Steve Vogel made a career out of telling other people's stories. Now he's telling his.
The former radio broadcaster at WJBC in Bloomington, public relations manager and speech writer at State Farm Insurance and newspaper columnist at The Pantagraph, has written a new book: Broadcast Live, 71 True Stories, Including Some I'd Just as Soon Forget.
Vogel said the book is not quite a memoir, autobiography, or tell-all — it's more like a "tell-a-lot" book.
“I’ve seen a lot, been to a lot of things, and feel lucky to experience the things that I have,” Vogel said in an interview on WGLT’s Sound Ideas. “I’ve had some great mentors along the way and had a front row or second row seat to a lot of interesting things and I’m happy to share them in this book.”
And, yes, some which are a bit uncomfortable — perhaps for the writer and reader. “Some of the stories are what I call celebrity adjacent. Some are just darn embarrassing, pretty personal,” he said.
Vogel recalls an icy exchange during a live in-studio he arranged between Betty Friedan, founder of the National Organization Women and Phyllis Schlafly who led the conservative movement against the Equal Rights Amendment.
“It was like when [Friedan] came into the studio, the temperature dropped five or 10 degrees,” he quipped. “It was almost a hair-pulling contest for a while.” He also recalled an intense on-air conversation between Paul Kantner, the rock and roll legend who founded Jefferson Airplane, and a local Pentecostal minister, Wesley Ates, who thought rock and roll was the often blasphemous against Christianity.
Vogel said the two found mutual respect for each other in a phone conversation they had earlier in the day, but Ates still wanted to “save” Kantner.
“On the air, they had it out of course. Nobody won, nobody lost, but it was irritating,” Vogel said.
Reasonable Doubt
Vogel is best known to many as the author of the best-selling book, Reasonable Doubt, about the Hendricks family killings in Bloomington in 1983, and the two trials that ultimately exonerated David Hendricks for those murders.
Vogel said he knew early into the first trial that it had the makings of a book, which accelerated his note-taking throughout the nine weeks of the trial held in Rockford.
“Neither the prosecution nor the defense had said hardly anything about the circumstances, about the motive, about the defense,” said Vogel, noting David Hendricks had already been jailed for 11 months as the trial began. “It became clear to me this was a heck of a story.”
Personal tales
Covering that trial was one example of the long hours that came with a reporting job Vogel called "demanding but worthwhile." In the book, Vogel reflects on the demands of a journalist and how it caused him to spend a lot of time away from home.
When asked if he has regrets about going away so much, Vogel, who is 78, said “that question could best be asked of my children I suppose.”
“I think I was there for most of the important times, but in full-service radio, you can put in some very long days,” he said.
Referring to his wife Mary as “the essential one,” Vogel said he relied on her “more than I should have.”
Looking back on the industry where he worked for several decades as a broadcaster and later as a columnist, Vogel said she’s concerned for the future of journalism, noting news deserts are becoming more common and other forms of information are filling the void.
“Our democracy depends on people being informed, and there’s the whole impact of social media that has changed things. Too many of us spend too much time seeking out information that confirms what we think we know," he said.
Vogel has book signings scheduled from 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13, at Emerald & Amethyst in Lexington and from 2:30-4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14 at Barnes & Noble, Bloomington.
