Member Profile
Michael Calleri
- Primary Outlet:
- WBNY 91.3 FM
- Additional Outlets:
- WLVL-AM 1340 AM, 105.3 FM, Niagara Gazette (niagara-gazette.com)
- Biography:
- Michael Calleri has been the number one movie critic in radio in the Western New York State region (Buffalo-Niagara Falls) since 1988, a 30-year record that is unparalleled in state radio history. He has reviewed movies and discussed the world of film on WGR-AM, WHLD-FM, WECK-AM, and WBNY-FM. For ten years he was the movie critic and entertainment reporter for the CBS television affiliate in Buffalo. He appeared six times a week during various news programs on WIVB-TV, providing viewers with opinions of new releases, as well as interviews with movie stars, directors, and production people. In addition to his current radio work, he’s also the movie critic for the Niagara Gazette, a regional daily newspaper in metropolitan Buffalo-Niagara Falls. His print reviews are syndicated to 110 newspapers in 24-states, including 68 dailies. He is an advisor and content editor for entertainment and culture for altpressonline, a website that is an off-shoot of the former Buffalo Alternative Press newspaper. Michael has also reviewed films and held a number of positions as arts editor, features editor, and editor-in-chief of weekly newspapers in the Buffalo-Niagara region such as Metro Weekend, Buffalo Beat, Blue Dog Press, and the Buffalo Alternative Press. Michael has attended the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) for 28-years, and he has also attended a variety of film festivals in Buffalo, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, and San Francisco, as well as SXSW, Sundance, and internationally in Rome and London. His first activity at his very first film festival was a press conference at TIFF featuring director Clint Eastwood for “White Hunter, Black Heart” in 1990. Since 1988, he has handicapped the Academy Awards with remarkable precision, including correctly selecting 22 winners out of 24 categories for the 2018 Oscars. In 2012, an essay titled “Reactionary Men Who Fear And Hate Strong Women,” which Michael wrote at the request of Roger Ebert for his website, went viral and was read in more than 100 countries, generated scores of columns around the world in response, and garnered Michael an appearance live in-studio on the CBS Saturday Morning news program. When he’s not being part of the movie world, Michael is an expert about the unique art of glass paperweights. In 2017, he was the Guest Curator for a ground-breaking, record-setting exhibit called “Glass Within Glass: The Magic Of The Trabucco Studio.” The show, which was mounted at the Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo, was so popular that it was extended two additional months, running from April 14 to December 31 that year. The exhibit showcased art glass paperweights made by the legendary glass magician Victor Trabucco and his twin sons Jon and David. Michael is the creator and chief administrator of 4 groups on Facebook, including the Glass Paperweight Group, the Glass Paperweights For Sale Group, the Woody Allen Movies Group, and Rome Adventures. He has a passionate interest in the creativity and cultural importance of food. He owns more than 500 cookbooks. Michael also has an interest in architecture, with Frank Lloyd Wright being a favorite architect. To relax, he reads thrillers. One of his favorite moments in the world of cinema occurred when, while working at a movie theater as a young man, he programmed a series of double features. The favorite double bill of classic films he put together consisted of Peter Bogdanovich’s “Targets” and “Roman Polanski’s “Rosemary’s Baby,” which Michael calls exceptional examples of the art of film editing. There are two features to watch directly on his iPhone 6: “Jean-Luc Godard’s “Breathless” and “Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Zabriskie Point.”