Off Air with Slater

In this episode I sit down with Ricardo Morales, the Commissioner of Public Works for the City of Pittsfield. Morales, a civil engineer, was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Massachusetts in 2011. Morales, who was hired as the city's engineer in 2018 and then named head of Public Works in 2020, is responsible for the city's infrastructure, water, and other related services. Enjoy our spirited debate about how Pittsfield's streets should be designed. How important are other modes of transportation compared to the car? Plus, we talk about Pittsfield's drinking water and wastewater facilities.

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Matt Bishop, Principal of Taconic High School in Pittsfield, MA. Bishop has worked in the Pittsfield school system for nearly 30 years. With 805 students this school year, this is the first year Taconic has become a full vocational high school (CTE). Times have changed, and attending a vocational high school is now something students seek out rather than look down on. In fact, there was a lottery just to get into Taconic. We discuss all 15 programs students can choose from alongside their core classes, student mindsets, hopes and goals, attendance issues, in-person learning, the changing sports programs, students' respect for diversity among their peers, respect for teachers, and student behavior overall.

Mike Fenton is a Springfield city councilor and attorney running for Massachusetts Governor’s Council District 8. That’s the elected body that confirms judges, parole board members, and other appointments from the governor. District 8 is all of Western Mass. (Berkshire, Hampden, Franklin, and Hampshire counties) Berkshire County currently has no Superior Court judge who lives here. District court benches are thin too. Fenton says that’s not an accident. He talks about five Superior Court vacancies at once last year, more than 100 pending homicide cases across the four western counties, and why the Berkshire DA, sheriff, and clerk of courts endorsed him over the incumbent, Tara Jacobs of North Adams. We get into: What the Governor’s Council actually does How judges get confirmed (and why some votes go no) Why local judges matter when the cases are local The difference between “bad decisions” and accountability What he’ll look for if voters put him on the council What a parole board looks like with no former prosecutor on there Democratic primary is September 1.

Corey Bishop is one-half of Bishop West Real Estate, a full-service real estate company based in Berkshire County. In this episode, we focus on vacant retail and commercial spaces in Pittsfield and the Berkshires.
Why do investors and developers like Allegrone, David Carver, and Mill Town, the ones actually filling much-needed space, catch flack on social media? We hear about a housing crisis constantly, but Pittsfield has actually lost population over the last 40 years. So where did all that available space go?
We also get into Massachusetts' strict squatters' laws and what they mean for property owners.
Also, The Berkshire Mall has a plan for redevelopment pending change to the Baker Hill Road District. The proposal includes a plan for two major anchor stores in addition to the standing Target. Will this ever happen?

Ben Garver joined the Berkshire Eagle as a photojournalist in 1995. Thirty years and more than a million photographs later, he retired in 2025. In this episode, Garver walks us through what it actually takes to shoot spot news, the emergencies, accidents, and breaking stories that don't wait for a photographer to be ready, and what that work has done to him over three decades behind the camera. He recounts photographing convicted killer Adam Hall in 2011, an assignment that left him visibly shaken. He also looks back on covering Governor Charlie Baker's pandemic-era visit to Pittsfield, along with memorable encounters with former Governors Jane Swift and Paul Cellucci. The conversation turns to Pittsfield's urban renewal era and how the city has changed physically and culturally since. We close by talking about the shifting landscape of local media, integration of AI, and what three decades in the field taught him about how journalism itself has transformed.

Detective Kim Bertelli-Hunt is a legend in Pittsfield. Known as the "face of the department," she just retired from the Pittsfield Police Department after more than 43 years of service, making her the longest-serving female officer in the Commonwealth. Join me as we walk through her incredible career, starting with her first assignment: going undercover at Taconic High School in 1983. From there we cover her years on patrol, her time as a school resource officer and D.A.R.E. officer, and her eventual rise to detective. Bertelli-Hunt shares some great stories along the way, plus her perspective on building a career in a field that's long been dominated by men.