wendi Roush. Enjoy!

The Juice with Jeff #328

On this episode of the podcast Karen Christiansen, Sophie Homonoff, Alison Hoeman, and Inbal Mazar conduct/co-produce a fantastic, really fun, and conversational interview with me In Person at Sophie's house. This is Karen's fifth time, Sophie's sixth time, Alison's fourth time, and Inbal's third time on the show.

Here are the questions that I was asked during this interview:

Inbal: What is your favorite childhood memory?

Alison: You have the ability to time travel, what era of time would you go to and what piece of advice you’d give yourself?

Karen: Tell us about your dogs. Have you always had dogs as pets and how do you interact with them?

Do you listen to other podcasts and if so, which ones do you listen to?

Do you have to do all of your food prep for the weekly Shabbat in advance and how does it work with the rules? How do you know when to begin and end Shabbat every week?  What is your routine like for Shabbat on Friday nights and Saturdays during the day?

Inbal: How do you want to be remembered by others?

Karen: Do you still your long walks or any other exercise on a regular basis?
Your neighborhood has some serious hills, do people slide down those hills?
You went to Springbrook State Park and Ledges State Park back in the fall, how was that? Tell us more about Springbrook.

Sophie: What was your best bowling score when you bowled as a child or teenager?

If you could go back to high school today, would you want to do that?
What is your favorite memory from the days you attended musicals at the Civic Center?

Do you have favorite memories from Caspe Terrace including the Buchsbaum Auditorium?

We end with Sophie and Karen offering a recruiting pitch that promotes recruiting more people to conduct the interviews with me.

This episode was recorded on Friday February 6, 2026 and it runs 56 minutes long. Our opening and closing theme music is provided by Anastasia Chubarova courtesy of Pixabay. Funding for this podcast is provided by RandomKid, Lisa Krain, and Wendi Roush. Enjoy!

The Juice with Jeff #327

On this episode Ann Kaatz LoBur, James Alsup, and John Robinson conduct/co-produce a fantastic and really conversational interview with me thru Zoom for the show. This is Ann's ninth time, James' fifth time, and John's second time on the podcast.

This particular episode is the first of another super special multi part series we're doing again this year called The Basement Dwellers, which involve me and multiple friends from my J-School days at Drake. Like me all three of them majored in the Radio/TV Production section of the J-School at Drake during the 1990's. A very special thanks and shout out goes out to Todd Evans for coming up with the idea and concept of this really special Basement Dwellers series for the podcast!!

Ann facilitates the beginning of the interview, and we start with all of us introducing ourselves,  For much of the podcast, we each talk about how we ended up going to Drake for our undergraduate years of University. And we talked about several other things including recruiting additional people (both in general and other J-School classmates to be on the podcast) as well as the numerous physical changes that have been made in the Basement of Meredith Hall at Drake.

This episode was recorded on Tuesday January 27, 2026 and it runs 1 hour and 13 minutes long. Our opening and closing theme music is provided by Anastasia Chubarova courtesy of Pixabay. Funding for this podcast is provided by RandomKid, Lisa Krain, and Wendi Roush. Enjoy!

The Juice with Jeff #326

On this episode, Katey Hartzell conducts and co-produces a fantastic, unique, super fun, and conversational interview with me In Person for Episode #326 of the podcast. This is Katey's sixth time on the show (4th in person). We recorded this episode in a study room at the Urbandale Public Library.

After our introductions, Katey asks me the following questions, and I bring up side topics during my answers to some of these questions:

1. What are your goals for this year?

2. What items do you enjoy cooking?

3.  Besides the podcast and watching your Blu-Rays and DVD's, what new or other hobbies do you enjoy during your down time?

4. Have you traveled somewhere that you have a fond memory of?

5. Katey then has a special game where she asks me what my favorites are on THIRTY different things in just one word or so.

Towards the end, I have Katey tickle me so that I can demonstrate something that makes me laugh really quickly. And I mention several films and TV show clips that easily make me laugh.

We end with Katey doing a pitch to recruit people to conduct and co-produce the interviews with me for the podcast.

This episode kicks off the 2026 Season of the podcast, It was recorded on Sunday January 18, 2026 and it runs 1 hour and 4 minutes long. Our opening and closing theme music is provided by Anastasia Chubarova courtesy of Pixabay. Funding for this podcast is provided by RandomKid, Lisa Krain, and Wendi Roush. Enjoy!

The Juice with Jeff #325

On this episode, Howie Hoffman conducts and co-produces a fantastic, superb, and conversational interview with me thru Zoom for Episode #325 of the podcast. This is Howie's second time on the show.

Basically, Howie went all over the place in bringing up and asking me questions related to how the podcast went this year, my Blu-Ray and DVD collection, movies, cartoons, people in the animation and TV industry, among a few other things.

2025 is now officially "in the books" for having the SECOND HIGHEST NUMBER OF EPISODES produced and recorded of the podcast for a given year both in general and also for the number of in person interviews as we had 56 new episodes recorded during this year with 37 of them being done in person. I truly feel that both 2024 and 2025 are definitely the Golden Age for The Juice with Jeff podcasts!!!

This episode of the podcast was recorded on Monday November 17, 2025 and it runs 1 hour and 13 minutes long. Our opening and closing theme music is provided by Oleg Kyrylkovv courtesy of Pixabay. Funding for this podcast is provided by RandomKid, Lisa Krain, and Wendi Roush. Enjoy!

 

The Juice with Jeff #324

On this episode, Kelly Flynn conducts and co-produces a fantastic and conversational interview with me In Person for Episode #324 of the podcast. This is Kelly's second time on the show (first in person).

After our introductions, Kelly asks me a few questions:

1. What is your morning routine like? Is there is a certain routine you have every day to get yourself ready for work or whatever, is it different on the weekends?

2. In the past, I've seen you do karaoke when you get together with friends, what is your go to karaoke song?

3. How did you come up the name for your podcast, The Juice with Jeff? Is there any special meaning behind it?

4. You mentioned with doing the podcast there are a lot of things you've learned along the way,  what is one mistake you've made that you're actually glad you made in the end thru the process?

5. What is or are your other favorite podcast(s) besides The Juice with Jeff?

6. If you had a Superpower of any kind, what would it be, why, and how would you use it?

7. If you had an extra hour in every day, what would you do with it?

8. What is the most unique thing you've ever eaten?

9. You've done 325 episodes of the podcast these last 8 years which is amazing, is there any question you haven't been asked that you wish someone would ask you about?

10. Tell me about the laughter that occurs when you're listening to an episode of the podcast or when you're recording a particular episode?

11. Ai is everywhere in the news now. What are your thoughts on Ai, do you use it, and how do you see Ai changing everyone's life in the next few years?

12. If someone did a movie on your life, who do you think would play you?

13. If you could have a conversation with your younger self, what advice would you give?

14. I was recently invited to a party that will be coming up in a couple weeks with a "bring your favorite things theme", you're supposed to bring two or three different things that are under or around $25 that you use in your everyday life, what such items would you bring?

15. What would your life look like if money was never a factor?

16. What is the best compliment that you've ever received from somebody in your life?

17. If you could meet any historical figure or famous person dead or alive, who would you like to meet?

18. What is your biggest fear?

19. How do you feel about the recent "Cancel Culture" and do you believe in it or not?

20. What is your favorite childhood memory?

21. What is your favorite holiday to celebrate?

22. You said you watch lots of movies on DVD and Blu-Ray, what is your favorite movie of all time that you probably watch the most?

23. If you had to eat only a couple of foods for the rest of your life, what would they be?

24. What is one thing you want people to know about you?

25. What is your favorite season?

This episode of the podcast was recorded on Sunday November 2, 2025 and it runs 1 hour and 4 minutes long. Our opening and closing theme music is provided by Oleg Kyrylkovv courtesy of Pixabay. Funding for this podcast is provided by RandomKid, Lisa Krain, and Wendi Roush. Enjoy!