Life After News – Details, episodes & analysis

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In the final episode of the year, Jason Ball takes a moment to look back not just at 2025, but at a life shaped by big transitions, many of them coinciding with presidential election years. From high school to his first job in television to becoming a news director, to finally stepping away and building something new, this episode is about evolution, reinvention, and what comes after the headlines.

Jason reflects on launching Life After News and Desert Dispatch, joining the Coachella Valley Journalism Foundation, becoming managing editor of Oasis magazine, and what it’s like to build momentum in a second (or third) act. He also shares updates on several past guests and their own Life After News journeys from creative breakthroughs to retirement, travel, new babies, and new chapters.

Then, Jason is joined by friend and former TV journalist Dorothy Lucey to talk about their newest project, Chasing Faith with Dorothy Lucey, a podcast born out of conversations about faith, purpose, community, and doing good over chasing ratings. Together, they discuss what faith means now, the guests who’ve inspired them most, and why making change where you are matters.

This episode is a year-end check-in, a celebration of growth, and an honest look at what it takes to keep going even when reinvention is uncomfortable.

In This Episode:

• How major life changes have aligned with election years
• Launching Life After News and Desert Dispatch
• Staying connected to journalism after leaving the newsroom
• Why most podcasts don’t last and how to fight “pod fade”
• Updates on past guests and their Life After News chapters
• The origin and mission of Chasing Faith with Dorothy Lucey
• Faith, purpose, and choosing impact over metrics
• What might be coming next

Links & Mentions:

• Subscribe to Desert Dispatch: https://desertdispatch.beehiiv.com/
• Follow Desert Dispatch: @DesertDispatchPS
• Follow Jason on Instagram: @MrJasonBall
• Follow the podcast: @LifeAfterNewsPod

Listener Note

Jason wants to hear from you. What’s working? What isn’t? Who should be on the show next? The best way to reach him is via Instagram DMs.

Let Life After News inspire your next chapter. Because leaving the news doesn’t mean the story’s over—it means a new one’s just beginning.

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Life After News has some big updates, and this episode is a perfect example of why. You never really know where this road leads until you look up and realize someone took a local TV segment, turned it into a digital brand, and then turned that into a full-blown cookbook.

Lora McLaughlin Peterson is back, and she’s pulling back the curtain on what it really takes to get a cookbook from idea to your kitchen counter. Spoiler: it’s not “throw some recipes together and send it to a printer.” It’s a year-and-a-half grind, recipe testing, precision measurements, outside editors, photo shoots that feel like movie production, and a full marketing rollout leading to publication.

Plus: another former Life After News guest makes a major announcement. Byron Lane is launching a new project inspired by Carrie Fisher’s iconic advice: take your broken heart and make art.

In this episode

🍳 Lora McLaughlin Peterson: LORIFIED: The Cookbook

Lora shares the wild behind-the-scenes reality of cookbook publishing, including:

• How the book deal came together through a network of supportive women in publishing
• Why she had to develop a 100-recipe proposal before anyone could even bid
• The slow, meticulous pace of publishing compared to the newsroom “right now” mindset
• What it’s like having an outside tester recreate your recipes (and ask, “Wait… what is orange fluff supposed to be?”)
• Why “measure with your heart” does not fly in a cookbook
• The full-on production process: food stylist, set stylist, photographer, studio days, and shooting at her house
• Her approach: approachable meals, recognizable ingredients, minimal fuss, and giving people time back

📸 A cookbook where every recipe has a photo

Lora insists on zero guesswork. Every recipe gets a picture, so you know exactly what you’re aiming for.

🎁 Holiday sanity tips from Lora

For anyone spiraling two days before Christmas:

• Use gift bags. Stop trying to make wrapping your personality.
• Don’t cook everything from scratch.
• Make the one or two things your family truly cares about and outsource the rest (Costco/Sam’s/deli trays are not cheating).

🎄 Lora’s traditions

• Red velvet pancakes on Christmas morning
• Prime rib (smoked on the Weber) as a once-a-year holiday flex
• One gift on Christmas Eve
• A full house, chaotic energy, and leaning into the “realness” of it

Major Life After News update: Byron’s announcement

Byron shares a new creative pivot rooted in something Carrie Fisher told him—and everyone—over and over:
 “Take your broken heart and go make art.”

He’s launching a project called Byrontology, designed for people who are creative (or existentially exhausted) and want to turn rejection, despair, and career heartbreak into meaning and momentum—with some humor along the way.

Links & where to follow

Pre-order LORIFIED: The Cookbook

• Go to lorafied.com and hit the pre-order button
• Available through major retailers (Walmart, Target, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and more)

Follow Lora

• Instagram + TikTok: @lorafied
• Watch for recipe rollouts starting in the months leading up to the book launch

Byron / Byrontology

• Find Byrontology via Byron’s link in profile (as mentioned in the episode)

If you liked this episode

• Rate + review the show
• Subscribe so you d

Let Life After News inspire your next chapter. Because leaving the news doesn’t mean the story’s over—it means a new one’s just beginning.

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Guest: Lisa Guerrero (investigative journalist, author of Warrior)
Host: Jason Ball
Link: 👉 lisaguerrero.com

Episode vibe: Courage, accountability, and what it really takes to speak truth to power.

Content note: This episode includes discussion of pregnancy loss and workplace trauma.

What we cover

• Why Lisa chose to leave Inside Edition after 18 years and what that says about a crisis in establishment media 🗞️
• How reclaiming her voice became the turning point that powered award-winning investigations 🔎
• The traumatic year on Monday Night Football and the moment she decided to do the job her way 🏈
• Accountability journalism: confronting scam artists, televangelists, and powerful institutions face-to-face 🎥
• Warrior: the story behind the name, her mother’s legacy, and how bravery can be trained 💪
• From sports to investigations: earning credibility in locker rooms and on national TV 🏟️
• Surviving the Palisades fire, rebuilding, and what real community recovery will require 🔥
• Mosaic art as therapy and metaphor.  Making something beautiful from broken pieces 🎨
• What’s next: adapting Warrior for TV and why storytelling about journalism matters now more than ever 📺

Guest links

• 🌐 Website: lisaguerrero.com
• 📖 Book: Warrior (mentioned in-show)

Quotes

“You can’t write a book about bravery and then not live it.”
 “Make something beautiful out of broken pieces.”

Next up

Teaser: Tom Sietsema (ex–Washington Post food critic) reveals his face and his plans for life after news. 🍽️

Help us grow!

If this conversation hit you, subscribe on YouTube.com/@ LifeAfterNews, rate the show ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐, and share this episode with one friend who loves real journalism. Your support helps us book more fearless voices. 🙏

#LifeAfterNews #LisaGuerrero #Warrior #InvestigativeJournalism #AccountabilityJournalism #InsideEdition #WomenInJournalism #MediaCrisis #SportsMedia #MondayNightFootball #Bravery #PalisadesFire #MosaicArt #SpeakTruthToPower #JasonBall

Let Life After News inspire your next chapter. Because leaving the news doesn’t mean the story’s over—it means a new one’s just beginning.

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What happens when a millennial “big J” journalist who helped build TV news on the internet trades breaking news for neighborhood impact? In this episode, Olsen Ebright (KTLA/KNBC/CBS) joins Jason to unpack the birth of digital news, the social-media rollercoaster, sane push-alert strategy, and why hyper-local politics might be your most powerful lever for change.

👉 Listen & subscribe now to hear practical, no-nonsense lessons for journalists, creators, and civic nerds alike. ⭐️ Please rate/review and share!

🔥 Top Takeaways

• Origins of TV news online: From Internet Broadcasting Systems to re-writing scripts into web-first stories ✍️
• Algorithm vs. integrity: How to grow audience without “losing the shop” to platforms 📈🧭
• Push alerts with purpose: Only buzz pockets when the news truly escalates 📳
• Career pivots: Consulting wins, CBS product lessons, and why an MBA mindset helps 🧮
• Real local power: Inside Los Feliz Neighborhood Council—how micro-grants & impact statements move a big city 🚦
• Sanity for digital teams: Managing the “viral hit” dopamine cycle without burning out 🧠

🎙️ About Olsen Ebright

Digital news leader across KNTV/KNBC/KTLA/CBS, consultant (Newsworthy), and Los Feliz Neighborhood Council VP/Admin & Rules Chair. Known for audience growth without sacrificing standards.

💡 Quotes

• “Don’t lose yourself to the algorithm. Use it—don’t let it use you.”
• “If you’re going to interrupt someone’s pocket, make sure it’s worth it.”
• “Hyper-local is where you can actually move the needle.”

If you got value from this episode, follow/subscribe on your favorite podcast app, leave a 5-star review, and share with a friend who’s navigating life after news (or thinking about getting involved in local government). 🙌

 🔜 Next Week:  Lisa Guerrero, former Inside Edition chief investigative correspondent, joins to reveal her new mission and why it matters now. You won’t want to miss it. 🔍✨ Subscribe so it lands in your feed!

#LifeAfterNews #DigitalJournalism #LocalNews #HyperLocal #NeighborhoodCouncil #LosAngeles #NewsroomLeadership #AudienceDevelopment #SocialMediaStrategy #PushAlerts #KTLA #CBS

Let Life After News inspire your next chapter. Because leaving the news doesn’t mean the story’s over—it means a new one’s just beginning.

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This week, Jason sits down with Simone Boyce, former KTLA reporter, MTV News & Access Hollywood host, and the very first anchor of NBC News Signal (now NBC News Now). From those early experimental days of streaming news to hosting The Bright Side for Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, Simone has lived many chapters of life in and after news. And now? She’s eyeing a future in political comedy. 🎭✨

Simone opens up about:

• 🌎 Breaking into 30 Rock and building something new at NBC
• 💡 Why experimenting in news mattered (even when execs didn’t always “get it”)
• 👩‍👧 How motherhood changed her career trajectory during the pandemic
• 🎧 Building The Bright Side and interviewing icons like Reese Witherspoon, Halle Berry, and Matthew McConaughey
• 😂 Why comedy might be her next big reinvention

Plus, Simone shares what’s ahead—including hosting a live conversation with Chrissy Teigen at Shine Away 2025 (Oct 11–12 at Universal Studios, CA). 🎟️ Tickets here

🔗 Links & Resources

• Simone’s podcast The Bright Side
• Shine Away 2025 tickets:  shineaway.hello-sunshine.co

🙌 Support the Show

If you love these conversations about reinvention:
✅ Subscribe & follow Life After News wherever you get podcasts
⭐ Leave us a rating & review (it helps more people find us!)
📲 Share this episode with a friend who needs some inspiration

👀 Coming Up Next

On the next episode, Jason talks with his good friend Olson Ebright about making a difference in your neighborhood through hyper-local politics and grassroots change. 🌱🏡 Don’t miss it!

#LifeAfterNews #Podcast #SimoneBoyce #Reinvention #TheBrightSide #HelloSunshine #ShineAway2025 #ChrissyTeigen #ReeseWitherspoon #Comedy #CareerPivot

Let Life After News inspire your next chapter. Because leaving the news doesn’t mean the story’s over—it means a new one’s just beginning.

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Christina McLarty Arquette walked away from on-air entertainment reporting to build a prolific producing career across documentaries and scripted features. In this episode, we dig into how she finished her first doc Survivor’s Guide to Prison, produced the cult-favorite You Cannot Kill David Arquette, brought film productions to Arkansas (including Jason's hometown), and why she and David Arquette are reimagining…Bozo the Clown.

Episode Highlights

• Career Reboot with Purpose: Burnout from daily news pushed Christina to produce impact-driven documentaries—while still using her newsroom instincts for fast writing, structure, and getting to the point.
• Finish the Film: Create real deadlines (festival submissions like Sundance, SXSW), back-plan delivery, and treat your doc like a job with milestones.
• Producer = “Whatever It Takes”: Indie producing spans financing, budgeting, crew hiring, interviews, music & footage licensing, legal, festival strategy, and distribution. Expect to learn on the fly—and phone a friend when you hit a wall.
• Post Is Where Budgets Break: Budget for color, mix, graphics, QC, and deliverables (the unsexy but essential tech specs buyers require). Keep finishing funds in reserve.
• Arkansas Advantage: Incentives + local talent + accessible locations = real value. Community support matters—from city halls to small businesses.
• Bozo’s Second Act: Beyond nostalgia, the work is about brand rehabilitation and storytelling that introduces Bozo to new audiences—without the “scary clown” baggage.
• Life After LA: Nashville offers family life, creative community, and space to build projects—plus a cause-driven lens on local issues.

Practical Takeaways for Documentary Makers 🎒

• Set immovable deadlines (festival calendars are perfect external pressure).
• Outline deliverables early so you’re not blindsided post-sale.
• Leverage newsroom skills: write fast, structure tight, fact-check always.
• Treat releases and licensing as day-one priorities, not last-minute chores.
• Network with purpose: today’s jail tour contact can be tomorrow’s co-producer.
• Budget for marketing: screeners, assets, DCPs, captions, festival travel.

Works & Projects Mentioned

• Survivor’s Guide to Prison (producer) — issue-driven doc that toured educationally and screened on Capitol Hill.
• You Cannot Kill David Arquette (producer) — SXSW selection; Hulu; Critics Choice nom; Adobe Editing Award.
• They Call Me Magic (team involvement referenced) — Apple TV+ docuseries.
• 12 Hour Shift (producer) — shot in Jonesboro, AR; indie thriller in a decommissioned hospital.
• Ghosts of the Ozarks (producer) — filmed in Trumann, AR.
• The First Step (EP) — on federal criminal justice reform.
• God Said Give ‘Em Drum Machines (producer) — Detroit techno roots.
• Bozo the Clown — ongoing doc + broader brand revival.

Christina McLarty Arquette is an independent film & documentary producer (13+ credits) and former entertainment reporter. She focuses on character-driven stories with cultural impact, splitting time between Nashville and Los Angeles and building a multifaceted Bozo revival with husband David Arquette.

Jason Ball is a former TV news director who’s charted his own “life after news.” On this show, he talks with journalists who jumped to new careers—an

Let Life After News inspire your next chapter. Because leaving the news doesn’t mean the story’s over—it means a new one’s just beginning.

Send us a text

In this episode of Life After News, Jason Ball sits down with international journalist May Lee.  May is a former CNN and ABC News correspondent, anchor, talk show host, professor, and now co-host of the hit podcast Shoes Off Inside.

✨ May shares her remarkable journey:

• From small-market local news to becoming CNN’s “disaster queen” covering global crises 🌍
• Breaking into Japanese media as one of the first Asian American journalists on NHK 🇯🇵
• Reporting through earthquakes, attacks, and cultural upheavals while living abroad
• Pivoting into activism during the pandemic and raising her voice against anti-Asian hate ✊
• Creating Shoes Off Inside with fellow trailblazers Kelly Hu and Tamlyn Tomita 💬
• Embracing radical joy and the Korean concept of Han as powerful forces in life and storytelling 💜

This intimate, powerful conversation explores identity, resilience, cultural pride, and how journalism shapes—and is shaped by—the people who live it.

📌 Connect & Listen

🔗 Listen to May’s podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shoes-off-inside-with-mkt/id1497399536

🔗 Learn more at lotusmediahouse.com
📺 Subscribe to Life After News on YouTube
⭐ Don’t forget to rate & review the podcast—it helps us grow!

📲 Join the Conversation

#LifeAfterNews #MayLee #ShoesOffInside #RadicalJoy #AsianAmericanVoices #JournalismMatters #PodcastLife #Storytelling

👉 CTA: Hit play, subscribe, and share this episode with someone who needs a dose of inspiration, resilience, and joy.

Let Life After News inspire your next chapter. Because leaving the news doesn’t mean the story’s over—it means a new one’s just beginning.

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🎙️ This episode doubles as your playbook. You’ve told stories on deadline; now you’re thinking about owning the story for an organization. Here’s how to make the jump from newsroom to PR on purpose, not in panic.

What you’ll learn 🧭

• How to plan your pivot years before you need it
• The real difference between reporting news and making news
• How to operate inside big orgs where buy-in beats speed
• Crisis rules: why the story always changes and how you communicate that
• The mindset shift to truth-telling within legal limits (no spin)

Step-by-step game plan ✅

1. Pick a mission you can sell on your hardest day.
   If you can’t defend it tired, stressed, or under fire… keep looking.
2. Stack credentials that widen your lane.
   Add a degree/certificate outside journalism (e.g., Public Administration, Policy, Health Comms). It signals range.
3. Build reps in public service before you switch.
   Join advisory boards, volunteer with public safety, healthcare, or education. Show receipts, not just interest.
4. Learn the legal/ethical rails.
   In PR you are accountable to the org, the public, the media, and the law. Know what you can’t say and why.
5. Design your 24/7 boundaries.
   Crisis can be round-the-clock. Protect your health and family rhythm; choose roles and teams that honor that.
6. Teach what you know.
   Guest lecture or adjunct. Teaching sharpens your message discipline and grows your network.

Call to action 👉

If you’re mapping your own pivot, follow the show, rate & review⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, and share this episode with one colleague who needs a nudge. 

#LifeAfterNews #JournalistToPR #CareerPivot #CrisisComms #BrandReputation #PublicService #MediaCareers #TruthTelling #GetTheCake 🎧

Let Life After News inspire your next chapter. Because leaving the news doesn’t mean the story’s over—it means a new one’s just beginning.

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Feeling stuck in a career rut or ready for a new chapter? This bonus episode of Life After News is for you! 🎙️✨This week I’m sharing a special bonus conversation with my friend Rich DeMuro—tech reporter, host of Rich on Tech, and all-around gadget guy. ⚡

We dive into how off-the-shelf tech like AI, Canva, and Riverside.fm makes it possible for anyone to create their own podcast 🎧 and newsletter 📰 without a big newsroom behind them.

From my leap out of TV news to running a Palm Springs hotel 🌴 to building Life After News and Desert Dispatch, Rich and I explore the challenges (and rewards) of reinvention. 💡

👉 What you’ll hear in this episode:

• How I went from news director to hotel owner to podcaster.
• The exact tools I use to produce Life After News on my own.
• Why embracing AI isn’t just smart—it’s necessary.
• The realities of monetizing a newsletter (and why journalists shouldn’t shy away from it).
• Why reinvention is scary—but worth it. ✨

🔗 Follow Rich: https://richontech.tv/

📺Catch him on KTLA + his weekly KFI show.
 🌵 Check out my Palm Springs newsletter: https://desertdispatch.beehiiv.com/
📲 Follow along on Instagram: @DesertDispatchPS

🙌 Join the conversation

• Subscribe to Life After News wherever you get your podcasts 🎧
• Share this episode with someone who’s ready to reinvent their career 🔄
• Leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating + review—it really helps spread the word!
• All episodes on https://lifeafternews.com/

#LifeAfterNews #Podcasting #Reinvention #PalmSprings #NewsLife #TechTools #RichOnTech #DesertDispatch

Let Life After News inspire your next chapter. Because leaving the news doesn’t mean the story’s over—it means a new one’s just beginning.

Send us a text

Author/playwright/former TV newsie Byron Lane talks origin stories, on-air anxiety, assisting Carrie Fisher, chasing the Northern Lights, indie films, best-selling novels, big love, and bigger reinventions. This one’s honest, funny, and full of heart. 💛

What you’ll hear

• 🚨 “I’m still just telling stories.” Why the news muscle never leaves
• 🏕️ Boy Scout tour → WWL legend. Byron’s “pharmacist moment”
• ⏰ Overnights + 8am classes. Grit that built a storyteller
• 😬 The cost of ‘live.’ On-air nerves, pressure, and knocking on doors at 2am
• 📡 Live shot disasters. Speakers blasting, trucks failing—lessons anyway
• ⭐ Pivot to Princess Leia. How Carrie Fisher changed everything
• 🌌 “Take your broken heart and make art.” Northern Lights with Carrie
• 🎬 Herpes Boy → Octavia Spencer + JVN cameo. News rules that power scripts
• 💍 Proposal in the acknowledgments. Yes, really—book as ring
• 🎭 Tilda Swinton Answers an Ad on Craigslist. Why the play still has another life
• 🌈 Big Gay Wedding. A mom’s “coming out,” Polite Society Ranch, and small-town love
• 🌴 Palm Springs life. Community, creativity, and signed books at Best Bookstore

Pull quotes

• “It’s not just before all that—I still feel like I’m just telling stories.”
• “Take your broken heart and make art.” —Carrie Fisher
• “News taught me to find the headline of a scene.”
• “I proposed to Steven… in the acknowledgments.”

About Byron 📚

• Author of A Star Is Bored and Big Gay Wedding
• Playwright of Tilda Swinton Answers an Ad on Craigslist
• Former local TV reporter/producer/writer; past assistant to Carrie Fisher
• Partner to author Steven Rowley (The Guncle, The Celebrants)

Mentioned

• Books: A Star Is Bored, Big Gay Wedding, The Guncle, The Celebrants, Chuck Palahniuk’s Invisible Monsters
• Projects: Herpes Boy (indie), Last Will & Testicle (web series), Tilda Swinton Answers an Ad on Craigslist (play)
• Shop local: Best Bookstore in Palm Springs — ask for signed copies of Byron’s books ✍️

🎧 Listen • Share • Support

• ❤️ If this resonated, text it to one newsroom friend.
• ⭐ Rate & review the show—helps more people find these stories.
• 🛍️ Buy Byron’s books from your indie—if you’re in Palm Springs, request signed at checkout.
• 🌐 Go to our website for new episodes, essays, and behind-the-scenes.
• 👥 Know a great guest? Pitch me.

Let Life After News inspire your next chapter. Because leaving the news doesn’t mean the story’s over—it means a new one’s just beginning.