JolietTV Asks Joliet Patch Editor John Ferak These 9 Questions

JOLIET, IL ? Richard Fredrickson and Dick Schuster of Joliet Community Television Channel 6 ? who have produced more than 200 regular shows together for their "Profiles" segment, recently interviewed me for their cable television show filmed at Al's Steakhouse. Among the wide array of topics, they asked about the continued popularity of Joliet Patch, my memories of growing up on Joliet's east side and my history in the newspaper industry before returning to Joliet eight years ago.

The entire 34-minute interview has been airing several times a day this past week on Joliet's Channel 6, and now you can watch it on YouTube. According to the city's website, "Joliet Community Television (JCTV) is a non for profit community channel founded in 1980. JCTV serves Joliet by producing local programs that entertain and bring information to the community. The organization started and to date has been run by volunteers."

"Those of you in the Chicagoland area, probably want to know who is behind all this Patch stuff. Well, we're going to find out ... I think it's the most viewed Patch in the nation," Fredrickson told his audience. "When they say Joliet Patch, they're really talking about John Ferak, and that is our guest today, John Ferak."

At the end of the interview, Fredrickson told viewers: "This is chapter one. There's more chapters to come because there's a lot more things going on with John Ferak. He's with the Patch. You read him every day, and if you've never been on the Patch, you need to do that. Today, everything's about communications and the Patch is certainly one of our vital avenues of information here in Joliet, Will County or wherever you're watching."

The YouTube link to watch the 34-minute interview is posted below. I also included the key YouTube timestamps if you just want to watch those:

• 3 minutes 15 seconds: "Let's start with the question that I'll bet most of your interviews never talk about. Do you have a family?"
• 5 minutes 20 seconds: "You bike everywhere. You are a legitimate certified licensed bike rider. You love it?"
• 7 minutes 55 seconds: "As a kid, you grew up on the east side of Joliet, correct?"
• 11 minutes 3 seconds: "Let's do a quick tour of some of the places that you worked with these Gannett people and then we're going to come back to Joliet and find out what the heck happened to this guy, John Ferak?"
• 13 minutes 30 seconds: "When you joined the Patch, that was a relatively new innovation in communication?"
• 15 minutes 17 seconds: "Now for our YouTube viewers, if they're sitting in California someplace, or back in Oklahoma, can they go and still view the Joliet Patch?"
• 19 minutes 20 seconds: "So the other thing he learned up in Wisconsin, where this epiphany came upon him, to be an investigative reporter for Gannett, and he did that for the whole state of Wisconsin ... That's really what you are today ... and that's why so many people love this guy and so many people hold him with great disdain. And you have both, so it's almost like you're a politician without being a politician. You get the likes, and you get the dislikes ... recall the most important or best investigation that you were involved in?"
• 24 minutes and 47 seconds: "But you're also an author. That first book had to be quite a challenge. But why and when did you start? Was that up in Wisconsin you started thinking about that or did it happen down here in Illinois?"
• 29 minutes 23 seconds: "Give me the names of those books and then how do people, they're watching, they're listening ... maybe they want to buy them, a couple of these books, how do they do that?"