mike sugerman

Droughts are a fact of life in California. The one that lasted between 1986 and 1992 was a bad one. In 1991 alone, state officials would estimate the drought cost the state $1 billion in agriculture losses, increases in energy costs and damage to the environment—that’s close to 2 billion in today’s dollars.

In the winter of 1991, KCBS Radio ran a series of reports entitled “Drought Watch”, looking at what had already happened—and what may lie ahead.  You’ll hear discussion of things like drip irrigation, advanced weather forecasting, new approaches to water storage, challenges to agriculture,  urban water rationing,

Reporters are Mike Sugerman, Jim Taylor, Barbara Taylor, Dave Padilla, Jerry Wilcox, Mike Colgan, Chris Cutter and Paula Drake.

On December 23 1993, KCBS Radio broadcast a special report entitled “Gourmet Garbage”. Reporter Mike Sugerman looked into the amount of food wasted by the food service business, at a time when public attention was focused on the growing problems of hunger and homelessness. As part of his research, Sugerman spent time peering into trash cans behind stores, hotels, and restaurants.

The anchor lead-in read: “A lot of Bay Area food is getting trashed these days—literally. Every day, tons of good food is being dumped by commercial kitchens in restaurants, hotels, catering services, and other places that feed a lot of people. And every day, thousands of other people in the Bay Area are going hungry, more now than at any time in the recent past. Critics say if chefs would only save the food they are now wasting, there would be little hunger in the Bay Area.  KCBS Reporter Mike Sugerman spent some time investigating the tasty trash problem and has put together this in depth special report: ‘Gourmet Garbage’.”

In May 1989, KCBS Radio reporter Mike Sugerman looked into a controversy surrounding the California Victims Compensation Fund and whether it was properly paying out claims.

On New Year’s Eve 2000, KCBS Radio re-broadcast a special report entitled “Drinking and Driving—The Killer Next Door”.  Reporter Mike Sugerman took listeners beyond the statistics and inside the personal stories.