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Small Business Comeback Tour: Bagels by Jarrett
By Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso
WEST ORANGE, NJ (WCBS 880) – Jarrett Seltzer tapped into a “cult” following of bagel lovers.
Just before the pandemic, Seltzer started giving away his homemade bagels out of his home kitchen.
“I decided to make a dozen bagels and post (on Facebook) that I had them and give them out,” he said. “I said to everyone the rule is you get one bagel, you have to post a review about it and you have to pay it forward somehow in town.”
Seltzer told Joe Connolly on the WCBS Small Business Comeback Tour, sponsored by PSE&G, the response was overwhelming. He opened a pop-up shop where he continued to give away bagels to gain a following before opening his business about two years later in West Orange.
“We are absolutely continuing to grow by word of mouth,” he said, pointing to a fall surge in bagel sales.
Seltzer said growth accelerated when they were forced to do curbside only in the pandemic and discovered how they would separate themselves from other bagel shops. Bagels by Jarrett added sliders and fried chicken sandwiches with bagels, which became big hits among their regular customers.
“It’s almost this interesting cult of people that love food and I don’t put anything out that isn’t incredible,” he said.
Bagels by Jarrett is expanding its kitchen in January and will add dinner takeout service.
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INTERVIEW: Soledad O’Brien talks new HBO docuseries ‘Black and Missing’
By Lynda Lopez
Produced by Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The recent coverage of the Gabby Petito case grabbed headlines across the globe and also helped shine a light on other missing persons cases that have not received the same attention.
The Black and Missing Foundation works to bring awareness to missing persons of color and their activism caught the attention of Soledad O’Brien, who has now produced a four-part HBO documentary series titled, “Black and Missing.”
On this week’s 880 Weekly Rewind, anchor Lynda Lopez spoke to the award-winning documentarian and journalist about the series, which chronicles the work of the organization and follows sisters-in-law and Black and Missing Foundation founders Derrica and Natalie Wilson.
As Lopez reported, Derrica and Natalie Wilson are not just figureheads. They are on the ground doing the work helping families find their missing loved ones.
“This is their second jobs, this is not even their job. Derrica works in law enforcement, and that’s really what she was able to bring to the table — that she had this tremendous experience of law enforcement. Natalie works in PR, so she was able to sit with families and say, ‘Let me give you some of the scoop on how these things work so we can get publicity for you,'” O’Brien said. “Often they’re just a conduit between law enforcement, which some families in some communities just don’t trust, and the media, and the families themselves. I’m always blown away by the importance of the work they’re doing and also it’s a side gig. Like, it’s insane to me that this is a side job for them.”
The series has been three years in the making and recently debuted on HBO and HBO Max, where it is currently streaming.
“We decided that we would reach out and see because of the number of stories of missing white women over the years had gotten so much attention, and I was well aware that there were lots of stories about Black people and people of color, generally, that just never really got any traction and so we met with them,” O’Brien said. “About a couple of months before the doc aired, the story of Gabby Petito became the latest well-known case of a young White woman who had gone missing, and of course she was later found dead. And I remember her dad saying, I thought it was amazing, really at the worst moment of his life before they found her body, he said something like, to the media, ‘You should be looking for all people.’ Even he thought the attention was amazing on helping find what had happened to his daughter, but there were so many other people who also deserved the same kind of attention and so I do think the needle is beginning to move in people’s awareness of the issue.”
The series not only chronicles the work of the organization, but also highlights the disparities in the media coverage of white and Black missing persons and how the cases are handled by law enforcement.
“On the media side, I would love to see people really analyze why do we not think this story is important? I do think the media needs to figure out let’s have a conversation about bias and how we think about these stories,” O’Brien said. “I just hope that people really want to understand the issue and walk away recognizing how unfair it is. I knew that progress was being made when Gabby’s own father sort of put a plea out for covering other people. The number of people who were found while they were searching for Gabby, I think it was like eight people, it was insane and so it clearly is an indication that we have to search hard for everybody.”
Listen to The 880 Weekly Rewind podcast above to hear how the organization is fighting for equal coverage and treatment in the media and by law enforcement of missing persons of color and what needs to change.
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92nd Street Y Goes Global with Success of Virtual Events
By Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — This iconic New York cultural institution has amassed a worldwide following after making the digital pivot.
The 92nd Street Y drew 5 million viewers in all 50 states plus 200 countries for its various online programs in the last year. In a typical pre-pandemic year, about 300,000 people would walk through its Upper East Side doors.
“The trick was to increase interactivity to make sure that people felt that the person that they were watching was in some way responding to them,” said Seth Pinsky, CEO of 92nd Street Y. “The way I like to describe it is that we went from competing with YouTube with videos that talked ‘to’ our audience to eventually finding our own version of these videos by creating programming that spoke ‘with’ our audience and that really was, I think, the key to our success.”
On the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by Dime Community Bank, Pinsky told Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso 92Y tried new ways of doing virtual programs until they discovered how to differentiate themselves from the steep competition.
“I don’t think that every production necessarily has to be top top quality,” he said. “I think really it’s the combination of a level of quality that’s high enough that it’s not distracting to people, but again, it’s those extra intangible elements like the creation of community that when added to that are what I think pull audiences in, and over time, keep them.”
The 92nd Street Y has a full slate of original programs, classes and performances. Some of them are now exclusively virtual for their global audience even though the center in Manhattan is back open after being shut down during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The idea of creating content and just giving it away was something that over the long-run, we realized, wouldn’t be sustainable. And so, in some cases, we started to put our programming behind a paywall, and, amazingly, what we found was that our audience was willing to pay for the content,” said Pinsky.
He told WCBS 880 that roughly 60 percent of the 92nd Street Y’s new paying virtual audience members are from outside the New York Metropolitan Area and live in all parts of the world.
“Suddenly we realized that we were no longer just a New York institution, we were truly a global institution,” Pinsky said.
See how to make virtual events better and engage new customers through quality digital content on the Small Business Spotlight video above.
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Small Business Comeback Tour: BrownMill Company
By Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso
NEWARK, NJ (WCBS 880) – This small business has created a local lifestyle brand and an experience in Downtown Newark.
Justis Pitt-Goodson told Joe Connolly business is “booming” at BrownMill Company since opening a retail location at 49 Halsey St. in June.
On the WCBS Small Business Comeback Tour, sponsored by PSE&G, Pitt-Goodson explained they had built their online brand over the last 12 years, but it was always a dream of his to have a brick-and-mortar store. He took advantage of lower rents during the COVID-19 pandemic and set up shop.
“The community came out and supported and it’s been up from there,” said Pitt-Goodson.
Connolly pointed out it seems the custom tailor has a local barbershop feel where customers come to hang out.
“People consider it a hub of creativity and a place of inspiration,” Pitt-Goodson said.
Part of that inspiration comes from within. The recent Rutgers University graduate is motivated by his father to pay success forward, so BrownMill Company was founded as a social enterprise.
The company co-sponsors Giving 1/10th – a community garden in Newark that aims to increase access to fresh and organic vegetables for local residents. BrownMill Company also hosts weekly basketball camps in Pitt-Goodson’s hometown of Piscataway.
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Hungerthon 2021: Tom Chapin carries on brother’s legacy fighting hunger, poverty 40 years after his death
By Neil A. Carousso, Wayne Cabot and Tom Kaminski
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – Hunger and poverty is an issue made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic, but WhyHunger believes it is solvable.
“Food is a right, not a privilege,” said musician Tom Chapin of the non-profit organization’s motto.
WhyHunger helped 1,036,065 people find access to nutritious food and essential services last year through their hotline and online resources. Through its COVID-19 Rapid Response Fund, it has mobilized $845,223 in emergency funding to 42 partner organizations and social movements across 8 countries.
Those rapid responses include distributing food, medications and PPE to vulnerable people, supporting food banks and pantries to meet rising demand during the pandemic, and developing the capacity of farmers to grow sustainable food while also developing a local distribution infrastructure.
“Almost 12 million children don’t know what they’re going to eat this week,” said Chapin. “Those numbers are drastic. The good news is, WhyHunger has been, since 1975, putting hungry people in touch with food, helping them towards self-reliance, and really, working toward food justice.”
As a board member, Tom Chapin has taken the mantle from his late brother Harry Chapin who founded WhyHunger in 1975 with radio DJ Bill Ayers. Harry tragically died in a car crash on July 16, 1981 on his way to a free benefit concert at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, Long Island.
“As Harry said when he was really a major star, ‘You know, it’s really cool I’m doing this, but being a rock star is not an end in itself,’” Tom Chapin recalled. “He always felt that he had a bully pulpit, which was pretty remarkable. I mean, you think about we talk about this guy now 40 years later and not even about the songs so much but about this idea that he had that so many other people have picked up and carried on. It’s kind of humbling and also just kind of magical.”
Annually through its Hungerthon auction and various partnerships, including with WCBS Newsradio 880 and the station’s parent company Audacy, WhyHunger brings together radio personalities and celebrities to raise money to put an end to hunger in America. Listeners can bid on exclusive in-person and virtual experiences, including a private concert from Chapin and his band.
“The real heroes here are not me,” he said, continuing, “It’s the people who have kept it going and the day-to-day people at WhyHunger and all of our partners – those are the real heroes here – and the people we’re talking to who open up their pocketbooks, and say, ‘Yeah, I want to be part of this. I want to help.’”
See how you can join the fight against hunger and poverty and get a sneak peek of Harry Chapin’s private concert auction item on the video above.
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