'Who the Folk' is Lonny Goldsmith? How one podcaster connects Twin Cities Jewish community
Who the folk?!
Courtesy of Lonny Goldsmith
What do all these folks have in common: a basement bread baker, the director of Talmud Torah in St. Paul, the kicker for the Minnesota Vikings, the midfielder with the Minneapolis City Soccer Club, and the proprietors of a houseplant shop?
They’ve all been guests on “Who the Folk?!”, a podcast of Twin Cities Jewfolk, the Twin Cities’ independent Jewish online media hub.
Lonny Goldsmith is the host and creator of “Who the Folk?!” and he joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about his podcast and Jewish community in Minnesota.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
CATHY WURZER: What do all these people have in common-- a basement bread baker, the director of Talmud Torah in Saint Paul, the kicker for the Minnesota Vikings, the midfielder with the Minneapolis City Soccer Club, and the proprietors of a houseplant shop? They've all been guests on Who the Folk, a podcast of Twin Cities Jew folk, the Twin Cities independent Jewish online media hub. Let's hear a clip.
LONNY GOLDSMITH: So what is it about plants, for you, that had always been sort of this thing that was always part of your life, it sounds like?
SUBJECT: Yeah, well, it's new growth, right? There's something really special about watching something that you can take care of that doesn't talk back, which is great, or need to be let outside or fed, other than with water and sunshine.
LONNY GOLDSMITH: Yeah.
CATHY WURZER: Lonny Goldsmith is the host and creator of "Who the Folk." He's here with us on Minnesota Now. Hey, welcome, Lonny. How are you?
LONNY GOLDSMITH: I'm doing great, Cathy. Thank you so much for having me on.
CATHY WURZER: You launched in 2018. You're about what-- 200 or so episodes in at this point. So something's working. What got you started on a podcast?
LONNY GOLDSMITH: "Who the Folk" had originally been a written Q&A article series that I had inherited from one of my predecessors as editor of TC Jewfolk. And one of my former coworkers had said to me, this would be a way better podcast than just an article. And I thought about it, and I went back and forth on it in my head for a while.
And I'm a journalist with a writing background. I've never done broadcast work. And so I had to teach myself how to edit and get the best possible audio. And like, I mean, you know, that's a really hard--
CATHY WURZER: Not easy.
LONNY GOLDSMITH: --to-- no, not easy at all. And I decided, one day, that yeah, we're just going to jump in and do it, and I'll figure it out as I go along. And as a result of that, our first several episodes are kind of rough. And we've definitely grown, and I mean, it's still all self-produced by me, and our associate editor helps out as well if I need it. But for the most part, we're still doing it, just me. And 215 odd episodes now, we're still cranking them out.
CATHY WURZER: What was your vision for "Who the Folk"? did you know that you wanted a specific voice to it, as it were?
LONNY GOLDSMITH: Not really. I wanted to be able to give people a little more context and color and flavor that comes out of an audio interview that you don't get when you're just reading a question and reading an answer on the page. We could edit those lightly, just like we could the audio. But things get lost. When somebody says something really funny, you can laugh. There can be laughter on tape that you don't necessarily get from reading it on the page. You don't necessarily know what's funny or what's meant as a joke. And that context gets lost. And I was just trying to create more depth of content for people to engage in.
CATHY WURZER: Do you remember your first episode?
LONNY GOLDSMITH: First episode is Matt Brickman, formerly of WCCO, morning weather guy, now in New York at WNYC. And the timing of it was perfect. It was because it was the big April blizzard in 2018, and I was able to talk to him a few days afterwards. And I remember that well because it was my youngest child's birthday. And it ruined a lot of plans she had for that day-- family dinner out. Like, she was not handling it well. And so I wanted to talk to Matt because it was a super weird weather phenomenon for mid to late April to get 16, 18 inches of snow.
And so we met during his lunch break, which, of course, is 10:00 AM for him as a morning show guy. And we did the interview, and we made it-- that was episode one, and we went from there.
CATHY WURZER: I know you interviewed Minnesota Vikings kicker, Greg Joseph. I want to play a little clip of that conversation.
LONNY GOLDSMITH: You were recently in Poland. What was the purpose for the trip?
GREG JOSEPH: So through the NFL, through a third party, they get NFL players to go on trips with Armed Forces Entertainment, I believe it's called, talk football with them, talk anything, talk military. Whatever they wanted to talk about, I was game. And I extended because I told myself I was not leaving Poland without, A, driving up to Lithuania because leading up to that trip, I did a lot of homework on where my family came from, and then B, going to see Auschwitz.
CATHY WURZER: Wow, how did you snag the interview with him?
LONNY GOLDSMITH: So I actually was lucky enough to meet him a couple of weeks prior to that interview. We were asked-- as an organization, I was asked if I wanted to go with-- to Washington DC with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas annual trip. Well, it had been an annual trip, but it had been off for a couple years because of COVID, but a trip that they had been doing every year to go to the US Holocaust Museum, where they bring educators and groups of high school students and members of the Minnesota National Guard.
And one of the people that came with on this trip was Greg Joseph. He brought his mom with, who was an educator at a day school in Boca Raton, Florida. And one of the Vikings Community Foundation staffers came with as well. Greg, besides being Jewish, is a huge history buff. We talked a lot about that, but I got to walk around the museum a little bit with him and his mom, who was absolutely delightful, and just sort of took in the museum with him. And he probably would still be there now from that trip in April.
He read everything. Everything he could take in, he would. And so he-- it was off season for him. He didn't have to be in Minnesota yet, so he and his mom flew up from Florida and met the group at the museum. But he spoke to the assembled group a little bit before. And the Vikings-- the Vikings owners, Mark and Zygi Wilf, are the children of Holocaust survivors--
CATHY WURZER: Yes.
LONNY GOLDSMITH: --and have talked a lot about that. And they are donors to-- they have been donors to Yad Vashem in Israel and to the US Holocaust Museum here, and they've helped fund, through the Jewish Community Relations Council, a lot of Holocaust education initiatives that they're trying to do to train teachers and how to teach the subject.
CATHY WURZER: Have you talked to the Wilfs yet for the podcast?
LONNY GOLDSMITH: I've not talked to the Wilfs yet for the podcast.
CATHY WURZER: You gotta do that.
LONNY GOLDSMITH: I have certainly tried. I have talked to Mark before for another article, where he took a group of players in 2019, I believe, to the Holocaust Museum. I believe they also went to the African-American History Museum together-- where he could sort of talk about his background and where his family comes from and as a way to sort bridge the cultural gap between owners and players and Jews and non-Jews and Caucasians and African-Americans.
CATHY WURZER: I like the way you end your interviews. You got two wrap-up questions, which are fantastic-- what is your favorite Jewish holiday, and what is your favorite Jewish food? So I want to ask you the same two questions. Your favorite Jewish holiday-- go.
LONNY GOLDSMITH: Favorite Jewish holiday is-- I've always said Passover and Hanukkah. I cheat. I go with two, in part, because my oldest daughter was born the first night of Hanukkah, and my youngest was born during Passover. But also, it's great family time. It's-- we get together often with extended family and friends who are like family, and it's just time to get together and reconnect with people we don't always get to see.
CATHY WURZER: And what is your favorite Jewish food? This is a hard one.
LONNY GOLDSMITH: This is a really hard one. And the number of times-- and I edit out a lot of the dead air in there-- the number of times where people just hem and haw and can't-- I'll ask all kinds of questions, and those are the two that stump them the most every time. It's really fun. I'm stalling, as you might be able to tell.
CATHY WURZER: This is live radio. Go ahead.
LONNY GOLDSMITH: I know. I know. I'm going to say bagel, good old fashioned bagel and cream cheese.
CATHY WURZER: It's got to be a really good bagel, though. It can't just be a bagel.
LONNY GOLDSMITH: It's got to be a real-- no, no, it just can't be like a store bought freezer bagel. It's got to be a really good bakery bagel. There's a couple I have in mind, but yeah.
CATHY WURZER: OK. Well, you just want to just give me a hint, so I can go find one?
LONNY GOLDSMITH: Rye's Bagel, I think, has the best bagel in Minneapolis that I've found so far, so go check them out.
CATHY WURZER: [LAUGHS] OK, Lonny, it's been really fun talking to you. Thank you so much, and best of luck on the podcast.
LONNY GOLDSMITH: Thanks so much, Cathy, for having me on. I appreciate it.
CATHY WURZER: Lonny Goldsmith is the host of Who the Folk podcast. You can find out about it and the other TC Jewfolk podcasts at tcjewfolk.com.
LONNY GOLDSMITH: So what is it about plants, for you, that had always been sort of this thing that was always part of your life, it sounds like?
SUBJECT: Yeah, well, it's new growth, right? There's something really special about watching something that you can take care of that doesn't talk back, which is great, or need to be let outside or fed, other than with water and sunshine.
LONNY GOLDSMITH: Yeah.
CATHY WURZER: Lonny Goldsmith is the host and creator of "Who the Folk." He's here with us on Minnesota Now. Hey, welcome, Lonny. How are you?
LONNY GOLDSMITH: I'm doing great, Cathy. Thank you so much for having me on.
CATHY WURZER: You launched in 2018. You're about what-- 200 or so episodes in at this point. So something's working. What got you started on a podcast?
LONNY GOLDSMITH: "Who the Folk" had originally been a written Q&A article series that I had inherited from one of my predecessors as editor of TC Jewfolk. And one of my former coworkers had said to me, this would be a way better podcast than just an article. And I thought about it, and I went back and forth on it in my head for a while.
And I'm a journalist with a writing background. I've never done broadcast work. And so I had to teach myself how to edit and get the best possible audio. And like, I mean, you know, that's a really hard--
CATHY WURZER: Not easy.
LONNY GOLDSMITH: --to-- no, not easy at all. And I decided, one day, that yeah, we're just going to jump in and do it, and I'll figure it out as I go along. And as a result of that, our first several episodes are kind of rough. And we've definitely grown, and I mean, it's still all self-produced by me, and our associate editor helps out as well if I need it. But for the most part, we're still doing it, just me. And 215 odd episodes now, we're still cranking them out.
CATHY WURZER: What was your vision for "Who the Folk"? did you know that you wanted a specific voice to it, as it were?
LONNY GOLDSMITH: Not really. I wanted to be able to give people a little more context and color and flavor that comes out of an audio interview that you don't get when you're just reading a question and reading an answer on the page. We could edit those lightly, just like we could the audio. But things get lost. When somebody says something really funny, you can laugh. There can be laughter on tape that you don't necessarily get from reading it on the page. You don't necessarily know what's funny or what's meant as a joke. And that context gets lost. And I was just trying to create more depth of content for people to engage in.
CATHY WURZER: Do you remember your first episode?
LONNY GOLDSMITH: First episode is Matt Brickman, formerly of WCCO, morning weather guy, now in New York at WNYC. And the timing of it was perfect. It was because it was the big April blizzard in 2018, and I was able to talk to him a few days afterwards. And I remember that well because it was my youngest child's birthday. And it ruined a lot of plans she had for that day-- family dinner out. Like, she was not handling it well. And so I wanted to talk to Matt because it was a super weird weather phenomenon for mid to late April to get 16, 18 inches of snow.
And so we met during his lunch break, which, of course, is 10:00 AM for him as a morning show guy. And we did the interview, and we made it-- that was episode one, and we went from there.
CATHY WURZER: I know you interviewed Minnesota Vikings kicker, Greg Joseph. I want to play a little clip of that conversation.
LONNY GOLDSMITH: You were recently in Poland. What was the purpose for the trip?
GREG JOSEPH: So through the NFL, through a third party, they get NFL players to go on trips with Armed Forces Entertainment, I believe it's called, talk football with them, talk anything, talk military. Whatever they wanted to talk about, I was game. And I extended because I told myself I was not leaving Poland without, A, driving up to Lithuania because leading up to that trip, I did a lot of homework on where my family came from, and then B, going to see Auschwitz.
CATHY WURZER: Wow, how did you snag the interview with him?
LONNY GOLDSMITH: So I actually was lucky enough to meet him a couple of weeks prior to that interview. We were asked-- as an organization, I was asked if I wanted to go with-- to Washington DC with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas annual trip. Well, it had been an annual trip, but it had been off for a couple years because of COVID, but a trip that they had been doing every year to go to the US Holocaust Museum, where they bring educators and groups of high school students and members of the Minnesota National Guard.
And one of the people that came with on this trip was Greg Joseph. He brought his mom with, who was an educator at a day school in Boca Raton, Florida. And one of the Vikings Community Foundation staffers came with as well. Greg, besides being Jewish, is a huge history buff. We talked a lot about that, but I got to walk around the museum a little bit with him and his mom, who was absolutely delightful, and just sort of took in the museum with him. And he probably would still be there now from that trip in April.
He read everything. Everything he could take in, he would. And so he-- it was off season for him. He didn't have to be in Minnesota yet, so he and his mom flew up from Florida and met the group at the museum. But he spoke to the assembled group a little bit before. And the Vikings-- the Vikings owners, Mark and Zygi Wilf, are the children of Holocaust survivors--
CATHY WURZER: Yes.
LONNY GOLDSMITH: --and have talked a lot about that. And they are donors to-- they have been donors to Yad Vashem in Israel and to the US Holocaust Museum here, and they've helped fund, through the Jewish Community Relations Council, a lot of Holocaust education initiatives that they're trying to do to train teachers and how to teach the subject.
CATHY WURZER: Have you talked to the Wilfs yet for the podcast?
LONNY GOLDSMITH: I've not talked to the Wilfs yet for the podcast.
CATHY WURZER: You gotta do that.
LONNY GOLDSMITH: I have certainly tried. I have talked to Mark before for another article, where he took a group of players in 2019, I believe, to the Holocaust Museum. I believe they also went to the African-American History Museum together-- where he could sort of talk about his background and where his family comes from and as a way to sort bridge the cultural gap between owners and players and Jews and non-Jews and Caucasians and African-Americans.
CATHY WURZER: I like the way you end your interviews. You got two wrap-up questions, which are fantastic-- what is your favorite Jewish holiday, and what is your favorite Jewish food? So I want to ask you the same two questions. Your favorite Jewish holiday-- go.
LONNY GOLDSMITH: Favorite Jewish holiday is-- I've always said Passover and Hanukkah. I cheat. I go with two, in part, because my oldest daughter was born the first night of Hanukkah, and my youngest was born during Passover. But also, it's great family time. It's-- we get together often with extended family and friends who are like family, and it's just time to get together and reconnect with people we don't always get to see.
CATHY WURZER: And what is your favorite Jewish food? This is a hard one.
LONNY GOLDSMITH: This is a really hard one. And the number of times-- and I edit out a lot of the dead air in there-- the number of times where people just hem and haw and can't-- I'll ask all kinds of questions, and those are the two that stump them the most every time. It's really fun. I'm stalling, as you might be able to tell.
CATHY WURZER: This is live radio. Go ahead.
LONNY GOLDSMITH: I know. I know. I'm going to say bagel, good old fashioned bagel and cream cheese.
CATHY WURZER: It's got to be a really good bagel, though. It can't just be a bagel.
LONNY GOLDSMITH: It's got to be a real-- no, no, it just can't be like a store bought freezer bagel. It's got to be a really good bakery bagel. There's a couple I have in mind, but yeah.
CATHY WURZER: OK. Well, you just want to just give me a hint, so I can go find one?
LONNY GOLDSMITH: Rye's Bagel, I think, has the best bagel in Minneapolis that I've found so far, so go check them out.
CATHY WURZER: [LAUGHS] OK, Lonny, it's been really fun talking to you. Thank you so much, and best of luck on the podcast.
LONNY GOLDSMITH: Thanks so much, Cathy, for having me on. I appreciate it.
CATHY WURZER: Lonny Goldsmith is the host of Who the Folk podcast. You can find out about it and the other TC Jewfolk podcasts at tcjewfolk.com.
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