Cascade of History

On this BONUS "FERRY-SYSTEM BLUES" EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel presents vintage audio from KIRO Radio in Seattle from November 20, 2024. In recognition of the labor issues paralyzing Washington State Ferries today, we dig into the audio archives for this live broadcast by Feliks for KIRO Radio from Colman Dock in downtown Seattle on the post-stormy morning of November 20, 2024. We...

Feliks Banel's guests on this LIVE BROADCAST of CASCADE OF HISTORY include Julia Triezenberg, Education Supervisor for the Columbia River Maritime Museum on their new “Treasures Untold” radio program and podcast; Courtney Cooper Neese, owner of the Roslyn Theatre on her new project to restore Cle Elum’s long-dormant Vogue Theatre; and Huy Pham, Executive Director of APIAHiP - Asian & Pacific Islan...

On this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel digs for a fourth time into the “This NOT Just In” archives for three installments from the occasional history series that aired from 2010 to 2016 on KUOW Public Radio 94.9 FM in Seattle. The premise of “This NOT Just In” was to use archival audio to shed light on forgotten or not fully understood stories from Pacific Northwest history. In...

On this BONUS "LATE 2026 SEASON MARINERS BLUES" EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel presents vintage audio from KIRO Radio in Seattle from July 20, 2022. During the broadcast heard on this recording, we hear Feliks attempt to prove to Dave Ross and Colleen O'Brien that no matter what might happen to the Mariners in that magical 2022 season (when, at the All Star Break, they were on a 14-ga...

Feliks Banel's guests on this LIVE BROADCAST of CASCADE OF HISTORY include Kent Sullivan with an update on this past week’s Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association Convention in Toppenish, WA; three-term Republican former Secretary of State Sam Reed on the Supreme Court’s recent decision to halt interference in Washington’s all mail-in ballot; Heather Pihl on recent Seattle City Council ac...

On this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel digs for a third time into the “This NOT Just In” archives for three installments from the occasional history series that aired from 2010 to 2016 on KUOW Public Radio 94.9 FM in Seattle. The premise of “This NOT Just In” was to use archival audio to shed light on forgotten or not fully understood stories from Pacific Northwest history. In t...

Feliks Banel's CAVALCADE OF LIGHTNING-ROUND GUESTS on this LIVE BROADCAST of CASCADE OF HISTORY's Fourth Anniversary Show include: Scott Sistek of the Emerald City Weather Blog; Hilarie Pozesky of Chicago Area Archivists; Grant Din of Save Our National Archives (SONA) in San Bruno, CA: Paula Johnson of Willamette CRA; Scott Tanner, co-author of “A Glacier Gallery: True Tales and Hidden History” in...

Feliks Banel's guests on this BONUS ENCORE EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY - presented to herald the new display "The Woolly Dog: A Lost Breed of the Salish Sea" at the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, BC - are Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa, Chief Janice George, and Dr. Susan Pavel, co-authors of “The Teachings of Mutton: A Coast Salish Woolly Dog.” The book was released in May 2025 by Harbour Publishin...

On this BONUS ENCORE EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, we listen back to Feliks Banel’s September 2025 interview with three-term Republican former Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed about the origins and history of voting by mail in Washington state. Secretary Reed was in office from 2001 to 2013, and previously served as the elected auditor of Thurston County. In this earlier role, he was one of...

On this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel marks the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States by sharing vintage audio from KIRO Radio from the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. In this 45-minute recording (one side of an analog tape, made by Feliks at home that morning 25 years ago), we hear Newsradio 710 KIRO deep in its "peak news & talk" years - when...

This special LIVE REMOTE BROADCAST of CASCADE OF HISTORY originated from the public memorial for beloved historian Paul Dorpat at the Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) in Seattle on Sunday, August 30, 2026. Paul's dear friends Clay Eals and Jean Sherrard organized the event and served as emcees (ems-cee?). Speakers/performers included Ken Workman, Chief Seattle descendant, of the Duwamish Tribe...

Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is author David B. Williams. His new book, "In The Range of Fire and Ice: A Human and Natural History of Washington's Cascades" is available now from booksellers around the Pacific Northwest, and he's about to embark on a series of author appearances and book talks throughout the late summer and into the late autumn around Western Wa...

On this special BONUS NOW & THEN EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel speaks with Clay Eals and Jean Sherrard of Seattle Now & Then and with Devlin Donnelly of the Port of Seattle about a rare photo from The Beatles’ 1966 Seattle visit. The image was recently re-discovered by Devlin Donnelly in the port’s archives, Clay and Jean chose it as the “Then” focus of their Now & Then column for Th...

On this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel presents complete audio from a grassroots media event held at the National Archives in San Bruno, CA on Monday, August 24, 2026. CASCADE OF HISTORY has been covering this story since late June 2026, when word was leaked that the National Archives and Records Administration – or NARA – was taking steps behind the scenes and with no stakehold...

Feliks Banel's guests on this ENCORE PRESENTATION of a LIVE REMOTE BROADCAST of CASCADE OF HISTORY from the June 26, 2025 farewell event for Seattle High School Memorial Stadium include Clay Eals and Jean Sherrard of the Seattle Times' Seattle Now & Then; Northwest sports historian and collector David Eskenazi; and music historian Eric Magnuson. The beloved 1947 stadium, deemed unworthy of landmar...

Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Rachel Cushman, Secretary-Treasurer of the Chinook Indian Nation, in a conversation marking 175 years since the negotiation of treaties at Tansy Point near the mouth of the Columbia River and looking ahead to what comes next. According to their website, “The Chinook Indian Nation is made up of the five western-most Chinookan speak...

Feliks Banel's guests on this LIVE BROADCAST of CASCADE OF HISTORY include Bill Yeend, longtime Seattle-area broadcaster who moved back to his native Spokane several years ago, and Spokane historian Liz Wood. In separate interviews, each describes their experiences on the periphery of wildfires that hit the Spokane area on August 1, 2026. Ms. Wood also describes a recent history project to debunk...

Feliks Banel's guests on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY are Naomi Ostwald Kawamura, Executive Director of Densho and Skyla Sachiko Tomine, National Organizing Fellow of Tsuru for Solidarity. Densho and Tsuru for Solidarity have paired up to lead a grassroots effort to halt the closure of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) branch in San Bruno, California. Densho and T...

On this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel digs for a second time into the “This NOT Just In” archives for three installments from the occasional history series that aired from 2010 to 2016 on KUOW 94.9 FM in Seattle. The premise of “This NOT Just In” was to use archival audio to shed light on forgotten or not fully understood stories from Pacific Northwest history. In this second "...

On this BONUS "LIL’ THUNDERBOAT" ENCORE EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel once again presents vintage audio from KIRO Radio from 2018 with the history of "street hydros" - those miniature plywood hydroplanes that Seattle area kids made from scratch and towed behind their bikes from the 1950s to the 1980s. Included in the story are observations and memories of street hydros from John Keis...

On this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel digs into the “This NOT Just In” archives for three installments from the occasional history series that aired from 2010 to 2016 on KUOW 94.9 FM in Seattle. The premise of “This NOT Just In” was to use archival audio to shed light on forgotten or not fully understood stories from Pacific Northwest history. In this first of what will likely...

On the BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, we present an ENCORE of our LIVE REMOTE BROADCAST from the ruins of the Ryan House in Sumner, Washington in July 2025. Feliks Banel’s guests include Nick Biermann of Save Ryan House, Nancy Ryan Dressel (descendant of the builder of the Ryan House), Tina Patton Burnett, and other grassroots historic preservationists and lovers of local history who had bee...

Feliks Banel's guests on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY are Gretchen Neidhardt and Hilarie Pozesky of the group Chicago Area Archivists. They are part of a grassroots effort to mobilize and halt the quietly announced closure of the Chicago branch of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). CASCADE OF HISTORY has been covering this story since an internal NARA memo was lea...

Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Lloyd Lytle, a leader of the grassroots group that had been fighting over the past year to save the historic Masonic Home of Washington in Des Moines, Washington. On Thursday, July 23, 2026, the group announced an end to their legal battle. Lytle posted a message on social media earlier Thursday. In this interview, he shares the g...

Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Paula Johnson, Senior Archaeologist and Director-at-Large based in the Seattle office of WillametteCRA (CRA stands for “Cultural Resources Associates”). In this conversation, recorded on July 23, 2026, Johnson describes how the federal historic preservation regulations known as Section 106 work, and then outlines the threat facing...