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What happens when a veteran TV journalist walks away from a major network job to build something of his own?

In this episode of Life After News, Jason talks with meteorologist and climate reporter Chase Cain about leaving NBC News, starting over in San Francisco, and launching a new climate-focused platform on YouTube. Chase explains why he believes mainstream media still isn’t giving climate change the attention it deserves and why he’s taking the risk to do it differently.

They get into the real reasons climate stories struggle to break through in traditional news, how extreme weather connects to climate change, and why so many journalists are quietly wondering whether it’s time to build something beyond the corporate newsroom.

Chase also shares practical advice for journalists and creators thinking about making the leap, including how he’s approaching YouTube as both a mission and a business.

This is a conversation about reinvention, risk, purpose, and what it means to chase what matters. 🌱

In this episode:
✨ Why Chase left NBC News
🌡️ Why climate change coverage gets buried in mainstream media
🔥 What record-breaking March heat says about our changing planet
🧠 How Chase makes climate science easier to understand
📺 Why YouTube may be the future for journalists
💸 The fear and financial reality of leaving a steady media job
🎯 What creators and reporters need to know before going out on their own
🌿 Why hope matters in climate storytelling

Connect with Chase Cain:
Search Chase Cain on YouTube and follow his work as he builds his new platform around climate, connection, and storytelling.

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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 does the collapse of the Soviet Union teach us about the world today? And why might California be one of the most powerful places on Earth even without an army?

In this episode of Life After News, Jason sits down with Markos Kounalakis, journalist, scholar, Hoover Institution fellow, and author of several books including Freedom Isn’t Free: The Price of World Order. Kounalakis reported on Soviet forces in Afghanistan and was in Moscow during the final days of the Soviet Union. Today he studies geopolitics, media power, and the surprising global influence of California.

Their conversation spans decades of global history and the urgent challenges facing journalism today.

🌍 In This Episode

🧱 Reporting history as it happened
Markos recalls covering the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union from Moscow moments that seemed to unfold almost overnight.

✈️ Inside Soviet-era Afghanistan
What it was like flying into Kabul with the Soviet military while planes corkscrewed to avoid missiles.

⚡ Energy and geopolitics
Why energy insecurity continues to drive global conflicts from World War II to today.

🌎 Russia, Ukraine, and shifting global power
How the war in Ukraine has weakened Russia’s ability to influence countries like Cuba, Venezuela, Syria, and Iran.

📉 The dangerous decline of foreign correspondents
Why fewer reporters overseas could weaken national security and limit the information available to policymakers.

📡 Media as a geopolitical weapon
How Russia and China are expanding global media operations while Western newsrooms shrink.

🏛️ “Superpower California”
Why the state’s economy, culture, technology, agriculture, and venture capital make it comparable to a nation even without traditional tools of power like an army.

🗳️ Why freedom depends on an informed public
Markos explains why democracy requires active citizenship and a strong press.

🎧 Why This Conversation Matters

Freedom isn’t automatic. It requires engaged citizens, strong institutions, and a press that can explain the world clearly.

From Moscow to Silicon Valley, this episode explores how journalism, geopolitics, and democracy intersect and why understanding the world has never mattered more.

🔗 Learn More

Explore Markos Kounalakis’s work:
🌐 markoskounalakis.com

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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 after the anchor desk? For longtime Los Angeles and Minneapolis news anchor Paul Magers, life after news has been meaningful, reflective, and surprisingly joyful.

Paul joins Jason for a candid conversation about leaving television news in 2017, getting sober, and finding purpose in helping others. Along the way, the two share stories from their newsroom days, what really makes great TV news, and what it’s like to trade big-city broadcasts for the small-town charm of Palm Springs.

They also revisit a surreal moment at the Beverly Hills Hotel… when Paul McCartney walked up and started singing “Dear Prudence.” Yes, really.

In this episode:
📺 What Paul really misses about the newsroom
🧠 The moment he realized he needed help with alcoholism
🙏 How a 12-step program changed his life
🎥 The tornado coverage that transformed a TV station
👔 The legendary purple suit
🎸 Singing with a Beatle at the Beverly Hills Hotel
🌴 Why Palm Springs feels like a modern-day small town

Paul also shares a powerful story about kindness, connection, and a simple wallet that became one of the most meaningful gifts he’s ever received.

It’s an honest, funny, and thoughtful look at life after the newsroom lights go out.

🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

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📣 Share this episode with a friend who loves news, journalism, or a great behind-the-scenes story.

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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.