Episode #3: Honoree Breakfast Spotlight: Ron Klopfanstein

Local stories don’t magically appear. They’re found by showing up when it’s inconvenient, asking one more honest question, and caring enough to listen for the human thread. We sit down with Mohawk Valley multimedia journalist Ron, a familiar voice on local radio and a recipient of a Communications and Community Awareness Impact Award, to talk about what it really takes to elevate neighbors and strengthen community life through media.

Ron walks us through how he chooses stories, why he actively looks for people and groups who have never been covered before, and what happens when you use a platform to hand the mic to someone who has been ignored. We also dig into why podcasts, radio, and other free, accessible media are such a powerful tool for nonprofits: you don’t just share information, you share faces, voices, and lived experience. That’s how trust grows, how community pride builds, and how people move from “hearing about a cause” to feeling connected to it.

The most personal part of our conversation is Ron’s journey through chronic fatigue syndrome, which took a decade of his life and forced him to rebuild from the smallest steps imaginable. He explains the reality of post-exertional malaise, the discipline of pacing, and the mindset shift that helped him let go of regret and choose gratitude. Along the way, he shares what it means to trust your voice while living with a stutter, and why authenticity can be more powerful than perfect delivery.

If you care about local journalism, nonprofit storytelling, community leadership, or simply finding your way back after a hard season, this one will stay with you. Subscribe for more conversations like this, share the episode with someone who needs encouragement, and leave a review with the most memorable line you heard.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Inside the Impact. Today's guest is a familiar face and a voice to many in the Mohawk Valley. He actually helped us get this very podcast off the ground. Thank you, Ron. And he is a multimedia journalist and the recipient of the Communications and Community Awareness Impact Award. Ron has a unique gift for funding the heart of a story and elevating the needs of our neighbors. We're going behind the scenes to talk about why local leaders matter and how media can be a force of good. Welcome, Ron, and thank you so much for coming.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Happy to be here. Happy to be here. And as I was saying before, it's so nice to be a guest on a podcast and somebody else's show. You know, I I I'm always the host lately, so it's nice to just be able to answer the questions and let you do the hard work.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Sit back and relax. Be yourself as you always are, though. But Ron, I wanted to ask, you've been a newspaper economist. Yeah. You wear many hats. And after all these years, what is what is it about the Mohawk Valley that keeps you so passionate and inspired to tell these stories?

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Definitely the people. You know, whenever I go to cover events, I usually look for like, well, what fits my schedule? Like Friday nights, weekends. But I go there like not knowing too much about the thing, just talk to people there and find out like what's going on and who's interesting. And it like you make connections and you pick up threads and themes, and like you a story emerges like naturally every single time because of people.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

That's a beautiful response. And how do you decide which story?

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Well, I had to decide like based on schedule. Like, what's happening on Friday night? What's happening on Saturday after afternoon? You know, that kind of stuff. Or at the last minute on a Sunday to get done for Monday's show, but mostly that, but like I also look for things that aren't being covered, like people that no one's met before, groups that no one's heard of before, people with new ideas, or just people doing stuff and like talk to them, like what are you out here, you know, and find out like what they're about and stuff. So I look for things that like one of the things I'm most proud about my my show and my work is that I would say at least 80% of the people on my show in my stories have never been in the media before. And I really like like that, you know, new people, new ideas, new things.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Give them that the voice that they never had.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Yeah, exactly. Because like people gave me that voice. And like I I love how media can unite, how it can educate, can lift up. And I like to be somebody who like offers that hand up to everybody else because people offer that to me. I actually never thought radio I would do because it's really funny because I was for so much for most most of my life, you know, I wrote and I did have a TV show for 10 years in the 90s, but most of the time it was writing stuff. And then a podcast came along, but I always thought to myself, I really can't do that because I stutter. And then I thought with radio, like I like being a guest, but then when I was offered my own show, the spin-off, I said yes immediately. But in my heart, I was like, Oh my god, I don't know this because I have a speech impediment. And if you're the host, there's things you gotta say, like the the names of the guests. You can't like you can't like like sub substitute words as much. So I thought, how will I ever do this? But I just like did it, and at first it was really hard, but I get better, I slowed down. I also learned like how to work on my speech, and so I think it's like really important. I want people to know, just try stuff, just do stuff, get your voice out there, trust your voice.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

Very impactful. I actually wasn't gonna ask for that.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

And it was really hard at first, and it still is hard at times. Like, like I like I'll tape stuff, like when I'm doing like sorry, the video parts, and like you know, I can see like on my face some sometimes when I'm going to stutter, like I hear it myself. It sounds worse to me, but and I think to myself at times, like I'm tempted to like cut stuff out when I when I stutter, but then I tell myself I shouldn't do do that, it should stay in there because it's how I truly talk, and it's how other people talk, and it's okay. It's okay. Trust your voice, use your voice, don't feel like you have to be per be perfect.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

You teach students as well.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

So I do the same thing, yeah. You know, believe in yourself. That's the number one thing I teach people, everybody. Believe in yourself, just believe in your ability to do good and to speak good and to write good, not to speak always to speak well or you know, fluently, because sometimes I can't speak like that either. But come from a place where you're gonna do good and everything will work out, and it'll work out spectacularly too.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

You're just more natural, I definitely I was just wondering if it brings me to the next question. Why do you think platforms like this are beneficial and important for nonprofits? Because unlike some interviewers, like there's just a single person that's doing it, but like for nonprofits, there's a whole team of individuals doing it. Right. How will it be impactful? How is it important for a nonprofit?

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Well, because nonprofits are all about doing good, and I think for people to really pick up the message and like really take that to heart, it helps to actually hear the voice and see the people, see the faces and like hear the stories and meet the people who are doing stuff and who are benefiting from stuff and really like get a sense of like we are a community, and there's something about like people just like having a platform to speak, to express, it like lets you know that like that like encourages that community. So that's why you know podcasting is a great thing, and also like I think any media that's accessible is good. Podcasts are free, you can listen to it free, radio is free. You know, not to subscribe to 95.5 FM or to your podcast or to mine, just listen to it, and also anyone can do it too. So you hope that maybe people will hear this and be inspired to do their own.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

Very true, very true.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

That's actually like what me how you know what I learned in media, you know, through all these years. My actual start, the first thing I ever did in 1991, I wrote a newspaper column coming out of the closet. I was in college, no one knew I was gay, at least publicly. It was the first thing I ever wrote. I worked on this for two weeks. It was in the Sunday Utica OD. The Saturday before was like the scariest night in my entire life. I'll never forget that. I was up all night, feeling like what's gonna happen to me tomorrow? But I did that column, I came out, it empowered people. I began to write a monthly column, and that showed me, and I think it shows people like media can do miracles. Just tell the truth, just think I'm gonna go out there and do the best I can and do good, and good things happen. So my whole career came from that newspaper column.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

And do you ever have any regrets?

SPEAKER_01 6:51

No, no, you know, it's been great. Like, I worked from that to they gave me a monthly column. I was only like 20, 21, so I did that for a few years. And then after I got out of college, I wanted to do television. So I rented a space in the DeSales Center down the road from here on Genesee Street. I started my own nonprofit called Planet Utica. We built a TV studio, like raised money, did fundraisers, built a TV studio. We had a show called Planet Utica, a cooking show called Zoe's World, a multicultural show. We had a women's show called The Women Next Door, we had a history show called Generations. So I did that for 10 years. So I produced, I was on camera. This was like before YouTube and stuff, so it was public access. I did all that, and then one night I got sick and I had chronic fatigue syndrome. And so I was sick, I was in bed for 10 years. So I lost the TV show, the TV studio, it all fell apart. Then what happened? I started to recover. So after about 14 years, I kind of got out back out to the got back out there. I joined the West Point Historical Society. So I began writing press releases for them. There was the first thing I'd really written, you know, for the public. And so those like we got coverage from TV and the newspaper. So then the Sentinel was starting a paper called Clinton Record. So they offered me a column. So I started doing a column for the Clinton Record. As I did that, I became more into like investigative journalism and stuff, got more deeper with my interviews and stuff. So I did that till the Clinton Record like ended. And then I went to 95.5. For a while, I did like long written investigative stuff. And then when I was doing that, I was a guest on the show The Hot Sea, which is so I show spun off from. Yeah, so I was on that like more and more and more. So one day, Cassandra Harris Lockwood, who owns the station, said, Do you want to just do the Monday show? Instantly, you know, I thought to myself, how can I possibly host a show? Because what if I have a guest with a name who begins with a letter or letter combination that I literally cannot say? What will I do? Like if I have a text, what will I do if I can't read the text? So I was terrified, but I just said yes. And then when I said yes, instantly in my head, the words medium Monday came to me because I love media. And then I just like went for it and did the show. And three years later, you know, still doing Hasi, medium Monday. Yep. Never regrets because I lost like 10 years of my life. Literally, I was in bed, and then I lost everything. Like, you know, I didn't work, I was going to college, I was getting my doctorate. I was ready to get my doctorate. I did everything except the dissertation. I had to like drop out of school. I had to like give up the TV show. I was teaching, I was an adjunct. I gave up that. I was working at RCIL as a advocate, as a disputary rights advocate, I gave up that. Everything I lost. And then after like 10 years, I started to get a little bit better incrementally. My first thing I did to recover, this is probably blows people's minds, but my first exercise was to sit up straight for 30 seconds straight. I didn't even have the strength to do that. I would get dizzy and pass out. So I worked my way up from that. And like when you come up from that, like little by little, you know, after that, my exercise was to walk around the house for three minutes inside the house every other day. All I could could do. So the rest of the 48 hours, I'd be in bed, but three minutes I would walk. So I worked my way up from that. So like when you do that, you cannot have regrets. Because if you do, you'll be bitter for the rest of your life. All the stuff you lost. So I I decided then and there I'm gonna embrace whatever I can get, be happy for whatever I can get, and just be grateful. And like it's been amazing. It's worked out.

unknown 10:39

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

So very helpful. I'm just I'm curious, did you do that alone? Were you well?

SPEAKER_01 10:46

I had my husband, no, my my mom and stuff, family. I lived with my husband, of course. But you really, it's like, yeah, you you're kind of like alone in them. Like for for 10 years, I really don't have many much like memories of the time. Cause like when you're sick, when you're sick, even if you have people to help you, you feel very alone. And like when you lose everything and have really like no life other than just being in bed, you feel very alone. So, and I think that's like just part of you know, one of those things that like you have to like, I don't know how to, I don't know, like really what to tell people other than you really cannot ever have any regrets or bitterness or resentment over what happened. All you can do is tell yourself, enforce yours yourself, and discipline yours yourself to be grateful for everything you get. And then surprisingly, I got more and more and more, and like I really got everything back and more with that attitude. But it takes work, a lot of work.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

You're very strong for that.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

It's just little by little. I'll never forget we we bought a treadmill and I would do one minute a day, about a week, about a week and a half, then I do two minutes a day from like another week and a half, and then you know, in a few months I was up to like 15 minutes a day, you know, and now like I can work out for hours and do all this stuff, but like so so slow. Never give up.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

But like when you look back, does it does it feel like wow?

SPEAKER_01 12:16

I when I look back, it's almost like a blur, you know. It's like I don't even know like what was I doing those 10 years. I just remember like looking staring up at the ceiling, and like you know, some like shards of like TV shows I watched, that's really all I had. I I couldn't even read during that time. With chronic fatigue syndrome, you're not just tired, you're beyond exhausted. You're exhausted to the point where you can't even like think, and you always feel like you have arthritis, like your body swells up. It's like a rheumatoid arthritis kind of a thing. There's no physical signs of it, but you have the sensation and you always have a sore throat and you can never sleep. Really bad insomnia. So exhausted as you are, you can never sleep, and when you do, it's not refreshing. It's called non-refreshing sleep. And the other thing that and you have that too. So, and the other thing you you have is what they call post-exertional malaise, which is really dangerous. So, when I did the exercises, like the sitting up, sitting upright for 30 seconds, that was about all I could do. And if I had tried to do more, like a minute, you know, I would have passed out. When I began to walk like three minutes a day every other day, if I had pushed myself in at first to do like five minutes a day, it would have been like a week in bed. So you have to be so careful with that, that that encourages the discipline that helps you get through the rest of your life.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

Wow. You probably know all this though. I'm sure a lot of the audience won't know either.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

The stuff you go through, it it can make you so it can make and it can give you if if you have the if you treat it right, it can give you the attitude of gratitude that I think makes everything feel so much it makes things feel so good because you really do appreciate. Wow, wow, like wow, you know, on show and like wow, I get to do this stuff. And like every day that I go to work, I think to myself, I'm literally living the dream. Because for people that are disabled, they dream of having a job, they dream of the alarm going off at six. So I never think crap, I gotta go to work. I always think I'm so lucky I'm not spending the day on the couch or in or in bed. And that makes your life so much happier. It truly does.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Yeah, you're living proof of that, that you can overcome anything. Yeah, no regrets.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Right, right, right, right. And no need for that, you know. Like I lost so much, but you know, I have so so much. So focus on I have so much. That's what I do. That's what I do. Exactly, right, yeah. Thanks, thanks. Yep, yeah. That gives you power too, you know, help others. Everyone that you help, like you forget about your own stuff, you know.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

Because you are very good. You it's like you're coaching me to Well, you're doing great, you know.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

It's interesting to like think back of like all these experiences, you know. I used to watch a show Downtown Abbey, and like that was what I would do is like scenes on the show were pretty short. So, like, I would sit up for a scene, and like you know, I would sit up, and as I would, like my my blood pressure wasn't strong enough to like pump the blood up to my head because I was that weak. So then, like, that's why that was exercise. So, like, I'd be watching a scene, and like as it got to the end of the scene, you know, started to see stars and be tingling stuff, and I'd lay back down, watch the next scene, like laying down so that blood could get back up to my head, then do it again back and forth through an hour episode, like back and forth, but then before I knew it, like you know, season two, season three, I'm sitting up watching a whole show upright. It was amazing, and like you kind of forget that like there was a time I could not even sit up, I didn't have the strength to do that.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

How did it walk me through this? How did it happen?

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Like, I explained how diagnosed this was like the scary part, is is like how it happened was I was teaching a class at NVCC. I was an adjunct. There was one day I went to class one night, and I got into class and I looked in my book bag to see it to get my textbook, and it wasn't in my bag. So I was like, that's strange. Like, where could my book bag be? Where could the book be? So I went out back out to the car. It wasn't in the car. So I then I came back inside, like with my book bag, and like then I put it down on the desk. I looked in it again, and like it was there, like a weird like hallucination thing. And then within like 10 minutes, I was like, class, I just gotta go home. So I was so sick. It was kind of like as if like you were getting the flu like super, super, super fast, like no warning whatsoever. So I went home, I told my husband, I gotta go to the hospital. I'm like, I don't know what's wrong with it. I'm like dying. I'm so, so sick. So I went to the ERF Axton and I told the the people at the front desk, I have to lay down. Like, I don't care. If if you don't give me a bed, I will lay down on the muddy floor. And I would have. So they gave me like a stretcher, and then I they I sat up, I vomited, and then I thought it was a migraine. Then they sent me home. Then the next day went to work and I laid down on my office, on my office floor, locked the door, and like just laid on the floor. And then within a month, like everything was gone, dismantled, and I was in bed like pretty much 24-7. Yeah, it was rapid onset. Yeah, it's just overwhelming, and like you know, it happens so fast, and then like once it happens and everything in your life like falls apart for so long, then it goes on for so long of like just like this searching and like hoping and like trying this and trying that, and like nothing works, and just endless. And then after a while, you just kind of let's like think it's never gonna work, like I'm just gonna be like this forever. But no, you overcome it can never give up, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

Is that common?

SPEAKER_01 18:05

No, uh, chronic fatigue is very rare, no one knows what causes it. I sort of like suspect it could be like a Lyme disease type thing, like bacterial. The one thing that was strange before this happened, like a week before, I was driving to work, and I remember there was like a like a four corners, and there was a residential, no what the street was. There were all these like dead birds, and so I stopped and got out of the car and I picked one up because it was like flapping around to try to help it, and then like it died in my hands, and then I kind of forgot about that till afterwards. I mean, I always wondered if like maybe I you know contracted something like that, or but nobody knows. It's like you know, MS or anything else, they really don't know if it's like bacterial, like or if it's like a neurological, then it just happens, but somehow, you know, it's gone away.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

It's common to overcoming.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

No, that you have it, every year you have it, your chances of getting better drop by 10%. And I was at 10 years, so I was like mathematically zero percent. So yeah. So no, the overcoming is hard.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

Yeah, I have nothing to suggest.

SPEAKER_01 19:20

It kind of gives you a different perspective on life, you know. It makes things like a lot of things that bother uh uh others don't bother me because like you keep in perspective, like you always think you're so lucky that you're out of bed. You really are like if you can walk around, if you can do any job at all, you're so lucky. Like when your alarm goes off in the morning, you're so lucky that you have to have an alarm. You have somewhere to that you have to be, you're so lucky for that stuff. And if you think that all the time, I'm so lucky, like it makes your life changes your life in a good way.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I feel like I know a lot of people that are stuck, and it's partly because they it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

It really is. Um sometimes there isn't light. You have to like imagine the light. Just believe it's gonna be there, it keeps digging. Exactly. Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_00 20:16

But through all that all those challenges that you went through, uh I was wondering, is there a specific moment in your career, perhaps a colony row or a guest you interviewed when you thought, this is why I do this, this is an impact, or is it because of the experience?

SPEAKER_01 20:31

I actually always think that. You know, I mean, I talk to people and then like ask them some questions some questions, then they'll say stuff that's like so profound or so deep or so inspiring. You know, I interview people from like age three to like elderly, like everybody, like people like everybody has a story, and everybody has a perspective that's valuable. Or like, you know, when I go out to do like I just a story on Sebi, the uh monument on the parkway that the Bosnians built, you know, about that. And like every story that I just do like means so much to me. Like, I still think about that. We just got that story done about like how much that meant to their community, how they came together. And like I really feel like every story, like, even though like I'm the kind of person like the story I'm doing now or just did, I'm so into that. And the ones I've already done, like you have to kind of leave it behind and stuff. But everything that I do, I feel like it builds me up a little bit. Like I learned from every person I talk to and every story that I do, and it makes me a little bit more better, more grounded. And I just get so much with so much wisdom that I love to pass on to everybody else. So it's really great to be like a it's kind of great to like be a platform for others to just say like, what do you think? Or like how did you feel in this time, or like what did you learn? And then just like stand back and let them talk.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

And you have that legacy forever. Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

Yeah, yeah. Right, right. Right. Years and years to come. Yep. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

And have you seen changes? Because you've been doing this for like years. What's the biggest changes you would say?

SPEAKER_01 22:08

Well, in my life, one of the things I wanted to do is to like really, really like introduce people. I like to introduce the public to other people that they don't understand. Because my whole life has been about introducing the public to me as someone who's gay. And I think it's so important to like not just for me to just to do that, but to like tell people about others. Like, hey, this is what the Bosnians did. Or like I do a lot of like work, I did a lot of coverage of transgender stuff. Like, this is like how they feel. This is their perspective. Or like really every ethnic group, you know. I covered the NAACP a few weeks ago. And like, I just love to talk about different groups of like, especially people that are marginalized. Like, I'd like to talk about the unhoused. I've I've done stories on like comedian J Watch the stories for the unhoused shows for them. I really like to like to talk about I like to find people who I think need to get their side of their side out and then help them do that.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

And you do that.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 23:09

Well needed.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

Thanks. Thanks. I love your content too.

SPEAKER_00 23:13

I just started.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

Well, you know what you get and like you know, the more you do it, the easier it gets, and like the more powerful you feel, and then the more like you're able to get that out of other people too.

SPEAKER_00 23:24

Very true.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

You're you become a catalyst. It's a good feeling. Well, you're doing it now, so you're doing it. This is what it is. Yes, yes, yes, questions, then that's what happens.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

Well, it brings move back to um you receiving the communications and communication.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

So that's amazing. Thank thank you guys so much. You know, it means uh everything to me because I think that, you know, as an educator, as a journalist, as a person, being a positive role model to others is like my mission in life, you know. So I mean that means so much to to me to think I'm making an impact like that, and that I'm a good example for others. I really try every day to live up to these awards. You know, I want to teach them awards too. Like I really try to feel to act 24-7 in a way that's worthy of all this stuff. And I think that too is a good like motivator for people to have, for me to have.

SPEAKER_00 24:25

Deserve it.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 24:27

Today we gotta look behind the microphone with Ron. We talk about the power of storytelling.

SPEAKER_01 24:32

Can I say one of my shows on? Yes, I didn't know if we were wrapping up. I was out here. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

And any specific projects or anything.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

Yeah. I'd love to so my so my show. It's called Hasi Medium Monday. Hasi is Cassandra Harris Lockwood's talk show. It was Monday through Thursday, then I took over the Monday show. So it's where I can listen to this or watch a few seconds of that, whatever, whatever you want. There's always stuff from me that you can just grab it and enjoy.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

And just thank you for joining us.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 25:07

Me, but for all your insights, I will definitely take them into account. I also wanted to just say don't miss the chance to celebrate Ron and our seven other incredible leaders. Wednesday, May 6th, 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Vernad. We are just a couple weeks away from the RSVPD deadline, which is April 22nd. And you can visit our website at www.unitedwaymv.org forward slash breakfast. And we just can't wait to see you there.