New media allows Rick Karle to extend a positive reach
By Emmett Burnett
On initial observation, one might think this is a television studio, a radio station, or communication center. Cameras, boom mics, and video screens dominate the office suite overlooking Jefferson County.
Phones are turned to silent mode, and non-essential personnel are gently reminded to remain quiet as one of Alabama’s most familiar voices speaks into the mic. “Hello everybody, welcome back. This is ‘The Good Company Podcast’ and I’m Rick Karle.”
Karle’s “Good Company” podcast co-hosts include longtime TV and radio anchor Matt Coulter, New York Times best-selling author Lars Anderson, and regular special guest James Spann.
For Karle, “podcast host” is his latest title in a career spanning over four decades.
Many know him from his 43 years in broadcasting. His resume includes news and sports broadcasting from New Hampshire, Florida, and Alabama. In the Birmingham area, he became a household name, working at WBRC TV for 30 years, followed by morning co-hosting and anchor desk positions at WTVM13.
To say the least, he is good at what he does.
Karle has accumulated an array of recognition including 25 Emmy awards. His career also earned him the honor of “Best Sports Anchor” by the Alabama Broadcasters Association. He is also the recipient of the Edward R. Murrow National Award for reporting, and he was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2023.
With self-effacing humor, he responds to the accolades bestowed upon him. “These awards prove that I’ve been around a long time,” he smiles. “It also helps when your parents are on the judging panels.” News update: Karle’s parents were not on the judging panels.
Born in Syracuse, N.Y., Karle began his career as a sports director for WNNE in Hanover, N.H. It is where he met future wife, Jill, then a registered nurse. They married in 1984 and have two children, ages 27 and 24.
In 1989, after a sports anchor job for WJXT TV4 in Jacksonville, Fla., Karle ventured to Birmingham’s WBRC TV. He replaced Eli Gold, who had accepted the play-by-play position for the University of Alabama football broadcasts.
In the early 2000s, social media was growing by leaps and likes. “Our TV managers wanted their news and sports anchors to be involved with it,” Karle recalls about social media’s infancy. “I had writing experience. As a sportscaster, I wrote scripts all the time. You just pound it out.” Moving those skills to social media posts was a smooth transition
for him.
“I did not realize until about 5 years ago how much I enjoyed writing,” he recalls.
Leveraging new platforms
Karle “sort of” retired in 2023, but his social media venture did not. Thus, the advent of Rick Karle Good News, available on Facebook and beyond. The sportscaster turned blogger has a Facebook following of over a half million people
and growing.
His unofficial mission statement is the key to his success. “I do not want to be the bearer of bad news,” he says. “I want to be the bearer of good news, even in the midst of bad news.”
He continues, “I like giving people the attention they deserve and otherwise would not receive. There is so much good out there, but you don’t see it. You turn on the news and see a lot of terrible things. I stay away from that on my page.”
Topics include rescues, heroism, good deeds, triumph over adversity, victory over tragedy and overcoming illnesses. Not all of his posts are happy, but most have at least an element of positivity. He adds, “I try to find the good regardless of how bad the situation is.”
As an example, he recalls, “A mother wrote a devastating letter to me about her child with cancer. In addition, she is broke and might lose her house. She wanted me to write about it, but I wondered how I could include good news in the story.” He found a way.
“I discovered her ill son loved fire trucks and was able to ride in one and even in the midst of his battle, he was bringing inspiration to others. I covered the story from that angle – a ray of good news in a difficult situation.”
He adds, “Typically, I feature good deeds, good news – stories with something uplifting in them. I wrote about a rescue dog who was burned but is now getting better. People like positive stories these days.”
Karle also shares his life. “On occasion I write about my family. We recently lost our Yorkie. I wrote about how painful that was. People can relate to that. I try to write what people relate to.”
Karle will write about all subjects, even his kitchen table. “It is old and from the 1800s, a scuffed up old table, but it holds so many memories,” he says.
Rick Karle Good News’ audience started in Birmingham and has spread to Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and beyond. “I will write stories from anywhere if it’s a good story,” he notes. “There is good news in Michigan, Florida, California, and North Dakota – everywhere.”
A new venture ahead
As for the writing process, discipline is the key. Karle writes 3 to 5 posts a day, every day. Sometimes he posts up to 10 a day. They range from one or two sentences to full essays.
“It can intrude into your life but not if you plan it right,” he added. “Typically, my daily posts start the night before. During the evening and night, it is me, my laptop, and late night TV. I can knock out three or four posts a night.”
There is a never-ending content supply. Karle receives 3 to 15 post requests a day through email, messaging, and cell phone calls. He also searches for story ideas, not just for Facebook but also his latest venture, the Good Company Podcast.
The new podcast features interviews with people from all walks of life. “We want to get behind the people we interview. We want to tell our viewers and listeners something about our guests, the audience may not know,” he says.
He adds, “For example, everybody knows Coach Nick Saban’s football legacy. If we ever landed an interview with the coach, we’d like to talk to him about growing up in West Virginia, meeting Miss Terry back in the 7th grade, and working at his dad’s filling station.”
Today’s guest is Ben Abercrombie, a former Hoover High School football standout who was paralyzed with a spinal cord injury during his first football game as a player for Harvard University. Abercrombie vowed to graduate from Harvard and years after he was paralyzed from the neck down, he did. Karle draws out the miraculous story.
“I love Rick’s love for people,” co-host Matt Coulter says about Karle. “It is perfect for a podcast called ‘Good Company.’”
Co-host Lars Anderson adds, “We are on the cusp of something very special. We hope to remain local but also be listened to around the country.”
With the podcast complete but a blog post due, Rick Karle returns to work. He is fueled by the desire to inform with positive content.
“People are hungry for good news,” he says. Somebody has got to bring it to them. “It might as well be me.”
Rick Karle can be found on Facebook at Rick Karle Good News and on the Good Company Podcast on YouTube and wherever podcasts are available.
Pioneer EC Technician Gets the Karle Treatment
Rick Karle featured one of our Alabama rural electric cooperative employees in his Sept. 9 Facebook post, spotlighting Reed Crosby, a healthy 28-year-old Pioneer Electric Cooperative employee, whose heart stopped 75 times in 48 hours.
On Aug. 25, Reed, the co-op’s AMI/SCADA technician, passed out at his desk at the co-op office in Greenville and was taken to a local emergency room. He was quickly airlifted to Baptist Medical Center South in Montgomery, where he coded several times during a heart catheterization before being sent to UAB Hospital in Birmingham. Realizing he was in V-Fib (ventricular fibrillation), doctors performed an ablation to remove dead heart tissue. While there he coded 56 more times. All told, his heart stopped 75 times.
“Reed was sedated for 8 days and put on a ventilator,” Karle wrote. “Then came together wonderful doctors and modern medicine.” He was fitted with an internal defibrillator (which detects heart stoppage and shocks it back into functioning) and a pacemaker, and amazingly, was able to go home on Sept. 9. He returned to work at Pioneer Electric on Sept. 29.
