Conversations on The Road

Eric Model and Della Rucker chat about how Community-based narratives can be a powerful tool to communities, businesses, media, and the public alike.

Della has decades of experience in community planning and economic development. Eric has been chronicling the “offbeat, off the beaten path, overlooked and forgotten” for almost 25 years. 

They have gotten together to help make the most of stories that tap into a sense of place and a sense of who we are. They are also narratives that can also provide a “customized branded-content opportunity” through a unique radio-based multi-media platform.

 

 Wise Economy-Smart Narratives (podcast) [25:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Teams have competed for the Stanley Cup for well over a century. But back there in those early days, there was no internet, no network television, and teams were not to be found in outposts such as Florida, Nashville, and Arizona.

And, one year a team called the Kenora Thsitles won the Stanley Cup.

How did the Kenora Thistles become, against all odds, the smallest team and the smallest town ever to win the Stanley Cup?

This famously scrappy hockey team was founded in the rough and tumble town of Kenora, Ontario, at the end of the 19th century. A decade later, playing far away from home, in Montreal, the fiery teenagers whom the Montreal Star dubbed “the fastest that have ever been seen anywhere on ice” out-skated and out-played their older, more experienced opponents to win the coveted hockey championship trophy.

Sports novelist John Danakas and journalist Richard Brignall teamed up in to tell the true story of the ultimate underdogs in this a little-known chapter from Canadian sports history.

In this Journey into Hockey we speak Rick Brignall about the story of Kenora and their Thistles that won the Stanley Cup.

 

 Kenora Thistles [23:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Counter Attack Radio is a soccer program “dedicated to the love of the beautiful game of soccer”. Hosts Dan Bloom and Pete Koury provide passionate opinion and analysis of the game’s greatest players and teams from an American perspective. This week’s show includes a recap of El Classico between Barcelona and Madrid, and previewing the upcoming 1^st leg of the semi-finals of Champions League competition, the Manchester Derby among the many important matches whish affect the race to the finish in the various European Leagues. Learn more at www.DBsoccer.net.

 

 soccer -3 [73:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

One of the most important figures in Canadian history, Frederick Arthur Stanley’s most enduring legacy is not his term as the country’s sixth Governor General but the trophy cup that bears his name.

 As the playoffs begin, we speak with author and hockey historian Kevin Shea about the man has name is associated with hockey champions.  Shea is author of  Lord Stanley: The Man Behind the Cup (Key Porter Books; First Edition edition (June 14, 2007)). 

 In this Journey into Hockey, we explore with Kevin Shea Lord Stanley’s political legacy — his diplomacy in dealing with the United States, his embrace of Canada’s West, and his nimble handling of domestic crises — fleshing out a man who was far more than just an avid sportsman.

 

 Lord Stanley [21:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

April 11 is International Louie Louie Day. It provides an annual opportunity to celebrate a song that has been called by some “the greatest part of song of all time”. It has been recorded more than any other song in rock history (by one estimate more than 2400 times), and was almost declared the state song of Washington.

In this Journey into Hidden America, we speak with Louie Louie enthusiast and entertainer Andy Martello about Louie Louie Day.

 

 Louie Louie [13:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Baseball, the sport that helped reunify the country in the years after the Civil War, is still considered the National Pastime. The Library of Congress houses the world’s largest baseball collection, documenting the history of the game and providing a unique look at America since the late 1700s. Now Baseball Americana (Smithsonian Books, 2010) presents the best of the best from that treasure trove. From baseball’s biggest stars to street urchins, from its most newsworthy stories to sandlot and Little League games, the book examines baseball’s hardscrabble origins, rich cultural heritage, and uniquely American character.

The more than 350 illustrations—many never before published—featured first-generation, vintage photographic and chromolithographic baseball cards; photographs of famous players and ballparks; and newspaper clippings, cartoons, New Deal photographs, and baseball advertisements.

We speak with co-author Harry Katz about the book and how it came to be.

Katz is the former curator in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress and a lifelong Red Sox fan. He curated the Library’s website devoted to historical baseball cards as well as multiple graphic art exhibitions.

 

 Baseball Americana [20:24m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth shot and  President Abraham Lincoln at the Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. Lincoln died soon thereafter.

A popular area tour just outside Washington is a 12 hour bus ride that takes riders over the route used by Abraham Lincoln’s assassin. We speak with Laurie Verge of the Surratt House Museum about John Wilkes Booth, Mary Surratt (the first woman executed in the United States) and the John Wilkes Booth Escape Route Tour.

For more info, see: http://www.surratt.org

 

 John Wilkes Booth [18:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

They’ve been at it again in Grand Prairie, Texas in a one of a kind event.

It’s the world championship pickled quail-egg eating contest in which contestants devour as many of these gourmet delights as possible in the 60 second limit.

The eggs, about the size of an olive, are soaked in jalapeno.

 This world-renowned Traders Village contest chomped in at #5 in the Travel Channels Top Ten all-time great eating contest in the world.

We speak with Alan Hughes of Trader’s Village about this unique event, its origins, and about the art of being a championship pickled quail-egg eater

 

 Quail [12:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Lakeland (Greystone Books, 2009) is a journey of a discovery with a country. In the course of his travels, Allen Casey examined just what lakes mean to Canada.

Interestingly, while many volumes had been written about the Great Lakes, this is a rare book in that it explores Canada’s three million other lakes.

We speak with Allen Casey about the inspiration for his journey, what he found and how it changed him.

 

 Lakeland [23:48m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

March 14, 1950 was the date that the Federal Bureau of Investigation instituted the “10 Most Wanted Fugitives” list an effort to publicize particularly dangerous criminals who were at large. From 1950 to 2008, 491 fugitives have appeared on the list; 460 have been located. Generally, the only way to go off the list is die or be capture. The FBI has come to cooperate with the producers of T.V.’s “America’s Most Wanted” to further publicize those fugitives.

In this Journey in Hidden America we speak with Bradley Bryant, Chief of the Violent Crime Unit of the FBI, about the list, its history and just what it means to the bureau.

 

 FBI [15:46m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download