Storytellers Studio

Art Vuolo is a walking, talking media encyclopedia. He has video recorded everything worth watching from Marines and Paul Harvey to University of Michigan football and Dick Biondi. We talk about his Rock Radio Guides, radio reunions, John Landecker and his 29 years at Morning Show Boot Camp conventions. He's known Shotgun Tom Kelley and The Bob & Tom Show from the beginning. Recorded with host...

Ted and a team of passionate volunteers have once again gathered WLS and WCFL airchecks from our favorite radio personalities. They have magically made those fifty year old reels and cassettes on-air ready again. You will hear folks like Fred Winston and Lyle Dean doing promos for the more than sixty hour broadcast on Labor Day Weekend 2023. Simply go to Rewoundradio.com, listen through the iHeart...

John worked for WROK/WZOK in the mid to late 70's. He's an ultimate collector of everything radio. He joy to talk to. We made sure he had a two and a half hour lunch on Swedish pancakes for show prep for this podcast. John gave several personal collectibles to Tim Larson for everyone to enjoy. T-shirts, music surveys, station of the year folder and a little something from the reporting department...

Ted is the popular front man for the band Dirty Fishnet Stockings. During this episode, you will learn that host Tim Larson has known Ted since he was five years old. Ted is the powerhouse behind the Festival of Lights and Fourth of July Fireworks both in Rockford, Illinois. And, has a rich history of flying hot air balloons. Grab a note pad. Recorded in the Storytellers Studio at the Edgebrook Sh...

Emily Hurd and Tim Larson are both Rockford, Illinois natives and graduated from the same high school yet only met ten minutes before sitting down for this episode. Tim was drawn to calling Emily after seeing her perform a couple of weeks prior at Anderson Japanese Gardens. Recorded on July 10, 2023.

Pam Enzweiler - Pulice first met WLS radio announcer Dick Biondi when she was thirteen at a record hop near Chicago. Getting to know Dick over the years has resulted in her soon-to-be-released documentary. We recorded our conversation at Frankie's Deli in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois on May 31, 2023.

Jack Lambiotte and Tim Larson reunited after 37 years just outside of Denver, Colorado in a cafe at the top of Lookout Mountain. The stories flowed faster than the coffee. Buckle up for two and a half hours of conversation among two lifelong radio friends. Recorded on April 20, 2023.

Neal Angell has been the Creative Director for Commercials at Midwest Family Broadcasting for twenty years. He and Tim Larson have known each other for a long time, but never worked together. Neal does writing and production for several of the company's stations in various cities, but mainly in Rockford, Illinois at 95.3 The Bull WRTB, B-103 WGFB, The X 104.9 WXRX, FM 100 - Rockford's Greatest Hit...

This is a short recap of just a few of the stories shared by our many guests. Recorded by co-host Tim Larson on March 3, 2023 in Rockford, Illinois.

Scott McMahon worked with Liz Wylder at WZOK Rockford, Illinois in the late 80's and early 90's. You'll find his stories about his radio days in Wisconsin entertaining as well. Scott joined us in Rockford, Illinois on February 28, 2023.

Liz Wylder and Tim Larson sat down on January 27, 2023 to gather Chuck Doyle's version of the WZOK radio history guided by a chronological list of morning men from WZOK newsman John Strandin.

Howard Hall was another one of the amazing engineers at WROK and WZOK. Announcers and programmers would come up with hair-brained ideas and people like Howard would figure out a way to make it happen...every time! His sit down was in Rockford, Illinois on January 21, 2023 with Liz Wylder and Tim Larson.

Liz has worked in Hannibal, Missouri; Quincy, Illinois; Memphis, Tennessee; Buffalo, New York and Rockford, Illinois. Hear radio stories from all locations and the people who have meant the most to her career. Larry Bird and Joe Walsh are somehow involved. We sat down with glasses of wine on January 13, 2023 after a fine dinner of Chinese food.

Shotgun Mark Rivers (Mike Lamb) and Tim Larson have known each other since 1977. Then Shotgun helped Tim start up a high school radio station after having a short conversation at a prom dance. Fast forward to 2018 and Tim became the first voice on now Mike's SKY7 radio stations. Access via SKY7music.com. This sit down took place in Mesa, Arizona on December 21, 2002...the day after Mike's surprise...

Jim Lyke and Tim Larson were two ships that passed in the night during dark rough radio seas. You'll enjoy meeting Jim and hearing his stories from 1983-1985. His life after radio should be on a billboard...literally. We'll surely see him on a theater stage in southern Wisconsin very soon. This sit down took place in Rockford, Illinois on December 6, 2022.

Rob Cutter and Tim Larson grew up in radio together in their early twenties. They created on-air stunts as management allowed, interviewed country music's top artists and continue to this day assisting each other with current voiceover and individual radio and podcast projects. These two are the definition of "pick up right where you left off." Recorded inside the tiny Hilton Gardens Inn business...

Aaron Wilson has rolled out of bed at 2:45 am for the last 25 years and traveled northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin AND the world for 23 News This Morning. Weather has never been so interesting. He also simultaneously (for five and a half years) hosted WROK's Live at Five program. Those were very long days. Tim Larson's son Erik is currently his video photographer. Aaron's sit down took place i...

S1 E0 - The Storytellers Studio Trailer offers the explanation about the origin of this project and podcast. Recorded in Rockford, Illinois on October 25, 2022 by co-founder Tim Larson.

Kipper McGee manned the WROK and WZOK ship in the mid 80's, but went on to program giant radio stations like WLS in Chicago, Illinois. He was a master at pulling off unique promotions. Enjoy his stories including a long list of the nation's top radio announcers. He traveled to Rockford, Illinois from Milwaukee, Wisconsin for a sit down with Tim Larson and Liz Wylder and then lunch with Bill Shanno...

Sky Drysdale spent twenty eight years in broadcasting and he has the stories to prove it. He sat down with Tim Larson over glazed donut holes in early October 2022. These two have never worked together at the same radio station, but continue to share common interests. They have truly earned the title of "radio brothers from different mothers."

Johnny Marks and Tim Larson have known each other since 1981 in their college years at Northern Illinois University. This conversation promises to button up all the details of their forty plus year friendship. Tim sums it up this way, "Some people leave a mark. Only with you, we were fishing for the same thing, in the same boat and in the same lake. And, all along the way, we baited each other's h...

What could possibly happen if Tim Larson connected with Kim Carson, who he listened to on WROK when he was in high school? Better yet, they had never met and ironically both lived in Rockford...Tim in Illinois and Kim in Michigan. Well buckle up and find out. It's conversations like this one that proves once again that the Storytellers Studio is a worthwhile project.

Season 1 Episode 25 - WIFR-TV's weatherman Aaron Wilson is always looking for remote locations to do "live shots" during the morning show. When he literally stumbled upon the Storytellers Studio, Tim Larson got the call to crate a WROK/WZOK morning show party focusing on October 26, 1985! (The date on the dashboard of the DeLorean in the film Back to the Future.) Within days we hit the record butt...

The best and the brightest radio jocks from the 70's during the battle between WCFL and WLS radio in Chicago, Illinois are captured in sixty six hours of replayed airchecks on RewoundRadio.com. Thanks to Ted Gorden Smucker and his dedicated group of contributors from all over the country. Labor Day weekend 2022. Here are the promos from some very well known voices.

Phil spent forty-four years in radio sales for WROK and others. He has always been very involved in the Rockford community, both at the stations and personally. This dedication continues today. Doug McDuff and Phil worked side-by-side at both groups of stations on Brendenwood Road and Sandy Hollow Road. Tim Larson joined them on August 19, 2022 in Rockford, Illinois.