Frank Buckley Interviews

Pernille Lopez was president of IKEA North America from 2001-2009 and global HR manager for IKEA from 2009-2011. She oversaw the expansion of IKEA from 15 stores to 38 in North America during her tenure. Pernille says she was trying to be perfect throughout that period in every aspect of her life—as president of an iconic brand, as a wife and as a mother—until she ended up in an ambulance after collapsing from stress. She calls that moment “an invaluable gift” and you’ll hear how it turned into a breakthrough in her life. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Norman Mineta may be best known for being the U.S. transportation secretary on Sept. 11, 2001 when America came under attack by terrorists who hijacked four airliners and crashed them into the Pentagon, the World Trade Center buildings, and into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. As America was being attacked, Secretary Mineta ordered every aircraft flying in American airspace--more than 4500 airplanes--to land immediately. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Music hitmaker James "Jimmy Jam" Harris III has worked with his songwriting and producing partner Terry Lewis to create dozens of hit records with artists as varied as Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Gwen Stefani, Pia Zadora, George Michael, Usher, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Beyonce and Rihanna just to name a few. In June, they'll be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Byron Scott is one of the greatest players in Los Angeles Lakers history--winning three championships with the "Showtime" era Lakers. Charles Norris is a business executive who is equally successful in his field--turning for example, a $200 million company like McKesson Water into one that sold for $1.1 billion. Scott and Norris became friends while the two worked out at a local gym in Los Angeles and came to realize that while they came from different backgrounds, they had a lot in common. During this podcast, you'll hear how these two very different men realized they had the same approaches to leadership. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Dr. Sharad Paul is the author of "The Genetics of Health: Understand Your Genes for Better Health." His message--that we can do more to improve our health by understanding our evolutionary past and using that knowledge to make life decisions based on our individual gene types. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Greg Grunberg is an actor who often plays the best friend or buddy--perhaps because that's not a stretch for one of Hollywood's good guys. You no doubt recognize him from shows like "Heroes" and "Felicity." Or films like "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Curt Smith is one of the two original members of the iconic 80s pop band Tears for Fears. As the band prepares for a spring and summer of touring with Daryl Hall & John Oates, Curt sits down to give us the inside story of how Tears for Fears came to be, why it broke apart, and how he and bandmate Roland Orzabal found a way to work together again. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Kurt Busch is one of the biggest names in racing with 27 wins in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series including the biggest race in the NASCAR schedule--this year's Daytona 500. But Kurt's career has had its ups and downs--marred by his turbulence as a person. As Fox Sports NASCAR analyst Darrell Waltrip put it in a 2015 column on FoxSports.com: "He’s as talented behind the wheel as anyone I’ve ever seen. While Kurt has amazing car control that we’ve seen time and time again, Kurt lacked self-control, something we’ve unfortunately also seen time and time again." Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Jim Avila is an award-winning, Los Angeles based senior national correspondent for ABC News. He was a White House correspondent for ABC News during the Obama Administration. During this podcast, we discuss the role of the news media in covering the Trump Administration and the contentious relationship between President Trump and the White House press corps. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Amy Trask was the first female chief executive officer in the NFL. Her book “You Negotiate Like A Girl: Reflections on a Career in the National Football League” written with Mike Freeman recounts her three decades with the Oakland Raiders. Amy started with the team as an intern and worked her way up to the position of CEO. She worked closely with the legendary Raiders owner Al Davis. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

This podcast is an interview with Saroo Brierley, portrayed by actor Dev Patel and his Australian parents John and Sue Brierley portrayed by David Wenham and Nicole Kidman in the Weinstein Company film "Lion." "Lion" is a film about their amazing true-life story based on Saroo's book "A Long Way Home." Full show notes available at http://www.ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Sean Rad is co-founder and CEO of Tinder. The mobile dating app went viral soon after launching in 2012, and it has transformed dating. Users swipe right to express interest or swipe left to move on. According to Tinder, 26 million matches are made in this way every day on the app. But Tinder has also been controversial, and it was the target of a sexual harassment lawsuit by a former employee that resulted in Sean's removal as CEO until he was reinstated months later. Full show notes available at http://www.ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh are the creative minds behind the Disney Channel's long-running animation series "Phineas and Ferb." New episodes appeared on the network from 2007-2015 and the show still runs on Disney channels around the world and on Disney XD. The "Phineas and Ferb" co-creators now have a new show on Disney XD called "Milo Murphy's Law." Full show notes available at http://www.ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Amy Hill is an actress and a comedian and an American of Japanese descent who has nearly 160 TV and film credits to her name including TV shows like "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" and Amazon's "Just Add Magic," films like "50 First Dates" and "Lilo and Stitch," and animated series like "American Dad" and "King of the Hill" along with dozens of other shows and films. Full show notes available at http://www.ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Chase Millsap is a former Marine officer who served three combat tours with the 1st Marine Division in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq. He then served as a U.S. Army Green Beret for five years in Southwest Asia. Chase has recently been fighting a battle here in the U.S. on behalf of a fellow soldier who served with him in Iraq--an Iraqi soldier who saved Chase's life during a sniper attack. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Dr. Michael Breus is a clinical psychologist and a sleep expert who appears regularly on The Dr. Oz Show. The study of sleep and helping people to sleep well is his life's work. Dr. Breus is a Diplomate of the American Board of Sleep Medicine and a Fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Gary Taubes is an award-winning science writer who studied applied physics at Harvard and aerospace engineering at Stanford before turning to journalism. In 2007, he wrote "Good Calories, Bad Calories" which took on low-fat diets and refined carbohydrates like white bread and pasta. In 2011, his book "Why We Get Fat," continued the argument against the "calories in, calories out" concept espoused by many nutritionists which suggests that if you burn more calories than you consume--no matter where those calories come from--you'll lose weight. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Gloria Calderon Kellet is an executive producer of the new Netflix version of "One Day at a Time," the Norman Lear developed sitcom that ran on network TV from 1975-1984. The new version stars Justina Machado as Cuban American Penelope Alvarez, an Afghanistan war veteran mom raising two kids on her own in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Penelope's mom and grandmother to the kids is played by Rita Moreno. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Luke Davies is the screenwriter for the film "Lion." He is an award-winning Australian poet, novelist, screenwriter and journalist who moved to Los Angeles several years ago and then struggled to find work. Now, he and his screenplay for "Lion" have been nominated for a number of awards including the BAFTA and the USC Libraries Scripter Award which recognizes screenwriters and the authors whose works they've adapted. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.

Greg Silverman is the outgoing President of Creative Development and Worldwide Production at Warner Bros Pictures. During his nearly 20 years at Warner Bros, he’s been involved in dozens of films either as an executive or the head of production. The Dark Knight, The Hangover, 300, Inception, Argo, Gravity, American Sniper, Suicide Squad, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Sully are just a few of the films that happened on Greg’s watch. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews