Greenberg brings radio show to Tahoe

By Kathryn Reed

STATELINE — “My mantra is if it’s in a brochure, I don’t want to know about it.”

Travel guru Peter Greenberg is not going to endear himself to tourism executives with that sentiment – and he’s fine with that. He is all about giving listeners of his weekly worldwide radio show what they want. And that is the truth.

Todd Offenbacher, left, tapes a segment for Peter Greenberg's Nov. 28 radio show. Photo/Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority

Greenberg taped his show at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course on Wednesday afternoon. He has been coming to Tahoe for 30 years, but this is the first broadcast from the basin.

He has a couple rules about his show – no heads of chambers of commerce, no visitor or convention center chief, no one who is selling anything.

“My audience knows better,” Greenberg told Lake Tahoe News after he wrapped up his show as the sun was setting over Lake Tahoe.

Greenberg interviewed five locals with different stories, though all fairly well known throughout the South Shore.

Terri Marceron — supervisor of the U.S. Forest Service office that regulates the entire Lake Tahoe Basin. Todd Offenbacher — Resort Sports Network host and founder of Tahoe Adventure Film Festival. Dave Borges — local chiropractor and historian. Curtis Fong — “the guy from Tahoe” and coordinator of two major cycling events around the lake. Allen Biagi — chairman of Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s Governing Board.

In two hours, the five told their stories. The show will air the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend (Nov. 28). To find a station that carries it, log on to www.petergreenberg.com.

Greenberg is all about asking locals what they like. That’s how he finds authenticity in a location – not those brochures in hotel lobbies.

“My job is not to promote you. It is to give the audience choices,” Greenberg said.

Greenberg isn’t your average travel journalist who writes happy stories because he’s gotten a freebie. He’s a veteran of the news business, having worked for publications like Newsweek. He is the travel editor for CBS News and does regular segments on “The Early Show”.

The 36 hours he spent on the South Shore (he left this morning) don’t seem like a whirlwind to him. Deadlines are in his blood. He knows how to get a story, churn it out and move on to the next one.

This travel show of his takes him to all corners of the world. It’s not a vacation for him – it’s work.

His vacation time comes in six-month increments each year when he returns to Fire Island, N.Y., where he is a firefighter. It’s a job he’s had since he was 18.

Greenberg’s theory on all resort communities is, “You know why someone comes here, so why mess with it.”