HyperLocal(s)

My couple friends return from episode 7 to talk about what happened after we stopped recording 10 months ago.   Listen as Mike, Champaign native, and Jordan (Oakes), Tolono honey, share the continuation of their fight to conceive, the importance of advocating for yourself within the labyrinth of the medical system, chilly nurses, resentments and never shaking the feeling that something will go wro...

This Urbana native has limitless talents and titles. She can sing, play multiple instruments, landscape, build outbuildings, nurse and has made a business out of being a chandler. AKA a candlemaker! Kayla did it all until she couldn't anymore.  Listen as this member of three local bands talks about how a personal need turned into a thriving business, Fire Doll Studios, why her "interesti...

My husband and defensive driving expert, Andrew Harrington, and I travel with our two little ones overnight (and well into the next day) from Illinois to Florida. While making our own memories, we reflect on the road trips of our own childhood.  Listen as two townies hit the dusty trail already behind schedule and with bad moods setting in. Vomit, coffee-cup pees and an expensive meet-and-greet wi...

This spirited townie has an intuitive nature. She senses, sees and feels what a typical passerby may not. From local haunted houses, to premonitions regarding someone's future to guiding the lost through a potential minefield, Deb has a way with interpreting someone's thoughts and feelings.  Listen as this former flower child, costume designer, creative and current intuitive talks about...

This Naperville transplant has a voice that likely everyone in the Champaign-Urbana area has heard. From WDWS to the University Of Illinois sports announcements, Scott is there covering games wherever he is needed for the love of sports, for the love of transmitting information and for the love of a dream that he will never let die.  Listen as this broadcaster talks about pivoting from engineering...

In the fall of 2008 I went to Amy Armstrong's house as green as her front lawn. She was one of my first interviews as a big girl, full-time journalist. I was there to talk to Amy about her toddler, Larkin, and Amy's advocacy initiative, Larkin's Place at the Stephens Family YMCA. Fifteen years later, Amy and I talk about the next phase of Larkin's life and how Amy and her husba...

One well-known townie and one transplant fall in love and move overseas to continue his dream of playing basketball for a living. A traumatic birth to twins and a need for familial support brought the couple back to the states TWICE to start a more pedestrian life filled with familial support and two more baby boys.  Listen (literally, as two littles were at the recording) to how this thoughtful m...

Fellow townie, Central Maroon and thoughtful, "I need to sleep on it," personality, Devin Lietz, talks about her no-second-guesses needed road to adoption. The road, however, had a few false starts.   Listen as this former social worker details her process and decision to adopt rather than pursue other interventions. Devin always had adoption in the back of her mind as she married and th...

University of Illinois student athletes, Jer'Zhan Newton (St. Petersburg) and Keith Randolph Jr. (Belleville) are powerhouses on the defensive line this year. This dynamic duo was even given the moniker the "Law Firm" by their fearless leader Bret Bielema for their exceptional teamwork.  Listen as these two friends, roommates and teammates tease each other while expressing what the...

Rantoul resident turned Urbana homeowner tells tales that the best fiction writer could not put into words. Tony's childhood debauchery quickly goes from juvenile to criminal spanning coast-to-coast.  Listen to Tony discuss his wrap sheet starting in early adolescence with a legitimate wildfire. This spark began a snowball effect of moves, booze, drugs, arrests and a baby girl. After too much...

Former Centennial Charger explains how a recession landed her in a position that is never boring, mostly stressful and always comes with a long line of upset customers. This boy mom to two little ones impresses with legalese and consistent compassion for her clients as a local public defender.  Listen to Lindsey talk candidly about how much she makes, theft versus burglary, defending a former clas...

A Champaign townie and former local media young gun turned Nashville anchor, spends his time tracking wins and losses, baskets, touchdowns and RBIs. With a face for TV, Steve transitioned from radio to primetime and has even made it to the big show on ESPN+.  Listen as Steve recalls three pivotal moments that changed the trajectory of his life: a career-ending sports injury, being in the right pla...

A Champaign born-and-raised dear friend and female BOSS recently leapt up the corporate ladder into a new position in Nebraska. Champaign’s loss and a big gain for the Huskies. We first met when she stole my middle school boyfriend, but we became fast friends in high school. This is where I met her family and her mom for the first time. Behind closed doors, you never know what someone is dealing w...

My husband and podcast super fan, Andrew Harrington, and I talk in detail about our terrible, horrible and no good experiences (mostly mine) with the once illegal, now legal and more and more prevalent, wacky tobacky.   Listen as two townies swap stories of brazen lunch-hour busts in open air Jeeps, the smell of skunk permeating chemistry class, drinking lemon juice to kill a buzz, watching Die Ha...

Shanovia (NoNo) landed in Champaign after being taken out of Chicago with the intention of a happier upbringing. She left behind sadness, poverty and ailing or deceased caregivers.  With little food and living conditions unfit to thrive in, Shanovia and her sisters moved to Champaign to face a new set of challenges.   Listen to why NoNo didn't let her environment define her. Why her inner lig...

Immigrant parents planted the Limentato roots in Illinois, growing the branches of Sam into the Champaign family. Currently, Judge Sam Limentato has found himself working tirelessly over the past months to retain his position as Circuit Judge in Champaign County.  Listen to why Sam found it difficult to label himself as one political party over the other since he's in a position of inherent n...

These welcome transplants under Bielema's reign are no strangers to packing up and heading to a new town with little (or no) notice. For the love of the game and their husbands, these independent women move themselves and their kids to a new city, new home and new school ultimately creating new loyalties and allegiances.   Listen at how these women transport their families across country, how...

After circling Danville and Indiana in his younger years, Nathan laid strong roots with wife and teammate, Julie Gunn, in Central Champaign raising five kids while traveling the world as a baritone operatic performer. The duo met on their first days at the University of Illinois in the program they now run together, the Lyric Theater @ Illinois.  Listen as the man behind this rich voice describes...

Mahomet mother-daughter duo may now live states apart but their love is so palpable in this episode as they describe the sharp and severe health decline of a young, healthy woman with her whole life in front of her.   Listen as the women behind the popular area hobby breeder enterprise-Snow Angel Retrievers-discuss why Gina couldn't trust Taylor to carry a glass of milk, how Gina ceremoniousl...

An Urbana farmer’s daughter turned Villa Grove farmer’s wife and my BFF, talks about her transition from city girl to queen of the cornfields as her married status uprooted her to a life with prettier views and different priorities.     Listen as Erin and I talk about making new friends and keeping the old, quality over quantity, unreciprocated friendships, pushing each other to be better, picking...

Former Champaign resident and podcast guest, Griffin Mulcahey takes the back seat as his wife and my friend, Bre, takes center stage in their makeshift, Austin studio during a recent trip to visit this Midwest-turned-Texan couple. The visit was in response to a call for help when the couple was overwhelmed with healing and emotions and exhaustion. Listen as Bre relives the life changing call from...

Champaign townie shares her secrets to social media: the good, the bad and the viral. This branding and marketing professional uses her education and field experience to curate and spread beauty-one post at a time.  Listen as Grace explains why her day job is the least interesting thing about her, inauthentic vs. authentic content, her self-taught side hustle for lucky brides, wacky algorithms, ho...

Champaign townie, sadly now a Minnesotan, and one of my oldest friends shares feelings on a subject that he is often reluctant to talk about–the loss of his dad, Paul Senior, and his slow battle with early-onset Alzheimer’s.  Listen as Dan emotionally recalls his dad as his number one coach, the first Christmas where a tradition was regretfully forgot, losing him at an Illini game and saying goodb...

Urbana-born twenty something shares a story of falling head over heels for a little redheaded firecracker, managing his abandonment issues, figuring out how to balance a job while becoming a single mom overnight and thoughts on dating at this stage in her life.   Listen as Mahala explains how a weekend babysitting stint never ended, how her experience growing up in a loving family prepared her for...

My loves-the-spotlight husband and podcast super fan, Andrew Harrington, and I talk in detail about excessive bathroom lines at a Yankees game, uncontrollable sweating, the event that inspired my brother-in-law's speech at our wedding and grounds for getting fired from our first jobs.  Listen as two townies swap stories of treading water down Mattis Avenue, ultra-moist public speaking, bathro...