On Air, Online, Anytime: New Episodes of ‘The Social Workers’

The public is the client.

That is the premise behind “The Social Workers Radio Talk Show”, a radio show and podcast series at UAlbany’s School of Social Welfare. The show's mission is to use the medium of radio to educate and enlighten the university and extended communities about social work trends and current practices provided by social workers. The show's co-hosts, Alyssa Lotmore and Dr. Eric Hardiman, regularly say that 'the public as the client' and encourage social workers to use appropriate media tools to inform the public, engage new community groups in problem solving, and advance new knowledge on current pressing social issues and on the resources, services, and supports to address them. Through these venues, social workers can contribute to a better understanding the social work profession and what social workers do as change agents in society.

New episodes include:

‘Talking Media and Social Work’ where we were joined by former journalist and reporter, Liz Benjamin, who shared information on how social workers can engage the media, navigate the political world for macro level change, and even create their own media content to get their message out.

‘Improving Race Relations in Sports’ which featured UAlbany alumna, Erin Casey Pellegrino. Erin is the Vice President of Communications, Events & Marketing at the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE). She discussed her work at RISE, which is a nonprofit that educates and empowers the sports community to eliminate racial discrimination, champion social justice and improve race relations.

‘Caring for Seniors During Covid-19’, a two-part segment that featured Greg Olsen, the acting director of the New York State Office for the Aging and Eden Hunter, a SSW alumna, who is an essential employee at an area nursing and rehabilitation center.

The show also features students as guests. Two students that were highlighted recently were seniors Sebastian Vidal and Jessica Rodgers, who shared their areas of research and experience from their time as undergraduate social welfare majors.

The Social Workers airs on Thursdays from 10am to noon on WCDB 90.9FM Albany, NY and is always available via podcast.