Selfless Love Talk - Host Chanel Budd & Guest Speaker Janice Newman

Janice Newman

A few years ago, Janice Newman started producing The Y? Why Not! Show in the public access studios of Comcast TV in the Chicago suburbs. The show seeks to inspire people to pursue their goals. Her goal is to communicate that message to as many people as possible. Last year Janice joined Wisconsin Community Media as an Independent Producer to get into the Wisconsin PEG market and to enter the Best of the Midwest Media Fest, where she received top level Excellence Awards for several episodes of The Y? Why Not! Show and a Best in Show for the Best Virtual Public Access Show (amateur level).  

Janice is no stranger to awards.  She received first place with the show in the Illinois Woman’s Press Association in both 2020 and 2021 and took third place in the National Federation of Press Women in 2020.  How Janice became a top producer in the public access field is itself an inspiring story.

In 2016 Janice had a major health reversal that caused her to look at life in a new way.  She underwent brain surgery and while recuperating in the hospital, a nurse accidentally dropped her and she banged her head.  She suddenly lost all ability to communicate.  If she wrote something down or spoke, it came out as gibberish. “I would think one thing and it would come out all wrong.  I’d be asking for more blankets, say, and it would come out ‘mokin mokin,’ which everyone thought was milk.  I got a lot of milk!” After three and a half days, her ability to communicate returned and with it a newfound appreciation for her voice.  “All during that time I just prayed and prayed and as I did, I realized just how important my voice is and how important it is to help others.”