Radio Personalities

"Interviewer: Do you have a model? Fialdini: I think of a mix between the competence of Daria Bignardi and the spontaneity of Geppi Cucciari and Victoria Cabello. A woman who informs herself, but who does not give up irony and knows how to make fun of herself a little."

"In elementary school I wrote in an essay that I wanted to travel the world making reportages. The passion to tell things has remained with me, against the opinion of my parents who would have preferred me to stay with them in Tuscany. I still thank them for letting me go. I left home and after graduation I sent my resume everywhere. Everyone said "no, thanks", except Vatican Radio, which offered me a summer internship. I took my first steps there then, at 25 years old, with zero television experience, I auditioned for the Rai program In image of her. It all started from there."

"Interviewer: How does a woman like her resolve the "career or family" dilemma? Fialdini: Simple, I don't give up anything. I am convinced that life gives you what you can carry forward. I let myself be surprised, I enjoy it every day, I don't necessarily pursue projects, I think there's no need. If a family comes, I will be very happy, but I would like to be able to keep everything together. You need to have a companion who is intelligent, brilliant, curious and above all not tied to cultural clichés. One thing is certain: if a man tells me "Choose, either family or career", I certainly don't choose him."

"We have talked about males and females for centuries and it is true, males and females exist, but it is not as if there is a territory that defines what is male and what is female at all costs. We must free the feminine and masculine that live in each of us, these concepts must mix, discover, renew and transform together. Thus a society is born that has the imprint of both sexes and is not based on a simple symmetrical scheme, on a male/female ideological semantics that we have created in our brains."

"We are entrusted with a space, it's not like we buy it or manage it. So the moment you are given or taken away [a television program], you have to think about what you put into it. If you are calm, if you have worked well, if you have given what you could give under the circumstances it's not really about being afraid, on the contrary, it's about saying "whatever happens, it's okay". Because I know how I worked, I know how my team worked, what we wanted to do and what we achieved and what we didn't achieve. We must always remember that we are talking about a public service, therefore that our first shareholders are the citizens, those who pay the license fee, so we must look at them. Then the directors have the prerogative to reconfirm you or not: it's clear that you can't please everyone, maybe not everyone is betting on you. But it's okay, I've already had a lot of satisfaction, I've had it thanks to the fact that I've been able to work hard."

"What strikes me every time on Social networks is stopping at the surface with reference to the body, whether I have lost weight or gained weight, and unfortunately it is more and more women who do this. men on the other hand make sexual comments of an ancestral banality. But after all, with social media we have made everything banal, even love, which lasts as long as a vertical scroll with your finger."

"Interviewer: [...] what relationship do you have with criticism? Fialdini: If they are criticisms pertinent to my program, therefore pertinent to the work, I accept them very willingly. If they are judgments about the person it is different. If you judge my shoes or my hairstyle I don't care. Reaching 40 will certainly be of some use."

"[...] we are children of an image culture that the entire twentieth century imposed on us and which today we have digitized to such an extent that the only thing that matters is the perception we give of ourselves through social media. Our children are children of this reality, in which the perception that others have of you matters more than who you are. Specifically, the problem concerns women's bodies, which are a real battlefield. Interviewer: On that front we are still far from a balance? Fialdini: Very far away, because if on the one hand battles are being waged for everyone, on the other the woman's body continues to be obsessively and ancestrally a question of desire. If you have to stimulate your desire in some way, the woman must have those standards, but she still means responding to a concept of desire that goes in only one direction. Why do we still have to feel like the object of desire for a thought male chauvinism? This is one thing I don't accept about the marketing strategies behind women's bodies."

"We must say clearly to those who listen to us that women on TV, and elsewhere, do not make a career by taking shortcuts [...]. Let's start to value and enhance ourselves, to underline the skills and efforts of every day, to fight against stereotypes and categorizations. Only in this way can we hope to change things. Interviewer: Women and TV: do you really still smell clichés? Fialdini: Unfortunately, we are talked about through clichés: the brunette, the blonde, the sexy, the sweet. The theme is cultural, our representation continues to pass through baseless stereotypes."

"[...] certain themes that have been dear to me since I was a child. [...] My mother, who in Italy I believe was the first woman to be appointed secretary of the DS, taught me to feel responsible for others. I grew up in the shadow of a very busy woman. I remember the tomes on our bookcase, the volumes on the importance of salary harmonization, the debates I witnessed when the meetings were held in our home."

"My football faith grew up in the shadow of my family, I have been a Juventus Football Club fan for generations. In the bedroom where we took turns sleeping, at my grandmother's house, there was a poster of Juve by Scirea, Platini, Cabrini, Tacconi... It was not possible to imagine supporting a different team also because it was too much fun to shout all together for a goal during a match and celebrate a victory or share a feeling of defeat . We did it together then and so again."

"Interviewer: Do you ever experience pressure on how you should appear on TV? Fialdini: No, because there are numerous female role models: we are many and all different, beautiful even if overweight. If anything, the pressure comes from the fact that our competence is always compared to that of men. Maybe it's still difficult to accept a woman who knows what she's doing. I am someone who says her opinion loud and clear."

"During my career I have almost always followed a journalistic vocation, except when they asked me to host more entertainment programs [...]. When I can deal with in-depth studies I am very happy. When I can use a synthetic language to give more space to the narration of a phenomenon [...], I find myself in my shoes and it corresponds to the image I have of this profession. When they call me to provide entertainment I try to get more involved. I take it almost as a challenge with myself to bring out strings that I'm used to playing less."

"Interviewer: The partner from whom you learned the most? Fialdini: Carlo Conti for me is a master. Number one, but in front of him I go crazy and get everything wrong. He has the ability to surprise me. I was won over during a Sanremo, the one with Maria De Filippi. It was the final evening, the highlight. What does he do during the commercial break? He goes down to the audience, goes to his partner and asks: has the child eaten? Gigantic."

"The afternoon schedule requires empathy, the ability to lay bare. There you really come to terms with some sides of your character. Interviewer: And you don't love popularity? Fialdini: I really don't love popularity as an end in itself. I care about my privacy, that of the people around me. Working in the afternoon means intercepting emotions, dealing with tears. It's the story that wins. The guest comes before me, he must feel completely welcomed. I never thought I would be the protagonist. I always thought that my job should be."

"In my job you have to learn to do the things they ask you to do. By nature I tend to be shy and reserved, but my work leads me to be very exposed. It's a continuous training to get along with all aspects of my personality."

"[...] the struggles with my body date back to adolescence. In the fourth year of high school, I went from being the smallest in the class to growing taller and having a lot of breasts, which I now regret [laughs, ed.]. So I hid under extra-large acetate suits and my father's clothes. Only when I moved to Rome for university at 18 did I start playing with the look. Finally in a city where everyone was minding their own business and I no longer felt like the center of attention, I cut my hair very short and dared to wear colorful dresses and unwatchable trousers. It took working on TV to accept me: through the camera you see yourself "from the outside" and maybe discover that you're not as bad as you thought. Looking at myself on the screen I started to find Francesca nice, to work on gestures. And to be fine as I am."

"Interviewer: Women like her. How do you manage to establish empathy with your spectators without arousing criticism or envy? Fialdini: First of all, I don't have a scary physicality, I'm not bombastic, I'm not seen as a threat by other women. Furthermore, competition based on physical appearance disturbs me: I see it as a defeat for everyone. I'm not interested in having relationships based on my appearance or my sensuality, but on my personality, on my ideas. It's always been like this. Even in high school, when I was more beautiful than now, I dressed "by subtraction", I didn't want to be the center of attention. I have always tried to develop solidarity towards others, to form a group."

"Interviewer: In 2010, «don't you think that the Church is a little too present in Italian social and political life? Fialdini: Let's start from a premise: many journalists commit the mistake of considering the Church as a unitary entity. Sometimes there is a lot of confusion in accrediting positions taken by this or that Catholic body. In reality, from country to country, ecclesial institutions have to deal with the complexity, even of the society in which they find themselves. It also applies to Italy, where the Vatican State and the Holy See historically reside. However, I like to remember that, in recent days, Pope Benedict XVI addressed the Roman clergy, reminding them that the pastoral task must not give in to the temptation to take politics into personal hands. The question is how to be realistic and practical without arrogating to ourselves a political competence that does not belong to priests."

"Interviewer: A partner you didn't get along with? Fialdini: When I arrived at Unomattina, I entered Franco Di Mare. I wanted to be good and learn quickly, to earn his respect. With him I learned a lot but I struggled. But we liked our little moments: people still stop me on the street to ask me how Franco is doing."

"With this profession we easily become prey to judgments and models. I always try to strip away superstructures to be as natural and spontaneous as possible."

"It is not a disease; it is a state of being. You can’t label people just because they are single, married, divorced, aged, coloured or whatever."

"Interviewer: What "animal" is Fialdini on the air? Fialdini: I'm careful about what isn't said. I watch the body movements to understand how the person arrives in the studio, the mood, so I understand which doors I can open. Our guests know that we are open to the unexpected and they get involved. TV doesn't give discounts. It's also a very dramatic tool: if you're sad, it shows."

"It is important to note that women are different from men. Women multitask."

"Thank you for being an inspiration for every young lady in Ghana. I remember the very first time I met you, you told me I reminded you a lot of yourself when you were young, because I am slim and you said to me: 'don't let them force you to gain weight. You're perfect the way you are' and I've never forgotten that."

"Women have not really had opportunities to be in the [production] space, even for myself as an executive producer it is shocking that I was the first female executive producer of the Miss South Africa pageant."

"If we are going to do something for women, and it’s supposed to be an empowerment platform then let it be done by women"

"I’ve always felt like my life’s work has been to teach–then at a point, a studio became a dream of mine because the spiritual relationship I have with dancing is one that I feel I need to share."

"I am not going to apologise for anything. What I will say is I did not know I was going to be at the State House, and I didn't know I was going to be in a situation that was going to look politically charged. Because, generally, once people have made a decision, you can't change their minds."

"We believe that we are all global citizens responsible for making the world a better place, and the time to do so is right here, right now. We recognise the challenges, especially in a region with high poverty, and we strive to play our part to effect positive change."

"To show a different narrative of Zimbabwe, that there's beauty, invite people to come and spend money in Zimbabwe… show that Zimbabwe is powerful and incredible in its own special ways."

"I was never in this situation to be like, 'Ah, let me hurt people',"

"The studio is a home of expression, a home of love–and a home of freedom."

"When I was asked to go to Zimbabwe, there was one thing I was told; tourism."

"We need to find creative ways to end period poverty. I know it can get awkward sometimes to speak about these things, but we need to be there for each other. It is important to share the information and knowledge that you gain. We need to take up more options in trying to help each other end period poverty."

"...the dreams of simple human beings striving for some little happiness and understanding in a world that is largely cruel and intolerant."

"I wanted only the beckoning world."

"I am fully suspicious of the accepted theory that fundamental differences exist between various classes and races."

"In this man is the uncompromising will to win, and the character and integrity to lead his country to victory on the battlefields of the world. The respect of the world is his. Men and nations know that when others may fail they can always turn to him for leadership and victory."

"Lewis: Say! What in hell is your real name, anyway? You've surely got some other name besides Frazier. My name is Red. Hunt: Friends and enemies call me Spike."

"With infinite courage and genius he had helped save South Korea from certain disaster, and he had led his victorious armies to the high cliffs of the Yalu. Only when a vicious new war broke and a hundred thousand hidden Red Chinese suddenly appeared from their caves hand snow-camouflaged forests and attacked, had he felt the utter frustration of not being permitted to unwrap his air and turn defeat into a certain victory that might well have settled the whole Asiatic threat for a score of years to come. And he was to live to see his able successors denied the same chance to win- and the icy hand of Russian fear and British trade demands closing tightly around the timid hearts of certain American leaders. Never for a day were either Generals Ridgeway, Van Fleet, or Clark permitted to win the Korean war by making full and fearless use of the weapons each had at hand. The psychosis of fear of Russia and the betrayal of American ideals before the pressure of her questionable Allies were to continue with the mockery of the surrender at Panmunjon and the disgraceful armed peace that followed, leading straight on into the vast problems of future local wars in the distant Pacific. So it was that the rejoicing among little Americans and their foreign tutors was great that day in mid-April 1951. The brave sentinel had been stabbed in the back. Those who bent their knees to the Red Bear finally had seen their plots against this fearless soldier succeed. Douglas MacArthur, the uncompromising American, had been destroyed. Or so they thought."

"Frazier Hunt graduated from Manchester High School in 1903. As a successful war correspondent, radio commentator and author, Hunt traveled world-wide, interviewing all kinds of persons, from American Presidents to revolutionaries. A historical sign now stands in front of the large brick house on North Mill Street where he lived for ten years during his youth. Hunt even has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, being inducted in 1960."

"Frazier Hunt, well known writer and war correspondent, is broadcasting over Station WLS each Monday, Wednesday and Saturday evening at 6:45. Wednesday evening in his broadcast he spoke of his early life in North Manchester by "sleepy old Eel River." Gorman Grossnickle heard the broadcast and wrote a letter of Mr. Hunt, inviting him to visit North Manchester, and speak at the school and college. He promised to take him up to the "Devil's Hole", the famous deep hole in Eel River above the College football field, which was well known forty years ago, and which Hunt mentions in his book, "One American." Hunt, whose mother died shortly after he was born, came to North Manchester to make his home with his uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph "Posey" Mathews. The Mathews home was the large brick house on Mill street where the Frank Sausaman family now lives. Hunt, in his book, describes much of the happenings and a few of the characters of North Manchester. Mr. Mathews was an ardent prohibitionist, and every two years ran for congress, although at the most he never received more than 184 votes in the county. Hunt graduated from the North Manchester high school in 1903, and spent a year in the Michigan Military Academy. Later he attended the University of Illinois. Following graduation at the University he went to Chicago where he got a job as reporter on the City Press. Then followed journalistic and publishing adventures with no great success from any of them and just before the outbreak of the World War he went to New York and obtained work on The Sun. In February, 1918, Hunt went to France as a war correspondent and to continue his stories of the soldiers and camp life under the caption, "Private Danny" in France. Hunt was sent into Siberia where the American troops had made a vain attempt to halt the Bolshevists. In the ensuing years, Hunt was a roving journalist, usually managing to be where the world news was happening. He has had an interesting career and a fair measure of success. The older North Manchester people would be glad to welcome him if he visits his boyhood home."

"Frazier Hunt has had the unique experience of covering for newspapers and magazines every war and revolution from the original Mexican revolution and World War I down through the great Pacific campaigns of World War II. Following four months at MacArthur's headquarters and New Guinea in 1944, he wrote MacArthur and the War Against Japan. For a number of years he was one of America's well-known radio commentators. Born in Rock Island, Illinois, in 1885, the rugged Frazier Hunt has traveled far and wide and has met most of the world's great personalities of the last four decades. The Untold Story of Douglas MacArthur is his fourteenth book."

"I want to encourage everyone to never give up on their dreams. If I can do it, anyone can do it. Just believe in yourself and keep your focus"

"I would love for anyone who is on their parenting journey...maybe consider that the world has been optimized for brains that conform to societal norms but there are other brains that have helped us move forward in creativity, in laughter, in joy and there's a place for them.*"

"I keep a group of close-knit friends who inspire, build and challenge me to grow in my career."

"I know I am my greatest enemy. But the good thing is, I was able to harness into my heartbreak positively and create a great product."

"Movements like critical race theory and Black Lives Matter are not what they pretend to be. They are attempts at destroying the entire legitimacy of the Western political and cultural tradition. The idea that they are there to defend black lives is a preposterous notion. They do not care about black lives, they only care about the symbolic destruction of white culture. We have to be absolutely clear about this. The narrative of Black Lives Matter is that Western culture and Anglo-American culture in particular are fundamentally morally defective, they are characterised by the mark of Cain and their strategy is to do exactly what was done to German culture because of Nazism and the Holocaust."

"[Responding to a suggestion Prime minister Rishi Sunak appeared to be "detached, or at least semi-detached, from this coronation" from journalist Andrew Pierce] Invisible. I think one of the reasons that I think a lot has gone wrong, for example, why parliament has not been properly represented at the coronation of a parliamentary monarchy, is because the government isn't interested in the constitution. The prime minister, the man of immense talent, of extraordinary skill, but really, not fully grounded in our culture [...] I know that's a difficult and controversial thing to say, but I think it's true. And, again, this coronation is going to highlight far too much our differences rather than what unites us."