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the takeaway. I'm MHP and we are still

0:55

giving you a behind the scenes look

0:59

at how the takeaway gets made with our fantastic control

1:01

room team. Up next, you're going to hear

1:04

from our girl line producer, Jackie

1:06

Martin. What's up, Melissa? All

1:09

right, Jackie is our Wu-Tang loving, say

1:11

it like it absolutely is,

1:14

member of the CR team. She gets

1:16

a professional job at Indeed.com and

1:19

she's a professional HR manager. She's

1:21

a member of the CR team. She gets

1:23

up early to edit and update scripts, send

1:27

Zoom link to guests. And once we record in

1:29

the morning, Jackie edits it all.

1:32

And she does so with unparalleled

1:35

speed and accuracy.

1:37

Jackie

1:43

also loves when things go a

1:46

little sideways in the morning. I

1:48

mean, it's kind of wild. If you have

1:50

a problem with your consoles or a

1:52

stand-in host gets sick and she

1:55

has to find replacements,

1:56

regular people would

1:58

freak out. I'm freaking out, man. Man.

2:01

Jackie's like, oh, I was

2:04

made for this moment. And

2:06

she does all of it while getting her own little

2:08

one ready for school and most recently

2:11

has added an adorable new puppy named

2:14

Echo to the mix.

2:15

Jackie, how

2:17

do you do it all, ma'am? I

2:19

do not know. I do it though. Now

2:23

you have an extraordinary background,

2:25

like all the jobs. Tell us a little bit

2:27

about some of the most interesting gigs

2:29

you had.

2:31

I was in the Air Force, the

2:33

best force for five

2:35

years, and they trained me to be

2:37

a surgical technologist. And when

2:39

I got out, I did that on

2:41

civilian side for, I don't

2:43

know, 11 years or something. And

2:46

then I went back to school using my GI

2:48

bill and I

2:50

was drawn into communications

2:52

and journalism and production. And

2:55

then I started doing sports

2:58

radio. I worked for Howard

3:00

Stern, which is where I met my husband. And

3:02

that's how I landed here. Any

3:05

differences between me and Howard Stern?

3:07

Oh my, no, you guys are exactly

3:10

like. No,

3:13

it's funny because he's actually super

3:15

professional outside of

3:17

his on air persona. So like,

3:20

he's very nice and he remembers everyone's name

3:22

and he's not who he is

3:24

on the radio behind the scenes. He's a really,

3:27

he's a decent person and he's a good

3:29

boss. So I have no complaints. Help

3:31

folks to understand what it means when you say

3:34

you are editing and cutting.

3:37

What is, I mean, it's not a physical

3:39

piece of tape you're cutting. What is it you're doing?

3:42

So I grabbed the audio files once

3:45

the guys are done recording them. And

3:47

once you've had your interview with the

3:49

guest

3:50

and let's say the interview is long.

3:53

I try to get 22 minutes into four minutes and 10 seconds.

3:56

So

3:59

I decide. what's the best

4:01

parts of the interview, what's

4:03

accurate, because I never want something

4:06

to go on air that's inaccurate.

4:09

I always want you to sound your best. And I

4:11

hate having notes in

4:13

the Slack channel after, so I try to make

4:15

it as good as I can the first time

4:17

because I really hate when it's like,

4:20

oh, you missed this. So that's

4:22

just my

4:23

brain being like, I try to get it right the

4:25

first time. All

4:27

right, so

4:29

we might call that editorial

4:31

integrity. When you are

4:33

trying to get a long interview,

4:36

because sometimes maybe the host went too

4:39

long, you're trying to get a

4:41

long interview into a shorter

4:44

timeframe that we've got between our

4:46

commercial breaks, and you're trying

4:48

to make sure that things are right.

4:51

Are there guidelines that you use in your own

4:53

head in terms of what

4:56

you keep and what you toss?

4:59

Absolutely, so I never tried to

5:01

mess with the integrity of the answer. So let's

5:03

say you ask a question and the

5:05

guest gives a super long

5:08

answer, but

5:10

there's like a lot of fluff in the middle

5:12

that people don't need. I make sure I get rid

5:14

of the fluff, but nothing that would

5:17

change the integrity of the answer. The

5:19

same thing with your questions. Let's say you ask

5:21

a super long question, but it

5:23

could have been four words.

5:27

I try to just

5:28

make it as short as I can and

5:31

to the point as I can without,

5:33

again, messing with the integrity of the

5:35

question, because I don't want it to ever seem

5:37

like I changed

5:40

what you asked or how the

5:42

guest answered. But if there's a lot

5:44

of hemming and hawing and awning and humming

5:47

and pauses and stumbles,

5:49

somebody stumbles over a

5:51

word and then says it correctly, I

5:54

could edit that out, but I would never change what

5:56

they say or what you say.

5:59

I'm shocked. Are you saying that I

6:01

use 20 words when just four would

6:03

do? Oh, did

6:05

I say that? Alright,

6:09

Jackie also produces full segments

6:11

for the show. I do sometimes. And

6:13

as you told us earlier, Jackie, you're

6:15

an Air Force veteran. You served honorably

6:18

from 2000 to 2005, and that

6:21

does shape some of the stories

6:23

that you pitch and produce.

6:26

Like this one.

6:29

In 2008, Season 5 of

6:31

The L Word premiered with the character

6:33

Tasha, a decorated Iraq

6:35

War veteran being investigated under

6:38

Don't Ask, Don't Tell. This is

6:40

really stupid. We should just tell them they're our friends. Tell

6:42

us what? Tasha is being held back

6:45

because she's being investigated for homosexual

6:47

conduct.

6:49

Thousands of LGBTQ veterans

6:51

faced similar experiences before

6:53

Don't Ask, Don't Tell was repealed

6:56

in 2011 by President Obama. During

6:59

a virtual White House event on Monday, the

7:01

Department of Veterans Affairs issued new guidance

7:04

to provide full benefits to veterans

7:06

who were discharged because of their sexual

7:09

orientation or gender identity. Healthcare,

7:12

pensions, housing assistance, homeless

7:15

assistance programs, and a proper

7:17

veterans' burial benefits. All

7:20

these vital aspects of civilian life

7:23

have been out of reach to thousands of queer veterans.

7:25

Until now.

7:29

Now, tell me, what is it

7:31

about this segment that made it one of your favorites?

7:34

I did serve, and I served with a lot of

7:36

my friends. I served during the time

7:38

when it was Don't Ask, Don't Tell,

7:41

and people were kicked out. And

7:43

so when this happened, when veterans

7:47

could receive their honorable

7:49

status, I thought this was such

7:52

a fantastic thing that the military did. And

7:55

the fact that you can be who you want to be

7:57

in the military, when honestly, they were always

7:59

there.

7:59

it just really struck a chord

8:02

with me. It needed to be on the takeaway.

8:03

["The Me

8:15

Too Backlash," by The

8:27

New York Times plays in

8:29

the background.]

8:41

We're taught the Supreme Court was designed

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to be above the fray. But

8:46

right now, are the nine justices living

8:48

up to that promise? I'm Julia Longoria,

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host of the podcast More Perfect.

8:54

We bring the highest court in the land down

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to earth. We'll meet people on all sides

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of crucial cases and give you the history

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that explains how we got here. More

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Perfect from WNYC Studios.

9:06

Listen wherever you get podcasts.

9:12

Now, there's some other kind of buckets

9:14

of topics where your segments

9:17

show up. You are

9:19

a big time baseball fan.

9:22

Yes, I'm a huge baseball fan. I played

9:24

softball for 12 years and

9:26

I go around the country to see every

9:28

baseball stadium. That's my bucket list

9:30

is to see every baseball stadium, hopefully

9:33

before I'm 60.

9:34

Hopefully. I love it. Now,

9:36

I know that one of your proudest moments

9:38

was when you booked a former

9:41

Negro League baseball player. My

9:44

name is Dennis Biddle, former Negro

9:46

League baseball player.

9:47

I played 1953 and 54 with the Chicago-American Giants. We

9:52

had to strive to be better, just

9:54

to prove how great we really are. We

9:57

knew we had a chance with Jackie

9:59

Open. in the door. But before then,

10:02

they had no chance. Being

10:04

a young man like I got many days, I wanted

10:07

to go back home to mama. You know, I couldn't

10:09

understand the treatment we were

10:11

getting. And I said to him, Mr.

10:13

Robinson, did you ever think about quitting?

10:16

Because I did.

10:17

He said, son, I thought about

10:19

it every day. He said, but I had

10:21

made a promise that I would open

10:24

the door so other young black men

10:26

players will be able to play in the Major

10:28

League. Oh, Mr.

10:30

Biddle was fantastic, Melissa.

10:33

He had so many stories. He

10:35

met Jackie Robinson, and he

10:37

was just he was a joy to book, and his

10:39

wife is lovely. And he has an

10:41

organization that helps ex Negro

10:44

League players try to get money that they

10:46

deserve from the Major Leagues.

10:49

You are such a baseball fan, Jackie,

10:52

that you've even made an

10:54

appearance as a guest here on the takeaway.

10:56

Do you remember joining me back

10:58

in 2021 to talk about

11:00

the MLB lockout? Because

11:03

you were like, on fire about

11:05

this. Oh,

11:06

Melissa, I was so furious because

11:09

we had plans to go to the West

11:11

Coast to see some spring training games.

11:14

And we couldn't go. So me and my whole family,

11:16

we had to, we went this year, it was fine.

11:19

But when this lockdown happened, we

11:21

had plans to go out there and we

11:23

couldn't go. So, yeah, thank

11:26

you so much for letting me come on the

11:28

air and and

11:30

vent, let's say. But

11:33

you kept it pretty clean in your venting,

11:36

even though behind the scenes,

11:38

it may have been, you

11:40

know, bleepable. Yeah,

11:43

don't tell my secrets. I

11:46

was young when the first

11:49

lockout happened, but I do remember

11:51

it. And I recall a lot of people

11:53

afterwards were disheartened and they

11:55

didn't go to the games. My dad didn't watch

11:57

it as much.

11:59

the game. Jack Martin,

12:02

line producer for the takeaway. If you

12:04

could say one thing to either

12:06

the owners or the players or just the whole

12:09

MLB, what would you as a representative

12:12

of the fans say about this? I

12:14

would say sit

12:15

down,

12:17

hear each other out and come to some

12:19

kind of agreement. Obviously be fair.

12:21

I'm team players, of course, but

12:24

we want baseball and I know

12:26

it's easier for us to say like hurry,

12:29

but

12:29

get

12:30

it done. Listen, if y'all ever

12:32

doubted that we take different perspectives

12:34

here on the takeaway, knowing that

12:36

our line producer is a Yankees fan

12:39

and that our director is a Mets fan tells you

12:41

everything you need to know. Jackie

12:43

Martin, thanks so much for joining me on this side of the mic

12:45

here on the takeaway. No problem.

12:49

All right, Jackie, you have done some

12:51

exceptional work here on the takeaway. But

12:54

even more than that, I got to say mornings

12:57

are not going to be

12:59

the same without you. You

13:02

really, I think maybe it is that

13:05

surgical Air Force training

13:08

that when things start

13:10

like going wild all around you,

13:12

it's like you become a little still

13:15

center. And I just

13:17

never have any doubt that

13:20

no matter how overtime,

13:22

how wildly, you know, how

13:24

many extra words I've used or

13:27

even how sometimes not

13:30

particularly exciting and animating

13:32

a

13:32

guest is that you're always

13:35

going to make it sound crisp and clean

13:38

and beautiful. And it's really it's

13:40

artistry.

13:42

Thank you so much, Melissa. I think I'm

13:44

going to miss our mornings, most of all.

13:46

I love the takeaway. I love the segments.

13:49

I'm going to miss the entire show, but our

13:51

mornings were magic.

13:54

And I always felt centered.

13:56

And even when things got chaotic, and

13:58

I think it might have been. the military training

14:01

and surgical training. It's like radio

14:03

is not life or death. It's not life and

14:06

death. It is

14:07

fun

14:08

and it's entertainment and but

14:10

it's information and it's important

14:13

and you just have to get it on the air and you

14:16

have to do it and enjoy it because

14:19

it's a great job and people

14:21

don't realize it's fun and you

14:24

just have to enjoy what you do.