-
10 Questions with ... Jim Campbell
September 23, 2014
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. -
BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
"Business Talk with Jim Campbell" - Nationally Syndicated on the Biz Talk Radio Network – which has over 300 stations – Featuring interviews with leading figures from the world of business, and the business of politics & sports. “Taking on Wall Street & Washington from the radical center.â€
Radio: WGCH/Greenwich, CT; BizTalkRadio Network; Yale Broadcasting Company (WYBC-AM/New Haven)
Business: Entrepreneurial - Greenwich Learning Systems & JC Ventures, Inc.; Corporate – IBM, KPMG Consulting, Morgan StanleyEducation: Dartmouth College – MBA, Tuck School of Business; Tufts University – BA, Political Science; Connecticut School of Broadcasting – Certificate in TV/Radio
1. You were in business before radio -- what got you into radio? Why radio, especially after, and during, a business career?
I listened in car to a lot of talk radio when I owned my vending business…. all talk radio seemed to be from “wing nuts†and polarizing. Wanted to do fact-based, from the middle, taking on Wall Street and Washington, while the country seemed to be going in the wrong direction and mired in gridlock. Also it was around the time of the financial collapse of 2008– I wanted to get underneath and expose everything…. and people always told me I had a “radio voice.â€
2. You've interviewed a wide range of subjects on the show, including some really major figures in politics, sports, business -- who have been the standouts and why?
a) Got the first extended interview that former N.Y. Governor Eliot Spitzer did, and a brilliant guy he is.
b) Steve Forbes, CEO of Forbes Media – making sound money sound simple and needed for economic growth.
c) David Stockman – former Reagan Administration Budget Director – definitive book of the financial disasters and the bad policies of the Federal Reserve.
d) General Stanley McChrystal on the War in Afghanistan.
e) Ed Whitacre – former CEO of GM, coming out of bankruptcy, and former CEO of AT&T, who did the first Apple iPhone exclusive deal.
3. How do you make your show stand out among other business talk shows? What can listeners expect from your show?
We do deep dives on subjects, versus short sound bite interviews; we present the facts, not right or left wing propaganda. And I do intense prep, which really engages and challenges guests who in turn love doing the show. It’s been called: “Charlie Rose on radioâ€; “Smart radio†and “Appointment radio.â€
3. Who are your mentors, influences, and heroes?
ca) Hero is Warren Buffett. b) Mentors in Radio – Jeff Weber (President of the BizTalkRadio Network) and Tony Savino (News Director at WGCH). c) Best friend and influence – My Dad.4.How do you see the economy faring in the next few years? Are you optimistic or pessimistic about America's business landscape in the near future? Long term?
a) Short-term. Slow growth; and need to re-orient economy from dependence on consumer spending and debt.
b) Long-term: IF we get federal debt under control; better quality education for all; leaders who actually have guts to take tough actions, I am bullish… absent that, the US is in a decline as a great nation.
6. Of what are you most proud?
My family – four daughters that turned out great and a great wife. Career-wise: my show – “Business Talk with Jim Campbell.â€
7. In the years since you got your MBA, what would you say is the most striking change in the business world, in the way things get done, over that time? Or is business still business and have things not really changed?
Most profound changes: moving from hierarchical, bureaucratic corporations modeled on the military chain of command; to flatter, more entrepreneurial organizations driven by need to change and the technology revolution.
8. What do you do for fun?
Reading; exercise; golf.
9. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without _______________.
...working out.
10. What's the best advice you've ever gotten? The worst?
Best – from my grandmother: “Seek the truth and it shall set you free.â€
Worst – “Stay in this job, even though you don’t like it.â€
-
-