Emergency management from the working side.
EM Weekly treats emergency management as work done by people inside agencies, campuses, cities, and response systems. Its conversations move from career stories into radio interoperability, AI planning, school safety, grants, preparedness culture, and the practical limits of policy.
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EM Weekly is built for the practical middle of emergency management: the place where policy, people, radios, budgets, software, and judgment all have to work at the same time. Zach leads most conversations from a practitioner’s point of view, with questions that are direct and grounded in day-to-day public safety work. The show does not sand off the awkward parts of the field. It spends real time on how agencies adapt buildings, communications systems, training programs, and planning habits when conditions change faster than the paperwork does. One episode follows Jeff Perkins through career transition, radio work, Portland experience, Army reserve context, and the lessons that come from being the person who knows how the system actually functions. Another tests artificial intelligence by having ChatGPT generate preparedness planning around a long-term ice event, including risk assessment, drills, shelter management, and community outreach. The experiment is imperfect, and that is part of the point. EM Weekly is interested in what tools can do, where they stumble, and how emergency managers might use them without pretending they solve the whole problem. School safety episodes bring a more serious register. David Riedman’s discussion of school shooting data, evacuation assumptions, and threat assessment pushes against familiar but weak preparedness habits. The show also makes room for vendor and technology conversations, including L3Harris guests talking about emergency communications, grant support, and the realities facing volunteer responders who may still be trying to keep older radio systems alive. Interagency coordination appears through Doug Bainton’s New York City emergency management work and his firefighter background. Preparedness culture appears through collaboration with Nat from Preparedness Works, where the conversation turns toward preppers, readiness kits, and mindset without losing the emergency management frame. The format is interview-first and sometimes interrupted by long ad breaks. It is not slick. That looseness can make the show feel closer to a working-room conversation than a finished broadcast package. EM Weekly’s value is its willingness to stay with operational details long enough for useful lessons to emerge. It is best for listeners who want emergency management discussed by people who understand the small frictions that decide whether a plan becomes action.
Made for: For emergency managers, public safety staff, campus safety teams, responders, planners, and preparedness-minded listeners who want practical field conversations. It also fits technology and government professionals trying to understand how emergency systems are used under real constraints.
What sets it apart: EM Weekly stands out by treating preparedness as an operational craft rather than a branding exercise. Its interviews keep returning to implementation: radios, grants, exercises, threat assessment, interagency coordination, and the people expected to make those systems work.
EM Weekly is the podcast for emergency managers, by emergency managers. We’ll cover everything that impacts you as an emergency manager, including the latest in technology, preparedness, strategy, and tactics. Our goal is to provide you with real insights into the world of emergency management, as well as give you an opportunity to get to know the people behind the job. So grab a drink, pull up a chair, and join us for EM Weekly, where the conversation is always lively, informative, and predictably unexpected. Learn more: www.thereadinesslab.com/em-weekly-links Podcast Network: The Readiness Lab Owned and operated by Doberman Emergency Management
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
EM Weekly turns emergency preparedness into concrete questions about field judgment, communications, training and the practical limits facing public safety agencies.
Zach approaches emergency management through the working decisions behind response: how communications systems get funded, how school safety plans behave under threat, and how training reflects real operating environments.
This is where radio dead zones, school exits, and booby-trapped carpets become your professional thought experiments.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A grounded look at how public communication is made to work when the room changes.
EM Weekly keeps its attention on emergency-management communications, with Jeff Perkins tracing a path from the city of Portland to the state, alongside Army reserve service and radio work.
A practical AI conversation that turns emergency planning into concrete steps.
EM Weekly makes a practical case for where AI could fit inside emergency management, especially when the discussion moves from broad ideas to uses like faster data analysis, scenario building, and real-time information during a crisis.
A loose return episode that still lands on practical preparedness and what is next.
The return episode keeps its focus on what comes next: Zach says he is alive and plans to podcast more, with Mike joining as co-host as often as he can.
A practical look at how emergency communications get funded, upgraded, and kept operational.
EM Weekly uses this visit with L3Harris to focus on the practical side of emergency communications: radios, system design, grants, financing, and the work required to keep small departments current.
A practical school safety conversation that keeps circling back to evacuation, prevention, and the gap between habit and evidence.
EM Weekly frames a school safety discussion around David Riedman, a former emergency management professional who built a school shooting database to capture incidents that can be missed when attention stays on the largest mass-casualty cases.
Fire service growth, one shift at a time.
Jeff Perkins traces a path from touring as a rapper named "Unsuspected" to 9-1-1 dispatch, Portland emergency management, and state-level interoperability work.
A 1,000-foot evacuation radius is generally recommended for a large propane leak at Church and Main in Burlington, Vermont.
Zach uses EM Weekly Podcast to outline upcoming episodes with Mike, Trauma Soft, and guests from the CESA's office of biotechnology and an Army engineer.
EM Weekly's Zach talks with Aaron Williams, L3Harris Public Safety Division VP of Global Sales, and Jason Burt, the company's Director of Sales Engineering, about emergency communications systems.
EM Weekly host Zach interviews Mike Johnson about nearly 20 years of friendship, Johnson's Army career, and explosive ordnance disposal.
Zach debriefs the National Preparedness Symposium, held at the Center for Domestic Preparedness in Alabama, where he presented twice on generative AI to full rooms.
EM Weekly host Zach interviews Samdesk founder and CEO James Newfeld about using AI to improve real-time emergency monitoring.
Andrew Donahue coordinates emergency management operations at the Pasco County Sheriff's Office in Florida.
Zach interviews Doug Bainton, a NYC firefighter and emergency management official, about city interagency coordination and his career path.
Interview with David Riedman about his school shooting database and its impact on emergency management.
Host Zach interviews Micah Gaudette about his background in the military and emergency management, sharing war stories from the field.
Zach and Nat discuss preppers, preparedness mindset, and controversy around prepper stereotypes.
Host Zach and guest Doug Bruce discuss the diverse nature of the emergency management profession amid technical difficulties and an ice storm.
The hosts discuss their experiences and takeaways from the IAEM annual conference, including networking and the value of attending.