This is the 300th episode of the IBJ Podcast, which debuted on June 3, 2018. In what has become a tradition for the podcast's anniversaries, host Mason King checks in with Pete Dunn, aka Pete the Planner, to get his latest take on personal finance and some of the knottier issues that arise when managing your money. In this episode, Pete explores for the first time the relationship between career earnings and the assets you’ve accumulated. It’s a different way to think about what you’ve saved...

If you’ve lived in central Indiana for more than a few years, you’re probably at least familiar with John Stehr, a lead news anchor for WTHR-TV Channel 13 for 23 years before retiring in 2018. He since has gone from reporting the news to becoming the news. At the age of 65, he is now the mayor of Zionsville, the fast-growing town just northwest of Indianapolis with one of the state’s highest median incomes. He ran on a platform that included reforming the culture and financial transparency of...

When Benjamin Hanna assembled the schedule for his first season as artistic director of the Indiana Repertory Theatre, he placed “Little Shop of Horrors” as the closing production for the 2023-24 season. The IRT, founded in 1972, had not previously staged “Little Shop of Horrors”—which debuted in New York in 1982 and was adapted for a 1986 film. Perhaps more noteworthy is that “Little Shop of Horrors” is a musical. The IRT last staged a traditional Broadway musical in 2013, when Stephen...

Chick McGee has been a fixture on Indianapolis radio for 38 years as a cast member of “The Bob & Tom Show,” the morning show which originates from WFBQ-FM and is heard on close to 100 radio stations across the country. That’s 38 consecutive years, even if you count the six months in 1995 when he moved to San Diego to host another show and then resigned due to creative differences, home sickness and the earlier resignation of his co-host. He was quickly invited back to “Bob & Tom,”...

Back in 1990, Mark Hardwick had a courtside seat on the Ball State University bench for one of the most memorable games in March Madness history. Those were heady times for the redshirt freshman from tiny Dunkirk, Indiana, and a few years later he would have his chance to start in an NCAA tournament game for Ball State. But it’s the former squad from 1990 that came within a basket of defeating one of the greatest teams in college basketball history and has since been enshrined in the BSU...

You don’t need to be 50 years old to remember the Carpenters, the brother-sister duo that helped define pop music in the 1970s with gold-gilded melodies, pristine production and a certain yen for heartache. The music is timeless and has ardent fans online and on music streaming channels. It’s also the basis for a new cabaret show that was developed in Indianapolis with a strong connection to Ball State University. It since has been performed on Broadway’s doorstep in New York City. The most...

When serial entrepreneur Christopher Day walks into a room, he should be followed by somebody with a boombox playing “Start Me Up” by the Rolling Stones. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Christopher Day gathers no moss. Over the last 30 years, he has co-founded eight businesses in seven distinct sectors—namely, artificial intelligence, software as a service, hardtech, broadband, entertainment, investment banking and real estate. For the last two years, he has been CEO of...

Change can be hard. Systemic change, or massive change across a large organization with lots of stakeholders, can be particularly tough to manage. About three weeks ago, Latha Ramchand started her new job as incoming chancellor for Indiana University Indianapolis, which will be one of the products when IUPUI splits into two campuses on July 1. Ramchand will preside over the transition, which is billed by IU as a transformation on the IU Indianapolis side. It wants to establish IU Indianapolis...

Central Indiana isn’t necessarily known as a golf mecca, but it's well represented on the national championship stage by Crooked Stick Golf Club and its singular course designed by the legendary Pete and Alice Dye. It recently announced that it will host the 2028 U.S. Senior Open. It last hosted the Senior Open in 2009, drawing nearly 150,000 attendees to Carmel for three days of practices and four days of tournament play. In the last 20 years, Crooked Stick has hosted the 2005 Solheim Cup,...

As you know, we discuss retirement planning fairly regularly on the IBJ Podcast, but in retrospect it’s been a little one-dimensional. We almost always are focused on how to hit a particular number—the amount to have squirreled away that will allow you to maintain your current lifestyle during retirement. There’s a little bit of wiggle room in our definition of lifestyle, but we’re usually talking about creature comforts, travel, entertainment, family obligations and health care. What we have...

This is the week of the NBA All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis, which officially tips off on Thursday and will run through the 73rd NBA All-Star Game on Sunday night. Over the next week, Indianapolis will be the site of star-studded concerts, exhibition games, fan-friendly activities, multimedia programming and major art installations. For this week’s episode of the podcast, we wanted to focus on a philanthropic feat that deserves to be in someone’s record book. The Indianapolis-based...

The NBA’s All-Star weekend is just about 10 days away, and the calendar is filling up fast with official and unofficial events. There are concerts, forums, theater, comedy and lots of art. Guest host Lesley Weidenbener talked with IBJ arts and entertainment writer Dave Lindquist to talk about the schedule so far and what central Indiana residents can find to do during All-Star Weekend—even if they don’t have a ticket to the game. One note: After this podcast was recorded, the NBA said rapper...

The concept behind the local not-for-profit group RecycleForce can be stated in a very elegant maxim: “We’re recycling electronics, and recycling lives.” When you get into the nitty-gritty details, RecycleForce is not nearly as refined, but accepting things that are rough around the edges is integral to its mission.Entrepreneur Gregg Keesling hit on this set of solutions to two persistent problems in the early 2000s: Give people who have just been released from jail or prison a much-needed...

At least as far back as the 2012 Super Bowl, Indianapolis has built a reputation not just for its excellence in stitching together all of the elements of large sports events but also for finding ways to weave the work of local artists and craftspeople into the fabric of the event. For the NBA All-Star Weekend set for Feb. 15-18, local organizers hit on a way to put a distinctly Hoosier spin on the areas downtown that will host the most visitors, playing off of the concept of Hoosier...

For people outside of Indianapolis, the focus of NBA All-Star Weekend next month will be an offense-only exhibition game between the league’s biggest stars. But the expansive festivities surrounding the game in Indianapolis will essentially be a celebration of Black excellence. The league has come to embrace the way its players have pushed the sport into the realms of Black culture, including music, fashion, cuisine, acting and art. A cavalcade of Black celebrities will be on hand as...

Stocks went up about 25% in 2023, a welcome correction from a lousy 2022. Don’t say we didn’t give you a heads-up: On the IBJ Podcast a year ago, Peter Dunn, aka Pete the Planner, predicted a “bonkers” year for stocks with equities rising 30%. He wasn’t quite as close on some of his other prediction—especially for the housing market—but, you know, nobody ever gets it totally right. Given Pete’s qualified success last year, we thought it’d be worth revisiting those predictions about stock,...

Indiana lawmakers will return to the Statehouse for their 2024 session on Jan. 8 with plans to talk about water rights, literacy and apprenticeships for students. But House and Senate leaders have said they don't expect to tackle any especially polarizing issues this year. With IBJ Podcast host Mason King off this week, Managing Editor Greg Weaver talks with two Statehouse reporters—IBJ's Peter Blanchard and State Affairs' Kaitlin Lange—about what to expect at the Legislature in the coming...

Welcome back to the podcast everybody. Noblesville-based Clancy’s Hospitality has been creating and running restaurants in central Indiana—and much of the Midwest—for nearly 60 years. The names are instantly recognizable for folks who have lived in these parts for a while, including Clancy’s Hamburgers, Grindstone Charley’s, Michaelangelo’s Italian Bistro, Red Rock Roadhouse and, most recently, The Fountain Room at Bottleworks District. But you almost certainly don’t know the name Fogelsong....

His last name literally is up in lights on downtown’s biggest stadium, although he probably could wander through a crowd of 60,000 Indianapolis Colts fans in near-complete anonymity. Morgan Lucas is the president of Lucas Oil Products, and quite literally grew up with the company. His parents, Forrest and Charlotte Lucas, founded the firm in 1989, when Morgan was about 7 years old. His youth and tween years were spent in part making deliveries to early customers and playing with Hot Wheels at...

Joey Chestnut is the king of competitive eating. You almost certainly have seen video clips of him gulping down dozens of hot dogs, boiled eggs, tacos, wings, burritos, Twinkies and/or spears of deep-fried asparagus. He in fact has more than 50 gastronomic world records, including a vaunted 76 Nathan’s Famous hot dogs, with buns, eaten in 10 minutes. He’s the first to admit that competitive eating is a little weird, but he has a natural affinity for it, and it allows him to make hundreds of...

We’re entering the holiday season, of course, and that critical six-week period in which we are encouraged to indulge in conspicuous consumption. IBJ Podcast host Mason King has it circled on his calendar, since his goal this year is to keep from exceeding his modest budget. His plan for this week’s edition of the podcast was to ask regular contributor Pete Dunn—aka Pete the Planner—how best to avoid going into the red this year. But as usual, Pete had the bigger picture in mind. Pete’s plan...

Over its first 10 years, The Garrett Co. has been one of the fastest-growing—if not THE fastest-growing—company in the Indianapolis area. Not coincidentally, it also has become one of the largest companies in the state of Indiana. To put it as simply as possible: The Garrett Cos. develops high-end apartment complexes. To flesh it out a bit: The Garrett Cos. has been built to include nearly every element of the apartment development process under one roof—including site selection, design,...

You certainly hear a lot of people these days talk about changing careers, especially to start their own business—maybe a restaurant, coffee shop or microbrewery. Juliet Schmalz hears from a lot of people who are impressed that she actually did it. In her mid 40s, she left her career as a medical doctor—an anesthesiologist—to start a company that produces high-end whiskey. That company, called Fortune’s Fool Whiskey—a nod to a line in a Shakespearean tragedy—debuted its first product a few...

Legendary local newscaster Debby Knox has been on the air in Indianapolis, with the exception of a short break, since 1980 when she joined WISH-TV Channel 8. She worked as a reporter and anchor for 33 years until retiring in late 2013. It didn’t stick. She soon was recruited to help launch the newscasts for CBS4, which had taken over the city’s CBS network affiliation from WISH-TV.  She was paired with veteran news anchor Bob Donaldson and meteorologist Chris Wright starting in January...