Image of the famed Fabulous Las Vegas sign courtesy of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, www.lvrj.com

Next week, SOTRU host Al Letson and I head out for a reporting trip to Las Vegas, a city of abundant nicknames. Most of them have to do with the Las Vegas that is a veritable icon of American culture: the glitz (City of Lights), the sleaze (Sin City), the celebrity (Entertainment Capital of the World), or a mixture of all of these (Glitter Gulch? Apparently, that’s downtown Las Vegas, according to some…). There’s a new candidate, though, attached to the newly minted version of Las Vegas, post-recession: Foreclosure City. (more…)

Richard O’Connor was featured in our recent Veterans Day Special and was kind enough to share this:

On November 10, 2010, I was fortunate to be the subject of a broadcast on Veterans’ Day, a special by State of the Re:Union. Sara Wood interviewed me numerous times and worked with other SOTRU producers to produce this wonderful piece.

Jim Jerrell (USMC,Ret.) spoke on my behalf during the broadcast. I fought with him in Vietnam. He is responsible for getting me on the base (Travis AFB, Fairfield, CA) to sing and play my guitar for the wounded. He and his wife Estella have been visiting the wounded for the past seven years. (more…)

For Veterans Day, SOTRU produced a special radio hour that goes beyond the news headlines to tell stories of the emotion, challenges and victories that occur when soldiers return home from duty.

From reflecting on their experiences and healing wounds in unexpected ways to providing purpose and support for their brothers and sisters in arms, this episode explores how veterans are serving each with the same bravery and courage with which they served our country. (more…)

The Moogfest occurred over Halloween weekend, celebrating the legacy of sonic pioneer Bob Moog. A huge list of celebrated acts appeared during the three day event held in Asheville and there were several workshops, panels and even a Moog inspired art exhibition. A portion of the revenue went to raising money for the Bob Moog Foundation. We had the opportunity to discuss the foundation with its Executive Director and Bob Moog’s daughter, Michelle Moog-Koosa, and Brian Kehew, the foundation’s archive historian, one half of the band Moog Cookbook and a close friend of Bob’s. The foundation supplied us with a number of amazing photos, documents and audio. Enjoy! (more…)

In the relatively small public radio documentary world, there is one event that serves as a kind of combination Oscars/family reunion/Christmas morning (at least regarding level of excitement): the Third Coast Audio Festival.  Several hundred of the most enthusiastic radio producers in the country (plus a few international folks too!) descend upon Chicago for a couple of days of workshops, listening sessions, and drinking bourbon (well, perhaps that’s an unofficial part of the conference). Just having returned from this year’s festivities, I’m riding on the thrill of connecting with all these other folks who are just as big radio dorks as I am. (There are others out there! Thank God!) (more…)