ANGLES PODCAST

In this episode of Angles with John Richmond, John sits down with Charlie Specht, one of Buffalo’s most recognized investigative journalists. Over a 15-year career at the Buffalo News, Channel 7, and Channel 2, Charlie built a reputation for breaking stories that matter: police corruption, government misconduct, and one of the most significant local scandals in decades – the Diocese of Buffalo sex abuse cover-up. He recently made the leap to go independent, launching his own Substack and writing a book about his experience reporting on the diocese, and what it cost him personally.

Charlie walks John through how investigative journalism actually works: how tips come in, how sources are vetted and protected, what it takes to spend a month on a story before a single word goes on air, and why the business model collapse in media is leaving communities more vulnerable to corruption than most people realize. He talks candidly about the ethical line between being tough and being fair, why attacking the messenger has become a standard defense tactic for people in power, and what it really means to report against your own assumptions.

Business/Organization: Investigative Journalism

In this episode of Angles with John Richmond, the tables are turned. Producer Brett Tuttle steps out from behind the camera and into the host chair to interview the man who has been asking the questions all along. This is the episode John never fully planned for: a honest look at who he is, where he came from, what building Richmond Vona actually cost him, and what he has learned about himself along the way.

Brett pulls John through the origin story of Richmond Vona – the moment at a previous firm that cracked the door open, and how consuming entrepreneur biographies and the Founders podcast drives his curiosity even more. John talks about what it was like to self-fund a law firm through its first years, living in a constant state of fight or flight, watching the bank account drain while all the right markers were moving in the right direction, and why he never once thought about quitting even when he absolutely should have. He goes deep on hiring, on what it means to protect people and where that drive actually comes from, and why high standards are non-negotiable at a firm where the clients are never just case files.

Business/Organization: Founder & CEO at Richmond Vona, LLC

In this special Mental Health Awareness Month episode of Angles with John Richmond, John sits down with two of Western New York’s most dedicated voices in mental health advocacy. Dan Lukasik is an attorney with over 35 years of experience, the founder of the website Lawyers with Depression, the creator of the Buffalo Depression Project, and a man who has lived openly with major depression for 25 years. Cheri Alvarez is the CEO of Compeer Buffalo, a mental health nonprofit that has been transforming lives in this community through the radical, simple act of human connection.

Dan shares his story with remarkable honesty: being diagnosed with major depression at 40 while managing partner of his own firm, losing his younger brother to bipolar disorder, and spending the last two and a half decades turning his own pain into a resource. He talks about depression in the legal profession, which affects lawyers at four times the rate of the general population, why many lawyers never ask for help, and why his new Buffalo Depression Project exists to make sure no one in this community has to figure out where to turn on their own.

Business/Organization: Mental health advocate

In this episode of Angles with John Richmond, John sits down with Anthony Greco, Director of Exhibits at the Buffalo History Museum and host of the Buffalo History Museum podcast. Anthony has spent nearly 20 years going down rabbit holes in old newspapers, building exhibits, and telling the stories of a city that most of its own residents only think they know. From the chaos of mid-1800s Canalside to the assassination of a president, from the real story of the McKinley Curse to the first airplane factory in the United States sitting on Elmwood Avenue, Anthony is the kind of guide you didn’t know you needed.

The conversation covers the full sweep of Buffalo’s history: what the city was actually like as the 8th largest city in America, how Bethlehem Steel made and then hollowed out entire communities, why the city stagnated long enough to preserve its architectural legacy, and what the Erie Canal story looks like when you include the indigenous people. Anthony talks about how the museum approaches difficult history, why co-curation with community partners matters, and what it takes to put together an exhibit that tells a story that actually lands.

Business/Organization: Buffalo History Museum

In this episode of Angles with John Richmond, John sits down with Dr. Kevin Williams, director of the Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium at Buffalo State University, for a conversation that covers black holes, Mars, dark matter, life on other planets, and why most of us have completely lost our connection to the night sky.

Dr. Williams walks through his origin story, how the planetarium works, and what it actually takes to explain the scale of the universe to someone who has never thought about it. He breaks down the science without making your head explode – spaghettification, time dilation, the James Webb Telescope, and why we only understand about 5-10% of the universe. If you have ever stared up at a clear sky and felt something you couldn’t name, this is the episode for you.

Business/Organization: Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium at Buffalo State University

In this episode of Angles with John Richmond, John sits down with Tim Herzog, founder of Flying Bison Brewing Company and the man known as the Godfather of Craft Beer in Buffalo. Tim is one of the best storytellers you will ever hear, and this conversation covers all of it: a four-pack of Guinness in 1978, a gag gift from his wife that started a business, six years without a salary, and a 100-year-old brewery license nobody at City Hall knew how to process.

This is as honest a business story as you will hear. Tim talks about losing his founding partner mid-process, putting his house up as collateral, driving with cash to pay the electric bill, lobbying Albany to change New York State taproom law, and eventually watching Hamburg Brewing Company carry the Flying Bison brand forward. He also shares his unfiltered take on where craft beer went wrong and why he thinks the industry committed suicide chasing trends instead of staying true to what it stood for.

Business/Organization: Flying Bison Brewing Company

In this episode of Angles with John Richmond, John sits down with Howard Cadmus, owner of Sweet Jenny’s chocolate and ice cream shop and 1811 Comics and Collectibles in the historic Williamsville Mill. Howard is one of the funniest, most self-aware people to sit across from John in 56 episodes. He runs two beloved businesses out of a 215-year-old building with a waterfall out the back, guides every decision by two questions he has asked himself since he was young, and genuinely believes the income is not the point – the outcome is.

The conversation covers all of it: growing up on public assistance in Brooklyn, the hustle instinct that never left, how he and his wife Tara went from a chocolate shop in Snyder to rescuing the Williamsville Mill from near demolition, what it really means to be in business with your spouse, and how Brutus the Barber Beefcake started a chain of wrestler appearances that now includes nine visits from Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Howard also makes a strong case for therapy, talks candidly about imposter syndrome, and explains why 70-hour weeks don’t feel like work when you love what you do.

Business/Organization: Sweet Jenny’s chocolate and ice cream shop and 1811 Comics and Collectibles

In this episode of Angles with John Richmond, John sits down with Julie Blackman, owner of Farmers and Artisans in Snyder and sixth-generation farmer of Blackman Farms in Niagara County. If you live anywhere near Snyder, you probably already know the store. If you don’t, this episode will make sure you go.

Julie’s story moves from milking cows before school to a 20-year career in physical therapy to a trip to San Francisco that changed everything. She talks about building the store from a fruit butter grant application, losing her founding partner right before the move to the current location, and deciding on a flight home to jump in anyway. She is also honest about everything people don’t see: HR with no HR department, the physical exhaustion of staying local when it would be easier not to, and why she would never open a second location no matter how many times people ask.

Business/Organization: Farmers and Artisans in Snyder and sixth-generation farmer of Blackman Farms in Niagara County

In this episode of Angles with John Richmond, Director of Museum Collections at the Buffalo Naval Park. Shane is an archivist by trade who came to the career at 35 after a trip to the National Archives in Washington changed everything, and has spent the years since cataloging, preserving, and telling the human stories behind the three vessels docked on Buffalo’s waterfront: the USS Sullivans, the USS Little Rock, and the USS Croaker. This conversation covers the full history of each ship, why Buffalo has the largest inland naval park in the country, and what it actually means to be the person responsible for keeping these stories alive.

The episode goes deep on the sinking of the USS Sullivans on April 14th, 2022 – a seiche event on Lake Erie that created a 15-foot gash in her hull, drove her six feet into the Buffalo River, and became national news overnight. Shane walks through the story of the five Sullivan brothers from Waterloo, Iowa, what happened on the USS Juneau in November 1942, and why the Croaker and the Sullivans sitting side by side in Buffalo is a more powerful historical connection than most visitors realize. He also lays out Operation Preservation and the $21 million dry-dock campaign now underway to save both vessels.

Business/Organization: Director of Museum Collections at the Buffalo Naval Park

John sits down with Matt Fairburn, staff writer at The Athletic covering the Buffalo Sabres and one of the most trusted voices in Western New York sports media. Matt has covered both the Bills and the Sabres across his career, spending years at Syracuse.com before joining The Athletic at its Buffalo launch in 2018. He’s a Boston kid who came to Buffalo for a job, met his wife here, and stayed. This conversation is not really about the state of the teams. It’s about what it actually takes to do this job at a high level.

Matt talks about building source relationships as a long game, how the Kevin Adams accountability piece came together over eight months and what it was like to sit across from Adams before it published, and what he has observed about organizational culture and leadership from years of watching two major sports franchises succeed and fail. He also covers the Sabres’ playoff run, the GM change that shifted everything, Brandon Beane and the pressure on the Bills, and where journalism is going as the written word competes with video, AI, and a fragmented media landscape.

Business/Organization: Staff writer at The Athletic

John sits down with Brian Higgins, former U.S. Congressman and current President and CEO of Shea’s Performing Arts Center. Brian is South Buffalo born and raised, the son of a bricklayer-turned-city-councilman, and a man whose grandfather helped lay the 520,000 bricks in the historic Shea’s theater itself. He spent 19 years in Congress on the Ways and Means Committee, secured the $300 million New York Power Authority settlement that still finances Buffalo’s waterfront redevelopment, and now runs the largest theater by seating capacity in New York State. This is a conversation about vision, execution, and what it actually takes to believe in a city.

Brian walks through the $34.5 million expansion currently underway at Shea’s, the Musical Fair partnership that has broken its own attendance record every single show, and the digital signage and lit art installations turning the theater district’s alleys into destinations. He talks about his father’s moment at the city council that made him fall in love with politics at age ten, the Harvard fellowship that came six months after he lost an election, and what learned helplessness does to a community. He also shares his unfiltered take on the current state of national politics, the US-Canada relationship, and what he hopes Buffalo looks like in ten years.

Business/Organization: President and CEO of Shea’s Performing Arts Center

John sits down with Laura Fitzgerald, cemetery historian, longtime docent at Forest Lawn, and current director at Oakwood Cemetery in Niagara Falls. Laura has spent over two decades learning to read the stories carved into headstones, buried in burial permits, and hidden in the lives of people most of Western New York has never heard of. This is one of those episodes where you walk away looking at something familiar in a completely different way.

Laura covers the origin of the Rural Cemetery Movement and why cemeteries were the original public parks before Central Park existed, the dentist buried at Forest Lawn who invented the electric chair, the remarkable and ultimately sad story of Annie Edson Taylor who went over Niagara Falls in a barrel at 63 to avoid dying poor, what the symbols on headstones actually mean, and what it is like to spend a career researching the dead. She also talks about Chautauqua, cemetery camp, stone preservation workshops, and why the best way to learn the history of any town is to walk through its cemetery.

Business/Organization: Laura Fitzgerald director at Oakwood Cemetery in Niagara Falls