Sandi Klein has nothing against men. The Teaneck resident and former 1010 WINS newscaster has two sons and was married for 43 years (her husband, Judge Jerald Klein, died in March). But when she decided to switch careers in 2013 after 20 years at WINS, her thought was: “Men are great. I love them. But enough already, you know? Women have a lot to say.”
Thus was born “Conversations With Creative Women,” Klein’s weekly podcast featuring 30-minute interviews with women she finds fascinating.
In more than 120 episodes, guests have included Friday Jones, the body artist who gave Angelina Jolie her first Billy Bob Thornton tattoo; Emily Mann, the Tony-winning artistic director of McCarter Theater in Princeton; and Ann Jacobs, director of the Prisoner Reentry Institute. Episodes are free to download from iTunes, PRX and sandikleinshow.com. Radio station WFDU airs new episodes at 8:30 am on Sundays.
“Here’s the point of this show,” Klein says. “I’ve got nothing against Beyoncé and Martha Stewart and Jennifer Aniston. But you’re not going to learn anything new from them, because they have a persona that’s not going to crack.” Instead, the women on the podcast are social activists and scholars—anyone “who is accomplished and fascinating but doesn’t have an image to protect. They’re the dynamite, passionate women who have real things to share.
“This,” she says, “is the stuff that should be falling off my lips.”