Big Talk – WFHB

He was named the City of Bloomington Utilities department director when John Hamilton took over as mayor in 2016. At the time, the city’s drinking water delivery system was under fire both locally and nationally for taste and disinfectant-level issues. Since then, under Vic Kelson’s leadership, the Utilities department has refined its water cleansing process. …

With a dizzying array of private and public landowners as well as numerous governmental entities all responsible for the water that eventually drains into Lake Monroe from its plus-400 square mile watershed, someone needs to tie all those parties together to work to keep the lake clean. Maggie Sullivan, an environmental engineer, is the watershed …

She and her husband, Jared Thompson, already own a Bloomington landmark, The Comedy Attic. So when it looked as though another town landmark, the used and rare book shop Caveat Emptor, was about to close, Dayna Thompson stepped in and bought the place. The Thompsons, she jokes, are out to corner the Bloomington market in …

He turned his successful real estate business into something akin to a service ministry back in 2004. Since then, Don Griffin Jr. has become a key player in the community, serving on numerous boards and even being named deputy mayor in 2021. He encountered a townful of problems, including a flood, the ongoing pandemic, and …

She moved to Bloomington in 1997 and quickly established herself as a player in the city. As CEO of the local Habitat for Humanity operation, Thomson gained firsthand experience in housing, capital development, and the interplay between government offices and constituents. She’s been the executive director of Indiana University’s Center for Rural Engagement since 2018 …

We’ve invited all the declared candidates for Bloomington mayor in the 2023 municipal election to appear on Big Talk. First up, long-time Bloomington city council member Susan Sandberg. A self-described FDR Democrat, Sandberg has served during the mayoral administrations of both Mark Kruzan and John Hamilton. Now, she hopes to leave her own mark on …

Youth Radio has been around for almost as long as WFHB itself. The program began with a single young person interested in radio and grew to include, through the years, hundreds of teenagers. Saturday nights are kids’ nights on WFHB with Youth Radio broadcasting from 6 to 10 pm. The WFHB News Department is now …

In the wake of the contentious 2016 US presidential election, many people around the nation took to their corners and saw those they disagreed with as enemies. Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals too often refused to talk with each other and if they occasionally did, the exchanges turned into pitched battles. One group of …

Ben Schwartzman was a normal kid: goofy, lovable, talented, confused. As a teen, Ben became a singer-songwriter, performing at coffeehouses and open mics and recording tracks. His dad, Ed Schwartzman, now the owner of BuffaLouie’s and Gables Bagels, attended his performances and encouraged him. Then Ben started descending into an abyss of depression. Psychiatric professionals and …

Her grown-up passions would become horror and goth films, as well as taste politics and the global rebellions of 1968, but as a young person Joan Hawkins loved creative writing. She got away from it as she advanced in the academic world. Now she’s come back to it with the publication of her new book, …

She thought it might be fun but terribly scary to model in the 2017 Trashion ReFashion Rundway Show. She did it anyway and had the time of her life. Now, Nicki Stewart Ingersoll is a key member of the group of volunteers who put on the annual show featuring fashion designs made of recycled and …

She expected to stay in Paris for a short time, enjoying the sights, the culture, the arts. Then the world changed. It was March, 2020 and Michelle Facos found herself unable to leave the city of lights. The COVID-19 pandemic may have shut the world down but Facos, an art history professor at Indiana University, …

They were the last Big Talk guests before the COVID 19 pandemic hit and our WFHB studios were closed for nearly two years. Now, they’re back in that same studio, helping us put a punctuation on the shutdown. The Rogers boys will appear Sunday, November 13th, at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater as the opening act for …

While studying filmmaking at Columbia College in Chicago, John Duffy envisioned a career making fictional narrative movies, but events got in the way. Duffy watched as the War on Terror, institutionalized racism, and so many other 21st century American ills and missteps compelled him to turn his talents toward uncovering them. His work has focused …

Many of Bloomington’s trees have died off or suffered mightily from natural causes, aging, and climate change over the last few decades. While shut-in during the pandemic, Sarah Mincey and Sheryl Woodhouse decided to do something about it. Mincey, an urban forestry professor, and Woodhouse, a businessperson, founded CanopyBloomington in early 2021. The urban canopy …

She found her way to Bloomington and a reporter’s job at the then-Herald Telephone (now the Herald Times) in 1984. Since then Laura Lane has covered every big news event in town. From her H-T bio: “She covers crime, courts, cars and more, following issues and the struggles and triumphs of people in rural southern …

Antonia Matthew lived through air raids, blackouts, rationing, and the absence of her father when she was a small child during World War II. Her father, a major in the British army stationed in Burma, regularly wrote her letters until he was killed in action. She has written an audio play, “Antonia’s Home Front,” based …

More than a decade ago, preservation developer Cindy Brubaker walked past the old I Fell building on 4th Street every day on her way to work. She dreamed of restoring it to its former glory and transforming it into an arts center. Now the I Fell Gallery anchors the burgeoning arts district just southwest of …

Bloomington native Jennifer Raff hit the New York Times bestseller list earlier this year with her first book, Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas. In it, Raff traces the human development of the two continents using DNA science and relying on her own innate curiosity. Reviewers called the book accessible while still scholarly. One …

For the second week of Fall Fund Drive 2022, we feature more music created and performed by guests who’ve appeared on Big Talk through the years. Last week and this, we’ve presented music by Amanda Biggs, Busman’s Holiday, Henry Leck and the Indianapolis Children’s Choir, Jason Fickel and Ginger Curry, Jeff Isaac and the Postmodern …

This year’s Fall Fund Drive runs from September 8th through the 18th. As always, we’ll be interrupting normal programing to ask you, the listeners and community, for help to keep us on the air for the next six months. So as not to give short shrift to our guests, Big Talk this week and next …

Our conversation with Rick Armstrong, the new executive director for Stages Bloomington Theater Company, aired last week, Thursday, August 25th. Our chat continues this week as Rick tells us about his path to becoming a high school science teacher and youth theater educator. This edition of Big Talk aired Thursday, September 25th, 2022. Hosts Michael …

He staged plays with his stuffed animals when he was a little kid. Rick Armstrong went on to spend much of his adult life helping young people learn the workings of theater, both onstage and off. Now retired from Martinsville High School, he’s taken on the challenge of leading Stages Bloomington Theater Company, a unique …

There are still young, exciting writers in journalism, even as we tumble headlong into the social media age. Jeff LaFave began work as a reporter for the Bloomington Herald-Times and now teaches feature writing and literary journalism at Indiana University’s Media School. Writing news stories can be an art and, as LaFave explains to Alex Ashkin, …

He went from making old time music to making apple cider in Vermont. Then Sam Bartlett crossed the country serving as cities’ and towns’ artist-in-residence and “public art instigator.” His life took another turn with the publication of several of his Stuntology books. Bartlett creates art along the edges and, so, must make it constantly …