Scott Lewis did something a little different for the last podcast of 2015.
He had a conversation with VOSD investigative reporter Mario Koran, who’s had a big year. He broke the story about a local high school football student whose head injury sparked a national debate about the sport’s safety and cracked open the case of Marne Foster, the embattled San Diego Unified board president who’s currently the subject of a criminal investigation.
But the pair doesn’t dwell on those stories; instead, the conversation is a deeply personal one about Koran’s difficult past and how he dug himself out after hitting rock bottom with drugs and alcohol.
From his blue-collar upbringing in a small town in Wisconsin where he played football, dabbled in steroids and began his trek into addiction to his eventual rise into graduate school for journalism, Koran doesn’t hold back any of the gritty details. His destructive path got him kicked out of the military and eventually landed him in jail.
“I knew I was going off the deep end but I didn’t know how to stop myself,” he said.
Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. Stream it here.
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