Big Talk – WFHB

She started out on a lark to design an outfit, never expecting her entry to be accepted, and soon found herself on stage, modeling her own creation. Sophia Wang designed and modeled in 2023 and 2024 and this year is handling social media management and marketing for the Trashion Refashion runway show. The 16th annual …

A formally-trained singer in her own right, Suzanne Ryan-Melamed has guided Bloomington Early Music since 2022. Since that year, the annual Bloomington Early Music Festival has embraced a variety of worldwide cultures and populations that aren’t commonly associated with medieval, Renaissance, or Baroque music. This year’s fest, featuring live performances, artists’ discussions, a...

Inspired by his mother, 1980s disco hitmaker Roni Griffith, Caleb Ely dropped out of college to pursue a music career. Beginning as a DJ and then taking on audio production duties, he created streaming hits that have garnered millions of clicks. Ely (pronounced EE-lee) taught himself how to play musical instruments even as he mastered …

A stained glass window in an historic York cathedral inspired Shannon Gayk to devote her studies to Middle English literature. She found that the people who lived nearly a millennium ago in what became modern-day England were concerned with ecological disaster and climate change just as the people of 2025 are. Her new book, “Apocalyptic …

When he first came to Bloomington, Peter Dorfman didn’t much care about day-to-day neighborhood issues. Then he heard of an outside consultant’s recommendation that would completely transform the community that drew him here in the first place. Dorfman was inspired to start Bloomington Dissident Democrats, an informal citizen-based advocacy and venting group. BDD has since …

We conclude our look back at last year’s guests as we revisit our conversations with Pam Raider of the Brown County Hour; Jill Vance, interpretive naturalist at Lake Monroe; Terry Sloan, guerrilla publisher of Poetry to the People; and author Claire Arbogast. Host Michael Glab chats with Bloomington’s most fascinating people.

The year 2024 was an exciting one for Big Talk conversations. People from all walks of Bloomington life joined us in the WFHB studios. This week, we’ll revisit our chats with Richard Fish, one of the early members of the core group that started this radio station; Dr. Maria Elizabeth Hamitlton Abegunde, who helped coordinate …

We delve further into our 2024 lineup of guests and conversations as the year draws to a close. We spoke with Richard Fish, one of the earliest members of the group that eventually formed WFHB; Abegunde (Dr. Maria Elizabeth Hamilton), who brought to light the life of Lizzie Breckenridge, a black woman who was an …

Our look back at 2024 Big Talk guests continues as we revisit highlights from our chats with historical board game designer and producer Drew Wehrle, Hoosier Character coordinator Christine Friesel, Kinsey Institute executive director Justin Garcia, and JC Clements and Nicky 7 of Hoosier Original Music Association. Host Michael Glab chats with Bloomington’s most fascinating …

Join us in the month of December as we look back at the great lineup of guests who joined us this past year. In Part 1 of this series, we’ll re-hear from Steve Volan, long-time Bloomington city council member who branched out in new directions this year; Ron Eid, publisher of the Limestone Post, and …

With the fall session final concert set for Monday, December 16th, at the Belle Trace Senior Commons Center, amateur musicians are honing their skills for it for the next three weeks. We re-visit with New Horizons Bloomington co-founders Andrea Kleesattel and Audrey Jo Williams. The two, accomplished teachers and musicians, started the Bloomington branch of …

He started working for Blueline Media when it was housed in a barn outside the city some 20 years ago. Matt Rice now is a creative director for the full-service video and photo production studio with offices here and in North Carolina. Blueline has branched out, now making documentary films. The studio has produced docs …

Her mother dropped her off at Rhino’s Youth Center when she was 12. Before she knew it, Jessie Grubb found herself deeply involved in radio. Rhino’s administered Youth Radio for WFHB from 2000 to 2019 and operated a dedicated studio for kids to learn and record in. Youth Radio has been a fixture at WFHB …

Trained as a cantor, Josh Dinner loved singing traditional Jewish songs because they brought people together and celebrated what humanity could be. Then he saw a rocket liftoff and realized space exploration did the same. Since then he’s devoted his life to shooting the moon, the stars, the planets, and the spacecraft that may one …

He spent his adult working life manipulating the waves and particles that comprise the essence of physical reality. Terry Sloan retired as an engineer from the late, lamented Indiana University Cyclotron a few years ago and has since turned his attention to writing poetry — and helping others get their poetry out to the people. …

Last week we discussed the history and culture of tattooing with Meredith Lee and Shane Greene, Together they teach an Indiana University course on all things tattoo. She’s an assistant professor of gender and he’s a professor of anthropology. This week, we delve further into the ink world. In addition, we’ll find out what the …

Tattoos, a body art once exclusive to merchant marines, street toughs, and shady characters, now adorn the ankles and shoulders of nearly every demographic group in America. Your grandma, your aunt, your minister, and your tax preparer might well sport one or more tattoos. What does this trend in tattooing say about us? What does …

He co-founded the Bloomington Open Studios Tour in 2011. This year’s tour features six artists in and around town. Paul is a photo remix artist, manipulating digital images to create layered, re-structured works of art. He proudly claims he never attended art school or took an art class even as his works have won awards …

She withdraws from the world — both in her mind and, occasionally, physically — to write. Arbogast’s first book, Leave the Dogs at Home, was a heart-wrenching, unvarnished glimpse into a woman’s life of love, choices, grief, and rebirth. She has released her second book, a novel of a young woman struggling to find meaning …

Facing an uphill battle in a predominantly red state, veteran community organizer Michelle Higgs is squaring off against incumbent Peggy Mayfield in the November election. Higgs realized she and other Hoosier Democrats would need a lot of help so she put together the Indiana Rural Summit 2024. It’s a series of local gatherings featuring a …

Writing can empower people. Poetry, essays, memoirs, fiction — all demand the writer reach down into her soul for honest, unvarnished feelings. Sometimes writing can help people find out who they really are. Rebekah Spivey helps writers — professional and non — open up their hearts, and learn to ignore that pesky nay-saying voice in …

Molly Gleeson had written for her high school newspaper but when she reached adulthood, she believed she didn’t have anything to write about anymore. By the time she reached middle age, she realized she had a whole life’s worth of subject matter to write about. She has published short stories and has written novels and …

Last week, Indiana University professor of political science Jeffrey C. Isaac talked about free speech, political activism, and academic freedom on the Bloomington campus. This week, we turn our attention to the 2024 United States presidential election. Isaac doesn’t hold back with his opinions on Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. He reminds us there are …

Longtime political science professor Jeffrey C. Isaac joins us at Big Talk once again. Outspoken during the spring pro-Palestinian protests on campus, Isaac defended the rights of students to publicly criticize the waging of the Israel-Hamas War and he stood behind a faculty member who was suspended as well as an artist whose exhibition at …

The education director for Constellation Stage & Screen has designed a wide-ranging fall program of acting, musical theater, improv, and filmmaking classes for kindergarteners through adults. Eric Shelley has led the teaching arm of Constellation since it was formed by the merger of the Bloomington Playwrights Project, Cardinal Stage Company, and Pigasus Pictures in 2022. …